It was by “going to the parish” that the labourer could bring home to the landlord the idea that the spirit of ambition and self-reliance fostered by the possession of two acres and a common right was of value to the nation. The national emergency due to the famine prices of food during the French War, which produced the complete change in the spirit of the administration of the Poor Law associated with the “Speenhamland Act of Parliament,” also forced into public attention the desirability of both providing agricultural labourers with some other supplement to their wages, and of encouraging them to avoid pauperism. We accordingly find the Board of Agriculture offering for 1800 three gold medals:—
“To the person who shall build on his estate the most cottages for labouring families, and assign to each a proper portion of land, for the support of not less than a cow, a hog, and a sufficient garden—the Gold Medal.”
“To the person who shall produce the most satisfactory account of the best means of supporting cows on poor land in a method applicable to cottagers—the Gold Medal,” (doubts having been raised with regard to the practicability of cottagers keeping cows except on rich soil).
“The Board having received information that the labouring poor of Rutland and Lincolnshire, having land for one or two cows, and a sufficiency of potatoes, have not applied, in the present scarcity, for any poor law relief; and it appearing to be a great national object to spread so beneficial a system, the Board will give to the person who shall explain, in the most satisfactory manner, the best means for rendering this practice as general through the kingdom as circumstances will admit—the Gold Medal.” (“Communications,” Vol. II.)
Each of these medals was again offered in subsequent years.
The question appears to have been first brought before the Board of Agriculture by the Earl of Winchilsea, in a conversation at the Farmers’ Club with Sir John Sinclair, President of the Board, in 1795. At Sir John Sinclair’s request, the Earl of Winchilsea put his views in writing, and they were submitted to the Board, in the form of a letter, dated Jan. 4th, 1796. This letter is a convincing statement in favour of the case for “three acres and a cow,” and deserves the attention of politicians of to-day.
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 20d. per week, or £4 6s. 8d. per ann. by each cow.”[75]
- [75] Milk being valued at 1d. 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:—