e
clergyman of the parish has turned a portion of his glebe land into
allotments--a most excellent and noble example, which cannot be too
widely followed or too much extolled. He is thus enabled to benefit
almost every one of his poor parishioners, and yet without destroying
that sense of independence which is the great characteristic of a true
Englishman. He has issued a book of rules and conditions under which
these allotments are held, and he thus places a strong check upon
drunkenness and dissolute habits, indulgence in which is a sure way to
lose the portions of ground. There is scarcely an end to the benefits of
the allotment system. In villages there cannot be extensive gardens, and
the allotments supply their place. The extra produce above that which
supplies the table and pays the rent is easily disposed of in the next
town, and places many additional comforts in the labourer's reach. The
refuse goes to help support and fatten the labourer's pig, which brings
him in profit enough to pay the rent of his cottage, and the pig, in
turn, manures the allotment. Some towns have large common lands, held
under certain conditions; such are Malmesbury, with 500 acres, and
Tetbury (the common land of which extends two miles), both these being
arable, &c. These are not exactly in the use of labourers, but they are
in the hands of a class to which the labourer often rises. Many
labourers have fruit-trees in their gardens, which, in some seasons,
prove very profitable. In the present year, to my knowledge, a labourer
sold L4 worth of apples; and another made L3, 10s. off the produce of
one pear-tree, pears being scarce.

To come at last to the difficult question of wages. In Wiltshire there
has been no extended strike, and very few meetings upon the subject, for
the simple reason that the agitators can gain no hold upon a county
where, as a mass, the labourers are well paid. The common day-labourer
receives 10s., 11s., and 12s. a week, according to the state of supply
and demand for labour in various districts; and, if he milks, 1s. more,
making 13s. a week, now common wages. These figures are rather below the
mark; I could give instances of much higher pay. To give a good idea of
the wages paid I will take the case of a hill farmer (arable,
Marlborough Downs), who paid this last summer during harvest 18s. per
week per man. His reapers often earned 10s. a day--enough to pay their
year's rent in a week. These men lived in cott