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to be too liberal. The form buildings erected within the 

 but twenty yean are, in general, well planned and com- 

 modious, and have no doubt contributed to introduce sub- 

 stantial tenants, and an improved system of husbandry. 



Labnurtrt. The system adopted in Berwickshire, and 

 generally in the north of England and in Scotland with 

 respect to labourers, is well worth the attention of their 

 southern neighbours. The unmarried men ore mostly 

 lodged and boarded in the farm-house, the married men 

 have cottages on the farm : the rent of the cottage is a part 

 of their wages. The cottages are built at a small expense, 

 generally in rows, and without upper floors. The expense of 

 erecting one of the simplest construction is not above 20/. ; 

 and the fitting it with fixture cupboards and beds, which 

 are generally boarded and closed in with doors, somewhat 

 like the berths in a ship, will cost from 10/. to IS/, more. A 

 table, a few chairs, a chaff bed, and a very few kitchen 

 utensils, will set up a young labourer and his wife in his 

 new home. They are, however, more provident in general 

 than the labourers in the south, the poor-rates being but a 

 slender refuge against misery ; and when a young man takes 

 his wife into the cottage provided for him, they have pro- 

 bably some little money between them, beyond what is 

 merely necessary to begin to keep house wivn, which they 

 have saved out of their wages. A very interesting account 

 of the mode in which the labourer is paid in the south of 

 Scotland appeared in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, 

 published in December, 1 834, from which, as the latest au- 

 thority, we abstract what follows : 



' The terms of engagement of a married ploughman, or 

 hind, as he is called in this district, are as follows : he has a 

 cottage and garden rent free ; the run of a cow in summer ; 

 straw and three cart-loads of turnips in winter to keep her ; 

 or, instead of the turnips, sixty stones of hay, as may suit 

 his master best; the produce of 1000 yards of potatoes, 

 measured along the drill, for which he must find seed, his 

 master finding the dung and labour ; sixty bushels of oats ; 

 six bushels of peas ; eighteen bushels of barley of the best 

 quality, after the seed has been taken out. This is given 

 about Christmas. Formerly as much land was given as a 

 peck of lint-seed could be sown on, but this is now generally 

 commuted for 500 yards of potatoes in addition to the 1000 

 mentioned before. This is owing to the cheapness of the 

 linen manufacture, which discourages the women from spin- 

 ning flax and having it woven. In one point of view this is 

 a loss, spinning being a good employment of spare time. 

 Formerly poultry and sheep were kept for the labourer, but 

 they are now generally commuted for money; 15*. being 

 given yearly instead of the poultry, and 3l. for the sheep. 

 Coals are driven for the ploughman, if required, which is 

 generally a back carriage when the corn is taken to market. 

 The whole of these allowances may be reckoned to the farmer 

 as equivalent to a payment of 26/. a year, or lo.s. weekly; 

 but to the ploughman they are worth much more than that 

 sum in money. The cow not only supplies the family with 

 wholesome food, but brings money by the sale of butter and 

 cheese. The wife, or the daughter if grown up, is bound to 

 work for the farmer whenever she is required at Sd. or I Oil. 

 a day, especially in harvest. At this time she must work as 

 long at it is light, as well as her husband, but then they are 

 both fed at the farm. The manure of the cow belongs to 

 the farmer. The garden is manured from the pig-sty, B pig 

 being generally fed for the consumption of the family. The 

 shepherd has, besides this, the keep of eight ewes winter 

 and summer, which make his wages equal to 35/. a year. 

 This increase is on account of the greater responsibility of 

 hi* situation. The farm-steward has a similar addition in 

 money or grain. Unmarried ploughmen living with their 

 parents receive similar allowances, except the keep of the 

 cow, for which they have an equivalent in money. When 

 they are fed in the house with the domestic servants, they 

 receive about 5/. half-yearly as wages. Females living in 

 the house receive 5/. or 6/. for the summer half-year, and 

 2/. or 31. for the winter. They milk the cows, attend to the 

 dairy, and, when not so employed, work in the fields. Stable- 

 boys have their food, and Hi. or 6/. per annum. All the 

 farm-servants are hired by the year, the domestic servants 

 half-yearly. There are various hiring-markets in March, 

 which are well attended. Reapers, both men and women, 

 M I2t. t.) 1 i. per week and their victuals, consisting of 

 oatmeal porridge and milk for breakfast and supper, and a 

 pound and a half of wheaten bread and a qucrt of beer for 

 dinner; they have half a pint of beer besides in the after- 



noon.' (See Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, p. 360, 

 December, 1834.) 



There is a practice in Berwickshire, advantageous to all 

 parties, of lotting small portions of grass-land to cottagers, 

 mechanics, and small trade-in. H m villages, which ei 

 them to keep a cow without being incumbcrcd with land. 

 They pay a high rent for the grass, but this is the whole 

 outlay. Several proprietors of cows frequently join to lure 

 the feed of a field. The "high rent remunerates the farmer, 

 and the milk and butter of the cow are cheaply obtain* d 

 by the owner. This is a kind of division of labour ulm-li 

 also takes place on a larger scale in the letting of tun. 

 breeders and jobbers of sheep, instead of the grower pur- 

 chasing a flock, which he may be obliged to sell at a loss 

 when the turnips fail. At all events the breeder and jobber 

 are more likely to make a profit by the sheep, which is tlifir 

 trade, than the farmer, whose attention is taken up with the 

 various operations on his farm. 



The system of cultivation generally adopted on the arable 

 land, is that which consists in having a great part of the 

 land in artificial grass and green crops for a certain time, 

 generally from two to four years, and then breaking it up 

 for corn ; by which means a much larger quantity of land 

 may be cultivated with a given number of men and horses ; 

 the grass being chiefly fed off with the farmer's own stock, 

 or let off to others who have more cattle or sheep than their 

 land will maintain. 



The rent of land, taking its quality into consideration, is 

 higher than in any part of England, even if the poor-rates 

 and tithes be added to the English rent. This is owing partly 

 to the greater skill and capital of the farmers, and partly to 

 the steadiness and industry of the labourers, which lessens 

 the expense of cultivation. From !/. to 5/. per Scotch acre, 

 equal to 14 English, is not uncommon even now. Corn- 

 rents were common at one time, and begin to be introduced 

 again, but most of the leases granted within the last thirty 

 years are at a fixed money rent. Personal services, and boon 

 rents, that is, certain specific payments in kind to the landlord, 

 such as poultry, butter, or cheese, are now unknown. The 

 landlords find it more convenient to have horses and servants 

 of their own, than to trust to the compulsory services of the 

 tenants, which are never well performed, and are a great 

 hinderance to the regular work of a farm. All tithes, with 

 very trifling exceptions, were commuted above two centu- 

 ries ago. There is something in the shape of a poor-rate, 

 half of which is paid by the tenant, and half by the land- 

 lord, as well as the salary to the schoolmaster ; but the 

 amount is trifling. In 1808, according to the agricultural 

 survey, the whole charge on the tenant amounted to no 

 more than 2d. in the pound. The poor-rate has however 

 increased very considerably since, but not so as to be com- 

 pared to that which presses so bard upon the farmer in 

 some parts of England. 



When a tenant takes possession of his farm, the buildings 

 are delivered to him in good repair, and he must maintain 

 them so at his own expense, during the term of his k';i-e. 

 The covenants of a lease are generally very simple, and 

 liberal as to the mode of cropping. The tenant is bound to 

 consume all the straw on the premises, and leave what re- 

 mains in the last year for his successor. In consequent e 

 of some spiteful tenants consuming the straw by burning 

 it, in order to injure their successors, a clause prohibiting 

 this waste has been sometimes inserted in a lease ; but it is 

 unnecessary, since an action for damages might be sus- 

 tained at law, and such conduct would most likely be se- 

 verely punished in the damages awarded. The in-coming 

 tenant has usually the right to sow clover and grass-seeds, 

 with a part of the last tenant's crop of corn : and he enters 

 on the land intended for turnips or fallow half a year or 

 more before the expiration of the lease. In fact, this part 

 of the land should be given up immediately after the liar 

 vest of the last year but one, or it should be ploughed 

 before winter for the next tenant, at a stipulated price. Thr 

 out-going tenant has the use of the barn and rick-yard, for 

 securing and threshing out his corn ; and he is bound la 

 thresh it regularly, so as to supply the cattle of the new 

 tenant with straw, or he may bo compelled to do so, by 

 application to the sheriff or his substitute. 



A general clause of good husbandry is always inserted 

 in all leases, and in case of wilful mismanagement, a jury 

 would give adequate damages. It is sometimes stipulated 

 that no two white straw crops shall be taken in succession, 

 and that the turnips shall be drilled in rows. When the 



