this great and most useful association was patron- 
ized by William IV. and Queen Adelaide, and 
also enjoys the patronage of her present majesty. 
Since 1831, various societies for counties, dis- 
tricts, and parishes, have been formed, either on 
the model or after the example of the Labourers’ 
Friend society; and so far as England is con- 
cerned, they have in general been successful and 
beneficial. Within a recent period, likewise, par- 
ish-officers have had legal authority to rent or 
purchase land, not exceeding twenty acres for 
each parish, and to lay it out in allotments for 
the labourers of the parish. 
Considerable diversity exists in the principles, 
details, and management of the very numerous 
_ series of allotments which have been instituted 
throughout England; yet all may be summarily 
viewed as rejecting the Flemish plan of home 
colonies for giving entire employment and sup- 
port to settlers, and as embracing only the plan 
of family allotments for giving occasional or sup- 
| plemental employment during leisure hours or at 
particular seasons. A plan somewhat similar to 
that of the home-colonies, indeed, has been estab- 
lished and prosecuted on the reclamative crown- 
| lands of Ireland, and on the estates of the Irish 
‘Waste Land society; yet it really has a much 
closer resemblance to the small farm system which 
prevails throughout Ireland than to the home 
colony system; and in so far as it resembles the 
latter, it is altogether inapplicable to the circum- 
stances of almost any district in England. Home 
colonies on waste lands have been recommended 
as a means of support for the redundant labouring 
population; but, however suitable they may, in 
common with emigration, be regarded for that pur- 
pose, they cannot, by any possibility, have either an 
enduring or an efficient tendency to elevate the 
rural population’s tone of character, or improve 
their physical, domestic, and social condition. 
The plan of family allotments, when duly guard- 
ed against abuse, and fully accompanied with 
provisions for maintaining good husbandry and 
sound morals, has been found fully and rapidly 
to achieve all the benefits proposed by the allot- 
ment system. 
_ The Labourers’ Friend society—who have ex- 
perimented the plan on the largest scale, and 
have a pre-eminent title to be regarded as ex- 
hibiting a model for general imitation—give the 
following formal statement of their principles: 
“¥irst, The Labourers’ Friend society does not re- 
commend the investment of capital in land, either 
in shares or any other form, except so far as it 
may be deemed expedient, by parishes or local as- 
sociations, torent a suitable quantity to carry their 
plans into effect. Second, Home-colonization, or 
the settling a pauper population in any part of 
the country for the cultivation of waste or other 
lands, is not the plan recommended by the so- 
ciety. Third, The society recommends the let- 
ting to the labourer so much land only as he can 
cultivate with the aid of his family during his 
ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 
123 
leisure time ; consequently, not sufficient to make 
him a small farmer, or in any way independent 
of his regular labour. The question of the prefer- 
ableness of small or large farms comes not within 
the society’s province. Fourth, The land allot- 
ment system does not tend to the promotion of 
a cottier population similar to that which exists 
in Ireland, the quantity of land being limited to 
that which the labourer can cultivate during his 
leisure hours, and the rent not exorbitant, but 
the sum paid by the neighbouring farmers. Fifth, 
In recommending spade-husbandry, the society 
confines its remarks to the effects of voluntary 
labour, on the small portions of land proposed as 
an allotment, without reference to the question 
of profit and loss on a large scale, or of its appli- 
cability to agriculture in general. Sixth, The 
society does not encourage the removal of labour- 
ers from one parish to another, but proposes rather 
to benefit them wherever they are found, to at- 
tach them to the soil, and to equalize the supply 
of labour to the demand. Seventh, The system 
recommended by the society is founded on the 
basis of profit to the labourer, not charity or 
almsgiving. It assumes that there is a surplus 
of labour, and that, in some parts of the country, 
the labouring man cannot obtain such full and 
constant employment as is adequate to his sub- 
sistence; it proposes, by allotting to him a small 
quantity of land, to find him profitable occupa- 
tion for that part of his time which his employer | 
does not require; and thus, by furnishing him 
with the means of raising a proportion of his 
most wholesome food in the most economical 
manner, he is made, by his own exertions, inde- 
pendent both of the parish and the charity of his 
neighbour.” 
The following rules, adopted in the parish of Wo- | 
burn, are submitted by the society to the considera- 
tion of other country-associations: ‘‘ First, The 
rent to be paid yearly, on the 11th of October. Se- 
cond, No occupier will be suffered to relet his allot- 
ment. Third, No person shall be employed on the 
land who does not belong to the parish. Fourth, 
No occupier will be allowed to plough his land, but 
be required to cultivate it solely by spade husbandry. 
Fifth, If any occupier is found neglectful in the cul- 
tivation of his land, he will not be permitted to hold | 
Sixth, No occupier who | 
it after the current year. 
is at work for the parish or for any employer will be 
allowed to work upon his land after six o’clock in 
the morning, or before six in the evening, without 
permission from his master. 
will be suffered to trespass upon another’s allotment. 
Eighth, All occupiers will be expected to attend 
regularly at divine service, to conduct themselves 
with sobriety at all times, and to bring up their fami- | 
Ninth, Any | 
lies in a decent and orderly manner. 
occupier who may be convicted of poaching, thiev- 
ing, or of any other offence against the laws of his | 
country, will be deprived of his garden.” Other 
rules recommended for adoption are, that any occu- 
pier shall not plant more than half of his allotment 
with potatoes in any one year; that every occupier 
shall manure his allotment, at least once in two 
years, with not less than twelve cart-loads of rotten 
dung per acre, or a proportionate quantity of other 
manure; that any occupant shall be at liberty to re- 
Seventh, No occupier | 
