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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



time and trouble to substitute a plan which, I have at- 

 tempted to show, not only would substitute no greater advan- 

 tages, but would actually break down from its own cnmbrous- 

 ness, and natural disadvantages which none can control ? 



Should success attend the efforts now being made to es- 

 tablish a "Welsh Royal Agricultural Society, it would effect all 

 the objects which could be arrived at by those who would ad- 

 vocate this amalgamation scheme ; but should these efforts 

 fail, and the R. W. A. S. project fall to the ground, it must 

 appear that Monmouthshire alone could not msster difficnlties 

 to which the united Principality had to succumb. 



T really think there is no tenable ground on which Mr. Joitea'a 

 plaa can be sustained ; and I would suggest that unless some 

 feasible reasons cau be adduced in its favour, the project 

 should be allowed to drop back into the obscurity from which 

 it need never have been lifted. 



November 2, 1858. NemO. 



— Hereford Times. 



[We give this letter on the audi alteram partem principle. 

 An argument against the amalgamation of district societies is 

 now of very rare occurrence. — Ed. F.M.] 



GARDEN GROUND v. ALLOTMENT. 



Sir, — I have read with considerable iaterest the report of 

 the late discussion at the " London Farmers' CI ab," on the 

 " Allotment System, its uses and abuses." Residing in a 

 county where nearly every village has a portion of arable land 

 let out in small plots for cultivation, I can testify that the 

 system has generally worked well, excepting where the land 

 has been of a wet, cold, clayey nature, and a considerable dis- 

 tance from the village ; in such cases the occupation, although 

 not given up, has been attended with so many disadvantages 

 as to be of very little profit to the occupier. 



It is not my intention (were I capable of doing so) to add 

 any fresh arguments in favour of the system. The speakers 

 on the occasion have fully discussed the question, and pointed 

 out some of its liabilities to be abused. My principal object 

 is to call the attention of lauded proprietors, land agents, and 

 tenant farmers to a subject of more real value to the agricul- 

 tural labourer than 20 poles of land in the allotment field, 

 viz., the desirableness of the same portion of land being con- 

 tiguous to his cottage as garden ground. 



The allotment system seems to me to be more adapted for 

 the artizau than for the agricultural labourer. The man who 

 works in the workshop from 12 to 14 hours per day is bene- 

 fitted physically by a half-mile walk to his allotment. For 

 him a change of work is refreshing, and the shoemaker 

 shoclders his fork and basket of potatoes on a summer's 

 evening with a ready and willing mind. But the agricultu- 

 ral labourer, who starts at early morn one or two miles to 

 the field of labour, performs his daily toil, and returns home in 

 the evening under considerable physical exhaustion, sits down 

 to the tea-table with thankfulness, and does not very much 

 relish the thought that the children have filled the wheel- 

 barrow to its very brim with manure, under the expectation 

 that he has again to put his shoulder to the wheel, and 

 accompany thera to the allotment, with the understanding 

 that they are all to ride back in the same conveyance. 



I have known several of the best agricultural labourers hire 

 the diggiug-up of their allotments, who have told me that they 

 could not do it in over-hours, especially when the laud has 

 been at a considerable distance from their own residence. 



Our agricultural labourers have very much improved since 

 the alteration of the poor laws, and the increasing demand 



for labour ; and it is very desirable, in the erection of new 

 cottages in agricultural villages, to attach thereto about 20 

 poles of garden ground. 



We have not yet recovered from the baneful effects of the 

 " Old Poor Laws" upon the social economy of village life- 

 Under the impression that a working staff of labourers residing 

 on the estate was a parochial burden, means were taken to de- 

 populate the parish : cottages were pulled down, and the poor 

 driven to the neighbouring villages, who thereby caused an 

 extra demand for houses, at one shilling per week (the limits of 

 the agricultural purse for a home) ; cottages were built on the 

 most economical plan to meet the demand, possessing no suit- 

 able accommodation for a family; parents and children all 

 huddled together, exerting a baneful effect on the morality and 

 conduct of the rising race. What has been the result ? We 

 now find our large villages crowded with wretched dwellings 

 for the poor, and the land in some parishes left without a 

 working staff of labourers, men having to travel two or three 

 miles to their daily labour, and the tenantry having to pay for 

 labour in an exhausted condition. 



It becomes now desirable that cottages should be erected in 

 situations suitable to the locality of labour. Our Lodge Farm 

 Homestead would be improved by the addition of houses suitable 

 for housekeepers, shepherds, ploughicen, &c., &c. A resident 

 staff of willing labourers residing on the estate should now be 

 no longer dreaded as a parochial nuisance, but hailed and pro- 

 vided for as a valuable auxiliary ; a comfortable row of cottages, 

 with 20 poles of garden ground attached to each, would be as 

 pleasant to the sight of the proprietor as the stately timbers 

 his forefathers planted, or the old church which contains the 

 remains of an old and honoured race. 



Having trespassed much longer than I intended on your 

 columns, allow me in conclusion to express the gratification I 

 feel in the knowledge that so many persona interested in the 

 management of landed property meet together for the discus- 

 sion of " Social Science" relative to agricultural pursuits ; and 

 also that you give those of us who tarry at home the opportu- 

 nity of reading your reports. 



I remain your obedient servant, 



William Beaen. 



Finedon Hill, near Higham Ferrers, Nov. I2th, 1858, 



