32 



Park Place, Henley-on-Thames, Jan. 31, 1882. 



Dear Sir. — In reply to your enquiry of the 2Sth inst., I may tell you -we 

 have discontinued giving beer during harvest for some years, and. instead, the 

 men get tea and oatmeal drink, and Is. "beer money." as it is called: but I 

 have given directions that, in future, instead of Is. the men shall receive 9d. 

 only, thinking the drink is quite equivalent to the diflFcrence; and this. I 

 trust, will be an inducement for farmers and others to follow my example, 

 which thev would not do if I gave the Is. — 1 am. faithfiillv vours, 



iAIr. John Abbe}. .K)IiN NOlJLE. 



Captain Tkottkh. of Dyrham Park, near Harnet, says: — " Having tried 

 the system of total abstinence last year during the hay season with my men. 

 1 have found it answer in every respect perfectly. I had my men from 

 Bedfordshire, and. having calculated the expense of the former allowance of 

 beer per day per man. I gave them exactly the same amount in money, and 

 my bailiff assures me that nothing couli be more regular than the men, and 

 on Monday morning, instead of being weaker, as formerly, from the effects of 

 Saturday's and Sunday's drinking they were refreshed and stronger than 

 ever; that he never had an angry word during the whole season, and never 

 heard an oath ; and such was the success, that I shall never have any more 

 beer in my fields, and I know that I shall be as much benefited by the 

 steadiness of the men as the men will by the saving of their constitutions and 

 money. Many persons came during the hay season to see the dinners go 

 into the hay -fields, which one of the men cooked at their expense for his time, 

 and instead of cans of beer and a little bread and cheese, a large wheelbarrow 

 full of roast and boiled meat, in large pans, and potatoes, &c., and a pailful of 

 coff'ee were sent to them. Two or three of my neighbours tried the same plan 

 with similar success." — Aylesbury News. 



FARMERS AND TEMPERANCE. 



A meeting of a novel character was held at the Temperance Hall. Frome, 

 December, 1877. All the addresses were given by farmers. Mr. D. H. .Iovce, 

 of Beckington, presided, and referred to the change which had been wrought 

 in public opinion. He then adverted to the immense waste and destruction 

 of grain in the manufactuie of alcoholic drinks, which were admitted by the 

 leading men in the medical profession to be almost useless. For considerably 

 more than thirty years he had not given alcoholic drinks to his men, and he 

 had been an abstainer himself about forty years. At first he met with a good 

 deal of opposition, but it was soon found that any kind of farm work could 

 be done on temperance principles. After a hard day's work, teetotal labourers 

 were better fitted for work the next morning than those who took stimulants. 



Mr. G. Jarvis, of Kilmington, said he could boast of twenty-four years 

 experience, and on looking back upon his past life he felt ashamed that he did 

 not adopt teetotalism earlier, although he never liked alcoholic beverages. He 

 signed the pledge, for the sake of example to his children and others. He told 

 his men he should not give them any more drink, but he would give them its 

 equivalent in money. The small beer which many farmers gave their men 

 cost about Gd. a week for each in the winter ; he gave his men Is. extra in the 

 winter and 8.s. in the summer. He only had one man leave him in consequence, 

 and never found any difficulty in carrying out his plan. He would like to see 

 the men who M'ould not work as much for money as for beer. When the 

 harvest time came he once found that his men had sent for a jar of cider, but 

 he told them he should not allow that again, and that if either of the men 

 could not work without cider, he would pay him his Mages. One of his men 

 saved his beer money and bought a load of coal, while his wife saved hers and 

 purchased him a pair of trousers. About eight years ago he took another farm 

 a long distance from Kilmington, where there Mere eleven acres of orchard 

 and a good crop of apples. When the apples were ripe people asked him what 

 he was going to do with them, for of course the rent had to be paid. He told 

 them he should make them into butter and cheese. The season was a very 

 bad one for haymaking, so he set the chaff'-cutter to work cutting up straw, 



