Farming of Lincolnsliire. 



403 



be found to lie within it at niglit, and the litter in and around it 

 becomes excellent manure. 



9. The Condition of the Labourer and the Improvement required 

 therein, by bringing his Dwelling nearer to his place of Labour. 



In treating this most difficult and most important subject, a few 

 words are premised regarding the state of the industrious poor at 

 the period of Young's Report in 1799, or rather to compare or 

 contrast his details with the few which have been gathered in 

 1849, and thus learn whether progress or retrogression has been 

 the order of movement since that time. 



From the monthly averages for different counties, published in 

 the 'Annals of Agriculture,' it appears that the prices of wheat in 

 1797-8-9, &c., varied amazingly at the same time, according to 

 the inland or maritime situation of the county, the monthly aver- 

 age of one county being sometimes 505. per quarter when that of 

 another was 765. 8a. per quarter: cheaper m.odes of transit have, 

 however, prevented such a state of things happening at the pre- 

 sent day. The average value of a quarter of wheat (Imperial 

 measure) in Lincolnshire, during 1797, was about 445.; in 1798 

 about 435., and in 1799 about 525. ; giving about 465. during the 

 whole period to which Young's notes refer. He fixes mutton at 

 ^d. per lb. all over the county, pork from 55. to 7s. per stone, 

 potatoes 35. per sack, coals I85. to 305. for a chaldron of 48 

 bushels. At the present time the price at Boston market is a 

 fair criterion of the general price throughout the county, and 

 through the year 1849 the average was somewhere about 445. per 

 quarter ; and the general rates for other provisions may be stated 

 at bd. per lb. for mutton, pork 55. per stone, potatoes bs. per 

 sack, and coals 225. per chaldron of the same measure. As 

 wheaten bread forms the principal necessary of life to the. Lin- 

 colnshire labourer, it appears that the value of food is not mate- 

 rially altered from that in the year 1799; and the increase or 

 diminution of his wages in comparison with that period will be a 

 fair indication of the improvement or falling off in his means of 

 living. Clothing is probably much cheaper, tools have been 

 greatly improved ; but to counterbalance this the potato failure 

 has made pig-feeding expensive, and the garden plot less remu- 

 nerative than of old. 



The following is the common rate of wages in different districts 

 in 1849 and previous years, but owing to the further fall in the 

 prices of agricultural produce a reduction to IO5. and even 95. 

 has subsequently occurred in many places here mentioned at 125, 

 In the present unsettled state of the farmers it is difficult to say 

 what wages will ultimately be. On the Wolds the general wage 

 is 125. per week, the men working from 6 o'clock to 6, with a rest 



2 D 2 



