51 



is that ploughmen and labourers are not only getting fewer 

 in number, but are also failing to maintain the high standard 

 of physical development that used to characterise them." 



HADDINGTON. (1) The low price of produce has compelled 

 farmers to work at the least possible expense, consequently the 

 labour bill has been reduced. Mr. Shields writes: " Since the 

 eighties, draining, ditching, and drystone dyke building are 

 all but defunct trades ; the dykes lie in their tumble-down state 

 faced with one or two lines of barbed wire. Draining has 

 become so expensive, alike for cutting and tiles, that it costs 

 about as much to drain medium land as to buy it." 



(2) Inferior land has been laid down to grass. 



(3) The introduction of labour-saving machinery, notably 

 binders, has lessened the need for manual labour. Mr. Shields 

 writes in this connection : " In the better tillage districts 

 rented at, say, from 25s. to 45s. per acre, the new labour- 

 saving implements and machinery are indispensable. Binders 

 have revolutionised harvest work ; the combined ' double drill 

 plough and manure sower ' is a good second to the binder, 

 especially in districts where there is a large area of drilled 

 green crops. Then there is improved threshing machinery, 

 portable or fixed; in the latter case the oil engine is largely 

 used, which practically saves the man in attendance, and if the 

 mill is fitted with self-feeder, trusser, and chaff-blower another 

 three or four hands can easily be dispensed with." 



(4) The wages question, Mr. Shields observes, has also caused 

 a number of men to take up work in the towns or in the coal 

 and shale industries, but of recent years, farm hands have been 

 getting better wages, and the trend is now rather to the country 

 owing to dull trade and the appreciation of the ploughman's 

 perquisites free house and garden, no taxes or rates, extra 

 harvest and potato money which bring his regular weekly 

 wage of 17s. or 19s. to a money value of quite 22s. to 24s. per 

 week. Mr". Hope writes in the same sense. 



KINCARDINE. The principal causes of the decline are stated 

 to be: 



(1) The endeavour on the part of farmers, prompted by lack 

 of means, to save labour in every possible way. 



(2) The improvement of machinery. 



(3) A want of improved cottages for farm labourers. 



(4) A tendency on the part of proprietors to add the small 

 holdings to the large farms in order to save the expense of 

 rebuilding houses and steadings. 



(5) A desire on the part of the rural population for employ- 

 ment offering more freedom and better wages. The system of 

 education is not calculated to promote agricultural instincts, 

 but tends to divert the youthful population to other channels. 



25176 D 2 



