376 



Irish Migratory Labourers. 



When engaged upon ordinary farm work, such as thinning 

 turnips and potato lifting, they are frequently employed at 

 piece-work, and in parts of Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, and 

 Warwickshire they undertake harvest at piece-work. But in 

 the Northern counties they are generally paid by the week or 

 month, and in some districts they are hired at hiring fairs 

 held specially for harvest hands. In the Northern counties, 

 in addition to cash wages they are generally found sleeping 

 accommodation in a barn, but find their own food. Not 

 infrequently, however, their employers give them fuel, milk, 

 and porridge, and in some cases they are found all their food. 

 It is customary in some districts for Irish migratory labourers 

 to work on the same farms year after year. 



Nearly all the other migratory labourers come from the 

 Province of Ulster, and most of these come from Donegal. 

 They chiefly go by steamer to Northumberland or Scotland. 

 A few start for Scotland early in the year. Some, both men 

 and women, arrive in time for the potato planting in Ayrshire, 

 the Lothians, and a few other places where potatoes are largely 

 grown, but the majority do not go until the summer, some 

 starting in July for turnip-thinning, haymaking, and lifting 

 early potatoes, while many start in August for harvest. Some 

 remain for potato-lifting, chiefly in the great potato-growing 

 districts of the Lothians, and the counties of Forfar and Perth. 

 A few men stay still longer for storing turnips. 



The counties in Scotland in which both Irish men and 

 women are employed are Ayr, Wigtown, Lanark, Midlothian, 

 East Lothian, and West Lothian, Forfar, Perth, and the 

 eastern Border Counties of Berwick, Roxburgh, Peebles, 

 and Selkirk. They are most largely employed in the 

 counties of Midlothian, East Lothian, and West Lothian, 

 where a large extent of land is devoted to corn growing. 

 Next to the Lothians they are most largely employed at 

 harvest near Glasgow and in the eastern Border Counties. 



In the county of Ayr, where large quantities of early 

 potatoes are grown, a considerable number of Irish men 

 and women are employed in the months ot June, July, 

 and August, lifting them. They are employed in large 

 companies by the dealers, who purchase the growing 



