438 The Improvement of Waste Lands 



.average size of the gardens is from a sixth to a fifth of an imperial 

 acre, and by the steadier portion of the men they are well managed, 

 but by a good many they are totally neglected. The land, instead 

 of being of secondary quality, is often above the average of the 

 district. In several instances which have come under my own 

 observation fields have been taken from tenant-farmers, who paid 

 upwards of 21. per imperial acre, and set apart as gardens for the 

 miners. The plots are laid out like allotments, and frequently, 

 by the men, called by that name. The appearance of these gar- 

 dens, however, is often very uninviting. A great many of them 

 are never planted, and they clothe themselves with weeds, which 

 run to seed and blow over the others. They are frequently made 

 grazing ground, and several old asses and worn-out ponies be- 

 longing to the miners may be seen tethered to the uncultivated 

 plots to eat the spontaneous crop of weeds. Other plots again 

 are taken up as playgrounds for games of quoits and pigeon- 

 shooting matches, the favourite sports of the miners of the north. 

 This is no exceptional state of matters — it presents itself in the 

 majority of the mining districts of the north of England. 



One very obvious reason for such neglect of the gardens is that, 

 as a class, the miners are so unsettled and migratory in their habits. 

 It is no unusual thing for 300 or 400 families to draft themselves 

 off from one colliery at the annual term, and for as many fresh 

 ones to come to occupy their places — not to take into account the 

 large number of casuals who come and go all the year round. 

 These families form no attachment either to their gardens or the 

 neighbourhood, and it is much against their behaviour and general 

 morality, for before either the clergyman or missionary becomes 

 properly acquainted with them, they have made their exit to 

 another mine, perhaps ten or twenty miles distant. Another 

 reason for the neglect of the garden-plots is that the land 

 becomes potato-sick to some extent, from the want of a proper 

 rotation of cropping being followed. Many of the men have also 

 a difficulty in getting manure for their gardens. Those who are 

 improvident in their habits are careless about collecting manure 

 until it is wanted, and because they have none and cannot afford 

 to buy it the garden is either planted too late or not planted 

 at all. Those, however, who look a little way before them have 

 no difficulty in collecting sufficient manure by keeping a pig, by 

 collecting droppings on the highways, and by forming compost- 

 heaps of vegetable and other matter. If they leave at the term 

 they sell their manure to their successor or other parties ; but 

 these generally are the men who remain. 



Whether the allotment system, properly so called, would work 

 well amongst miners I am not prepared to say ; but when they 

 neglect to cultivate what they have in a manner rent-free, it seems 

 like an argument against the plan. There appears at least some 



