Labourers Cottages. 



403 



" The Duke of Buccleueh said that nothing was more disgraceful than 

 the condition of the cottages of the labouring classes in many parts of the 

 country, even at this present moment, though of late years great improve- 

 ments had certainly been effected. The system in many parts of Scot- 

 land was unfortunately a very erroneous one, for it was very rare that a 

 cottager held his cottage directly from the proprietor. In almost all 

 cases, especially in the south of Scotland, the cottages, often in whole 

 rows, were let to the farmers as a portion of their farms. The proprietor 

 had no more to do with the cottagers and with these houses than he had 

 with the animals which occupied the stall of the farm-offices. 



" The system of letting the labourers' houses with the farm was neither 

 good for the proprietor nor the labourer, and he had felt it to be so great 

 a grievance, that whenever it was practicable he had tried to remedy it. 

 He had only the day before taken an immense number of cottages entirely 

 into his own hands, reserving for the farmer such as were necessary for 

 the accommodation of yearly servants, but letting the greater number of 

 the cottages to the day-labourers, who were to pay the rent directly to 

 himself. It was their interest also to keep] respectable people in those 

 houses ; and if any one was in possession of a cottage who had not that 

 character, the proprietors would be enabled by that means to keep them 

 under control." 



Upon the estate which the writer of the aforegoing remarks 

 has the honour and pleasure of superintending, the proprietor 

 has within the last few years erected upwards of fifty labourers' 

 cottages of different designs ; some single, others double, and in 

 two instances four and six dwellings combined together ; but the 

 plan which has been found most suited to the habits of the 

 labourer and his domestic privacy, at the same time combining 

 economy in expenditure, is a double cottage, with three bed- 

 rooms (in each), for the best arrangement and construction of 

 which the Royal Agricultural Society of England has offered a 

 prize. 



Two plans, accompanied by the elevations, specifications, and 

 estimates of the cost, are hereunto annexed. 



Plan No. 1 has been erected in numerous instances, according 

 to both the elevations, and the arrangement has given general 

 satisfaction to the occupiers. 



Plan No. 2 has not been executed, having been presented to 

 the writer of this essay during the prosecution of the subject, by 

 the architect who has drawn out the plans and specifications ; and 

 whose able assistance in bringing the author's ideas and wishes 

 into a tangible and practical form, he has great pleasure in 

 acknowledging. 



Situation. — Although this must be determined by local cir- 

 cumstances, the cottage should, as a general rule, be placed near 

 to, and the front (or side) parallel with a public road, having, if 

 practicable, a south, or what is even more to be preferred, a south- 

 east aspect. 



The ground on which it stands, if not naturally quite dry, 

 should be made so by thorough-draining; and, where attainable, 



