overcome such difficulties. Institutions at Liverpool, London, and Philadelphia have severally failed in this respect, but their failure should only be used as a warning, and should not be taken as a reason for abandoning a trade which possesses many advantages. The manufacture of shoes by machinery has very much changed the mode of carrying on the business; but we believe that there is nothing in the altered circumstances of the case to which the blind, under proper training, could not accommodate themselves.

SADDLE AND HARNESS MAKING,

too, might be well carried on by persons without sight; in fact, that trade is free from many difficulties to which shoemaking is liable. But in all cases it should be borne in mind that the conditions of success are sufficient capital, a teacher who knows how to work without sight, tools and appliances suited to the wants of the blind, liberal wages to the workpeople, and a market for the manufactures.

LEATHER BAGS AND DRESSING-CASES

might also be made with profit; and whatever articles are composed of leather might be manufactured by the blind.

CORKCUTTING.

The writer has long held the opinion that corkcutting could be practised without sight, and this view is confirmed by the circumstance that the best operatives, especially in Spain, never look at their work. Something in this direction has already been accomplished by the making of cork fenders, for the use of ships, by the inmates of the Liverpool workshops for the out-door blind; and we are persuaded that, if properly developed, every branch of the corkcutter's

trade could be successfully carried on without sight. A cork-cutting machine was exhibited at the International Exhibition of 1862, which the writer tried with perfect success. It was an American invention, and turned out an extraordinary number of corks per day. It was not intended specially for the blind, but could be used by them as well and as quickly as by other persons. POTTERY.

The manufactures of bricks and tobacco-pipes have been proved by experiment to be quite practicable for the blind; but how far these arts could be made to pay has yet to be determined.

There does not, however, appear any good reason why they should not prove remunerative; and it may be added that there are many branches of the potter's art that might be carried on without sight.

THE MAKING OF SASH-LINE, ROPE, AND TWINE.

Sash-line making has long been carried on in several places, but the difficulty of getting sale for the product, and the small wages made when work is obtained, entitle it to be considered rather as an amusement than as a trade.

Twine-spinning and rope-making have been tried at Liverpool, Glasgow, and Copenhagen, without much success, but we think that this springs from the want of special appliances suited to the necessities of the blind. The largeness of the space required to conduct these operations appears to be the principal difficulty, but of late several machines for the sighted have been invented, especially in America, which quite obviate this defect.

WIRE-WORK.

Wire-work can be done without sight, and its development would be found particularly advantageous.

Articles such as fire-guards, meat-stands, blinds, sieves, bird-cages, and fencing, etc., could be made of the material. The use of wire fences is very common in some rural districts, particularly in North Wales, where the fields are usually divided by this means.

REPAIRING WATCHES AND CLOCKS.

A blind man in the neighbourhood of Camden Town, London, was for many years remarkable as a repairer of clocks and watches, and another, at Great Missenden, Bucks, carried on the same business. About fifty years ago, a gentleman passing through the town of Barnstaple, North Devon, observed a sign over a door denoting that clocks, watches, etc., were repaired by William Huntly, a blind man. On making inquiries, he was informed that the person in question was born blind, or at least, that he had no recollection of ever having been able to see. He was trained to his occupation by his father, who was a watch and clock maker, and after his parents' death, he followed the business with great success, being considered by the inhabitants very superior in his profession. He repaired musical clocks and watches without difficulty, and our authority adds that it often happened that when others had failed in completely repairing a watch or clock, Huntly succeeded in discovering and remedying the defect.

Without being prepared to assert that watchmaking should be classed as one of the employments well suited for the blind, we nevertheless think that whenever any one shows a decided predilection for that trade everything should be done to enable him to carry out his wishes.

EMPLOYMENTS CONNECTED WITH AGRICULTURE. What is there in the nature of agriculture that

should render it unfit to be practised by the blind? The diversities of plants, their state as to development, and the different kinds of soil, are all cognizable by the touch, and yet it seems to have been taken for granted that the blind, and the various arts connected with farming, are separated by an impassable gulf. More than half the number of those deprived of sight are natives of rural districts, and no permanent benefit will ever be done to these persons, unless it be effected in a way calculated to meet the wants of their condition. An agricultural labourer becomes blind, say at the age of thirty, what is required to be done for him? Should he be sent a hundred miles away from his home, to be put to learn a trade for which he is not in any way suited? His hands are clumsy, and when he could see he had not by any means the dexterity in using his fingers which belongs to the denizens of towns. Basket-making, it is true, is suited to the wants of rural districts, but comparatively very few have the power of learning this trade, on account of the difficulty of making the baskets shapable. What, then, is at present done for our blind peasantry? We answer, next to nothing, in comparison to what they need, and to what is done for their brethren of the towns. The state of idleness, however, in which they are sunk, is not an inherent necessity of their condition, but it simply results from the little attention that has been paid to the subject. About twenty years ago, the writer induced some half-dozen blind youths to turn amateur gardeners; the necessary tools were procured, each person had his small piece of ground allotted to him, and the parties set to work in healthful rivalry to see who should produce the finest crops. The ground was none of the best, and the young beginners had no efficient instructor, but in spite of these drawbacks, very good crops were produced, and rival specimens soon appeared of mustard and cress, lettuce, onions, radishes, etc.

The blind son of a labourer, having obtained one of the allotments of garden ground made by a kindhearted landowner to the working people of the district, was remarkable for getting as much profit out of his garden plot as the most successful of his neighbours, without devoting any more time to its cultivation; and there is now, in the neighbourhood of London, a vegetable and flower garden cultivated entirely by a person without sight, which will compare very favourably with any piece of ground in the locality, cultivated though it be by a professional gardener.

Instances have occurred in which the rearing of poultry, the breeding of pigs, and the keeping of cows, have been made profitable by individual blind persons. We are persuaded that, if a well-organized system of farming were set on foot, adapted to the circumstances of persons without sight, the success of the undertaking would soon be apparent. And here it may be mentioned that the most successful agriculturist, as well as the most clever artisan, ever known by the writer, is Mr. Farrow, teacher at the Institution of the Association for Promoting the General Welfare of the Blind, London.

The direction, we think, an experiment in farming should first take, is that of a dairy farm. Butter and cheese might be made, eggs and poultry produced, and pigs bred for market. The author has himself reaped and mowed, a very little it is true, but still enough to show that blindness is not an insuperable impediment in the case. The use of the sickle is much better for the blind than the scythe, as the reaper has the free use of the left hand to regulate his movements. The husbandman without sight would be much aided by the use of a stout rope with a peg at each end, which could be thrust into the ground, and removed from time to time to enable the operator to dig or plant in straight lines. Spade husbandry, as commonly used in Belgium, with steel implements, would be better for