61 



WIGTOWN. Mr. McMaster writes : " Under the present con- 

 ditions of agriculture it is necessary to reduce by every possible 

 means the expenses of the farm. More land is kept in grass, 

 and what is ploughed is, as a rule, neither cultivated nor 

 cleaned as it used to be. Little draining or other improvements 

 are carried out. All sorts of labour-saving machinery are used. 

 For these reasons fewer hands are required. Secondly, the 

 present system of education in rural schools is unsuited to 

 what must be the future position and career of the great 

 majority of the children attending them, who must earn their 

 living by manual labour. At fourteen they leave school 

 with exalted ideas and a distaste for farm or domestic work." 

 Another cause of the decline Mr. McMaster finds in the in- 

 creased facilities for travelling and the attractions of town life 

 for the younger people its variety, shorter hours, and higher 

 wages. 



Mr. Ralston states that the laying of land to grass has taken 

 place, more especially in the Eastern or Machars division of 

 the county. In the Western division, while a similar process 

 has gone on, yet, dairying being the chief industry, many 

 hands are still required, chiefly for milking. The better 

 educated and more intelligent of ploughmen's families, both 

 young men and young women, incline to leave the country 

 districts and farm life, though recently, Mr. Ralston states, 

 in no greater numbers. 



Causes of 

 Decline. 



3. Is there any difficulty in obtaining- land either Small 



for Small Holdings or Allotments, and if so, has this Ho a 1 ^ ngs 



difficulty contributed in any degree to the decline in Allotments. 

 the Agricultural population ? 



ENGLAND. 



DIVISION I. 



(a.) Counties of Bedford, Huntingdon, Cambridge, Suffolk, JLsse# 9 

 Hertford, Middlesex and London. 



BEDFORD. There is stated to be no difficulty whatever ; many 

 allotments are going out of cultivation as they do not pay. 



HUNTINGDON. There is no difficulty in obtaining allotments ; 

 a large number have been let, but many have been given up 

 voluntarily, as they do not pay on the strong high lands. 

 There is little demand for small holdings on the strong lands, 

 which are quite unsuitable, but in the Fen lands there is a 

 great demand which is hardly met. Some of the more intelli- 

 gent and thrifty labourers are now occupying as much as 



