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 THE LIBRARY 
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 V 
 
 -^-^■^' \K
 
 CO-OPERATIVE 
 
 LABOUR UPON THE LAND.
 
 CO-OPERATIVE 
 
 LABOUR UPON THE LAx\D 
 
 (2ln& Otber ipapcrs) 
 
 THE REPORT OF A CONFERENCE UPON ' LAND, CO- 
 OPERATION AND THE UNEMPLOYED,' HELD AT 
 HOLBORN TOWN HALL IN OCTOBER, 1894 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 J. A. H O B S O N 
 
 LONDON 
 SWAN SONNENSCHEIN 
 
 & CO. 
 
 NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIRNER'S SONS 
 1895
 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 Two closely-related problems press with grow- 
 ing weight upon the attention of all who are 
 interested in our industrial and social growth ; 
 these are the decay of the English industry of 
 agriculture, and the persistent phenomenon of 
 unemployment. 
 
 The decline of agriculture during the last 
 quarter of a century has been rapid and con- 
 tinuous, whatever mode of measurement we 
 apply. The fall of prices of English grain has, 
 with two short periods of recovery, been opera- 
 tive since 1850, but the year 1877, the last year 
 in which wheat was officially recorded as 
 reaching 50s. per quarter, marks the beginning 
 of the collapse which has ruined arable cultiva- 
 tion throughout the country. Rents of land- 
 owners and profits of farmers have been 
 generally and largely reduced, and the wages 
 and other industrial conditions of the life of 
 rural labourers have made no such progress as is 
 visible in the case of most classes of town 
 labour. Two facts, however, relating to the 
 character and quantity of land cultivation, mark 
 with startling emphasis the nature of the change. 
 
 vii 
 
 750(;85
 
 vm PREFACE. 
 
 The first relates to the reduction of arable land. 
 In the last two decades about two million acres 
 of English land have passed from arable use 
 into the condition described as " permanent 
 pasture." Closely associated with this change 
 is the marked diminution in the number of 
 agricultural labourers. This movement, as will 
 appear from the following statement drawn 
 from the census returns, began long before the 
 signal fall of rents and agricultural prices, but 
 has proceeded with increased acceleration dur- 
 ing the last two decades. 
 
 Agricultural Labourers. 
 
 I85I 
 
 1,253,800 
 
 I86I 
 
 1,188,900 
 
 I87I 
 
 980,100^ 
 
 I88I 
 
 870,800 
 
 I89I 
 
 780,900 
 
 If we compare this movement with the 
 growth of population, we shall find that during 
 the two decades, 1 87 i-i 891, while the popula- 
 tion of this country has increased 28 per cent., 
 the number of agricultural labourers has de- 
 clined 2 1 per cent. 
 
 The passage out of effective cultivation of 
 large quantities of land of good quality and 
 
 1 A stricter definition of the term "agricultural labourer," 
 adopted in the 1871 census, is partly responsible for the magni- 
 tude of the decline since 1861.
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 position, and the progressive diminution of em- 
 ployment upon the land, are the two central 
 factors in the agricultural problem. 
 
 It might seem at first sight that this was a 
 natural and necessary result of the specialisation 
 of industrial activity under the pressure of 
 world-competition. The international division 
 of labour might appear to require that England 
 should abandon agriculture, and confine her 
 energies more and more exclusively to certain 
 branches of manufacture and of commerce, 
 which require for their efficient execution the 
 massing of large numbers of workers in our 
 towns. 
 
 The domination of such narrow "economic" 
 considerations as should break up our country 
 life, and transfer an increasing proportion of 
 our workers to a life of physical deterioration 
 would, in any case, be open to grave question. 
 It might, however, be expected that this opera- 
 tion of industrial forces drawino- the workers 
 into the towns would, at any rate, furnish a 
 guarantee of sufficient steady and remunerative 
 employment under town conditions. This, 
 how^ever, is not the case. In all our large 
 industrial centres a large and to all appear- 
 ance a ofrowinor number of workers are un- 
 able to secure constant employment, and their 
 physique and industrial character deteriorate 
 under the ineffectual stru2f2"le for a decent 
 maintenance.
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 No precise or even approximate measure of 
 the unemployed at any given time is possible, 
 but we know that in addition to the displace- 
 ment of labour due to changes of machinery 
 and industrial method, and to the irregularity of 
 employment inherent in the nature of ' * season " 
 and "fashion" trades, the long downward 
 strokes of trade-depression are instrumental in 
 causing a huge waste of labour-power, and an 
 incalculable damage to industrial character. 
 The pressure of competition, especially during 
 prolonged periods of bad trades, squeezes out of 
 regular employment in the skilled trades large 
 numbers of weaker or less fortunate members, 
 who sink and help to swell the permanent over 
 supply of low-skilled competitors for work. 
 Large numbers of these latter pass out of the 
 category of genuine workers and become 
 loafers, vagrants, paupers or criminals, losing 
 alike the capacity and the desire for steady and 
 effective work under the pressure of the in- 
 dustrial forces above described. 
 
 The concurrence of these two phenomena 
 of unused land and unused labour-power can 
 scarcely fail to suggest the practical question, 
 " How far is it possible to place this super- 
 fluous labour upon the VFicant or half-cultivated 
 land under such conditions as to make the land 
 yield its increase and support the labourers and 
 their families in decency and comfort ? " Such 
 action, if it proved feasible, would achieve
 
 PREFACE. XI 
 
 three desirable objects : It would arrest the 
 further decline of English agriculture, and the 
 further flow of rural labour into towns; it would 
 restore to more wholesome conditions of work 
 and life some, at least, of those who were not 
 needed for town work ; and lastly, it would re- 
 duce the alarming dependence of England upon 
 foreign nations for her means of physical sub- 
 sistence. 
 
 Many of those who have deeply reflected 
 upon the conditions of industrial life have been 
 struck by the comparatively slight advance 
 which the associated action of labour and 
 capital has made in agriculture as compared 
 with manufacturino" and commercial business. 
 
 o 
 
 The isolation of small agriculturalists can 
 scarcely fail to be a great source of economic 
 weakness. How far can co-operative effort be 
 usefully applied in processes of agricultural pro- 
 duction, in machinery of credit, in transport 
 and marketing ? Much thought and not a little 
 practical experience in these directions have been 
 gathered durmg the last few years. Many 
 societies and many private individuals have 
 been quietly working at different aspects of 
 these problems. It occurred to one of them, 
 the English Land Colonisation Society, that a 
 conference of those who had taken an active 
 part in testing new methods of agriculture and 
 land tenure, particularly in their bearing on the 
 training and use of "unemployed" labour,
 
 XII PREFACE. 
 
 would be of service at the present time. The 
 munificence of a friend of the Society^ enabled 
 them to carry out this design, and at the Con- 
 ference held at HolbornTown Hall, in October, 
 1894, in which the English Land Colonisation 
 Society, the Social Service Union, the Agri- 
 cultural Banks Association, and other societies 
 and individuals took part, the papers were read 
 which form the contents of the present volume.^ 
 A full report of the proceedings of the Confer- 
 ence would have been impossible within the 
 space at my disposal. I have therefore omitted 
 several papers which were either not preserved 
 or were not adequately reported. In other 
 cases less important passages have been omitted, 
 and over-lapping portions have been excised. 
 The whole of the material has been re-arranged 
 and re-classified for the convenience of readers. 
 
 John A. Hobson. 
 
 ^ Mr. J. Passmore Edwards. 
 
 2 An important outcome of the Conference has been the 
 formation of a Central Council of Home Colonies and Rural 
 Industries, a short account of which is rendered in Appendix A.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Co-operation in Land Holding. 
 
 (1) SMALL holdings IN LINCOLNSHIRE. By Alder- 
 
 man Winfrey (Chairman of the Allotments ana 
 Small Holdings Committee of the Lincolnshire 
 Coimty Council) . . • . .2 
 
 (2) CO-OPERATIVE TENANCY. By the Rev. F. C. 
 
 Green . . . . • .6 
 
 (3) CO-OPERATIVE LEASEHOLD TENANCY. By Major 
 
 Poore . . . . • ■ 9 
 
 (4) SETTLEMENTS OF SIX ACRE FARMS. By the Rev. 
 
 John Burrows . . . • .12 
 
 (5) CO-OPERATION IN THE EXTENSION OF SMALL 
 
 FREEHOLDS. By Lord Carrington . .16 
 
 (6) METHODS OF APPLYING CO-OPERATION TO LAND 
 
 TENURE. By Mr. Harold Moore . .19 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 co-operation in credit and agricultural 
 
 Production. 
 
 (l) co-operative agricultural credit banks. 
 
 By Mr Harold Moore . . . .27 
 
 xiii
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 (2) AN AGRICULTURAL BANK IN OPERATION. Ry Mr. 
 
 W. Maiden, M.D. . . . . .33 
 
 (3) CO-OPERATION IN IRELAND. By the Hon. Horace 
 
 Plunkett . . . . . .35 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Improved Methods of Cultivation. 
 (i) results of deep cultivation. By Mr. H'. 
 
 Soiuerby, F.G.S. . . . . -47 
 
 (2) cultivation of heavy land. By Mr. George 
 
 Hawthorne . . . . . -Si 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Unemployed upon the Land. Experiments 
 
 and Proposals. 
 
 I. Experiments. 
 (i) a training farm for the unemployed. By 
 
 Mr. Walter Has el I, M.P 58 
 
 (2) the colony at starnthwarte. By the Rev. 
 
 H. V. Mills 64 
 
 (3) THE unemployed EXPERIMENT AT ABBEY MILLS. 
 
 By Mr. Bolton Smart . . . -69 
 
 (4) THE SALVATION ARMY FARM COLONY AT HAD- 
 
 LEIGH . . . . . .74 
 
 II. Proposals. 
 
 (5) labour for the UNEMPLOYED UPON THE LAND. 
 
 By the Rev. Dr. J. B. Baton . . .79 
 
 (6) A SETTLEMENT FOR ARMY RESERVE MEN. By 
 
 Major Synge . . . . .89
 
 CONTENT% XV 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Employment of Pauper Labour on the Land, 
 
 (i) workhouse farms. By Mr. IV. Hazlitt Roberts 93 
 
 (2) land and poor law guardians. By Mr. F. C. 
 
 Mills . . . . . .102 
 
 (Supplemented by a statement by Mr. Vallance.) 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 SocL\L Reform in Relation to Agriculture. 
 
 (1) PROPOSAL FOR RURAL UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENTS. 
 
 By Mr. T. Locke Worthington . . .111 
 
 (2) THE WORK OF THE ENGLISH LAND COLONISATION 
 
 SOCIETY. By Mr. J. C. Kemvorthy , .116 
 
 appendlx a. 
 
 The Central Council of Home Colonies and 
 Rural Industries . . , .127 
 
 appendlx B. 
 
 Mr. Mather's Proposals for Training Farms 
 and Small Settlements . . .129
 
 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Co-operation in Land Holding. 
 
 The first paper contained in this chapter, by Mr. 
 Winfrey, is designed to illustrate the progress, the 
 utility, and the feasibility of allotments and small 
 holdings in a typical agricultural county of England. 
 The papers which follow contain examples of three 
 different methods by which co-operative action may 
 be of service in promoting the extension of small 
 holdings. The Rev, F. C. Green illustrates the use 
 of co-operation in the case of small ordinary tenancies, 
 Major Poore in the case of leasehold tenancies, and 
 Lord Carrington in the case of freehold farms. The 
 Rev. John Burrows shows the advantages of corpor- 
 ate action, on the lines of commercial companies,
 
 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 applied to small farms. In conclusion, a short paper 
 by Mr. Moore discusses the practical application of 
 these several methods. 
 
 SMALL HOLDINGS IN LINCOLNSHIRE. 
 
 By Aldermajt Winfrey {Chairman of the Allotments 
 and Small Holdings Committee of the Lincolnshire 
 
 County Council) . 
 
 The history of the allotments and small holdings 
 movement in South Lincolnshire practically com- 
 menced with the extension of the Franchise to the 
 labourers in 1885. Previous to 1885, they were prac- 
 tically a landless peasantry ; but since that date 
 something has been done to place them on the land, 
 and to encourage them not to drift into our towns 
 and cities. The following is a brief statement of the 
 leading facts in their chronological order : — 
 
 From 18S5 to 1887 we spent our time in talking 
 about the advantages of three acres and a cow. At 
 the close of 18S7, I investigated the position, so far as 
 nineteen parishes round Spalding are concerned. I 
 found that in those parishes, covering an area of 
 143,576 acres, there was only about 130 acres of land 
 under allotment cultivation — 100 acres of charity
 
 CO-OPERATION IN LAND HOLDING. 3 
 
 land, and 30 acres let by private owners — most of 
 which was in roods and half roods. 
 
 On the passing of the Allotment Act in October, 
 1887, I commenced the formation of allotment clubs, 
 with a view of getting the labourers to combine and 
 make their wants known. Within eight months, no 
 less than 1500 labourers had each applied to the 
 local authority for an acre of land. But, after two 
 years of constant application to landowners and local 
 authorities, little progress was made. This brought 
 us to the autumn of 1889, and to the election of a 
 progressive majority upon our first County Council. 
 With that came a fresh impetus to our work of 
 seeking land for the people. Several landowners 
 saw the wisdom of meeting the oft-repeated de- 
 mand for allotments, and the rural and urban sani- 
 tary authorities began to move slowly. 
 
 At the close of 1890 I took another census of these 
 nineteen parishes, with the gratifying result that 
 whereas in 1887 the total acreage of allotments was 
 130, in December, 1890, it had gone up to 560 acres, 
 and a good proportion of the new allotments were let 
 in one-acre plots. 
 
 At this juncture, the Allotment Amendment Act 
 of 1890, giving County Councils power to step in and 
 supersede the local authorities in all cases where they 
 had failed to obtain allotments, came iuio operation.
 
 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 and we commenced to make the best possible use of 
 it. The years 1891 and 1892 were spent chiefly in 
 holding local inquiries, and in correspondence with 
 landowners ; but very satisfactory progress was made 
 all along the line. 
 
 In December, 1893, when I again came to make 
 my triennial census over the same area, I was able to 
 report that the land under allotment cultivation had 
 increased from 560 acres in 1890 to 1152 in 1893. 
 The committee are still prosecuting their work, and 
 have, during the present year, added 172 acres, 
 bringing the total up to 1324 acres. Speaking in 
 round numbers, 2000 men have allotments to-day, as 
 compared with 200 in 1887, though the rents arc in 
 most cases 50 per cent, higher than the average rents 
 of the district. A large proportion of the married 
 working men have now an acre of land each, though 
 there are many single men whose applications up to 
 the present have not been met. 
 
 The most successful allotment club I was able to 
 form has been at Spalding Common, where we for- 
 tunately had Lord Carrington as a landlord to deal 
 with. There arc 60 members of the club who have 
 an acre each, and they arc charged the same rent 
 as the farmer pays for the rest of the farm. It 
 was among these men that the demand for small 
 holdings first came, and it has now extended to
 
 CO-OPERATION IN LAND HOLDING. 5 
 
 several other parishes where the men have outgrown 
 the one-acre plots. 
 
 The Small Holdings Committee of the County 
 Council set to work under the powers of the Small 
 Holdings Act, 1890, but have only been able up to 
 the present to deal with but a small portion of the 
 applications. Unfortunately, the Act is permissive 
 in its character. If the County Council can meet 
 with landowners prepared to sell at a fair price, the 
 Act can be put into operation ; if not, the Act is a 
 dead letter. Here again Lord Carrington came to 
 our rescue, and sold us a small farm of 88 acres on 
 reasonable terms. We have also been able to pur- 
 chase 48 acres near Boston. Owing to the large de- 
 mand, we have been obliged to let the whole of 
 this land in small plots of 2 and 3 acres to 56 
 tenants, and even then there were many disappointed 
 applicants. It will be observed we have put into 
 operation tJie lett'nig, not iJie selling, clause of the 
 Small Holdings Act. We find that so long as 
 tenants can be sure of fixity of tenure, they prefer to 
 use all their capital to farm with. 
 
 I am glad to say that, owing to the favourable con- 
 ditions of purchase, the rents of the small holdings 
 are very reasonable, and certainly 20 per cent, lower 
 than the average allotment rents. The demand in 
 other parishes has still to be met ; but cannot be met
 
 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 until the County Council is able to purchase land in 
 the open market. 
 
 The demand is mostly for 3 and 5 acre plots, but 
 there is also a demand for 10, 20, and 30 acre hold- 
 ings, and up to now I have not succeeded in carrying 
 my colleagues on the committee with me in a scheme 
 for the purchase of a farm of such considerable size as 
 would meet this demand. Consequently, I have had 
 to devise another method. A small syndicate has 
 been formed, and next Lady Day we take from Lord 
 Carrington a farm of 215 acres on lease, with the in- 
 tention of sub-letLing it in holdings of considerable 
 size. 
 
 CO-OPERATIVE TENANCY. 
 
 By the Rev. F. C. Green. 
 
 Fourteen years ago I found the parish of Dens- 
 mead (five miles from Havant, Hampshire) in the 
 depths of pauperism. It was a " No Man's Land." 
 Landowners, with one or two bright exceptions, were 
 either corporations or non-residents. The old Com- 
 mon had been enclosed and appropriated from the 
 labourers, who hence were unable to keep the cow, 
 the pigs, or the geese of former days. The farmers 
 were employing about one quarter of their former 
 staff, while labourers who were of an adventurous turn,
 
 CO-OrERATION IN LAND HOLDING. 7 
 
 and at the same time did not want to flock to the 
 congested towns, had to pay from £4 to ;^8 an acre 
 for bits of land of from a quarter of an acre to ten 
 acres, in addition to rates, taxes, and tithe. All this 
 time the farmers were getting the land at, roughly 
 speaking, about 25s. an acre, and in some cases were 
 to their advantage sub-letting the worst land at 
 higher prices. The number of persons having parish 
 relief was very large. Generally, pauperism seemed 
 the order of the day, and independence an unusual 
 thing. 
 
 Our Densmead Allotment Society has made a 
 decided change. The start of this scheme was op- 
 posed with the greatest violence. The press was full 
 of abusive letters, and its originators were in every 
 way annoyed. The men who took allotments were 
 to be turned out of employment and boycotted, and 
 in a short time the workhouse — that place of dread 
 to the honest agricultural labourer — was to be filled 
 with them. 
 
 Things come to pass so very differently. Although 
 hardly 20 men dared to join at first, we have now 
 nearly 50 members. The society has hired a farm 
 from Winchester College, and has divided it among 
 its members in allotments of from one-fourth of an acre 
 to from three to four acres, at rents varying from 22s. 
 to 42s. an acre (varying according to the quality and
 
 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 situation of the land), and including rates, taxes, tithe, 
 management, and all out-goings. Out of this 
 3s. per acre has usually been returned to the men at 
 the end of each year, and a reserve fund of nearly 
 ;£"40 has been formed to meet the landlord's demands 
 for repairs to property at end of lease. The landlord 
 has been paid frequently on the day the rent was due, 
 always within two or three days ; there is practically 
 no poverty in the district (except that caused by 
 drink or vice) ; and most of the allotment farm is 
 worked excellently. Several of the men have started 
 carts, and take produce to the neighbouring town. 
 The work also is so managed that, the surplus pro- 
 duce thus being realised, the tenants are able to earn 
 wages when the farmers want to employ their hands 
 in the busy season. Those in the regular employ- 
 ment, earning say 12s. to 13s. a week, seldom take 
 more than a quarter of an acre ; but those who can- 
 not get regular employment are glad of larger plots. 
 The whole aspect of the village is now changed, and 
 there is an air of comfort and thrift about it. A num- 
 ber of small holdings have also been obtained, in 
 addition to the farm originally divided. The Ecclesi- 
 astical Commissioners have been most kind in that 
 way. Speaking generally, the occupants of every 
 holding we have arc not only doing good to the land, 
 but doin<j: well for themselves.
 
 CO-OPERATION IN LAND HOLDING. 9 
 
 Our great desire now is for another farm for the 
 labourers to take upon the purchase instalment 
 system, which \vc believe we could make also a great 
 success. In order to prevent in the future the evils 
 of sub-division and encumbrance, I should like to 
 see one of the proposals made for remedying the law 
 concerning land in Prussia (see " How the Peasant 
 Owner Lives," Macmillan, iS88, page 5) brought into 
 operation here, vis., the registration of farms on a list 
 of rural estates {Hofcii-Bccht), after which they shall 
 be indivisible. 
 
 Such farms must be inhabited and worked by the 
 proprietors, and cannot be either let or mortgaged. 
 This, it seems to me, would be a safeguard. 
 
 We have also worked the boarding-out system well 
 in with the small holdings here. 
 
 CO-OPERATIVE LEASEHOLD TENANCY. 
 
 The settlement which has been formed at Winter- 
 slow, in Wiltshire, by Major Poorc, more nearly 
 approaches the system advocated by the English 
 Land Colonisation Society than any work now in 
 operation in England, and has up to the present time 
 met with imqualified success. 
 
 In 1892 Major Poorc (a Justice of the Peace, and
 
 10 LABOUR UrON THE LAND. 
 
 member of the County Council for Wiltshire) pur- 
 chased a farm of 195 acres, situated close to Winter- 
 slow, a village some eight miles from Salisbury. 
 The entire area being more than was likely to be 
 immediately wanted, 83 acres were sold off, and the 
 remaining 112 acres were used by Major Poore for 
 the formation of a settlement of small holders. The 
 average price for the whole area was about ^^15 per 
 acre, and members of the committee were appointed 
 to divide the land into plots, and put a value upon each 
 portion. At a meeting of those who wished to take 
 the land, the whole area was taken up by nearly 50 
 intending occupiers at the prices fixed by the com- 
 mittee which they nominated; these prices ranging 
 from £S to £^0 per acre, the latter price being placed 
 upon the areas specially accessible to the village. 
 Eight acres of land were taken up by holders who paid 
 in cash, and the whole of the remainder was sold by 
 Major Poore under a system of deferred payments, 
 calculated at the rate of 10 per cent, per annum upon 
 the agreed value of the holding. This payment, being 
 made for 14 years, was found to provide the wl:o!e 
 of the purchase money, with 5 per cent, upon the un- 
 paid purchase money, at the end of each year. 
 
 Such instalments are not payable by the individual 
 holders to Major Poore direct, but payable by them 
 to the committee which was formed into a Corporate
 
 CO-OPERATION IN LAND HOLDING. I I 
 
 Body with a nominal capital. They, in their turn, 
 pay the instalments to Major Poore as they reach a 
 sufficient amount. The title given to the small 
 holders is a lease for a term of 2,000 years, granted 
 by Major Poore jointly with the Corporate Body ; 
 the rent reserved under that lease being the instal- 
 ments beforenamcd for the first fourteen years, and 
 at the end of that period only the proper proportion 
 of tithe and rates chargeable upon the respective 
 holdings. 
 
 The success of this experiment is undoubted. 
 The majority of the holders have been in possession 
 for a year and a half, and in spite of the bad farming 
 times experienced last year, there is no instalment 
 in arrear, while the instalments when completed will 
 leave about £600 profit to be dealt with as the 
 Corporate Body may determine ; this being the ex- 
 cess in price fixed by the committee after paying all 
 expenses and paying Major Poore the whole cost of 
 the land and 5 per cent, interest thereon. But 
 Major Poore not only had the idea of enabling men 
 to acquire small holdings, but also to establish con- 
 ditions which might have other benefits, and in this 
 he has been remarkably successful. About ten or 
 twelve of the holders are now erecting their build- 
 ings ; a Co-operative Insurance Club and other 
 means of co-operation arc being successfully man-
 
 12 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 aged ; a far better tone is prevailing in the village 
 than formerly owing to mutual help ; and weaving 
 and other industries are being introduced. Under 
 the old system three labourers were employed on the 
 195 acres forming the farm, whereas now 50 men are 
 interested in the same land, and conversation with 
 any of them shows that they are thoroughly satisfied 
 with the results of their organisation and the im- 
 provements which have resulted from the same. 
 
 SETTLEMENTS OF SIX ACRE FARMS. 
 
 By the Rev. John Burrows. 
 
 Two weighty reasons are alleged against the pre- 
 sent system of letting land in large farms : — (r) The 
 tendency to reduce the number of labourers to the 
 lowest possible figure, often one man to every 40 or 
 50 acres, whereas nearly ten times as many whole 
 families could subsist on such areas. {2) The ten- 
 dency to limit the total amount of our agricultural pro- 
 ducts, because it is obvious that extensive cultivation is 
 not and cannot be as thorough and productive as in- 
 tensive cultivation on smaller areas. From a national 
 point of view, with the possibilities of war ever 
 present, it is highly impolitic to be dependent on
 
 CO-OPERATION IN LAND HOLDING. 1 3 
 
 other countries for two-thirds of our food supply, 
 which last year averaged nearly £4. per head of our 
 population. 
 
 Hitherto farming has been carried on as a business, 
 but the vast food supplies that pour in upon us from 
 abroad have so affected the prices of our staple pro- 
 duce that the whole position is depressed to a degree, 
 and even critical — and the worst has not come yet. 
 The remedy we propose is to change the fundamental 
 principle of farming, and instead of it being a busi- 
 ness on a large scale for the few, to make it furnish a 
 liveliJiood for the imdtiUide on six acre farms. On 
 this area, thoroughly cultivated, surrounded by fruit 
 trees, by playing the role of cowkecpers and pig 
 feeders rather than that of ordinary farmers, and by 
 buying and selling on co-operative principles, there is 
 room in England for a million such farms. Training 
 farms and allotments can only be palliatives — mere 
 stepping-stones to something more thorough and in- 
 dependent. And if the grave exodus of the rural 
 labourer is to be stemmed, it can never be by their 
 return as wage earners ; they must come back, if at 
 all, as independent ctdtivators. Here, then, is a pro- 
 posal which is neither supplemental in extent nor com- 
 munal in its principle — but the old-fashioned English 
 family life, each family established in its own cottage, 
 raising as much produce as the land will bear. Co-
 
 14 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 operation should be applied to pasturing, dairying, 
 the slaughter of animals, and the sale of all surplus 
 produce. The more this proposal is fairly looked at, 
 the more it will be seen to have in it the essential 
 elements of prosperity and permanence, and to 
 adequately meet the needs and the claims of the 
 working man. It means a comfortable livelihood out 
 of the ground at a man's own door — ^just so much 
 ground as is necessary for that livelihood, and no 
 more. Let another family earn another livelihood 
 out of the next field, and so on, until these settle- 
 ments peopled the land with bold peasantry, who 
 should be, as formerly, England's pride and glory. 
 
 " Those were the days, e'er England's woes began, 
 When every rood of ground maintained its man." 
 
 One of Italy's historians (Mommscn) says, " The 
 plague spot of Italy was, as it had ever been, the un- 
 natural increase of the mercantile, and the decrease 
 of the rural population." That is just our position 
 and peril to-day. In the manufacturing world the 
 working man cannot cat what he produces, but in 
 the agricultural world he can, and that is why we 
 claim for these proposals the element and promise of 
 stability. 
 
 But what will be the cost of founding one such
 
 CO-OPERATION IN LAND HOLDING. 1 5 
 
 settlement, and who is to lead the way ? Take as a 
 basis of calculation one farm of 350 acres (50 or more 
 families). If purchased by a syndicate at ;{^io to ;^i 5 
 per acre, the land would cost from ^4,000 to i^ 5,000 ; 
 but if a landowner would grant a long lease this amount 
 need not be reckoned. Cottages, outbuildings, etc., 
 ;^I50 per farm. Plants, stock, seed, and capital on 
 interest for first year or two, ^100 per farm. Central 
 buildings, i.e., dairy, slaughter-houses, depot, etc., 
 ;^2,ooo, or a total of iJ" 15,000. If a {qw gentlemen of 
 known repute were to back these proposals, form a 
 syndicate, issue an appeal for the necessary capital in 
 shares and debentures {£ i each), there are many people 
 in this country who would very quickly respond. 
 Every day we see some company or other floated, often 
 an outlandish quixotic project at the ends of the earth 
 carried up to far higher figures than these, but here is 
 one at our own doors, within our own ken, rooted in a 
 common patriotism, and dealing with matters that 
 are the prime necessities of life — and really our first 
 line of national defence. The time, therefore, has 
 fully come to give the country an object lesson on 
 the lines of a settlement of six-acre farms, and we 
 feel assured that it would, more than anj' mere pallia- 
 tive, solve once and for all the great problem of the 
 land and the people.
 
 1 6 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 CO-OPERATION IN THE EXTENSION OF SMALL FREE- 
 HOLDS. 
 
 By Lord Carrington. 
 
 I am one of those who are convinced of the neces- 
 sity of supplying small areas of land to our rural 
 workers for their own cultivation. When the 
 suggested system of co-operative ownership was 
 brought under my notice, it naturally, therefore, 
 received attention ; and I was glad to be able to give 
 facilities for having the system explained in my 
 district. After an address by Mr. Harold Moore, I 
 recognised the importance of the system, and the 
 advantages which it possessed, not only to landowners 
 who wish to extend small holdings, but also to the 
 occupiers, by securing for them a perpetual title, as 
 well as the many collateral advantages arising from 
 co-operation. Unfortunately, however, in attempting 
 to apply the system to a farm upon my estate, the 
 difficulties arising in connection with a settled estate 
 became apparent. Under our recognised system of 
 English Land Tenure, an owner can by no means do 
 what he likes with his own property, being partially 
 debarred from the disposal of his land either for his 
 own advantage, or for that of other persons. The
 
 CO-OPERATIOX IN LAND HOLDING. 1/ 
 
 Settled Land Act of 1882 has given powers which 
 formerly were not possessed ; but, before more desir- 
 able systems of land holding can be fully introduced, 
 there must be a fuller and more complete reform in 
 the system of our existing land tenure. 
 
 As the result of the meeting held at Tylars Green, 
 near High Wycombe, it appeared that there were 
 many who would like to purchase small areas by in- 
 stalments, the total area so applied for being 83 acres. 
 I found I was unable to arrange to gain possession of 
 that extent, but by arrangement with an existing 
 tenant I found it would be possible to obtain posses- 
 sion from Michaelmas of an area of 55 acres con- 
 veniently situated for the village. A committee was, 
 therefore, immediately formed to acquire that extent. 
 The difficulties arising from it being a settled estate 
 then became apparent, for the trustees of my estate 
 could not consent to a sale if the purchase money 
 were payable to them by instalments. In order to 
 carry out the proposal, it was found necessary that 
 the committee should purchase the land, paying my 
 trustees in cash, raising the necessary sum upon 
 security of the property. 
 
 At a meeting held recently, it was, therefore, 
 decided to complete the arrangements in this way : 
 the land being taken up by 23 individuals in areas of 
 from I acre to 3 acres each, these individuals together
 
 1 8 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 forming a land-holders' committee. Four of these 
 intending occupiers will purchase in cash, but the 
 remainder will pay to the committee a sum at the 
 average rate of £2 per acre per annum, for a term of 
 14 years ; each one also paying a similar sum at 
 entry in order to provide some corporate funds under 
 control of the committee, and to pay the expenses of 
 completion of the arrangement. With the assistance 
 that I am personally able to give, and the cash which 
 some of the occupiers are prepared to find now, the 
 committee will be able to raise the ;£ 1,200, the 
 amount agreed with my trustees as the purchase- 
 money of the land. The annual payment of £2 per 
 acre, or^^iio for the whole area of 55 acres, payable 
 for the fourteen years, will at the end of that time 
 discharge the liabilities of the committee, as well as 
 paying 4 per cent, interest upon the amounts owing 
 at the end of each year. 
 
 The exact partition of the land to suit their indi- 
 vidual wishes is now being completed. This is a 
 matter concerning which some would think there 
 would have been some difficulty. It has, however, 
 been left entirely to the occupiers themselves ; and, 
 from what I learn of the results of their last meetincf. 
 no difficulty has arisen. The method they have 
 adopted is to refer this question to a small committee 
 of themselves, and this committee, by putting a rather
 
 CO-OPERATION IN LAND HOLDING. 1 9 
 
 higher price than the average upon the best situated 
 land, reducing the other accordingly, has apparently 
 been able to suit the various intending occupiers. 
 The plans are now being prepared for signature and 
 approval, and the period of possession by the indi- 
 vidual occupiers depends solely upon the preparation 
 of the necessary legal documents. 
 
 METHODS OF APPLYING CO-OPERATION TO LAND 
 TENURE. 
 
 By Mr. Harold Moore. 
 
 In order to introduce any system of co-operative 
 occupation, the first step necessary would be to hold 
 a meeting of those who desire to occupy land in any 
 particular district. If at this meeting there were 
 found to be a sufficient demand from those persons 
 having the necessary qualification for the profitable 
 use of small areas, a committee might be formed in 
 order to consider the suitability of any farm of which 
 possession could be obtained in the desired locality. 
 
 As soon as the committee had found a suitable 
 farm, it would be for them to assure themselves that 
 all, or nearly all, the area would immediately be 
 tenanted at prices making up the total rental. If
 
 20 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 there were sufficient definite applications from re- 
 sponsible and suitable intending tenants to render 
 this certain, the tenants would at once be constituted 
 into a Corporate Body under the Companies Acts, 
 and arrangements for taking the farm concluded. 
 The Corporate Body would act through a committee 
 of management, who would have to determine the 
 amount to be immediately paid to meet costs, valua- 
 tion on entry, or other payments ; and, on this being 
 contributed by the individual occupiers in proportion 
 to the annual payment assessed upon the area taken 
 by them, possession of the property could be given. 
 
 If, when a committee has been formed, it was found 
 that the majority of the intending occupiers wished 
 to erect buildings upon their land, or for other reasons 
 desired to acquire a better title than ordinary tenancy 
 would give, the committee would consider the best 
 manner in which they could acquire a permanent 
 title. In some cases this might be done by the Cor- 
 porate Body acquiring the title to the land subject to 
 the payment either of a perpetual rent calculated at a 
 percentage upon the value of the property, or of an 
 annual payment for a fixed term, the period of which 
 should be so fixed that the amount paid in excess of 
 the rental value during the term would be the equiva- 
 lent of the capital value of the property. The Cor- 
 porate Body thus having obtained the land, would
 
 CO-OPERATION IN ALLOTMENTS. 21 
 
 grant the respective portions to individual occupiers 
 as they might desire. The exact means to be adopted 
 for carrying out this method would vary in accordance 
 with the circumstances of the owner, and the land to 
 be secured. 
 
 The title might be given by a lease for such a term 
 as 1,000 years from the landowner to the Corporate 
 Body, and a second lease from the latter to each 
 individual occupier. Both leases would either pro- 
 vide for the payment of a rent during the entire term, 
 or for the payment of an annual sum for the first lo 
 to 21 years ; in that case free occupancy to be given 
 for the remainder of the term. In either case there 
 should be special covenants in the lease between the 
 Corporate Body and the individual. These coven- 
 ants should be those which appear to be desirable to 
 secure the fullest liberty and advantage to intending 
 occupiers, with all these restrictions which may 
 appear to be beneficial to the community. 
 
 Thus, as the land is leased for agricultural purposes, 
 the price paid would be its value for such use. A 
 restriction would, therefore, be reasonable, that the 
 individual holder should not use it for any other 
 purpose without the assent of the Corporate Body, 
 which, it must be remembered, would consist of the 
 whole of his fellow-occupiers. It should be provided 
 that the Corporate Body could have power to enter
 
 22 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 into possession of any liolding if required for other 
 than agricultural purposes, upon paying the value of 
 the holding at the time possession was required, such 
 value to be settled by an arbitrator if it could not be 
 agreed upon. A similar power could also be reserved 
 for re-entry for any other purpose where there was a 
 unanimous opinion on the part of the Corporate Body 
 that possession should be taken of any particular 
 holding. It might further be provided that no occu- 
 pier should hold more than a defined area without the 
 assent of the Corporate Body. Without some such 
 covenants it is possible that in the course of time 
 the various methods of co-operation introduced, and 
 rendered practicable by the frequent meetings of the 
 original Corporate Body, would fall into disuse, with 
 a result that rivalry and competition would take 
 place, injurious to the position of all who were culti- 
 vating the land. 
 
 In some cases a different plan might be considered 
 more desirable. This would be a sale to the Cor- 
 porate Body on payment of a deposit, the remainder 
 of the purchase-money remaining in mortgage, to be 
 annually reduced by payment of a specific sum. A 
 deed of covenant could llicii be executed between 
 the Corporate Body and the individuals, by which 
 similar conditions to those just named would be 
 stipulated as a basis for a division of the land.
 
 CO-OPERATION IN ALLOTMENTS. 23 
 
 Subject to the conditions of this deed, an agree- 
 ment of tenancy could be entered into between the 
 Corporate Body and the individual, under which rent 
 should be paid for the specific term of years, it being 
 provided that at the end of the stated term, and on 
 the completion of the payments, the individual should 
 have a conveyance of the land, thenceforth holding 
 it without payment, but subject to restrictions named 
 in the original deed of covenant. The annual pay- 
 ment secured under such an agreement would be the 
 individual's proportion of the amount sufficient to 
 pay the interest on the mortgage, with such addi- 
 tional sum as would, by being invested each year, 
 make up at the end of the agreed term a sum sufficient 
 to discharge the mortgage. On entry under this 
 arrangement the individual would pay such an amount 
 as was found to be necessary to provide the deposit 
 on purchase and costs, this sum being proportioned 
 in relation to the annual payments. 
 
 Leasing to a Corporate Body under the system 
 advocated would be free from the difficulties which 
 are encountered by a landowner attempting to deal 
 on the same lines with independent tenants in respect 
 of separate and small areas of land. The rent would 
 be received in one sum as from an ordinary tenant, 
 but with greater regularity ; the instalments of the 
 purchase-money would be paid in substantial amounts;
 
 24 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 there would be security for the payments in the 
 amounts agreed to be paid to the Corporate Body by 
 the individuals ; and the committee, and the enquiries 
 made by them, would ensure competency of tenants. 
 Moreover, if this system be applied to letting land 
 when hired by Parish Councils, the risks of applying 
 the powers given under the Act would be obviated or 
 minimised. Parish Councils will be most useful in 
 the formation of such bodies of intending occupiers, 
 whether they are formed to rent land from the Parish 
 Council or independently, and the first meeting of 
 the intending cultivators might be called by the 
 Council. 
 
 Among the special advantages of this system to the 
 occupier would be : — 
 
 (a) The assistance of co-operation secured by the 
 committee both in working the land, and also in 
 dairying, fruit preserving, and preparing other special 
 products, and obtaining markets. 
 
 (d) The benefit of special advice, and of additional 
 credit and working capital, that such a body could 
 secure. 
 
 (c) The organisation of various rural industries, 
 which are so necessary to those who are mainly de- 
 pendent upon produce from the land, and which can 
 only be introduced by such united action as the com- 
 mittee would secure.
 
 CO-OPERATION IN ALLOTMENTS. 2$ 
 
 {d) The persons to whom the annual rental and 
 instalment of principal are payable being fellow-occu- 
 piers, if for exceptional reasons any occupier desired 
 postponement of payment, he would have favourable 
 consideration by the committee. 
 
 {e) Far more capital would be left to the small 
 holder for the erection of buildings, or for other pur- 
 poses, than if he had found the whole of the purchase- 
 money of the land ; and 
 
 (/) If the purchase of the freehold had been made, 
 leaving part of the purchase-money on mortgage, any 
 failure to pay the principal and interest due, if called 
 upon to do so, would lead to the forfeiture of the 
 holding, and of any money already paid for the 
 same. 
 
 In order to make this system of occupancy more 
 clear, it is desirable to take an example. Assuming 
 that the land were of the value of ^20 per acre, a 
 charge of 32s. per acre, or 8 per cent, per annum, 
 would be sufficient to pay 4 per cent, upon the un- 
 paid purchase-money, and to discharge the whole 
 amount at the end of a term of eighteen years. An 
 individual occupier would thus be able to secure a 
 perpetual title to five acres by making eighteen 
 annual payments of £'S each, i.e., £144. in eighteen 
 years. Comparing this system with immediate pur-
 
 26 LABOUR UrON THE LAND. 
 
 chase, the value of the land being ^20 per acre, to buy 
 this area the occupier would have to find a sum of 
 £100, and would further lose £$ per annum, the in- 
 terest which this would otherwise bring to him, i.e., 
 £igo in eighteen years. As compared with ordinary 
 rental, the amount payable would be in excess of 
 ordinary farm value, but would entirely terminate at 
 the end of eighteen years, when the holders would 
 have a perpetual title to the land without paying 
 further rent, and yet this rent would be actually less 
 than would usually have been paid for renting small 
 areas. By an annual payment of 10 per cent, on the 
 purchase value, the purchase-money would be paid in 
 a term of thirteen and a half years ; or, if 6 per cent, 
 were agreed upon, the term would be twenty-six 
 years. 
 
 The total amount to be paid by the individual 
 holders should slightly exceed the sum payable by 
 the committee, this excess being necessary to provide 
 for the costs of the committee. Any surplus, how- 
 ever, left in hand after meeting the costs, would belong 
 to the general body of tenants, and would be dealt 
 with as they decided.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Co-operation in Credit and Agricultural 
 Production. 
 
 co-oterative agricultural credit banks. 
 By Mr. Harold Moore. 
 
 The origin of the Agricultural Banks Association 
 may be traced to a meeting held in 1893, when ^ 
 committee was appointed to consider the desirability 
 of establishing in England some system of Rural 
 Co-operative Banks. 
 
 The committee so appointed consisted of Mr. 
 Ycrburgh, as chairman ; Mr. W. E. Bear, Mr, E. 
 Owen Greening, Mr. Egmont Hake, Mr. Bolton King, 
 and myself After this committee commenced its 
 work, it was joined by Mr. II. W. W'^ltT, the author 
 of " People's Banks," and Mr. O. 1-2. Wcsslau, con- 
 sulting economist, who had long made banking his 
 special study. After consideration, this committee 
 
 determined to form an Association in order to aid in 
 
 27
 
 28 LABOUR UrON THE LAND. 
 
 obtaining any fresh legislation which was necessary, 
 and to practically assist the formation of Rural Credit 
 Societies. The Agricultural Banks Association was 
 accordingly formed in December, 1893. 
 
 The work of the Association may roughly be con- 
 sidered under two heads, the first being the promotion 
 of means to place additional capital or credit at the 
 command of farmers who already possess banking 
 facilities ; the second, the provision of organisations 
 in our rural districts by which those not now possess- 
 ing any banking facilities can safely be assisted by 
 loans of capital. As to the first of these two depart- 
 ments, it should be seen that, while the owner of a 
 cargo of wheat on the other side of the world could 
 readily get an advance upon it, it was unreasonable for 
 the English grower not to be similarly able to obtain 
 an advance from produce stored upon his own holding. 
 This year early hops were sold at 35s. per cwt., one- 
 third of last year's price, in order to provide money 
 to pay the hop pickers, while wheat was forced upon 
 the market in a wet condition, realising, therefore, less 
 than 1 8s. per qr., simply because the growers were 
 compelled to find the necessary cash to meet their 
 harvest and current farm payments. The reason 
 why local bankers cannot provide that adequate 
 capital which is of so much importance to our agri- 
 culturists, is in consequence of the fact that no tan-
 
 CO-OPERATION IN CREDIT. 29 
 
 gible security can be given upon produce otherwise 
 than by Bills of Sale. The committee has given much 
 consideration to the fresh legislation necessary to 
 enable our larger farmers to get more credit, possibly 
 by establishing a form of security not now known to 
 English law; and early in the current year a suggested 
 Act of Parliament was drafted. In consequence, 
 however, of the present state of legislation, it has 
 been found impossible to proceed with any new Bill, 
 and the further consideration of what can be done for 
 the larger farmers has accordingly been postponed. 
 
 Practical action, however, has been taken in order 
 to assist those rural classes who have not now 
 any banking facilities beyond that afforded by a sav- 
 ing's bank. I may point out that in every European 
 country, not even excluding Turkey, there exist co- 
 operative unions or people's banks for the purpose of 
 securing credit for those possessing small means, and 
 that everywhere such banks have been recognised as 
 having beneficial, social, and economic results. After 
 consideration of these various systems, the committee 
 of the Association decided that the system which had 
 been most uniformly successful had been that intro- 
 duced by Herr Raiffcisen. Credit societies on this 
 principle are formed by the Association helping the 
 federation of suitable persons who wish for the 
 assistance of additional credit in a society with
 
 30 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 mutual liability : such a society being able to obtain 
 for its members credit not available through individual 
 security. The risk of loss is obviated by the societies 
 restricting their work to a single parish, so that all 
 the members must be well known to each other ; 
 electing as members only persons of known good 
 character ; placing the management of the society in 
 the hands of an honorary committee elected from 
 amongst the members; prohibiting loans, except where 
 some special economy is subserved ; and exercising 
 control over the purpose for which the loan is used. 
 It is found difficult to lay down uniform rules for all 
 societies, in consequence of the great variety of con- 
 ditions existing in English villages. The committee 
 of the Association, consequently, determined to issue 
 only an outline of the rules necessary to give a con- 
 stitution to any society in accordance with the Friendly 
 Societies' Act of 1875, leaving those locally interested 
 to settle the detailed regulations. As the result of 
 the consideration given by the committee to ques- 
 tions contained in many hundreds of letters which 
 have been addressed to the Association, or which have 
 been put to Mr. Leman, the organising secretary of 
 the Association, a further publication is in preparation 
 which will give more definite advice and complete 
 rules of management. These are based solely upon 
 the Raiffeisen system, which the Association suggests
 
 CO-OPERATION IN CREDIT. 3 1 
 
 can be successfully introduced into every village in 
 England. 
 
 The strongest criticism brought against the system 
 was by those who urged that the restrictions necessary 
 to ensure absolute safety are such that the assistance 
 of the banks will be of but little value. In order to 
 answer this criticism I may briefly state a variety of 
 circumstances under which such credit societies would 
 be useful. In the case of the formation of co-opera- 
 tive settlements, the utility of such an organisation 
 would be evident. Every occupier taking up a small 
 area of land as a member of such a community must, 
 necessarily, have command of some capital. Assum- 
 ing that double the amount could be successfully and 
 profitably used upon any holding, in consequence of 
 the existence of the society ensuring a certainty of 
 the advance being properly used, a further sum up to 
 an amount equal to the sum employed by any holder 
 could be lent with safety, because this maximum 
 advance would only then equal onc-heilf of the total 
 amount invested in the holding. The experience of 
 the Agricultural Banks Association shows that there 
 are men of wealth prepared to come forward in our 
 local districts to find any sums of money required 
 under these conditions. Then such credit societies 
 would be of value to those in our villages, to whose 
 income the temporary pos.session of additional capital
 
 32 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 would make a material increase. Instances may be 
 given of the village carpenter who might, through 
 such help, be enabled to buy materials for a contract, 
 which would otherwise have to go to a bigger man 
 possessing larger means ; and of the rural manu- 
 facturers, such as hurdle or chair makers, who must 
 limit the purchase of the rough material to the re- 
 sources they have at command, and to whom addi- 
 tional money would allow such larger purchases as 
 might mean constant employment all through the 
 winter. Then there are many in our large villages 
 who have some regular means of maintenance, wage- 
 earning or other, but have ample spare time and the 
 necessary experience which would enable them to 
 keep a cow, goats, pigs, or other live stock. In these 
 cases some are prepared to find one-half the capital 
 wanted, but at present, through want of the other 
 half, are unable to get this additional means of liveli- 
 hood. Lastly, there are instances where the County 
 Council classes for technical instruction have been 
 doing some good in giving training in rural industries, 
 but, where practical application is impossible without 
 capital. Loans of even so little as ;!^i to £2 have 
 been proved to be of great value to some members of 
 the families of wage-earning rural labourers, the 
 amounts being expended in the purchase of raw 
 materials necessary for production of articles for sale
 
 CO-OPERATION IN CREDIT. 33 
 
 at prices which would give remuneration for the skill 
 and labour expended. For borrowers of these small 
 sums possessing no means, sureties would be neces- 
 sary ; but here there should be little difficulty, bearing 
 in mind the large numbers of persons who are in- 
 creasingly interested in promoting profitable village 
 industries. 
 
 In conclusion, I may point out that of the many 
 hundreds who have expressed the greatest interest in 
 the work of the Association, comparatively few have 
 recognised one method of showing practical sympathy 
 in its work, viz., that of finding some part of the cost; 
 and had it not been for the most munificent support 
 of Mr. Yerburgh, the society could not have done 
 what it has already accomplished. 
 
 AN EXPERIMENT IN AGRICULTURAL CREDIT BANKS. 
 
 By Mr. IV. Maiden, M.D. 
 
 In the parish of Pembury, near Tunbridge Wells, 
 Kent, an agricultural credit bank has been started. 
 The idea was suggested to me by Mr. Wolff's book 
 on People's Banks. When conversing with the work- 
 ing men on the subject, I found they were much 
 interested ; so, at their request, I gave a lecture deal- 
 ing chiefly with the German Raiffeisen banks. At 
 the close, a provisional committee was appointed to
 
 34 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 considijr if it was p ^ssible to establish a village bank 
 in Pembury. The committee met frequently, and 
 drew up rules founded on the Raiffeisen societies. A 
 second public meeting was called in August, and the 
 rules were read and explained. Intending members 
 were invited to send in their names, and 20 names, 
 representing all clas-es in the parish, were given in at 
 the close of the meeting. 
 
 About this time I received an account of the work 
 of the Agricultural Banks Association, and a copy of 
 their model rules. At our first general meeting these 
 rules were read, and it was resolved to affih'ate our- 
 selves to the Association, and adopt their rules. This 
 has been done. We now muster 28 members ; two 
 of these are women. An office has been taken, and 
 officers appointed ; the vicar and the Nonconformist 
 minister serving as trustees. A guarantee of ;£^200 
 was raised to start with, and doubtless more money 
 will be forthcoming if it is required. We have de- 
 cided to charge interest at the rate of 5 per cent, on 
 all loans, and to allow 3 per cent, for deposits. We 
 have also decided to form a cattle insurance depart- 
 ment, in which all cattle purchased with money lent 
 by the bank must be insured. 
 
 I have no doubt that credit banks of this descrip- 
 tion will prove of great value in the rural districts. 
 The agricultural labourers arc very anxious to try
 
 CO-OPERATION IN CREDIT. 35 
 
 their hands with large allotments or small holdings ; 
 but at present they arc absolutely without the money 
 or credit necessary to make the working of them 
 a success. This credit, by means of agricultural 
 co-operative banks, they will be able to obtain, and 
 so the great initial difficulty in establishing small 
 holders will be removed. 
 
 CO-OPERATION IN IRELAND. 
 By the Hon. Horace Plunkett. 
 
 The year 1894 has seen the inauguration of a 
 scheme calculated to bring about important changes 
 in the condition of Irish agriculture. In the spring the 
 Irish Agricultural Organisation Society issued its pro- 
 spectus. During the early summer its proposals were 
 discussed at public meetings and in the press. The 
 number of its adherents rapidly increased. I\Iost of 
 the required funds were subscribed. As strong a 
 committee as Irish public life could produce was en- 
 trusted with the carrying out of the programme for 
 the first year ; and whatever may be the permanent 
 result, the task of introducing new principles into the 
 business of the Irish farmer has been entered upon 
 with energy and determination. 
 
 I shall deal with the principles mainl}-, leaving the
 
 36 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 greater part of the practical details to be filled in by 
 each agricultural reader from the teachings of his 
 own experience. 
 
 The distinguishing characteristic of the new Society 
 is that it is to be temporary in its work, being con- 
 stituted for a term of five years, and purely propa- 
 gandist. The greatest requirement in Ireland is the 
 establishment, by organisation of the farmers them- 
 selves, of a Central Chamber of Agriculture, which 
 would, in one important respect, differ from an 
 Agricultural Department. The latter could not well 
 act in any way which would interfere between the 
 agricultural and general commercial or trading in- 
 terests. It could not act as the much-needed trade 
 combination representing the farming industry. In- 
 terference with trade by the Government must be 
 very limited. An Agricultural Department is badly 
 wanted in Ireland to simplify and co-ordinate the 
 work done by several existing Boards. It would be 
 occupied in the performance of certain duties which 
 the State can do better and more economically than 
 any association of individuals, such as the dissemina- 
 tion of information, agricultural education, safeguards 
 against disease, and so forth. The Central Chamber 
 would doubtless exercise a wholesome influence on 
 the Government Department, and would keep it in 
 touch with the interests it was created to conserve.
 
 CO-OPERATION IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION. 37 
 
 But a wide sphere of usefulness of another kind is 
 contemplated. 
 
 The whole question of freight and transit of Irish 
 agricultural produce needs a central organisation 
 representing the producers. Local combination can 
 do much — can at least teach the poor farmers to bulk 
 their consignments, and to make such terms with the 
 railways from their several districts as will enable the 
 poor man to do as well as the rich man. But by far 
 the greater part of these products find their way to 
 England ; and it will need more than the influence 
 of local farming societies to obtain through rates 
 and suitable arrangements between such points as 
 Ballinasloe and London, or Limerick and Man- 
 chester. 
 
 The remaining functions of the Central Chamber 
 will consist in carrying further, with all the weight of 
 its representative character, the work upon which our 
 Society is now, pending the constitution of this Far- 
 mers' Federation, temporarily engaged. This work 
 chiefly consists in the organisation of Farmers' Socie- 
 ties, covering convenient areas. These Societies, it 
 will be remembered, are to be the foundation upon 
 which the central body is to be built ; and upon the 
 practicability of so organising them as to give them 
 permanence the success of our entire scheme depends. 
 At present all that has been accomplished is the
 
 38 LABOUR UPOxN THE LAND. 
 
 formation of a few Societies, and the dissemination of 
 the knowledge of the scheme. 
 
 Our Society is managed by a committee of twelve, 
 with a president and vice-president. They have under 
 their direction an organising secretary, with a small 
 staff of organisers, the latter being paid by the job. 
 These organisers are sent among the farmers of any 
 district where the committee think their proposals 
 would obtain a hearing. The district selected is one 
 where farming operations are now carried on by 
 individual farmers without any union or combina- 
 tion. 
 
 Most valuable work is being done in the dairying 
 districts, where a few forerunners of the new Society 
 had already persuaded the farmers to show what com- 
 bination could effect. The success of this experiment 
 had exercised such an influence on the manner in 
 which the Society's proposals have been received, that 
 some allusion to it is of interest. 
 
 The dairying industry just then possessed all these 
 requisites, and had the additional advantage of being 
 one of prime national importance. Ireland, by virtue 
 of its unrivalled soil and climate, was once the great- 
 est butter-producing country in the world. In the 
 last twenty years she has fallen behind in the race, 
 even to the extent of being beaten out of her home 
 markets. The reason is well known. Like most
 
 CO-OPERATION IN AGRICULTURAL rUODUCTION. 39 
 
 large industries, that of butter- making ha-^ had its 
 revolution. New machinery, costly but highly effi- 
 cient, has enabled the factory product, notably that 
 of Denmark and Sweden, to beat the home-made 
 article both in quality and cost of production. Ater 
 a while, capital was naturally attracted by the 
 material advantages which the abundant supply of 
 Irish milk afforded, and the green pastures of the 
 "Golden Vein" were studded by the snow-white 
 "creameries" which announced the transfer of this 
 great Irish industry from the tiller of the soil to the 
 man of commerce. The new-comers were able to 
 secure the milk of the district at a price equivalent to 
 its then value to the belated farmer, who deemed it 
 advantage enough that he was saved the trouble of 
 churning, while they (the proprietors) realised enor- 
 mous profits. Here was, at any rate, a definite 
 substantial object for which to combine. The farmers 
 had only to put together what money they could 
 contribute and what credit they could command, to 
 associate themselves into societies, and then, by 
 means of co-operative organisation, to conduct their 
 own business for their own profit.* 
 
 It is sufficient to state that the undertaking then 
 entered upon has been vigorously prosecute^i for the 
 last five years, and is now the special care of the 
 * Fortnightly Rroiew^ March, 1894.
 
 40 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 Organisinj^ Society. To-day, forty -two societies 
 (thirty-three parent societies with nine " auxiHaries " 
 or branches) are at work, while several others arc in 
 process of organisation. This success has astonished 
 all who have watched their progress — for not only 
 have they conducted the industry in a thoroughly 
 business-like manner, but they have also overcome 
 the technical difficulties, and succeeded in restoring 
 Irish butter to the place which it formerly occupied 
 in the English markets. 
 
 In this venture the Irish dairy farmers, following 
 the lead of their Continental competitors, had, by 
 means of combination, accomplished an object which 
 was beyond the reach of the individual. Still more 
 significant, as showing how quickly one step forward 
 in social and economic progress leads to another, was 
 the next development of co-operation. These socie- 
 ties had solved the problem of economic production, 
 but they were still almost as much at the mercy of 
 the middleman as their members had formerly been 
 in the sale of their product. During the last two 
 years, however, they have formed a federation of the 
 Co-operative Creameries, under the name of the Irish 
 Co-operative Agency Society ^ Limited, which under- 
 takes the collection of their butter in Ireland, and its 
 consignment to and sale in the English markets. Its 
 committee, consisting of members cf the various
 
 CO-OPERATION IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION. 4 1 
 
 federated societies, had no special knowledge of the 
 markets in which they hoped to supersede the middle- 
 man, and to represent the interest of the farmer. 
 They were subjected to some litigation, resulting in a 
 considerable financial loss. But they retained the 
 confidence of their fellow members, who were deter- 
 mined to give the experiment a fair trial. Already 
 their losses have been recouped, and the venture pro- 
 mises to he an unqualified success. The agency is 
 now branching out into other lines of business for the 
 societies, the most useful being the sale of poultry 
 and eggs. 
 
 The creamery system is, of course, only applicable 
 to a limited area. In non-dairying districts combina- 
 tion can be advantageously resorted to for many 
 other purposes. There is hardly a parish in Ireland 
 where farmers could not obtain better and cheaper 
 implements and machinery, manures, sced.s, feeding 
 stuffs, in fact all kinds of farming requisites, by a 
 simple system of joint purchase. No doubt, later on, 
 the farmers would have depGts of their own. But at 
 first societies might be formed on the French plan 
 thus described in tlie latest Government publication 
 on agricultural subjects:^ "The procedure is practi- 
 cally the same in all cases. Invoices arc checked 
 
 * Journal of Board of Ap-iculture, vol. i., No. i., September, 
 1894, pp. 9, JO-
 
 42 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 and passed by the council of the syndicate, and bills 
 are drawn by the manufacturers and tradesmen on 
 the individual members for goods supplied. If it is 
 found necessary to take proceedings against a manu- 
 facturer for fraud, these are generally instituted by, 
 and at the expense of, the syndicate, but in the name 
 of the aggrieved member. Few of the associations 
 undertake responsibility in respect of payment for 
 goods ordered on behalf of the members. As a rule, 
 the manufacturer or dealer has to draw a bill, some- 
 times for an insignificant sum, payable at one, two, 
 or three months, on each individual who sent in an 
 order." Then follows a very significant testimony to 
 the combined moral and economical advantage of this 
 form of association : ^ " Although the syndicates offer 
 no material security to the trade, their reputation for 
 soundness in business affairs is in itself a moral 
 guarantee. It very rarely happens that a farmer fails 
 to meet an engagement contracted through his syndi- 
 cate, for default invariably entails expulsion. It has 
 been maintained that the system of purchase in 
 common, inaugurated by the syndicates, has had the 
 effect of reducing the prices of manures and other 
 articles used in agriculture by 20 to 30 per cent."^ 
 
 ^ Joicrnal of Board of Agriailttt7-e, vol. i., No. i., September, 
 1894, pp. 9, 10. 
 
 - Journal of Board of Agn'atlfurc, vol. i., No. i., September, 
 1894, pp. 10, 11.
 
 CO-OPERATION IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION. 43 
 
 The co-operative sale of live stock and farm pro- 
 duce is a more difficult matter ; and here foreign 
 experience is not quite so good a guide as it is in the 
 details of co-operative purchase. The Syndicates 
 Agricoles of France have federated for the sale of 
 live stock, much as the Irish creameries have feder- 
 ated for the sale of their butter. 
 
 The insurance of crops and live stock is not prac- 
 tised to the extent which prudence would dictate. 
 This will be remedied with general progress ; and we 
 have no doubt that our local societies will be able to 
 obtain cheaper rates from insurance companies, and 
 probably to escape the agency fees altogether from 
 the start. 
 
 Regarding the subject of agricultural finance, I can 
 testify that the Irish farmer is under the same disad- 
 vantages in the matter of working capital as the 
 English. We have no lack of competing banks, and 
 money lenders abound. Money is easily obtainable 
 with bankable security at fair rates of interest, but 
 usually for short terms. Renewals are granted as a 
 rule, but where there is no bankable security, the 
 borrower is, as a natural consequence, subjected to 
 usury, sometimes at the hands of the gombeen man 
 pure and simple, but more often in the worse, because 
 indefinite, form of shop credit. Tiius it happens that 
 credit, instead of being as legitimate an auxiliary to
 
 44 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 agriculture as it is to all other industries, remains a 
 demoralising abuse. I know of no channel through 
 which moral and material benefit is more likely to be 
 brought to the farmers of Ireland than the organisa- 
 tion of credit under the highly educational system of 
 Co-operative Agricultural Banks. 
 
 All these projects imply the formation of local 
 societies, out of which a central organisation is to be 
 evolved. Each of these projects is based upon con- 
 siderations of material advantage. This business 
 basis in the constituent societies will provide the 
 element of authority in the central federation. But 
 even if this federation be not formed in addition to 
 immediate gain, voluntary association will bring about 
 a marked improvement in the habits and methods of 
 the farmer himself, the importance of which it is 
 impossible to over-estimate. Combination appears 
 to me to be the missing link between the theory and 
 practice of agriculture. The local society will exer- 
 cise an educational influence in many ways. As we 
 have found in the case of the Co-operative Dairying 
 Societies, the dissemination of information among 
 farmers is greatly facilitated, once voluntary associa- 
 tion has superseded exclusive and individualistic 
 industry. The meeting together for a common 
 business purpose not only stimulates the appetite for 
 information, but, which is more important, it results
 
 CO-OPERATION IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION. 45 
 
 in the information, when obtained, being acted upon. 
 The more enterprising members become the leaders, 
 and they make and maintain their position by bring- 
 ing some new information or profitable advice to their 
 fellow-members from without. 
 
 I believe that the competition at local shows would 
 be far keener and far less restricted if these institu- 
 tions were more democratically controlled, which 
 would clearly be the case if associations of farmers 
 generally prevailed. Nor have I much hope for 
 agricultural education until the stimulus of voluntary 
 association for business purposes has prepared the 
 way. Wasteful methods arc persevered in, not from 
 lack of information but from old farming habits, 
 begotten perhaps by protection, and confirmed in 
 Ireland by the land system of the past which dis- 
 couraged farming enterprise. 
 
 Everywhere we find the farmers willing to listen 
 to our proposals, and in no way less inclined to act 
 upon our advice, when it is realised that we have 
 nothing else to offer. The difficulty which in 
 England would arise from a jealous regard for the 
 sanctity of middle profits is perhaps less formidable 
 in a country where agriculture is the dominant, 
 almost the only, large national industry. In any 
 case the scheme is well backed. It is with a 
 full knowledge of the difficulties before them
 
 4.6 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 that leading men of the most opposite opinions in 
 all other matters have joined together in a great 
 appeal to the " bone and sinew " of our native 
 land.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Improved Methods of Cultivation. 
 
 results of deep cultivation. 
 
 By W. Sozverby, F.G.S. 
 
 Thorough cultivation means a system whereby the 
 best crops are obtained year by year from the same 
 land without exhausting the soil of its virgin fertility. 
 The primary condition is to give the soil plenty of 
 fresh air and a sufficient quantity of moisture, for, ac- 
 cording to Liebig, Voelcker, and Ville, 93*55 of the 
 natural nourishment of wheat is obtained from air 
 and water, 3*45 is obtained from the soil, while 3 per 
 cent, only has to be supplied in the shape of manures 
 of various kinds. 
 
 In order to fully aerate the soil, it must be com- 
 pletely pulverised. To show the importance of this 
 it is only necessary to point to the fact that a solid 
 cubic foot of earth will only leave exposed to the air 
 six square feet, or 864 square inches, whereas if 
 
 47
 
 4S LABOUR UI'ON THE LAND. 
 
 broken into lumps of one inch it would have 10:368 
 square inches of surface exposed. Again, if the 
 depth of the cultivation were increased by deeper 
 ploughing, or digging by hand labour, the quantity of 
 soil that becomes opened up to the action of the air 
 becomes enormous. This is the basis of thorough 
 cultivation, the immense importance of which has 
 been proved by its practical application to agriculture. 
 Ordinary agriculturists, both in this and in many 
 other countries, content themselves with ploughing 
 up the ground, in a very superficial manner, to a 
 depth of from 6 inches to lo inches, and then apply- 
 ing stimulating artificial manure to increase their 
 crops ; this is generally accomplished, but to the 
 impoverishment of the virgin fertility of the soil. 
 Those who have partly tried deeper cultivation have 
 been disappointed at the first results, simply because 
 they bring up the subsoil to the surface, forgetting 
 that before it becomes suitable for sustaining vegeta- 
 tion it requires to be exposed to the action of the air 
 for one, two, or more seasons. 
 
 It is to Jethro TuU we owe the first extended 
 and more complete system of improved deep cultiva- 
 tion or tillage. This was on his farm of 200 acres in 
 Oxfordshire, where he carried on his system of 
 cultivation for many years during the early part of 
 last century, with the most satisfactory and profitable
 
 IMPROVED METHODS OF CULTIVATION. 49 
 
 results. His success was most unquestionable, so 
 much so that even Young — the originator, or rather 
 promoter, of alternate crops — acknowledged in the 
 end the excellence of his system, while Cobbctt was 
 said to have pronounced his opinion most decidedly 
 in favour of TuU's system. 
 
 Early in the present century the Marquis of 
 Tweeddale commenced a system of deep cultivation 
 upon his Yestcr Estates, with the most valuable re- 
 sults. On land which, before he took up the farm, 
 would occasionally yield a poor crop of oats, he suc- 
 ceeded in obtaining 40 bushels of excellent wheat per 
 acre, and similar results with regard to root crops. 
 
 The principle followed by TuU and the marquis 
 was essentially the same, viz., that of admitting freely 
 the air, the sun-light, and its warmth, into the pores, 
 and thus bringing the soil into the most favourable 
 condition for nourishing vegetation. The marquis also 
 drained his land, but Tull did not need to do this, as 
 his subsoil was a dry, absorbent chalk. 
 
 More recently General Sir A. Cotton has followed 
 up this system with the most remarkable and surpris- 
 ing results. Not content wiih simply ploughing and 
 turning the surface and subsoil to a depth of 22 
 inches, he has penetrated to a depth of 36 inches. 
 This, of course, at an additional expense for labour, 
 but the results have far more than paid this extra ex-
 
 50 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 pcnsc, for the yield has been from lOO to 140 bushels 
 of wheat per acre, and similar large crops of roots 
 and potatoes, as well as hay. This has been done 
 even in the driest and most unfavourable seasons. 
 
 In June, 1893, in spite of the drought, Sir A. 
 Cotton cut a plot of English grasses in Surrey which 
 was 5 feet high, producing more than 2 lbs. of hay 
 per square yard or 4I tons per acre. There were two 
 other cuttings, making altogether 7 tons, worth about 
 £60 at the winter prices. In the same year he raised 
 a quantity of Indian corn, which grew 8 feet high, 
 producing in the average 120 bushels of fair sample. 
 
 In 1894, on poor land splendid results were ob- 
 tained by applying deep cultivation to wheat. Instead 
 of 4 or 5 feet growth it reached about 7 feet, the 
 average of the plot being 55 ears per plant, weighing 
 3^ lbs. each, the total weight per acre being about 
 100,000 pounds or 45 tons, and when dry 12 tons of 
 straw. 
 
 Equally surprising results were obtained by 
 thorough cultivation applied to swedes and potatoes. 
 
 Deep cultivation has also been applied with most 
 satisfactory results at several farms in different 
 counties, for example, at Hareshill in Norfolk, at 
 Woolpit, etc. At a large Hampshire farm a wonder- 
 ful crop of barley was obtained, while of potatoes 20 
 tons per acre were taken, the usual average being 8
 
 IMPROVED xMETlIODS OF CULTIVATION. 5 I 
 
 tons. Experiments in Australia bear similar testimony, 
 Mr. J. L. Thompson, J. P., of the Hawkesbury Agri- 
 cultural College, adducing wonderful results. 
 
 The high cost of working the deep cultivation, as 
 produced by Sir A. Cotton, is likely to be consider- 
 ably reduced, since several leading implement makers 
 are making suitable implements. Thorough cultiva- 
 tion requiring great labour, care and skill, is especi- 
 ally applicable upon small holdings and allotments. 
 
 CULTIVATION OF HEAVY LAND. 
 
 (Being Extracts from a Paper read upon Thorouijh Cultivation at the 
 Hadleigh Colony.) 
 
 By George HaivtJiorne. 
 
 It is now some eighteen months since I paid my 
 first visit to the farm colony at Hadleigh. 
 
 Knowing something of the nature of the Essex 
 clays, and the way in which they were farmed, I was 
 not surprised to find the usual routine of the county 
 being carried out. 
 
 The 6 feet lands or stetches, with a wide furrow 
 between each, constituting one-tenth of the land, 
 were to be seen in almost every field. These furrows 
 are never intended to be planted with corn, but to 
 give every facility for the growth of weeds. Some of 
 these weeds will ripen and fall on the land ; the
 
 52 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 remainder will be harvested with the corn, and be 
 brought on to the land again the following year with 
 the manure. 
 
 Hoeing is a superjfluity rarely or never indulged in. 
 Wheat-planting on the colony was almost given up, 
 and the oat crop substituted, giving a smaller return 
 than the wheat. 
 
 I recommended a return to wheat, as the land was 
 more adapted for its growth. 
 
 It took a great deal of persuasion on my part to 
 induce them to allow me to plant a field of wheat in 
 my own way, but at last I succeeded in doing so. 
 
 The result of that crop this harvest has been 6o 
 bushels of wheat and 3 tons of straw ; the straw 
 was nearly 6 feet high ; and if the wheat and straw 
 were sent to market it would give a return of ^^15 
 per acre. 
 
 This year I have 40 acres of wheat growing, 25 of 
 which were up and going along well when I left on 
 the loth of this month. 
 
 This I think you will find rather a novelty, not 
 only in Essex, but in any county in England ; and, 
 if every farmer in Essex was in this hall to-night, I 
 don't think you would find one in the whole num- 
 ber but who would say I had done a very foolish 
 thing. 
 
 Well, I won't attempt to argue with a farmer ; but
 
 IMPROVED METHODS OF CULTIVATION. 53 
 
 if aa}'onc will meet mc at the farm colony on the ist 
 of August next he shall enjoy his own opinion. 
 
 They would also be astonished to find I have 
 planted only i bushel to the acre ; and next year, if 
 the land is in proper condition, 2 pecks will be the 
 right quantity of seed. 
 
 Not being an expert in figures, I will now give one 
 or two items to those who are, and no doubt the 
 result will surprise you. Given the number of acres 
 of wheat planted in England in any single year, take 
 into account that the minimum quantity of seed per 
 acre is 2 bushels, and you will then get the number of 
 bushels that has been thrown away and wasted, to say 
 nothing of the injury done to every crop by the extra 
 bushel planted. 
 
 You will be able to produce the same results by 
 early planting, and by paying great attention to 
 autumn cultivation, the weather being generally more 
 favourable and less risky than in spring ; and I have 
 no hesitation in saying the neglect of this has been 
 the ruin of many farmers. 
 
 This may be seen more plainly this year than in 
 any year I ever remember. 
 
 What is the process that has been going on ? 
 
 Why, thresh, thresh, thresh, all over the country; not 
 that the wheat has been in a condition to thresh, but 
 it has been in a condition not to keep, and you must
 
 54 LABOUR UrON THE LAND. 
 
 let the miller have it at any price. Whereas, if it had 
 remained in the stack till after Christmas, it would 
 have been in good condition, and a better price would 
 have been realised. 
 
 The time spent in threshing and marketing has 
 been lost for autumn cultivation and planting, and 
 thus you get a miserable prospect for another year. 
 The land is badly planted, and a great deal of it will 
 be left over till spring, and that may be a wet one. 
 
 The agricultural credit banks would here step in 
 and prevent all this mischief. 
 
 The clay lands of Essex arc very productive, but 
 very unworkable, and this is the secret why so many 
 have failed in their cultivation, and so much land has 
 gone derelict. 
 
 You must not expect all the constituents of good 
 land to be found in any one county, but nature in this 
 case has placed the remedy near at hand, 
 
 London is not blessed by having coal mines in its 
 vicinity, but coal is brought from Newcastle, Mining 
 is a very expensive operation, but it pays us to get 
 coal. 
 
 On the opposite shore of the Thames in Kent, you 
 have large deposits of chalk ; and if this were mixed 
 with the Essex clay it would entirely change its 
 nature, and convert it into a rich loamy soil, capable 
 of growing any kind of crop. ^^5 per acre spent
 
 IMPROVED METHODS OF CULTIVATION. 55 
 
 in this way would give a return of 50 per cent, on the 
 outlay every succeeding year. 
 
 Farm-yard manure on clay land is very little good 
 until you get it into good cultivation, and bring it 
 into contact with the soil and the atmosphere. You 
 might as well put it between two pieces of leather. 
 
 The manager of a farm ought to be a man who 
 knows what he knows, and knows what he does 
 not know, a man who has a theory, but who never 
 adopts a theory until he has tested it by practice in 
 the field. 
 
 There are two kinds of theories, the one broad and 
 receptive, the other narrow and restricted. The 
 former opens the door to all possibilities in agriculture, 
 the latter shuts that door, and says there is nothing 
 more to be learnt. 
 
 And this brings us face to face with the question, 
 Can farm colonics be made self-supporting? 
 
 This depends entirely upon what you grow per 
 acre, supplemented by the number of animals you 
 can keep on the farm to provide for the support of 
 the colony, and to keep up the fertility of the 
 soil. 
 
 In a year or two the Iladleigh colon}- will become 
 an interesting object lesson to the nation, inasmuch 
 as it will supply the data to determine whether the 
 aggregate production on a given area will prove the
 
 56 LABOUR UrON THE LAND. 
 
 possibility of rendering ourselves independent of the 
 foreigner for our food supply. 
 
 Unless my hopes are frustrated by a bundle of red 
 tape, it will be proved beyond a shadow of doubt that 
 in the matter of wheat, which is the backbone of the 
 farmer, and the most important item to the nation, 
 this is within the bounds of possibility. 
 
 But this very desirable end will have to be pre- 
 ceded by the sweeping away of all unjust laws that 
 hinder its accomplishment. 
 
 It is to be hoped that all other farm colonies will 
 emulate each other in pressing on to the same go^'- 
 
 In the time allotted to me, I have only been able 
 to touch lightly upon tliose points most likely to 
 interest you. You will, I hope, be able to determine 
 in your own minds if each or any of them are worthy 
 of your serious consideration. If they are, you will 
 be able to give effect to them in the future conduct of 
 your several farm colonies. 
 
 I will only add a few words as to the prospects of 
 the farm colony at Hadleigh. This time last }-ear I 
 could have counted the number of ricks at harvest on 
 one of my hands. I should want many hands this 
 year to count them. 
 
 We must remember that it is always easier to throw 
 stones than to find the sinews of war. 
 
 They arc doing a great work. Let those who can
 
 IMPROVED METHODS OF CULTIVATION. 57 
 
 give them a helping hand. They have a splendid 
 estate ; the situation is everything that can be desired ; 
 and it reflects great credit on those who recom- 
 mended General Booth to purchase it. 
 
 Gentlemen, you have a great work before you. If 
 you can find work for the agricultural labourer, if you 
 can find work for those who can be taught to till the 
 land, if you can raise their social standing, and keep 
 them from the snares and temptations of town life, 
 you will confer a lasting benefit on the country.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Unemployed upon the Land. Experiments 
 AND Proposals. 
 
 A TRAINING FARM FOR THE UNEMPLOYED. 
 
 By Walter Hazell, M.P. 
 
 The training farm at Langley, Essex, was begun in 
 1 891 with a view of dealing with men who, from 
 various causes, were quite unable to obtain work 
 under present conditions of com.petitive employment. 
 The cases dealt with are not merely the unemployed 
 among the ordinary workers, but men who, from want 
 of skill, reputation, training, or through other disad- 
 vantages, have nothing to offer which any employer 
 would care to accept. If young men are strong and 
 willing to work on the land, and have no defect in 
 their antecedents, they can often be sent to Canadian 
 farms without any preliminary training, by the Self- 
 Help Emigration Society, a society which has placed 
 
 out in Canada about 5,coo persons, because in most 
 
 5S
 
 UNEMPLOYED UPON THE LAND. 59 
 
 cases the opening for workers on the land is so con- 
 siderable that being a skilled farm labourer is not an 
 essential condition. It is not, however, fair to send 
 to the colonics people who have all the drawbacks 
 alluded to above, and whose record is not fairly satis- 
 factory. To meet such difficult cases, I rented, early 
 in 1 89 1, with the assistance of one or two friends, a 
 small farm-house, and at first only four acres, which 
 were next year increased to 28, at Langley, Essex. 
 A farm bailiff and his wife were engaged as superin- 
 tendents, and selected cases were sent down by way 
 of experiment. The scheme has been tried for nearly 
 four years, and has been so far successful that this re- 
 mote and inconvenient little farm has been given up 
 in favour of one of 225 acres near Chesham, Bucks. 
 As the cost and results of this first effort are now 
 complete, it is a suitable time for making the result 
 public. One hundred and nine cases were accepted, 
 nine were transferred to the new farm in September, 
 1894, and so exactly a hundred cases have now to be 
 reported upon. A few are boys of from 14 to 17, and 
 five aged from 40 to 46, but the average age is 24. 
 They represent every degree of unfitness for life if 
 left without some special help and traiin'ng. They 
 were merely existing in London, and 44 came direct 
 from lodging-houses and refuges. Scarcely one had 
 a trade, or had belonged to a trades union. Their
 
 6o LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 occupations were so nondescript as to defy classifica- 
 tion. Off and on, uncertain, unskilled, irregular 
 work was accompanied by unsettled, irregular, un- 
 satisfactory lives. An exception must be made as to 
 four who had no defect of character, and were simply 
 young fellows who wanted a little farm training be- 
 fore going to Canada, and ten others whose defects 
 were want of health rather than of character. The 
 remainder attributed their low condition to having 
 had bad or no training, to drink, to petty pilfering as 
 youths in 12 cases, and in the remainder to general 
 want of employment, a want which no good times 
 were ever likely to supply. When accepted, they 
 were, if strong enough, recommended as a first test to 
 walk to the farm, 45 miles distant. Seven who ac- 
 cepted this invitation never turned up, and so disap- 
 peared from the scene. The remainder reached the 
 farm, where they were provided with plenty of plain, 
 wholesome food, and decent lodging in the farm-house, 
 living in the style of a small farming family, the 
 barrack system being entirely absent. It is hardly 
 possible to estimate too highly the high moral influ- 
 ence of the manager and his wife, and the way in 
 which, living with the men, they have touched their 
 hearts and uplifted their lives. Being quite without 
 means, and generally with no change of clotheS) 
 everything has to be done for them, and they are pro-
 
 UNEiMPLOYED UPON THE LAND. 6l 
 
 vided with necessaries without considering whether 
 their labour is worth little or nothing. There are no 
 rigid rules except that they may not enter a public- 
 house. They are taught such farm work as is pos- 
 sible, and especially are they taught to milk, as this 
 is a sure passport to work in Canada. Bad behaviour 
 has been very small indeed ; in general they have 
 worked and behaved fairly, some being, of course, 
 more intelligent and industrious than others ; but 
 many of them, finding themselves in a comfortable 
 home, have been too willing to stay there indefinitely. 
 When they have gained strength by good food and 
 regular habits, and have obtained a little skill in farm 
 work, the question arises, What shall be done with 
 them? The average stay on the farm has been ^2 days. 
 At different times 19 left, or were dismissed owing to 
 being more or less unsatisfactory. Eleven went away 
 to work in England, and if openings could have been 
 found for them, I should have preferred for the re- 
 mainder to have gone to English farms, but hitherto 
 no openings have occurred. Therefore, the most 
 available outlet was to accept the co-operation of 
 the Self- Help Emigration Society, which have an 
 admirable system of sending people to Canadian 
 farms, which practically insures them work on arrival. 
 Sixty of these men were sent there, while three 
 went to New Zealand. Up to this point the work
 
 62 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 was comparatively easy, if the money for the effort 
 were forthcoming. The question is, What becomes 
 of them after they go to Canada ? Records have been 
 kept as carefully as possible of the results. In nearly 
 every case, the Self-Help Emigration Society's corres- 
 pondent has reported the name of the farm to which 
 the emigrant had been sent, and the wages which he 
 would receive, and before sailing, the men have been 
 urged to write to those who had befriended them in 
 England. Fifteen have not written, so nothing is 
 known of them, except that with scarcely an excep- 
 tion they obtained work at once on farms. Of the 
 remainder, two are still on their voyage to New 
 Zealand, thirty-five have written, or their friends have 
 written about them to the effect that they were in 
 employment, five are in more or less irregular work, 
 and six are considered more or less unsatisfactory, 
 though only two are decidedly so. While the social 
 and moral results might be considered very encour- 
 aging, the farming results are not so, for various 
 reasons. In the first year, the four acres were 
 entered upon too late to produce any crop worth 
 mentioning, and the year 1893 was one of widespread 
 farming disaster. The object of the farm is not farm 
 profit, but training for the men. The farm is too 
 small for the number of men employed, and their 
 work is of little moment, because as soon as they
 
 UNEMPLOYED UPON THE LAND. 63 
 
 acquire any skill they are emigrated. The cost of 
 the experiment has been a total outlay of ;^950. 
 The sale of the produce has produced £4.1 1, leaving a 
 loss of ;^539. This works out at a loss of one and 
 sixpence per day for each man while resident at the 
 farm. This includes his food, some clothing, railway 
 fares, the maintenance of the manager and his wife, 
 and a great number of incidental expenses. I do not 
 claim to have made a great discovery, but I believe 
 that the experiment may be considered on the whole 
 encouraging. It is most desirable that others should 
 try like experiments on a small scale where personal 
 influence can be brought to bear, where each case 
 can be dealt with thoroughly upon its merits. IMore 
 faith is to be placed in such methods than in great 
 schemes involving heavy expenditure which mass to- 
 gether a number of men, who need above all things 
 personal and friendly contact with people whose 
 conduct is on a higher plane. I am disposed to 
 believe that my new farm in Buckinghamshire will 
 show that men can be still better trained with a re- 
 duced loss ; but in any case, I consider that money 
 thus spent has not been spent in vain. I find that 
 the Guardians, the Charity Organisation Society, and 
 similar organisations, are glad to send selected men to 
 the farm, and pay 5s. a week, which has been about 
 half the cost of their maintenance, whilst I at first,
 
 64 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 with the assistance of a few friends, have been pleased 
 to make up the deficiency. In conclusion, I suggest 
 that similar farms should be tried in the neighbour- 
 hood of all great centres of population. 
 
 THE COLONY AT STARNTHWARTE. 
 
 By the Rev. H. V. Mills. 
 
 This colony has been based on the idea that the 
 problem of unemployed labour is too great for private 
 enterprise to deal with ; it is already a national ques- 
 tion; to me it seems the most pressing of all political, 
 religious, or social evils. It has become the root of 
 crime, and unbelief, and prostitution. The causes of 
 unemployed labour, as we knew it in modern society, 
 are not of a temporary character. Labour-saving 
 inventions have been introduced, and they never will 
 be withdrawn. The price of grain and general pro- 
 duce will not be materially raised for many genera- 
 tions, because tlie same causes have produced both 
 the low prices and the lack of demand for labour. If 
 the State undertakes the task of finding work for the 
 unemployed poor, I think it will of necessity be 
 undertaken through the agency of the Poor Law, and 
 under the direction of the Local Government Board ; 
 because hc-rc Parliament has already recognised a
 
 UNEMPLOYED UPON THE LAND. 65 
 
 national obligation to house, and feed, and clothe 
 those who are destitute. In a foolish, ineffectual 
 manner the State has gone so far as to give work to 
 a few of them. But stone-breaking and oakum- 
 picking are devilish devices, calculated because of 
 their waste to degrade men. We must recognise the 
 fact that useless task-work does not even pretend to 
 be a remedy for our evils. The motive for it is to 
 keep down the rates ; it is not an attempt to cope 
 with a serious problem. 
 
 There are in England and Wales 649 Poor Law 
 unions. In every union there are many acres of 
 good agricultural land greatly reduced in value ; 
 there are able-bodied men and women in want of 
 work and in deep distress ; there are also estates in 
 every union set apart as a kind of heritage of the 
 poor, consisting of huge workhouses and board-rooms, 
 which might be sold if a radical reform were carried 
 through Parliament, and the land, the labourers and 
 the capital thus obtained might be at once used to 
 equip in every union a home colony, which would 
 find useful work of a self-supporting character in 649 
 different centres. Then England would have seriously 
 grappled with its pri)blcni of unemployed labour, her 
 waste lands would begin to be fertile again, and the 
 general standard of life amongst the working people 
 would be improved. 
 
 E
 
 66 LABOUR UPON THE LAND, 
 
 It should be understood that the Westmoreland 
 Home Colonisation experiment is not an attempt to 
 deal with the question, but is a pioneer settlement 
 based upon sound principles, which may be of use to 
 England when Parliament turns its attention seriously 
 to the problem. 
 
 Five and a half miles from Kendal, and three miles 
 from the shores of Windermere Lake, we have pur- 
 chased 130 acres of land by public subscription. 
 The work has been in operation about two years and 
 a half. We began with three or four colonists, in- 
 creasing our numbers as we found the land more pro- 
 ductive, and as new industries could be organised, 
 until to-day we have thirty colonists. We could do 
 with more colonists if we had more capital; indeed, 
 we could at once double this number if we could 
 obtain another ^^1,500, which would purchase and 
 prepare another 100 acres of adjoining land, and the 
 work would be more easily and more economically 
 carried on — if on a larger scale. 
 
 The distinguishing features of this colony are that 
 it is not only a farm, but a co-operative village, 
 where manufactures are carried on under the same 
 management as agriculture. The work done is very 
 little of a commercial character ; it is done chiefly for 
 the use of the colonists themselves. Nothing is sold 
 off the estate except what is necessary to provide the
 
 UNEMPLOYED UPON THE LAND. 6^ 
 
 colonists with pocket-money, and to purchase such 
 things as they cannot themselves produce, such as 
 tea, coffee, sugar, and petroleum. The articles pro- 
 duced in order to purchase these things are bacon, 
 eggs, butter, peat moss, litter, and generally such 
 articles as are already brought into the open markets 
 of England from foreign countries. But \vc have 
 produced all the more important articles of food, such 
 as potatoes, cabbage, beef mutton, pork, apples, 
 damsons, milk, butter, and we have woven our own 
 cloth and made our own clothing, and built a new 
 house, and produced our own peat fuel. All the 
 colonists are men and women who have known the 
 anxieties and sufferings of prolonged lack of employ- 
 ment. Another distinguishing feature of the experi- 
 ment is that it is a colony for women and children as 
 well as men. It is not a monastic settlement from 
 which women's work and influence is excluded. It 
 seems to me that if a distinction ought to be made 
 between the sexes, the first colonies ought not to be 
 for men only, but rather for women, because they 
 suffer most for lack of work and low wages. But 
 surely the right thing is to organise a village which shall 
 be self-contained and self-supporting as far as possible, 
 where the natural relations of wives and husbands, 
 parents and children, are respected and provided for. 
 Only so can the reform be permanent and beneficial.
 
 68 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 The land was purchased and is now vested in five 
 carefully selected trustees, who hold it for the pur- 
 poses of social reform in such a manner that it can 
 never again become private property. In the event 
 of a large profit being made, the trustees are bound to 
 use the capital thus created for the improvement of 
 the condition of the workers, or for the purchase of 
 additional land, and the maintenance of a larger 
 number of colonists. At the present moment the 
 colony is out of debt, and has a small surplus at the 
 bank, but there are several industries w^aiting to be 
 organised which will require additional capital before 
 this can be accomplished. We have been fortunate 
 in securing an estate at a very low price where we 
 have a powerful water-wheel. This is now constantly 
 occupied, grinding all kinds of grain, and also driving 
 a large circular saw and other machines used by 
 carpenters. There is also a blacksmith's shop, which 
 I hope in a short time will be at work. There is also 
 a guest-house, where visitors are received at a low 
 charge who wish to spend a holiday at the colony, 
 or to see the working of the experiment in its daily 
 detail. Every colonist agrees to abide by a set of 
 rules — to give an average of 8 hours' work per day, 
 and to receive in return board, lodging, recreation, 
 clothing, and a sum of pocket-money not exceeding 
 half-a-crown per head per week.
 
 UNEMPLOYED UPON THE LAND. 6g 
 
 There are i6 horses on the farm, lo of which have 
 been bred on the estate since the commencement of 
 the experiment. The number of pigs bred already 
 amounts to several hundreds. We not only manu- 
 facture meal from grain for our own farm, but also 
 for a large number of neighbouring farmers, who have 
 now a very friendly feeling toward the experiment, 
 although at first they treated it with a certain 
 amount of aversion. There are nearly 40 acres of 
 land under cultivation, producing not only corn but 
 market garden crops, for which there is a good de- 
 mand both in Kendal and Windermere. At the 
 present the colony is nearly self-supporting and self- 
 contained. 
 
 THE UNEMPLOYED EXPERIMENT AT ABBEY MILLS.^ 
 
 Early in 1S94 it was agreed by the Executive 
 Committee of the Mansion House Conference upon 
 the Unemployed to repeat the experiment of 1893, 
 placing selected bodies of unemployed men to work 
 
 ^ This statement is an abbreviation of the paper read at the 
 Conference by Mr. Bolton Kinjx, Secretary of the Mansion House 
 Committee upon the Unemployed, and adopted and published 
 as the report of that Committee.
 
 70 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 upon land under careful directions, with certain modi- 
 fications of last year's scheme. 
 
 The area from which the " unemployed " were 
 chosen comprised the whole of Tower Hamlets, and 
 all workmen (except those engaged in season trades) 
 with the qualification of twelve months' residence 
 were eligible. Last year's cases were, however, not 
 admitted unless special cause was shown. 
 
 The number of applicants was 414, of whom 273 
 were disqualified, or adjudged unsuitable for various 
 reasons. Of the 141 dealt with, no fewer than 94 
 were Londoners by birth, and 17 others urban. Thus 
 the committee found still stronger confirmation than 
 in 1893 that the kind of poverty dealt with is largely 
 a town product. 
 
 The age of applicants ran as follows : — 
 
 Under 25, 27 
 
 25 and under 35, .... 59 
 
 35 „ 45, ... . 38 
 
 45 „ 55, • • • • 17 
 
 141 
 
 31 stated they were, or had been, members of a club 
 or benefit society. 
 
 The men were placed to work at Abbey Mills 
 under the superintendence of ganger and foreman.
 
 UNEMPLOYED UPON THE LAND. 7 1 
 
 No pressure was put upon them other than would 
 obtain under the normal conditions of labour. Each 
 man was quietly and intelligently observed, and a 
 careful record was kept for the guidance of the com- 
 mittee as to his ability, conduct, and physique. The 
 work of 1893 consisted in digging and levelling; but 
 last winter the men accomplished work of a more 
 skilled character. The official report of L.C.C. 
 Valuers to the Small Holdings Committee of the 
 council bore testimony to the satisfactory character 
 of the work, which consisted in the construction of a 
 large new dyke with substantial flood banks, the 
 removal of a portion of a clay bank, and the making 
 of trenches for the reception of sewer refuse on the 
 raised clay land. 
 
 The length of time worked by each applicant varied 
 according to circumstances when they came before 
 the committee for settlement. If it was found im- 
 possible to reinstate the man in any way, he was at 
 once firmly but kindly told we could do nothing 
 further. 
 
 If, on the other hand, either by emigration, migra- 
 tion, or written promise of work in the near future, 
 there was any hope of reinstatement, the man was 
 returned to work pending settlement. The period of 
 work varied, therefore, from a fortnight to upwards 
 of two months. It was extremely gratifying to note
 
 72 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 the great improvement in the appearance and 
 physique of the men who remained for the longer 
 periods upon the work. 
 
 It will, perhaps, be interesting to record a few of 
 the difficulties the committee found in the average 
 applicant. 
 
 1. He is an unskilled workman, who has rarely 
 had any permanent situation. 
 
 2. He is strongly attached to his own locality, and 
 is firmly convinced the committee can find him a job 
 right here. 
 
 3. He is generally convinced it is the function of 
 the committee to remodel the whole industrial system 
 with immediate benefit to himself. 
 
 Having surmounted what may be termed the edu- 
 cational difficulties, the committee were confronted 
 with various domestic hindrances, such as a sickly 
 wife or child, abnormally large family, etc. 
 
 There were also the grave dangers of loose philan- 
 thropy to avoid, and the usual industrial difficulties 
 well known to all who study the conditions of labour. 
 
 While it is ever easy to give the most demoralised 
 man a dole and pass him out of sight, it is often 
 difficult, if not impossible, firmly to reinstate an 
 honest man who has been worsted in the battle of life. 
 
 The work of the committee seems to demonstrate 
 certain facts and principles.
 
 UNEMPLOYED UPON THE LAND. Jl 
 
 1. It appears from the small number of men dis- 
 missed for idleness or bad conduct (14), a very large 
 proportion of the applicants were iviiling to luork if 
 they could obtain it. 
 
 2. It is quite clear an efficient test of industry can 
 be applied without recourse to even the modified 
 workhouse test, 
 
 3. The character and quality of the work done by 
 the unemployed at Abbey Mills is a standing proof 
 that with better opportunities many of these families 
 can be saved from the grip of poverty and pauperism. 
 
 4. The work of the committee has been carried on 
 with a minimum of irritation to the hungry appli- 
 cant, and a minimum of risk, by fraud and decep- 
 tion, to those who have made the committee their 
 almoner. 
 
 The applicants, instead of being put back to starve 
 during the time necessary for proper inquiry, were at 
 once set to work. If, after inquiry and test work, 
 the applicant was found to be unworthy or could not 
 be reinstated for other reasons, he had only benefited 
 by getting a few days' hardly earned wage. 
 
 So that even where the committee failed in its 
 main purpose, i.e., reinstatement, it accomplished a 
 most efficient work of relief, safeguarded on every 
 side from the dangers of loose philanthropy. 
 
 In reference to the cost of the scheme, it must be
 
 74 LABOUR UrON THE LAND. 
 
 borne in mind the committee were dealing in every 
 instance ^Ith. families, the applicant counting but one 
 in our case return, and representing on an average 
 five persons. 
 
 Judged fairly, the committee feel sure their work 
 will be appreciated as a practical scheme for dealing 
 with distress under very difficult circumstances. 
 
 THE SALVATION ARMY FARM COLONY AT HADLEIGH. 
 
 In order to make complete this record of attempts to 
 employ unexperienced men upon the land, a reference 
 should be made to the largest attempt of this char- 
 acter now in operation in England, viz., the Hadleigh 
 farm colony, founded by General Booth as part of the 
 Darkest England scheme. Colonel Stitt, the governor 
 of the farm colon)'-, was asked to read a paper upon 
 this subject, but owing to pressure incidental to the 
 preparation of the balance-sheet, was unable to pre- 
 pare the same. Rather than to allow so important a 
 work to pass without notice, the undermentioned 
 short note has been prepared, based upon an article 
 in "All the World," a publication of the Salvation 
 Army, but brought up to date by references to the 
 report just issued. 
 
 " The estate obtained for the purposes of the colony
 
 UNEMPLOYED UPON THE LAND. 75 
 
 is situated within a square of a mile and a halt', the 
 centre being about ^,6 miles distant from London, 5 
 miles from the town of Southend, and 3 miles 
 from the two nearest stations, wiiich are Rayleigh on 
 the G.E.R., and Leigh on the L.T. and S.R. It con- 
 sists of the Park, Castle, Sayers, and Leigh Marsh 
 Farms in the parish of Hadleigh, having an area of 
 1,052 acres, with the whole of the glebe and other 
 land in the same parish, of about 100 acres, which is 
 rented. At the time possession was taken 370 acres 
 were arable, 630 grass, and 150 acres saltings. 
 
 "The only good arable land comprised about 80 
 acres on a high table-land adjoining the London 
 road, which borders the colony on the north, and was 
 in first-class cultivation. With regard to saltings, 
 which are periodically covered by the high tides, it 
 is proposed to embank these sufficiently high to pre- 
 vent the influx of water, and then by careful subse- 
 quent treatment it is thought that in the course of a 
 few years they may have a freehold value of ^^30 per 
 acre 
 
 " In addition to the ruins of Hadleigh Castle, the 
 unruined buildings on the land, when possession was 
 taken, consisted of Park Farm-house, a good-sized and 
 well-built brick house ; the Castle Farm-house, which 
 was rather old-fashioned and inconimodious; and out- 
 buildings, sheds, etc., belonging to each. Since the
 
 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 houses alone are valued at i^2,ooo, and the first-class 
 arable land before-named, belonging to Park Farm, had 
 once been estimated at ^^60 per acre, the price of the 
 entire estate, which was ^^"19,000, cannot be considered 
 excessive. Since the original purchase, a small farm 
 of 60 acres adjoining the Leigh station, and extend- 
 ing to within 600 yards of Park Farm, has been 
 secured, with the object of obtaining better access to 
 the station." 
 
 The special advantages of the farms at Hadleigh 
 for the attainment of the complex objects in view 
 have been generally agreed upon by all critics, and 
 were specially noticed in the report of the committee of 
 inquiry, issued in September 1892. When entering 
 into possession of the property, it was pointed out that 
 in comparison with an ordinary farm the colony 
 would have special advantages. There would be no 
 rent or interest on capital to be provided ; sufficient 
 capital would be available for working purposes ; 
 extra labour was obtainable whenever wanted at 
 harvest and hay-time at a cheap rate ; a market at 
 full prices for many products might be secured 
 in connection with the various branches of work 
 carried on by the Salvation Army ; extra returns for 
 garden produce would be realised without the usual 
 risks of a market gardener, by reason of the consumers 
 being upon the property ; and better prices in some
 
 UNEMPLOYED UPON THE LAND. T] 
 
 cases would be obtained by the sale of manufactured 
 articles in the place of raw products. 
 
 The farms were taken possession of on behalf of 
 the Salvation Army on May 2nd, 1891, and by 
 August in the same year over 200 men, taken from 
 the submerged classes of London, were in residence, 
 ail working as labourers. Since that date the num- 
 ber seems to have varied considerably : in June, 1892, 
 there having been 325 ; in June, 1893, the number had 
 decreased to 241 ; while since then they seem to have 
 increased, and have averaged about 300. 
 
 Large sums have been spent upon the colony, these 
 amounts having mainly been capital. Four reports 
 have been issued, with balance-sheets showing the as- 
 sets obtained for this expenditure. These were dated 
 respectively, November 30th, 1891, and September 
 30th, 1892, 1893 ^""J I ^^94- These balance-sheets 
 show the assets at these dates to have been 
 £Z6,277 14s. 3d.; ^^69,340 9s. iid. ; £^9,971 8.^.; 
 and ;^94,473 4s. /d. respectively. In addition to ex- 
 penditure for which these assets have been obtained, 
 the expense of maintenance for periods covered by 
 the balance-sheets have been : for the first period of 
 seven months, ^^"1,050 ; for the second period of ten 
 months, ;£"4,8oo; for the third period of twelve 
 months, ;^3,6oo ; and for tlic twelve months ending 
 September 30th, 1894. ^^"2,450.
 
 78 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 These four reports may be considered to indicate 
 that, at the commencement of the colony, the results 
 of the labour of the men on the land seemed effective 
 and useful. ♦^ In the two years following the report of 
 Novombor 30th, 1891, a sum of ov e r ;^50,ooo s e ems 
 to have been spent in attempting to found industrioo - 
 on a large scale, which have been ontiroly unoucceoo 
 4«1t During the last year, ending September 30th, 
 1894, more attention has been given to the agri- 
 cultural work, with far less expenditure of capital ; 
 with the result that had it not been for a loss of 
 i £1,700 on the industries, the colony w^ould have been 
 nearly self-supporting. In spite of the year having 
 been so disastrous to ordinary farmers, the special 
 advantages of the colony as before-named have been 
 such, that after paying for all wages and maintenance 
 of men, a profit of nearly ^600 has been made by 
 the farm department towards general administration 
 costs. 
 
 From this last report it appears that the total num- 
 ber of men that have been on the colony from the 
 commencement to the date of the report exceeds 
 1,600. 
 
 CHURCH ARMY FARM COLONY. 
 
 Rev. W. H. Hunt, secretary of the social work of the Church 
 Army, read a paper describing the Church Army farm colony 
 in Suffolk. As it appeared that possession had only recently
 
 UNEMPLOYED UPON THE LAND. 79 
 
 been obtained, no results could be reported while plans for the 
 future were not settled. It need therefore receive no lengthy 
 notice in these pages. It appeared, however, that Bishop 
 Wilkinson offered to the Army a farm of nearly 350 acres, 
 situate at Thelnetham in Suffolk, about 9 miles from the nearest 
 town and station of Thetford, with the condition that it should 
 be used for the training of those not exceeding 20 years of age. 
 The gift was accepted with this condition, and possession had 
 been obtained of the farm in the previous August. Another 
 farm adjoining of nearly 200 acres became vacant from 
 Michaelmas, and after much consideration it was determined 
 to rent this farm in order to receive men upon it from the town 
 labour homes. Possession had not yet been obtained, but 
 would be secured very shortly. Plans had not yet been com- 
 pleted in detail for the use of the property, and would depend 
 largely upon the funds from contributions, for which Air. Hunt 
 made an urgent appeal. 
 
 LABOUR FOR THE UNEMPLOYED UPON THE LAND. 
 
 By the Rev. J. B. Baton, D.D. 
 
 The policy pursued in regard to the unemployed 
 since the passing of the Poor Law Act, in 1834, should 
 certainly be reversed. " Since the passing of that 
 Act," as the Right Honourable H. H. Fowler said 
 last year in the House of Commons, "the principle on 
 which boards of guardians had been governed in the 
 giving of out-door relief to able-bodied men was, that 
 such relief should be given as the necessities of the

 
 8o LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 case required, work being provided merely as a test 
 of destitution." Work thus given to the unemployed^ 
 being intended only as a searching and drastic test to 
 prevent as far as possible anyone who was fit for 
 labour from sinking into pauperism, and becoming 
 dependent upon the community, was necessarily of a 
 repellent and punitive character. It was often wholly 
 unproductive, so that good labour was wasted, and 
 was generally most irksome and tedious. Whoever, 
 therefore, accepted it, was not only branded with the 
 pauper name, but was immediately oppressed with the 
 dulness and degradation that are inseparable from 
 pauper labour. This was right and necessary if the 
 only object of such work was to raise a barrier, ward- 
 ing off the respectable poor by terror and shame from 
 the swamp of pauperism, and leading them to adopt 
 every means and exhaust every contrivance before 
 they surrender their independence and become a 
 burden upon the community. 
 
 But in our time a new spirit has arisen, and the 
 economic conditions of life have so changed that it is 
 impossible any longer to regard want of employment 
 in itself as a culpable thing. The great and rapid 
 fluctuations in modern trade, and the sudden vicissi- 
 tudes that befall great industries, have, in recent years, 
 combined with the severe and long-continued agri- 
 cultural depression that is sweeping the people away
 
 UNEMPLOYED UPON THE LAND. 
 
 from the country districts, to bring loss of employ- 
 ment upon multitudes of the most deserving of our 
 industrial class. 
 
 Now, to thrust these, because they are unemployed, 
 into the pauper class, is a great wrong to them, and 
 inflicts manifold evils upon the community. Even, 
 too, for those of the unemployed who are already 
 tainted with the pauper and dependent spirit, or who 
 are idle because of dissipation, or of physical weak- 
 ness that makes them unfit for the severe toil which 
 most industries exact, or of the hereditary instinct of 
 indolence and loafing which they have inherited from 
 pauper ancestors, it is felt that society must seek to 
 redeem them and to redeem itself from the chronic 
 evil which, like a moral leprosy, afflicts them and 
 afflicts society through them. Some of them may be 
 hopelessly irreclaimable ; but others, through wise and 
 kindly discipline, and under healthful conditions, 
 might be restored to themselves, and become fit for a 
 life of industry and honest independence. Hence the 
 new problem of the unemployed, viz., to provide work 
 for those who seek it, and arc capable of it ; and also 
 to give employment to those who do not eagerly seek 
 it, but who need it, and who may by suitable work be 
 trained to habits of sobriety, industry, and inde- 
 pendence. 
 
 In the solution of this problem there are two factors
 
 82 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 of supreme importance. First, the kind of work in 
 which they may engage ; and, secondly, the condi- 
 tions under which they engage in it. 
 
 In reference to the first, there are considerations 
 which make it plain that the labour for our unem- 
 ployed must be chiefly upon the land. 
 
 The first desideratum is that a man may, by his 
 labour on the land, raise products which he himself 
 consumes. The whole of the labour that is spent in 
 tilling the land may yield products which are con- 
 sumed by the labourer himself, or which supply a 
 demand for which at present there is no supply in our 
 own country. And thus any number of labourers 
 can be both employed and maintained on the land 
 without competing with other labourers and throwing 
 them out of employment. 
 
 Secondly, there is room in the cultivation of land 
 for all kinds of labour ; that which is unskilled, and 
 that which is skilled. Any man who can handle a 
 hoe, a fork, a spade, or a rake, can find labour on the 
 land. 
 
 Again, work on the land has other qualities which 
 would be instrumental in raising the general standard 
 of life. It is interesting, full of variety, and health- 
 giving ; it contains high possibilities of social life. 
 Socially, it possesses two great advantages. It per- 
 mits the cultivation of society in the evening and in
 
 UNEMPLOYED UPON THE LAND. 83 
 
 other leisure hours to those who engage in it, while 
 it does not allow the massing together of large 
 numbers in a barrack-life. Little capital would be 
 required for such labour as the unemployed can 
 undertake — hand labour engaged in raising crops for 
 their own consumption, or such as can furnish a staple 
 of some in-door industry. Days when work on the 
 land is impossible and the long winter evenings can 
 be utilised for simple handwork which will afford 
 pleasant change and supplement the earnings from 
 the land, such industry to supply the home market 
 with commodities now drawn from other countries. 
 Lastly, by such work many of the unemployed may 
 be trained for permanent settlement on the land. 
 
 Certain circumstances in England to-day afford 
 special encouragement and facilities to these methods 
 of engaging the unemployed, e.g., the cheapness of 
 land, much of which is even passing out of cultiva- 
 tion. Certain changes of opinion in modern farming 
 indicate the method of agriculture which will be found 
 most serviceable, namely, the system of intensive and 
 hand industry. According to leading experts, five 
 acres of ordinary land will maintain a man, who can 
 till this quantity by hand labour, with some slight 
 assistance from horse or steam ploughing. Some 
 even recommend a more intensive cultivation by 
 hand labour. Arable dairying is strongly recom-
 
 84 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 mended as more profitable than the usual grass 
 farming. If largely practised it would not only 
 restore and keep upon the land large numbers of 
 agricultural labourers, but would suitably occupy 
 the unemployed with spade labour. This, therefore, 
 should be made the central industry round which the 
 minor rural industries should gather. 
 
 As to the conditions under which the unemployed 
 can thus engage in agricultural life, two are most 
 essential. They must neither wear the pauper badge 
 nor be subjected to the usual conditions of pauper 
 life. Everything must be done to awaken in them a 
 sense of independence. The social atmosphere in 
 which they work must be bracing and educative. 
 There must be firm and kindly discipline ; watchful 
 and careful administration in every department of 
 the work ; and a wise and even scientific direction of 
 all labour. After full provision for wholesome 
 physical conditions is secured, all efforts should be 
 directed to lifting the degraded character of the men 
 by the maintenance of a wholesome moral environ- 
 ment. 
 
 Such, in brief, is the work which the Christian 
 Union for Social Service set before them. Im- 
 portant though the work is, the notion that it de- 
 mands vast resources and a costly administrative 
 system has been completely dispelled by recent
 
 UNEMPLOYED UPON THE LAND. 85 
 
 experience. Pastor von Bodelschwingh had shown 
 ten years ago how, at a comparatively small expense, 
 the unemployed could be occupied and trained on the 
 land, and how their labour could be not only made 
 productive, yielding a large part of what was needed 
 for their sustenance, but also how it could be made 
 most effective as a discipline of life. 
 
 The astonishing results achieved on the colony 
 which he planted ten years ago at Wilhelmsdorf, 
 so startled and impressed the public mind in Germany, 
 that twenty-six colonies have since been planted on 
 the same lines in all parts of Germany, with the 
 result that over 60,000 vagrants and men, described 
 as unemployed, have passed through them during 
 these years. The impression produced by the book, 
 entitled "A Colony of Mercy," which was written by 
 Miss Sutter, and by two articles written by Earl 
 Meath in TJie NineteentJi Century, describing the 
 same work, has stirred Christian men and women in 
 every part of this country, and led them to see the 
 menacing gravity of the evil existing everywhere 
 around them in the number of unemployed men, and 
 also to see clearly the methods by which this evil 
 could be here, as in Germany, immediately lessened, 
 if not wholly removed. 
 
 The Christian Union for Social Service has been 
 formed to adapt the methods of Pastor von Bodelsch-
 
 86 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 wingh to the conditions of English life. The Union 
 is Catholic and undenominational, as it is hoped that 
 all Christian people will rejoice to unite in an object 
 which commends itself to every Christian man. It 
 is proposed, in the first instance, to take a large farm 
 of uncultivated land and form on it a training labour 
 colony, in the hope of making it like Pastor Bodelsch- 
 vvingh's at Wilhelmsdorf, a model which may be 
 followed in other parts of the country. Last year 
 the Local Government Board gave permission to 
 certain boards of guardians to send unemployed 
 men, who were fit for work, to such a colony, and 
 several boards of guardians have intimated their 
 willingness to do so, and to provide five shillings per 
 week for the support of each man whom they send. 
 With this help from boards of guardians it is be- 
 lieved that men on a farm training colony can be 
 supported with little further expense. The labour 
 of the men on the farm and indoors will suffice, 
 together with the guardians' allowance, not only 
 for their maintenance, but also for some remu- 
 neration, which will be given them under specific 
 conditions as an incentive to industry, or reserved for 
 them when they leave, as a fund to help them in 
 starting a new career. 
 
 On each farm it is proposed that, adopting the 
 German names, there shall be a house father and
 
 UNEMPLOYED UPON THE LAND. 8/ 
 
 a house mother, and Christian brothers, who will 
 be the companions and leaders of all the workers in 
 the colony ; in addition, it is proposed that there 
 shall be a small body of associate helpers, men of 
 education and experience in social work, whose 
 occasional presence will give a higher tone to the 
 social life of the colony. The associate helpers will 
 also give directions to the various industries of the 
 colony, and will specially undertake to give personal 
 sympathy and counsel to every worker in the colony, 
 with a view to his future prospects in life. They will 
 be friendly advisers of the workers, seeking to help 
 them towards a position of honourable self-support 
 and independence after they have left the colony. 
 
 Whilst the colony will in all probability, under the 
 conditions named, be wholly or nearly self-supporting, 
 a certain capital sum must be invested at the outset 
 in altering or erecting convenient but economical 
 buildings, and in furnishing them ; in providing imple- 
 ments, and seeds, and the small amount of stock that 
 will be required ; and also for the maintenance of the 
 men until the first crops are raised. In these objects 
 ;^2,000 will probably be required, and towards this 
 sum nearly ;i^ 1,000 have been privately contributed. 
 An appeal has been issued for the remaining ;^i,ooo, 
 but in view of certain offers of temporary capital, the 
 work need not wait until that amount is forthcoming.
 
 cS8 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 The first colony upon the model of Pastor Bodelsch- 
 wingh's will, I hope, be established without delay,sothat 
 unemployed men may be received in it in the spring of 
 1 895. I see no reason why, following closely the great 
 example of our German leaders, like results may not be 
 achieved in this country to those which we have seen 
 in Germany. If so, within a very few years twenty 
 or thirty such colonies will be planted throughout 
 England and Scotland. These colonies, conducted, I 
 hope, in every instance by Christian men and women, 
 so that each colony may be inspired by the high 
 morality and the redeeming ardour of our Christian 
 faith, will certainly relieve the pressure felt at times 
 in all districts by our guardians from the number of 
 the unemployed poor. If then they are associated, 
 as in Germany, with relief stations wisely located, 
 they should sweep our country free, as they have 
 done in Germany, from able-bodied vagrants. 
 
 Earl Meath and Mr. Passmore Edwards have 
 followed the example of Pastor Bodelschwingh in 
 establishing colonies for our epileptic poor. The 
 Christian Union for Social Service believes that pre- 
 cisely the same treatment should be applied to 
 inebriates, and to the feeble-minded who are not 
 epileptic, and they hope in the development of their 
 work to found colonies for these two classes of the 
 communit)^, classes which now appeal most pitifully
 
 UNEMPLOYED UPON THE LAND. Sq 
 
 for help. The extent both to which the Union can 
 assist the ordinary unemployed, and the time when it 
 will take up the fresh branches will depend upon the 
 financial support secured. An appeal was only issued 
 quite recently, and what the results will be cannot 
 yet be stated. With regard to these classes, it may 
 be said in a final word, that such colonies, even with 
 their out-door labour under proper regulations, are 
 equally as much needed by, and will be as helpful to, 
 women as to men.^ 
 
 A SETTLEMENT FOR ARMY RESERVE MEN. 
 
 By Major Synge. 
 
 The employment of army rcserv^e men on agri- 
 cultural settlements, if it could be obtained, would 
 bring special advantages. In the first place, it would 
 provide for the maintenance of their physical effici- 
 ency, and would render their services available when- 
 ever they might be needed, avoiding the untold con- 
 fusion which would arise if any large number were 
 
 ^ A fuller statement ot Dr. Paton's plan of work will 
 be found in his pamphlet, " Labour for the Unemployed," pub- 
 lished by The Christian Union for Social Service, i86 Alders- 
 gate Street, E.C.
 
 90 LABOUR UrON THE LAND. 
 
 called away from avocations in which their continu- 
 ous services were indispensable. 
 
 Again, the opportunity afforded for agriculture 
 throughout the wide Empire of England enables 
 every variety of agriculture to be practised, and a 
 practically unlimited field is open to the reserve 
 forces, which would involve no emulative competition 
 for their maintenance, while they would be materially 
 assisting to rid their country from its present danger- 
 ous dependence for food upon foreigners who might 
 in some unfortunate contingencies prove her enemies. 
 
 As for the practical application of these principles, 
 I would begin from the beginning of a soldier's 
 career, which is the most valuable and determining 
 moment of his life. He finds himself in an entirely 
 new life, every incident of which is ordered for him, 
 sitting, standing, walking, running, eating, sleeping, 
 dressing, etc. Even his idleness is measured out to 
 him, and his spare cash. Strange as it might sound, 
 it seems true that soldiers, especially young soldiers, 
 have too much money, and too much time on their 
 hands. Pay-day means a periodical indulgence in 
 idle revelling, or, at any rate, in occupations which 
 render a return to the stern, hard, self-maintaining 
 labour exacted by the necessities of civil life more 
 and more irksome, and next to impossible. 
 
 Surely it would be an enormous gain if entrance
 
 UNEMPLOYED UPON THE LAND. 9 1 
 
 upon the soldier's duty was attended by a certainty 
 that the discharge of that duty would leave him better 
 qualified and more secure of constant employment 
 when the period of service was over. 
 
 The unfortunate position under which they now 
 suffered had been well and concisely summed up in 
 an official report (J. G. of R.), which stated that they 
 returned to civil life in early manhood trained, 
 but outside the groove of any trade in civil calling. 
 However, they returned in possession of a sum of 
 money equivalent to £t, for every year's service, 
 besides whatever they had put by during their term 
 of service. This money, now squandered, might be 
 put to the best advantage, and the labour set free at 
 the end of service might be utilised in the following 
 maiuicr. A syndicate supplied with funds, in the 
 first instance, by outside capitalists might undertake 
 the formation of one or more agricultural settlements, 
 which should include in their operations the reclama- 
 tion of land, the making of roads, cultivation, bridging, 
 and possibly a port. In this way a considerable 
 variety of employment could be provided. The 
 capital originally furnished should be redeemed by 
 the subscription and the labour of the settlers. The 
 labour should be primarily that of the proprietors /'// 
 posse, so carrying out to the fullest extent the 
 principles of co-operation. As the object is to find
 
 92 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 and make employment for labour which could find no 
 other market, the immediate payments should be 
 made on this basis. As employment would be 
 offered, irrespective of skill or training, open to all, 
 these circumstances should determine the amount of 
 payment made, which would be strictly in proportion 
 to quantity and quality of work done. Training 
 should be the instrument, ownership the end. In 
 order to leave the fullest benefit to the associated 
 colony, and its members, all subscriptions, whether in 
 money or in labour, should carry with them a corres- 
 ponding representation in the property and capital of 
 the colony. The syndicate or subscribers initiating 
 the enterprise should be entitled to a cumulative 
 preferential dividend of 5 per cent., which might be 
 invested in the extension of the undertaking, but 
 should not be paid in money until the Reserves' sub- 
 scriptions and labour-value shares shall have been 
 earned and paid, the subscription at the rate of 5 per 
 cent., and the accredited labour-value at the rate of 
 15 per cent., for the current year of earning. These 
 sums might also, at the option of the owners, be 
 applied to the extension of the enterprise. As oppor- 
 tunity might offer, these centres might be opened in 
 every county, putting an end, as far as possible, to idle- 
 ness and vagranc}', and affording practical examples 
 of the principle that " In all labour there is profit."
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Employment of Pauper Labour on the Land 
 
 workhouse farms — what has been and what 
 may be done. 
 
 By W. Hazlitt Roberts. 
 
 Workhouse farms afford an excellent opportunity 
 for ascertaining whether waste and unskilled labour 
 can be profitably utilised on the land. Our work- 
 houses contain a miscellaneous assortment of people 
 of all ages and both se.xes, who belong unmistakably 
 to the class of unemployed. They are not the best 
 specimens of that class, but this only adds to the 
 value of the test, for if they can be set to work profit- 
 abl}' on the land, surely ever}' other section of the 
 unemployed — capable of working at all — can be put 
 upon it with a much greater prospect of good 
 results. 
 
 Part of my business is to show from actual experi- 
 93
 
 94 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 ence that this problem has already been solved — 
 that where even that least hopeful section of the 
 unemployed to be found in our poorhouses have been 
 judiciously and intelligently set to work on the land, 
 they have been found capable of earning at least a 
 part of their subsistence. 
 
 The number of workhouse farms at present in 
 existence is small ; but, fortunately, there is ample 
 evidence that the thing can be done, and that, when 
 well done, great success has attended it. In the 
 county of Hants there are, or were at least, three 
 such farms. One was in connection with the New 
 Forest Union at Lyndhurst, and the results here, both 
 with casual and ordinary pauper labour, were dis- 
 tinctly successful. The second farm was at South 
 Stoneham, near Southampton, a large rural union 
 workhouse, with a considerable quantity of land 
 attached to it, which was at least partially cultivated 
 by the inmates, and the produce consumed by 
 them. 
 
 The third of these workhouse farms was at Wyke, 
 near Winchester, and that city was included in the 
 union with which it was connected. It was on this 
 latter farm that I gained my personal knowledge and 
 experience on this subject. The farm was only seven 
 acres altogether, two acres being garden ground sur- 
 rounding the workhouse, and five acres leased by the
 
 EMPLOYMENT OF PAUPER LABOUR. 95 
 
 guardians at the high rental of £s ^.n acre, originally 
 for the purpose of training the boys in agricultural 
 work as well as other industrial pursuits. The boys 
 never went there, however, and when I joined the 
 Board, the little farm was being cultivated by hired 
 horse labour, which mode of cultivation was entailing 
 a loss of nearly ^^40 a year on the guardians, who, at 
 the same time, were buying potatoes for the inmates 
 at £^ per ton, and other vegetables at proportionate 
 rates. On expressing dissatisfaction at this state of 
 things, I was invited to undertake the management of 
 the farm, with the support of a small committee, 
 llorsc labour was dispensed with, and the inmates 
 were set to dig the ground as it came to hand. It 
 was then planted, half with potatoes and other 
 vegetables, which were consumed in the house by the 
 inmates, and the other half with barley, which was 
 consumed on the premises by pigs, together with the 
 waste from the house and all the small potatoes and 
 other vegetable refuse. The result was that not only 
 were sufficient potatoes and other vegetables grown 
 to feed the inmates, but there was often a surplus, 
 which was sold in the adjoining town. Some young 
 breeding sows were bought, and a good stock of pigs 
 was got up. These pigs were looked after by the 
 inmates, and very carefully attended to, even at the 
 critical time when they were having their young. This
 
 g6 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 was done chiefly by tlie older men, who had come 
 into the house after a hTc of hard and honest toil. 
 They took great delight in the work. No doubt it 
 greatly helped to relieve the hopeless monotony of 
 their lives. The financial result of this system of 
 management was a clear profit of over i^ioo a year, 
 after paying the heavy rent of £^ an acre ; that is to 
 say, the labour of the pauper inmates produced this 
 ;^ioo a year, and to that extent relieved the public of 
 the burden of their support — a remarkable result, 
 when the small area of land is considered, showing 
 what can be done by the employment of pauper 
 labour on the land. 
 
 It might be objected that these experiments are on 
 altogether too small a scale, and too differently cir- 
 cumstanced to be put forward as adequate examples 
 for large workhouses, such as those of London for 
 instance. The difference, however, is more imaginary 
 than real, and is more a mere matter of size than 
 anything else. There is precisely the same human 
 material to deal with : the same old and ageing men; 
 the same able-bodied men casually out of employ- 
 ment, or not caring to be employed at all, so long as 
 they can live at the public expense ; the same con- 
 tingent of unfortunates so mentally or physically 
 constituted that they cannot get their living in any 
 ordinary way, and, having no friends, have no refuge
 
 EMPLOYMENT OF PAUPER LABOUR. 9/ 
 
 but the poorhousc ; in fact, just the same classes of 
 people throughout, only in greater numbers. 
 
 Moreover, I can adduce one instance, at least, of a 
 farm attached to the workhouse of a town with as 
 large a population as some of the London parishes or 
 unions. The farm is situated at Craiglockhart. 
 Midlothian, and is attached to the Edinburgh Poor- 
 house. This farm is probably the largest of the kind 
 in existence, being nearly ico acres. Here I am 
 credibly informed not only arc all the vegetables con- 
 sumed in the house produced on it by the inmates^ 
 but all the milk, butter, and other dairy produce. A 
 capital dairy of cows is kept, and a large number 
 of pigs as well. 
 
 Much the same system is adopted as on that farm 
 with which I was myself connected. The labour of 
 the inmate is applied to the production of vegetables 
 and other food, primarily for their own consumption. 
 If there is a surplus of any kind it is taken into 
 Edinburgh and sold by inmates, precisely as was done 
 in Hampshire. Much of the work is done by the 
 imbeciles located in the house, which is licensed. Xo 
 outside labour is employed, nor is any outside market 
 sought, except under the circumstances above referred 
 to. 
 
 The chief distinction between the Edinburgh Poor- 
 house and those of our great metropolitan parishes lies
 
 98 LABOUR UrON THE LAND. 
 
 in its close proximity to agricultural land. Craig- 
 lockhart, although only three miles from Edinburgh, 
 is in comparatively open country, but our metropolitan 
 parishL's would have to go six or seven times the 
 distance to find land suitable for their purpose. This, 
 of course, involves a separate establishment of some 
 kind, but the buildings to accommodate it need not 
 be of an expensive character. It would also involve 
 the cost and trouble of conveyance to and fro, between 
 the farm and the town workhouse, which, of course, 
 could not be wholly transferred to the country, but 
 by good management this might be reduced to a 
 minimum. 
 
 These are the drawbacks, but how great in com- 
 parison are the advantages to be set against them. In 
 the first place a saving would be effected in the cost 
 of maintenance oiall the inmates whether they worked 
 on the farm or not, and the quality of their food would 
 be much improved. The contractors' quarterly ac- 
 counts would be greatly lessened, and some of them 
 would disappear altogether. In addition to affording 
 profitable and suitable employment for the inmates, 
 these agricultural establishments would open an e.jsy 
 way to some degree of classification among the indoor 
 poor who are now all jumbled up together, good, bad, 
 and indifferent alike, in much too close proximity to 
 be pleasant to the better sort among them — often the
 
 EMPLOYMENT OF PAUPER LABOUR. 99 
 
 victims of unavoidable misfortune. Tiic lives of many 
 of these latter, particularly aged and ageing men, 
 must be rendered almost unendurable by the enforced 
 contact and companionship, day and night, with the 
 flock of " black sheep " to be found in every poor- 
 house. All those who wished it might be drafted to 
 the farm, where a large proportion of them would be 
 able, by their labour and attention in various little 
 offices connected with it, to much more than repay 
 the cost of any extra care bestowed upon them. 
 
 It is also a matter for consideration whether, with 
 farms of adequate size attached to every workhouse, 
 the costly district schools might not, to a large extent, 
 be dispensed with, and the training and education of 
 the children be done at home at first cost, as it were. 
 On these farms, also, would at last be found a suitable 
 domicile for that unfortunate squad of State pen- 
 sioners lo whom reference has more than once been 
 made, vi::., the imbecile and mentally deficient of 
 every degree short of actual madness. At the 
 Edinburgh farm even the lunatics are domiciled and 
 .set to work, but probably that would be objectionable 
 or, at any rate, objected to, here. But with regard to 
 the first-mentioned class there can be no doubt that a 
 farm of this kind would be the best place in the world 
 for them. Such capacity for work as they possess 
 would here be turned to account in one way and
 
 100 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 another to a greater extent than under any other 
 circumstances, whilst the surroundings would be such 
 as to exercise a soothing and wholesome influence 
 upon them. 
 
 Again, although the infirmaries for the sick could 
 not, of course, be wholly transferred to these country 
 establishments, an important use might be made of 
 them in connection. Convalescents from the sick 
 wards could be lodged at them both economically 
 and under conditions the most favourable to complete 
 recovery. Nothing is more desirable and, indeed, 
 indispensable in some cases, than for the patient to 
 have a month or two in the country or at the seaside 
 before resuming his ordinary occupation. Such an 
 opportunity might be afforded him on a farm of this 
 kind at very little expense to the public, as he would 
 be able partially to offset the cost of his maintenance 
 by light work suitable to his recovering strength, 
 which no reasonable man could object to do. 
 
 These are some of the more palpable advantages 
 to London workhouses of having farms of this kind 
 connected with them, though many more might be 
 added. It only needs to be further pointed out that 
 no enormous outlay, calculated to alarm the rate- 
 payers, is necessarily involved in the matter. Once 
 at the twenty-mile radius, possibly in some cases a 
 little within it, there is plenty of land to be had in
 
 EMPLOYMENT OF PAUPER LABOUR. lOI 
 
 almost every direction at a reasonable price, amply 
 good enough for the purpose, for the cultivation 
 would be of such a nature as to improve rapidly the 
 poorest soil. No more land need be acquired 
 than would be necessary to grow vegetables and 
 maintain a dairy of cows. The only case in which it 
 might be politic to purchase a larger area would be 
 in the event of a compact property in a suitable 
 locality being offered as a whole at a relatively lower 
 price than a smaller area could be obtained at, in 
 which case there could be no possible harm in launch- 
 ing out, as many uses could be found for the surplus 
 land. Except under such circumstances, it would be 
 unadvisable to overload the experiment with super- 
 fluous expenditure at the outset, although, if success- 
 ful, the farms might be so enlarged as to grow wheat 
 and produce meat for the house. 
 
 In conclusion, I wish to emphasise the assertion 
 that workhouse farms afford the best opportunity for 
 testing the practicability of utilising waste or un- 
 employed labour on the land. There, in thousands, 
 cooped up within the workhouse walls, are the idle 
 hands waiting to be employed — there is, by consent 
 of the ratepayers, an ample command of funds for 
 the purpose without going round with the hat, which 
 so often comes back empty, and last, but by no 
 means least, there is an assured market for the pro-
 
 102 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 duce without interfering with the means of livelihood 
 
 of any other class of people. If the experiment 
 succeeds, the ratepayers will benefit doubly, for a 
 way will be opened for keeping outside the work- 
 house walls many who must otherwise sooner or 
 later come in. For all these reasons I hope the day 
 is not far distant when every metropolitan workhouse 
 will have a flourishing farm connected with it. 
 
 LAND AND POOR LAW GUARDIANS. 
 By F. C. Mills. 
 
 Towards the close of the year 1892 the guardians 
 of two East End parishes of London, viz., White- 
 chapel and Stepney, were considering this question 
 from two somewhat different points of view. 
 
 In the case of Stepney the workhouse was full, 
 and owing to building operations it was found im- 
 possible to carry out a proper classification of labour ; 
 at the same time many single men coming from 
 different parts of the country found their way to the 
 workhouse through shelters established in the district. 
 Under these circumstances it was suggested that the 
 guardians should take or buy a farm, but nothing 
 was done until in March, 1893, the Stepney Guardians 
 were invited by the Whitechapcl Guardians to join in 
 their deliberations. The Whitechapcl Guardians, in 
 consequence of the letter of the Local Government
 
 EMPLOVMENT OF PAUPER LABOUR. IO3 
 
 Board in respect to the unemployed, had revived an 
 Agricultural Training Homes Committee. This 
 committee "started with the proposition that the only 
 means by which guardians could establish an Agri- 
 cultural Training Home would be by development of 
 the workhouse system. The points, therefore, formu- 
 lated were (i) whether such a development be ex- 
 pedient; (2) whether an Agricultural Training Home 
 can be best administered in the interest of the 
 struggling poor by a Poor Law authority or by a 
 voluntary body ; (3) whether, in the latter event, the 
 home should be in part maintained by capitation 
 payments by guardians, or by subscriptions under 
 the 42 and 43 Vic, cap. 54, sec. 10 ; (4) whether it 
 should be reserved for ' able-bodied persons of good 
 character, and of apparently solid determination,' or 
 whether it should be open to all comers as a test of 
 such character and determination ; (5) what means 
 should be taken lor placing men, who may have 
 satisfactorily passed through a period of training in 
 agricultural employment, or possession, or bolh ; or 
 (6) whether the training should have for its object the 
 placing of men and their families in a position of 
 hope and possibility in the colonies." 
 
 This committee invited to confer with them 
 Captain Gretton of the East End Emigration Society, 
 who suggested that what was wanted was a farm
 
 104 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 where men could be sent for a year at least, and 
 where they would go through all the rotation of work 
 both in the farmyard and in the field, including 
 milking, rough carpentering, etc., to fit them for 
 country life in the colonies. 
 
 Inquiries were made of a number of selected 
 farmers and others as to whether men would be 
 received for training with a capitation grant, but the 
 general gist of the answers was that that was quite 
 impracticable. 
 
 Mr. Hazell, however, had an interview with the 
 committee, and expressed his readiness to receive 
 men sent to him by the guardians. 
 
 Soon after this, and whilst the committee were 
 considering what report they should make to their 
 respective boards of guardians, the English Land 
 Colonisation Society was founded, and Mr. Harold 
 Moore, the treasurer of the society, interviewed the 
 committee, and on behalf of the society stated that 
 they had the offer of taking a farm in Essex on ad- 
 vantageous terms, and submitted to the guardians 
 whether they would be prepared to make payment 
 to the society in respect of such number, not exceed- 
 ing forty of the able-bodied poor of the union, as 
 might be selected for the colony which the society 
 proposed to found ; the places vacated from time to 
 time to be filled up by other men.
 
 EMPLOYMENT OF PAUPER LABOUR. I05 
 
 He said, " The object of the society is to provide 
 agricultural and other productive work to carry on 
 such industries as are connected with farming, and to 
 introduce other minor industrial employment, which 
 will bring in some return without competing with 
 existing English products, and which may in the 
 future be useful to the men so employed ;" and the 
 committee recommended the guardians to subscribe 
 under the Act 42 and 43 Vic, cap. 54, sec. 10, at ex- 
 piration of twelve months from the society commenc- 
 ing operations, " a sum based upon a computation of 
 the number of men actually received from the union 
 at a rate of 5s. per head per week ; the guardians to 
 be satisfied by such evidence and means as may be 
 determined that such ' men ' are in a destitute con- 
 dition, and that they have resided in the Whitechapcl 
 Union twelve months and upwards, immediately 
 prior to such reception." 
 
 " A copy of the foregoing report was, in due course, 
 transmitted to the Local Government Board ; and in 
 response to the request of the guardians for approval, 
 the Board stated that they had given the subject care- 
 ful consideration, and would be prepared to assent to 
 a subscription to the funds of the society on the basis 
 proposed by the guardians. It was, at the same 
 time, to be understood that the limit of such assent 
 would be one )'ear, and that the persons in respect of
 
 I06 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 whom the guardians would subscribe would be able- 
 bodied men, who cither had been in receipt of relief 
 from the union, or had applied to the guardians for 
 relief, and that they would be sent to the farm on the 
 recommendation of the guardians." 
 
 The Stepney Guardians passed a similar resolution, 
 but have taken no further action, as they are waiting 
 until the society is ready with a farm of their own. 
 
 The Whitechapel Guardians, however, sent four 
 men from the workhouse to Mr. Hazell's farm, upon 
 the understanding that, after a period of probation, 
 they would be willing to emigrate to Canada. Of 
 the four men sent, one failed to reach his destination, 
 and one subsequently left the farm. The two 
 vacancies were filled up, and there are four men still 
 there. After a lapse of three months, in which satis- 
 factory reports as to conduct were received, the 
 guardians adopted a resolution to assist their emigra- 
 tion. This was, in due course, sent to the Local 
 Government Board, who advised that, as there was a 
 ger.eral objection on the part of the Canadian 
 Government to persons being sent to the dominion 
 who had been in receipt of relief in this country, the 
 guardians should communicate with the High Com- 
 missioner for Canada, and ascertain whether any 
 objection would be raised in the present instance. 
 As the result of a correspondence, the Ili^^h Commis-
 
 EMPLOYMENT OF PAUPER LABOUR. lO; 
 
 sioner finally replied that he was unable to encourage 
 the emigration. It is satisfactory, however, to be 
 able to state that the guardians have since succeeded 
 in obtaining the requisite authority, and effecting the 
 emigration of men, under most hopeful conditions, to 
 New Zealand. 
 
 Mr. Vallance supplemented the narrative contained 
 in Mr. Mills' paper by saying that the scheme re- 
 ferred to originated with Canon Barnett, who sought 
 the consideration by the guardians of certain " pro- 
 posals for training able-bodied men in country pur- 
 suits by means of the Poor Law." The question was 
 referred to a committee, and entered upon with a due 
 appreciation of its importance, and an anxious desire 
 to ascertain whether Poor Law administration in this 
 country was capable of development in the direction 
 of training the unemployed and destitute poor in 
 agricultural pursuits. The committee recognised the 
 congested condition of the labour market, the gravita- 
 tion of the unemploved to London and other large 
 centres, the gradual decline of agriculture in England, 
 the dependence of the country upon foreign importa- 
 tions, and the loss of wealth and employment which 
 was involved in the abandonment of the soil. The 
 discussions which ensued, iniir a/ia, raised the points 
 whether the scheme would not be more likely to be
 
 loS LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 successful on Canadian, rather than on English soil — 
 whether, do what guardians might, the stigma of 
 pauperism would not attach to the scheme, seeing 
 that an agricultural settlement would be but a 
 country workhouse under relaxed conditions — and 
 whether, pending an amendment of the land laws, 
 emigration was not the only available remedy for 
 existing distress. Eventually it was decided to in- 
 vite the guardians of all the metropolitan unions to 
 meet in conference upon the question. They did so ; 
 a committee was appointed to collect information 
 from guardians of the poor in Essex, agriculturalists, 
 clergymen and others ; but the replies received to 
 their circular letter were not encouraging. As, how- 
 ever, the Mansion House Conference upon the unem- 
 ployed had, at this stage, reached the opinion that 
 " any experimental scheme of agricultural colonies 
 should be worked by private charity, in co-operation, 
 as far as possible, with the Poor Law, rather than as 
 part of the Poor Law system," and as a scheme had 
 been actually formulated, offers of land invited and a 
 public appeal for funds made, it was eventually de- 
 cided by the conference to allow the question to 
 remain in abeyance pending the result of the 
 Mansion House experiment. 
 
 This was in 1888, and although this first effort proved 
 abortive, the Wiiitcchapel guardians were led early in
 
 EMPLOYMENT OF PAUPER LABOUR. lOQ 
 
 1893 again to take up the question. They started with 
 the proposition that the only means by which guard- 
 ians could establish an Agricultural Training Home 
 would be by a development of the workhouse system; 
 and accordingly formulated certain points for sub- 
 sequent consideration. 
 
 The committee had the advantage of the personal 
 assistance of such gentlemen as Captain Grctton, Mr. 
 Walter Hazell, and Mr. Trotter, and they were 
 joined by Mr. F. C. Mills, Mr. Bolton Smart, and 
 other representatives of the Stepney Union. The 
 following questions were drafted, and sent out to a 
 number of selected farmers : — 
 
 " Assume a Londoner, intelligent, enfeebled by 
 poor living, but with a good physique and some 
 energy, married to a decent wife, and with two or 
 three children. 
 
 " Could such a man, with his wife and family, be 
 settled in a hut or cottage in your ncighbourliood ? 
 Could he, while receiving sufficient for support from 
 London guardians, be worked by you ? Could you, 
 that is, give him work on your farm so that he might 
 at a )'ear's end have some skill in digging, rough 
 carpentering, and milking — be, in fact, fit for emigra- 
 tion ? Would it be possible to pay you for your 
 trouble by a capitation grant on every man capable 
 of digging, etc., and might it be a condition that 
 during the year so much waste land might be re-
 
 no LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 claimed ? This last condition is imposed to obviate 
 the substitution of country by London labour." 
 
 The replies, as in 1888, were not encouraging. 
 The proposal was cither " Utopian," " impracticable," 
 or " illegal." A report was ultimately adopted ; but 
 at this stage, Mr. Harold E. Moore, Hon. Treas. of 
 the English Land Colonisation Society, waited upon 
 the committee with the proposal described by Mr. 
 Mills. 
 
 The guardians responded to the invitation of the 
 society, and the Local Government Board having 
 consented to an experimental arrangement, the 
 guardians were brought by the society into com- 
 munication with Mr. Hazell, with the result already 
 referred to by Mr. Mills in his paper. The men who 
 had been trained at Mr. Hazcll's farm had markedly 
 improved by their stay, and left England for Canada 
 with expressions of absolute confidence in their 
 power to achieve success. They were animated, too, 
 by brotherly feelings, the one who could read and 
 write undertaking to utilise the voyage out by teach- 
 ing his companion who could not do so. The con- 
 clusion which he (Mr. Vallance) had thus far reached 
 was that the hope of success of agricultural training 
 farms was not in the enlargement of such farms, and 
 the a<Tgregation of an increased number of men upon 
 them, but rather in the multiplication of small farms, 
 such as that of Mr. Hazell.
 
 RURAL UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENTS. Ill 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Social Reform in Relation to Agriculture. 
 
 proposal for rural university settlements. 
 
 By T. Locke WortJdngtoti. 
 
 All enlightened persons recognise the advantages 
 to the community resulting from the efforts of well- 
 to-do citizens to establish, and carry on in London, 
 institutions known as university settlements. Toyn- 
 bee Hall in the East End, the well-known Bermond- 
 sey Settlement, the Women's University Settlement 
 on the south side of the Thames, and University Hall 
 in the West Central district, form four ainongst other 
 such undertakings. They re[)resent the partial fulfil- 
 ment of an effort to break down class distinctions ; 
 the wish of middle-class men and women to live 
 amongst and hcl[) a poor working class population ; 
 the intention of the promoters being that such 
 middle-class persons should assist by sympathy and 
 instruction in rendering help to those less fortunate
 
 112 LABOUR UrON THE LAND. 
 
 than themselves. I have no intention of describing 
 these town settlements, so well known to most people, 
 but I wish most emphatically to point out, what I 
 can vouch for by personal experience, that the benefit 
 is as great, and perhaps more so, to a resident as to a 
 poor townsman. 
 
 Now, much energy and educational effort is wasted 
 in these town settlements owing to the need for all 
 concerned of fresh air and healthy, invigorating exer- 
 cise, accompanied by the cheerful surroundings of 
 pure country and unblighted nature. 
 
 We have forced to the front, by the irresistible 
 pressure of circumstances, the questions of our over- 
 populated towns and the depopulated country. 
 Much is being done to improve our towns, but no 
 Acts of Parliament, no local government bye-laws, no 
 scientific arrangements to improve the artificial life of 
 cities, will cure the evil of concentration of popula- 
 tion, but rather encourage the unfortunate move- 
 ment. 
 
 Again, on all sides we have evidence of the depres- 
 sion of agriculture, and the lack of capital investment 
 upon productive land. We wish to attract the large 
 capitalists to, and encourage the small labour-capilal- 
 ists upon, the starved land, and to do all that is pos- 
 sible to increase the food production from the soil of 
 this country.
 
 RURAL UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENTS. II 3 
 
 There arc a rapidly increasing body of educated 
 members of the middle classes, especially the rising 
 generation of young men, who desire for a time to 
 study this question on the spot, who wish to invest 
 energy, and often also independent means, upon the 
 productive open ground, for the benefit and profit of 
 ALL concerned. 
 
 Now, I have a conviction that our universities and 
 colleges might e.xert a considerable direct influence 
 upon the land troubles and agricultural questions of the 
 country. I would urge, therefore, that every English, 
 Scotch, Irish, and Welsh university should found each 
 at least one rural university settlement, and ulti- 
 mately that the majority of the colleges of the 
 Oxford and Cambridge Universities should have 
 their own farms with accommodation for temporary 
 residential students. The settlements, besides pro- 
 viding a healthy change for town middle-class men and 
 college students, who would be able to study the 
 agricultural and land questions with object lessons on 
 all sides of them, would stimulate the farmers and 
 labourers of the district to activity and enterprise. 
 The much abused middle-class man would learn from 
 the practical farmers and labourers, whilst he would 
 himself add to the intellectual and social interests of 
 the uneducated natives. In addition, I believe that 
 the settlements would encourage home trade with the
 
 114 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 towns, and bring much of the dormant capital of 
 cities to the open land. 
 
 The sites should be most carefully chosen, and the 
 college farms should, in no sense of the word, 6verlap 
 each other. Each establishment should be situated, 
 if possible, upon freehold land close to a village, and 
 sufficiently near a station to promote frequent pas- 
 senger and freight communication with the towns. 
 The arrangement of the buildings would vary accord- 
 ing to circumstances, but the expenditure need never 
 be great. A disused farmhouse, duly adapted and 
 fitted up, would, at any rate, to begin with, serve 
 every requirement. 
 
 The warden or secretary should be a salaried, prac- 
 tical, experienced farmer with firm organising power, 
 such a man, in fact, as would be competent to guide 
 and modify the theories of young university men to- 
 wards efficient action. 
 
 Technical lectures should be given in order that 
 the members oi fmir classes (please note) might learn, 
 viz. : the residents, the gentry, the farmers, and the 
 labourers. A select library and useful museum 
 should be instituted at each centre ; the advantages 
 of numerous agricultural libraries would be enormous, 
 pamphlets and text books being provided for lending 
 and circulation, whilst the larger treatises and models, 
 etc., would be held for reference.
 
 RURAL UNIVERSITV SKTTLEMENTS. II5 
 
 Resides workinjr for the full development of the 
 powers of the Parish Councils and Allotments Acts, 
 the residents should strive for securing such reforms 
 as the half time system for agricultural children, as are 
 operative in America and Switzerland, making the 
 period extend to fourteen or even fifteen years, and 
 the institution should see to the provision of evening 
 classes for the youth of all ages. Home industries, 
 such as are practised in Bohemia, would be en- 
 couraged, so as to materially increase the incomes 
 of small farmers and labourers. 
 
 Quite apart from the question of whether they are 
 employed or unemployed, it seems to me quite 
 natural that the abler labourers in rural districts 
 should seek after a more intellectual and fuller life, 
 which, at present, they find in our large towns. It 
 would be the aim of these institutions to organise and 
 improve the educational advantages of the towns in 
 the country districts, not forgetting, above all things, 
 the recreative needs. Our universities, colleges, and 
 schools form the basis of society, and are really the 
 most powerful agencies for guiding the tendencies of 
 the times, and they might do much towards reducing 
 the exodus of residents and workers from country to 
 town. 
 
 Lectures and special departments might be pro- 
 vided for by endowment, but much of the work would
 
 Il6 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 be voluntary. On the other hand, if once the free- 
 hold were acquired, and the premises adapted and 
 stocked, the undertaking would pay its way, the 
 maintenance being defrayed by the charges for board 
 and lodging. 
 
 Such settlements would require 7io excessive capital 
 expenditure, and in many cases vacant farms could be 
 purchased and adapted at a very slight initial cost. 
 I firmly believe that such rural university settlements 
 or college farms for middle-class men might prove a 
 very powerful medium towards the improvement of 
 agricultural life and trade. 
 
 THE WORK OF THE ENGLISH LAND COLONISATION 
 SOCIETY. 
 
 By J. C. Kemvorthy. 
 
 This paper is in no sense a formal and approved 
 report of the proceedings of our society, but rather 
 an independent statement of what the society has 
 done ; made, however, in such a form that the body 
 of our members will, I think, feel it to be accurate in 
 spirit and^fact.
 
 HOME COLONISATION. 11/ 
 
 The two problems of agricultural depression and 
 want of empluymcnt among labourers, which press 
 upon us at this moment with such profound intensity, 
 were hardly less pressing in August, 1S93, ^vhcn 
 the society was organised under its present constitu- 
 tion. Prior to that time, the society had represented 
 the considerable effort of a number of gentlemen, 
 some of whom arc still members with us, to organise 
 a " residential colony " in the neighbourhood of 
 London for middle and lower-middle people who 
 were anxious to escape from the conditions of city 
 life. The enormous and innumerable difficulties 
 which were found to surround that attempt caused, 
 not precisely the abandonment of the scheme, but a 
 modification and extension of the society's objects in 
 the direction of rousing a general movement for 
 assisting the restoration of thij people to the land. 
 
 In the reconstruction of the society which followed, 
 the moving spirits were the Rev. Dr. Paton of 
 Nottingham, who, for many years, has written and 
 laboured for a new creation of the English yeoman, 
 and Mr. Harold Moore, whose "Back to the Land" 
 had then recently attracted attention as offering a 
 possible way of escape from the many difficulties 
 surrounding our agriculture. It is but just to say, 
 that had it not been for the motive power imparled 
 by Dr. Paton, and the practical and expert know-
 
 1[8 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 ledge, and really large labours of Mr. Moore, the 
 work of the society would not have been done. 
 
 Mr. Joseph King, whose social work, evidenced, for 
 instance, in his connection with Mansfield House 
 University Settlement ; Mr. J. S. Trotter, who, for a 
 considerable period, gave his advisory aid at the 
 Hadleigh farm colony ; Mr. Herbert Samuel, Mr. 
 P. Anderson Graham (author of " The Rural Exo- 
 dus "), Mr. John A. Hobson (author of "Problems 
 of Poverty "), and other gentlemen, have from time 
 to time aided our councils. We have received 
 valuable information and help from many gentlemen 
 whose official and professional positions established 
 them as authorities. Also we have had valuable 
 communication with gentlemen engaged in the prac- 
 tical work of restoring labour to the land. It were 
 invidious to mention names; but the programme of 
 this conference, now in your hands, is a fairly full 
 record of the persons and matters with which the 
 society has dealt during its brief existence. 
 
 Our council speedily discovered that the 
 problem before us presented two distinct aspects, 
 namely, the provision of work on the land for the 
 unemployed, and the retention on the land of that 
 labour which was then, and is now increasingly, 
 being driven from the land. 
 
 Pursuing the first line of investigation, we were able,
 
 HOME COLONISATION. II9 
 
 with the assistance of Mr. Moore, to issue our 
 " Report upon Farm Labour Colonies and Farm 
 Settlements " in the autumn of last year. Herein 
 such matters of practical detail are dealt with as the 
 character and capacities of the unemployed as ascer- 
 tained by experience : methods of sorting out tlie 
 various grades of worth and skill ; the powers of 
 boards of guardians to acquire land and means for 
 utilising unemployed labour ; methods of establishing 
 and working test-farms and training-farms ; and 
 criticism of the various existing tramp and labour 
 colonies and farms. Owing to the necessarily 
 technical nature of this report, it has only made way 
 in the limited area of those who are practically in- 
 terested in this work of dealing with the unemployed. 
 We arc justified, however, in believing that it carried 
 some clear light on the matters treated of into 
 quarters where it may show the way to tangible 
 results in practice. 
 
 Following upon this, the council decided to deal 
 more fully with the poa-crs of guardians in finding 
 work for the unemployed. This resulted in the 
 publication, in November, 1893, of the "Suggestions 
 and Notes for Poor Law Guardians concerning the 
 Employment of Men upon the Land." Here, the 
 possibilities of action, and methods of procedure in 
 the founding of farm colonics under the Poor Law,
 
 I20 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 were fully and, I believe, reliably explained. This 
 was followed up by some lectures in London and the 
 provinces, by a large correspondence, and by a still 
 larger newspaper propaganda, the latter evidenced in 
 one volume of press cuttings. More or less tangible 
 results have evidenced themselves in various parts of 
 the country ; nor is the work thus begun likely to end 
 here, further action at an early date being con- 
 templated. 
 
 One result of this work alone would, I venture to 
 believe, justify the existence, labours, and expendi- 
 ture of the society. I refer to the sanction given by 
 the Local Government Board to the proposal that 
 boards of guardians should be enabled to board out 
 able-bodied paupers upon farm colonies where these 
 existed. This was the work of the society, and has 
 resulted in the despatch of men by the Camberwell, 
 Whitcchapel, and other unions, to the Hadleigh 
 colony, and to Mr. Walter Hazell's test-farm, the 
 guardians paying 5s. per week with each man. The 
 principle conceded is really a vast one, and pursued 
 as economic pressure alone must cause it to be, may 
 lead to a large national scheme of finding productive 
 work for the unemployed. 
 
 But for the other aspect of the problem. Mr. 
 Moore's book, " Back to the Land," undoubtedly 
 suggested a line of thought and action to which the
 
 HOME COLONISATION. 121 
 
 public mind was at least awakeninfr. After long dis- 
 cussion our council came to the conclusion that a 
 definite mode of procedure might be entered upon. 
 The motives and outlook of the council are well 
 represented in Dr. Paton's pamphlet, " Home Colon- 
 isation : the Need and the Opportunity of our Time," 
 
 Those few pages are a plea and a contention for re- 
 establishment of the small holder in our country. Dr. 
 Paton insists with supreme emphasis upon the small 
 " yeoman " cultivator as an essential factor in a healthy 
 society, and claims that his restoration is a moral need 
 and an economic possibility. 
 
 To the questionings and denials of the economic 
 possibility of restoring the small holder, the society 
 has seen its way to answer definitely, that the possi- 
 bility lies in the establishment of co-operative or 
 communal tenure rather than peasant proprietor- 
 ship, and in co-operative cultivation, where this brings 
 a clear gain. We have our examples, not less than 
 our theories, to support these propositions: both 
 theory and example we are endeavouring to present 
 to the public in the best available form. The society's 
 leaflets, " Management of a Hand-husbandry Farm," 
 " Farm Labour Colonies," and " Co-operative Farm 
 Colony of Small Holders," give various aspects of our 
 proposals. 
 
 An important, and too much neglectetl, fact, upon
 
 122 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 which we have found ourselves often obliged to insist, 
 is, that the present methods of cultiva'.ion, induced by 
 our system of land-holding, are wholly unsuited to 
 the scheme of small holdings, and will demand a thor- 
 ough and drastic reform. The subject of " Thorough 
 Cultivation," experimented in by Sir Arthur Cotton, 
 and advocated by Mr. William Sowerby and others, 
 therefore finds an important place in our programme. 
 In this endeavour to stimulate the creation of small 
 holdings, we find ourselves confronted by these 
 obvious and unescapable difficulties: — (i) Land is so 
 tied up by our existing land-laws of entail, and others, 
 that both landow^ner and purchasers, however willing 
 to sell and to buy, find it difficult, sometimes impos- 
 sible, to come together. (2) The land everywhere is, 
 as a rule, so much out of heart, so depicted of capital, 
 that large expenditure and time is needed to restore 
 the high productivity necessary for the small holder. 
 (3) Agricultural skill is at so low an ebb that only 
 here and there can a man be found competent to fulfil 
 tiie many labours of small cultivation. (4) The cost 
 of cottages and buildings, which often must be up to 
 a certain standard under the local bye-laws, is so 
 heavy that, with the present market prices for pro- 
 duce, it is only groups in favoured localities who can 
 hope to meet the payments under any system of rent- 
 purchase of their holdings.
 
 HOME COLONISATION. I23 
 
 This fact has driven, at least, some active members 
 of the society to the conclusion that any scheme of 
 creating small holdings can, under present conditions, 
 only be futile, unless it grapples with the problem of 
 finding a fair and free market for the produce of the 
 holdings. The effort to discover the way to such 
 markets has again pointed to the co-operative system. 
 Answering to the country groups of small holders, 
 some effort must be made to create city groups, 
 amongst whom co-operative supply stores may be 
 opened to dispose of the country produce. The 
 vista here opened is a vast one, and points to nothing 
 less than the possible beginning of an entire altera- 
 tion in our economic system, which, to judge from its 
 disastrous results, surely needs some such change. 
 Practical work in this direction is already afoot. Mr. 
 Richard Stapley is prepared to bring the colony of 
 small holders, now projected on his estate at Hore- 
 ham Road, Sussex, into relation with a co-operative 
 centre, now in course of formation at Croydon. The 
 experiment, difficult as it may seem, is at least inter- 
 esting. 
 
 Further, the problem of agricultural credit which 
 has furced itself upon so many minds could not 
 escape the purview of the society. Country banks 
 which suit the large farmer are often positively inimi- 
 cal to the small cultivator, who does not obtain from
 
 124 LABOUR UPON THE LAND. 
 
 them any of that credit which he often needs. This 
 question of banks for small holders, however, has been 
 relegated by the English Land Colonisation Society 
 to the i\gricultural Banks Association, lately founded 
 largely by initiative from our society. The import- 
 ance of creating institutions through which the small 
 cultivator can transact his cash and credit business 
 without risk of falling into the hands of usury, cannot 
 be over-estimated. But briefly, the recommenda- 
 tions of the Agricultural Banks Association amount 
 to this, that co-operation shall be practised in 
 banking, as in land holding and cultivation. 
 
 Again, the question of railway rates is of vital 
 importance. For instance, certain produce, I am 
 told, is brought from France to London through 
 Folkestone at 12s. 66. per ton; the same produce 
 from Folkestone itself is charged over 20s. per ton. 
 Three miles from a Devonshire village the expense of 
 transit of produce to London is found to be greater 
 than the expense of transit from the Western States 
 of America. Until such almost universal wrong and 
 folly is brought to an end by public control of the 
 railways, there is but little hope for our work on the 
 large scale. 
 
 Nevertheless, even now, there are many cases 
 where an estate might be acquired, divided into 
 holdings suitable to the needs of the locality,
 
 HOME COLONISATION. 125 
 
 furnished with cottages and buildings, and let on 
 rent-purchase terms to suitable persons forming a 
 co-operative group ; and this with good hope of 
 benefit to all parties. From an economist's point of 
 view, the rent-value of English soil has almost dis- 
 appeared, leaving the land with little more than 
 prairie value. Landowners, therefore, may welcome 
 a means of disposing of their depreciated property on 
 fair market terms, perhaps something better, and 
 substantial security for the payments. 
 
 On all these matters the public mind is, as far as 
 the labours of the society enable judgment to be 
 formed, exceedingly ill-acquainted with the real 
 nature and facts of the land and labour question ; 
 and beyond doubt there is an enormous present 
 sphere of usefulness for any body of men who can, 
 and will, undertake what ought to be the duties of 
 an English Land Colonisation Society. I trust that 
 our labours may yet be in evidence, not only in the 
 spoken and written word of our propaganda, but in 
 actual results of labour restored to the land ! 
 
 THE END.
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 THE CENTRAL COUNCIL OF HOME COLONIES AND 
 RURAL INDUSTRIES. 
 
 This Council, formally constituted in January, 1895, 
 is an outcome of the Conference held at Holborn 
 Town Hall, on October 25th, 1894. I^s object is to 
 supply a bond of union between the different 
 Societies and Individuals working in various ways 
 to assist the transference of unemployed individuals 
 from the towns to work in the rural districts, and to 
 stimulate the growth and consumption of products 
 derived from English land. With this object the 
 Council designs to publish information of interest to 
 those working at these reforms in a Quarterly Journal, 
 and to issue from time to time other publications. 
 It also assists new proposals by bringing into closer 
 communication those who may be specially interested 
 in any particular department of work, and in appoint- 
 ing Committees to administer funds for special 
 
 purposes. 
 
 127
 
 128 APPENDIX. 
 
 The following is a list of the names and addresses 
 of the various Societies which are at present repre- 
 sented on the Council : — 
 
 The Agricultural Banks Association (Palace Cham- 
 bers, Westminster), 
 
 The Allotments and Small Holdings Association 
 (Moor Street, Birmingham). 
 
 The Association for Improving the Condition of the 
 People (Glasgow). 
 
 The Christian Union for Social Service (i86 Alders- 
 gate Street, E.C.). 
 
 The English Land Colonisation Society (41 Bedford 
 Row, W.C). 
 
 The Home Colonisation Society (Kendal, Westmore- 
 land). 
 
 The Mansion House Unemployed Committee. 
 
 The Rural Industries Co-operative Society. 
 
 The President of the Council is Mr. R. A. Yerburgh, 
 M.P. The Honorary Secretary is Mr. T. Locke 
 Worthington, and the Offices of the Council are at 
 7 Carteret Street, Queen Anne's Gate, Westminster.
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 PROPOSAL FOR TRAINING FARM COLONIES AND 
 SMALL FARM SETTLEMENTS. 
 
 By Mr. Mather, M.P. 
 
 Mr. William Mather, the Member of Parliament 
 for the Gordon division of Lancashire, is one of the 
 members of the Select Committee appointed by Par- 
 liament in the spring of 1895 to consider the distress 
 arising from want of employment, and the possible 
 steps which might be taken to remedy or to prevent 
 the same. Mr. Mather has taken much interest in 
 questions dealing with the employment of labour upon 
 the land, and has prepared a scheme embodying 
 definite proposals for submission to this Committee. 
 Up to the time of going to press (April, 1S95) this 
 scheme had not been considered by the Committee, 
 who are still engaged upon preliminary evidence. 
 With the consent of the Committee, this scheme has 
 been communicated to the press, and as it embodies 
 proposals of so important a nature, and will give cause 
 to much discussion when submitted for examination 
 by the Committee, it has been deemed useful to append 
 a short summary of the scheme hereto. 
 
 129 I
 
 I ^O APPENDIX. 
 
 Mr. Mather in his preface points out that he not 
 only relied upon his own views, but has availed him- 
 self of the experience of others on the question dealt 
 with. He further points out the fact that the difficul- 
 ties of agriculture at the present time have not been 
 overlooked ; and in drawing up the suggestions which 
 he submits, the large capital necessary for land and 
 buildings, the necessity for the possession of skill as 
 well as some money for working purposes, the different 
 powers of work in various individuals, the varying 
 quality of land, the unoccupied time when labour on 
 the land is unprofitable, and the necessity of the 
 avoidance of competition with existing labour, have 
 all been carefully considered. 
 
 The proposals are divided into two distinct parts, 
 Part I. being devoted to the subject of the provision 
 of assistance to the temporarily unemployed working 
 classes who are without money or experience in 
 landed work, and Part II. to the assistance of those 
 who have experience in rural work. 
 
 The following is a brief summary of the proposals 
 contained in Part I., which is entitled " Farm Training 
 Colonies" : — 
 
 (i) That the State shall advance money for the 
 founding of farm training colonies as an investment, 
 the management to be placed by the Local Govern- 
 ment Board in the hands of County Councils. 
 
 (2) That such colonies shall consist partly of land 
 out of cultivation, and partly of land under tillage, to be
 
 APPENDIX. 131 
 
 worked mainly for arable dairying, but with such 
 other cropping as may give profitable employment 
 for manual labour ; the whole working to be under 
 well-trained skilled direction. 
 
 (3) That the number of men to be received upon 
 the colony shall be regulated by the area of land ; 
 and each man, in addition to doing all the work on 
 the land that is required, in exchange for his main- 
 tenance, shall have some auxiliary employment for 
 his own benefit. 
 
 (4) That Poor Law authorities be authorised to 
 accept applications for work on the colonies, from 
 men who are not in receipt of Poor Law relief ; such 
 applications to be made to specially organised de- 
 partments, distinct from those which deal with the 
 pauper classes. 
 
 (5) That should there be any deficiency in the 
 working of the colonics, each Poor Law authority 
 shall contribute towards the same in proportion to the 
 number of men nominated by it. 
 
 References are then made as to the results obtained 
 from the colonies in Germany, Belgium, Holland, 
 France, and Switzerland, as well as to the Hadleigh 
 Colony working in England. P>om the experience 
 gained from the working of these colonies, certain 
 conditions are recommended which must be observed 
 in order to obtain the best results. These conditions 
 are — (a) the colony for men unskilled in agricultural 
 work must consist mainly of land out of cultivation,
 
 132 APPENDIX. 
 
 but such land must be of a nature which is capable of 
 profitable cropping when brought under cultivation ; 
 {b) the colony must also contain a considerable pro- 
 portion of land in good cultivation ; {c) the system of 
 management should be to devote special attention to 
 the production of such crops as can only be profitably 
 dealt with when manual labour is largely available, 
 without, however, excluding the use of steam and 
 mechanical appliances ; and {d) auxiliary industries 
 must be introduced upon the colony, in order that the 
 time when work upon the land is impossible may be 
 profitably employed. 
 
 It is then suggested that, provided these conditions 
 be kept in view, every County Council can be author- 
 ised to acquire land and erect the necessary buildings, 
 and to receive thereon men of the unemployed work- 
 ing classes, nominated by Poor Law authorities. The 
 majority of these men should be married, but as there 
 would be but little accommodation for women, and 
 only a small proportion of women's work wanted 
 upon the colony, the wife of every man should receive 
 a remittance of not less than 4s. a week, this payment 
 being on account of the value of the industrial work 
 of the man in one of the auxiliary industries. 
 
 The advantages claimed for this system are that 
 the money earned would come largely out of the land 
 which the labour of the man had rendered more pro- 
 ductive, thus adding to the national wealth, without 
 detracting from the productive labour of any other 
 individual in the nation ; the man and his family
 
 APPENDIX. 133 
 
 would be sustained by the work of his own hand, 
 and no taint of pauperism could be attached 
 thereto. 
 
 It is pointed out that although such a colony be 
 under the control of a County Council, the liability 
 which would arise from his maintenance would be 
 undertaken by the Poor Law authorities, the latter 
 being responsible for the possible deficiency, if any, 
 in proportion to the number of men sent from their 
 union to the colony. It is further pointed out that 
 care must be taken that the saleable products of such 
 a farm do not compete with existing home products ; 
 but must be those which are now met by foreign im- 
 portation, not because of the lower price of the 
 foreign product,but in consequence of the insufficiency 
 of home production. The crops which would comply 
 with this condition are then mentioned. Explan- 
 ations then follow as to the auxiliary industries which 
 must be introduced, all of these being of a character 
 which requires but little capital, and can be carried 
 on by intermittent labour ; while the productions 
 therefrom would have to be (a) such as are required 
 for use upon the colony, (d) such as are not now 
 made in this country, or (c) those for which the 
 demand here exceeds the existing supply. As it is 
 estimated that one-third of the time of each man 
 would usually not be necessary for work on the land, 
 but would be available for these auxiliary industries, 
 it is pointed out that during this time all work done 
 on the land, instead of being devoted to these indus-
 
 134 APPENDIX. 
 
 tries, should, as far as possible, be paid for at the 
 piecework rates current in the district. 
 
 The financial possibilities of farm training colonies 
 upon this system, the liabilities and prospects which 
 Poor Law authorities would have in connection with 
 them, and the means the State would have for secur- 
 ing and obtaining a return of the money invested, are 
 then shown by an example. From this it appears 
 that the cost of such a colony to accommodate 200 
 persons may be estimated at about ^30,000, this 
 amount being made up by the purchase of a cultivated 
 farm of 600 acres, a similar area of uncultivated land, 
 capital expenditure upon the last named, the build- 
 ings necessary for the colony, furniture and fittings, 
 and the working capital for farm and industries. It 
 is estimated that the returns from such a farm might 
 be placed at ,^5,400, while the expenses, including 
 tithe, rates, wages of farm manager and skilled 
 labourers, steam cultivation, horse labour, seed, 
 manure, depreciation of implements, cost of admin- 
 istration, and the maintenance of 150 colonists, would 
 come to under ^^5000 per annum. Taking a minimum 
 yield from the farm, the returns are placed at ^4,500, 
 in which case it is admitted there might be a de- 
 ficiency of £T) for each of the men, or about is. 3d- 
 per head per week. 
 
 When the whole of the farm was highly cultivated, 
 it would no longer be suitable for a farm training 
 colony ; and it is then suggested that the State 
 should offer the property for the permanent settle-
 
 APPENDIX. 135 
 
 ment in small holdings for those to be assisted, as 
 mentioned in suggestions contained in Part II., 
 who, under the method there suggested, would pay to 
 the State a sum equivalent to the improved value of 
 the property. This improved value, by reason of the 
 labour of the unskilled men, is taken to be as an 
 equivalent to interest for the period during which the 
 property was used as a training colony. 
 
 In concluding Part I., it is pointed out that while 
 farm training colonies would offer no attraction as a 
 permanent means of livelihood to those who seek 
 their assistance, they would have great advantages 
 over existing systems of temporary relief, even if the 
 costs were higher and the results less than those 
 sugge.sted in the example. It is, lasth', stated that if 
 in the present year only one-fourth of the amount 
 voted by the State in aid of technical education were 
 given for the purpose of farm training colonies, six of 
 such colonies could be founded at once. 
 
 Part II., being suggestions for the assistance of 
 those who may be encouraged to seek a permanent 
 living from the land, is entitled, " Small Farm Settle- 
 ments." As previously mentioned, any property 
 used for a farm training colony, when fully under 
 cultivation, can be converted into a property for per- 
 manent settlement. It is suggested, however, that 
 without waiting for this time to arrive, every County 
 Council should invite applications from those within 
 their county who wish to obtain a permanent living 
 from the land. Farms should then be secured suitable
 
 136 APPENDIX. 
 
 for division among these applicants, and when the terms 
 for the land, and for its sub-division, had been ap- 
 proved of, the County Council should then recom- 
 mend a loan, to be made by the State to the trustees 
 of the property, of such an amount as was necessary 
 for laying it out and erecting the buildings. 
 
 On such a loan being sanctioned, the trustees would 
 acquire the land and erect the buildings ; and the 
 holdings would be allotted to the respective appli- 
 cants. In order to give adequate security, before 
 possession were given, every applicant would have to 
 undertake to do, within six months of entry, fencing 
 and certain other specified work. He might then 
 take possession either (a) on signing an ordinary 
 agreement of tenancy on terms agreed upon by the 
 trustees, or (d) on paying at least one-tenth of the 
 cost of the buildings upon his holding, executing at 
 the same time a deed stating the amount remaining 
 due from him, and the annual charge upon it, calcu- 
 lated at 4 per cent, interest ; or (c) on agreeing to 
 pay annually 6 per cent, interest on the total cost for 
 a term of 25 years, which at the end of that term 
 would discharge his liability in respect of the build- 
 ings. 
 
 It is suggested that wherever possible the land 
 should be secured on a perpetual lease, because this 
 system would secure to the owner an annual rent on 
 so certain a tenure that it would be saleable without 
 difficulty at short notice at any time, while it would 
 make a less total sum necessary to be advanced by
 
 APPENDIX. 137 
 
 the State than if the land were purchased, while the 
 occupier would obtain a permanent tenure without 
 any obligation to pay the capital value of the land. 
 If, however, the land had to be purchased by the 
 State, then the money would have to be repaid by an 
 annual charge of 4^ per cent, repaying principal and 
 interest in under 50 years. 
 
 An example is given of this suggested system. A 
 suitable farm of 500 acres, it is stated, might be 
 offered on a perpetual lease at ^^300 per annum. 
 The trustees might apportion this rent at an average 
 of 15s. per acre, thus securing a profit rental in order 
 to provide management charges. An occupier, re- 
 quiring eight acres of average land with house and 
 buildings, costing ^^140, would then obtain entry on 
 agreeing to do certain work upon the holding, and 
 undertaking either (a) to pay a rent of ^12 per annum 
 for the house and land ; or (d) to make a payment of 
 ;^I5, and sign a mortgage deed for ^^125 at an annual 
 interest of ;^5, with a perpetual rentof ;^6 per annum 
 for the eight acres of land ; or (r) to agree to pay the 
 sum of iJ'Q per annum for a term of 25 years, with a 
 perpetual rent of £6 for the land. If the land had 
 been purchased, then the annual payment would be 
 £2 to £^ in excess of this amount, but would cease at 
 the end of the agreed term. 
 
 It is then proposed that the State should also ad- 
 vance to the trustees a sufficient sum to erect central 
 buildings, comprising dairy factory, bacon-curing 
 sheds, fruit and vegetable room, mill, seed stores, and
 
 138 APPENDIX. 
 
 bakery, the total amount to be so expended not ex- 
 ceeding ;^ 1,500 for each settlement, and to be repaid 
 to the State by an annual payment of S2 P^^ cent, 
 which would provide for interest and principal at the 
 end of a term of 25 years. The charge made for the 
 use of the buildings to be such amount as would meet 
 this annual payment. 
 
 It is then pointed out that if the system of loan for 
 the erection of buildings for this class of small occu- 
 piers were sanctioned, landowners themselves, with- 
 out assistance from County Councils, would be willing 
 to form such settlements, and give their personal aid 
 and direction to their formation. It is recommended 
 that in the case of owners erecting these buildings, 
 loans should be granted to them, either permanently 
 at 3 per cent, interest, if not more than two-thirds the 
 cost of erection were required ; or if the loan were 
 made repayable by annual instalments, to cover prin- 
 cipal and interest over a term not exceeding 30 years, 
 then the entire cost of such buildings might be lent. 
 
 Three questions are then carefully considered. 
 Firstly, as to whether there is a large number of 
 men who would be willing to form these settlements ; 
 secondly, whether the land of England will sustain a 
 largely increased number ; and thirdly, whether there 
 is reasonable ground for expecting that those on these 
 small farm settlements would be able to make a living 
 for themselves and their families. Many facts and 
 figures are stated as bearing upon these points, the 
 conclusions being that, if it be borne in mind that the
 
 APPENDIX. 139 
 
 production be principally for home consumption, and 
 only partially for competitive sale, that the area be 
 limited to six acres of arable land for any ordinary 
 family, and that adequate capital be provided, then 
 there will be large numbers in this way enabled to be 
 kept in country districts. 
 
 It is, however, pointed out that many will require 
 more capital than they have now at command. In 
 order to provide this, it is suggested that the State 
 may provide a sum to be lent to the trustees of each 
 settlement, on condition that a bank be formed on 
 the principles of Herr Raiffeisen, to be lent to the 
 working tenants under most stringent conditions, in 
 order to ensure absolute security. 
 
 Even with the assistance named in the last para- 
 graph, there would be many coming from a farm 
 training colony, and desirous to secure a perman- 
 ent living from the land, who would not have any 
 capital. To any such man it is suggested a particular 
 portion of the land might be allotted, as to a tenant, 
 with the understanding that he should be supplied 
 with the seed, manure, and other articles required for 
 efficiently working the area appropriated to his use, 
 while the trustees would realise his produce, paying 
 him the sum obtained, less the cost of articles sup- 
 plied by them, and the cost of his maintenance in a 
 farm-house, where these men should be jointly 
 accommodated. By securing harvest wages from a 
 large farmer, or specially remunerative returns from 
 his industrial work, in addition to the profits from the
 
 I40 APPENDIX. 
 
 land held by him, such men might be enabled, in 
 the course of a short time, to obtain a holding with a 
 house upon it. 
 
 Lastly, it is claimed that such a system would be 
 of great utility in checking the flow from our rural 
 districts, and giving a means of maintenance to village 
 mechanics and others who are now gradually joining 
 our unemployed classes. 
 
 Printed by Cowan b' Co., Limited, Perth.
 
 ANNALS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BRITISH PEASANTRY. 
 
 By RUSSELL M. GARNIBR. B.A. 
 
 466 Pages, 8vOy JOs. 6d. (iSgj). 
 
 CHAPTER HEADINGS.— On^m of the Employer— Origin 
 of the Labourer — Mediaeval Local Government — Conflict- 
 ing Interests on the Waste— Origin of the Labour Laws — 
 Mediaeval Peasant Life — Theft of the Sick Funds — The 
 Rebellion of Kett — The State's Recognition of Poverty — 
 The Labourer at his Work and at his Play— The Scottish 
 Peasant Before and After the Time of the Union— The Cot- 
 tage as a Factory — The Cottage Larder — The Means of 
 Poor Relief — The Ways of Poor Relief — When Parishes 
 were Prisons — The Degradation of the Labourer — The 
 Pauper at the Tribunal of Public Opinion — The Final Blow 
 to British Beggary — The Parish as a Home — The En- 
 franchisement of Labour — The Social Elevation of the 
 Labourer — The Intellectual Elevation of the Labourer — The 
 Moral Elevation of the Labourer — The Golden Age of Labour 
 — The Apotheosis of Labour — Index of Authorities — General 
 
 Index. 
 
 " Mr. Gamier, author 0/ the exxelleiit history of ' The English 
 Landed Interest^ [2 vols., ^is.], has followed up these instructive 
 studies in our economical and social history by a not less instruc- 
 tive sto?y of the history of rural labour.^'' — TIMES. 
 
 "yi monument of wide research and patient labour. He coin- 
 bines in the happiest way historical and practical knowledge.'' — 
 Yorkshire Post. 
 
 " This portly tome bears ample evidence on every page to the 
 thoroughness which characterises all Mr. Garnier's work. It 
 may be cordially recommended alike on account of the vast amount 
 of ititeresting information it contains, as well as of the striking 
 impartiality and excellent literary style in which his facts are set 
 forth."— North British Agriculturist. 
 
 " // will be found to contain much that landowner, firmer, 
 and field labourer would all be the better for kno^cing and con- 
 sidering. Mr. Garnier writes after conscientious examination 
 of authorities, and he clothes the doctrines of political economy 
 in a language that is rcfreshifigly simple and clear." — Daily 
 Telegraph. 
 
 S WAN SONNENSCHEIN 6* CO., LONDON. 
 
 k
 
 HISTORY OP THE 
 
 ENGLISH LANDED INTEREST 
 
 By RUSSELL M. GARNIBR, B.A. 
 
 2 Vols., pp. 424, ^^84, 8vo, each los. 6d. (iSg2-gj). Vol. I. con- 
 tains a Glosscuy of IVonls and Lidexj Vol. II. an Index. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 VOL. I. : EARLY PERIOD. 
 
 "Mr. Gamier is fortunate in his subject. Mr. Kenelm Digliy has 
 dealt with its legii aspects ; the lale i'rofessor i\oger<, Mr. Seebohm, 
 Mr. Cuiininghmi, and a host of vvi iters liave uritien 01 it as economists; 
 and liie Lt raiuro ot ihe subject in all its many sides is pr. digious. It 
 was a li p|iy thought on tl e pait of Air. C>ariiier to Aicus some of the 
 scatteied rays of light. He writes, it is important to note, vviiii a living 
 knowledge ol the rural England of to-day. He has read much and 
 widely ; he has mastered most ot the authorities on the subject. The 
 book iTows in value and interest wlien lie touches the realities of rural 
 England, and especially when he endeavours to portray the work-a-day 
 of a manor or farm in various ages." — Times. 
 
 " Mr. Gamier modestly bases his qualification for the task on many 
 years of practical experience, coupled with much personal intercourse 
 with all tlie various mdustries connected with land and employed on 
 larger estates. In short, the author is a rare and precious combination 
 of practical experience together with scholarship. Well knowing the 
 difficulty of the task Mr. Gamier has undertaken, I venture to compli- 
 ment him on having 'set so stout a heart to so steep a brae.' . . . 
 With considerable success Mr. Garnier has achieved the difficult task of 
 clothing tlie dry bones of technical history with the flesh and blood of 
 vivid pictorial descriptions of rural and domestic XiIq." —Journal of the 
 Koyal Agrictilturcd Society. 
 
 " He aims at throwing light upon, and creating interest in, English 
 country customs and social features of several kinds. We do not think 
 that any one has before made a similar attempt on the same scale. His 
 book is one strongly to be recommended to every agricultural college 
 and every local authority dealing with agricultural education throughout 
 Great Britain." — Field. 
 
 " The growing imixjrtance of the land question, and the probability 
 that it will come up {ox discussion in even more acute phases in the near 
 future, give great value to Mr. Gamier's book," — North British 
 Economist. 
 
 " Could not fail to excite some special attention, and was well worth 
 the study. An excellent summary of the questions with which it was 
 professedly occupied, and was informed with a practical spirit often 
 wanting to such treatises." — Athenceiim. 
 
 '* This is a really brilliant book. Mr. Garnier discourses pleasantly 
 and profitably, and his readers will look forward to the volume in which 
 he proposes to carry his history of the landed interest down to the 
 present day." — Morning Post,
 
 VOL. II. : MODERN PERIOD. 
 
 "The author sketches with light hand, and in a luminous way, the 
 land system nnd the vicissitudes of atjricuiture in that period, and 
 collects a mass of varied infirmalion well worth reading. , . . He 
 has much to say which is not found elsewhere." — 'limes. 
 
 "No future historian will be able to ignore Mr. Garnier's work; 
 and the politician will s^ain not a little by hearint,' what the practical 
 agricuUuiist, who is also a student of the past, has to say on such 
 momentous points as the taxation of land, the relative advantaj^es of 
 large and small farming, and many other burning questions." — Economic 
 Revieiv. 
 
 " The work of Mr. Gamier improves as he approaches our own time. 
 We have the same happy combination of historical and practical know- 
 ledge of the subject without tlie drawback of having to deal, as in the 
 former volume, with matters on which scholars themselves are not yet 
 agreed. His remarks on the difficult cjurstion of the Poor Laws, and of 
 the experiments of the Legislature on them, are peculiarly valuable at 
 the present time, and, like the rest ol the book, are full of instruction 
 for politicians. Mr. Garnier can write picturesquely and well, and is 
 able to impart his knowledge in a pleasant and readable form. He has 
 produced an exceedingly useful, and, in some ways, a remarkable work." 
 — AthettcEuvi. 
 
 '* There was much room for a book of this nature. Though many of 
 the topics here dealt with have been often treated of by different writers 
 in various connections, yet the field as a whole has hardly been occu- 
 pied before, and our author has certainly many qualihcations for the 
 task he has set before himself. . . . There is much that is valuable 
 and interesting in this volume. Especially may be mentioned an ex- 
 cellent estimate of the character and writings of Arthur Young." — 
 Acadtfuy. 
 
 " In this masterly work the author compresses a vast amount of in- 
 formation respecting the history of the English landed interest. Every 
 page teems with information of the deepest interest to all who desire to 
 have an accurate historical knowledge of the greatest of all national 
 interests. The book is one that may be most cordially recommended, 
 not only to the landowner, land-agent, and farmer, but also to all who 
 can appreciate a production of superior literary merit." — North British 
 Agriculturist. 
 
 " The work which is one of gigantic research and pains. . . . Mr. 
 Garnier showed that he was master of his subject. What is more, he 
 handled the theme with distinguished literary ability. We have no 
 space to do justice to this brilliant book, to the practical experience 
 which it displays on every page, to its scholarship, to its descriptive 
 power, nor to its other attributes. This is a book to be pondered over 
 by all who arc interested in a topic which should be interesting to every 
 patriotic Englishman. It is crammed full of facts and information of all 
 kinds, with just and ingenious comments." — Bristol Jimes, 
 
 SWAN SONNENSCHEIN 6- CO., LONDON,
 
 m 
 
 ru 
 
 OROUGH CULTlHTIOt 
 
 \, 
 
 H /IDanual ot H)eep Xanb Culture. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM SOWERBY, F.G.S., 
 
 Laie Professor in the Royal Agricultural College, Circ7icester, etc. , etc. 
 
 Crown 8vo, Cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 
 The Work contains: — 
 
 (i.) An Exposition of the methods adopted by the Marquess 
 OF TWEEDDALE, showing greatly increased produce and 
 profitable results ; being selections from Yester Deep 
 Cultivation^ by the late Henry Stephens. 
 
 (2.) An account of the valuable experiments of General Sir 
 Arthur Cotton, K.C.S.I., and others. 
 
 (3.) A description of similar methods followed by Jethro 
 TuLL in the iSth, Walter Blyth in the 17th, and 
 Anthony Fitzgerald in the i6th centuries. 
 
 (4.) A description of Indian and Japanese Cultivation. 
 
 (5.) The opinions of LlEBIG, VOELCKER, ViLLE, ScHROTTKY, 
 and others. 
 
 SWAN SONNENSCHEIN &= CO., LONDON.
 
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 it may be accepted as complete." — British Weekly. 
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 " A most suggestive little book to anyone interested in the social question." — 
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 85. Modern Humanists. J- M. Robbetson. 
 
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 " Dr. Pizzamiglio has gathered together and grouped a wide array of facts and 
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 Felix llocguAiN. With a Preface by Professor Huxley. 
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 45. Poverty : Its Genesis and Exe-'us. J. G. Godabd_ 
 
 " lie states the problems witn great force and clearness."— if. B. Eeonomitt. 
 
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 " An interesting contribution to the disc\ission. "—Puft/i»A«r»' Circular. 
 
 47. The Dawn of RadicallBm, J. Bowles Daly, LL.D. 
 
 " Forms an admirable picture of an epoch more pregnant, perhaps, with poUtical. 
 instruction than any other in the world's \x\siory."— Daily TeU'jrarh. 
 
 48. The Destitute Alien in Great Britain. Arnold White ; Montaque Crackan- 
 
 TTioupE, Q.C. ; W. A. M'Arthub, M.P. ; W. H. Wilkins, Arc. 
 "Much valuable information concerning a burning question of the day."— rime*. 
 
 49. Illegitimacy and the Influence of Seasons on Conduct. 
 
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 60. Commercial Crises of the Nineteenth Century. H. M. Hyndman. 
 
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 62. The Fallacy of Saving. John M. Robertson. 
 
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 AA 000 994 253 3 
 
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 1491 
 
 G7H6
 
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