43 



been compelled to economise in their outlay on labour. The 

 custom of boarding single men in the farmhouses and the diffi- 

 culties which married labourers experience in obtaining a 

 settlement on the land appear to have contributed to the decline ; 

 this is referred to more fully under Question III. (see p. 73). 



YORK (WEST RIDING). The low price of farm produce com- 

 bined with advancing wages has made it necessary for farmers 

 to employ the least possible amount of labour. Repairs and 

 improvements are greatly neglected, and the productiveness of 

 the land is in consequence impaired. Strong arable land which 

 under the plough employed more labour than the lighter lan'd, 

 has been laid down to grass. Machinery also is more exten- 

 sively used. On the other hand the dulness of country life and 

 the necessity for the agriculturist to work seven days a week 

 have caused many to seek employment in the towns, where 

 shorter hours, higher wages, and more leisure and amusements 

 can be obtained. 



(b.) Counties of Cumberland, Westmorland, Lancashire, Cheshire, 

 Derby and Stafford. 



CUMBERLAND. The chief cause of the decline has been the 

 conversion of arable land into pasture with a view to reducing 

 the labour bill. Mr. Dobson writes : " Beyond oats and turnips, 

 arable cultivation has sunk to a minimum hereabouts. As much 

 land is kept in grass as is possible, and with the aid of larger 

 quantities of cake for feeding, as well as of slag and kainit 

 for top-dressing grass, cattle and sheep are reared with the 

 minimum of ploughed land. While considerable areas of oats 

 and turnips are grown this is accomplished with much less 

 hired labour, in many cases the farmer's family themselves 

 working a considerable-sized farm. Corn stubble used to be 

 ploughed repeatedly in preparation for roots ; this is now done 

 almost entirely by ' spring-tooth ' cultivators, thus economising 

 team la,bour." In other ways, also, labour is dispensed with 

 by the use of improved machinery. Again, the higher rate of 

 wages offered in towns, quarries, mines, iron works, &c., to- 

 gether with shorter hours, Saturday half -holiday, and absence 

 of Sunday work, induce the stronger class of labourers to leave 

 the farms, while the opportunities in the Colonies, particularly 

 Canada, attract some of the best men. Old cottages are in 

 many cases allowed to decay, and the increased cost of building 

 and possibly also the requirements of the present building bye- 

 laws are a hindrance to the erection of new ones. 



WESTMORLAND. Mr. Punchard attributes the decrease in the 

 number of occupiers of land to the giving up of accommodation 

 fields formerly let to professional men and tradesmen, and to 

 the tendency to abolish small farms. He writes : " The reduc- 

 tion in the number of agricultural labourers and farm servants 

 is attributable to the smaller demand for them, arising chiefly 



