148 ENGLISH RURAL LIFE 



introduced in the years that followed were few but 

 important. The mowing and reaping machines enor- 

 mously reduced harvest work. The elevators also 

 saved labour. Moreover, the railways brought coal to 

 the country to be used by steam-engines to drive 

 threshing-machines ; this resulted in a further saving. 

 As the years passed hedges were cut down and the 

 fields grew larger, whilst the same tendency affected 

 the farms themselves, which were constantly being 

 thrown together. Estates were also being enlarged, 

 and in 1873 4>OOO individuals owned more than half 

 the land of England and Wales. 



In 1834 the Poor Law Amendment Act 1 extended 

 to the whole of England an arrangement already 



adopted in some districts, whereby parishes 

 The poor. were grouped into * Unions.' Each Union 



was to have its own workhouse, and was 

 to be controlled by * Guardians of the Poor * elected 

 from the parishes. The old system of allowances was 

 abolished by the same Act ; all able-bodied paupers 

 who required relief had to come into the Union work- 

 house to be there set to work, whilst outdoor relief 

 was provided for widows and the aged and others 

 who could not be considered as able-bodied. Into the 

 workhouses came not only a selection of the able- 

 bodied but, as permanent inmates, a miscellaneous 

 collection of unfortunate people, including pauper 

 imbeciles and many pauper children. 



The system of responsibility of the parish for the 

 paupers who had * settled ' within its boundaries con- 

 tinued after the act of 1834, and as a result there was 

 still a tendency to get rid of cottages and take other 

 1 See Appendix, p. 171. 



