Agriculture of Berkshire. 
45 
in them, to lodge in hovels and sleep on beds frequently less 
comfortable than those of the cattle they tend. Thus, unheeded 
and uncared for, the only wonder is if they do not form vicious 
and depraved habits, and fall easy victims to vice of all kinds. 
This is but one of the many evils resulting from these fairs, and 
I rejoice to see there is a prospect of doing away with them, and 
that steps have already been taken to that end. In comparing 
the present with the past, we find, from our gaol statistics, that 
there is a great diminution of crime, and that our gaols are 
nearly empty. This may, in a measure, be attributed to the 
establishment of the County Police-force, which does good ser- 
vice, not so much by the amount of crime which it detects, as that 
which, either directly or indirectly, it is the means of preventing. 
From all these facts, which 1 have felt it my duty to give^ 
many may infer that the general condition of the labourer is 
so satisfactory that ere long we may look for extraordinary results. 
I should be sorry to create such an erroneous impression, and 
distinctly state that I anticipate nothing of the kind until the 
moral tone of that class immediately above them has reached a 
higher standard. Where that bond of sympathy and friendship 
which should unite the employer and employed does not exist, or 
only in a very small degree, we often find that farmers do not 
scruple to discharge their labourers when work is scarce, and they 
can do without them ; and, as a matter of course, in the summer, 
when the labourers feel that they are of importance to the 
farmers, they either strike for higher pay or take their labour to 
a dearer market. Surely remedies may be found for this state of 
things. In my humble opinion, the first is to provide constant 
employment for a regular staff of labourers, and, by a judicious 
introduction of machinery, so to equalise the work on the farm 
as not to require extra hands in the summer season ; next, to let 
the labourers feel that they are not looked upon as mere machines, 
who are only valued for the amount of work they can perform, 
but that they are trusted, treated kindly, helped and respected, in 
proportion as they help and respect themselves. We shall then 
find that our interest will be theirs, and that the facilities now 
afforded them for improvement, decent living, and the formation 
of industrious habits, will be more appreciated and more pro- 
ductive of good results. 
As this is not an essay on agriculture, but a report of facts as 
they exist, I feel bound, in conclusion, to thank those gentlemen 
and friends who have so very kindly and readily furnished me 
with information on the different subjects contained in it, and for 
the great courtesy I have received from all those whose farms 1 
have inspected. If practice cannot^ compete with science, and I 
am unsuccessful, it will not be from want of subject-matter, but 
