Giving Land to Labourers. 5 1 



" IN CULTIVATING THE SAME, UNDER THE SPADE SYSTEM OF HUS- 



" BANDRY," and the situation of that valuable class of the community, 

 will be most essentially ameliorated. The union of these two ob- 

 jects would be in the highest degree advantageous to the community. 



3. Various Means of promoting the Interests of Labourers in Hus- 

 bandry. 



1. There can be no doubt, that the situation of the agricultural 

 labourers in husbandry might be improved in various ways. Of these, 

 perhaps the abolition of the malt tax would be one of the most bene- 

 ficial ; for by this means, resorting to ale-houses would be rendered 

 unnecessary, cottagers would brew their own beer, which would 

 be of a superior quality, and the labourer would obtain an article, 

 invaluable to him as a stimulus to labour, and by which he would be 

 enabled to go through his work with much less fatigue and exhaustion. 



2. In some parts of that celebrated agricultural district, Somerset, 

 wheat is seldom thrashed with the straw, but the ears are cut off, 

 and the grain separated by manual labour *. This is a plan which I 

 would strongly recommend to the attention of farmers in every dis- 

 trict, where any difficulty is found in providing employment for la- 

 bourers, and where thrashing-mills are therefore so obnoxious. This 

 plan may be attended with some additional expense, but then it pos- 

 sesses the following advantages : In \hefirst place, scarcely a pickle 

 of wheat is lost in the operation of thrashing ; 2. The straw is more 

 valuable for thatching ; indeed, nothing can exceed the beauty of 

 the roofs thatched with straw thus prepared, and they are more 

 durable, furnishing no attraction to rats and mice ; and, 3. The straw 

 lasts much longer as litter, an important object where that article is 

 expensive. 



3. Spade culture ought to be extended as much as possible in the 

 culture of arable land, for it is proved by Mr Falla and others, that 

 theacjditional expense would be amply repaid by the increased produce, 

 ("in early ages, when oxen and horses were cheap, and fed at little or 

 jo expense, and when labourers were not sufficiently abundant for 

 extensive cultivation, the invention of the plough was an invaluable 

 discovery. But now matters are totally changed, cattle and horses are 

 dear, the implements of husbandry are expensive, labourers are 

 abundant, and their wages low ; and hence it may often be found 

 more advantageous, to employ human than animal power. If that 

 principle, indeed, wore extended, a considerable portion of the land 

 now occupied in producing food for horses, might be employed in 

 raising food for man, and an immense additional population might be 

 maintained, without any importation of grain from other countries. 



4. The system adopted in many parts of England, that of paying a 

 part of the wages of the agricultural labourer out of the poor's rates, is 



* This process is called in Somerset, " Ear- Pitching." The implements are 

 simple, and the process not difficult to execute. After a sufficient number of 

 ears are accumulated upon the floor, the work of thrashing is executed by the 

 common flail. By this process, the grain raised on the dairy farms ought to be 

 thrashed. 



