318 



Cheap Labour. 



Vol. VI. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Cheap Labour. 



Mr. Editor, — The observation of " A Sub- 

 scriber," page 280 of the last No. of the Cabi- 

 net, that very much of the labour of a farm 

 that has heretofore been performed by men, 

 might be quite as well executed by lads — 

 suggesting that our almshouses and other 

 charitable institutions might be made to fur- 

 nish a considerable portion of such material, 

 to the mutual advantage of the institution and 

 its inmates — was fresh upon my mind, when, 

 upon passing a very respectable country-look- 

 ing young woman, evidently an emigrant, I 

 was accosted with the inquiry, if I knew any 

 farmer who wanted a female help] I found 

 she had just arrived from one of the midland 

 counties of England, and was very desirous 

 of obtaining a situation on a farm, that she 

 might once more feel at home. I supposed 

 her wish was, to procure a situation as dairy- 

 maid, but no — her desire was, to do once 

 more what she had been accustomed to do all 

 her life, to labour in the fields and to take her 

 share of the customary work on the farm, not 

 only at hay-time and harvest, but in spring- 

 time and autumn, in weeding, stone-gather- 

 ing, muck-spreading, turnip-hoeing, cattle- 

 feeding, milking, and about half-a-dozen et 

 ceteras, in all which she assured me she had 

 ever been at the top of the profession ; add- 

 ing, she should never be quite right and hap- 

 py until she could be doing the same thing 

 again. 



Now, I am curious to learn what are the 

 objections which can be brought by our friends 

 against this very rational request] Will it 

 be said, such work is degrading to the female 

 character? I would say, read Burns, and 

 Bloomfield, and Thomson, and a dozen others, 

 the best poets and writers both of niodern and 

 ancient times, and cull from them those ex- 

 quisite scenes, which they have peopled with 

 the most lovely objects of creation in the form 

 of rustic female life ! and wliere will you meet 

 with such an assemblage of Loves and Graces 1 

 Or, is it feared that tiieir strength is not equal 

 to the task"? The question could be solved 

 in a single day to perfect satisfaction, without 

 the necessity of considering them in the light 

 of Amazons. Or is it, that the intermingling 

 of the sexes in the lighter business of the farm 

 would tend to blunt that sense of native mo- 

 desty which is the glory of the female sexl 

 This has not been found to be the case in 

 countries where the system of out-door female 

 labour has been pursued for ages. But there 

 is one thing that it is adapted to encourage, 

 namely, early marriages — which have al- 

 ways been found to form the greatest safe- 

 guard to the morals of any people, and to in- 

 sure strength of character, both bodily and 



mental, to all generations. And in no coun- 

 try under the canopy of heaven can this doc- 

 trine be preached and practised with so pure 

 and perfect a prospect of fulfilling the great 

 law of nature as in this, the land of freedom, 

 of peace and plenty ; where the children of 

 such parents would indeed grow up like olive 

 branches round about their table, and be such 

 as would be able to replenish the earth ; their 

 fathers the "sturdy oaks," and their mothers 

 "the fruitful vines of God's heritage." 



By the aid, then, of children and women, 

 we might perform the labours of the farm at 

 an expense by no means greater than that 

 which is incurred in England, where they are 

 both employed very extensively, with much 

 advantage and to profit; not an objection 

 being raised against the system. I am con- 

 tinually being told, the weeding of a crop, or 

 this or that necessary operation will not pay 

 the expense, namely, a dollar a day — true, 

 but a quarter part of that sum would often be 

 found sufficient to do it, and as efficiently aa 

 it could be performed by any one at any price, 

 were it the custom to employ women and 

 children; while the men might be engaged 

 at a labour which would amply repay their 

 dollar a day, namely, in throwing up compost- 

 heaps, with lime and earth, &.C., and turning 

 and mixing, and pulverizing them until their 

 contents had become as rich as so much 

 leached ashes, and not unlike in smell and 

 appearance; their value being in proportion 

 to the labour and expense bestowed in form- 

 ing them, be that what it might; every extra 

 turning being accompanied by an extra ac- 

 cession of the fructifying principle, commu- 

 nicated at every fresh exposure to the atmo- 

 sphere, by an union of the different gases 

 liberated by fermentation, which is sure to be 

 engendered at every turning of the mass. 

 And on every farm will then be seen a com- 

 post-heap the size of a house — larger or 

 smaller, in proportion to the quantity of land 

 in occupation, but sufficient to top-dret-s com- 

 pletely the greatest portion of the meadow 

 land every spring. 



And now, by means of these auxiliaries, I 

 would venture to ask, wliellier it be not quite 

 within the range of possibility, that much of 

 our hoeing could be done as cheaply and far 

 more perfectly by hand-hoeing as by horse- 

 hoeing] — which we know is often a very in- 

 effectual and deceptions business, appearing 

 at the time to have done much, but often 

 proving to have been little better than a trans- 

 plantation of the weeds, especially in a wet 

 season. And this is not always the worst, for 

 I have known the necessary after hand-weed- 

 ing of the rows to be delayed, seeing that the 

 intervals had been done — a business that 

 might rather have been postponed than it. 

 Indeed, I believe that many of us transpose the 



