362 Condition of the English Agricultural Labourer, 1871. 
is fitful, at times very liard, at others slack, and their want of 
education and training prevents them from profiting by this 
start beyond the ordinary farm-labourer." At one time Cumber- 
land and Westmoreland were the home of small owners and 
occupiers ; the " statesmen " of these counties cultivated their 
own land, and, in addition, five-and-twenty years ago, there were 
many small tenancies. The Rev. R. C. Patteson, rector of 
Melmerby, a gentleman well acquainted with the social state 
of Cumberland, places this matter in a striking point of view. 
He says : " Far more capital is now required to stock a farm ; 
labour is much more expensive. But not only is more capital 
required to stock a farm, but small farms are let at extravagant 
rents, and in the end (and 1 have seen many failures) become 
simply nests for poverty or sinks of the capital laid out upon 
them. The condition of the day-labourer is far better than that 
of a small farmer with little capital. The day of small farms is 
over. They will die a lingering death, but their day is over. 
Their days are told, and I think their death is for the benefit of 
the nation. I don't think the numbers of the petty landowners 
is decreasing so rapidly as that of small farmers, but as the 
purchase value of land increases they too must die out. It is 
astonishing what sums these men will give or borrow for land. 
It is almost their only idea of investing their money, no wonder 
that so many statesmen are poorer than small farmers, more 
jiinched than their labourers."* 
From the general tendency of this evidence it seems pretty 
clear that we must not look to raising the position of the agri- 
cultural labourer by making him a small farmer, although, doubt- 
less, there are instances of well-merited success as well as of 
failure in this direction. Generally speaking, on a small farm 
he will have to save money rather than to make it ; and he may 
do this as a labourer more frequently than some suppose. Before 
marriage there is not much difficulty in many parts of England 
for careful men and women to lay by money to stock and fur- 
nish their houses on their marriage; and the facilities for small 
investments in building societies and other securities is now 
much greater than it formerly was. It is previous to marriage 
that the kindly interest of the employer or the minister of 
religion may be most useful, and a few words of advice will 
often inculcate a habit of saving not easily forgotten in after 
years. With a young family comes a time of pressure, but even 
then the allotment, and, if possible, the cow gait, afford oppor- 
tunities for extra exertions and for extra comfort. But there are 
two great hindrances to this prosperity — on the man's side, love 
* Second Report, 1869, p. 144. 
