ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 77 



&quot; Scampton is the property of a gentleman (Sir George Cay- 

 ley, Bart.) of liberal views and enlarged benevolence. One of 

 his first movements, upon succeeding to the estate some thirty 

 years ago, was to provide for the comfort of those who, under his 

 superior tenants, were to be the immediate laborers upon his land. 



&quot; To fourteen cottages allotments of land were made. A 

 field of sixteen acres was set apart as pasturage, that each cot 

 tager might keep a cow and another field of twenty-six acres 

 was appropriated as mowing ground, that all might be provided 

 with fodder for the winter. Each cottage had an acre of tillage 

 land allotted to it in the field, and something like another half 

 acre as garden ground, around its little homestead. 



&quot; A cow club, or insurance, was established, to enable those 

 cottagers who lost a cow by casualty, to replace her immedi 

 ately, and without loss of time. 



&quot; In the spring of the year, the cows are valued by a compe 

 tent and disinterested person. Each cottager pays sixpence in 

 the pound on the value of his cow. Cows above fourteen years 

 of age are not insurable. If a cow dies within the year, the 

 owner receives three fourths of her value. The dead cow is the 

 property of the club. 



&quot; Sixpence in the pound, annually, has actually covered, to 

 three fourths of the value, all casualties upon a run of twenty 

 years. 



&quot; Under the inspection of a shrewd and spirited agent, the 

 whole affair has worked to admiration, and been productive of 

 peace and plenty amidst the little community whose happiness it 

 was designed to promote. No burning of stacks here, because 

 every man has one of his own. No invasion of the rights of 

 property, because every man is a possessor of property, and 

 anxious to guaranty his neighbor s rights, that he may hold his 

 own in the better security. 



&quot; The rent that each cottager pays is something less than 10 

 per annum. The produce that is yielded, much to the credit of 

 the humble cultivators, is abundantly ample to cover the out 

 goings, and leaves a surplus that makes them comfortable. 



11 The acre of tillage land is remarkably productive. It is 



divided into two allotments : half an acre is in wheat, the other 



half in potatoes ; alternating the crops, of course, every year. 



On this short rotation, the land has not suffered, but actually 



7* 



