Tlie Agricultural Labourer. 7Q7 = 501 
( Dorsetshire ploughman. In the wages which he receives, in 
h mode of life, in his diet (which consists to a large extent of 
»tmeal and milk), in his education, and even in his physical 
jwers, there are differences which are entirely to his advantage. 
1 a word, the general superiority of the man is manifest at once 
1 those who come in contact with him. 
Again, in Ireland another class predominates. A very large Irish peasaut 
pportion of that country is occupied by very small peasant- formers, 
llders, many of whom are accustomed to leave their homes for 
jieason in the summer months and to seek work in England 
( Scotland. These can scarcely be correctly ranked with the 
l)Ourers of Great Britain, although they are scarcely ever 
sierior to the general run of the latter in their circumstances 
( surroundings, and, indeed, often submit to greater hardships 
i housing and greater privations in living than the very poorest 
Iglish workman. Inasmuch, however, as they are themselves 
t! occupiers of the land they cultivate, they cannot be included 
i the class of which I am writing, and I shall content myself 
\ :h this very brief allusion to them. 
[t is necessary, therefore, at the outset to draw a line of 
cnarcation between these different sections of the labouring 
cnmunity. It would be impossible, indeed, by a hard-and-fast 
rie, to indicate exact limits between the labourer of the tillage 
cJtricts of England and the herdsman or shepherd of the 
fitoral tracts. Nor is this needed ; but in speaking in general Term 
tms of the agricultural labourer, I must be understood ordi- " ^'^jl^^^'^J^,^ 
n ily to refer to that large class habitually engaged, in tillage generally to 
ctricts under supervision, in the actual cultivation of the the cultivate 
s 1. In the south this is by no means an unimportant section '° 
. , . , . y 1 • 1 r 1 „ districts. 
0 tiie population, and it is one on wriicri, irom the nature oi 
0 system, the welfare of British agriculture largely rests. 
The real prosperity of a country may to some extent be 
jiged by the condition of its lower classes. In endeavouring 
ti.describe the circumstances of our labouring population, I 
c not be insensible to the uneasiness and concern which their 
ni-progress in the past has sometimes occasioned to statesmen 
a I philanthropists. I shall show that their present state is of 
a ar more satisfactory character, and that their immediate out- 
It k is most encouraging and promising. But whatever short- 
c lings there may be — and some of these I shall point out — 
a so much due to evil legislation in the past, and to its results 
0 the present generation, that I do not think I should be out 
0 place to glance back at some of the causes which have con- 
luted to retard the progress of the agricultural population in 
greater part of England. 
Something of the superiority of the northern over the southern 
VOL. XIV.— S. S. 3 F 
