96 BRITISH RURAL LIFE AND LABOUR. 



hirings in the Border counties and the Lothians for those 

 who live in cottages take place in the spring, the majority 

 in March, the term of service commencing in May, though 

 in Haddingtonshire hirings are held in February. Berwick 

 has a hiring fair which is attended by farm servants from 

 both Berwickshire and Northumberland. The yearly farm 

 servants from either county rarely enter service over the 

 Border, partly because the days on which situations are 

 entered are different in the counties, 28th May being the 

 day in Berwickshire and I2th May in Northumberland. 

 Half-yearly hirings for unmarried men lodged and boarded 

 in the farmhouses take place in certain districts in the 

 Border counties and the Lothians, chiefly in May and 

 November. At the Berwick half-yearly hirings there 

 is some changing over the Border. In the other counties 

 the greater number of hirings take place in May, June, 

 November, and December, though there are others held in 

 certain counties in April, August, and October. Employers 

 do not necessarily confine themselves to hiring men at 

 fairs in their own counties. For instance, a good many 

 employers in Renfrewshire hire their men at Kilmarnock 

 in Ayrshire ; Clackmannan and Kinross farmers often 

 hire at Falkirk, Stirling, and Perth, and a good many 

 Kinross farmers hire from Fife. Employers in Perthshire 

 often hire at Glasgow and Falkirk. Generally in the 

 northern part of Scotland the hiring fairs come nearer 

 to the commencement of the term of service, usually within 

 two or three weeks, which is thought by employers to be 

 a better system than that in vogue in the most southerly 

 counties, of having an interval of two or three months. 

 The hirings are attended by both men and women, but 

 in districts where families are hired the head of the house 

 does the bargaining. As an earnest of the bargaining, 

 a shilling or two, known as ' arles,' is given by the em- 

 ployer. The constant changing of situations ' flitting ' 

 as it is called is remarkable. On very trivial grounds, 

 or perhaps solely for the desire of change, the farm servants, 

 both married and unmarried men, seek new situations. 

 The changes in Scotland, where the engagements are mostly 

 yearly or half-yearly, are far more numerous than in the 

 case of the English farm labourers on weekly engagements. 

 In Scotland the new employer usually fetches the furniture 

 of the servant he engages from the farm of his late em- 

 ployer, carting it free of charge. In recent years, in some 

 towns, halls have been used for the hiring of women, thus 

 obviating the necessity for their standing in the open 

 street to be hired. Generally speaking, there are not 

 many casual labourers in Scotland. There are but few 

 villages as compared with England from which casual 

 labour can be procured. It is customary in Scotland 

 for farmers to hire a regular staff for the year ; and they 

 get the services of the women workers, which farmers in 



