60 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



ground, being considered a full day s work. The other laborers 

 begin labor at six o clock in the morning, and work until six in 

 the afternoon, with the intermission of half an hour for breakfast 

 and an hour for dinner. No laborer leaving his employment 

 before the termination of his engagement, without good and 

 sufficient reason, can recover any portion of his wages ; and no 

 employer, without equal reason, can dismiss a laborer before the 

 end of the term for which he is engaged. In general, however, 

 laborers continue for years in the same employment, especially 

 married men ; and it is extremely interesting, speaking well both 

 for master and servant, to see men and women who have remained 

 in the same service twenty, thirty, forty, and even fifty years, 

 and their children coming forward to take their places. In such 

 cases, they become, as it were, an integral part of the establish 

 ment, and both parties are equally benefited. 



In some parts of the country, as in Lincolnshire for example, 

 twice a year, in the spring and autumn, are held, in some princi 

 pal market towns, statute fairs, vulgarly called &quot; Statties,&quot; where 

 young men and women wanting service assemble, and persons 

 wanting laborers or servants go there to supply their wants. 

 Such arrangements have certainly many advantages ; but they 

 have also their evils, and the assembling of large numbers of 

 men and women, in such cases, with, not unfrequently, the usual 

 accompaniments of a Fair, are said to lead to much dissolute 

 ness and dissipation. This is to be expected. This arrange 

 ment serves to average the rate of wages, and must be to all 

 parties a great saving of time. In the present condition of 

 female labor in the United States, there could be none but the 

 worthless to offer themselves in this way : but with respect to 

 young men seeking employment, there would be great advan 

 tages in having a day and place fixed in some principal town, 

 when and where persons wishing for employment might be 

 found by persons wishing to employ them ; and such an &quot; Ex 

 change &quot; might be annually held to advantage. An arrange 

 ment of this kind has often recommended itself to my mind for 

 its convenience, and I have, before this, urged its adoption. 



I have endeavored, with strict regard to truth, to state what I 

 understand to be the condition of the agricultural population in 

 this country. Further inquiries may serve to correct, or modify 

 my views on this subject. I am perfectly aware hoAv difficult it 



