THE ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL LABOURER 559 



This is certain for I have noted it several times some 

 parts of England are becoming almost as lonesome as the veld of 

 Africa. There " the highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth." 

 The farm labourer is looked down upon, especially by young 

 women of his own class, and consequently looks down upon him- 

 self. He is at the very bottom of the social scale. Feeling this, 

 and having no hope for the future, nowadays he does not, in the 

 majority of instances, even take the trouble to master his business. 

 He will not learn the old finer arts of husbandry ; too often he 

 does as little as he can, and does that little ill. 



Farming in this country is no longer what it was. In all parts 

 of England the land is going more and more to grass, which 

 means, of course, that fewer men are needed for its working; 

 while in many places the tendency is towards the division of 

 farms, until they reach a size that can conveniently be managed 

 by a man with the help of his own children. Also there are always 

 a certain number of tramps or drifters who can be hired, to say 

 nothing of the industrious Irishmen that visit some of the counties 

 in large numbers. 



Therefore, great and damaging as is the present dearth of 

 agricultural labour, my own opinion is that more or less it will be 

 met in this way or in that, chiefly by the division of holdings, the 

 increased use of machinery, the abandonment of the higher class 

 of farming and of dairies which necessitate Sunday milking, and 

 the laying away of all but the best lands to grass. In short, the 

 lack of men will not kill our husbandry, it will only change its 

 character for the worse, with the result that much of our soil 

 in the future may produce perhaps one-half of what it used to 

 -produce, and, say, one-third of what it could be made to produce. 



But behind the agricultural question lies the national question. 

 What will be the result of this desertion of the countryside and 

 of the crowding of its denizens into cities ? That is a point upon 

 which it would be easy to indulge in strong words. The evils 

 are known, and little imagination is needed to enable a writer to 

 paint their disastrous consequence. I will, however, content my- 

 self with a moderate statement. It can mean nothing less than 

 the progressive deterioration of the race. In the absence of new 



