There was one person in the establishment of Dr Riccabocca, who was
satisfied neither with the marriage of his master nor the arrival of
Violante--and that was our friend Lenny Fairfield. Previous to the
all-absorbing duties of courtship, the young peasant had secured a
very large share of Riccabocca's attention. The sage had felt interest
in the growth of this rude intelligence struggling up to light. But
what with the wooing, and what with the wedding, Lenny Fairfield had
sunk very much out of his artificial position as pupil, into his
natural station of under-gardener. And on the arrival of Violante,
he saw, with natural bitterness, that he was clean forgotten, not
only by Riccabocca, but almost by Jackeymo. It was true that the
master still lent him books, and the servant still gave him lectures
on horticulture. But Riccabocca had no time nor inclination now to
amuse himself with enlightening that tumult of conjecture which the
books created. And if Jackeymo bad been covetous of those mines of
gold buried beneath the acres now fairly taken from the Squire, (and
good-naturedly added rent-free, as an aid to Jemima's dower,) before
the advent of the young lady whose future dowry the produce was to
swell--now that she was actually under the eyes of the faithful
servant, such a stimulus was given to his industry, that he could think
of nothing else but the land, and the revolution he designed to effect
in its natural English crops. The garden, save only the orange-trees,
was abandoned entirely to Lenny, and additional labourers were called
in for the field-work. Jackeymo had discovered that one part of the
soil was suited to lavender, that another would grow camomile. He had
in his heart apportioned a beautiful field of rich loam to flax; but
against the growth of flax the Squire set his face obstinately. That
most lucrative, perhaps, of all crops, when soil and skill suit, had,
it would appear, been formerly attempted in England much more commonly
than it is now; since you will find few old leases which do not contain
a clause prohibitory of flax, as an impoverishment of the land. And
though Jackeymo learnedly endeavoured to prove to the Squire that
the flax itself contained particles which, if returned to the soil,
repaid all that the crop took away, Mr Hazeldean had his old-fashioned
prejudices on the matter, which were insuperable. "My forefathers,"
quoth he, "did not put that clause in their leases without good cause;
and as the Casino lands are entailed on Frank, I have no right to
gratify your foreign whims at his expense."
To make up for the loss of the flax, Jackeymo resolved to convert a
very nice bit of pasture into orchard ground, which he calculated would
bring in £10 net per acre by the time Miss Violante was marriageable.
At this, Squire pished a little; but as it was quite clear that the
land would be all the more valuable hereafter for the fruit trees, he
consented to permit the 'grass land' to be thus partially broken up.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account