ears a coachman in a
private livery stables in London. He lost his place through drink,
became a wanderer on the Embankment, was picked up by the Salvation
Army and sent to one of its Elevator paper-works. Afterwards, he
volunteered to work on the land at Hadleigh, where he had then been
employed for nine months. His ambition was to emigrate to Canada,
which, doubtless, he has now done, or is about to do. Such cases might
be duplicated by the dozen, but for this there is no need. _Ex uno
disce omnes_.

All the labour employed, however, is not of this class. For instance,
the next man to whom I spoke, who was engaged in ploughing up old
cabbage land with a pair of very useful four-year-olds, bred on the
farm, was not a Colonist but an agricultural hand, paid at the rate of
wages usual in the district. Another, who managed the tomato-houses,
was a skilled professional tomato-grower from the Channel Islands. The
experience of the managers of the Colony is that it is necessary to
employ a certain number of expert agriculturalists on the place, in
order that they may train the raw hands who come from London and
elsewhere.

To a farmer, such as the present writer, a visit to Hadleigh is an
extremely interesting event, showing him, as it does, what can be done
upon cold and unkindly land by the aid of capital, intelligence, and
labour. Still I doubt whether a detailed description of all these
agricultural operations falls within the scope of a book such as that
upon which I am engaged.

Therefore, I will content myself with saying that this business, like
everything else that the Army undertakes, is carried out with great
thoroughness and considerable success. The extensive orchards are
admirably managed, and were fruitful even in the bad season of 1910.
The tomato-houses, which have recently been increased at a capital
cost of about L1,000, produce many tons of tomatoes, and the French
garden is excellent of its kind. The breed of Middle-white pigs is to
be commended; so much so in my judgment, and I can give no better
testimonial, that at the moment of writing I am trying to obtain from
it a pedigree boar for my own use. The Hadleigh poultry farm, too, is
famous all over the world, and the Officer who manages it was the
President for 1910 of the Wyandotte Society, fowls for which Hadleigh
is famous, having taken the championship prizes for this breed and
others all over the kingdom. The cattle and horses are also good of