2 Vie Allotment System. 
93 
agricultural labourer. To him, however, it was a most accept- 
able boon ; while, from personal acquaintance with the men and 
their families in the neighbourhood of Whitfield, on the Thorn- 
bur}- portion of Lord Ducie's property, I am able to say that 
the improved circumstances and character of the labourer have 
been an advantage also to his employer. 
The Whitfield allotments were first let many years ago, and, 
after twelve or fourteen years' cultivation, they are as fertile and 
productive as ever. Lying near the hamlet where most of 
the tenants live, the land is cultivated by them with the least 
possible waste of labour in passing to and fro, and with the 
greatest facilities both for the conveyance of manure to the land 
and the removal of produce from it. Most of the plots are 60 or 
70 perches in extent, varying, however, from less than a Cjuarter of 
an acre to rather more than half an acre. The way in which the 
land was let, and the whole scheme organised, may be Aery 
shortly described. On application to the late Earl of Ducie, 
an old pasture close to the village, about 11 acres in extent, 
was set apart for the purpose. Twenty or thirty cottages 
stand around or near the field, and to each a plot of ground was 
allotted. The field was, in the first place, divided into pieces 
varying in size between the extremes already named, according 
to the number of the cottagers and their ability to manage it. 
Paths were made between certain clusters of these plots, and a 
cart-way was left at either end of the land, for the removal 
of the produce. Such portions of the field as needed it were 
effectually under-drained. One-half of each plot was then dug 
up a good spit deep with the grafting-tool. All this was done 
during the winter. Sheep were turned in during the following 
summer. The grass of the halves left undug was thus eaten 
bare, and the halves of the several plots that had been dug were 
thus well trodden down. The allotments were apportioned at 
Michaelmas by lot, each cottager being told in what class, as 
to size, he was permitted to draw. To those of less ability than 
the others, whether owing to greater distance from the field, 
to having fewer children able to assist, or to want of strength or 
skill, the smaller plots were offered. To those of greater ability, 
whether of greater need or not, the larger plots were offered. It 
was urged that to allow these plots as a mere makeshift in aid of 
the necessitous, would have a pauperising tendency. It was 
an opportunity to them, offered according to their ability, not 
according to their need ; and it thus acted as a premium upon 
every good quality they possessed or could acquire. 
The previous management of the land placed it in the hands 
of these allotment tenants in first-rate order : the half which 
had been dug six months or more before, and trodden down 
all the summer by sheep, was in the best possible con- 
