346 Condition of the English Agricultural Labourer, 1871. 
1st. Ev enlargins: die field of labour. 
2nd. By extending the benefits of education. 
3rd. By providing comfortable cottages. 
4th. By providing cottage gardens. 
At the time of !Mr. Xicholls's essay there was in many counties 
a surplus of agricultural labour ; and during the winter months 
it was no unusual thing for many men to be thrown out of work, 
and to be dependent on poor relief, or on the exertions of land- 
owners who created employment for them ; but although this may 
still be the case to a limited extent, as a general rule an over- 
supply of agricultural labour is unusual. In many districts a 
spirit of change has come over the class, and there is a constant 
movement in search of higher wages and more lucrative work ; and 
the only way to retain good men upon farms is by improving their 
houses, and making their wives reluctant to leave a comfortable 
home ; but even then the young people are looking forward to 
fresh fields of emplovment where they receive higher pay for work, 
and are migrating from the country into the towns to an extent 
which may probably hereafter afford a legitimate field of inquiry 
for those who are anxious to retain the best agricultural labourers 
in their own districts. In the manufacturing counties of the 
Xorth there is not onlv the temptation to go into the towns, 
but there are frequently also situations in their own sphere 
of labour which afford excellent openings for agricultural 
labourers. The prosperous manufacturers and tradesmen of 
our northern towns take every opportunity to buy or to rent 
land, and set up, either the model farm on an extensive scale, 
with high-bred shorthorns, and every appliance of modern 
husbandrv, or the more moderate establishment of twenty 
or thirty acres of land, with dairy, pigs, and poultry. In either 
case there is a field for well-paid good agricultural labour ; 
and in the smaller establishments it is no unusual thing for a 
steady man and his wife to receive from I85. to 20s. per week, 
and a house rent free, to look after the horse, cow, dair}-, poultrj', 
«Scc. ; and, to our own knowledge, many of the best and smartest 
of the young married agricultural labourers obtain such situations, 
and with prudence and care are soon enabled to save very satis- 
factory sums from their wages. Again, the general police force 
and the ordinarv staff of railway servants hold out special 
advantages and attractions, and have their ranks mainly filled 
from men of this class. Of late years another sphere of em- 
plovment has presented advantages which are scarcely suffi- 
ciently appreciated. A recent Parliamentary return estimates 
the " equivalent weekly wage of a private soldier, including food, 
lodging, clothing, {^c, in the cavalry and artillery, at lbs. 9d. ; in 
the Foot Guards, at 145. 6J(/. ; in the infantry of the line, 13s. 5^c?.," 
