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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



cottages, combining the requisites for comfort ami de- 

 cency, on all farms. Withheld, they stop the onward 

 progress of social order, and hold out a premium to vice 

 and degradation." In Perthshire, another correspondent 

 informs me, " the house accommodation is gradually im- 

 proving. Still, there is much improvement everywhere 

 retiuired, as many are still compelled to live in wretched 

 hovels. Unfortunately, when long neglect and inattention 

 have allowed the cottages of a county to fall into decay, it 

 often happens that the extreme tlie other way is run into, 

 when new houses are built ; and many instances, of late 

 years, have sprung up, where the accommodation given is 

 far beyond the wants or requirements of the class." In 

 Inverness, a correspondent informs us that the " house 

 accommodation is still deficient, in many cases consisting 

 of one or two rooms only, for a mai-ried man and his 

 family. But almost aU new cottages now built contain 

 three or four rooms, thus giving the requisite number of 

 rooms for a proper division of the family." Another cor- 

 respondent in Inverness-shire writes me as follows : " The 

 houses of farm-servants are not generally vei-y good. 

 Great improvement has taken place of late years in this 

 de])artment, and is still going on. Wherever new build- 

 ings are erected, attention is given to this ; and I have 

 little doubt that, by-and-by, servants will, on the whole, 



be comfortably provided for Cottages for married 



men consist generally of a room and one or two small 

 closets (bedrooms), with a wooden floor, and neatly plas- 

 tered. No doubt there are still a good many old houses 

 very inferior indeed in the district ; but a great change is 

 going on ; and soon, I trust, it will be comfortably 

 housed." In Forfarshire, " house accommodation," as a 

 correspondent informs me, " is generally indifterent, and 

 very insuflicient for the requirements of the country. A 

 family is generally huddled into two apartments, often to 

 the injury of health, and repugnant to modesty. Every 

 intelligent farmer, and many proprietors, are now alive to the 

 necessity of providing better cottage accommodation. Much 

 has been done of late years, but little as to what is required." 

 In Dingwall, " the house accommodation for servants is, 

 in some instances, very bad ; in others, needlessly good. 

 The subject is now exciting a good deal of interest, and a 

 great improvement has been effected within the last few 

 years." In Dumfriesshire — " Of nearlj- the whole, although 

 now tolerably comfortable in fitting-up, certainly too 

 limited. On an average two apartments only." As regards 

 the house-accommodation in the Lothians, a distinguished 

 agriculturist of that high-class-farmed district, writes me 

 as follows : *' Within the last few years a great many new 

 cottages have been built, containing ample accommodation 

 for a family ; but a large proportion still exist quite unfit 

 for that purpose. However, landlords and farmers are 

 now alive to the fact that unless better accommodation is 

 speedily provided they cannot hope to retain the best 

 servants." In Berwickshire, " formerly the cottages were 

 of the rudest construction — little better than hovels with 

 earthern floors, often damp, and no division in the apart- 

 ment except what was furnished by the box-beds of the 

 cottager. Eecently, however, a great improvement has 

 taken place. During the last fifteen years fully two-thirds 

 of the cottages in this county have been erected anew, 

 and, in general, they are now in a vei-y comfortable 

 condition. The walls are higher, they have more than 

 one window, and of proper size ; they are in two or more 

 apartments, vnth brick or earthenware pavement floors ; 

 also garrets with deal floors, which are available for many 



useful purposes, and can be made comfortable sleeping 

 apartments wheu required. The old class of cottages are 

 now an exception in lierwickshire ; also,. I believe, in Rox- 

 burghshire." But a description of the house accommo- 

 dation for farm servants in Scotland would })e incomplete 

 were a notice of the "bothy" omitted. This peculiar 

 feature exists only iu certain districts ; and the evils, or 

 assumed evils, connected with it have called forth an 

 extraordinary diversity of opinion ; and hence elicited very 

 warm discussions — so much so, that I could present you 

 with information in connection with these, the relating of 

 which would absorb all the time allotted me. In place, 

 however, of giving a resume of my own, of all that has 

 been said on both sides of the question, I prefer to place 

 before you extracts from con-espondents who have 

 favoured me with their opinions on the subject. A gen- 

 tleman in Perthshire, in which county the bothy system 

 is greatly developed, thus writes me : " The 

 ' bothy' is a house set apart for the men to sit in and cook 

 their victuals, with a sleeping apartment or apartments 

 adjoining. * * In many cases the bothy is badly kept, 

 and the sleeping apartments dirty and untidy ; but there is 

 no necessity for this, and it is not inherent in the system. 

 On the Home Farm at Windsor Castle there is a model 

 bothy, and I know some in Perthshire kept in a similar 

 manner, and when this is the case the men are extremely 

 comfortable ; and, where the men are unmamed, I should 

 prefer the bothy system, under proper regulations, to that 

 of giving the men their food in the kitchen (of the farm- 

 house). * * Wliere there is a bothy the men get 

 their food, and keep by themselves ; and when a woman 

 arrived at the 3'ears of discretion is appointed to keep 

 their bed-rooms in proper order, and the bothy clean, they 

 are far from uncomfortable, and prefer it to going into the 

 house for their food. As regai'ds married men, the system 

 is radically wrong. A married man should live in his own 

 house, preside at his own table, and be the head of his 

 family," A Morayshire correspondent writes : " The bothy, 

 system, which is much abused, in a moral point of view, 

 consists in giving a room or rooms, fire and light, with a 

 certain amount of meal, milk, and potatoes, or an equivalent 

 in money; besides the regular money wages. \Mi"ere these 

 bothies are well-conducted there is nothing objectionable 

 against them, at least nothing more so than being fed in 

 the farmer's kitchen. In a well-conducted bothy the 

 master allows a female to keep the place clean, light the 

 fires, bake the bread, and at the same time cleaning out 

 the apartments and making the beds. You will therefore 

 often find in these bothies evei7 mark of cleanliness and 

 tidiness, and at the same time furnished ■vvith books and 

 periodicals. Such places as these the men like, and 

 remain for years at the same place. On the other hand, 

 there are other bothies where neither cleanliness nor order 

 existed, and these places cannot be too much condemned. 

 Farmers, however, are every day making arrangements 

 with their landlords to build cottages for married couples ; 

 this is now the favourite system, and much to be com- 

 mended." A Forfarshire correspondent thus writes : 

 " Ploughmen are lodged in bothies, and furnished by the 

 farmer with beds, bedding, &c. The accommodation has 

 been deteriorating since the commencement of the last 

 century, tiU it was reduced to a miserable pitch, the man 

 being much worse lodged than the animals. Within the 

 last five years a great change has taken place. Comfort- 

 able bothies are erected in many places, and new ones are 

 constantly going up ; and in a few years it is trusted that 



