THE EXGLTSH LABOURER: 
43.3 
formerly a burden to his parents, entered on 
three acres of land in 1837, and he has since had 
his holding increased. His landlady (the late 
Mrs.Gilbert)lent him 5/. to purchase a cow, and 
his father provided him with two pigs. The 
loan was paid off at the rate of Is. 6d. weekly, 
and then refunded to him again for the pur- 
pose of buying another cow. The second loan 
was also repaid in weekly instalments. The 
rent for the three acres is 12/. 12s., and Dum- 
brell observes, that " but for those three acres, 
they (referring to his wife and family) must 
have gone into the Union House at a cost of 
39/. a-year, to live their useless and unhappy 
lives ; whereas now, besides maintaining them- 
selves, they have paid in rent, taxes, and 
rates 12/. 12s., and contributed by the butter, 
calves, and oats, towards feeding others, full 
30/., or 10/. per acre." To keep two cows, 
and maintain a family of five persons, is thus 
accomplished by the indefatigable holder ; and 
it is done in the following way, which shows 
the powerful effects produced by the applica- 
tion of liquid manure: — He has about half an 
acre of wheat, half an acre of pasture, fourth 
acre of oats, fourth acre of Italian rye-grass, 
and the remainder of the land occupied with 
green food for stall-feeding, such as clover, 
tares, rye, cabbages, potatoes, mangold-wurtzel, 
and turnips. Two or three crops are obtained 
from the same soil in one season, a plan 
which is constantly kept up by the allotment 
holders, but which I have not seen in general 
practice among extensive farmers. Thus, rye 
is cut green in the spring, and succeeded by 
turnips and potatoes, the last crop being in 
its turn succeeded by cabbages planted in 
June between the lines, and which of course 
take possession of the entire soil when the 
potatoes are removed in August. Throughout 
all the processes, the liquid-manure tank is 
constantly resorted to. After the rye, win- 
ter tares become fit to cut, and when they 
are got off, more turnips and cabbages take 
their place. When the tares are exhausted, 
the grass and clover are cut ; and this crop, 
with the aid of the liquid-manure, is kept up 
throughout the summer and autumn so as to 
afford four cuttings. 
Seventhly. — Allotments benefit the labourer 
by withdrawing him from the ranhs of 
pauperism: in other terms, they materially 
lessen the poor's rate. It is a great thing 
to have to say of any system, that it con- 
verts the receiver into a payer of a rate for 
the benefit of others. It will be permitted 
me to ask, what else has so universally done 
this ? I dwell not at present on the other 
changes wrought upon the man, but upon the 
actual gain which it enables him to make 
.John Harris, of East Dean, in the county of 
Sussex, had been for years in the Eastbourne 
47. 
Union-house, at a cost to the parish of 1/. 7s. 
weekly. He is now a payer of rates and 
taxes, and is contented and happy, declaring 
that he would not give up his holding on any 
consideration. The allotment system has been 
in operation in the parish of Terrington St. 
Clement's, in the county of Norfolk, for thirty 
years ; and Mr. Ockley, who collects the rents, 
informs me that for that long period he has 
not had a defaulter on his books. The farmers, 
who strenuously opposed the plan when first 
introduced, are now the chief agents in ex- 
tending it, a fact which will cause no surprise 
when it is known that one of the first effects 
of the system in this quarter was to relieve 
the rate-payers from the expenses attending 
the support of the following individuals who 
till then were regular pensioners on the parish: 
Robert Sharp, John Goodson, T. Ledbetter, 
John Cranfield, William Chilvers, Henry 
Bunting, William Thompson, and James 
Boughen. 
Eighthly. — Allotments foster a spirit of 
emulation. The work-house system levels all 
distinctions, and actually quenches every idea 
of overcoming difficulties. An innocent 
rivalry and a virtuous ambition, are objects 
which should be particularly encouraged 
among the poor, for without them, energy of 
mind and action, those indispensable requisites 
in the peasantry of a great country, are in 
danger of being lost. Amongst the younger 
branches of those families connected with the 
Terrington allotments, an extraordinary spirit 
of emulation exists, which has led them at 
once to the vital springs of action in the vege- 
table world — springs which were hitherto 
quite overlooked or neglected. Their cares 
may now be said to be incessant in collecting 
all sorts of refuse subject to decomposition, for 
the purpose of fertilizing the soil ; so that 
whilst they enrich themselves by having a 
good store of manure, there is a neatness ob- 
servable about their dwellings, which is the 
result of their clearing away to the compost 
heap all vegetable and other matters of an un- 
sightly nature. 
Finally, Allotments form by far the most 
suitable mode of relief to Agricultural la- 
bourers. The soil is the direct gift of Heaven 
to man. It is filled with plenteousness lor 
the sustentation and comfort of all who till 
it ; and it is cruel any longer to debar the 
poor labourer from sharing of its bounty. 
How easily is the labouring man deceived by 
insecure plans of benefit societies which pro- 
mise him relief ; but how just an estimate 
has he of the worth of a patch of land ! 
Here he. finds at once a simple scheme for 
the gratification of his powers. John Allum, 
a Walsham allotment holder, thus speaks of 
his patch of ground : — " I have a wife and 
