Th4 Coujitry Gentleman's Magazine 



167 



THE ACCOMMODATION OF AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS 



IN THE NORTH. 



THE conversion of small and middle- 

 sized farms into one farm or tenancy 

 in the north, though beneficial in improving 

 cultivation, and increasing the produce of 

 the soil, had not a good effect on farm ser- 

 vants. It may have been instrumental in 

 giving them higher wages, in securing for 

 them more regular as well as shorter hours 

 of labour, and, in some measure, lighter 

 work, but in addition to the placing of land 

 tenancy practically beyond their reach, 

 larger numbers were necessarily employed 

 together, which was anything but conducive 

 to their moral and social well-being. The 

 accommodation for the servants on the more 

 recently enlarged farms was long inadequate. 

 In fact, in some cases the servants were 

 huddled together almost like so many pigs, 

 and, being thus isolated from the more re- 

 fining agencies of society, some of them 

 gradually acquired boorish and unbecoming 

 habits. 



The cottage system of hiring farm servants 

 is now universally preferred both by masters 

 and men, but a difficulty arises on some 

 estates as to whether the landlord or tenant 

 should provide the accommodation. Defray 

 the cost of erection who may, it is evident 

 the number of cottages for farm servants will 

 soon be largely increased in the northern 

 counties of Scotland, and such an improve- 

 ment cannot, both in the interest of masters 

 and men, come a day too soon. On several 

 estates in these counties, notably the Duke 

 of Richmond's, a considerable number of 

 cottages have been erected lately, but much 

 remains to be done in this direction. In the 

 farther inland districts, and on the smaller 

 farms in the lowlands, the servants are 

 boarded in the kitchen. This custom in- 

 volves rather less freedom to both parties 

 than the bothy does, but all things con- 

 sidered, we think it preferable. The bothy. 



the kitchen, and the cottage systems are all 

 in operation. In a word, we prefer the 

 cottage for married servants, and the kitchen 

 for those unmarried. 



In the counties of Aberdeen, Banff, Moray, 

 and Nairn, the more common system of 

 engaging has for many years been the feeing 

 or hiring market. A few of the best servants 

 have all along been engaged privately before 

 the market-day, and latterly, a considerable 

 number have, in a small way, disposed 

 of their services ; but still the majority 

 delay till the market. Hiring markets 

 have never been so numerous in In- 

 verness, Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness 

 as in the counties named, consequently a 

 greater proportion are privately engaged. 

 The wages of ploughmen range from ^28 to 

 _^40 a-year in the northern counties, accord- 

 ing to the qualifications of the men, and the 

 amount of responsibility undertaken. A 

 steady industrious single ploughman, with 

 these wages, can easily save about ^10 a-year, 

 and a married man with a small family can live 

 comfortably if the house accommodation is 

 good, but if he has a large family, difficulty is 

 experienced in getting ends to meet. We 

 would strongly recommend a less uniform rate 

 of wages for ploughmen. If payment by 

 results is commendable in the case of school- 

 masters, there is stronger grounds for it in 

 the case of ploughmen and agricultural 

 labourers, for the nature of the employment 

 enables the efficiency of the latter class to be 

 more easily ascertained than the former. 

 Females employed in agriculture are very 

 inadequately remunerated. As a rule, they 

 do not receive more than about one-third of 

 the rates paid to men. This is far from what 

 it should be. Women should not have less 

 than half the wages paid to men, and we 

 would recommend a little more than that 

 proportion, believing, as we do, that the 



