522 
Cow-Keeping by Farm Labourers. 
system ; and I can say, with Sir Baldwyn Leighton, that as 
regards the concession of a cow pasture to labourers, " I have 
letters of evidence from correspondents in many counties of 
England showing the advantage of such an arrangement, which 
many philanthropic men seem never to have heard of yet." 
The Hon. Auberon Herbert writes approvingly of small 
cow-keepers, from Ashley Arnewood Farm, Lymington. Mr. 
Herbert says " they mostly depend upon waste land by the 
sides of the roads, but they often rent a small meadow." This 
refers, be it remembered, to a retired district in the New Forest. 
Mr. Richard Stratton writes from The Duffryn, Newport, 
Monmouthshire, that milk is obtainable at ?>d. per quart, and 
that the custom of the labourer keeping a cow is unknown in 
his neighbourhood. 
Mr. J. A. Williams, Bayldon, North Wilts, is not acquainted 
with a single instance of an agricultural labourer keeping a 
cow in the arable counties of Wilts and Berks, except where 
there are cow commons, as at East Ilsley in Berkshire. 
Having heard, some years since, of the very large number of 
cows kept by labourers on the estate in Cheshire, owned by 
Lord Tollemache, of Helmingham, I felt great interest in visit- 
ing the spot. The estate lies in the midst of the Cheshire 
dairy district. The farms average about 200 acres each, and 
about three men — cowman, horseman, and labourer — are em- 
ployed on each. Nearly all the labourers, as well as some of the 
small tradesmen, on the estate keep cows. There are about 300 
cottages ; at the time of my visit, 260 of the cottagers were 
cow-keepers, and before the close of the year seven others were 
to be added to the number. Any man who finds himself in a 
position to keep a cow is enabled to do so by an allotment of 
pasturage to his cottage. About 3 acres suffice for the keeping 
of a cow, of which about one acre is mown, one quarter of an 
acre is in tillage, and the rest is in pasture. The rent of the 
land is the same as that of the adjacent farming land. The 
cottages are hired from the landlord on a three months' nptice, 
and the tenants of the farms prefer this arrangement to hiring 
the cottages and sub-letting them, as it reduces their responsi- 
bility in the event of the dismissal of a servant. Generally 
speaking, the 3 acres required for a cow are attached to the 
cottage, but in some cases a pasture is set apart for cottagers' 
cows, and 30.s. per cow is charged for grazing. The mowing land 
is always attached to the cottage, and, as a general rule, cacli 
man has his mowing land fenced. If it is held in partnership, 
the aftermath of the best farmer will be superior to that of his 
neighbour, whose cow, nevertheless, will graze over the whole 
piece. These cases, however, are very rare. 
