THE FARM HOMESTEAD. 97 



of water should be laid on to meet the requirements of the 

 different departments. 



Cottages. It is true economy to provide cottage 

 accommodation on a farm. When the labourer lives in a 

 distant village a great part of his strength is wasted before 

 he takes his tools in hand, and it is only a remainder 

 that he has at his command. In Cornwall the labourer 

 has in some mines to go 100 fathoms deep to the place of 

 his labour, and he must retain the power to climb 100 

 fathoms high when he leaves it. He can thus afford to 

 give but a small price per ton for the ore which is allotted 

 to him. In Cornwall the miner represents the occupying 

 tenant and labourer in one. "When the man-engine was 

 invented and applied, by which the labourer is lifted from 

 his work, and taken to it, without personal exertion, the 

 value of the ore was raised 30 per cent, at once. The 

 Scottish farmer, with cottages upon his farm, has that " man- 

 engine" in full operation, of which the English farmer, 

 whose labourer comes sometimes 3 miles from the nearest 

 village to his work, feels the want ; and, no doubt, he very 

 materially suffers from that want. 



Cottages sufficient at least to house the principal 

 labourers employed on the farm are therefore a necessity, 

 except in peculiar cases adjacent to towns or villages. 

 Under ordinary circumstances, one cottage for each 

 100 acres of land is the lowest practical limit. Cottages 

 for agricultural labourers are generally erected in pairs. 

 Though more pleasing to the eye when single or at most 

 double, they are more costly than if erected in blocks 

 of four or more. The provision of gardens, and the 

 seclusion and independence of the cottager's family are, 



