232 AGKICULTUKAL LABOUREES 



drunkard, tlie idler, and the poacher ; they relieve the 

 rates, and, if a cow is kept, improve the health of the 

 nation by supplying children with milk. Commercially 

 they pay where the size is not too great to occupy more 

 than the leisure time of the labourer, where the position is 

 readily accessible, and where the rent is fair and paid direct 

 to the landlord. 



England and Wales, at the present moment, contain 

 807,608 agricultural labourers, farm servants, and cottagers. 

 The table in Appendix XIV. shows that of this number 

 102,774 persons have potato-grounds or cow-runs; and 

 that there are 387,574 field and 257,482 garden allot- 

 ments. Thus more than three-fourths of the agricultural 

 labourers occupy land in one form or another. The field 

 allotments are for the most part conveniently placed, since, 

 out of 387,000, 318,000 lie within half a mile of the cot- 

 tages. A considerable number of those labourers who do 

 not possess allotments are lodgers, or sons living at home 

 with their parents. It is therefore strictly true that allot- 

 ments are almost universal in rural districts. 



The Table of Allotments has been drawn so as to show 

 the districts in which they preponderate. It is intended 

 for comparison with the Table of Wages,* which has been 

 similarly drawn. Comparatively few allotments exist in 

 grazing districts, where wages are relatively high ; they 

 are most numerous in the corn counties, where wages are 

 relatively low. 'It will be seen that the average weekly 

 wages of agricultural labourers were estimated in 1771 by 

 Arthur Young at 7s. b^cl. ; in 1824 they had risen to 

 9s. 7^d. ; in 1881, to 14s. bd. Thus not only do labourei'S 

 enjoy better cottages than heretofore, as well as a system 

 of allotments which is almost universal, but their nominal 

 ' See Appendix XV., ' Agricultural Wages.' 



