44 
Agriculture of Berkshire. 
The dwellings of the agricultural labourers are good where 
they are in the hands of the landed proprietors : these have 
generally three bed-rooms with 30 or 40 poles of ground 
attached ; they are in most cases let at \s. per week. Landlords 
no longer loolc upon the cottages as a tax or burden on the estate, 
but consider them as necessary and important appendages, and 
in some cases a great ornament. But there are other cottages 
belonging to different owners in various parts of the county which 
are only worthy of the name of hovels ; and yet are in many cases 
let at double the price of the former, with barely any garden at- 
tached to them. These unfortunately frequently belong to those 
who take no interest in the moral or social condition of the agri- 
cultural labourer ; they are, however, gradually decreasing in 
number every year, and there is good reason to hope that ere long 
every poor man's home will be such as he can feel a pleasure in 
returning to after the toils of the day are over, there to spend his 
leisure hours in a neat and well-kept garden, for the careful cul- 
tivation of which there are now many inducements in almost 
every district — horticultural societies being very general, which 
give to cottagers prizes for flowers, fruit, vegetables, and the best- 
cultivated gardens. Garden-allotments do not prevail so much 
as they did ; but adjoining the towns they are still to be seen, 
and are a great boon to the poorer inhabitants. In the agricul- 
tural districts where the gardens are very small, allotments, not 
exceeding 40 poles each, are sometimes let to the poor by their 
wealthier neighbours at a moderate price. 
The clergy are ever forward in promoting and encouraging 
every work which has for its object the improvement of the 
labouring classes. There are but few parishes without coal and 
clothing clubs, to which the poor contribute a few pence weekly, 
the subscriptions of the wealthier parishioners being added to 
their contributions at the end of the year. There are also several 
excellent Benefit Societies, from which the poor man, by paying 
a small amount monthly, is provided with medical attendance and 
from 85. to 12s. per week, in case of illness. Where these are 
unconnected with the public-house they are generally under the 
management of the clergy, and are patronised by the respectable 
inhabitants. 
Education has advanced with rapid strides during the last ten 
years. I may say every village has its daily school ; in addition to 
which most clergymen have established night schools, where the 
working classes have the privilege of attending and improving 
themselves. These are calculated to produce much good, more 
particularly to the young men between the ages of 16 and 23, 
who, from the pernicious system of hiring at statute-fairs, are 
taken at that age from their homes, and from every one interested 
