2 BRITISH RURAL LIFE AND LABOUR. 



from one acre to perhaps five or ten one who, himself 

 owning or renting a small piece of land, struggles by 

 careful cultivation to eke out a living for himself and 

 family. 



We are, however, concerned only with the genuine 

 labourer, who, always working for an employer, is nothing 

 else. The term " farm servant " is perhaps the best 

 expression for that covers all grades of paid assistants, 

 whether they live in the farmhouse or outside, and whether 

 they receive their wages wholly in cash, or partly in 

 cash and partly " in kind/' 



But, whilst the word " peasant," per se, covers all 

 kinds of farm assistants, it will be interesting to indicate 

 the various grades and denominations of these assistants 

 in the work of agriculture. On large farms the " assist- 

 ance " needs to be considerable, and there must be a 

 well-ordered division of labour. First, under the chief 

 or farmer, whom we may conveniently designate the 

 " occupier," there come the managers or superintendents. 

 Each of these may be, and usually is called, a foreman, 

 a bailiff, or a steward. Next to these, the more im- 

 portant and responsible and invariably better-paid 

 labourers are those placed in charge of farm animals. 

 For convenience we will catalogue these in alphabetical 

 order under the different names applied to them in 

 different localities. Some of these names are of pretty 

 universal application ; others are purely local. The 

 epithets designating them are " beast men," " carters," 

 " cattlemen," " cowmen," " foggers " (this name, in 

 parts of Berkshire, is restricted to milkers, whilst in 

 Wiltshire, on the other hand, the name, in some cases, 

 is only applied to men engaged in feeding animals, and 

 looking after them in the stockyards) ; " garthmen," 

 " herdsmen," " hinds " (here, again, whilst in parts of 

 Yorkshire the word " hind " merely denotes a foreman, 

 in other parts of the same county, notably in the northern 

 part of the North Riding, in Durham, and in Northumber- 



