The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-01-21
Agricultural Labor in England,
TIE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN 1
FIELD WORK.


4aA EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN
FIELD WORK.
board of commissioners were lately ap.
pointed by the English Government to inquire
into and report upon the facts connected with
the employment of women and children in
neld labor in that kingdom. Their report
mas been presented, and from it we gather the
following facts.
Speaking Of Northumberland a, the report
Says:-
"Women are extensively employed through
out the whole year, and their labor is con-
sidered essential for the cultivation of the
land. The work of two women is usually
required for every seventy-fve acres of the
light land, and a larger proportion for that
which is heavier, or farmed on the four-course
instead of the fve-oourse system. Their
labor consists in the various operations of
cleaning the land, picking stones, wedding
ETC.; turnip hoeing, hay-malling and harvest
work, looting and shaving Chat is, eleaning)
uTnips barn work, with the threshing aud
Winnowing machines, filling dung CARTS turn
ing dung heaps, spreading dung and sowing
artificial manure; turnip-outting in the winter
ior sheep, etc., and occasionally driving carts
or narrowing; in some instances forting
(pitchipg) and loading hay or corn, though
when such is the case two women are put TO
the work of one man. The Northumbrian
women who do these kinds of labor are
physically q splendid race: their strength
Is such that they can vie with the men in
carrying sacks Of corn, aud there seems to be
no work ia the fields which Affects them in
juriously, however hard it may appear. The
universal opinion and feeling is that it con-
duces to health.
''The dress of these north-country women
is admirable adapted tor their work; being
made TO fit easily it does not cucumber them,
and being OF strong materials it deies all
weathers. Generally it consists of a pair of
stout boots, very short thick woollen petit
coat, warm stockings, a jacket, &C.; over all a
washing pinaiore with sleeves (called q Slip,
which preserves their dress from the dirt.
Their faces are protected by shade or ugly
Of divers colOrs.
"Children seldom, if ever, go to work in the
Glendale Union before eleven or twelve years
Of age, and then merely for summer work.
Their employment is hOeiug potatoes and
Germ, turnip-hOeing (two being put TO the
work of one woman), haymaking, assisting at
harvest by making bands, etc., wedding and
picking up stones, getting up potatoes, and
making straw ropes for matching. Both boys
and girls begin work at the same age, their
strength at that time being about equal.
Horses are never entrusted to the care of boys
before the age of fourteen; consequently, until
that time, it is only summer work for which
they are required, so that they are able to
continue their school attendance during the
winter. AS the farms are generally provided
with cottages for their oultivators, women and
children employed upon them have no great
distance to go to work. although in eXoep-
tional cases, where the work lies at the ex-
treme boundary of large farm, their walk
may be somewhat extended. The hours of
labor for women and children are nine and a
half hours in summer, viz, from siX.to six,
with two hours and a half for meals-that is,
two hours for dinner and a short break at 8
and at 4. In winter the hours are regulated
by the Light
OF Gloucestershire the report speaks as fol-
lows:-
'The physical social, and educational con-
dition of the laboring class appeared to be low.
\, Many cottages in the parishes of Newent, Lin
ton, and Taynton are simply unfit for human
habitation. There are large areas nearly des-
titute of schools, or only provided with inefi-
cient ones; and in the wild tract of country
round Mayhill there resides population, pro-
baby upwards of 1000 in number, wild and
almost savage in their habits, who seem to lie
entirely out of the pale of civilization"
Mr.. Frazer, one of the commissioners, finds
that children under ten years of age are largely
employed in irregular field labor; that this
labor, irregular though it be, is made an ex-
cuse for entire absence from school; that the
parents seem to have no idea of utilizing
Scraps of time for educational purposes; and
that their apathy, as we'll as their poverty,
stands in the way OF the success of the
teacher.