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Farm-Cottages.

and contiguous to his houfe ; and if at adiftance, or not inclofed, the difadvan-tage would be ftill greater.

The feventh fituation of the cottage labourer is that in which he has merely agarden adjoining his habitation. This his lordfhip confiders as the bell: thingthat can be done for labourers in arable countries; as lands cultivated in this wayafford a much greater quantity of food for man, than when managed in anyother manner. Befides, the greateft part of the work is done at fuch times asthe labourer and his family can conveniently fpare from their more particularemployments.

The laft, and by much the worft, fituation, is that in which the labourer hasno land whatever. Under this circumftance he cannot, his lordfhip thinks, befo comfortable to himfelf, or have the means of making his children acquaintedwith that kind of labour and knowledge which is efTentially neceffary for them.“ When a labourer is pofTeffed of cattle,” fays the able author of the paper wehave before mentioned," his children are taught early in life the neceffity of takingcare of them, and acquire fome knowledge of their treatment; and if he has agarden, they learn to dig and weed, and their time is employed in ufeful induftry,by which means they are more likely to acquire honefl and induftrious habits,than thofe who are bred up in the poverty and lazinefs w r e too often fee; for Ibelieve,’’ continues he, " it is a certain faft, that extreme poverty begets idle-nefs.”

Thefe interefling obfervations clearly fhew that on fuch grounds there can-not be any doubt of the advantages of farming labourers poffefling fmall portionsof land, or at lead gardens. It is a fyflem which tends not only to benefit them,but which, at the fame time, muft greatly contribute to the intereft of theowners of land, and the community in general. Such a plan cannot, indeed,from various local caufes, be generally introduced, but it may be rendered muchmore common and extenfive than it is at prefent, fince the narrow, confined,and illiberal notions, which have fo long retarded its execution, have now beenfully fhewn to be erroneous and ill founded. It is well obferved by the.nobleauthor we have fo frequently mentioned, that, “ in countries where it has neverbeen the cuftom for labourers to keep cows, it would be very difficult to intro-duce it; but where no gardens have been annexed to the cottages, it is fufficientto give the ground, and the labourer is fure to know what to do with it, andwill reap an immediate benefit from it.”

The advantages of gardens are alfo great, in refpect to the labourers themfelves,as the attention they require prevents them from vifiting the ale-houfes. The

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