230 ON PROVIDING A SUFFICIENT SUPPLY OF LABOUR 



proved itself even equal to having families of agricultiiial 

 labourers resident on the farm. 



When an arable farm is worked on a five or six course rotation, 

 as is common in the west and south of Scotland, there should be 

 no less than one cottage for every 100 acres. An extra one even 

 is desirable, so that it can be let to a tradesman or other party 

 who will, as part of the rent, supply a worker at busy times. 

 It is readily conceded on all hands that bad cottages, — many we 

 are told of only one room, — have been a fruitful source of the 

 migration of rural labourers into tlie towns. In accordance with 

 reform in this direction, three-roomed cottages are considered 

 the lowest scale of accommodation which will fairly meet the 

 demands of decency and comfort. Larger ones, with, bed- 

 rooms upstairs, have been by some landlords erected ; but with 

 the present tastes of Scottish peasantry this has reached the 

 other extreme. The three rooms on the ground floor seem as far 

 as prudence dictates in the way of necessary reform. The cost 

 runs from £100 to £125 in single erections, but considerably 

 less when a number are in one building. It scarcely needs to 

 be remarked the nearer the steading, after one hundred yards, tlie 

 l)etter, for distance means, in walkmg backward and forward, 

 unremunerative labour. On a large holding there is, however, an 

 exception in one house, — usually the shepherd's, — being placed 

 so as to command, on account of oversight of live stock, a view 

 of tliat portion of the farm which cannot be seen from the 

 steading. 



It may then be presumed that cottagers, hinds, cotmen or 

 yearlymen, as they are provincially styled, are the backbone of the 

 system advocated as preferable to relying on single servants 

 lodged in the farm house or bothy, or on tlie uncertain labourers 

 of towns and villages. The married men are steadier, and as a lule 

 more skilful, and even the unfavourable part of the comparison, 

 on account of the greater energy of youth, is, with the improved 

 implements, which require skill more than muscular labour, fast 

 narrowing. Besides giving a much quieter farm house and 

 steading, the cottager is even the cheaper of the two. Bothy 

 men are not kno^\^l in the west country, but no doubt aie 

 cheaper than those lodged in the farm house, possibl}' even than 

 the cottager. Havmg no leliable information as to their cost 

 they cannot well be compared with the cottager, and even 

 although cheaper, there is a prejudice against them in the minds 

 of the community which would be hard to lemove. It is believed 

 by competent authorities tliat they are not objectionable if pro- 

 perly managed — it is the abuse of the system which has brouglit 

 it into disrepute. The cottager costs £42 wages, £6 house, 

 garden and perquisites — in all £48 per annum. A man of 

 similar ability and skill, and lodged with his master, will cost 



