CCt. I. THE COUNTY OF FIFE. 273 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Rural Economy. 



SECTION I. 

 LABOUR. 



i HE variety of manufactures carried on in this 

 county, and their flourishing condition, have had 

 the effect of producing a. scarcity of farm-ser- 

 vants and labourers. The price of every kind 

 of rural labour has, of consequence, risen to a 

 remarkable height. Within the last 30 or 40 

 years the wages of servants, and others employ- 

 ed in the operations of husbandry, have advan- 

 ced not less than a hundred per cent ; two-thirds 

 of which rise may be placed to the account of 

 the last nine or ten years. 



Farm-servants, if married, have a free house 

 and garden ground sufficient for his family, from 

 61. to 81. of money, 6~ bolls of meal, a cow's 

 grass, and some other perquisites, such as a few 

 potatoes planted, or some lint sown, the amount 

 of all which may run from i61. to i81. If he 

 be unmarried, and live in the family, he has 

 from 81, to 12!. of wages yearly, more or less 

 Mm * 



