46 
Report on the Farm Prize Competition 
raised. As a consequence there have been very substantial 
remissions, with large grants of manure and lime in recent 
years. Small owners, on whose estates rents are generally 
higher, have been compelled to make very considerable reduc- 
tions, and a good many farms have changed hands. Instances 
(which unfortunately are not confined to Derbyshire) are men- 
tioned in which a reduction has been refused to an old tenant, 
while a rent even below his offer had to be accepted from a new- 
comer. On an average, rents are about 11. 5s. on holdings of 
100 acres or thereabouts, about 15s. on large holdings, and 30s. 
to 40s. (according to situation and quality of land) for farms of 
20 to 40 acres. 
Wages paid to labourers in the county are high, but the 
labour bill of farmers is not excessive, owing to the style of 
farming, especially in the north. Irish agricultural labourers 
come into the county for the hay harvest and the hoeing of 
turnips. They are housed and fed in the farmhouse, and get 
10s. per week or thereabouts, and usually remain in the district 
until they are attracted farther south by the beginning of 
harvest. In the southern district of the county wages are high, 
but the number of labourers on each farm is not large. On one 
farm of IGO acres the work was all done by three men and a 
boy. Frequently the men are boarded in the farmhouse, and 
get about 7s. to 10s. weekly, with board. In the south- 
west of the county one or two young men are boarded in 
most of the farmhouses, and get 18^. to 201. yearly. Labourers 
boarded in the house are engaged by the year ; those not 
boarded in the house by the week. Hours of labour generally 
are from 5 a.m. to 5 or G p.m., or " from morning milking to 
evening milking." All the milking is done by the farmer, or by 
his labourers ; and it is an essential qualification of a labourer 
that he should be able to milk. Neither women nor children 
are much employed in farm- labour in the county. In most 
districts there are co-operative societies to which the labourers 
belong, and which are managed by themselves. Registered 
friendly societies and sick clubs likewise prevail, to which the 
labourers subscribe. 
As a summary of the preceding remarks it may be said that 
the changes in Derbyshire farming since 1881 consist mainly in 
less home-made cheese ; more cheese and butter factories ; in- 
creased sale of milk ; more attention to the breeding of cattle 
and horses, and to poultry-keejiing ; and the introduction of 
ensilage. 
