Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

from the obligation of contributing to the support of the poor of neighbouring villages. One of these parishes came by purchase into the hands of a single proprietor, who took away the cottagers' gardens, and annexed them either to the adjoining farms, or to his own pleasure-grounds. Before another generation had passed away, a poor's rate of 3s. in the pound had come into existence. In another parish, the rates were raised by similar means, in seven years, from 1s. 9d. to 3s. in the pound, and in a few years more to 6s. In a third parish, containing fifty-eight landholders, of whom twenty-two were cottagers, the poor's rates were 6d. in the pound. Forty years afterwards, the cottagers had lost their land, and the rates had risen to 4s. in the pound.* Nay, the introduction of the allotment system, when properly conducted, has been found almost a specific for the cure of parishes already infected with pauperism. Nor can this be wondered at, when the value of a field or garden to a poor man is duly estimated. It has been mentioned that a small farm, properly cultivated, is much more productive than an equal quantity of land in the hands of a large farmer; but few persons are aware how vast the difference is in a farm small enough to be entirely cultivated by the occupier's family. Three hundred bushels of potatoes per acre are commonly considered a very good crop; but a cottager will obtain, at least, one hundred bushels from a quarter of an

Quarterly Review, No. 81., Article ix., on the Condition of the English Peasantry.

acre, besides turnips and cabbages enough to pay his rent. Eight quarters of wheat would be thought a very large quantity for a farmer to get from an acre, but fourteen quarters an acre have been got from land dug with the spade. The average profit derived from cottage allotments is at the rate of 20l. per acre, and an instance has occurred of a man growing a crop worth 51. on the eighth part of an acre of very indifferent land. Equal quantities of produce are obtained year after year from the same ground, which is never suffered to lie fallow. Even wheat and potatoes, the most exhausting of crops, and which would soon impoverish the land of an ordinary farmer, have been grown alternately for twenty years together on cottage allotments, without any diminution of the returns. These results are owing, in a great measure, to the unremitting industry and attention of the cultivators, but still more to the use of the spade, a much more efficient instrument, at least on heavy soils, than the plough, and to the abundance of manure which a cottager can collect for his patch of ground. Rent is the only deduction to be made from the value of the crop; all the rest is clear profit, for the cultivation costs absolutely nothing. It does not draw the labourer from work for which he is paid, nor does it even cause him to tire himself before he sets about his employer's business. It is performed partly by his wife and children, who would other

* Evidence before Committee on Allotments of Land, 1843.

wise be idle, and partly by himself, but only in the evening, when his daily task is done, or on whole days, not exceeding two or three in the year, when he is either not wanted for his master's work, or gets leave to stay at home. Thus nine-tenths of what he raises are clear profit to him, and a single rood of land will yield him a supply of vegetables worth an additional income of 2s. a week, besides enabling him to keep a pig or two, worth, perhaps, one half as much. His home-raised provisions are, indeed, worth to him far more than their market value, for they come into use principally in the winter, when work is slack, and when, but for them, he might be thrown upon parish assistance. But an accession of comfort is only one of many advantages which the possession of an allotment affords. Its moral effects are not less important. It gives the labourer a feeling of independence and self-respect, and at the same time the strongest incentives to diligence. It makes him It makes him prudent and thrifty, and assists him in instilling similar habits into his children, and in training them for the particular calling for which they are destined. Thus, while it raises the labourer's social position, it endows him with the very qualities most requisite to keep him in his new station. It draws him also from the temptation to debauchery and crime; teaches him to respect the rights of property; interests him in the preservation of order, and checks his disposition to regard his wealthy neighbours with envy and animosity. In a word,

it contributes more than any other single cause whatsoever, to his physical and moral improvement, and to convert him from a burden and a pest both to himself and others, into a contented, upright, and useful member of society.

349

CHAPTER VIII.

REMEDIES FOR OVER-POPULATION IN ENGLAND AND WALES

[ocr errors]

[ocr errors][merged small]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Certainty of the early Repeal of the Provision Laws. — Importance of the subsequent Conduct of Landowners, in determining how Rent and the Remuneration of Labour will be affected. Certainty of considerable Benefit to Agricultural Labourers from the establishment of Free Trade. Ability of Landlords to improve their Condition forthwith. — Expediency of their preparing for the approaching Change in their own Position.-Identity of the Means of promoting the Interests both of themselves and their Dependents.-Peculiar Obligation of Landowners to provide for their Poor Neighbours. Recent Movements of Parliament in behalf of the Peasantry. Mr. Cowper's "Field-Gardens'" Bill, and Lord Lincoln's "Commons' Enclosure" Act. - Objectionable Provisions of the latter.- Advantages obtainable from it. Suggestion of other Expedients for the Extension of the "Allotment System."- Estimate of the Amount of Benefit derivable by Agricultural Labourers from Free Trade and Cottage Allotments. - Probable Permanence of the Improvement in their Condition. - Auxiliary Means of promoting their Welfare. Payment to Farm Servants of fixed Proportions of the Crop.-Location of them on the Farm Premises. Education. Its general Advantages. - Inapplicability to the Labouring Classes of the ordinary Modes of Teaching. Oral Instruction. - Sorts of Knowledge most useful to the Poor.- Expediency of a National Provision for Education.-Obstacles to its Establishment in England.— Secondary Importance of Scholastic Education. - Improvement of the Habitations of the Peasantry. Retardation of the Progress of Population consequent on Improvement of the Condition of the People. Moderation of the necessary Restraints upon Marriage.-Means of ameliorating the Situ

-

[ocr errors]

-

« AnteriorContinuar »