Beginning by stating that he has made further enquiries, since the conversation with Sir John Sinclair, into the practice of agricultural labourers keeping cows, he continues:--“I am more and more confirmed in the opinion I have long had, that nothing is so beneficial, both to them and to the landowners, as their having land to be occupied either for the keeping of cows, or as gardens, according to circumstances. By means of these advantages, the labourers and their families live better, and are consequently more fit to endure labour; and it makes them more contented, and gives them a sort of independence, which makes them set a higher value on their character.... When a labourer has obtained a cow, and land sufficient to maintain her, the first thing he has thought of has been how he could save money enough to buy another; ... there are from 70 to 80 labourers upon my estate in Rutland, who keep from 1 to 4 cows each.... I am informed that those who manage well clear about 20_d._ per week, or £4 6_s._ 8_d._ per ann. by each cow.”[75]
[75] Milk being valued at 1_d._ per quart; it seems clear also that what is consumed at home is not included in this calculation.
If the cow died, it was, he says, a great misfortune for the labourer, but he contrived to beg or borrow the money necessary to obtain another cow--“I scarcely ever knew a cow-gait given up for want of ability to obtain a cow, except in the case of old and infirm women.”
He classifies the situation of labourers, in order of felicity, as follows:--
(1) Those who have a sufficient quantity of grass enclosed land to enable them to keep one or more cows winter and summer, and a garden near their house; a grass field allotted to a certain number being as advantageous, or nearly so, as separate small enclosures.
(2) Those who have a summer pasture for their cow, and some arable land, on which they grow the winter provision. This is slightly less advantageous than (1), because tilling the arable land takes up more time.
(3) Those who have a right of common for the summer keep of the cow, and a meadow, or arable ground, or the share of a meadow in common, for the winter provision. If it were not that commons are usually over-stocked, this would be equivalent to (1) or (2).