m 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



subject of wages, I venture to hope tliat ere long the pay- 

 ment of "wages iu kind "will he aholished. I throw out 

 this suggestion with consitlerahle hesitancy ; for I am well 

 aware of the conveniences of the practice, and of the rea- 

 sons which can be offered for a continuance of it; but it 

 appears to me that the fairest way is to pay services in the 

 current coin of the realm, leaving the servant to do just as 

 he pleases with his wages. None of us, I take leave to 

 think, would like to he paid in the way in which some of 

 our farm-servants are paid. There is a species of constraint 

 and of forcing about it not consonant with our notions 

 of true British liberty ; for the servant has no choice in 

 the matter — it is not with him which of two, but this or 

 none — " Hobson's choice " truly. We all know how the 

 " truck " system in the manufacturing and mining dis- 

 tricts led to evils so great that legislative interference 

 ultimately put a stop to it. Now the system of paying 

 wages partly in money and partly in kind, practised in 

 some of our farming districts, is something of the " truck " 

 system, modified doubtless, and not capable — at least I do 

 not think it will ever be made so — of producing the evils 

 which the " truck " system in the manufacturing districts 

 produced; but I nevertlieless feel that it would be better 

 if the simple principle of paying money for services were 

 adopted in all our rural districts. As I said just now, I 

 throw out this with considerable hesitancy, and more 

 by way of inducing thought and discussion on the subject, 

 than of urging it as a necessity or a right to be expected 

 by the labourer. In connection with the subject of wages, 

 while on the one hand gladly seeing the better and daily 

 bettering position of the labourer, I regret bitterly to see 

 on the other a desii'c here and there, on his part, to intro- 

 duce the baneful practice of " strikes." Wherever this 

 unhappy tendency is seen to develope itself — and I much 

 fear that its development will, if things go on as they are 

 now going, progress pretty rapidly — every means should 

 be taken to disseminate the true principles of economy 

 amongst the labom-ers'; to show to them that "strikes" 

 benefit no one, but do an immense injury to both parties. 

 I [confess I am not at all surprised tliat this desii-e to 

 initiate " strikes " should show itself in our rural districts, 

 but I am not the less pained to find that it is so. The evil 

 if possible should be nipped at its early stages, and not 

 allowed to assume such dimensions as to make its removal 

 a matter of great difiiculty. It is not for me here to sug- 

 gest the mode in which the evil can thus be stopped at its 

 early stage. As regards the rate of wages, modes of pay- 

 ment, &c., now existing in various districts of England and 

 Scotland, I have received a compai'atively complete series 

 of statements from numerous correspondents ; time alto- 

 gether fails me to give these in the words of my correspon- 

 dents. I therefore faU back upon a very valuable return 

 given lately in the pages of the Agricultural Gazeiie, and 

 from which I have prepared — with the kind permission of 

 the editor — the following brief statements. These have 

 reference to the wages of able-bodied ploughmen only, 

 time not permitting me to give those of shepherds and 

 labourers employed during harvest time. These will be 

 found by reference to the No. of the Agricultural Gazette 

 for April 28th, 1860. Taking the counties of Scotland 

 given in the return, we find the rate of wages as follows : 

 Inverness, ^613 yearly, with free house. Aberdeen, ^22 

 yearly, with board and lodging. Elgin, Ts. Cd. weekly, with 

 food; and ^£13 10s. yearly, with 3 bolls of meal, house, fire 

 and light free. Forfar, 8s. weekly, with perquisites equal 

 to 7s, 6d. weekly ; also 12s. per week, Z<V/i', Us. Cd, weekly. 



Stirling, 1.3s. to 15s. weekly. East Lothian, 12s. 6d. weekly, 

 paid in grain and cow-keep. Mid Lothian, ^£21 yearly, with 

 l,0-')01bs. of oatmeal and 961bs. of potatoes, coals carted, 

 four weeks of food at harvest, and house free; also 13s. 

 weekly. Ayr, 12s. weekly. Roxburgh, ditto. Berwick, 

 lis.; and Wigtown, 14s. weekly. Taking in similar 

 manner the counties of England given in the return, we 

 find the wages of able-bodied ploughmen to be as follows : 

 Northumberland, 15s. weekly, with perquisites worth 3s. 6d. 

 a-day extra iu harvest, with a few presents at Christmas ; 

 also 15s. weekly, with 2 bushels of wheat, 2 bushels of 

 barley, 30 stones of potatoes, house free, and coals carried. 

 Cumberland, ,£18 yeai-ly ; also £21 yearly, with food and 

 cottage. Durham, 15s. and 12s., with four tons of coal. 

 Forlcshire, 14s. weekly ; ,£17 yearly, with meal. Lancashire, 

 15s. weekly. Derbyshire, Us. yifeekly. Notts, 10s. weekly, 

 with rations. Cheshire, 12s. to 14s. weekly. Lincolnshire, 

 lOs. to 17s. weekly. Shropshire, lis. weekly, with 2 quarts of 

 beer aday and fuel hauled. Warwickshire, 12s. Od. weekly, 

 with one quart of beer per day; also lis., with house and 

 garden free, potato ground free, beer and double wages iu 

 harvest. Rutlandshire, 12s. 3d. weekly, with one quart of 

 beer a-day. Leicestershire, 12s. weekly, with cottage free, 

 coal hauled, and sometimes 2 bushels of malt. Stafford- 

 shire, 10s. weekly. Northamptonshire, 12s. weekly, with 

 beer, and 6d. for every 10 quarters of corn delivered. 

 Worcestershire, lis. to 12s. weekly, with 2 quarts of beer 

 aday, and 20s. extra at harvest. Herefordshire, 10s. weekly, 

 with cottage and garden worth 2s. 6d., and eider daily 

 worth 20s., and in harvest 3s. 6d. a-week ; also 10s. weekly, 

 cottage, garden, cider, and potato ground, with 4s. a-week. 

 Monmouth, 10s. weekly, with cider and ground equal to 

 2s. extra. Gloucestershire, lis. weekly, with cottage Is., 

 beer Is., and 20s. harvest. Oxfordshire, 12s. to 15s. weekly. 

 Berkshire, 10s. weekly, and 20s. at Michaelmas ; Os. weekly, 

 with house and garden free, potato ground free, beer and 

 double wages in harvest. Bucks, lis. to 14s. weekly, 

 Herts, 12s. weekly. Cambridgeshire, 10s. to lis. weekly. 

 Norfolk, 10s. 6d. weekly. Suffolk, 10s. weekly, with per- 

 quisites. Essex, 12s. weekly, house free; also lis. and 

 12s. weekly, with beer at certain times. Sussex, 13s. 

 weekly, beer when carting, and .£1 at harvest. Hants, lOs. 

 to 12s. weekly. Dorset, 8s. weekly, house and garden, 

 potato land ploughed, furz^ faggots, carriage of fuel, 20s- 

 for harvest, and beer Is. journey with team, beer at hay- 

 making, and wheat at 5s. per bushel; also 9s., with per- 

 quisites. Somei-sct, 10s. weekly. Wilts, 9s. to 10s. 

 weekly, with cottage and garden free, 4 bushels of 

 malt, and Is. per 10 quarters of corn delivered; 9s. 

 weeldy, with harvest money 65s. Devon, lis. to 14s. 

 weekly. Cornujall and Carmarthen, 12s. weekly. 

 Having now glanced at the house- accommodation and the 

 education of the agricultui-al labourer, the mode by which 

 he can offer his services to the farmer, and the way and 

 degree in which he is remunerated, I propose vei-y briefly 

 to advert to the recreations of the labourer-, and to the 

 facilities which are offered him for spending his spare 

 time. I regret to say that, so far as I have been able to 

 ascertain, these facilities are very few, and not always 

 of the best of character. In many districts the spare time 

 ©f the labourer is miserable in amount. Labour, if rightly 

 directed, should give to him who exercises it, not only 

 v/herewith to provide for the necessities, but also for the 

 rest and the luxuries of life. The condition of the 

 labourer is truly painful and that of society unsound 

 where " the time for rest is swallowed up in labour," A 



