AGRICULTURE 



owing to the labourers not being able to make use of them. At that time drilh'ng was expert work, 

 and men went from farm to farm on piece-work rates. Turnips were drilled by means of the 

 Northumberland or Scotch turnip drill. Horse-hoes were used for turning a furrow from rows of 

 peas, &c., previous to their being moulded up by a double mould-board. Thrashing mills were 

 worked by oxen and water power, all hand labour having been discarded. ChafiF cutters were of 

 one, two, and three blades. Wagons were lighter in build than in other counties, and the wheels 

 wider apart, some being 5 ft. 6 in. In coming down hills one wheel was locked, and there was 

 always a special thickened place in the tyre about i^in. thick on which the wheel slid. For 

 sowing small seeds there was a sowing machine divided into divisions of 6^ in. apart, the perforations 

 being in plates of tin and copper. Revolving circular brushes forced the seed through the holes. 

 In about 1 8 10 the Norfolk system of ploughing with two horses abreast was introduced, and 

 harrowing was frequently performed with three horses abreast. For rolling, one to four horses 

 were used. 



Dorset has enjoyed a reputation for a century past for neat hedges. They consist chiefly of 

 thorn, but sometimes of hazel, maple, and privet. The usual method is to chop away superfluous 

 wood and to lay the top branches down, cutting the wood in such a way that it will grow again. 

 No dead wood is used, and by this method, by the time the hedge requires re-trimming new wood 

 has grown sufficiently to do this. The banks are built up almost perpendicularly. 



If the lot of the farmer is not a prosperous one, it is pleasant to record that the lot of the farm 

 labourer has greatly improved. The employment of women in the fields has almost entirely dis- 

 appeared — a matter for congratulation, if only on humanitarian grounds. The cottages, generally 

 speaking, are in good repair. Those of a modern type consist of one or two living rooms 

 and scullery, with sometimes as many as three bedrooms. A great advance has been made 

 since 1842, when it was recorded that a family of eleven persons, total earnings 16s. 6d. per week, 

 lived in a cottage of only two rooms. At that time, too, it is recorded that a family of twenty-nine 

 persons lived in one cottage. In 1842 female labour in the fields was common, and boys started work 

 at six or seven years of age. In 1869 the guardians passed a by-law prohibiting the employment 

 of boys under ten years of age. At this time women were employed picking up stones, working at 

 hay and corn harvests, planting, digging and earthing potatoes, attending to the threshing machines, 

 winnowing corn, dairying, and sometimes even leading horses at the plough. It is worth while 

 recording, too, that in 1834 six Dorset labourers were tried and sentenced to transportation to 

 Australia for seven years for the heinous crime of forming a trade union. Disgusted with the low 

 wage and the generally low conditions of life, they formed a union for the amelioration of the 

 labourer's life. The union was to be kept secret, but a report of it leaked out, with the results 

 mentioned above. Thus ended one of the pioneer strikes of trade-unionism in this country, to the 

 glorification of the men who subsequently became known as the ' Dorset martyrs.' 



The passing of the Poor Law in 1849 was responsible for the change in the rate of labourers' 

 pay. Prior to that time the outdoor relief induced the farmer to pay on the lowest scale he could, 

 knowing full well that the parish would come to the aid of the poor labourer. Up to that time a 

 labourer's wages were as low as 6s. a week, and rarely higher than los., with no special advantages. 

 Out of this he frequently had to pay is. or is. td. a week rent. Now, the wages are very seldom 

 lower than i is., and then only for a single man practically unskilled. The general wage varies 

 from I2J. to as high even as 201. and 22s. a week, and in addition the Inbourer gets sometimes a 

 cottage, and invariably coal and wood, which is carted free, and a plot of land on which to grow 

 kitchen produce. He is usually allowed to keep a pig, though in some instances this has been 

 refused, the farmer having cause to suspect that his own feeding stuffs were laid under contribution 

 for the benefit of the labourer's pig. These wages do not, of course, include the extra allowances 

 at harvest time. 



Farm buildings have also greatly improved, though the low rents make the landlord reluctant 

 to expend money in erecting new buildings or repairing old ones. Too often attention has not 

 been paid sufficiently to convenience, the buildings in some cases being in a position which renders 

 excessive carting necessary. 



This article would not be complete without reference being made to the many excellent 

 farmers' clubs now in existence in Dorset. These number six : the Blandford, Winfrith, 

 Milborne St. Andrew, Gillingham, Shaftesbury, and Wareham and Isle of Purbeck. All these clubs 

 send a representative to the Central Chamber of Agriculture, and, in addition, are centralized under 

 the Dorset Joint Agricultural Committee. With the exception of the Wareham Club, all these 

 clubs date back many years. The Blandford Club is the oldest, the date of its inception being 

 1848; but it is not many years the senior of the Milborne St. Andrew Farmers' Club and the 

 Winfrith Farmers' Club, both of which were instituted in 1856. These clubs have a total member- 

 ship of about a thousand, of which the Blandford Club has the largest share with a membership 

 list of 273. With the exception of the newly-formed Wareham Club, all the other clubs have a 



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