AGRICULTURE quality of the work done is loud and deep. The modern agricultural labourer, it is declared, cannot compete with the old one in the better class of farm work, such as stacking, thatching, &c., and few take any pride in their work, though there are still a considerable nuniber of the older men who can lay a hedge and shear a sheep well. Their wages are fair; 135. to 15J. a week with extras in harvest time for ordinary labours, 15J. to i6s. with a cottage, garden and potato ground for carters and wagoners, with harvest extras, and about the same for shepherds with extras at shearing and lambing. Allotments have been in vogue since 1830, and nearly every village has its allotment field, the size of the plots varying from an eighth of an acre to two acres, usually rented at the rate of 30J. or 40;. an acre, the landlord paying the rates and keeping the fences in order ; in some cases indeed the supply is more than equal to the demand. Hardly any of the itinerant Irish labourers who used to be such familiar figures at harvest time are now seen in Rutland, for fewer crops and the increased use of machinery have largely obviated their employment. Women too are employed much less frequently in field work. With regard to live-stock the favourite cattle for grazing and dairying alike are Shorthorns, the Lincoln red being particularly popular ; Lincolns too are the favourite sheep, Lincoln ewes often being put to a Hampshire ram, and for pigs most farmers prefer the large and middle white Yorkshires, or ' Lincoln curlycoats,' with a few Berkshires here and there. In conclusion it may be said that the outlook for agriculture is not so gloomy as it was a few years ago ; prices of farm produce have risen in several cases, and with rents still reduced, the intelligent and industrious farmer ought to prosper. 249 32
