Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

Photo: Cassell & Co., Ltd. PLOUGHING WITH OXEN IN SUSSEX. PREPARING THE LAND. THERE is a widening gulf of separation between the interests of Town and Country. The busy hives of workers in South Lancashire and Yorkshire, in the “black” districts of the Midlands, and the gigantic population of Greater London, are to a great extent out of sympathy with the sparsely populated rural districts. And yet in the earlier memories of thousands of artisans and labourers in the towns there must lurk reminiscences of the country and of rural pursuits. The perpetual drain of country-bred youths into the manufacturing centres must tend to preserve such asso- ciations alive, but, as the years roll on, the impressions become fainter, and rival interests become stronger. The lines of separation between Town and Country do not stop at the working classes, but extend upward through the various social layers, and find expression in comparative indiffer- ence for the yokels and clodhoppers who “ sow the seed and reap the harvest with enduring toil.” To many, the agricultural labourer is an object of something akin to pity. Until recently he had no political power, and even to-day he boasts of no union or trade organisation. His wages are low in com- parison with the earnings of artisans, or even labourers, in towns, and the ns. or 12s. a week which still represents the ordinary winter wage of a farm labourer in many districts is looked upon as scarcely sufficient to hold body and soul together. This does not, of course, represent total earnings, as these men take task-work or piece-work during the summer, and also have harvest wages. The ordinary farm labourer is like his counterpart in every other occupation. He requires as much skill, but is, after all, only a labourer, and takes his instructions from a superior man. If we are to obtain a view of the class who till our fields and attend to our livestock, we must consider the regular staff employed upon a large farm over and above what are classed as mere farm hands or labourers. The permanent staff upon such a farm would include the following leading men: Bailiff or foreman, shepherds, dairymen or stock men, head carters or ploughmen, labourers, boys. As to the first three classes—foremen, shepherds, and stock men—it is not necessary to enlarge upon their capabilities or duties. They are not engaged in the actual work of preparing the ground for crops, such work being performed by the carters, under the eye of the master or bailiff. In Scotland and the North of England each pair of horses is looked after and worked by a “hind” or ploughman. In Southern counties it is more usual to engage a head carter for each stable of six or eight horses, and to give him a considerable share of responsibility