Evening journal., 1899-01-14
THROUGH RURAL ENGLAND.
--Thorns 10 Interfere with
Panchers' work.

ronchcra' work.
During harvest English agricultural
laborers are at work in the fields untn
darkness comes. The last load IS often
carried by moonlight. For both farm
ers and laborers the harvest time IS a
good time For the laborers IL means
any amount Of overtime M overtime
prices, and from June 10 September
hundreds Of thousands Of English la
borers nearly double their wages and
put together the savings which are 70
carry them and their families with
comfort through the winter when the
working days are short and wages not
as high as when farm labor is,in great
demand.
Journeying through rural England
just when the crops are being carried
one cannot fail to notice two features
about English fields that are missing in
American fields. Que OF these is the
extent TO which English fields are cut
up by public footp0ths. The other is
the studding OF the fields which have
| been cleared Of hay with stff thorn
bushes cut from the hedges. The foot
paths date back to centuries when
farming land was not so valuable nor
so closely cultivated as ii is to-day.
Farmers do not like these footpaths.
Nor do landlords like them either. For
field with q fOotpath across Il com
mands less rent than one that Is COM
pletely inclosed. But in England once a
footpath always fooipath Even the
railways have to accept this usage as
anyone can see by The frequency o.
foot bridges across the lines In rural
England. As regards The studding Of
newly mown fields with stin thorns.
that, too. for American readers has an
explanation which is not without In
terest. II is done only in game coun-
tries and the object of the thorrs set
up with great frequency in the fields
is TO prevent poachers from dragging
them at night with nets. Wherever
This studding Of the fields with hav-
thorn stakes occurs il is proof that
game preserving is carried on in the
neighborhood. and that the game keep.
ers expect trouble from their inveteraic
enemies, the poachers.
As one nears the larger towns, espe-
cially the towns which are great rail.
way centers, it is is easy TO see how fond
the English town worl:mer OF the mid
lands is of bit of land. and how in the
twilight OF the summer evening n,
busies himself with bis allotment II,
is usually at work in his allotment bl
half-past six After leaving work h,
E allows himself about an hour TO ge
r home, take supper and smoke pipe
, and then off he goes to his gardeI
patch. Oftentimes his wife and children
go with him, and there they stay. al
more or less at work, until darknes
drives them home. The work Is no
;. especially hard. 1t is done in a leisure
l. ly way. varied with a little gossip Wit
the proprietors of neighboriug patches
+ and where field Of 10 or 90 acres is III
, vided into these garden lots the seen
on summer evening is about as pleas
ing as any scene which presents itsel
J. in a journey through the Midlands
j Il Is curious that these garden pate
q scenes are more common i'm the mi,
IL lands than in the north of Enclan'
Z, They are seldom seen on the outslSirt
Of the wooden and cotton factory town
of Yorkshire and Lancashire They il
- variably occur, however. in the neigl
n borhood Of a railway center in the mic
Al lands, where a great railway compan
IL has established its locomotive works {
G. its car factories 7 think this is due I
Q the fact that railway artisans an
worl1men are recruited mostly i'm III
" rural districts and trausplan,ed. as
q were, to the towns, while the factor
ia operatives of Yorkshire and Lancashii
N are townbred men. with no strong a
T. tachment 10 the land. The English 81
NJ cialists sometimes condemn the allo
NJ ment system. They argue that II a ma
adds TO his earnings by working in d
allotment in his spare time his emplo
e err win note his added prosperity az
q. soon offer him less wages But wha
ed ever there may be in this sociaistic a
of eument. the allotment system thrivl
,r in the outskirts of the large towns
=, the midlands, and il certainly adds
the picturesqueness and charm cf
r twilight journey across England
y. Observer.
~ aa,-,rfoves oF Iosfnfr Tcn,pcr