312 = 46 
British Agriculture. 
Labourers' 
dwellings, 
when j udi- 
ciously 
placed, as re- 
munerative as 
any other out- 
lay of land- 
owners' capital. 
Better cottages 
wanted rather 
tlian more 
of them. 
of the stock, will, as a rule, be ample compensation for the 
charge. Additions to existing buildings for a specific object, 
planned and executed with judgment, will always be remunera- 
tive. But the more common fault of putting up very costly 
buildings, planned with little reference to the value and extent 
of the farm, or little practical knowledge on the part of land- 
agent or architect, too surely ends in disappointment to both 
landowner and farmer. 
Labourers' cottages are reckoned the least remunerative of all. 
New cottages, even though built in blocks of two or four together, 
cannot at present be built by contract for less than 150/. each, if 
planned with due regard to comfort and decency, and at a greater 
cost if the expense of haulage of materials is included. To 
repay this in twenty-five years, both principal and interest, a 
weekly rent of 4^. is required. But labourers in the southern 
counties have been unable to pay more than Is. or 2*. out of their 
weekly wages, so that the landowner who lets good cottages 
at that rent is really paying also 2s. or 3s. a week towards the 
wages of his farmers' labourers. By this, all the parties an 
misled. The landowner's duty to his estate is to provide i 
with all permanent buildings required for its proper cultivation 
He must do so if he cultivates the land himself, and he ough 
equally to do so if he lets it to be cultivated by another. Th 
farmer, whether landowner or tenant, must then furnish th 
farm with the " plant," the live and dead stock necessary for it 
cultivation. Both parties are entitled to look for a return fc 
their investment ; the landowner's safe and improving capit* 
yielding him a smaller annual return than the farmer's, whic 
is liable to the vicissitudes of seasons, and wear and tear, 
must also cover his personal industry and skill. The labourei 
dwellings are as indispensable as the stables and barns, and 
arable farm can be said to be complete which has not the coi 
mand of an adequate number of cottages for thp workpeop 
These, with the farm and all other necessary buildings, should 
let to the farmer at a rent which should include a fair return 
the landlord's capital, and the farmer and the labourer should 
left to deal with each other on the basis of adequate remune 
tion for useful service, regulated by the ultimate rule of dema 
and supply. On this footing the return on labourers' cotta 
will become as remunerative as that of any other outlay of la 
owners' capital, because it will be controlled by the real ne( 
sity and recjuirements of the farm. 
Tins will apply chiefly in cases where new cottages are 
tached to farms, and fresh outlay for that object is to be m! 
But, in the vast majority of cases, labourers' cottages aire 
exist in sufficient numbers. Better cottages are required in m / 
i 
