708 Retrospective Criticism. 



those portions of time which are not engaged in his master's service to deal 

 with. If you allot him more land than himself and his family can properly 

 cultivate during the time which may be called his own, or encourage his 

 raising produce which must encroach on the time during which he would 

 be otherwise receiving certain wages, rely upon it you are doing him serious 

 mischief. The labourer's wants are few, but constant and certain. Wages 

 of a sufficient amount are his best reliance. If he has land enough to induce 

 him to expend, on his own occupation, days for which he would otherwise 

 receive certain pay, should all turn out well he may not be a loser j but it 

 must be remembered that 



" The best laid schemes of mice an' men 

 Gang aft aglee." 



He may have a failing crop ; the deductions from his weekly wages have 

 obliged hnn to run up a score at the shop for the supply of his weekly 

 wants ; he is now unable to pay it off; once in debt, he is obliged to con- 

 tinue his dealings on very unfavourable terms, and his progress to his ori- 

 ginal state of destitution is suprisingly rapid. I know some intelligent 

 farmers who have seen so much evil result from this, that they will not 

 suffer any of their labourers to take credit at a shop, but prefer making 

 advances to them for reasonable purposes. I could produce unquestionable 

 authority from those who have had great practical experience amongst the 

 labouring classes, for the position, that it should be made quite a cardinal 

 point to apportion the land granted, in every case, as nearly as possible, 

 with reference to the labour the family can devote to it, without sacrificing 

 wages. 



A brief manual, limited to the rotation of crops, and other management 

 of such portions of land, and to the care of the pig, manuring, &c., contained 

 in some ten or twenty pages at the utmost, and printed in good-sized type, 

 would be of the greatest advantage to the labouring classes; but excuse 

 my freedom when I say that your manual would be quite useless to them 

 in nine cases out of ten. You are not, perhaps, aware that there are very 

 few adults, or rather fathers of families, in country villages, who can read at 

 all ; the schoolmaster was not abroad in their day. The contents of the 

 manual must be conveyed to them by their children : it is, therefore, almost 

 superfluous to add, that it must consist of reading made easy by means of 

 extremely simple terms and clear large type. Your manual will be very use- 

 ful to the class immediately above the actual labourer, but you may depend 

 on it that any of the objects beyond No. 1. in p. 6. [Gard. Mag., vol. vi. 

 p. 142.] are not of practical attainment by him. A proper cottage manual is a 

 more important agent for carrying the system into effect, than would be sup- 

 posed by those who are not intimately acquainted with the peasantry ; for 

 they have no idea beyond planting their ground with potatoes year after year. 

 I would also particularly impress on the minds of those who are disposed 

 to grant land, that a great deal of personal superintendence is absolutely 

 essential ; otherwise, a very large proportion of these persons will never 

 avail themselves of a tithe of the advantage placed within their reach. 

 They are, generally speaking, a loyal, civil, grateful, obedient, and enduring 

 race ; kind and attentive to each other under illness and misfortune, and 

 easy victims of oppression : but they have not half the intelligence you 

 give them credit for. They are careless, negligent, and improvident, and 

 have very little notion of the importance of order and arrangement. I had 

 occasion to call at a cottage this morning, the owner of which has the 

 charge of 300 acres of wood. He has good wages and a good-sized garden, 

 he is one of the most sensible of his fraternity in the parish, and is an 

 excellent servant. I found his pigsty full of large holes, though there is 

 plenty of good plank stone within a few yards of his house ; the runnings 

 soaking amongst the grass close to the door of the cottage, instead of 

 being directed to the manure heap, only two 3ards from the sty; the pig 



