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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 



possessing three bed- rooms ; and so long as that is the 

 case, liowever desiraLle the father of a family may he, or 

 however mucli he may educate, we shall never find any 

 moral or material difference; wages may increase, means 

 of comfort may increase ; but so long as whole families 

 herd together, there can be no benefit morally. This 

 brings me to the conviction that in the attempt to raise 

 the condition of the labourer a wrong start has been made; 

 and if as much pains had been taken with the cottage 

 home as has been taken to provide school accommodation, 

 much greater good would have been effected." " Gene- 

 rally," says a Northumberland correspondent, " a great im- 

 provement has taken place in their cottages." " Tlie 

 home accommodation," writesa Bedford correspondent, "is 

 greatly improved in this county through the enlightened 

 policy of oiu: great landowner the Duke of Bedford, who 

 has built some hundreds of model cottages ; some land- 

 lords have followed his example, whilst others allow the 

 rural population to Uve in hovels fit only for swine, and in 

 which the moral senses of the young must become 

 blunted." " The house accommodation," says a IViltshire 

 correspondent, " of the labourers of this county is far from 

 what it sliould be. Of com'sc (as in all agricultural dis- 

 tricts) many of the cottages are old, and iU-coustructed, 

 having insufficient sleeping apartment for a proper divi- 

 sion of the sexes: whole families are huddled together, to 

 the destruction of all moral and virtuous feeling. It is 

 generally on small properties, and wliere cottages belong 

 to individuals whose only source of income is derived from 

 the cottages, tiiat we find the worst accommodation ; still 

 on some of the larger domains there are cottages that dis- 

 grace this fair land ; hut on the otlier liand I bear wil- 

 ling testimony to a much better state of things. I could 

 name many- influential landed proprietors who have ex- 

 pended large sums of money in erecting cottages on 

 their estates, wliere good and ample sleeping accommoda- 

 tion, and every convenient requisite for a cottage is to be 

 found, and let to the labourers at very moderate rents. I 

 may state that there is iisually a tolerably good garden at- 

 tached to the labourer's cottage, and the allotment system 

 is universal." It would be an easy matter to add to these 

 sketches; but enough has been given to show that 

 throughout England and Scotland' the condition of the la- 

 bourer's house accommodation may ;be described in one 

 sentence : " Improvement is going on, but going slowly • 

 badly arranged and constructed cottages, with deficient 

 accommodation arc too frequently, good cottages too sel- 

 dom, met with." But before leaving this department of 

 the subject, permit me to advert to two points in connec. 

 lion with it. The first of these is the system — having its 

 origin in what are called " close parishes," where cottage 

 building, from' the action of the " law of settlement," has not 

 been carried out — of having' the cottages of the labourers at 

 a distance from their work. I lately read in a country 

 newspaper — a statement to the efl^ect that a farm labom-er 

 i'n so many years had walked so many thousand miles to 

 and from his work ; and this was given in such a way as to 

 convey the idea that it was an announcement of which one 

 should be proud. For my part, I can scarcely find terms 

 strong enough to denounce the suicidal foUy and in- 

 liumano absurdity of this system. It is subversive of the 

 best interests of the labourer, and, I may here add, of the 

 landlord as well. It is neither more nor less than the 

 purest absurdity to expect that efficiency of labour can be 

 obtained when much of the physical vigour of the labourer 

 is wasted by merely walking to and from his work. How 



absurd would it seem to place the stables of a farm miles 

 away from it, wasting the time and strength of the horses 

 by going and returning therefrom ! And yet is the la- 

 bourer's time and the labourer's strength of less value 

 than that of horses? It would appear that some have 

 thought so. But what shall I say about, and how shall I cha- 

 racterise that reason, too often given on both sides of the 

 Tweed, for not building proper accommodation on every 

 farm for the labourers who assist in its cultivation, namely, 

 " because it does [not pay,?" As well and as reasonably 

 might landlords refuse to build the farm building ; the one 

 is just as necessary to the proper conduct of the farm as 

 the other. If I, as a tenant-farmer, require good and 

 healthy accommodation for my cattle, I certainly reqiiire 

 it just as much for my labourers, who attend them. Is the 

 health and strength of my servant a matter of no account 

 tome? This might have been so, when labour was at a 

 discount; but when it is at a premium, how vastly changed 

 the circumstances ! But this is taking the lowest possible 

 view of the matter, merely referring 'it to that standard 

 only — Will itpay. We must not overlook the higher consider- 

 ation of the case. If property has its privileges to boast 

 of, it assuredly has its duties to perform ; no consideration 

 of merely pecuniary interest can absolve the landowner 

 from the higher claims which the labourer has upon him. 

 He is placed over him, not as a tyrant to exercise rule, but 

 as a just judge to exercise judgment, as a father, to show 

 mercy and pity. I know of no position so grandly placed 

 for good as the landlord's, and I am ambitious to see him 

 in every district exercise it rightly. " Wealth iU used," to 

 quote the words of the most eloquent of modern writers, 

 "is as the net of the spider, entangling and destroying ,• 

 but wealth weU used, is as the net of the sacred fisher, 

 who gathers souls of men out of the deep." At the same 

 time the occupiers of land have a strong influence, which 

 they can bring to bear upon the landlord, if they please. 

 Let the farmers make it distinctly understood that they 

 look upon good cottages for the housing of the labourers 

 as important, in every sense of the term, as good farm 

 buildings. Let them, in, fact, point out that the machi- 

 nery, so to speak, of a fai-m is not complete, where either 

 defective buildings for stock, or for those who attend to 

 them, exist on the farm. I am quite aware that in these 

 days of competition for farms, there are these who gladly 

 take them with defective buildings, rather than rmi the 

 risk of not getting them by demanding those appliances 

 which they know are essential. At the same time the far- 

 mers have it much in their power to influence the landlord 

 on this subject of improved cottage accommodation; and 

 it behoves them, for the sake of their material as well as 

 their moral interests, to use this influence on all occasions. 

 It should ever be remembered that in this matter of ob- 

 taining improved house accommodation for the labourer, 

 he cannot help himself; this, from the nature of things, 

 cannot be his work. He has a right to claim this accom- 

 modation; for in no sense is it just to demand from him 

 the best of work and the most correct of conduct, when he 

 is forced to remain under circumstances of continual opera- 

 tions, tending to incapacitate him for the one, and unfit 

 him to maintain the other. So wide, indeed, is the sub- 

 ject now imder discussion, and so comprehensive in its 

 character, that I could go on filling up all my time, nay 

 greatly more than that, by giving you its details. But I 

 have already far exceeded the limits of this department of 

 my subject, and must at once proceed to consider thatof the 

 Education of the Labourer. Time will not permit me to 



