ON I'HOViniNG A SUFFICIENT SUPPLY OF LABOUR. 229 



and answered, would confer an infinite amount of Lenefit, not 

 only to this hut to other countries ; and would l)e far more 

 heneficial than all the recommendations ever _<«iven or made 

 upon the subject of replanting of woodlands ; and, until such 

 information is carefully gleaned l)y some society or individual 

 meml)i'r, we can never autlioritatively state the precises period 

 when replanting should he done. 



OX PROVIDING A SUFFICIENT SUPPLY OF LABOUR 

 DURING PRESS OF AGRICULTURAL WORK. 



By ■rc)HN M'Cui.LOCH, Denbie Mains, Lockerhie. 



[Premium — Ten Sovereigns.] 



In eontemplating the system of rural econoni}- which best 

 fulfils the (lesideratuni of this report, it may be presumed that 

 extraneous labour, to any great extent, is not included, and that 

 the principal part of the supply must exist on the farm itself. 

 The I'Cgulation of the suppl}-, and the varying demand which 

 always will exist on a farm, severely taxes the administrati\e 

 skill of the farmer, — a fact involving a considerable section of 

 outlay, and consequent profit or loss. It is no uncommon thing 

 for the labour l)ill on one holding to be less by 30 to 50 per cent, 

 than on another of equal size and gross product, aiul solely 

 attributable to the dilierence of scheme and organisation. No 

 doubt other elements, — such as stiff or wet soils, badly shapen 

 and small fields, hnig distance from railway station or shipping 

 port, a system of stocking and rotations requiring more hands, — 

 adversely afiect the fanner as regards labour payments, Ijut none 

 of these attect the comparison in.stituted. When a holding is 

 being inspected and entered on, the labour question comes to the 

 front. A ])lentiful supply in village or town in the vicinity may 

 partially allay anxiety in regard to it, but the farmer must not 

 rest satisfied. He must be able to command from a more certain 

 source the great bulk of his supply, and on none can he more 

 absolutely rely than those on his own holding. The expansion 

 of other industries than agriculture has, — especially in prosperous 

 times, — rendered the " catch crop" of labour in towns and villages 

 an extremely precarious one. There is, then, no alternative but 

 to have almost as numy workers on the farm as may be able to 

 imdertake at any time the press of work to which agriculture is, 

 by fits and starts, peculiarly liable. This laljour must be entirely 

 controlled by ilie farmer; and for this end no system has yet 



