The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1890-10-31
MORE TO LET THAN IN VERMONT.
Farmers Wanted for Several Hundred
Farms In Lincolnshire, England.

Farmers Wanted for Several Hundred
Farms In Lincolnshire, England.
have recently had occasion to be
moving about in the agricultural dis
tricts of Lincolnshire, and | am in
Clined to think that nobody could do
that, with eyes and ears open, without
now and again stopping to ask him
self; what is going to be the end of
all this9"
"Just look round this neighbour
hood" said particularly well in
formed resident in the country. "Over
yonder, at such and such village, is
an unoccupied farm of 700 acres; over
yonder is another Of 600 acres, and a
little farther OFF is another of perhaps
200 acres, which has attached to it 400
or 500 acres elsewhere.
cat another village" mentioning
the name of it, "a farm of 400 or 500
acres lies vacant, another of 300 or
400, and another of 400 acres. All
these are on one estate. There is an
other estate lying away yonder in
mother direction which has unoccu-
pied farms of total extent of about
MOO acres and another of 600 acres"
and so the speaker proceeded with
list which apparently he could have
continued almost indefinitely.
Not, he was careful to have me
understand, that the land was going
out of cultivation, but that farmers
were giving it up, and the great land
owners were themselves cultivating it
under the management of bailiffs.
One very general effect of this is to
reduce the number of hands employed
upon the land, and, as rule, bailiffs
are harder taskmasters than farmers.
Moreover, as the number of employers
diminishes the independence of tho
laborers diminishes also.
A man has smaller choice of mas
tiers, and is more completely under the
thumb of any one who will give him
work. If under such circumstances
wages do not tend downward, it is
partly because they stand at a point at
which it is scarcely possible for men
to exist at all at lower rate, and
partly because Their is a continual de-
pletion of the country into the towns.
Throughout the county of Lincoln
wages, as rule, stand at twelve shill-
ings week. There are some excep-
tional cases in which they are less,
and there are other cases in which
they are trife more; but twelve
shillingsa week appears to be the usual
rate of pay nominally. The real pay
is something less, because whenever
the weather does not permit of their
working in the fields, and nothing can
be found to do indoors, two shillings
a day is stopped; and, of course, it
often happens that work is not to be
had in any weather.
II assure you, sir, said one dapper
little woman, with round, rosy face
and pair Of laughing gray eyes that
seemed to give the contradiction to all
her statements of trouble and anxiety,
IT assure you, sir, my ole man many
a week in the winter ha' made only
eight or ten shillings week, and it's
the winter time as you seems to want
it most"
You may hear any number of such
ditties in almost any village of Lin
colnshire, which, I suppose, is not con-
spicuously worse than any other agri-
cultural counties. All being we'll, how
ever, the people make Is or SO at the
harvest, and this may be taken to make
up losses at other times; so that twelve
shillings may be taken, perhaps, fairly
to represent the weekly wages of agri-
cultural laborers. House rent may,
perhaps, be reckoned at eighteen pence
a week, and we have ten and sixpence
for the keep of man and wife and
family in food, firing, clothing, school
ing, and rates. Cor. London News.