124 BRITISH RURAL LIFE AND LABOUR. 



men on the longer terms of engagement living in cottages, 

 they are sometimes subject to one month's, two months', 

 or a quarter's notice. In the western half of Ulster, where 

 the farms are small and the districts poor, very little 

 regular labour is employed. In certain Poor Law Unions 

 in Ulster, on the western and southern side, in the counties 

 of Donegal, Fermanagh, Cavan, and Monaghan, the farm 

 work is done mainly by members of the family and hired 

 lads living in the farmhouses, the farms being small ones. 

 In these districts it is unusual to find ordinary agricultural 

 labourers attached to the staff of farms, and casual labour 

 is undertaken by the sons of small farmers. Again, in 

 certain other Poor Law Unions in the same counties, and 

 also in certain unions in the counties of Londonderry 

 and Tyrone, a good many lads are hired to live in the 

 farmhouses ; and where regular married men are employed 

 they generally get a free cottage, about a rood of potato 

 land, and sometimes milk in addition to their cash wages. 

 Some of the principal hiring fairs in Ulster are Antrim, 

 Armagh, Aughnacloy, Ballymena, Ballymoney, Bailie- 

 borough, Banbridge, Ballynahinch, Cavan, Cookstown, 

 Coleraine, Cootehill, Comber, Dungannon, Derrygonnelly, 

 Enniskillen, Irvinestown, Killyleagh, Lisbellaw, Letter- 

 kenny, Monaghan, Magherafelt, Newry, Newtownards, 

 Newton Hamilton, and Strabane. Young boys and girls 

 frequently come from the western part of Donegal to 

 the half-yearly hirings at Letterkenny, and many of them 

 go to the smaller farms in the counties of Londonderry 

 and Tyrone. In other parts of Ireland the terms of en- 

 gagement are not generally so long, and there are no 

 hiring fairs, although in many districts unmarried men 

 are engaged privately, usually by the year, but some- 

 times by the half-year or quarter, and occasionally for 

 such periods as nine or ten months, and lodged and boarded 

 in the farmhouses. Frequently definite agreements are 

 made as to notice, but difficulties are not often raised 

 if either of the parties desire to terminate the engagement. 

 The married men are mostly paid weekly, and the un- 

 married lodged and boarded in the farmhouses at the 

 end of their term of service, though advances are fre- 

 quently made during the term. It may be stated generally 

 that for ordinary labourers, regularly attached to the staff 

 of a farm, a weekly engagement is a common one. There 

 are, however, many exceptions. In numerous cases the 

 engagement is a daily one ; and where it is nominally 

 a weekly one, but not - wet and dry,' it is for all practical 

 purposes a daily one. In certain districts, monthly, half- 

 yearly, or yearly engagements are to be found. Some- 

 times in the same locality there is a mixed system. Thus, 

 in a Poor Law Union in Limerick, both weekly and yearly 

 engagements exist for ordinary labourers. In the rich 

 dairy lands for a wide area round Kilmallock (Co. Limerick) , 



