324 



On the Farining of Siiffolk. 



letting his labourers have it at cost price ; l3ut, as this would in- 

 terfere with the miller's trade, he now pays the miller himself, or 

 engages to see him paid^ and gets the money from his labourers 

 in weekly instalments : they may take as little as 2 stone, or as 

 much as half-a-sack ; thus, when flour is cheap, they can lay in 

 a stock. Mr. C. gets a list of the quantity required by each 

 man, and the miller sends his cart round once a-week. It is, of 

 course, quite optional for the labourer to take his flour in this 

 way or not. 



Taking the labourers generally, it would be to their advantage 

 if some means were adopted for a more general and efficient 

 education than they novv^ receive at the village school. 



Many landowners object to investing money in cottages^ 

 thinking by so doing they will burden their estates with poor. 

 But this only drives the labourer into the hands of the speculator, 

 who builds cottages and lets them at an exorbitant rent. 



The Rev. Copinger Hill^ in his 'Essay on Cottages' (in the 

 ' Journal'), has proved that the erection by the landlord of com- 

 fortable cottages, with a garden attached, let at a reasonable 

 rent, will pay good interest for the money invested. Cottages 

 built of clay, the warmest and driest material that can be used, 

 may be let at 3/. per annum ; and where this is done, the specu- 

 lator, who crowds a lot of cottages on a small plot of ground, and 

 lets them from 5/. to 6Z. each, will be driven from the field. All 

 agree that the condition of the labourers is improved by annexing 

 a large garden to the cottage ; this does away with the necessity 

 of field-allotments, the usefulness of which has many advocates, 

 though some are of quite a different opinion respecting them. 

 ''Spinning " yarn by hand is now nearly superseded by the intro- 

 duction of machinery. 



To conclude, I must apologise for having entered so minutely 

 into the details of management : my reason for doing so is to 

 render the report intelligible to farmers in a distant part of the 

 country, for there are many local phrases used in our farming 

 operations which would be perfectly unintelligible to the farmers 

 of another county. 



I am deeply indebted to many of the Suffolk farmers for their 

 kind and ready assistance in affording me information on the 

 various subjects of this Report, and to these gentlemen 1 beg to 

 tender my sincere thanks ; and I hope the use that I have made 

 of the information which they have afforded will not be deemed 

 altogether unworthy. If the Report possesses any merit, it be- 

 longs mainly to them : if it is considered unworthy of the county, 

 the agriculture of which it has been my endeavour to describe, 

 the disgrace rests upon myself; but should I be unfortunate in 

 obtaining the good opinion of the agricultural reader, the Report 



