6 BRITISH RURAL LIFE AND LABOUR. 



milking have to be seen to, less highly-skilled men are 

 required, and the work can very well be done by the 

 ordinary labourers at ordinary pay. The adapta- 

 bility of this class for the operation of milking is shown 

 by the easily-interchangeable character of the duties. 

 Where large dairies have to produce regular supplies 

 for town consumption, the mere work of milking is, of 

 course, very onerous. The men have to be up very early 

 in the morning, and in the summer the cattle have to 

 be driven to and from the grazing grounds. The greatest 

 anxiety of the cattleman comes in during the calving 

 season, and at this time some knowledge and skill are 

 requisite. 



Owing to the extremely early and late work of the 

 horsekeeper, the one man, or on very large farms, the 

 numerous men, employed, cannot be said to occupy 

 sinecures. First there come the feeding, grooming, and 

 other preliminaries to getting the animals to work ; 

 and, after the working of the horses, there comes in again 

 the routine process of feeding and grooming. The 

 feeding and grooming are minimised in the summer ; 

 but there must be the inevitable fetching from the 

 fields in the morning, and the turning them out into the 

 fields at night. But the easing of this particular labour 

 does not afford the men much respite, for when this 

 especial work is slacker, they have to turn their hands 

 to ordinary work. In Durham, and also in North- 

 umberland, it is customary for each ploughman to look 

 after a particular pair of horses, seeing to them entirely 

 in the plough fields as well as in the stables. On the 

 other hand, in North Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, 

 Nottinghamshire, and Yorkshire, the head horsekeeper 

 or waggoner looks after the horses in the stables, and 

 the animals are led to their work at the ploughs by lads 

 or young men, who generally board and lodge with the 

 head horsekeeper, or with the foreman. Besides the 

 horsework on the farm, the horsemen are sometimes 



