20 BRITISH RURAL LIFE AND LABOUR. 



mand. On smaller farms the foreman will sometimes do 

 the waggoning, and the next man or lad acts as plough- 

 man. In such cases the waggoner is frequently an unmarried 

 man, and lodges and boards in the farmhouse. In the East 

 Riding, which is mainly arable, and where a number of the 

 farms are large, especially on the wolds, foremen, shepherds, 

 cattlemen, stockmen, yardmen, horsemen or waggoners, 

 whether married or single, are generally engaged by the year, 

 though there are also weekly and monthly engagements. 

 The married men live in cottages, and the unmarried men 

 are lodged and boarded either in the farmhouses or in the 

 houses of the foremen. In the West Riding, where there 

 are very small farms, mostly grass, weekly engagements are 

 the rule, while in a few districts the engagements are yearly. 

 But in many districts in the West Riding, as indeed also in 

 parts of the North Riding, where the farms are small, there 

 are no distinct classes of men engaged in the care of animals. 

 In the North Riding it is exceptional for unmarried men to 

 lodge and board in the foreman's house, and they generally 

 lodge and board in the farmhouses. To some extent, 

 more particularly in the north-eastern side of the Riding, 

 in cases where farms have a sufficient supply of cottages, 

 the Northumberland and Durham system of engaging 

 ploughmen or hinds by the year is adopted. Shepherds, 

 horsemen, and cattlemen are nearly always engaged by 

 the year, and live in cottages in or near the farms. In 

 some districts, however, the engagements are weekly or 

 monthly, particularly in the southern or south-eastern 

 parts of the Riding. Married men who are attached to the 

 staff of a farm, and not in charge of animals (ordinary 

 labourers), are usually employed by the week (though for 

 longer periods in some districts). In the East Riding there 

 are a number of this class on weekly engagements. In the 

 West Riding there are comparatively few in the districts 

 containing small grass farms. But in other districts, where 

 the farms are larger and there are cottages on the farms, 

 ordinary labourers are to be found in greater numbers. In 

 the North Riding the conditions greatly vary. In some of 

 the southern districts of the Riding there are a number 

 of ordinary labourers, whereas on the Westmorland side 

 many of the farmers cultivate their farms themselves with 

 the aid of a man or two hired half-yearly at the Westmor- 

 land hiring fairs, and these hired men lodge and board in 

 the farmhouses. In the north and north-eastern parts of 

 the Riding there are comparatively few ordinary labourers, 

 as the Northumberland and Durham systems exist there, 

 either of hiring ploughmen or hinds by the year at the 

 Durham hiring fairs, or of hiring men by the half-year to 

 lodge and board in the farmhouses. Lincolnshire is another 

 county where the conditions vary, and those prevailing 

 in Nottinghamshire, Rutland, and North Cambridgeshire 

 are not dissimilar. The ordinary labourers are engaged by 



