A Joint-Stock Farm in the Netherlands. 
193 
and oats are added during harvest time. From 10 to 15 horses 
are bred annually, and are brought into work at four years old. 
On March 1st, 1879, there were 10 three-year-olds, 9 two-year- 
olds, and 15 yearlings. 
Labour. — On a farm where nearly 200 people are employed 
all the }ear round, and where more than 250 are employed 
during the harvest, the labour question must be one of serious 
importance. It will be seen that even on a farm so thoroughly 
well-managed in all respects, the Dutch labourer is here also in 
a very inferior position to his English representative. 
The current rate of wages is about 10s. per week in the 
summer; but from December 1st to February 28th, they are 
about Is. per week less. Women earn a trifle more than 
half those sums. The ploughmen, who live in the bailiff's 
houses, are divided into five classes : — the head ploughman gets 
from March 1st to December 1st, 15/., with food and lodging ; 
the second, 121. 10s. ; third, nearly 11/. ; fourth, 9/. 35. 4c/.; fifth, 
11. 10s. The bailiff is allowed 4s. 6(/. per head per week to 
pay for their food, which consists of bread and bacon in the 
morning, potatoes and pork for dinner, and milk, soup, and 
bread in the evening. The ploughmen are kept and fed during 
the winter to attend to the horses and cattle, and they generally 
receive from 135. to 175. as a present. 
The hours of work are from 6 A.M. to 6 P.M., but during 
harvest they work until 8.30 P.M. They take their meals into 
the fields with them, and the day i? divided as follows : — Work 
from 6 to 8 A.M., then from 8.30 till noon, then from 1 P.M. till 
4, then from 4.15 until 6 P.M. 
The rent of cottages varies from I5. to I5. 8c/. per week, and 
the best of them consist of one room about 13 feet square. On 
one side are the windows and the door, on the opposite side are 
two box-beds with a cupboard between, and on one of the two 
remaining sides is a fire-place. The side opposite the fireplace 
is blank, unless the wall is broken by a door leading into the 
lean-to outhouse, in which fuel, potatoes, and other such matters 
are stored. The pigstye and the privy are separated from the 
cottage, and are small wooden erections. Some of these 
cottages have a kind of loft above, in which the labourers store 
hay, straw, &c. Those with large families who have this addi- 
tional accommodation utilise it as a sleeping-place for the elder 
children, who sleep on the hay and straw. If there are many 
children in a cottage without a loft, four are stowed into one bed 
by placing pillows at each end. Dutch families are frequently 
large ; but, on the other hand, when boys are 12 or 13 years old 
they are sent, if possible, to a farmer, and sleep in the stables or 
cowsheds, or, more rarely, as at Wilhelminadorp, in the bailiff's 
VOL. XYIII. — S. S. 0 
