Page:Landholding in England.djvu/144

 "the bane of the labourer and his family. Now, suppose the poor man in a cottage with a little orchard, on or near a common, no vile alehouse near, and of these seven guineas I lay out five in buying him a little Welsh cow; one guinea in buying him a young open sow; the remainder of the seven guineas in two geese and a gander, a few hens and a cock; all of which, if the English had as much acuteness as the Irish and Scotch, would be supported on the common the whole Summer and great part of the Winter; the cow, God sending good luck, will produce a calf, which, if managed as by the excellent farmers and labourers in Kent, will suck the whole of the cow's milk only the last fortnight before it goes off to the butcher; when gone, butter will be made; the skimmed milk will more than half keep the family; the butter-milk will help to keep the sow; the poor woman will be able to raise six shillings to buy a bushel of malt, which, as was lately shown in the St fame's Chronicle, by some benevolent person, will make twenty-two gallons of beer for the poor man, without going to an alehouse; the grains will benefit the sow. Everyone that has lived in the country knows that geese always keep themselves through the whole year, except the hen-geese whilst sitting. I once knew a poor old widow, who, living in a single room up one pair of stairs, supported herself comfortably by keeping geese on an adjacent common, the amiable minister of the parish allowing her to coop the old goose in the churchyard about five days after the young ones were hatched, before they were turned out to provide for themselves on the common.

"The cottager, thus placed, thus assisted, will in a few years be able to rent 'a little bargain,' as it is called, of about 12s. or 15s. a-year; grow a little wheat, barley, etc., and by degrees rise to a small farm of £60 or £70 a-year. I myself knew two instances, where, beginning originally with only the sow and a few geese, and the man working (shameful to tell!) for only six shillings a-week, hay-time and harvest excepted, each rose to good farms ; one to a £60 farm,"