32 The Agriculture of the Cotswolds. 
less. In the Midlands, where collieries and manufactories 
compete with the farmer for labour, and wages are higher, bot 
men and horses are longer in the field and move more quic y, 
and the cost of agricultural operations is probably very little 
more than on the Cotswolds. As the result of enquiries, I 
find the average number of horses employed is one pair to 
ninety acres, that is to 63 acres of ploughed land and 27 of 
grass, the proportion of arable land being thus 70 per cen ■ • 
The change that has taken place in the rural popuM 
shown by the census returns for the county. In 1671 the 
were 20,506 persons employed m agriculture of whom 2,00 
were women, whereas in 1901 the total number had fallen 
to 13,319 and there were only 182 women. The figures i 
the census of 1911 are not yet available. In spite of this 
extraordinary decrease it appears that there are genera i y 
sufficient labourers in this district, although experienced caite , 
shepherds, cattlemen, and milkers, are less easy to get tlia 
formerly. There are also fewer boys and lads coming on than 
used to be the case, and this points to a shortage of tra ™® 
agricultural labourers in the future. For some years past many 
young men have left the country for service m the police and 
the railways, and recently the Colonies have offered them great 
inducements to emigrate. If this continues, and there see 
every prospect that it will, it must inevi a y lesu * 
serious difficulty in obtaining the necessary labour to cultivate 
At the present time ordinary labourers cash wages on the 
Cotswolds are from 12s. to 14.s. a week, with advantages m 
piece work and allowances, that probably increase the average 
earnings of the best men to 17a. or 18a. The usual hours 
worked are from 7 to 5 with H ll0Urs for “ eals ’ and m 
winter from daylight to dark. In hay time or harvest, when 
extra money is paid, work goes on until 7 o cloc or a ei . 
Shepherds, carters, and stockmen have about 15s., with 
allowances that make their average weekly earnings about 20s. 
Now that so much of the work of the farm is done by machinery 
and horses, the actual labour bill does not appear to be more 
per acre than when wages were lower, for although the day 
wages were less, more men were employed, and there was more 
well-paid piece work when all the hay was- cut and turned, an 
the corn cut and tied by hand, and the labour-saving 
implements of the present day had not come into use. I his 
may not be readily accepted, but the accounts of a farm with 
which I am well acquainted show that at the present time e 
amount actually paid for manual labour, after making allowance 
for small variations in acreage, is actually somewhat less than 
in 1858, when the ordinary day wages were at the rate ot 1US. 
