of Cottage Gardens. (549 



would assist in feeding the pigs ; if wheat, it would supply the 

 family with bread for a certain time, and while they used their 

 own wheat, that part of their earnings which they saved in 

 bread they could afford to expend in barley for the pigs. 

 The plan of sowing grain would have also this advantage, that 

 it would diminish the quantity of labour required. When the 

 potatoes are taken up in autumn, the haulrn might be pre- 

 viously removed to the dung-heap, and the ground neatly dug 

 and left to mellow till the spring, when it would require little 

 labour to fork in a crop of barley. And if the land were to be 

 sown with wheat, it might be done by a method which I learned, 

 I think, from the Report of the Society for bettering the Con- 

 dition of the Poor, and once tried myself for the purpose of 

 convincing a labourer that it might be done ; for, simple as 

 the method is, he would not believe it practicable till he had 

 seen it tried. When the potatoes are to be dug up, mow and 

 remove the stalks ; then, having dressed the seed, sow as 

 much ground as you intend to dig in the day. The act of 

 digging up the potatoes covers the seed wheat ; of course it 

 must be dug neatly, breaking the clods, and picking out the 

 rubbish as you proceed. The man above alluded to was per- 

 suaded that we should bury the seed so deep that it would 

 never vegetate. His surprise was therefore great, when it 

 came up at the proper time, and produced an abundant crop, 

 and he afterwards followed the same method upon his own 

 ground. When grain is once sown, it is done with, except 

 a little weeding in the spring, until the following harvest, when 

 it may be threshed with the gleanings : whereas potatoes, be- 

 sides the labour of setting and digging up, require a good deal 

 of attention in the busy time of the year ; indeed, it is a custom 

 with our people to hoe and fork between the rows two or three 

 times before the potatoes are taken up, and this has to be done 

 generally in haytime, when the men work late, and have little 

 leisure time. I am, therefore, an advocate for sowing some part 

 of the allotment with grain, because it adds to the manure, 

 diminishes the labour, and would assist greatly in feeding a 

 pig : indeed, the produce of the barley plot, added to the 

 gleanings of an industrious family, would be quite sufficient to 

 fatten a large pig. 



You will perceive that my observations on cottage allot- 

 ments (p. 529.) refer especially to parishes which have not 

 any considerable surplus of labourers, as is the case in the 

 district where I reside : still, as the wages are not sufficient 

 to support a large family in decent comfort, the labourers, 

 even here, stand in great need of the assistance of land. In 

 parishes burdened with many unemployed labourers, I read 



