Cottage Husbandry and Architecture. 143 



of the fuel required in addition to vegetables, the quantity will vary con- 

 siderably, according to the part of the country where the cottage may be 

 situated. More fuel will be wanted in the northern than in the southern 

 parts of the island, and in districts where coal is so cheap that fuel for a 

 year may be purchased for the rent of an ordinary acre of land, we should 

 propose that the cottager raise only fuel for his oven or stove. 



To raise the whole of the fuel for a cottage of the lowest class will 

 require 1 acre of middling land. To raise faggots sufficient to heat the oven 

 or stove, say 170 times a year*, will require about three fourths of an 

 acre ; and hence we may conclude 1 acre to be the minimum, and 1A acre the 

 maximum, for this class of cottages. The data on which these quantities 

 are founded will be afterwards given. 



4. The fourth object, which to vegetables and fuel adds barley for malt, 

 requires a rood more than the third object, or from 1± acre, to ljacre. 



5. For the fifth object, which includes vegetables, the whole of the fuel, 

 barley for malt, and the keep of a cow, the quantity will vary according 

 to the quality of the soil, the climate, and the circumstance of its being in 

 aration or in pasture ; because, though in the latter case he will not derive 

 so much produce from a given surface, what he does obtain will be got with 

 less labour. In Rutlandshire it has been found by Lord Brownlow and others 

 that 2J acres were sufficient to keep a cow a year ; and that there, where 

 every cottager has a cow, from that quantity to 3 acres was invariably allowed. 

 Probably, at an average of the country, 3 acres may be requisite ; and this, 

 with one acre for fuel, a rood for malt, and a rood for a garden, will give 

 4§ acres for the maximum quantity of land for this class ; or, if only part of 

 the fuel is to be grown, 4J acres. 



6. The sixth object, to vegetables, fuel, malt, and the keep of a cow, adds 

 the requisite quantity of bread corn. John Denson says, " He could men- 

 tion several labourers that have brought up their families and paid their 

 way entirely on the produce of 2 or 3 acres of land : " (J Peasant's Voice, 

 p. 12.) and we do not doubt it; because, in that case, his whole labour 

 being bestowed on the land, it would be cultivated to the utmost, and pro- 

 bably a part of the horticultural produce sold at good prices. The same 

 practical writer is " convinced that a sober active man would keep a cow, 

 a breeding sow, a good fat hog in the sty, and grow plenty of corn and 

 vegetables for the consumption of his family, and pay rent, rates, and taxes, 

 from the produce of 3 acres of land." (A Peasant's Voice, p. 27.) If we add, 

 in countries where fuel costs more than the rent of an acre of land, an 

 additional acre for wood, and a quarter of an acre for malt, this will give 

 4J acres ; but we should say, for the average of soils and situations, 5 acres. 

 It is obvious that this quantity of ground could not be cultivated by a 

 labourer at his leisure hours ; nevertheless, if we suppose one acre devoted 

 to wood, another to permanent pasture, and that the remaining 3 acres are 

 in part worked by the hired labour of a steam or horse plough, we shall 

 find that the labourer would still have a good many weeks' labour, in the 

 course of the year, to dispose of to others. 



7. Vegetables, malt, a cow, bread corn, sugar, spirits, cider, perry, wines, 

 tobacco, substitutes for tea and coffee, opium, and the ordinary family 



* Supposing one faggot to be used every time the oven is lighted, then 

 twice a week in May and September gives - - - - 16 



Once a week for baking, during June, July, and August - - 12 



Three times a week, during October and April - - 24 



Four times a week, during November and March - - - 32 



Seven times a week, during December, January, and February - 84 



168 



