USEFUL PROJECTS. 



833 



punctual in payina; his rent. But, 

 however the balance may be in other 

 respects, one considerable advantage 

 will always be derived from the ex- 

 tension of this plan, in the reduction 

 of the poor's rate. If, indeed, the 

 31 Eliz. c. 7, could have been acted 

 upon, or moditied, rather than re- 

 pealed, it might have prevented the 

 expencc of poor's rates in country 

 parishes. It prohibited the build- 

 ing of any cottages in the country, 

 unless there be set four acres of land 

 lying near the same, to be continually 

 occupied therewith, SiC. &c. 



I have the pleasure of adding the 

 following extract of a letter, written 

 to me Jan. 29, 1796, in answer to 

 an inquiry, by the rev. Archibald 

 Alison, rector of Kenley, in this 

 county, the facts of which will best 

 bespeak the merits of its author: — 

 " AV'ith regard to the experiment in 

 this parish, it is much too (rilling 

 and too recent to deserve any atten- 

 tion. Thirty acres, you know, were 

 :i! lotted to me in the divisioii of the 

 i ommon, and they were divided into 

 ti>n shares, to accommodate the poor 

 people of the common, who had the 

 largest families, at the same rent that 

 ■was paid for the other part. It is 

 only three years since this took 

 place, and I can say little, there- 

 fore, with respect to the effects I 

 most wished to follow from it. 

 That it has added to the comfort of 

 the people in that time, I have every 

 reason to believe, both from their 

 own acknowledgments, and from the 

 anxiety of the rest to possess the 

 same advantages. I think I may 

 say also, that it has added, in some 

 measure, to their industry. The 

 land in general is in a better state 

 than any of that which was inclosed 

 at the same time. 'Ihe poorest 

 among thiin have all carried lime, 



Vol. XI. VI. 



collected road-stuflf, burnt weeds, 

 &c. and some of them have certainly 

 manured higher tlian any of the far- 

 mers in our parish. Two of them 

 have built cottages at tlieir own ex- 

 pence, and shewn a little dispositioa 

 to ornament, by white-washing 

 them, kc. In so short a time, these 

 are at least not unpromising appear- 

 ances. With regard to the quan- 

 tity of land which may be allowed 

 to cottagers, without diminishing 

 their industry, as day-labourers, it 

 will not be easy to determine. If I 

 were to judge from this parish, I 

 shou'd be disposed to think, that 

 more than three acres might very 

 safely be given. The most decent, 

 industrious, and well-doing of the 

 lower people among us, are four or 

 five families, who have from live to 

 eight or ten acres a-piece. They 

 have brought up their families with- 

 out any parish assistance, and their 

 children are in general better edu- 

 cated, better behaved, and set out 

 better in the world, than any others 

 of the same rank among us. These 

 little farms, indeed, are always in 

 grass, as I apprehend they will al- 

 ways naturally be when not exceed- 

 ing these limits. The smaller far- 

 mers with us, of from 20 to 30 

 acres, who are induced to keep 

 something like a team, are much the 

 poorest and most wretched people 

 among us." 



To this account I must add, what 

 Mr. Alison's delicacy has concealed, 

 that in setting these allotments at 

 the current price, viz. seven siiillings 

 per a<re, he promised not to raise 

 that rent in consequence of any im- 

 provements the original tenauts may 

 make, which wQuld have the opera- 

 tion of a lease for the time of his in- 

 cumbency. A farther promise also 

 was holdea ©ut, — that a jury of 



3 H farmers 



