Connecticut western news., 1890-12-03
MORE TO LET THAN IN VERMONT.
Farmers Wanted for Several Hundred
 Farms in Lincolnshire, England.

MORE TO LET THAN IN VERMONT. Farmers Wanted for Several Hundred
 Farms in Lincolnshire, England.
 I have recently had occasion to be moving about in the agricultural dis tricts of Lincolnshire, and I 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 this2"
 "Just look round this neighbor- hood" said particularly we'll in- formed resident in the country. .Over wonder, at such and such village, is an unoccupied farm of 700 acres; over wonder is another of 600 acres, and 8 little farther off is another of perhaps 200 acres, which has attached to it 400 or 500 acres elsewhere.
 "At another village" mentioning the name of it, "a farm of 400 or 800 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 wonder in another direction which has unoccu- pied farms of total extent of about HOO 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 mo 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 bailiAA One very general effect of this is to reduce the number oi. hands employees upon the land, and, as rule, bailifh are harder taskmasters than farmers. Moreover, as the nuraber of employers diminishes the inde pendence of tho laborers diminishes also.
 A man has a smaller choice of mas ters, 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 @ point at which it is scarcely possible for men to exist at all at a lower rate, and partly because there is 8 continual dc 1 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 arc less, and there are other, cases in which they are trifle more; but twelve shillings 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 3 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 q round, rosy face and pair of laughing gray eyes that seemed to give the contradiction to all her statements of trouble and anxiety, 1T assure you, sir, my ole man many week in the winter ha' made on'y 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 well, how ever, the people make 95 or so at tho 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 . 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