A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



county. The Shorthorn, pure or cross-bred, is 

 almost universally used for the dairy with, in 

 some places, a few Lincoln Reds, and the same 

 two breeds are most in favour with graziers, the 

 former being the favourite, the best all-round 

 animal. Very few farmers breed any horses 

 except for their own use, but the limited supply 

 of hunters and hacks here as elsewhere helps to 

 keep up the price. The Lincoln is without 

 doubt the favourite sheep in Nottinghamshire, 

 frequently crossed with the Hampshire or some- 

 times the Oxford, but year by year an increasing 

 number of the Border sheep are bought, known 

 locally as Baumshires, but really a first cross be- 

 tween Cheviots and Border Leicesters, and these 

 are crossed again with Hampshires. In pigs, the 

 large white seems generally preferred, though 

 there are many middle whites, Berkshires, Tarn- 

 worths, and crossbreds. 



In spite of fallen rents and increased taxation, 

 landowners have as a rule kept the farm-houses 

 and buildings in a good state, often at great cost 

 to themselves, the county being fortunate in the 

 possession of a number of public-spirited land- 

 lords. There are in most parts sufficient cottages 

 with fair accommodation, and near Edwinstowe 

 it is curious to hear of many isolated ones standing 

 empty and going to ruin ; on the other hand 

 near Bingham there are always half a dozen 

 applicants for any cottage that is to let. Their 

 rent varies from 2 to jCj a year, but there are 

 more at from ^4 to 5 in the purely agricul- 

 tural districts, the highest rents being near the 

 collieries ; often cottages are let with the farms 

 and not separately rented. Mr. Rider Haggard 

 found the labour question the blackest of all ; men 

 would not milk, and some farmers consequently 

 were compelled to give up their cows ; in one 

 village nearly the whole of the young people had 

 gone, and everywhere the young men were de- 

 serting the country. To-day the outlook is not 

 quite so bad ; several districts report the labour 

 supply as sufficient, except during prosperous 

 times in the collieries, when men rush off thither; 

 in others it is, however, very deficient : as for 

 the quality, the universal opinion is that it has 

 deteriorated, there are few skilled workmen, and 

 the present system of education, from an agricul- 

 tural point of view, has done more harm than 

 good judging by its results. The boys are kept 

 at school too long and do not take to farm-work 

 as easily as when they started younger, they are 

 not ' broken in ' soon enough, and prefer the 

 glamour of the pavement. 



Yet the wages generally paid in the county 



are high, and with the low cottage rents, and the 

 good gardens, a man would on the whole be as 

 well off as in the town, and much healthier. At 

 Ruddington the late Mr. Charles Paget initiated 

 the half-time system to counteract the effect of 

 too much school, with great success. He dupli- 

 cated the boys on his farm so that each spent a 

 day at school and a day on the farm, and they 

 are said to have become capable farmers, while 

 at the same time their schoolwork did not suffer. 

 The ordinary labourer earns from 1 5*. to 2Os. a. 

 week ; with the lower wage often getting a 

 cottage in addition, and there are various extras 

 in harvest-time. A carter or a shepherd earns 

 from 1 8* . to i a week, generally with a cottage 

 rent-free, and extras for harvest and lambing. 

 Very few itinerant Irish labourers come over for 

 the harvest, although it is not so long since 

 they crossed in numbers ; and the employment of 

 women in field-work has fortunately decreased 

 largely, many now refusing to turn out when 

 asked. 



Allotments are not much in favour in the 

 county, especially in agricultural districts where 

 a good garden is better for the man and his 

 employer ; but they are a good ' stand by ' for 

 colliers and artisans when trade is irregular. 

 Where there are small holdings, in the ordinary 

 acceptation of the term, they are from one to 

 fifty acres, held at a rent of from 2OS. to 30*. an 

 acre ; but the men who occupy them as a rule are 

 not agricultural labourers, but men who do cart- 

 ing, small tradesmen, dealers, and others. The 

 yeoman class, who farm their own land, have 

 gone on steadily decreasing, and now in some 

 districts have completely disappeared ; yet in one 

 village at least, near Bingham, men are still farm- 

 ing their own land that has been handed down 

 to them from their forefathers. 



Like other counties, Nottinghamshire has been 

 active in the formation of agricultural societies. 

 Besides the county society there are several local 

 ones, such as those of Newark, Mansfield, Basset- 

 law, the Welbeck Tenants, Clumber Tenants, 

 and Moorgreen Tenants, and others, all doing 

 valuable work. In agricultural education also 

 the county is abreast of the times, nearly all the 

 instruction in this direction being carried out 

 through the Midland Agricultural and Dairy 

 College, which is also supported by Derbyshire, 

 Leicestershire, and the Lindsey division of Lin- 

 colnshire. Among other work experiments are 

 carried out on different farms, with the satisfactory 

 result that the demand for more is steadily in- 

 creasing. 



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