38 



WARWICK. Owing to the small returns from land many 

 acres have been put to pasture or are neglected. Mr. Graves 

 writes : " In my immediate neighbourhood there are six farms 

 comprising 790 acres on which only four labourers are regularly 

 employed." Mr. Sale writes : " Farmers do with as few men 

 as possible. Many north country farmers have settled here, 

 and having large families do a great deal of the work them- 

 selves. There is also a want of better and conveniently-situated 

 cottages on many of our farms, and this often prevents men 

 from remaining on the land." Mr. Lane writes : ' ' The ten- 

 dency amongst farmers is to reduce the wages bill by every 

 possible means and to live like labourers themselves." The 

 higher wages obtainable and the greater variety in life offered 

 have attracted many to the towns, and increased educational 

 facilities have contributed to this result. 



DIVISION III. 



(a.) Counties of Salop, Worcester, Gloucester, Wilts, Monmouth 



and Hereford. 



SALOP. Farmers' shortness of capital has led to the laying 

 down of arable land to grass, and consequently to the 

 employment of fewer hands. Old and dilapidated cottages 

 have been allowed to decay or have been pulled down, and few 

 new ones have been built, as they do not afford an adequate 

 return for the outlay. This cause is assigned in the Chirbury 

 and Ellesmere districts. Mr. Thursfield, however, snys : "I do 

 not recognise the decline in my district. The houses and 

 cottages are as fully occupied as formerly, and more are pro- 

 vided." Another alleged cause of the decline is the prospect 

 of higher wages and the other allurements incident to town life. 



WORCESTER. Mr. Wheeler gives the following reasons for 

 the decline : 



(a) The unprofitable nature of farming has led to the cutting 

 down of labour as much as possible ; farmers have no money 

 to employ men in the winter, consequently labourers not in 

 regular work are apt to drift away. 



(b) The old custom of lodging young hands in the farmhouses 

 has largely died out, and boys of the age of 17 to 20 having 

 often no comfortable home get discontented and drift off to the 

 towns in the hope of higher wages. 



(c) "There is to some extent a lack of free cottages (i.e., 

 cottages where the occupier is not bound to work for one 

 employer), but this is not universal. " I often come across very 

 fair cottages uninhabited and being allowed to fall to ruin, 

 when a little outlay would make them better than many that 

 are occupied in the towns. Free cottages are always more 

 sought after than tied cottages, but on the other hand it _is 

 absolutely necessary for farmers to have some men bound to 



