506 



THE FARMER'S iMAGAZINE. 



an acre of land would yield ; and if a man were entirely 

 dependent on it, the result could not be sutisfactoiy. 



Mr. 11. T. Howell (Llanelly, Carmartbenshire) 

 wished to bear testimony to the benefit which had been 

 conferred on the labouring population of the district in 

 which he resided, by that which had been this evening 

 termed the allotment system. He lived in a district 

 which was partly agricultural, but mainly manufac- 

 turing ; and he believed that nothing tended so much to 

 the improvement of the condition and comfort of the 

 working people there, as the system of allotting small 

 portions of land for cultivation. In that neighbourhood 

 it was customary to let land on long leases for cottage- 

 building ; but the quantity of garden-ground attached 

 was usually very small ; and, not satisfied with this, the 

 labourers obtained from agriculturists and landowners 

 in the neighbourhood an additional quantity — generally 

 about 15 or 20 perches — which they cultivated in the 

 manner which had been so ably described this evening 

 by Mr. Trethewy. There were few only who grew 

 wheat, barley, or other cereal crops, the general prac- 

 tice being to use the land for growing potatoes and 

 vegetables. He knew of nothing which contributed so 

 much to the happiness, comfort, and prosperity of the 

 labouring community as garden cultivation. As re- 

 garded rent, his own experience was, that labourers 

 looked not so much to the price of the land as to fixity 

 of tenure. It was a common practice with farmers in 

 his district to let out land in small allotments for a 

 year, and to resume the occupation of it after it had 

 been benefited by the manure which had been carted at 

 the expense of the labourer, who would thus derive 

 only one crop. He felt sure that men would rather pay 

 ^£■4, or even £&, per acre, with some certainty of longer 

 tenure, than 20s., or even 10s., with the prospect of the 

 farmer resuming the occupation of the land after it had 

 been improved by cultivation. 



Mr. E. B. Acton was very glad that the tenant- 

 farmer was coming forward so much to assist the labour- 

 er. In reading Mr. Caird's useful book sometime ago, 

 he was very much struck with the fact there stated that 

 the average amount of wages paid to agricultural labour- 

 ers in this country was only 8s. 6d. a week. He need 

 scarcely say that it was impossible for the labourer to 

 get two pigs a year out of such wages. He v.'as very glad 

 that Lord de Grey had set an exami)le to the country 

 by reducing the rent paid for allotments. The rent now 

 paid WHS, he understood, 72s. per acre. 



Mr. Trethewy: From 32s. to 72s. 



Mr. Acton continued : Some years ago the rent paid 

 in many cases in the west of England was about i?8 an 

 acre. Mr. Williams v/ould bear him out in that state- 

 ment. 



Mr. Williams : No. 



Mr. Acton said, At all events, when the question 

 was debated there some years ago, it was admitted that 

 £S an acre was charged ; and he was very glad, there- 

 fore, to hear what had been done. Such emj.loyment as 

 that aiforded by the allotment system although admir- 

 ably adapted to ameliorate the condition of the agricul- 

 tural labourer, still he thought might be better carried 



out by industrial associations or friendly societies than 

 by private perstns, so as to strengthen his independent 

 and industrious feeling. 



Mr. T. Stag (of Grafton, Wilts) said, some allu- 

 sion having been made to the price of land let out in 

 allotments in the West of England, he wished to say a 

 few words on that subject, lie happened to be a tenant 

 of one of the largest landed proprietors in that part of 

 the country — the Marquis of Aylesbury ; and he knew 

 that in his own parish land was let to labourers at less, 

 lather than more, than he himself paid. Some of the 

 best land on the Marquis's estate was let at 10s. a rood. 

 Mr. Williams had spoken of the fatting of two pigs on a 

 quarter of an acre of land. He should like to know how 

 tl.at was done. (Hear, hear). 



I.ir. J. A.Williams wished to say one or two words 

 in ex;)' i.-.uuon. First, as regarded price, he would ob- 

 serve that he himself charged 15s. for a rood of land, 

 taking the whole of the liabilities upon himself. He 

 occasionally met with a defaulter. The system must, as 

 he had before remarked, be self-supporting ; but he was 

 not aware of a sinEtle instance in the West ()f England in 

 which the rent exceeded £A an acre. As to the fatting 

 of two pigs, he did not mean to say that that was the 

 rule ; but, as their friend Mr. Mechi had made one of the 

 beat farms in Essex out of one of the worst, so the la- 

 bourer might, partly from his own resources, and partly 

 from other resources, be enabled to keep two pigs in- 

 stead of one. Of this he was quite certain, that the 

 labourer who used his best endeavours to fat two pigs 

 instead of one would be better able to fat two than 

 others. The system of high farming might, he believed, 

 be carried out effectually on a small occupation, as it had 

 been by Mr. Mechi, through the expenditure of a large 

 sum on his farm. 



Mr. Howell wished to make one additional observa- 

 tion. In his district labourers' houses had been built 

 too much in rows and blocks. He advocated the build- 

 ing of detached houses, giving to each man his own 

 separate allotment immediately contiguous to his house, 

 especially in rural villages. 



Mr. E. Little (Chippenham) said there were near 

 700 allotments on the estates with which he was con- 

 nected, and in no instance did the rent exceed £2 

 an acre. The system worked well in his part of the 

 country wherever it had been adopted. One valuable 

 rule which was carried out in reference to these allot- 

 ments was, that the doing of any labour on Sunday ex- 

 cluded the occupier from further occupation (Hear, hear). 

 That was one of the conditions on which the land was 

 held, and it was never violated (Hear, hear). 



Mr. Mechi : The £2 includes all charges .' 



Mr. Little : Yes. 



The Chairman said he listened very attentively to the 

 able paper read by Mr. Trethewy — a paper comprising 

 almost everything that could be said in favour of the 

 allotment system (Hear, hear). He thought the carry- 

 ing out of the allotment system depended in a very great 

 degree upon landlords. Where cottages were situated 

 on farms the labourer generally had an opportunity of 

 increasing the quantity of garden ground if it were not 



