1332 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AGRICULTURE. supplement 



8231. General remarks on the interior. Having described the interior of the cottage, let me pause and 

 enquire, whether there la any thine in the description which can be justly considered superfluous, ami not 

 absolutely necessary for the comfortable accommodation of a labourer with i large family. I am not aware 



Of any thing to which a reasonable Objection can In- offered unless it he the parlour. The idea of a cot- 

 tage pirhmr may lead some to exclaim, " The man must be a fool I Who i- to do the work, if labourers 



arc to he One lolks. and sit in parlours f " My friend, are you not offended at a name ? Let us change 



the high-sounding title of this room of all works, and perhaps you will not object to it. Call it the spare 



room, for instance ; » place to he used for all sorts of purposes: for such It WOuld be, in fact. Unless 

 wh.n the wife was confined, or any of the family happened to be recovering from illness, I will answer 

 that it would not be used as a parlour above six times in the year. It would frequently be let as a lodging 

 to an occasional labourer In the parish. In rainy weather, it would be degraded Into a drying-room, and 

 be filled w - it h wet linen ; and the floor would often be found half-covered with onions and seeds laid there 

 to dry. Do not the various uses to which such a room may he applied make it a desirable addition to a 

 cott ige, even though it in.iv be called a parlour? If such an apartment would have a tendency to jive 

 isantry tine notions, "I should he the last to recommend it. For I hate fine people of all sorts, and 

 tin,- poor people above all others, because they have not even an excuse for finery. lint though I would 

 nol give them notions unsuited to their station. I should he glad to see their habitations improved, and I 

 know, from painful observation, that our cottages stand in need of improvement. They are. in fact, be- 

 hind the times : and while the houses of every other class of society have been gradually increasing in 

 comfort and convenience, the dwellings of the labourers are little better than they were a hundred years 

 ago. Mam improvements and conveniences in cottages have been suggested by others, which I forbear 

 to notice : lor this reason, that while such conveniences are unattainable by persons of small independent 

 property, it is in vain to expect that they will lie provided for cottagers. My object has, therefore, been 

 to describe the accommodation requireil in what would be called a comfortable labourer's dwelling, and 

 to suggest practicable improvements which are likely to be effected ; and I hope that there is nothing in 

 the foregoing description which can he considered impracticable. 



B232. External appendages to a labourer's cottage. I am next to speak of the external appendages to 

 a complete labourer's dwelling, including the yard and out-buildings, the garden, orchard, and allotment 



of land. To account for some of the outbuildings which will be mentii d in the following description, 



I must remind the reader that, as I am speaking of a cottage of the first class, I must, of course, suppose 

 the cottager to keep a cow ; and that, besides a quarter or half an acre of land, for spade husbandry, 

 (the quantity should be proportioned to the spare time of the labourer, and the quantity of manure he 

 can collect,) he would also be the occupier of about three acres of pasture. I am of opinion that it 

 would have a beneficial effect upon the general conduct of the agricultural labourers, if there were a 

 certain number of cottages, with land attached to them, in every parish, to act as a sort of stimulus to 

 industry and frugality. Formerly the small farms presented this stimulus. The industrious, saving cot- 

 tager hid then a cliarce of rising a step above his original station in society: ami a natural desire to 

 imprjve his condition would act as a constant inducement to carefulness and activity. But now he has 

 no such inducement. In most parts of England, parishes which were once divided into ten or twelve 

 farms, of various extent, are now thrown into two or three large ones ; the waste lands are enclosed or 

 appropriated ; and even the bare-worn common is. in many cases, denied to the hard-working frugal 

 labourer, who happens to have saved enough money to set up a cow. How can we wonder, then, at the 

 careless improvident habits of the peasantry, when they have scarcely an inducement to be otherwise V 

 Hut, under all their disadvantages, there are still a few labourers who save money ; and is it not rather 

 hard that they should be deprived of the opportunity of employing it profitably in the only business with 

 which they are acquainted, that is, agriculture? Let us supp'ose a working man to be possessed of SO/. 

 Almost the only way in which he could invest it safely, would be in a savings bank, where it would pro- 

 duce him an interest of about 21. a year. Now this is all very well ; the principal sum is secure, and a 

 certain 21. a year is a desirable addition to a labourer's income. But it would take nearly his whole life 

 to save up 507. ; and half that sum would produce a much greater income, and much improve his con- 

 dition, if employed in some sort of business. In short, though the savings banks have been a great 

 benefit to the working classes, the small income produced by a sum of money placed there does not 

 afford a sufficient stimulus to frugality. The interest upon their savings can add little to the comforts 

 of the depositors ; and, as to having a sum of money against the time of sickness or misfortune, they know 

 that the parish must then support them ; and though they might be induced to save, if by Saving, they 

 could materially improve their condition, we must not expect them to save for the relief of the parish. 

 Hut let us suppose a man to have saved only 251., and to have an opportunity of taking a cottage, with 

 land enough attached to it to support a cow. He would probably invest his little capital in a cow. a 

 couple of pigs, some poultry, perhaps, and a hive or two of bees; and, if he had tolerably good luck, 

 and were a good manager, be would soon be placed in circumstances of comparative affluence, and won. d 

 be Infinitely better off with his 25/.. thus invested, than the other would be with his 50/. in the savings 

 bank. The great improvement in his condition would also be apparent to all around him, and would 

 act as a general spur upon the carefulness and industry of his neighbours. Money in the savings bank 

 would not produce this consequence, because its effects are less apparent ; in short, its effects are unim- 

 portant when compared with the comforts derived to a labourer's family from keeping a cow. But, 

 besides being prizes to excite the diligence and reward the good conduct of the labourers, a few cottages, 

 with land attached, would be a general convenience to the villagers, as a means of supplying them with 

 milk; a luxury which, in my neighbourhood, is seldom tasted by the poor. Though living in the 

 country, they are worse off than townspeople in this respect, as they cannot get it for money, unless on 

 some particular occasion. The cause of this inconvenience is the large farms, and the want of cottager's 

 cow. A rich farmer is, of course, above selling milk, and there is no one else to sell it. unless there 

 happens to be a small farmer in the parish, or the rich farmer lets his cows to the farmer or dairyman. 

 It would not answer to sell milk in small quantities, and. as we have no cottage cowkeepers. the 



icasantry are deprived of a nutritious article of food, which it is almost impossible to do without. 



■\ horever there are no cottagers' cows, the peasantry in general must be ill supplied with that important 

 n . essary, milk. I offer these reasons lor the opinion I have ventured to advance, that in every village 

 a lew cottages with land to keep cows would be desirable on many accounts. I do not say that every 

 cottager should have a cow. Perhaps it would be better if all had them who can manage them ; and it 

 would be found, upon trial, that the number of these would not be large. A cow would be thrown away 

 upon dirty, indolent cottagers, and there are many respectable ones so situated, that it would be more 

 an inconvenience than an advantage to them to keep a cow. But I think there should be a few cottages 

 with land in every parish, that the steady and industrious, and those who have an opportunity, may at 

 least have a chance of improving their condition. 



B283. The yard. After this long digression, let us proceed to speak of the yard, a very necessary con- 

 venience to a labourer who keeps a cow. The washhouse should have a door opening into the yard, 

 which ought to contain the pump, dung-pits, and all the nut-buildings. The pump I would place as 

 mar tie' washhouse door as convenient : the dung. pit in the corner of the yard farthest from the 



hi : ami to this pit the surface of the yard should have a gentle fall It should, of course, be properly 



drained. 



8234, The fuel-house. The first out-oftice to be mentioned is the fuel-house, a place in which the 

 coals and dry wood mav he kept, if necessary, under lock. The tools and hogwash tubs, and many 

 other things mav also be placed in this building, which is a necessary appendage to every cottage. It 

 would he most conveniently placed joining the back part of the house, so that it might be approached 

 un Vr cover from the washhouse door. 



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