On the Advantage of giving Land to Labourers. 45 



No. XIII. 



ON THE MEANS OF IMPROVING THE CONDITION OF THE INDUS- 

 TRIOUS LABOURERS IN HUSBANDRY, AND EFFECTUALLY RE- 

 LIEVING THEIR DISTRESSES. 



By the Right Honourable Sir John Sinclair, Bart. 

 1. On the Advantage of giving Land to Labourers. 



THERE is no point, with the policy and utility of which I am more 

 deeply impressed, than the propriety of giving labourers in the coun- 

 try the possession of some land. ^With that advantage, they and 

 their families can live better.^ They areTthence enabled to go through 

 more labour. A healthierjand stronger race are reared, antTdne, not 

 only titter to defend their countryligainSt foTeign" enemies, but, having 

 an interest in the soil, they are more likely to be impressed, with ge- 

 nuine patriotic feelings, and to feel more anxiety, to promote the hap- 

 piness and prosperity of their country. 



- With the occupation of some land to fill up their vacant hours, la- 

 bourers are more contented, are attached to their own homes, do 

 not resort to ale-houses, and enjoying a species of independence, 

 set a higher value upon their character, and are more anxious to pre- 

 Iserve it. When thus circumstanced, they are more respected, are 

 better entitled to be trusted ; and having property which they can call 

 their own, produced by their own labour, on land occupied by them- 

 selves, and feeling how intensely they would necessarily deprecate all 

 infringement upon that property, they are thence less likely to make 

 depredations upon the effects of others. This idea will produce more 

 feelings of honesty among them, than the best precepts, however ably 

 urged, can instil. 



By the cultivation of a small spot of land, a cottager can supply 

 himself with that variety of food, (as fresh vegetables in summer, and 

 roots in winter), which comfort and health require. He may be en- 

 abled to keep poultry with advantage. If he should fortunately be . 

 able to have bees, and if the surplus produce of his garden, should al- 

 so put it in his power to rear, and still more to fatten a hog, his situa- 

 tion would be greatly ameliorated. When a garden also is attached 

 to his cottage, his children are taught to dig, to weed, and manage it, 

 and their time is employed in useful industry, and not wasted in idle* 



ness. 



Letting land to labourers therefore, is of great utility to the la- 

 bourers and their families, to the landowners, and to the commu- 

 nity ; and though, in every village, some Idle and worthless persons 

 will be found, who are not fit to be entrusted with, or capable of re- 

 ceiving benefit from land, yet the greater part will derive material a(J- 

 vantages from such a possession. In many cases indeed, it has pro- | 

 duced the beneficial effect of rendering those industrious, who would I 

 otherwise have been idle and profligate. 



