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 A HISTORY OF HEREFORDSHIRE much higher price, and some of the poor heavy land does not fetch more than 1 5^- °'' ^. | Questions as to the present condition of the farm buildings have elicted such replies as fair, ' good,' ' very fair,' ' improved ' ; a state of things creditable to the landlords vi^ho have been public- spirited enough to keep up their estates in spite of fallen rents and increased taxation. Generally speaking farms are not much run down owing to the depression in agriculture, though there are deplorable exceptions, and some of the so-called pasture is merely ' tumbled down ' tillage. Nearly all the farms in the county are held on yearly agreements from Candlemas or 2 February, though some are taken from Ladyday and Christmas, and there are a few leases of seven and fourteen years. When Mr. Rider Haggard was in Herefordshire he was told on almost every side that labour was scarce and bad, 'all the young men who were worth anything went away, only the dregs remaining on the land.'" To-day the supply is generally sufficient, but the quality has undoubtedly deteriorated, yet the labourer is better paid, better fed, better clothed, and better housed than he has ever been before. He alone has improved his lot since bad times set in. His cottage in Herefordshire is often a good one, and let at ;^4 or ^^5 a year, his wages are, if he is a wagoner, shepherd, or stockman, from 1 41. to 1 8s. a week with a cottage, and sometimes a potato ground ; if he is an ordinary labourer 1 3^. to 1 5^. a week with a cottage, usually without, if he receives the higher figure. Then there are extras, a shepherd getting 3^. a head for lambs, and all who work in the harvest get ^Ti to 30J. harvest-money, and plenty of free cider. Women are not employed in farm work as much as formerly, yet their labour is frequently used, is. a. day being a common wage ; the itinerant labourer has almost disappeared. Allotments, except near towns, are rare, the labourer generally has a garden to his cottage and prefers it. The favourite sheep to-day in the county are the Shropshire, sometimes crossed with Radnors and sometimes with Oxfords. Beyond breeding horses for their own work, and perhaps a hackney or a hunter, farmers do little in the way of horse-breeding, and as the motor industry has begun to make itself felt, they will doubtless do less in the future. At present, however, the motor-car has not affected the price of good horses. With regard to the vexed question of small holdings there is no doubt that the tendency in Herefordshire, as in other parts of England, has been in the past for them to be amalgamated in the large farms. Yet there appears to be no other method of keeping the rural population on the land. When Mr. Rider Haggard visited the county about 1 901 he was told on every side that the county was being depopulated. The population of Lyonshall, for instance, had decreased by 105 in ten years, and there was a growing tendency to despise the business of working on the soil. Yet the small holding like the large will only succeed with the right man in the right place, as Mr. Duck- ham remarked in the early eighties ; there is no magic in a small number of acres. As a successful example of one, thirty acres occupied near Lyonshall may be taken. It was rented at 30^. an acre, and half was in tillage, which was however being laid down to grass. The tenant had begun as a farm labourer, and by hard work had saved enough to start on his own behalf, and he worked the little farm with the help of a boy only. He kept eight or ten head of cattle and 20 ewes, feeding out their lambs. He and his neighbour, who was another small holder, worked their farms more or less together, which they found cheaper than keeping two horses each. The result was that he was able to pay his rent and make his way, and others near him were doing the same. The Herefordshire County Council has not been behindhand in its efforts to help agricultural education. Lately short courses of instruction have been provided in agriculture, dairy work, and poultry management, and practical classes and demonstrations have considerably increased, the edu- cational results of which are more valuable than popular lectures. It is satisfactory to learn that there has been an increased growth of interest in the work of the department in consequence, one course for young farmers held in February 1906 was attended by 32 young men who received a continuous course of training for periods of five and ten weeks. Another excellent feature in the programme has been the holding of gardening classes at various elementary schools, in which the children have taken a keen interest. Among the practical instructions given have been some on cider-making, dealing with the selection and blending of the fruit, and with its pressing and crushing and the subsequent man- agement of the juice. Prizes have also been wisely given for proficiency in farm work and for the best cultivated cottage gardens. We will now give a brief account of the three products for which the county is famous : Cattle Hops, and Fruit. ' " Rural Engl, i, 304. 420