408 



Farming of Lincolnshire, 



the interior is generally damp, dark, and badly-ventilated, and 

 parents, sons, and daughters are frequently crowded into a single 

 sleeping room. It is gratifying to find that both the prizes for 

 Essays on the "Construction of Labourers' Cottages'^* have 

 been won by individuals in Lincolnshire; and perhaps this may 

 betoken the awakening of a general spirit of inquiry into this 

 department of rural economy, and that houses in future will be 

 built with all the necessary appurtenances of copper, oven, &c. 



In the south-eastern lowland the cottages are tolerably good, 

 small garden-plots general, and 1 or 2 pigs universally kept. 

 The distance from the place of labour is not great, owing to the 

 comparatively recent settlement of villagers in almost all parts of 

 the newly-drained fens. The condition of the labourers in the 

 south-western district is not good ; " they rarely keep cows, but 

 most of them have a pig, and there are generally plenty of cot- 

 tages, usually with small gardens attached." On the Heath, most 

 of the poor have pigs, and " have on an average 2 miles to go to 

 their work." In the north-western district " the cottages are 

 comfortable, with from 1 to 3 roods of potato ground ;" and gene- 

 rally with the keeping of 1 cow, pigs, &c., from 11. to 8/. per 

 annum. A large portion of the labourers keep a cow, so that 

 those who have a cow can keep 2 pigs ; and those who have not 

 a cow generally keep one. Few of them have occasion to go more 

 than a mile to their work." In the Isle of Axholme a similar 

 state of things is to be found ; the gardens grow potatoes, with 

 which pigs are fed, and many of the labourers are able to 

 keep a cow, or "joist" one upon a neighbouring farmer's land. 

 In the central district the condition of the poor is good, and in 

 the several parishes around Wragby they are " all supplied with 

 gardens and good cottage-houses." Nearer Spilsby "the men 

 find plenty of work : their houses are bad, many being ornamen- 

 tal outside but inconvenient within." In the fiat tract, between 

 the chalk hills and the coast, the condition of the labourers is 

 superior to the general average, having many cow cottages." In 

 the southern parts " the cottages are in most cases too small for a 

 family." On the Wolds they generally have garden sufficient to 

 feed 1 or 2 pigs, and, in some localities, land for a cow's grass and 

 hay, and the cottages are pretty good. It may be here remarked 

 that very few cottages in this county are sub-let by farmers, the land- 

 lords having taken them into their own hands, thus giving to the 

 labourers an independence that they would not otherwise possess. 

 The chief defect with regard to the houses of the poor is in their 

 number, for in many localities on the Wolds, Cliff, and other dis- 

 tricts, the no-cottage system seems to prevail. 



* Journal, vol, x. 



