Report on the PVarwichshire Farm-Frize Competition, 1876. 493 
during the present spring, although no prizes were offered, and 
therefore no sheep specially prepared, the high price of 87s. 6rf. 
was made of a pen of fat tegs ; and he added that this price has 
been exceeded in former years. As is mentioned in the report 
of the farm, a pen of Mr. Stilgoe's in May fetched 85s. 6c?. out 
of the wool ; and 75s. seemed a common price on the farms we 
visited. 
The cattle struck us as by no means so good as the sheep ; 
I but dairying having much gone out of fashion, it may be expected 
that pure-bred bulls will soon be more extensively used, and 
leave their stamp upon the future race. 
It was impossible to enter the county without remembering 
that from it sprung that remarkable agitation in 1872, which so 
quickly extended to the rest of England, and without considering 
how far that movement had affected the wellbeing of the labourers 
themselves, and how far also the general course of agriculture. 
Speaking generally, then, the information we received led us 
to the conclusion that though wages had advanced since 1872 
about OS. a week for ordinary labourers, much of this had been 
saved to the masters by the increased use of machinery, and a 
more general employment of piecework. As far as we could 
observe, the labourers on the best farms are very comfortably 
off, occupying good cottages at either a very low rent (as in 
the case of Mr. Adkins, whose men pay Is. a week), or paying 
no rent at all, as in Mr. Stilgoe's case. The appearance of the 
men themselves was one which spoke of tidy, comfortable cir- 
cumstances. Indiscriminate giving of beer for every conceivable 
job was formerly one of the curses of Warwickshire farming, and 
we were anxious to learn how far this bad system had given way 
before the new movement. In some cases we were slad to find 
it had been almost abolished, and in others that drink was only 
occasionally given at such times as haymaking and harvest. The 
general tenor , of our information was, that less work was the 
rule for more money, and that there was scarcely that cheerful 
willing obedience to reasonable demands which used to distin- 
guish the relations between men and masters ; but, upon the 
whole, we did not find so great a change as might have been 
expected, and upon most of the farms we found many old 
labourers, who could scarcely fail to be interested in their 
■employers' welfare. 
1 At a time when tenant-right measures are receiving so much 
attention, perhaps I may be pardoned for alluding briefly to that 
I matter. Custom has hitherto given no allowance for unexhausted 
I improvements in this county, except in the matter of draining, 
I in which case an allowance for five years has been general, a 
fifth part of the original cost being deducted for each year which 
has expired since the performance of the work. We were, 
