The Farm Labourers of England and Wales. 659 
while in others it was said that there was a dearth of men expe- 
rienced in the management of stock, or of youths willing to 
learn to plough. 
As a rule, the migration of agricultural labourers has been 
greatest from places near the mining and manufacturing 
districts, while elsewhere the railways are named as the greatest 
attractions. The reason given for migration is usually the 
desire to earn more money. In my own districts this was the 
only explanation given by farm labourers when asked why the 
young men left the villages, and I am convinced that the idea 
of their leaving because they find country life dull emanates 
almost entirely from outsiders, and has only a slight foundation. 
It is true that there is very little in the way of recreation out- 
side the public-house in most villages, and that a good deal 
might be done to render village life more attractive ; but life in 
the country is not dull, as a rule, to those who have been 
brought up to it. In reply to the question whether the men 
improved their position by migrating to the towns or the mining 
or manufacturing districts, most disinterested observers, as well 
as men of the labouring class, said that generally they did so, 
though not by any means in all instances, and not commonly to 
the full extent expected. In not a few cases, although the 
money earnings were increased by migration, the loss of pay- 
ments in kind and of the advantages of gardens or cheap allot- 
ments, together with increase of house rent and other expenses, 
rendered the change one of doubtful advantage, and sometimes 
distinctly disadvantageous. Many a man on revisiting his native 
village has informed his former employer that he had been 
better off in the country than he was in the town. 
Generally, migration has been greatest from districts in 
which agricultural wages are highest. This is not anomalous, 
though at first sight it may appear so, the fact being that 
agricultural wages have always been highest where the greatest 
temptations to migration existed, and partly for that very 
reason. But it is also necessary to explain that these tempta- 
tions are not very far-reaching ; for otherwise it might be sup- 
posed that a man getting 11s. a week as ordinary wages in 
southern or eastern county would be more likely to go where he 
could get 20s. or upwards than a man in the Midlands who earns 
15s. But, as a rule, the farm labourer shifts only to a district 
near him, with the circumstances of which he is well acquainted ; 
and Jthe man getting 15s. can obtain as great an advance in 
a neighbouring district as the man receiving 11s. can secure in 
a place equally near to him. It is further to be observed that 
there is less difference in the average earnings and accompany- 
x x 2 
