658 PROSPECTS OF INDUSTRY 



we look at them as accessories only. There is abundance of land 

 already in cultivation, which, by being divided into small allotments 

 in the immediate neighbourhood of villages and detached cottages, 

 would pay a vastly increased rent, and by spade husbandry produce 

 threefold its present returns. What happens where this plan is in 

 existence ? " The cottagers in Lincolnshire and Rutlandshire hold 

 their little tenements, not of the farmer, but directly from the owner; 

 and this rescues them from all slavish and injurious dependence. 

 The management of this little demesne never, we believe, for one 

 hour interferes with the necessary occupations of the labourer : it is 

 managed principally by his wife and younger children. The la- 

 bourer himself, no doubt, bestows upon his little tenement some extra 

 labour after his daily toil is over, or occasionally the labour of a 

 lew whole days, whenever he can be spared with the least incon- 

 venience from the work of his regular employer. The effect is all 

 that the most benevolent heart could desire a more comfortable, 

 contented, and moral peasantry does not, we believe, exist on the 

 face of the globe." Again, '* In the year 1806 an enclosure was 

 proposed in the parish of Broad Somerford, and a very liberal offer 

 made to the rector for an allotment of land in lieu of tithe ; but he 

 considered it his duty to attend to the interest of his poor parishioners, 

 and did not consent till he had obtained the following conditions for 

 them : every poor man, whose cottage was situated on the commons 

 and waste lands, should have his garden, orchard, or little enclosure 

 taken from the waste, within twenty years confirmed to him ; and 

 that in case the same did not amount to half an acre, it should be 

 increased to that quantity. In addition to this, eight acres were 

 allotted to the rector, churchwarden, &c. adjoining the village, for 

 the benefit of the poor inhabitants, to be annually allowed them, 

 according to the number of their respective families ; and thus every 

 man, who had three or four children, was sure of his quarter of an 

 acre at least. Very great benefit has been derived from these 

 provisions, and they in no way interfere with the poor man's labour 

 for the farmer. Spade husbandry, and the constant and minute 

 attention of himself and family, secured him abundant crops, even 

 when the farmer's failed. The profits upon every acre, after paying 

 a rent of 2., was 7. 6*. 4d. So great was the success attendant 

 upon this plan, that in 1829 a farmer made application to the rector 



