392 
On the Allotment System. 
culties which beset the present condition of our labourers ; but it 
is one of the most effectual and most ready means of improving 
that condition. 
I found a difficulty at first in persuading my tenants to give up 
small portions of their respective farms to form my allotments ; 
they were prejudiced against the plan, suspicious and fearful of 
its effects. Some of their considerations they probably did not 
impart to me ; those which they urged appeared to me to be 
groundless, or of little weight. At the end of more than twenty 
years I have the great satisfaction of finding my tenants convinced 
of the good effects resulting from the practice, and willingly co- 
operating with me in carrying it on. I have now introduced a 
clause into my agreements with tenants, that if small portions of 
their respective farms should be wanted for cottages or allotments 
(not exceeding half an acre for each labourer), such portions 
may be taken, and allowance made according to valuation, in the 
same manner as had been stipulated before with regard to land 
required for planting. 
In allotting land to labourers I have begun with assigning a 
small portion to each man ; frequently less than 1 rood, though 
sometimes more. Mathematical precision in allotting one rec- 
tangle of 40 poles, neither more nor less, has always appeared to 
me objectionable. One man, with sturdy children, can manage 
half an acre with more ease than his next neighbour, with a puny 
family, can work 20 poles. I took my pieces of land, such as 
they might be, as opportunities offered. The nearer a piece 
might lie to the cottager the more advantageous it was to him ; 
but in some instances I have been obliged to assign land lying 
at a distance of half a mile from the man's dwelling ; yet he has 
eagerly hired it, and I have reason to know that they have derived 
much profit from it. However, the nearer at hand the ground 
lies, the better both for the labourer and his employer. 
When I have found that the allotment-man did justice to his 
land, and possessed a pig or two to produce manure, I have taken 
any opportunity that presented itself to increase his portion ; for 
experience has shown me that a good labourer, with the help of 
his family, can very well cultivate half an acre without its inter- 
fering with his constant employment on a farm. But it must be 
borne in mind that a considerable proportion of our labourers 
cannot obtain constant employment on the farms in this quarter 
of England : many men are thrown out of work during three or 
four months in the year ; and the inferior hands during six or 
seven. I do not run out of the record to discuss the question 
whether more constant and ])rofitable employment might not be 
devised, but I see that, taking the case as it stands at present, to 
such men half an acre of land, on which they can work with a 
