Farm Servants. 75 



many temptations of spending it, which their circumstances 

 can ill afford ; and during a rise of prices, they are some- 

 times reduced to considerable difficulties. From the adop- 

 tion of an opposite system, habits of sobriety and economy, 

 so conspicuous among the farm-servants in Scotland, and the 

 advantages of whiph cannot be too highly appreciated, have 

 arisen, and still prevail in these districts. 



3. A most important branch of this system is, that almost 

 every married servant has a cow, of a moderate size, kept 

 for him by the farmer, all the year round. This is a boon 

 of great utility to his family. The prospect of enjoying this 

 advantage, has an excellent effect upon the morals of young 

 unmarried servants, who, in general, make it a point, to lay 

 up as much of their yearly wages, as will enable them to 

 purchase a cow, and furniture for a house, when they enter 

 into the married state. These savings, under different cir- 

 cumstances, would most probably have been spent in dissi- 

 pation. 



4. They have also several other perquisites, as a piece\>fS 

 ground for potatoes and flax, (about one-eighth part of an / 

 acre for each) ; liberty to keep a pig, and half a dozen hens ; j 

 their fuel is carried home to them; they receive a small al-j 

 lowance in money per journey, when sent from home witbJ 

 corn, or for coals or lime ; and during the harvest, they are 

 maintained by the farmer, that they may be always at hand. 



There are no where to be met with, more active, respect- 

 able, and conscientious servants, than those who are kept 

 according to this system. There is hardly an instance of 

 their soliciting relief from the public. They rear numerous 

 families, who are trained to industry, and knowledge in the 

 operations of agriculture, and whose assistance in weeding 

 the crops, &c. is of considerable service to the farmer. They 

 become attached to the farm, take an interest in its pro- 

 sperity, and seldom think of removing from it ( 4Z ). 



Under this system, every great farm is a species of little 

 colony, of which the farmer is the resident governor. Nor, 

 on the whole, can there be a more gratifying spectacle, than 

 to see a large estate, under the direction of an intelligent 

 landlord, or of an agent competent to the task of managing 

 it to advantage ; where the farms are of a proper size ; where 

 they are occupied by industrious and skilful tenants, anxious 

 to promote, in consequence of the leases they enjoy, the im- 

 provement of the land in their possession ; and where the 

 cultivation is carried on by a number of married servants, 

 enjoying a fair competence, and rearing large families suffi- 



