markable what effect the possession of a cow-gate has upon a labourer; he seems quite a different person; he does his work much better, in an honest, cheerful way, as if conscious that he was not forgotten by those who employed him."
B.—On Lord Harrowby's property the same system obtains. It was the opinion of one well qualified to judge of the results of this when speaking of the present movement, that "the concession of cow land was the solution of the whole question of the agricultural labourer."
C.—In a certain district in an eastern county (as also in many parts of Yorkshire), most of the labourers keep a cow with the approval and to the advantage of the farmers. One eye-witness says of the men: "Although they get higher wages, they work far harder, and are cheaper workmen than those in the south, where I came from twenty years ago. We have no pauperism or 'poor people.' About two-thirds of the labourers keep cows. The cow club, of which I send you a copy of the rules, is managed by themselves, and prevents their being ruined by the occasional loss of a cow, which was of frequent occurrence during the time of the cattle plague. I wish I could see the same state of things in the south." Another eye-witness says: "The consequence (namely of keeping a cow) is the splendid fellows, fine intelligent men there are about here, and the farmers consider them the cheapest sort."
D.—In Scotland, on the estate of Mr. Hope Johnson in Dumfrieshire, the system of letting some of the most thrifty labourers have land to keep a cow is thus described in the Report of the Highland and Agricultural Society:—
"What we value chiefly in the system is its marked effect in producing and perpetuating an orderly, respectable and well-conditioned peasantry. The problem which is generally looked upon as difficult of solution, is here solved with eminent
