1908.] Small Holdings in Lancashire. 567 



extent that artificial manures, with the exception of nitrate 

 of soda, are little used. There is good railway communication, 

 as is usually the case near populous centres, and the stations 

 are not far apart. A good portion of the district has the 

 additional advantage of water carriage by canal, which is 

 cheaper than by rail, and is a great benefit, particularly in 

 regard to the supply of dung. The country is practically level, 

 a fact conducive to economy of horse labour. 



(3) Industrious Habits of the People. — Both occupiers and 

 labourers are a hard-working and strenuous race. There is, 

 perhaps, no system of managing land which makes greater 

 demands upon the physical endurance of the labourers than 

 market gardening, especially when the produce is hauled to a 

 market 8 or 10 miles distant. The rate of wages is high, a 

 natural result of the competition for labour of the railways 

 and the not far distant factories, collieries, and works of 

 various kinds. At the same time the labour, compared with 

 that of districts where a lower rate of wages prevails, is 

 not expensive. Ploughmen usually receive from 21s. to 24s. 

 per week, and work in the fields with their teams from 7 to 12 

 in the morning and from 1.30 to 6 in the afternoon when the 

 length of the day allows it, with a break of half-an-hour both 

 morning and afternoon. Labourers get from 18s. to 24s. 

 per week, and work from 6 o'clock in the morning to 6 in the 

 evening, with an hour off at noon and half an hour morning and 

 afternoon. To give some idea of the labour performed it may 

 be mentioned that one man will fill about 30 tons of dung in a 

 day from a heap in the field, and when potato-lifting with the 

 fork in a full crop will frequently dig, pick up, and carry to a 

 cart over a ton a day, sometimes as much as 25 cwts. This is 

 by day work ; the usual rate of pay for piece-work is i\d. 

 per 20 yards in the row. 



Practically all the men occupying these small farms follow 

 the occupation of their fathers and learned the business in this 

 way. There are few instances of persons reared in towns 

 taking up holdings here, and it is rarely that anyone from 

 outside the district does so. The labourers also seldom become 

 small holders, though, with thrifty habits and high wages, they 

 have a good chance oLdoing so if they desire. 



