G073 riVil ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY New York State Colleges OF Agriculture and Home Economics AT Cornell University CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 1924 055 496 529 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924055496529 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES. REPORT OF SUE-COMMITTEE APPOINTE| CONSIDER THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMl^l' IN AGRICULTURE IN ENGLAND AND WALES. LONDON: BBINTBD AND PUBLISHEU Bt HIS MAJESTY'S 9TS.TI0NEBT OFFICE . To'ba'purehased through any fiooka^llei! or djreetxy irom H.itTSTATIONBBT OFFICE at the JoUowiBg aiJdreBses: iM^BElAIi HbuSB, KWGSWAY, LONDON, W.0.2, and a«,A"iaNapON StBBBT, LONDON, S.W.1;'. . S7j i>E*BB' SlKIW!,- MANOHKSIJIK ; L St. andebw's citESOEm', Cardiff ; - ^,F0S3:H STBEKt; BDINBUEOHi or frorfl. B; EQJISONBY, LTD., 116, GKAFION SXUEJJX, UUJMaK, 1919. Price U. 6d. Met., BOARD OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES. REPORT OF SUB-COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO CONSIDER THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE IN ENGLAND AND WALES. LONDON: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJ hJtil'Y'S Sl-ATlONKiiY OFFICE. To be purchased through any Bookseller or directly from HJSl BTATlONEEY OFFICK at the tollowing addresses: IMPERIAL House, KinoswaY, London, W.o.2, and 28, ABINGDON STEEBr, LONDON, S.W.I; 37 PETER STEEET, MANCHESTER; L ST. ANDREW'S CRESCENT, CARDIFF; 23, FORTH STREET, EDINBURGH ; or from E. PONSONBY, LTD., lltf, (iRAFTON STREET, DdbLIN, 1919. Price Is. M. Net. Par. 79. Field-work on dairy farms. 80. Cheesemaking. 81. Butter-making. (3) Small Holdings. 82. The part of women in manage- ment. 83. Part of women in the work. 84. General functions of women on small holdings. 85. Housecraft and conservation of perishable produce. 86. Prospects for women in small holdings. (4) Market GtARDENING. 87. Prospects of the industry. 88. War condifions for women. 89. Impoitance of women's labour. 90. Demand for women. 91. Wages. 92. Local not imported labour. (5) The Poultky Industry. 95. Work of women in the past. 96. Poultry production of farms. 97. Imports of poultry produce. 98. Scope for development. 99. Prospects of employment. Ch. VI. — Women in Eelation to Industries Connected with Agriculture. (1) Afforestation. 100. Suitable work for women 101. Nursery work. 102. Extent of demind for women. 103. Acreage. 104. Value of woman labour. (2) Flax Production. 105. General prospects. 106. Women and Irish flax. 107. Local women required. 108. Demand for women's labour. (3) Other Industries. 109. Beet sugar. 110. Jam making. 111. Fruit canning. 112. Fruit pulping. 113. Fruit bottling. 114. Pea-picking and packing. 115. Vegetable drying. Par. 116. Potato-flour and farina manufac- ture. 117. Bacon curing. 118. Milk drying. 119. General considerations. (4) EuRAL Industries. 120. Types of rural industries. 121. Croft innovations. 122. Industries providing seasonal workers. 123. Industries providing home em- ployment. 124. Control of part-time industries. 125. Application of power to village industries. 126. Osier growing and basket making. Oh. VII. — State Action and the Employment of Women. 127. General considerations. 128. Voluntary associations. 129. Women's Institutes. 130. Dependents of occupiers. 131. Farm servants. 132. Casual women workers. 133. Part-time milkers. 134. Full-time milkers and stock- women. 135. Skilled workers — dairymaids and cheesemakers. 136. Poultry women. Oh. VIII. — Summary of Conclusions AND Eecommendations. 137. Educational requirements. 138. Importation of women. 139. The supply of women workers. 140. The retention of women in rural areas. 141. Actions required. 142. Tabular statement of conclusions and recommendations. Appendices.- I. Eelation of size of farms and pro- portion of pasture land to employ- ment of farmers' female relatives. II. Women in farm woik. (Eesult of enquiry issued to farmers.) III. Female agricultural labourers, 1911. (Return issued to House of Commons, March 1915.) IV. Number of women working on market gardens, 1918. V. Eeturns of market gardeners, 1911. VI. Women's wages at various dates. JBOAUD OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES. REPORT OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE ON EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE IN ENGLAND AND "WALES. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. 1. Appointment and terms of reference. — In August 1916 the Reoonstruction Committee of that date appointed a Sub-Com.- mittee known as the Women's Employment Committee, which was continued as a Committee by Ur. Addison, M.P., when he became Minister of Reconstruction in 1917. This Committee was instructed to consider and advise, in the light of experience gained during the war, upon the opportunities for the employment of women, and the conditions of employment in various occupa- tions, including agriculture, after the war. The Committee which comprised several members acquainted with agricultural con- ditions, considered the oppoirtunities of employment, with their attendant conditions. The question of the employment of women in agriculture appeared to them toi differ fundamentally from that of the industrial workers in other trades under consideration, inasmuch as agriculture draws largely, not upon the general industrial pool of women's labour, but upon the part-time services of the wives and daughters of farmers, small holders and labourers resident in the locality. Such conditions appeared to require special investigation, and two conclusions were reached — (1) that the ground which the Women's Employment Conimittee desired toi cover with regard tO' agriculture had not been covered by any previous inquiry, or by their own inquiry; (2) that the Women's Employ- ment Committee, by its constitution, was not the most suitable body to conduct the inquiry. It was accordingly decided that the Committee should approach the Ministry of Reconstruction with a view to the appointment of a special Sub-Committee. This was done, and as a result this Sub-Committee was established by Section IV. of the Ministry of Reconstruction in November 1918. The terms of reference given to the Sub-Committee were as follows : — " To consider what economic part women can take in the development of agriculture having particular regard to the Report presented by the Agricultural Policy Sub-Committee and to recommend what steps should be taken to give prac- tical effect to such conclusions as may be drawn." 25698 A 3 The Sub-Committee was constituted as follows : — Mrs. Eoland Wilkins {Chairman). The Lady Guendolen Guinness. Miss M. M. Macqiieen. The Hon. B. Strutt. Mr,, C. S. Orwin. Mr. P. G. Dallinger. Mr. C. Bryner Jones. Mr. W. W. Berry; and Miss Gladys Pott {Secretary). The services of Miss Pott were lent to the Sub-Committee by the Women's Branch of the Board of Agriculture.* In March 1919, when most of the Committees of the Ministry of Reconstruction were ' transf ei-red to other Departments, this Sub-Committee was transferred to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. Miss Gladys Pott resigned the secretaryship in April 1919, and the services of Mr. Arthur Ashby, of the Inquiry Staff of the Agricultural Wages Board, were lent to the Sub-Committee by Sir Henry Eew. 2. Scope and methods of enquiry. — The Report of the Agri- cultural Policy Sub-Committee (over which Lord Selbome pre- sided) expresses the hope of that Committee " that numbers of " women who have been working on the land during the war " will wish to remain in agricultural occupations and to avail " themselves of the openings which will be presented to them " in the niany branches of farming, such as dairying in its " various forms, pig-breeding, and poultry keeping. "t The Employment Sub-Committee were of opinion that these branches of the agricultural industry were not the only ones which might be considered in connection with the employment of women. They have accordingly examined the subject in relation to the posi- tion and prospects of arable farming, dairy farming (including cheese-making), market gardening and fruit growing, afforesta- tion, osier growing and basket-making and flax production. They have alsoi considered it in relation to the position and prospects of such in-dustries allied to- agriculture as bacon curing, the manufacture of po-tato; flonr, of farina, of beetroot sugar, the making of jam, pulping of fruit, and drying of vegetables. Con- sideration has further been given to the connection of the employment of women in agriculture with some existing rural industries, and the development of others. In addition, a short study of the history of the employment of women in agriculture has been made. The Sub-Committee adopted several methods of enquiry. Circulars have been issued; memoranda have been prepared by authorities on various subjects and by the members and secre- taries of the Sub-Committee ; viva voce evidence has been taken ; personal enquiries have been made by the Chairman and Miss * During the existence of the Ministry of Eeconstruction in ihe period in which the Sub-Committee was pursuing its inquiries, Miss Pott was in the position of an official of that Ministry. t Cd. 9079, par. 176. Gladys Pott ; and much information was gathered by correspon- dence with persons financially interested in, or having knowledge of, particular phases of the industries considered by the Sub- Committee. The Sub-Committee issued a circular of enquiry on the experience of farmers in the employment of women during the period of the war. On general dairy farming Miss Pott inter- viewed a large number of authorities; Mr. James Mackintosh gave evidence before the Committee; and various published papers were consulted. Attention was given to cheese-making and milk-drying by consultation with educationists, factory owners, visits to factories, and correspondence. . Bacon-curing factories were visited and information elicited by means of correspondence. A memorandum on poultry-keeping in relation to women's work on the land was prepared by Mr,. P. G." Dallinger; and authorities on this subject consulted by Miss Pott. The subject of market gardening was closely studied by means of circulars and personal enquiries by Miss Pott. Memoranda on the employmient of women in market gardening were received from Mr. G. P. Berry (of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries') on the Home Counties, from Mr. R. G. Hatton (East Mailing Fruit Experiment Station) on Kent, and from Mr. L. M. Marshall and Mr. E,. Aldington on Worcestershire. Mr. G. P. Berry, Mr. L. M. Marshall, and Mr. W. W. Berry gave evidence before the Committee. The evidence of the last named related to conditions in Kent. Information from other districts was obtained by correspondence. Some industries related to market gardening and fruit growing, e.g., jam- making, fruit-drying and bottling, canning and pulping, vege- table drjdng, (dry) pea-picking and sorting, potato starch and farina manufacture were the subjects of enqiiiries by interviews, visits to factories, and correspondence. The prospects of beet- growing and the manufacture of beet-sugar also received atten- tion. Miss Pott visited the areas in which flax has been grown, and intervied growers, workers and some technical and admini- strative authorities. She alsO' visited areas in which forestry work has been done by women, saw the work, and consulted ad- ministrators and workers, and some authorities on forestry work. The position of women engaged on farms, whose duties are partly domestic and partly agricultural, was brought promi- nently before the Committee. Written and verbal evidence was received from Mrs. Abel Jones (Technical Inspector for Wales, Women's Branch of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries) on Wales, from Mrs. Stobart on Durham, from Mrs. Marshall (of the Ministry of Labour) on Cornwall, and from Miss Franklin (of the Women's Branch, Board of Agriculture and Fisheries). The Women's Branch of the Board of Agriculture supplied the Committee with reports of conferences on this subject which were held at Newcastle and Aberystwyth in the early part of this year. The relation of employment provided by some of the rural industries to the employment of women in agriculture was also considered by the Committee, and information was obtained by visits, memoranda, and correspondence. A special memoran- dum on Rural Industries in the Oxford district was supplied by 25698 A 4 8 Miss Woods, of the Institute for Research in Agricultural Economics, University of Oxford. The need of provision for training women in various phases of agricultural work (and for domestic work on farms) came before the Committee; and the position of Women's Institutes in relation to provisions for education and social life was con- sidered, Mrs. Harris, of the Federation of Women's Insti- tutes, prepared a memorandum and also gave evidtence on this subject. In connection with each subject of enquiry, care has been taken to consult any existing associations (or the secretaries of such) which are connected with the industry, or branch of the industry, for the purposes of education, propaganda, or protec- tion. Amongst sucli Societies are the Royal Agricultural Society, the National Tarmers' Union, the British Dairy Farmers' Association, the National Utility Poultry Society, the Agricultural Organisation Society and the Rural League. Represientatives of various Government Departments or branches of Departments dealing with subjects under considera- tion have been consulted ; and attention to various printed papers has been given by the Chairman and Secretaries. The Committfie h.ave toi record their gratitude to all those per- sons whoi have assisted them in their investigations. The Sub-Committee have met on fifteen occasions for the pur- pose of taking evidence, or cotasideriug the information obtained. They have now to submit the results of their enquiries and deliberations!. CHAPTER II. EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE .- HISTORICAL RETROSPECT. (By Aethtjr W. Ashby.) 3. Scarcity of materials. — There are few subjects in the social history of this country which lie more in obscurity than the everyday life of the agricultural workers. There are histories of agriculture, and histories dealing specifically with agricul- tural labour, but when they are consulted disappointments are incurred. Ideas of changes in organisation of work and life, "and stories of some economic and social movements are easily gathered from these histories; but a record of normal or static life is rarely to be found. The reasons for this are obvious. Historians frequently desire to explain the present conditions of things, and they do this by references to the changes^ of the past. Indeed one of the most popular historians of English agri- culture definitely states this to be his object. For their materials historians depend upon the chroniclers, who are often critics, of the different ages; and in each age the chronicler is inclined to be more concerned with the abnormal or the changing conditio]i than with the normal or common life. Even official recorders are more concerned with the excrescences of social life than with the smooth surfaces of things which move freely and with- out friction. This position is very much emphasized in the history of the female workers in agriculture, for in only one period is information on the conditions of their employment and life readily available. Between 1840^ and 1870 the conditions of female labour in agriculture weiu commanding public atten- tion, first through the inquiries of the Poor Law Commissioners, and later through a special Eoyal Commissiou. At other times the position of women in agriculture does not appear to have called for public attention directed to remedial ends; conse- quently information as to this position is scarce. Her© and there may be seen glimpses of their ordinary farm life, but nowhere, in any age, is there a clear and complete picture. In social history some of the most important things pass unobserved because they are not causing social trouble. Women in agi'i- culture had few grievances, and they bore their trials patiently, or settled their problems by their own inimitable, individual methods. 4. Women's labour and economic conditions. — There can be no doubt that the labour of women has been an important item in rural economy, in s.everal of the past centuries; but it appears that the importance of the field labour of women, both in the economy of the farm and in that of the labourers'' households, has been greatest when labour has been plentiful and cheap.* To the superficial observer this may appear to be paradoxical, but the reason for the fact is simple. Women have undertaken the harder drudgery of the field work of the farm only when wages of men were insufficient to support the household of the labourer. Slight exceptions to this rule may be found when other motives come into play, as in the case of the increase in the employment of women since 19.15, and during the period of Napoleonic wars ; but even here it is not clear that the stimulus to taking employment does not partly arise from insufficiency of wages at the beginning of a period of rapid rise in prices. The patriotic impulse has been markedly strong during the recent period. Also, allowance must be made for the fact that women like some types of work, e.g., harvesting before the advent of machines, and more recently the summer work in fruit planta- tions and hop gardens. But the degradation of the agricultural labourer, which occurred in the period immediately following the Napoleonic wars, was the cause of the greatest influx of women into agricultural employment which has ever occurred in this *An exception is to be found in the conditions prevailing in Northumberland and to some extent iu Durham, in the 18th and 19th centuries. There are, however, special reasons for this. Farm settlement occurred at a later period in Northumberland than in most other parts of England ; • and the type of farm settlement in the districts in which women on farms have been most numerous is one not generally found. in other parts of England. Feudal conditions remained in Northumberland until more recent times than in other parts of the country, and Scottish influences were powerful in some periods. The "bondage" system, which largely accounts for the number of women employed, is practically peculiar to Northumberland, and appears to have been the result of the late continuance of feudal conditions and of Scottish influences. 10 country. On the other hand, Thorold Rogers, defiiiitely states that in the period following the Great Plagne of the .14th century, when labour was scarce, and unprecedented, perhaps unrepeated, increases in wages were occurring, the laboiu' of women was more scarce than that of men. " The rise in wages after the plague " is strikingly illustrated in the price of women's labour. Before " the plague, women were employed in field work, as in reaping " straw after the corn was out, in hoeing, in jilanting beans, in " washing sheep, and sometimes in S€i"ving the thatcher and " tiler. Generally they are paid al the rate of a penny a day, " but sometimes less. After the plague, women's labour is rarely " recorded, but they are seldom paid less than twopence, some- '* times as much as threepence per day. The same facts are " observed in boys' labour, which becomes much dearer."* Thus at a time, between 1815 and 1850', when farm labour was more plentiful than at any other period of English history large numbers of women and children were employed ; but in the period of greatest scarcity of labour, the number of women em- ployed was diminishing. Much evidence to this effect could be produced, but the observations of the Hon. Edward Stanhope on the position in the Wolds of Lincolnshire in 1867 are worthy of quotation. t Speaking of the bad distribution of labour in the " close "t and " open " parishes, he says of a " close " parish : — " Work is plentiful and certain, the wages high, and the men " having this are not inclined to leave the place. Their wives " are too well off to work ; but in an ' open ' parish, with a surplus " population, where the men are always in an unsettled state, " living from hand to mouth, almrst all the women and girls " are employed. "t Woman labour on the farm naturally falls into two classes — the semi-domestic servant whose work includes household duties, as well as some in t]ie byres, yards and fields ; and the "outworker," " day worker," or " fieldworker," whose duties are purely agri- cultural. The system of employing women of the former typo, whose duties are semi-domestic and semi-agricultural, has been an institution in certain, of the more pastoral districts of England and in nearly the whole of Wales. The employment of labour of this type has been much more permanent and steady than that of the field worker. It is the woman field worker who has arisen on the social horizon and disappeared, who swelled the supply of farm labour at one time aud was practically unobtain- able at another. It is to this class that public attention has been directed, especially during the nineteenth century, and it is this class which creates the seeming paradox that woman labour is most plentiful when the general supply of labour is both adequate and cheap. * Six Centuries of Work and Wages. Ed. 1908, pp. 233-4. f First Report of the Commissioners on the Employment of Women and Children in Agriculture, 1868, p. 72. J A " close " pariah was one in which the real property was wholly or mainly owned by one person, and in which, consequently, it was easy to control the number of population; an "open" parish was one in which the real property was held by several, sometimes by many, persons, and into and out of which population moved freely. 11 5. A.D. 1350-1485. — Women have been employed in agricul- ture from the earliest days of the development of what has been called the " agricultural proletariat." The main class of women workers were the farm sei-vants and dairy-women, women as field workers appearing only at certain seasons of the year, and as regular workers in the fields only during periods when peculiar conditions prevailed. Indeed, one historian of English agricul- tural labour has stated that " previous to the development of the " large farm, women had seldom done day labour, except in har- " vest. There was, in fact, no class of women working by the " day. Maids were, of course, employed on both arable and " pasture farms, and women did all kinds of agricultural labour " on the family holding, as they almost always do where there are " small farms or freeholds."* While this is not strictly true, it serves to emphasize conditions which will be treated later; but women appeared as day workers on Eng*lish estates as early as the 13th century. Accounts may be found showing payments to field workers for such jobs as planting (dibbing) beans, gathering straw or stubble, weeding com (one account mentions weeding onions) and washing sheep. One account appears to indicate that on occasions they fed, washed and sheared sheep, t but this was exceptional. It is very clear from some of the statutes of the 14th century that women were employed on farms, both in indoor and outdoor work. The Statute of Labourers, 1388, fixed the same maximum yearly wages of %s. for a " swineherd, deyrie woman and woman labourer." It is nevertheless true that their most important work was done during the harvest time. Until harvest- ing machinery was invented in the 19th century the corn harvest was the most pressing time in rural work. All the forces were strained to get through the tasks, and in some periods the whole population had to join in the work. Under some manorial regula- tions housewifes and marriageable daughters were exempted from harvest labour. The more general practice, however, appears to have been to impress every person of the classes used to manual labour for the work of the harvest. The women tenants of hold- ings from which labour-services were due were certainly expected to play their part in the harvest, although not necessarily to under- take the same tasks as whto a husband or son was available. The first Statute of Labourers, passed after the Black Death, mentions women with men in the classes providing for compulsion to work. This statute also attaches particular importance to harvest work, for reapers and mowers are specially mentioned in the clauses pro- viding for imprisonment for leaving work without cause or license. A later Statute of Labourers, 1388, again provided that servants, artificers, and apprentices " shall be compelled to serve in harvest, to cut, gather, and bring in the com." In spite of the provisions of these statutes, however, woman labour, except during harvest time, appears to have been scarce. Payments to women for farm * Hasbach. History of the English Agricultural Labourer, p. 69. f Eogers. Agriculture and Prices, II., p. 580. 12 labour recorded by manorial officers are certainly less frequent at the end of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th centuries than for earlier periods. Not only was compulsion sometimes applied to field-workers, but also occasionally to servants. A Gloucestershire manorial instruction enjoins the steward to collect on certain days the entire grown up population of the manor and to select the necessary servants for the different callings.* But there seems no reason to doubt that on the whole a sufficient number of women were to be found for the duties of servant in farmhouse and dairy with some attendant duties in the byres. 6. A.D. 1485-1600.— Burmg the 15th and 16th centuries, few, if any, changes occurred in the employment of women , other than those changes in the conditions of employment and life which affected the whole of the social classes to which they belonged. We find them again at work in the harvest, and engaged asseivants on farms. Henry Best, describing his farm in Yorkshire, says: — '■ We kept constantly five plowes going and milked fourteen kine, " wherefore we had always fower men, two boys to go with the oxe-plowe, and two good lusty maid servants. "t On the eve of the dissolution of the monasteries theie were residing in 22 houses in Leicester, Warwick and Sussex 255 " hinds," and 76 " women servants," presumably employed on the demesne farms, which givesg an average to each farm of about 11 hinds and 3 women servants. On the other hand, the demesne farm of a Kentish nunnery on the Isle of Sheppey does not appear to have employed a woman. I The sizes of the farms, and consequently the number of people employed, varied to a considerable extent during the 15th and 16th centuries. In some areas small cultivations pre- vailed and few labourers, men or women, were employed. In other areas there were large farms. In his Description of England, Harrison complains of estates getting into few hands, sometimes under two or three large farmers ; but even where there were large farms or estates with records of labour, the number of persons regularly employed were so small that others must have been employed in the busy seasons. Fitzherbert, writing in the 16th century, appears to have been an advocate of the labour of women on the farm. He stated that it was not good economy for a woman to confine her efforts to the distaff only. Some of the women of his day measured the corn for grinding, tended the poultry, swine, and cows, tilled the garden, preserved its potherbs, and replenished the house floor with its strewing herbs, winnowed the com, made the malt, tossed the hay, filled the muckwain, drove the plough, marketed the poultry and dairy produce, and seem to have left little labour to the theoretical monopoly of the more muscular sex. But how far he was dealing with facts, and ];ow much he was influenced by his own ideas of economy,' it is • Gloucester Cartularies (Roll Series), III., pp. 213-4 f Surtees Society. Vol. XXXIII. i Oxford Studies in Social and Legal History, Vol. I. pp. 223-236. 13 difficult to judge. However, other evidence makes clear the fact that he was dealing with several classes of women engaged on farms. An assessment of wages made by the Rutlandshire Jus- tices in 1563 sets out the classes of women servants with, it appears, some characterisation of the social value in which they were held. " A chief woman servant being a cook, and can bake, " brew, make white bread and malt, and able to oversee other '■' servants may have for her wages by the year 20s., and for her " livery 6s. 8d. A second woman servant which cannot dress " meat, bake, brew, nor make malt of the best sort may have for "her wages by the year 18s., and for her livery ds. A mean " or simple woman servant which cannot do but outworks and '■ drudgery may have for her wages by the year 12.S., and for her " livery 4s." Indeed many, if not most, of the assessments of wages mention one or more classes of servants, and sometimes women workers in hay- or harvest-time, but rarely mention women field-workers. At the end of the 16th century it appears that here and there a woman was employed in field work during the whole of the year,* but for the most part they were employed weeding, haymaking, and harvesting. Attempts were still made to apply compulsion to work. Under some of the statutes dealing with apprentices, pauper children, both boys and girls, were set as " apprentices to husbandry." Other statutes, dealing with vagrancy, provided much more stringent conditions. In 1563 an Act (5 Eliz. c. 4) was passed to prevent destitution and medicancy. Under its provisions persons- not having 4:0s. per annum might be compelled to work. All such persons between 12 and 60 years of age, if not otherwise employed, might be " compelled to serve in husbandry, by the year, with '■ any person that keepeth husbandry, and will require any such '■ person to serve within the same shire." Unmarried women between the ages of 12 and 40 years might be " compelled to serve " by the year, week, or day, for such wages and in such reasonable " sort and manner as shall be deemed meet, under penalty of " commitment." With the exception of apprentices and servants, there is little evidence that compulsory powers given, to the justices and other local officials brought many women to agricultural employment, except, perhaps, during the busy summer seasons; but up to the end of the 16th century comparatively few village families, even those whose main income was obtained from employment, were entirely without interest in the land. Work for the wives and daughters of even the cottars and the smallest cultivators would be found with the crops and stock belonging to the family. In fact, a complaint was made even as late as the end of the 18 th century that the daughters of squatters in Shropshire were kept at home to milk a half-starved cow instead of going into farm service. It is probable that where small family holdings were numerous, the work on those holdings, the demand for women for * See Rogers. Agriculture and prices, Vol. VI., page 615. 14 the complex duties of farm servants, and the extra work in the lusy seasons of the summer provided all the employment required by the poorer women of the village. Moreover, the duties of women in even the poorer home included the practice of some of the domestic crafts now taken over by men and machines. 7. A.D. lGOO-1760.— The modern period of the history of English agriculture may be considered to begin about 1760. Changes in the economic organisation were occurring during the whole of the 17th and the first-half of the 18th centuries, but these changes were accelerated after 1760. Many of the foundations of the modern economic organisation of agriculture were laid or completed between 1760 and 1840. From the end of the 16th century until the beginning of the modern period there is b'ttlc information to be obtained on the position of women in the industry. On flie whole, the period was one of economic stability in the rural districts. There were years when food was scarce, and there were localities in which there was a surplus of labour at some periods. It was a period in which the administration of the laws relating to the poor affected the. labourer in nearly every phase of his life. The Settlement Act of 1662 was, per- haps, the most important of these laws. This Act limited the freedom of movement of labourers and was partly responsible for some variations in local conditions. The system of- placing children, both boys and girls, who became chargeable to the parish, as apprentices to hiisbandry, was also maintained.* ■ The farm servant system still continued, and also developed to some extfnt in the whole of the westeru and northern counties. On the larger farms which had been created the female servant appears to have approached the purely domestic type, but on the smaller farms some agricultural duties were undertaken by the farm servant. AVomen field workers were still employed weed- ing corn, haymaking and harvesting. Women servants were mentioned in all the assessments of wages during the period, and sometimes maximum rates of wages were fixed for dairywomen. The rates for women working by the day were usually confined to the time of haymaking and harvest. An assessment made by the Essex .Justices in 1661 mentions only women day workers, viz., women haymakers, weeders of corn and women reapers, while an assessment made by the Bury Si. Edmund -Justices in 1682, mentions only "dairymaids" or "cooks," amongst women workers. Several" assessments of wages made by the Quarter Sessions for the county of Warwick during this period deal with the wages of women. In 1657 maximum rates were fixed for maid-servants, and for women casual workers. " The best maid- servant not to exceed 11. 10-s. by the year. Except she make mault, and then not to exceed 21." ..." Maids and women "working in harvest for reaping not to exceed 8d. bv the dav. * See Hasbach. History of the English Agricultural Labourer, p. 83 ; and for definite instances, Oxford Studies in Social and Legal History Vol III No. 6, pp. 136-140. J. ■ •, 15 " For liaymaking and other work at other times not to exceed " -id. by the day." In 1672 wages were fixed for two categories of workers. Amongst rates fixed " by the ye?r " are " those for "a woman servant able to manage a household," a "second "woman servant," "a dairymaid or washmaid " ; and amongst labourers hired "by the day" are a "woman haymaker," " weeders of corn," " a raker in com harvest," and a " woman "reaper." Exactly the same clasises of women appear in an assessment made in 1730', but in 1738 the rate for " dairymaid or " washmaid " was omitted.* It also' appears from accounts of a Warwickshire parish that women were .so'metimes engaged, as in the middle ages, serving the thatoher.t Such information as is available tends to show that the position of the employees on farms were improving in some respects; and it is certain that wages were rising fairly rapidly during some parts of the period. In many, if not most districts, the cottage holdings of the labourers remained, and the women still had their cottage indus- tries. A picture of conditions in the Wye valley of Hereford, which may be somewhat highly coloured, was given by a Here- fordshire squire in 1610. He tells us " that stretching for a mile " and half on either side of his house are five hundred poor " cottagers who' are entirely engaged in spinning flax, hemp and " hurds " ; that when the harvest was over he counted 300 persons gleaning in one field. The female farm servants were recruited amongst the daughters of the cottage holders. The wives and children of the cottagers also worked at times upon the farms, but their employment was slight except in harvest. Their time was generally fully occupied in looking after their own small areas of crops and small numbers of livestock, and in the pursuit of small industries at home. 8. A.D. 1760— 1840.— Between 1760 and 1840 there was a ■ definite change in the organisation of English agriculture. The enclosure of common fields, and sometimes of wastes, had been going on spasmodically, and in local areas, for several centuries. Here and there the number of small cultivators had been reduced or they had disappeared altogether. In some places reverse move- ments had occurred, and the position of the small cultivator had been strengthened at various times; but during the years under consideration the consolidation of estates and farms was more extensively and rapidly piirsued than in any previous period. From one cause and another the small cultivator became more and more of a landless labourer, and his womenfolk were bo'und to seek such employment as was available. But it is now necessary to distinguish clearly between the pastoral counties of the north, north-west^ west and south-west of England, and of Wales, and the more arable co'unties of the north-east, east, and south-east of England, and the cattle-feeding * See Oxford Studies in Social and Legal History, Vol. Ill,, No. 6, pp. 170- 175. (Ashby. A Century of Poor Law Administration in a "Warwickshire village.) ■f Ibid., p. 176. 16 counties of the Midlands. In the pastoral districts the farms still remained comparatively small in size, and the labour of the family was more nearly sufficient for the cultivation and atten- dance on livestock. Here the servant system of employment, both for men and women, but more particularly the latter, strengthened its hold. In the counties in which arable cultiva- tion was extending and the size of farms was increasing, tlu; system of day labour was rapidly developed. It was in these counties that the casual employment of women eventually reached its greatest importance; but in the districts near London, in which a comparatively highly developed commercial agriculture was growing, casual labo'ur at other times than harvest first became an important item in economy of the farm. The Settlement Act was still in force during the whole of this period, and was yet partly responsible for some variations in the oupply of labour. In some parishes, particularly after 1790, there was a great surplus of labour, while in others a smaller surplus existed, and in a few the supply was not greater than the demand. Men and women, especially men, were able to travel to work of a casual nature if they held licences granted by local parish officers; but in some parts of the period the liberty ot seeking employment was severely restricted. The women may have been chiefly affected as servants, domestic or agricultural. For instance, the overseers of Leamington issued a circular advis- ing householders to keep down the number of servants, and to engage them for 51 weeks only, so that a legal settlement could not be obtained. There was also a tax on domestic servants during somp part of the period. The women of many districts still maintained their bye- industries until at least the end of the 18th century. The records of a Warwickshire parish show clearly that spinning was quite a common occupation of women, and weaving seems also to have been practised.* It is known that spinning was carried on in homes of farm workers in Gloucestershire, Devonshire, Westmor- land, Cumberland and Wales, and also in some of the eastern counties. Indeed, it was stated that the general employment of the female part of a labourer's family in most parts of Cumber- land was spinning, when they were not otherwise engaged on female duties, t But the earnings of home spinners were fre- quently small, e.g., id. a day of 10 or 11 hours' work, or 2s. Qd. to 3s. Qd. a week. Housewives sometimes earned only 1.?. per week.t The peasant holders were working their holdings with family labour; the farmers of medium sized farms with servants, male or female, and of ten "both, with day labour in the harvest period. The large farmers employed both servants and constant day labo'urers, with extra casual labour in harvest. On the larger * Oxford Studies in Social and Legal History, Vol. III., No. 6, pp 150-151 t Eden. State of the Poor. II., p. 84. X Kdon. State of tha Poor. II., pp. 84, 139, 796. Yoong. Annals XXVI pp. 7, 17. 17 farms there was a tendency for the female servants to become purely domestic, and other women were employed both as fairly constant day workers, and in large numbers as casual workers. It appears that the "agricultural ladder " still existed both for men and women. Writing of Yorkshire, Marshall stated that the labouring classes of both sexes generally set out in life as servants in husbandrj-. In this occupation they were liberally paid, and many were able to save in a few year* suificient to enable them to marry and start as housekeepers. In the early part of the period the servant system seems to have been common in most counties. In Hertfordshire a great part of the work was performed by annual domestic servants.* In Cumberland and Westmorland small farms were cultivated by family labour and a few servants; but many of the farmers' families were still working on the farms. In the west of England, Marshall reported, a considerable share of farm labour was done by farmers themselves, their wives, their sons and daughters. t And in the North Riding, of Yorkshire farmers' wives did a great deal of farm work. " Their industry is not " exceeded bv that of the women of anj- country, equalled by "few."t It is sometimes difficult to discover from the records of the period how women were employed, for in the 18th century the term " servant " included farm servants of both sexes. I'he women were hired at fairs in the same way as men, and Defoe remarks of some women he saw at a fair at Charlton, Kent, that they were ' ' eminently impudent,' ' an opinion which might be duplicated many times in the remarks of similar observers in the 19th century. With the extension of coTn growing at the end of the 18th century a great deal of special harvest labour was em- ployed. Labourers travelled from the pastoral to the corn-growing areas. Gangs of Welsh, Irish and Scottish workers travelled to various districts. Women and children were employed to a greater extent. The emjDlcyment of casiial women workers in the m^arket gardeii industry was also extending. " The number of women, " mostly from North Wales, who are employed by the farmers " and gardeners round London, in every summer season, in weed- " ing, making hay, gathering green peas and beans, in picking "fruits, and carrying strawberries and other tender fruit to " market is astonishing." § In Northumberland, the "bondage" system, under which the worker who lived in the farm cottage engaged to supply a female for certain seasons and certain tasks, existed in much the same form as it has existed within recent times. The depj'eciation in the position of the cottagers and farm workers, which was characteristic of this period, began to occur * Walker. Hertfordshire. 1794. p. 13. t Rural Economy of West of England. I., 107. % Tuke. Agriculture of the North Riding. § Middleton. Agriculture of Middlesex (1811), p. 382. 18 in various localities at different periods. Generally speaking it was never so conspicuous in the counties north of the Humber, as in those to the south. T}i some parts of Wales, too, little change in the economic position of the workers occurred, but in others wages fell and the poor rates increased.* In both countries the position of the farm worker was largely i.lependent upon the proximity of developing industries, and upon the laxity or severity of the administration of the law of parochial settlement ; but sooner or later in the period 1790-1830 all the characteris- tically agricultural i.reas of England and Wales experienced an increase in pauperism, largely due to unemployment and toi the depreciation in the value of wages through high prices, if not to actual reductions in cash wages. Population was growing rapidly in all the agricultural districts; and in many cases the enclosures of the common fields and wastes and the engrossing of farms, eventually led toi "the economising of labour. In some parishes there was an attempt to provide employment for women in the occupations regarded as specially suitable for them, as in the textile bye-industries ;t but soon some of the women were "on the round," or working in "the parish gang" or receiving unemployment pay with the men.J Under these systems, the unemployed worker put him or herself in the entire control of the parish officials, who arranged with the cultivators of land to take such persons for a period of time proportionate to the acreage or the annual value of the land. The roundsman received from the farmer to whom he was sent some proportion of the average wages paid or of the sum considered necessaiy to maintain the worker and his or her dependants, while the remainder was provided by the poor rates. The women working imder this system were bound to undertake any tasks that might be set for them, although it is probable that the local traditions as to tasks undertaken by the women would to some extent deter- mine the work which might be offered to them.§ The later gang system which developed about 1840 and reached its fullest extent in the sixties, partly arose in this system of relieving unemployed labour in the periods of severe economic depression between 1790 and 1830. The work done by women during this period seems to have been determined by local custom. In the districts in which large farms existed, the servant tended toward the domestic type, and other women were employed in field work of a casual character, but in Cumberland and Westmorland, as also in the south-western counties, women frequently acted aa i/ai-ters. In W'ales, milking was regarded as women's work, and men sometimes refused to undertake it. Men who had been taught to milk as boys pro- fessed ignorance of the task when they had reached a man's age. By 1840 the chief bye-indu.stries of women had disappeared * Report of Royal Commission on Land in Wales. Cd. 8221, 1896, p. 627. t Oxford Studies n Social and Legal History, Vol. III., No. 6, p. 151. X Some definite instances are known, but the Report of the Poor Law Commissioners of 1834 always speaks of " Labourers " without distinction of sex. § In some cases, howeyer, where no ordinary work was to be found, they were set to jobs which made an extraordinary break with tradition. 19 from the villages, although a few remained and were of some importance until 1870. The Commissioners on the Employment of Women in Agriculture in 1843 fomnd button-making in Dorset and lace-making in Devon, and knitting jackets, &c., in the Dales of Yorkshire, but in these industries earnings were low.* Glov- ing and straw plaiting also were carried on in the several districts, but the Commissioner for Kent, Surrey apd Sussex stated that no domestic industries were carried on in those counties, t The pro- cess of enclosure was practically, although not quite, complete. The large farm system was thoroughly established, and consider- able extensions of the area under the plough had occurred, but up to this time little advance had been made in the application of laboxir saving machinery to agricultural production. Horse and manual power were almost the only forms of power used on the farms, although steam had been applied to a few operations, such as threshing. Drills had been invented, some cultivating implements had been improved, made more effective and of lighter draught, but the busy seasons called for all the manual labour which could be secured. Indeed, it is practically certain that with the extension of arable cultivation, the relative proportioji of casual labour required to that of labour regularly employed was increased. 9. A.D. 1840-lh70. — The parsing of the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, put an end to the abuses of the old poor- laws, and immediately stopped all forms of outdoor relief to able-bodied persons, and to systems of supplementing wages of labour by con- tributions fro'm the poor rates. Yet after the withdrawal of these allowances, wages did not rise to a standard sufficient to maintain a family. There was still a surplus of population m certain districts, but the abuses arising from this were to some extent mitigated by the removal of the worst restrictions lof the Law of Settlement. They were fui-ther limited by the development of transport facilities, and by the spread of information ot employ- ment to be obtained in other rapidly growing industries. It was not until after 1850 that the full effect of the increased transport facilities on rural population was felt, and indeed, some of the local conditions which had arisen from the system of making each parish responsible for the maintenance of the people born within its boirndaries were not obliterated until 1870. Under these conditions the employment of women in agricul- ture reached an extent, both as to total number and as to propor- tions of women to men, never previously known. TLe gang system of employment, which Avas the subject of much public attention, was the product of the development of large farms in areas in which there were parisltes with surplus population and others in which the supply of labour, particularly at certain seasons, was not fiufficieut to meet the demand. It began in the Eastern Counties in the years between 18;'5 and 1845, becoming evident at various times in different localities; but there appears to be no doubt that the system arose in the districts in which large arable farms were *- See Report, pp. 16,295. f See Report, p. 151. 20 common, and where, consequently, every farm required many different iypm of workers, but only required some of them at irregular periods; and especially in those parts ot the Fen dis- tricts which, being newly drained, needed a great expenditure of labour. The employment of women and children, however, became common in districts in which they had been little em- ployed in field work, and where the old parish gangs were pre- viously weak or almost unknown.* Between 1835i and .1850i wo-men and children had to seek some means of sui^plementing the wages of the husband and the father. If it had not been farm work, it might have been some form of home-industiy, qxiite as wearing and badly paid. The farm labourer suffered in the process of sweeping away the abuses in the system of relief after the passing of the Poor Law of 18.34. His wages had been low, but in many cases they had been supple- mented by allowanoes in proportion to the number of his children. Wages • did not rise when these rate-aided allowances were abolished. The only way out of the diificulty was to secure employment for more members' of his family. The development of large arable farming, with its demand for casual labour, gave him his opportunity. The process was a suicidal one, for there is no doubt whatever that women and children were eventually coimpeting with men for various jobs, and the work of the former was almost invariably the cheaper. It did eventually tend to cut down rates of wages and to throw men out of work. Habit and custom still determined to some extent the work done by women.t In the Western Counties field labour for girls tended toi disappear on the abolition of the parish apprenticeship system. About 1840 girls were employed only occasionally. A good deal of girl labour was employed in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, but there mostly for casual work in the market garden areas. But where the gangs appeared the customs and.lraditions were broken down, and women undertook all sorts of jobs in the fields. This may have been due to the fact that the districts in which the gangs were most common were those in which the greatest break in the traditional systems of farming had been shown. The gangs took two^ forms, "public" and " private." The first were formed by men who contracted with farmers to do jobs by the piece, and then employed numbers of married women, girls, and boys to do the work for time-rates of payment. The gang-master took his gang from one farm to another, often many miles from their homes. The work undertaken included all manual operations on potato and root crops, weeding com and pastures, haymaking, and harvesting. The same jobs were done by members of the "private gangs," but these were organ- ised by the farmer himself, who provided a foreman or gang- master. The work of these gangs was done for time-rates of wages. The private gangs did not appear until about 1845, * Report on Employment of Women and Children in Agriculture, 1843, pp. 56,132,139,219. t Report on Employment of Women and Children, 1843, pp. 3, 183. 21 when they arose in Norfolk. It appears that they were organised by the farmers to save the profit made by the gang-master; but opinions as to these profits held by various witnesses examined in the inquiries which were made in 1843 and again in 1867 varied to a great extent. The conditions arising out of the gang systems differed in the case of public and private gangs. The workers in the former might secure fairly constant employment for some months of the year by following the gang-master from one job or one farm to another. The workers in private gangs were subject to frequent dismissal Vhen separate jobs were finished ; but much depended upon the size of the farm, and the Tariety of cultivations carried on. Also, in some cases, moral conditions in private gangs were better than those which arose m the public gang; but much depended upon the character of the employer.* In this period a considerable amount of work was also done by women and children on piece-work jobs taken by the husband and father. In some districts this was one of the most popular methods of obtaining harvest labour. Soon after 1840 farmers were displaying considerable interest in the improvements of implements, and the application of machinery in farm operations. This interest may be dated from the Oxford meeting of the Royal Agi-icultural Society in 1839. At that show there were 54 exhibits of implements and machinery, while at Cambridge the next year the number had more than doubled and within a few years these exhibits reached much larger numbers, and great interest was displayed in this section of the Royal shows. The effect of machinery of women's work was noted both in 1843t and in 1867. t Considerable pro- gress was also being made in the draining of land. The increase and improvement of implements, together with better drainage, considerably lightened the work of the farm. The improvement must, indeed, have been considerable, for during the period of the highest farming and the widest extent of arable cropping, between 1850 and 1870, the agricultural population was decreas- ing. This decrease was more marked amongst women than with men. Farm Employees in England and Wales Males. Females. 1851 1861 1871 1,114,905 1,106,279 935,143 143,021 90,249 67,988 * With various conditions connected with the employment of women from 1840 to 1870, as morals, housing, education, &c., the Committee have not been concerned. Many of these have been removed by subsequent legislative and administrative action. And such conditions as housing, which may affect the employment of women, now as in previous times, have been the subjects of inquiries by other bodies. f Report on the Employment of Women and Children in Agriculture, 1843, p. 131. J Second Report on the Employment of Women and Children in Agriculture, 1868, p. 54. There is, indteed, nothing in English agricultural history ■which stands out more clearly than the fact that increasing intensity of cultivation under ordinary farming conditions does not necessarily require an increasing intensity of manual labour. When a change from ordinary fanning to market gardening under some systems occurs complications arise; but even here it sometimes happens that the amount of manual labour does not increase in the same proportion as the value of the produce. But not only was the total number of female employees in agriculture decreasing, the greatest decline shown by the sta- tistics is that in female farm servants. The numbers were: — 1851 99,000 1861 46,000 1871 24,000 This decline was due to some extent to the fact that there had been a movement in some districts to dispense with the services of laale servants who were lodged in the hoiuse, and to employ more day labourers. The demand for women farm servants has always been most insistent where the lodging of men made the work of the farmer's wife and the domestics more onerous; but this was not the only cause. The wives of labourers had for some time preferred that their daughters should become domestic servants, while their most intelligent daughters themselves had a strong preference for the lighter work.* In the earlier part of the period some of the girls preferred" field work to the duties of the farm servant, because of the laboriousness of the latter, and there was "the greatest difficulty in getting dairymaids. "t The general decline in the number of women employed on farms was somietimes attributed to "over-education"; "which makes the girls anxious to become housemaids, nurserymaids, dressmakers, &c."+ Mr. Rowlandl Prothero (now Lord Ernie) has summarised the position in the early part of this period in these words : — " The years 1849 to 1853 which immediately preceded the Crimean AYar, and the era of agricultural prosperity, were a period of severe depression. Economy of production was necessarily the aim of employers. They naturally applied to their own business the Free Trade Maxim — ' Buy in the cheapest ' mjarket; sell in the dearest.' More machinery was introduced on the land. Small farms were thrown together. There was no diminution in the number of women employed; the gang system, both public and private, prevailed extensively in. the Eastern Counties; the supply, of labo'ur was still slightly in excess of the demand. The competition of female and child labour continued to depress wages." However, changes which began sometime during the fifties were soon to alter the whole position. In particular, the public conscience was aroused on the matter of the moral conditions of the countryside. The housing of the working classes, the educa- tion of children, and the moral conditions arising out of the * Report on Employment of Women and Children, 1843, pp. 6, 216. t Ihid., pp. 5, 216. X Ibid., p. 216. . n gangs were commanding attention. The changes which occurred have been summarised by Lord Ernie :—" Control of the gang 'I system was established by the Gangs Act of 1867, and the '^employment of children regulated by the Education Act-s of ' 1870, 1873, and 1876, and employers were deprived of the '^cheapest forms of labour. They were therefore diriven to ' employ a larger number* O'f adult males ; but the population '^ still remained superabundant, in spite of the constant stream 'of emigration, and wages advanced little and slowly."t The labourers, however, had learned their economic lesson, and were now inclined to prefer that their wives and children did not seek employment. Moreover, farmers were beginning to leani that land) could be highly cultivated without the assistance of women and children. "In the districts where the land requires much cleaning, and "women and children are much sought for by most of the "occupiers, some of the largest farmers cultivate the land with- " out employing females at all." . . . " It is also notice- able that where the custom of employing females on the land ''had declined . . . the employment of men and boys had " increased."+ In Worthumberland the bondage system helped to maintain the number of women. In this county the settlement of the land and the develop'ment of agriciilture occurred at a somewhat later period than in the South of England. Population was sparse, and in some districts villages were uncommon, consequently there was a demand for labour of any type that could be obtained. The Special Commissioner of 1843 saidi: — "In the absence of " villages (which are rare), to supply occasional assistance, each " farm must depend upon its own resources; a necessity is thus " created for having a disposable force of women and boys " always at command, which is effected in the following " manner: — Each farm is provided with an adequate number of " cottages having gardens, and every man who is engaged by "the year has one of these cottages; his family commonly find " employment, more or less; but one female labourer he is bound " to have always in readiness, to answer the masters' call, and to "work at stipulated wages; to this engagement the name of " bondage is given, and such female labourers are called bond- " agers, or women who work the bondage. Of course, where " the hind has no daughter or sister competent to fulfil for him " this part of the engagement, he has to hire a woman servant." § The Commissioner might also have added that one of the distin- guishing features of the bondager system was that the hind received from the farmer (andl where he had to hire a Wndager, paid to her) a fixed sum of money or goods, irrespective of the amount of time worked. The system was one designed to main- tain a supply of labour for the busiest seasons, in a district in which no extraneous source of supply existed. * Proportion would be a more correct term, in view of the statistics, t English Farming, p. 409, J First Keport, 1868, p. x, § Report, 1843, p. 297. 24 In parts of Wales, particularly Pembroke and Carmarthen, a similar system had been established. In these counties, as m Northumberland, the decline in the number of women was lass marked than in other parts of Wales ; but the total decline m the number of female farm workers in Wales wa-s much more markod than in England. " In 1851 there were over 26,0O0i females " returned as indoor faiin servants, and 1,268 described^ as out- " door labourers in Wales and Monmouthshire. By 1871 these "numbers had fallen to a little over 6,000 and 1,000 " respectively."* 10. A.D. 1870-1910.— In the early part of the decade 1870-1880 considerable changes in the attendant conditions of the employ- ment of women in agriculture began to appear. The Gangs Act of 1867 had made it necessary for the gang master or mis- tress to obtain a licence ; no child under eight years of age might be employed in a gang. The provisions for compulsory educa- tion made the work of married women more difficult in some cases, for the older children were no longer available for minding the home and the youuger children. Wages of male workers were rising slowly, and the organised movement of agricultural labourers was to some extent in opposition to the employment of women. There was by this time a considerable improvement in the implements and machinery for the work of the farm, and a very extensive movement tO' use the available machinery. In particu- lar, the use of harvesting machinery for hay and corn was soon to deprive women of some of the more pleasant tasks (partly because of their associations) they had hitherto undertaken. " The displacement of manual labour arising from the greatly " extended use of drills, horse-hoes, mowers, binders, manure " distributors and the like, must has-e been in the aggregate very " great, and probably to this more than to any other single cause "the reduced demand foT farm labourers may be attributed." t The decline in the area of arable land with the consequent decline in the acreage of cereals, and in some counties, a marked decline in the acreage under roots, reduced the demand for women's labour. Every part of the country was provided with transport facilities, and the villagers were now in fairly close touch with the demand for labour in other industries. In the later seventies and on- wards a large amount of women's labour was diverted from the land into domestic service. For this there were several causes. Public opinion wa,s hardening against the employment of women in the more drudging tasks of the faim, and the clergy and some of the squires were particularly antagonistic. Fathers and hus- bands objected to it, partly because, they realised that it spoilt the market for their own labour, and partly because they liked their daughters and wives to look after their homes. These opinions hardened at a time when the urban standard of comfort was rising, the suburban middle class was extending, and the * Report of Royal Commission on Land in Wales. Cd. 8221. 1896, p. 600. t Decline in Rural Population, 1880-1906. Cd. 3273. 1906, p. 14. 25 demand for domestic servauis increasing. It is probaMe, also, that former sources of domestic help were contracting. The daughters of small tradesmen, farmers, and artizans, found oppor- tunities of beconiing shop-assistants, teachers, and clerks, or for similar work -which was considered to give a higher social status than that of the domestic servant. They were enabled to take these positions by the improved S3-stem of public education, while the improved education also gave the daughters of labourers the opportunity to enter private houses. This was clearly recog- nised in Wales. " The spread of elementary education 'may be said to have revolutionised the position in Wales. . . . Prior to the passing of the Education Act in 1870', it was regarded in many rural districts as an act of folly to give a labourer's daughter the same advantages as to elementary education as her brother received. Since 1870', however, the girls have had their revenge; their advantages in the ele- mentary schools are now probably greater than those of boys, and they are at least on an equal footing as to secondaiy education. The result has been that Welsh girls have been attracted to towns, or drawn away from agricultural pursuits to a much larger extent than tbe young men have. They are in great demand not only in Wales, but also in many parts of England, for domestic service, and their reputation in this respect is high. Dressmaking and millinery, and service in business establishments, have,' however, proved more powerful allurements than perhaps any other occupation. Other occupations, scholastic and clerical, also attract the better educated of the girls, so that when the more intelligent and ambitious, as well as the vain and indolent, are thus drained off, there is but a small residue for the farmer to select from."* There was a decline in the numlier of women employed on farms in Wales between 1871 and 1891 ; and some decline in the proportion of women employed compared to that of men. In 1871 the total number was over 7,000, but in 1891 it barely reached 3,000. In 1871 the proportion of women to the total number of agricultural wage-earners was 11'6, and in 1891 it was 6 per cent. The numbers and the proportion Mere much better maintained in Cardigan, Pembroke, and Carmarthen, where the system of demanding a woman's labour, when a man was hired, was in vogue. The decline in the number oi female farm employees in England and Wales from 1871 to 1911 is shown by the number at each census period : — 1871 1881 1891 1901 1911 57,988t 40,346 24,150 12,002 .13,245 * Cd. 8821. 1896, p. 605. t There are a number of discrepancies in all the statistics, and the figures given must not be taken as more than indicative. The subject will be dealt with later • but the figures do illustrate the fact which is common knowledge. 26 In the northern counties the decline was much less marked. Indeed, in Northumberland the proportion of women to men was well maintained from 1871 to 1891. Although the wages of men rose but little and slowly from 1870 to 1890, there was a fall in prices which raised the value of money wages. In some districts reduction in hours were made, and thero was an increase in the supply of allotments, with greater oppor- tunities for cultivating them. And from 1890 onwards the regularity of employment for men was increasing. Consequently little was heard of the conditions of woman labour. The social stress which had arisen, particularly in comiection with the gang system, had passed away. With the exception of the counties of Lincoln, Cambridge, and Norfolk the gangs were almost unknown by the early nineties, and here they were employed only for short special periods. In the counties in which gangs existed they were much less common than formerly. In some districts, particularly in the Eastern Counties, women were employed in pulling and cleaning roots, stone picking, weeding corn, singling t\irnips, and to some extent in hay and corn harvesting. Sometimes they worked with their husbands on jobs taken by the piece. There was a strong disinclination in certain districts to undertake any form of farm work, even haymaking and harvesting. Th^is was held to be " evidence of "improvement in the labourer's conditions."* In Northumberland the bondage system was said to be extinct, but the finding of a woman worker by the hind was still one of the conditions of engagement. The Northumberland farmers sometimes hired " cottars " (single v\'omen or widows living in cottages on the farms) or byre-women, t The comparative importance of the employment of women in the potato growing, market gardening, and fruit and hop growing areas was increasing, partly because of the diminishing numbers employed on ordinaiy farms and partly because of the develop- ment of these industries, with increasing demand for the casiial labour of women. Similar conditions prevailed until the opening of the present century. Extension of the market garden industry continued, increasing use of machinery for harvesting purposes was made ; and from 1908 onwards the wages of male farm workers were slowly rising. The employment of women tended to be localised, first in the districts in which day workers were employed on highly cultivated arable farms where potatoes and other vegetable crops were grown, in the market garden and fruit-growing dis- tricts ; and secondly in the pastoral districts of the west and north-west of England, and in Wales, where the farm servants were employed on comparatively small farms; with, of course, the special conditions prevailing in Northumberland. * Report of Royal Commission on Labour. Od. 6894, 1894, p. 54. t Ibid., p. 55. 27 CHAPTER III. EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN, 1910-1918. (1) Normal Conditions. 11. Xumber of women engaged, (a) Census of 1911. — It has been stated that the number of women employed in agriculture as ascertained by the census at different dates is very unreliable ; and this fact is clearly demonstrated by a comparison of recent records and estimates. The census of 1911 gives the foUoiwing figures for the number of females engaged in agriculture in England and Wales at that date : — Females Engaged x^ Agb,i culture, 1911. Occupations of Females aged Total. Em- Working for Working Others, or no 10 years and upwards. ployers. Em- on own A ppfinTiti State- ployers. 3.U^-U Uli. U> ment. Order VII. — Agriculture 94,722 _ 1. On Farms, Woods, and Gardens— Farmers, G raziers 20,027 12,252 204 4,725 2,846 2. Farmers, Graziers, Sons, Daughters, or other rela- tives assisting in the work o£ the Farm 56,856 — — — — 3. Farm-BailifEs, Foremen ... 25 — — — 4. Shepherds 6 — — — — 5. Agricultural Labourers, Farm Sfirvants — dis- tinguished as in charge of cattle 4,934 — — — — G. Agricultural Labourers, • Farm Servants — dis- tinguished as in charge of horses — ■ — — — — 7. Agricultural Labourers, Farm Servants — not other- wise distinguished 8,280 — — — — 8. Woodmen ... 2 — 2 — — 9. Nurserymen, Seedsmen, Florists 1,170 89 813 55 213 10. Market Gardeners (in- cluding Labourers) 2,449 375 1,439 270 365 11. Other Gardeners (not Domestic) 583 17 416 51 99 12. Agricultural Machine — Proprietors, Attendants ... 60 53 ] 2 3 2 13. Others engaged in or con- nected with Agriculture ... 330 11 220 40 59 Thus, excluding 20,000 farmers and graziers, there are 74,000 females, of whom nearly 57,000 are farmers' and graziers' rela- tives, and some 1,200 in the classes of market gardeners, &c., are either employers or working on their own account. In round figures, 16,000. women, in addition to relatives, were employed. 28 The total is made up as follows: — Agricultural labourers (not otherwise distinguished) 8,200 Agric\iltural labourers in charge of cattle, &c. ... 5,000 x^urserymen, &c. (employees) ... ... .•• 800 Market gardeners ,, ... ..• ... 1,400 Other gardeners ,, ... ••. ■•• 400' Others 200 The census was taken in April, 1911, and to anyone who is con- versant with agricultural conditions it is obvious that many women who are more or less regularly engaged in agriculture have not been enumerated as following that occupation ; while the very large number of women who are casually employed in agri- ture is not indicated. Although many of the semi-regular and casual women workers in agriculture are working in April, it is not one of the months when large numbers are employed, except in some districts. The months during which v/omen are employed in the greatest numbers are June, July, August, and September. 12. (b) Census of Prod'ucHon, 1908. — Three years before the census was taken, in 1908, each occupier of land was asked to state on the schedule of the Annual Return of Crops and Livestock the number of persons regularly and temporarily employed on the holding. Many of these returns were unreliable, but, estimating the total numbers of all holdings from the returns from about 60 per cent, of the total holdings, the following figures for the number of females were obtained: — Females Occitied in Ageictjlttjre in England and Wales, 1908. Members of occupiers' families ... ... 144,000 Others, regularly employed 68,000 Others, temporarily employed ... ... 32,000 The number of " temporarily employed " is that of the persons in temporary employment in the early part of June. Of the total number permanently engaged, 35,000 members of occupiers' families and 19,000 others were under 18 years of age. Of those temporarily employed, 4,000 were under this age. Dealing with the discrepancy between these figures and those found in the census of 1901 , the Report* states : — " Farmers' wives are not included (in the census) as assisting the farmer, but there is no doubt that in the returns made to the Board they are, in many cases, counted among the members of the family employed. It may be assumed also that many females who work more or less in the fields would hesitate to return themselves as employed in farm work. The farmer, however, had no motive for hesitation in stating his returns to the Board the total number of women he employs, and there may perhaps be a tendency on his part to include, as employed on the farm, servants whose duties are partially or even mainly of a, domestic nature." 13. (c) Board of Trade Estimates, iSiS.— Estimates prepared by the Board of Trade from a number of statistical enquiries give * Eeport on Agricultural output of Great Britain, Cd. 6277, 1912. 29 the following' numbers of women employed as '' permanent work- people " in agriculture for Jxily of each year since 1914: — Females Employed as Permanent Workpeople in Aghicultuee.* Julv. 1911 5T,000 1915 41,000 1916 79,400 1917 87,100 1918 ... ; 90,900 It is clear, however, that the figures are not entirely reliable, for even the numbers of "permanent workpeople" vary with the seasons. Another Report gives the numbers for January of each year as follows : — Permanent Civilian Workpeople in Agriculture (Females). Januarv. 1914" 3G,000 1915 36,000 1916 39,000 1917 47,000 1918 56,000 1919 60,000 14. Increase iii numbers, 1914— 191S. — There is not cue set of these figures which can be reconciled with another, and the only point which emerges with comparative certainty is that the num- bers of women in fairly regular employment in agriculture have increased since 1914. With regard to this increase, the first- mentioned Report of the Board of Trade states : — " In the first twelve months after the outbreak of war there was a serious fall in the number of female workers regularly employed in agriculture, owing to the demand for female labour in more highly paid or more attractive spheres of employment. At the same time, large numbers of the most capable young men were drawn from agri- culture into the services or into pressing industrial work, and the need for regular female workers on the land became urgent. As the figures (July of each year) show, a net inflow of women in response to this need began (comparatively early) in England and Wales, and has been continuous since 1915. "f As the available statistics doi not provide <-any satisfactory in- formation on the number of women occupied in agriculture, whether as ordinary employees, regular and casual, or as servants whose duties are partly domestic and partly agricultural, and the reliability of statistics of relatives employed may be doubted,J the Sub-Committee have to indicate broadly the nature *Cd. 9164, 1919, pp. 13-14. t Report on Increased Employment of Women during the War, Cd. 9164, 1919, p. 13. t There is some ground for the opinion that the census atati&tics of relatives employed are more reliable than those of other female workers, if only that the "examples of mode of fllhng up" printed on the schedule give an example where a daughter is entered as a dairyworker. As regards servants, however, the example enters the servant included as " General Servant (Domestic) " which might be true in some counties, but which is misleading in the case of others. 30 and importance of women's work in the industry, both before and during the period of the war. 15. General 'position, 1900-1910.— The conditions indicated as existing at the beginning of the twentieth century in the previous section had not altered in essentials in 1910. In a few districts there had been a further decline in the number of women willing to take field-work, partly because of the natural disappearance of the older field-workers, partly because of unwiKIngnass of younger women toi take up the work, but also' partly to lack of demand as farmers adopted machinery, and organised ox standardised the work of the farms. In other districts there was a slight movement in the opposite direction, particularly where specialised market gardening, in the form of flower culture and general glasshouse work, was developing. Some stimulus was given to the employment of women of a more skilled type on farms, such as the dairy workers and poultrywomen trained in institutions, who were employed on the " home farms " of fairly large estates, A movement for similar workers towards the establishment of independent businesses as gardeners and market gardeners, or poultry farmers, may also be noted. 16. Tyj}es of women workers. — For the purpose of indicating the nature and importance of female labour in agriculture two distinctions must be made : (1) between the wife and the daughter, or other relative of the cultivator, and the ordinary employee who has definite conditions of employment ; (2) between the ordinary employees who are engaged partly in domestic duties and partly on the farm and those who are engaged solely on field-work. As regards the nature of duties, these distinctions are toi some extent complicated. The work of the cultivator's relative and that of the female servant may not differ in essentials, although where one person in each class is working on the same farm there may be a division of the various jobs to be undertaken which is clearly recognised. This is most marked in the case of the wife of the cultivator, whose position of authority and whose many direct responsibilities lead to a clear division of work. This is illustrated in some cases in which both mistress and servant share the duties of milking and house-cleaning, while the mistress alone under- takes the indoor dairy work; but when mistress and maid both undertake the work of the house and the farmyard there is little essential difference in the duties of either. Where the daughter of the farmer and the servant undertake the dual duties the difference is often even less marked. There is, however, a clear distinction hetv^-een the relative or servant who undertakes domestic and agricultural duties and the woman who is engaged for field-work. The relative or servant may take part in field- work on occasions, especially during the. busy seasons, but as a rule only for a portion of the day— that portion which is at other tunes devoted to domestic duties. The field-worker, except in Northumberland, is a field-worker only. The servant is engaged for a month or some longer period, often sis months, whereas the ■61 field-worker is engaged by the hour or the day, rarely, if ever, longer than by the week, or by the job if on piecework. 17. Importance of part-time workers. — The relative impor- tance of the classes of regular and part-time women field workers may be illustrated by some records and estimates from Lincoln- shire and Surrey, other estimates being also available. In the Kesteven Division of Lincoln the total number of women employed full-time in 1918 was 786, and that of part-time workers 1,698, the number of fully employed being greater than in normal times.* In Surrey, whole-time workers numbered 639, and part- time workers 1,553 ; bi;t in the Kingston district there were only 60 employed full-time, while 750 were in part-time employment. 18. Distribution of types of women workers. — Some geogra- phical distinctions also can be made. The importance of the work of the servant type is greatest in the northern, north- western, western and south-western counties of England, and in AYales. Wherever the industry is predominantly pastoral and small farms prevail, the female farm servant is in demand and numbers are employed. In the census the occupation of these women is usually given as " domestic indoor service," so that it is difficult to obtain figures, but there is no doubt as to the facts. The relation of the employment of farmers' female relatives to the size of farms, and the type of farming, can, however, be demonstrated, as in the following table : — Eelation of Size of Holdings and Peopohtion of Pastuee Land to the Employment of Faemees' Female Relatives. Division, with Indication of Type of Farming. Div. I A. Eastern Counties: Predominantly arable Div. I.B. North-Eastern Counties : Arable, with sheep nearly equal to the ■whole of England Div. II.A. South-Eastern Counties: Arable, market gardening, fruit growing, etc. Div. II. B. East Midland Counties : Cattle rearing and feeding, especially feeding Div. III.A. West Midland Counties : Cattle and sheep rearing, and milking ... Div. III.B. South-Western Counties: Cattle and sheep rearing, and milking ... Div. IV. A. Northern Counties: Sheep rearing and feeding, and cattle . feeding Div. IV.B. Nortli-Westerit Counties : Milkinarand cattle rearing ENGLAND size of all holdings. Acres. 76 75 69 75 66 62 61 48 Propor- tion of Pasture. Per cent. 33 31 55 65 69 63 69 71 65 Ratio of Farmers' Female Relatives to 1,000 Farmers. 107t 183 123 138 195 284 298 346 199 * Cd. 2o, No. 22, p. 17. t These figures show the mean for each division as given in the complete table, Appendix I. 32 19. Small farms and, family labour. — Thus the ratioiof farmers' female relatives to 1,000 farmers is highest where farms are smallest and pasture farming predominates. The opposite case is demonstrated in the Eastern Counties (Division I.A.) but in the North-Eastem Counties (Div. I.B.) the position is compli- cated by the influence of northern customs in the East Riding of Yorkshire and parts of Lincolnshire. It rarely happens that economic and social conditions are determined by one set of influences.. Here, for instance, although there is a strong general tendency (to say the least) for the ratio of farmers' female relatives to the number of farmers to rise as the size of farms falls, the East Riding of Yorkshire (with comparatively large farms) has a high ratio, and the West Riding (with small farms) has a much lower ratio of relatives to farmers. Part of the reason for this is to be found in the greater opportunities for other employment provided by the industries and commerce of the West Riding ; but the influence of opportunities of obtain- ing other employment is most marked in Middlesex, where, with small pasture farming prevailing, the ratio of female relatives to the number of farmers is comparatively low. 20. Dairying and family labour. — The prevalence of dairying on small pasture farms is, however, one of the influences which affect the ratio of female relatives to farmers. Taking the counties in which the number of cows per 1,000 acres is highest it will be seen that the ratio of female relatives to farmers is also high, although the ratio rises higher in some es in the amotint of labour required, howeYer, many small holding's need what may be termed odd units of labour. A holding may provide employment for one man, and need other regular labour without requiring that of another man. A hired boy or a son may or may not be obtainable; but if not the only economical way is to use the services of a woman or girl, either regularly in the lighter tasks of the holding, or partly on the holding and partly in the house. Thus, as regards the spheres of both management and work, the Comnaittee are convinced that, as in the past so in the future, the assistance of women is required for the fullest development of small holdings. 84. General functions of women on sTnall holdings. — ^The forms of assistance required of women if small holdings are to be successful are: — (a) Assistance in internal management of the business. (6) Oversight of or assistance in the management of the external business. (c) Assistance in the lighter manual work of the holding. (d) Fitting the economy of the house with that of the holding. The character of the first two items doies not differ in essentials on the various types of holding, dairying, market-gardening, &o. The character of the manual work, however, will vary with the character of the holding. On the dairy holdings, women's manual work will be limited in most cases to milking and rear- ing calves, making cheese or butter, and attending poultry. On general holdings where there is arable land under ordinary crops, they may undertake the lighter jobs of the fields and the attend- ance on pigs and poultry. On market garden holdings their tasks will be largely those of picking, bunching and tying, or packing produce for market, though some of the lighter work of cultiva- tion is frequently undertaken by women of the small market gardens. In all these cases the amount of work that will be done by women depends upon the number of female relatives living on the holding in relation to the size of the whole family and the character of the house which is maintained. "Where there is only the wife of the small holder, with young children, little or no manual work may be exjjected. But where there are daughters of a working age, or a servant, much manual work may be ex- pected of them, as has been the case in the past. 85'. Housecraift and conservation of perishable produce. — The most essential part of the relations of the economy of the home to that of the holding is perhaps the conservation of certain perishable produce, which does not find immediate sale, for use in the house, and of making economical use of some bye-products which do not find a ready sale at remunerative prices. For in- stance, th(} whole or parts of gluts of fruit may be preserved by bottling or being made into jam. A capable cook will finid many uses for skim milk or buttermilk ; or would not allow the hens 73 discarded from the laying stocks to' be sold off the holdings at prices below their meat value, when they could be used in the house. There is evidence that the practice of some of the housecraft required on small holdings has not been as frequent as was desirable. In some parts of the country, for instance, women on small farms have asked for instruction in bacon curing, and the interest shown by village women in the methods of preserving fruit for home consumption in rex;ent years is well-known. 86. Prospects for women on small holdings^ — The number ol opportunities provided for the occupation of women on small holdings depends upon the number of the holdings themselves. This follows from the above statements, wherein it is suggested that in the main the women who find opportunities will be the members of the occupiers' households. Few women are likely either to become themselves the occupiers of holdings, or to find paid emplo3nnent. The demand for small holdings has been very keen during this year, and although this may be due in part, as after the passing of the Small Holdings Act of 1908, to misconceptions on the facilities for obtaining holdings, there is no doubt that a very solid body of intending small holders, with the necessary experience and some capital, will be found amongst the applicants. The conditions necessary for the success of an extension of the system of small cultivation have been thoroughly canvassed by other bodies, and the Committee find it unnecessary to give any consideration to these general conditions. From their particular reference, however, it is necessary to point out that the development of a system of small cultivation on land already fully used in other farm units will necessarily be a slow process; and that the absorption of women will be correspondingly slow. It is probable that the development of a small class of women occupiers of small holdings is dependent upon the prospects oi market gardening and poultry keeping, and may be considered with these subjects. Few women have made experiments in the management of small holdings of a general type, except when they become small holders as widows. Here and there a single woman has managed a small holding of a dairy type, but these examples are few, and at present do not provide sufficient experience to give any guidance for the future. No hopes of the employment of a large number of ordinary hired women on small holdings can be entertained. Casual labour will probably be required on holdings of a market garden type, and possibly on some others. But the total demand for women employees cannot be great, unless the extension of the system of email cultivation leads to the growth of a class of farm servants "which has been such an important item in the economy of the email farm system of the North Western Counties of England and 74 of parts of Wales. At present there is no groundon wliicli any forecast of such a development can be made ; but it may be said that these servants, who undertake complex duties in the farm- yard, house, and sometimes on the land, provide. a most useful and economical form of labour on small farms, especially those devoted to dairying and stock-rearing. (4) Market G-ardening. 87. Prospects of the industry. — The statistics of the market gardening industry do not adequately represent its importanre in the total production of the land of England and Wales, for many small areas of ordinary market garden crops are not .enumerated in the Annual Agricultural Statistics. Nor has there been any special enquiry into the extent and condition of market gardening and fruit growing in recent years. This latter fact may be taken to indicate .that the industry itself has been in a very healthy condition; and it is generally known that a gradual expansion was occurring previous to 19'14. TJnder the circumstances it will be sufficient to quote the conclusions of the Departmental Com- mittee on the Settlement and Employment of Soldiers on the Land with regard to this subject : — " We are fully alive to the fact that there is a limit to the number of small fruit and market garden holdings which can wisely be created immediately. Some authorities maintain that some market garden crops are already being over-produced, particularly the more easily grown vegetables, and, whether this is so or not, it would obviously be unwise to • do anything which would create a glut and reduce prices to an unremunerative level. We are convinced, how- ever, that gluts are usually the result of want of market organisa- tion, and that, if distribution is properly organised, there is con- siderable opening for an increase in the home supply of many kinds of fruits and vegetables. The value of fresh fruit and vegetables imported into this country from abroad in 1913 was over £15,000,000, and, although about one-third of this represents tropical fruits^ there is no reason why a substantial proportion of the remainder should not be replaced by an increased production at home."* The production of some crops, as celery and rhubarb, has been reduced during the later part of the period of the war ; but there is little doubt that the extent of these crops will again increase as control is removed. Also, some branches of the industry are steadily developing, as in the case of glasshouse culture. Altogether, there are indications of steady development in the industry. The type of work normally done by women in market garden areas has been indicated in Chapter III. and no further discussion is required. 88', War conditions and demand for women. — Owing* toi the special conditions of the period of war, both as regards shortage of foodstuffs and the withdrawal of male labour for military purposes, a large increase took place in the number of * Cd. 8182, 1916, p. 10. 75 women workers upon market gardens and allotments. The Report on Wages and Conditions of Employment in Agriculture* already quoted states that in every market garden area an increased amount of female labour has been noted, and there can be little doubt that the experience of the last few years has proved the capacity of women toi perform successfully many gardening tasks that were regarded as being outside their sphere of action before the war. Although it is difficult to form a reasoned judgment upon the degree of permanence that should be anticipated in this connec- tion, evidence was given to the Committee that the war-time employment of women in glass and hot-house forms of culture had met with so much success that the demand for women workers lor that class of labour is likely to become normal. 89. Tnlportance of women's labour. — In dealing with the question whether the services of women were required in the development of market gardening to its fullest extent the Com- mittee were of opinion that the reply depended upon the experience of the jjast as to the relative importance of men and women as wage-earning workers upon large holdings ; and the relative importance of men and women as workers (paid or unpaid) upon small holdings and commercial allotments. The demands made tipon the services of women on large hold- ings in the past have been almost solely for casual labour. A few women in the districts in which the industry has reached the highest state of development find work all the year round, or, at any rate, are employed whenever the weather conditions enable them to present themselves for employment. A much larger number in these districts find work for six or eight months of the year, \7hile a still larger number of women, especially in the fruit growing districts, find work for a few weeks in the course of the summer. But the circumstances of the industry are such that casual labour of some kind is essential for its success. There are many processes to which there can be no hope of adapt- ing machinery, but for which it would be extremely wasteful to provide regular male labour. There is much evidence to the effect that the supply of female labour in market garden districts is quite sufficient to meet the demand in normal times ; and while the women who have other occupations — domestic or otherwise — can be drawn upon for the extra labour required their employment is of mutual advantage to the industry and the women. The Table below gives certain figures supplied to the Com- mittee by employers who were asked for information on the subject of the relative importance of men and women on large market garden holdings. It is difficult to make a definite estimate upon which reliance can be placed, but if the average proportion of the year worked by each woman is taken as two-thirds (which appears to be a fair figure), it is found that .43 women are em- * Cmd. 24, par. 94. 76 ployed to each 100 men. By reducing the proportion of time worked by women to two-thirds these relative numbers of men and women are given in times of regular employment. But taking the figures in the Table, and ignoring the last two items (in one of which the number of men is unknown, and the other of which is of somewhat exceptional character), the totals are: Men, 798; women, 516 ; and the proportions are 64 women to each 100 men. As the majority of these returns were obtained from Middlesex, where exceptional numbers of women are sometimes employed, there is reason to believe that the proportion of women is rather too high for the whole of the market gardening districts of England and Wales. Eetubjs-s from Market Gardeners showing the Numbers op Men and Women Employed. , Women County of Residence of Employer. Acreage. Einployed (some seasonally). Men Employed. Middlesex 187 25 66 ... 90 14 18 ,, ... 114 29 43 J, ... ... 345 27 84 J, ... 133 22 28 " 22 20 29 ,, ... 630 70 68 ,, ... ... 400 25 45 jj 500 21 27 J, ... ... 1,050 86 166 328 57 96 „ ... ... ... 100 3 in winter. 25 in summer. 20 Bedfordshire .... 300 None in winter. 70 in summer. 32 Essex 371 and 26 under glass. 22 76 • 25 in winter to 60 or 70 in summer. Not known. Herts 33 under glass. 80 90 On the relative importance of men and women on small market garden holdings the Committee have no statistical information. It is practically certain, however, that the proportion of women to men on these holdings is higher than in the case of those which exceed 100 acres. This is true of holdings in general* and there * Average of permanent and temporary laboureis employed (including, occupiers' families) per 100 acres in Great Britain, June 4th, 1908 : — Permament Labour. Temporary Labour.. Acreage of Farm. ~ ' " ' "~ " 1 to 5 acres 5 to 50 „ 50 to 300 =, Over 300 , (Report on Agricultural Output of Great Britain, 1908 (1912), p. 24.) Male. Female. Male. Female 8-0 5-4 2-6 ■6 4-3 2-2 •8 •3 2-5 •8 •3 •1 2'3 ■3 •2 •1 77 is every reason to believe that it is particularly true of market gardens. In the case of allotments cultivated for commercial purposes it. is known that in many instances a considerable part of the work is done by the wives of the occupiers, especially when the men have other occupations, such as employment on neigh- bouring farms. Moreover, on many small market garden holdings no hired labour is employed, and any extra labour required at various seasons has to be supplied by members of the faniily of the occupier. And in many cases it would not be economically sound to run these holdings without the assistance of women. 90. Demand for women. — The evidence obtained by the Com- mittee showed that the supply of women for work on market gardens was quite sufficient to meet the demand in normal times. During the period of the war there were complaints from a few districts that the number of women workers was insufficient, but on the whole the supply was equal to the demand, even during the last three years. The future demand depends upon the normal extension of the industry, and upon the creation of small holdings devoted to market garden purposes. The Committee are of opinion that any increased demand due to the normal expansion of the industry will be fully met by a supply of labour from the same classes as that hitherto employed has been drawn. Many of the women who undertake market garden work are relatives of men employed on the neigh- bouring farms or on the market gardens; and as men are neces- sary to the extension of the industry the available supply of women will be increased with the number of men employed. Where this condition is less prominent, as in some of the sub- urban areas, there is reason to believe that an increased supply of casual women workers can still be obtained. It is probable that a considerable proportion of the number of small holdings which may* be established will be used for market gardening purposes, and that the wife and dependants of the male holder will take their part in the work of the land, thus increasing the number of women employed. The same opportunities are offered to women as to men under the Grovem- ment scheme, but it is doubtful whether any substantial number of single women are in a position to undertake tenure of land by themselves. 91. Wages. — "With regard to wage-earning women, the extent to which their services will be in demand would be affected by any increase of acreage under large market garden cultivation only so far as seasonal work is concerned. But in attempting to determine how great such demand is likely to be, the Committee considered that this class of labour, in common with other forms already referred to, would be largely influenced by alteration in scale of wages. The rise in minimum rates of wages may possibly result in a larger supply of male seasonal labour being available, in which case the demand on women might not be 78 increased proportionately to the extension of area, though this conjecture may be falsified by events. 92. Local, not iirvported labour. — But whichever of the two suggested alternative results may ultimately follow an increase of acreage under market garden cultivation, any extended demand for woman's labour must almost certainly be met by a supply from local resident sources. The custom hitherto prevalent of their payment by the hour or piece instead of giving the women a weekly contract is one that finds its reason and origin in the dependence of the employer upon the fundamental factor of the weather. It is not possible to foresee the changes of weather conditions, and the engagement of seasonal workers (except in times of special emergency) by the week means running the risk of payment for hours and days when no return of service can be rendered — ^a risk that com- mercial men are unlikely to accept. Hence imported labour cannot be guaranteed a constant living wage, for alternative remunerative oocupation would not be forthcoming. But local residents on the other hand can profitably fill up spare time in the performance of household or family duties. They are not entirely dependent on their earnings, which go to supplement an existing family budget. As already mentioned, wage-earning women in market gardens have been drawn from two sources, members of the families of local farm workers and town dwellers. There appears to be no reason to anticipate any change in this respect to meet future demands. Market gardens are likely to continue to exist in close proximity to large towns or other centres affording convenient market for sale of produce. Areas possessing market garden cultivation in which such centres are not found are those where the soil is peculiarly adapted to the purpose, such as the Fen Districts and Cornwall. The former class of holdings can continue to draw the neces- sary seasonal labour from the large town population in cases where the local supply proves to be insufficient, and the latter class, i.e., those further removed from large cities have in the past supplemented their local supply of seasonal, women workers from the smaller country towns in their own. district, with the exception of areas devoted to extensive fruit growing. In these the large demand for seasonal workers during the harvest has been greater than any local supply could meet, and gangs of fruit pickers from London and other large cities have been in the habit of undertaking the work. The Committee had no reason to believe that these various forms of supply would fail to meet future demand. (5). The Poultry Industry. 95. Work of women in the past. — The work of women in con- nection with poultry falls under three types : (a) poultry- keeping on small holdings and general farms; (b) poultry 79 keeping by cottagers; (c) management of or employment On poultry farms. On small holdings and on tlie smaller farms the care of poultry is usually one of the duties Of the female members of the household. On large farms, especially where the farmer regards the poultry stock as an item worthy of his own attention, a boy was often detailed for this work, perhaps in connection with some other light diities; but often the wife of the farmer supervised the work of the boy or other person who was responsible for the details of the work. On some farms the products of the poultry yards have been regarded as the perquisites of the farmer's wife, in which case the female members of the household, the farmer's wife herself, or daughters, or the domestic servant, provided whatever care was given to the stock. The Committee have not been concerned with poulti-y kept by suburban householders. The poultry stock of small country cottagers has been not only an important item of the economy of the house and garden, but also in the supply of eggs for the general market. Its importance might have been greater but for some restrictions on poultry keeping imposed by employers or owners of property. Women have established specialised poxiltry farms, sometimes as a hobby, often as a business. As a rule, those which are run for a hobby only, except where the interest is strong enough to lead off the production of exhibition stock, have a short existence. Thos« run for business have varying results, according to the experience and capacity of the managers. Women have been employed on special poultry farms managed by men or women. 96. Poultry production on farms. — The value of poultry pro^ ducts from the agricultural holdings of England and Wales in 1908 was estimated at no less than £4,350,000, which is no mean sum ; but the proportion of the total receipts of the farms obtained from poultry barely reached 3"5 per cent. The total value of the farm output of poultry and eggs was estimated at £5,000,000. At this time, the total number of poultry on agri- cultural holdings, with the number of eggs produced by flocks containing not less than 50 fowls or 10 ducks, geese, or turkeys, was as follows : — * PouLTKY Stocks on Faems, 1908. Total kept. Eggs producer! - Fowls 32,356,000 1,108,483,000 Ducks 2,963,000 27,260,000 Geese 712,000 1,724,000 Turkeys 697,000 1,826,000 These figures, however, do not include large numbers of poultry kept or of eggs produced even in the country districts by persons other than occupiers of more than one acre of agricul- tural land. 97. Imports of -poultry produce. — In 1908 the total declared values of imports of " poultry and game (alive or dead) " and *For the statistics of Poultry keeping, see Report on the Agricultural Output, 1908 (1912), p. 15. 80 eggs imported into the TJnited Kingdom were respectively £1,052,885 and £7,183,112. The quantities of poultry and game are not ohtainable, hut the number of eggs imported into the TJnited Kingdom in 1908 was 2,185,298 thousands. From 1908 to 1913 the number of eggs imported was increasing, but the value of poultry and game imported was, on' the whole, declin- ing.* Small quantities of game, the produce of the United Kingdom, were exported, and some of the imported eggs were re-exported. In 1914 the number and value of eggs imported and re-exported were as follows : — Impoets of Eggs, 1914. The total value of — Number. Value. Thousands. £ Imports 2,148,5.77 8,652,800' Ee-exports 14,674 54,617 Net Imports ... 2,133,903 8,598,183 The total quantities and value of poultry and game imported and re-exported in 1914 were : — Imports of Pot:lte,t and Gtamb, 1914. Live Poultry — Quantity. Value. £ Imports (number) ... 541,161 23,698 Re-exports ... ... 44 14 TSTet Imports ... 541,117 23,684 Dead Poultry (cwta.) ... 223,599 775,263 R&-exports 20,323 93,596 Net Imports ... 203,276 681,667 Game — Imports — 144,765 Tie-exports ... ... — 14,064 Net Imports ... — 130,701 The total quantities and values of United Kingdom poultry and game exported in 1914 were : — lExPOETS OF POTJLTHT AND GaME, PeODTJCE OF UlSTITED KINGDOM, 1914. Quantity Value. £ Live Poultry (number) 24,864 18,671 Dead Poultry (owts.) ... 1,886 8,586 Game — 31,938 Total 59,195 * See Statistical Abstract, Cd. 8128. 1915, pp. 127 and 143. 81 The balance therefore stands as follows : — Net Imports of Poultry and Poultry Produce, 1914. Net iTnports. £ £ Eggs 8,598,183 Live Poultry 23,684 Dead Poultry 681,667 9,303,334 Exports, U.K. Produce. Live Poultry 18,671 Dead Poultry 8,586 27.257 Balance of Imported Produce (values) ... £9,276,277 98. Scope for development. — Thus there is ample scope for the development of the poultry industry, especially if English eggs and poultry can be produced at such cost as will enable them to be sold at a price which, comparative quality being con- sidered, makes them efEective comipetitors with imported produce. The dissemination of knowledge of breeds, treatment and general methods of production, with some improvements in methods of marketing would no doubt improve the produce and reduce the cost. And if the actual reduction in cost were small, the reduc- tion in cost and an increase in quality combined would result in a considerable margin between costs and price. Stocks of European poultry are now depleted ; stocks at home have been reduced owing to the scarcity of feeding stuffs, and therefore there is a very great need for an extension of poultry keeping. The industry must inevitably ecxpand, and it is important that development should be constructive and per- manent, and not merely directed to serve the needs of the monient. It would therefore appear essential that home production should be increased and the already existing facilities offered by Government authority extended. With every such increase a corresponding demand for women's assistance may be expected. 99. Prospect of employm,ent. — The duties in connection with rearing and feeding of poultry are especially suitable for women, for they include classes of work in which the services of women are likely to be preferred to those of men, owing to the woman's particular attention toi detail and success in handling young stock. Farms of large size keeping many thousand hens would no doubt require male labour for the heavy carrying of food and water, and handling of produce for the market, etc., but the assistance of women may be regarded as economic and necessary even in these cases. Upon the general mixed farms and small holdings and in connection with cottage poultry keeping, the care of the poultry yard must largely, if not entirely, be in the hands of women. With the rise of wages the farmer is likely, as already mentioned, to concentrate the attention of his male 82 labourers upon tlie more important field operations, and endeavour to remove from them the lig'hter duties that can efii- ciently be performed by women. In most cases the women would be members of his own family or household, as the work would not occupy a woman's whole time ; but where women members of the farmer's household are employed with poultry they will, in many eases at least, be expected to undertake other duties when the work with poultry is not sufficient to employ the whole of the time. Also, a certain demand for the services of wage- earning women as managers and assistants on poultry farms may be anticipated. Further, it appears probable that the provision of large gardens with country cottages, and the establishment of consider- able numbers of " cottage holdings " would be the preliminary means of obtaining a large increase in the poultry stock of the country, and in bringing in the services of women in poultry production. CHAPTER YI. WOMEN IX EELATION TO INDFSTEIES CONNECTED WITH AGRICULTURE. (1) Afforestation. 100. Suitable work. — In considering what economic part can women take in afforestation the Committee were of opinion that though the assistance of women was not essential for the development of woodlands, yet evidence laid before them pointed to the conclusion that authorities concerned are relying partly upon local woman labour for nursery, and in some instances planting work in connection with schemes oif afforestation in the immediate future. Though women have not been much used in this connection in the past, the final report of the Forestry Sub-Com- mittee of the Ministry of Reconstruction* states the opinion that work in nurseries and woodlands in connection with small holdings provide suitable employment for women. 101. Nursery work. — This appears to be specially suitable for local part-time and seasonal women-workers, and there is reason to believe that though in some districts opinion has in the past been adverse to the idea of the employment of women in this class of work, experience gained during the war has largely broken down the prejudice. Women have been successfully employed, both in planting in the lighter soils and in nursery ■ * Cd. 8881, 1918, page 28. " Forestry opens a new vista for the small holdings policy. It makes the creation of small holdings not only possible but necessary in districts where the cost would otherwise be prohibitive. The small holdings will be grouped together on the best land within or near the forests so as to economise labour in the working of the holdings to afford opportunities for co-operation in buying and selling and to provide an ample supply of juvenile and female labour for nursery work." In further discussion of the relations between forestry and small holdings, the Committee stated that "forestry provides suitable employment for women and children." But see the whole section on Small Holdings in this Beport. 83 work, during the past three years and in certain districts appear to regard the ejnployment favourably. 102. Extent of demand for women. — As regards the extent to which women are likely to be wanted in afforestation and upon what this extent depends, the Committee considered that the numbers required would be influenced by two factors, viz. : — (a) The acreage dealt with under official re-afforestation and afforestation schemes. (6) The relative value of women labour as compared with that of men. 103. In considering the probable acreage to be replanted in the near future the Committee were faced with the difficulty of being unable to foretell the policy of the Grovernment in this matter. Should the recommendation of the Forestry Sub-Com- mittee of the Ministry of Reconstruction be carried out and 150,000 acres be afforested by direct State action, as well as encouragement and financial assistance given to local authorities and private owners, the demand for women labour for nursery work and to some degree for planting w'ould be increased from that of pre-war time. But that demand is likely to be for local women only, not for imported wage-earners, with the possible exception of a few trained forewomen. 104. Value of woman labour. — As regards the relative value of men's and women's labour in forestry,- the Committee were of opinion that evidence appeared to show that for nursery work women were of greater value than men at certain seasons of the year, viz., when lining out and handling of young plants is necessary. But in connection with general planting, except in certain light soils, and in the other parts of afforestation work, men are by physique more adapted for the labour and must therefore be less expensive than women to the employer. (2) Flax Production. 105. General prospects. — In considering the production of flax and whether the help of women is necessary for its development, the Committee bore in mind the history of the decline of the industry during the later years of the 19th century and the decision of the Development Commission to grant financial aid to its resuscitation. During the War, the cessation of imported flax and the national necessity for the same stimulated its production under Government authority. It was imderstood that the Government hopes to induce private enterprise to undertake the industry in time to come. Whether the commercial future of flax growing in Great Britain is destined to succeed is a question upon which the Committee did not feel competent to express an opinion. But assuming that the flax production develops into a permanent industry, the Committee were of opinion that evidence laid before them justified the view that the work of women will be necessary. Flax production 84 requires a large amount of seasonal labour during certain periods of the year, especially in tlie harvesting of the same, and such labour can be supplied, under existing rural conditions, only by local women. 106. Women and Irish flaai. — In Ireland the fias crop is almost entirely grown on small farms varying from 20 to 100 acres in size. The field acreage area devoted to flax by each farmer would not exceed two to two-and-half acres. The field operations in which the women take part, pulling, tying and stooking, are principally carried out during August and September, the period covering from four to six weeks. During this time the women do not work continuously. The women employed on field opera- tions are chiefly married women living in the locality. Payment is made both on piece and time rates. Flax growing does not appear to have had any appreciable effect in tending to keep young women in rural areas instead of migrating to the towns. In addition to the work in growing flax, women are employed in the scutch mills. Here some married women are employed, but the great majority of female mill-workers are single. Employ- ment in the mills usually extends from the end of September to the following April or May, and in some cases until the end of June. The women have steady employment during the period the mills are working. Flax growing was still carried on in a few districts in England before serious efforts were made to develop the industry, but few women appear to have been employed. During the last two or three years, however, they were employed on such field operations as, weeding, pulling, stooking and thatching; but the chief field operations aj-e those connected with the harvesting. They have also been employed in the operations connected with the manu- facture of fibre, such as deseeding, spreading the, wet flax after retting, breaking and scutching. 107. Local women required. — Owing to the prevailing (war) con- ditions, the local and imported women have been employed in both the field and the factory operations. It appears, however, that under normal conditions the growers will rely chiefly upon local supplies of women labour for the casual work of the summer months. It is possible that gangs of itinerant flax pullers from the larger towns may be organised ; but this will only be the case if the crop is grown to such an extent that the supply of village women in any locality is not equal to the demand. Most people of experience consider that the production of flax will develop under the most favourable conditions if grown by individual farmers on such acreage as would allow each to obtain the necessary harvest labour in his own immediate village or neighbourhood . The number of women required for factory work compared with the number required for casual field work is comparatively small. But work may be provided for nearly the whole of the year, 85 except the harvest months, as the industry develops. The factory operations inoliid© deseeding, drying after retting, break- ing and scutching. Evidence was given to the Committee that in on© factory the number of women employed during recent years had exceeded that of men. There isi also evidence that the operations are suitable for women, and that they show interest in and desire for the work. 108. Demfiand for, woTnen's labour. — On the question as to what extent will women's labour be necessary and upon what does that extent depend, the Committee considered that the numbers required would depend upon the annual acreage laid down under flax. laformation supplied to the Committee showed that in 1918 the amount of land devoted to flax growing under Govern- ment auspices was approximately 15,000i acres. The Preliminary Agricultural Returns for 1919 show that the total area under flax in England and Wales was 18,440 acres. Both as regards har- vesting and deseeding the flax, the employers rely largely upoai women labour, some authorities estimating that 4/5ths of the total hands employed would be women. (3) Other Industries Connected with Agriculture. 100. Beet sugar. — It has been demonstrated that the sugar beet can be grown economically in some of the ©astern and western counties of England.* But so far, experience shows that the operations on the crop are similar to' those on ordinary root crops; and if women were employed in the production of beet the work would be mainly of a casual character, in the hoeing and lifting seasons. The weeding of sugar beet entails greater care than that of other root crops; even if beets therefor© merely replaced other roots in the cropping system of the farms the amount of manual labour required would be increased. Should the beets be grown in addition to the ordinary root crops the increase in the amount of manual labour required would be considerable. Those farmers who grew sugar beet in the western counties in 1913 " were imprassed ... by the difficulty and cost of lifting, the shortage of labour having been . experienced for a considerable time, while the lifting machine had either come too late or had worked unsuccessfully. "t In the extension of the industry a successful and economidal lifting machine would probably produce a situation in which the special labour of women was required only for hoeing, singling and weeding the crop. As regards the employment of women in the manufacture of sugar the Committee have no information, except that the factory which was organised in 1914 would, even, if its business had developed, have provided very little employment. It was in- tended in this factory to employ women only on minor operations. On the whole, it appears that the demand for women in the beet sugar industry will be mainly confined to field work in the summer and autumn. * See Articles in Journal of Board of Agriculture, February and June, 1915. t Journal, Vol. XXIII., p. 212. 66 110. Jam making. — The mauufaciure of jam under the ordinary factory system affects the employment of women in agricul- ture chiefly through its effect on fruit-growingf It appears, how- ever, that women are employed in all factories in which jam is made. The number of women employed depends, of course, on the size of the business. But in all cases, employment is more or less casual, altho'ugji a few women arei employed during the whole of the year. In the case of large factories women a,re employed mainly in filling, tying, labelling, and packing the pots of jam. Factories in urban areas chiefly employ the ordinary factory type of women workers. Conditions of labour are regulated by a Trade Board under the Trades Boards Act. In some instances the women employed in large jam factories at other seasons 0(f the year provide a supply of labooir for market gardens and fruit plantations during the early months of the summer. There are, however, a number oi small jam factories in rural or semi-rural areas in which women are employed during, the whole of the year. And during the War co-operative enterprises in jam-making have been carried on in a num.ber of villages. T.'je small private businesses appear to be fairly well established and toi have little or no fear as to their future position. Some of the co-operative village enterprises have also achieved temjDorary success ; but varying opinions are held as toi their future pros- pects. The buildings and appliances hitherto used have been of a makeshift character and cannot be regarded as permanent. For the most pari, work has been carried on only during the fruit season of the later months of summer. Some voluntary and unpaid labour has been given in the organisation of the centres alid also occasionally in the collection of materials, and in clerical work connected with manufacture and sale. In some cases, in- deed, all labour was voluntary, and some of the profits realised have been given to charitable organisations. In other cases, all labour in the actual manufacture and packing of produce was paid for. Where the organisation was most complete, and the nearest approach to commercial conditions was reached, a high degree of success was attained. But everywhere the enterprises were economically justified by the conditions which prevailed. Also, local interest in the preservation of food-stuiffs — particularly fruit — has been stimulated. The future prospects of the co-operative enterprises as commer- cial organisations appear to depend largely on their organisation on a definite basis and on the provision of buildings and appliances necessary for the work. Experience seems to show that in order to establish rural industries in jam-making and fruit preserving on an economic basis, all forms of preserving and pickle-making must be combined .so as to provide work for staff and appliances during the months when fresh fruit locally produced cannot be obtained. The experience of small private firms in several localities indicates that jam-making and preserv- ing on a small scale may be financially successful when local 87 produce is available and the internal organisation of the business is such as lefads to the best utilisation of staff and plant. When the quality of the product is reliable a local demand can usually be found, and transport charges, both in collection of materials and distribution of produce, can be saved. There is no reason for believing that the large firms of jam manufacturers will lose their hold on the manufacture and trade. Nor, on the other hand, is there any room for doubt that small enterprises established in areas in which ftuit is produced and in which a local demand for jam can be found, can be financially successfxil. But much depends upon the organisation of the collection of materials, the operations of manufacture, and the distribution. Women are employed by all classes of jam manufacturers; bxit village women are employed, practically speaking, only by the small firms and by the co-operative enterprises. Aiid in the case of the small firms, as in that of the large firms, conditions of employment are not othei^ise than Satisfactory. Conditions pre- vailing during the war have given a considerable impetus to the establishment of rural c6-oj)efative jam factories; and any extension of the jam-making industry in rural areas might afford employment to women both in the factory and indirectly through the increased prodxiction of fruit. This applies duly to the manufacture of jam for sale, but the preservation of fruit for liSe by cottages and small-holders might be co-operatively carried on in the village depots. This could best be organised by some such association as the Women's Institute. Such organisation would stimxilate the interest of women in the mutual economy of the house and garden or small- holding; and under suitable conditions valuable work could be done. 111. Canned fruit. — Prior to 1914 the supplies of canned fruit were almost entirely obtained from overseas; but one or two canning factories were in existence in England. And so far as the experience of these factories goes, it appearsi that it is possible to develop a canning industry in this country. During the war encouragement in experimental work has been given by the Grovernment. There are now some indications that commercial success may be attained, and that the industry may become estab- lished in this country. The successful canning of fruit involves the situation of fac- tories in the immediate neighbourhood of the fruit plantations, and the industry must therefore be a rural one. It is also essential that tins be made in or very near the factory m which canning is done, because sheet tin is much more easily trans- ported than the finished cans. The making of cans provides work for some employees in the seasons in which canning cannot be carried on. In the factories established before the war, work was con- tinuous during the whole of the year. Most of the processes provide suitable work for women, who were employed in cleaning- fruit, placing fruit in tins, capping tins, lacquering, labelling^ and packing tins, 'and in making tins by macliinery. Tlie care of macliines and ovens, and lifting of heavy cases, is undertaken by men. Bnt it appears tbat in an extension of the industry women would supply the bulk of the labour both in picking fruit and for indoor operations. In the established factories local resident women, both married and single, but chiefly young women have been employed. Girls from 16 to 24 years of age are readily employed, and appear to take to the work and to remain in the fruit growing districts. Conditions of labour are regulated under the Factory Acts, and wages are determined by the Trade Board. On the whole it appears that some development of fruit can- ning may be expected, and that the services of women will be required both in the outdoor work and picking fruit and in the factory operations. 112. Fruit pulping. — The pulping of fruit for its preservation until it can be made into jam had not been carried on in this country toi any extent previous to the war, but a number of pulping stations were established in 1917 and 1918. The industry is a seasonal one, oairried on during the ripening seasons of the fruit which has " jellying " properties, such as damsons and apples. It is not necessarily a rural industry, for bruised fruit can be pulped ; and indeed it is often easier to transpoirt the fruit than the pulp. The pulp is often prepared in. the neighbourhood of the factory in which it is to be made into jam. Some of the smaller manufacturers of jam do not use pulp, priding themselves on the production of "pure" jam, made with fresh fruit and sugar. The preparation and storage of fruit pulp, however, might enable village co-operative jam. depots to save gluts of fruit, and also to continue their operations during the slacker months of the year. Women have been employed at the special emergency pulping stations during the war period and some of the village co- operative societies regard the preparation of the pulp as women's work. While it is practically certain that fruit pulping will not develop as a separate indu^stry in England and Wales, it may remain and develop to some extent as a seasonal operation in rural districts in which fruit is grown, in connection with co- operative fruit 'and vegetable societies or co-operative jam fac- tories. But development is limited by the comparative rarity of gluts of fruit. Developments would lead to a demand for women's labour; but so far as can be ascertained, such demand is likely to be small. 113. Fruit bottling. — The bottling of fruit may be carried on in connection with co-operative jam factories, or by the groups of cottagers and smallholders' wivesi who wish. to. preserve fruit by this method for home consumption, or by similar wo'men in their separate homes. Demonstrations in the methods of bottling fruit have stimulated interest in this method of preserving fruit, during the war and considerable advantages may accrue in the 89 economica;! use of the fruit crop. But the quantities bottled will depend largely upon th© supply of fruit in different s.easOins ; and so far as the Committee have any information the industry is not likely to develop in such a way as to provide employment for any very large number of women. 114. Pea -piching and -packing. — The preparation of dry peas fo'r culinary purposes is a small industi-j^ carried on mainly in Lincolnshire and some other parts of the Fen District. Women are employed by all the firms in the business, and supply the bulk of the labour. Some firms rely solely upon female workers. The operations include picking and sorting peas by hand, wrapping tabloids by machinery, and packing peas by hand. The work is seasonal, usually lasting from August to March. The factories are mostly situated in towns, and the urban type of factory worker is usually employed. The employees of the pack- ing firms sometimes work on the farms in the neighbourhood during the summer. Although some firms engaged in the business state that they could employ more women than were obtainable in the winter of 1918-19, it does not appear that any general expansion of the business may be expected. 115. Vegetable drying. — Vegetable drying stations have been established during the war, especially in Kent; but there are now no prospects of the establishment of the industry on a per- manent basis. When vegetables of various kinds can be obtained during the whole of the year there is no advantage to be obtained from the expense of the processes of drying. Moreover, doubt has been thrown on the antiscorbutic, value of dried vegetables. The old-established firms making prepared soups are likely to develop and continue because the public are accustomed to and appreciate the use of their products, and these will continue to use some dried, powdered, and shredded vegetables. The Com- mittee do not consider, however, that there will be any per- manent commercial development of the industry. 116. Potato flour and farina manufacture. — During the war a scheme for the manufacture of potato flour was instituted as an emergency measure. It was intended to set up a number of mills in country areas, and the plant was prepared and ready for use shortly before the cessation of hostilities. It is doubtful whether the industry will now develop as there will be little or no demand for the flour when fresh potatoes can be obtained all through the year. There are three mills for the . production of farina now in existence in England, and it is possible that one or two others may be established. In the opinion of the authorities, there is a commercial future for the product as it is useful for com- mercial purposes where stiffening materials are required. Women are employed in the factories, but these are not situated in rural areas. As there is no probability of any considerable extension of the industry, and the present factories are situated in urban areas, the production of the farina will not affect the employment of rural women, except very slightly in so far as it 90 creates a demand for potatoes, in the growing of which they are engaged. 117. Bacon curing. — Factories devoted to bacon curing and the preparation of pig products are situated in several small country towns. Most of the firms employ women, but the pro- portion of women to men at the time of enquiry was somewhat abnorinal, owing to the prevailing conditions created by the war. The women are mostly residents in the small towns, except in one district in Wiltshire where the rural population is drawn upon. The amount of work provided for women is greatest where sausages and pork pies are made, and, during the war, where some products were canned. The operations carried on by women include the washing of carcases, preparation of sausage skins, making sausages (by machinery), weighing and packing sausages, and making and packing pork pies. Where canned goods are prepared women also prepare (cut up) vegetables and meat, and make, fill and pack the tins. Wages for some operations, as tinning, are determined by the Trade Board under the Trade Boards Act. The work in bacon factories is not hard or un- pleasant, with the exception of washing of carcases and preparing sausage skins. The washing is undertaken only by the roughest type of women. Skin preparing is light work and only unpleasant owing to the material dealt with. Sausage and pie making is easy work. The women have nothing to do with slaughtering or actual curing of bacon. But the chief effect of the bacon-curing industry on the employment of women in the future is probably to be found in its influence on the rearing and fattening of pigs.' In one district of Wiltshire a factory has drawn large supplies of pigs from a group of small holdings in the neighbourhood, and the small-holders have benefited by the provision of a ready market for their produce. It is stated that both women and girls have been encouraged to remain in the country through the develop- ment of the holdings on which these pigs were produced. Two factories have also drawn large supplies of pigs from some Cornish villages, and would do the same in other districts if villagers would organise the supply and collection of small numbers of pigs. A factory in the Eastern Counties, under a Co-operative Society, draws pigs from the members of the society, numbering about 6,00. Some authorities on bacon-curing also consider that factories should be situated in country districts, in touch with small-holdings and allotments. 118. Milk drying. — The existing factories in which dried milk only is prepared are mainly situated in urban areas. They employ women in greater numbers than men, anS these women are drawn from the towns and also from the neighbouring villages. The work consists mainly of filling bottles (by hand or machine), and sealing, labelling, cleaning and packing bottles. The normal work of women is not hard or unpleasant, though some of the heavier jobs have been done by them during the last two years. 91 and the surroundings are clean and comfortable. Some autho- rities on the milk industry are of opinion that the organisation of the collection of whole milk may lead to tlie establishment of milk-drying j^lants in rural districts. It is in fact carried on in recently established milk factories as a means of dealing with the surplus milk. But it appears to the Committee that the organisation of a sufficient supply of fresh milk would limit the production of dried milk to the amoxmt required for the manu- facture of patent goods and specialities, for which the demand would appear to be limited. In any case, the industry is not likely to develop to such an extent as to affect in any appreciable degree the general employment of women in rural areas. 119. General considerations. — However small numerically the importance of these individual industries may appear to be, they have an appreciable influence on the work and life of women in rural and semi-rural areas. This influence is exerted in two spheres. In the first' place the industries create a demand for farm produce and add to the amount of farm employment and to the profitableness of the farming industry. In the second place, they provide opportunities for alternative work and experi- ence for women living in rural areas, and thus add to the variety of life. This is an advantage, for individual desires and tastes have to be met in the matter of vocation, and it is more desirable that country-bred women who do not wish to be occupied directly in the agricultural industry should work in local factories, rather than they should migrate to large distant urban centres. While they are resident in rural or semi-rural areas, in touch with the production of those areas, they do not forget their country experiences, and if in the course of time they marry farm* workers and settle in the localities they are better suited to a rural environment than are those who migrate to large centres at a comparatively early age. (4) Rural Industries. 120. Types of rural industries. — Besides the above industries, which, are more or less connected with agricultural production, there are many others in rural areas which have little or no direct connection with agriculture.* The attention of the Com- mitt«e was drawn to these industries chiefly in connection with the facts (1) that some of them help to retain a number of women in rural areas who may be sometimes available for seasonal work on farms, (2) that others provide part-time employ- ment for female relatives of farm workers and small holders (who are and would remain in residence in rural areas), thus improving their economic position. Basket-making is included with this group of industries because, although it is connected with osier-growing, which is a part of agricultural practice, the actual making of baskets has become quite a distinct industry, and also because in some recent developments it may be * For a brief study of these industries see Eeport on Wages and Conditions oi Labour in Agriculture, Cd. 24, 1919, pp. 21-25. 92 identified with the second class of industry indicated above. The enquiries of the Committee have, however, been limited in the main to certain old established industries. 121. Graft innovations. — Some aspects of the attempts to develop or revive the practice of certain crafts in villages have, however, been brought before the Committee.. With regard to these innovations, it may be said that experience gained during the period of the war does not warrant any optimistic forecasts as to their general possibilities. During the war the demand for the products of these attempts to revive or establish industries has been due to extraordinary trade ehorbages,-and a willingness on the part of traders to take any substitutes for ordinary trade stock which were available. The revival of production and trade in a normal fonn will expose these inno- vations to the competition of a supply produced and marketed under a strong system of organisation, while often the promoters and organisers of the" innovations, as also the makers of goods, , have little or no knowledge of business organisation, and little realisation of its importance. But in a few cases where there is a local use or demand for the articles made, the innovations will be useful. 122. Industries providing seasonal workers. — The term " rural industry" is a very vague one, and no definition can be found in the literature on the subject- It is generally applied to some form of small scale industry in the making of wearing apparel, or to small scale wood- working, and frequently to the practice of some craft in textiles, wood, leather, or metal. As there is little experience of the relation of the practice of these crafts to the work and life of the farm cottage, the Committee are unable to indicate any effect their development would have on either the demand for or the supply of female labour for farm work. But some of the relations of the old-established industries to the supply of labour are known. The Report on Wages and Conditions of Employment in Agriculture, prepared under the auspices of the Board of Agri- culture, states that under the conditions prevailing in 1918 all these industries might be regarded as competitors with farming for female labour.* But much depends upon the rates of wages offered' by the competing industries. The earnings of hat-makers in Hertfordshire have been very low, and in 1918 it was reported that " many women have given up this work in favour of farm work,"! although, there was plenty of liat- making for those who wished to have it. Amongst the " swans- down trimmers " of Cambridgeshire there is some alternation of employment between this industry and agriculture. In the case of th.e glove-making industry, again, there is some alternar tion between glove-making and farm work, at least in Oxford- shire. In one of the largest villages in which the industry is carried on in that county the firm concerned dispenses with part of its female labour during the busiest potato season. And one of the best " sewing schools " in the glove trade of the » Cd. 24, p. 23. t ,Cd. 25, p. 116. 93 county is situated in a village in which there are many small holders who are said to be doing "well. But in Somersetshire the farmers have regarded glove-making as a oompetitor for labour. * These industries may be regarded as examples of those which have been long established in country districts. But in con- sidering their relations to agriculture it must be remembered that they do not procure their materials nor expect to sell their products in the localities in which they exist. The reasons for the establishment of such industries in certain areas have little or no connection with present local conditions, except the cheap- ness of female labour, although this may not have been the case when the industry was first stai-ted. Although labour is cheap, there is always a tendency to use machinery whenever this is possible. Andl the female machine worker is in a some- what different position to the hand worker, for work must be carried on at certain specified periods. With all these industries there is great difficulty in determining whether the demands of any one can be made to fit in with the claims of agricultxiTe as two seasonal occupations giving an adequate amount of employment. This depends partly on the class of goods produced, and partly on the commercial methods and resources of the firms engaged. The gloving industry, for instance, has provided very irregular employment. It is often the policy for a firm to keep an excessive number of outworkers on their books, giving out small quantities of work at slack times, or perhaps none at all on occasions, in order to have a large supply of labour available for a sudden demand. On the other hand, some of the best firms, with adequate financial resources and good trade connections, attempt to regularise employment. It is difficult, if not impossible, to provide any indications of the future prospects of these rural industries. At present, they do occasionally provide a supply of labour for farm work, but on occasions the farmers regard these as competitors for labour. Seasonal alternations of employment between such industries also depends upon the type of agriculture prevalent in the localities in which they are carried on. Where seasonal female labour is required in farming and another industry, mutual developments in the employment of labour may be of advantage to the two industries and to the workers themselves. Bui as there is a tendency to use machinery and to specialise labour in some degree, in every industry or under every firm which does not depend for its success on the very cheapest, or perhaps sweated labour, there is little hope of any dievelopment of a seasonal class of labour in this direction, except under undesirable conditions. 123. Industries ■providing^ home employment. — These industries may be some of those m.entioned above, but while gloving under modem conditions, for instance, is carried on chiefly by machine operators in small workrooms in villages where employment is continuous at such times as there is work to be done, it may also 9i be given out to hand- workers at home. Here it may be picked ujj or drojoped as the requirements of other work demand. And without depending upon such work for a livelihood women may reap advantage from its practice. It must not be thought, how- ever, that undertaking such work does not involve some respon- sibility as to time of completion, for when the work is given out by a commercial firm the demand foi work at one time may be vea'y urgent, while at others there may be little or no demand. Under circumstances in which the workers were the promoters of the industry this would not be the case ; but while commercial firms both supply the raw material and collect and sell the pro- duce the workers who wish to retain the work are more or less compelled to study the convenience of the promoters of ihe industry. However, the employment provided by these hand industries has been of advantage to the female relatives of farm workers, and sometimes to those of small holders, in spite of Ihe fact that it has often been badly paid. In the gloving industry of Oxfordshire, for instance, the factories are popular because they give employment to girls who would not undertake home work; but there are many women with home ties who like taking the work home. Sometimes they devote the best pai-t of four days to gloving and the other two to hoiisework, in other cases the time given to gloving is very much less. And as there appears to be a real and increasing demand for hand-sewn gloves, and in view of the fact that the actual cost pai'd for seaming up is a small proportion of the total cost of the product, there appears to be no reason why the glove-maker should not receive good wages for good work. On the whole, however, these industries seem to be gradually disappearing.* The hand knitted glove industry of the Eingwood district of Hampshire, which at one time provided a good deal of home employment for the female relatives of small holders, seems to be suffering from changes of fashion and the competition of the machine made article. And it appears to be a general condition that where these hand industries are more or less connected with a factory system, as they often are, the workers are poorly paid and are offered only the work with which the factories cannot cope. 124. Control of part-time industries. — The successful develop- ment of industries of this type in connection with seasonal work in agriculture, or part-time work in the homes of agriculturalists, appears to depend upon the workers themselves being the pro- moters and controllers of the industries, having an organisation for securing raw material and selling products; or upon the control being exercised by such firms as are financially strong enough to supply raw materials for work when other employment is scarce, and to store the product against the demand of the maxket. Under any other circumstances there is no consideration of the respective demands of the two occiipations on the workers. At present many of the small firms which .organise these trades are in * See Cd. 24, p. 24. 95 sucli a position that their demands for labour are entirely deter- mined by the immediate condition of the market as regards raw material and demand for goods : and they are not in a position to arrange work to meet the seasonal demands of agricultural employment. Yet amongst the seasonal field-workers, of some districts, and the female relatives of cottagers and small holders in others, there is a potential supply of labour that might be attracted to some part-time work, with advantage to the promoters of a suitable industry and the workers themselves. 125. Application of power to village industries. — ^The Com- mittee have not devoted any considerable amount of attention to this subject, but they are informed tha.t in certain village work- rooms in which gloves are made the machines are prepared for either manual (treadle) or mechaaiical power ; and that the workers have shdwn great interest in the possibility of applying electrical power to their machines. But whatever advance may be made in this connection only those workers who attend a workroom would be affected. The home-worker would not be able to obtain any benefit unless the power could be used in the house, and possibly for other purposes such as lighting, besides tlie propul- sion of m.achin6ry. 126. Osier growing and basket making. — Osier growing as such hasi provided very little labour for women in the past, and this mainly in the form of hoeing or weeding. In connection with the production of rods, the chief part of the employment of women is in the peeling. Where the rods are sold green,- or in the dry state with the bark still on as for making agricultural baskets, there is little work for women in the ^jroduotion of osiers. As the chief part of the work done by -women is peeling it is neces- sarily seasonal. The peeling of buff rods is usually carried on in the winter months, from the time when the cutting begins onwards. But where rods are peeled after having dried it may be can*ied on at other seasons. In connection with some beds ' only part of the day is worked when peeling buff rods, because of the exigencies of boiling. The peeling of white rods is carried on mainly from May to July, but it may begin somewhat earlier. Sometimes the period in which the peeling of white rods is carried on in connection with any particular bed may be quite short. This is the case where only one variety of salix is growii, but the period is extended when several varieties which arrive at peeling condition in succession are grown. Also women are some- times employed sorting rods, and in other capacities. Thus the work is distinctly seasonal although where both buff and white rods are prepared, several months' work may be obtained by the more expert peelers. The work on osier growing is also more or less localised in certain of the Midland, South Midland, and South Western Counties, and is certainly localised in river valleys. The making of willow baskets has been, practically speaking, entirely the work of men ; but in some towns, as in Birmingham, women have been employed on the lighter work. The industry 96 lias also for the most part been carried on in towns. Ttis is due to the necessity of making baskets where the demand arises, because it is easier and less expensive to transport rods than baskets. In addition, restrictions on the training of apprentices have been rigidly enforced by the trade unions concerned in the industry ; but some change in this respect has been shown receaitly. Although it is known that women can work with comparatively thin rods on the lighter types O'f basket, there is some doubt whether any except selected women could work successfully with the strong rods used for agricultural baskets. But as rods could be grown foa- a local demand in areas in which none are grown at present, and as they can also be transported into districts in which agricultural baskets are required, some experiments might be made in the introduction of basket making to meet a local demand in districts in which seasonal labour is employed in market gardening, or where small holders' relatives are partly employed in this work. For in these districts the baskets are used. Some difficulty may be met, however, in the fact that baskets are usually the property of com mission agents or sales- men, especially when baskets are returnable, and are not the property of the small holder. And on the whole there are great advantages in this system, for the position of the salesman insures him to a large extent against the losses of baskets which woidd be incurred if they were owned by the growers. At the same time, baskets that never leave the premises are needed for the home and the holding, and as these are usually ;of a lighter character than the marketing baskets they could probably be made by women. The Women's Institutes have already had a demand for instruction in basket making from one or twoi areas and have not been in a position to supply either instructors or rods. There is, however, another type of basket making which women have carried on with some success, viz., chip-basket making. These baskets are used for marketing strawberries and are non- returnable., The eixperiments made in the production of these baskets where they are needed for the marketing of soft fruits for table have been quite successful. As in the case of willow baskets, the raw mlaterial is more easily transported than the finished article, and wherever these baskets are required the female relatives of market gardeners and seasonal workers in the in- dustry might be f uther encouraged toi supply the demand. CHAPTEE YII. STATE ACTION AND THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN. 127. General considerations. — The consideration of the second part of the terms of reference to the sub-committee, viz., "to 97 recammend what steps should be taken to give practical effect to such conclusions as may be drawn,'.' as to the economic part women can play m agTiculture, may be facilitated by a brief statement of the scope of such action in relation to the various classes of women workers. During the period of the war many unprecedented actions were taken by the State to meet emergency conditions. These actions were necessary in the circumstances under which they were taken, and on the whole they were entirely justihed by the results. One effect of these actions, however has been to create an opinion that the State could take similar action under quite dissimilar conditions*. For instance, the fact that the majority of the women of the land army received some specific training m institutions (often temporary) provided by tte State hiis created an impression that similar training could be pro- vided for all or nearly all women workers on farms. This may be an extreme instance, but it illustrates the attitude of mind of enthusiastic advocates of the employment of women in agricul- • ture towards possible methods of realising their aims. Moreover, it illustrates the growth of the tendency to limit the responsibility of the individual in regard to the welfare of his own business or the general economic welfare of the community and to extend the responsibility and the sphere of action of the State. In many instances it is eminently desirable that State action should be extended, but immediate economic results of State actions can be purchased tooi dearly (in normal times) if individual responsi- bility is sapped. The ]jrovision of facilities for general education and of some facilities for technical education is now fully recog- nised as a function of the State, and the State has fully accepted the responsibility for these provisions, but so long as industry is privately organised the State cannot accept the responsibility for the manual training of every workman. Each employer of 4idolescent workers must be held" responsible in some measure for the training of these workers in the vocation they follow in his employment, either personally or h\ the other employees with whom they work. Again, the provision of facilities for obtain- ing employment on one hand or labour on the other is now fully recognised as a function of the State, and the responsibility for the provision of some such facilities has been accepted, but upon the prospective employer or employee rests the responsibility of legistering requirements. Under abnormal circumstances the State has not only registered requirements and given mutual information, but has stimulated and organised active demand for labour where previously only a passive need was felt, and stimu- lated a willingness to work where no demand for work sixisted; it has also' organised supply, even to the extent of providing trained gang leaders or forewomen to take the labour on to the farms and supervise the tasks performed. To what extent such actions as have been taken during the war as regards the supply of labour and the training of workers wo'uld be justified under normal economic conditions is a matter for grave consideration. The Committee prefer to consider such questions in relation lo jspecific classes of labour, but general principles should be observed. 23698 O 98 128. Voluntary Associations. — Social action is not limited to the activities of the State, either in national or local government and administration, for the existence of voluntary associations has always been manifest in the rural areas of England and Wales. It is true that so far as formal association is concerned the voluntary associations have been more prominent in the spheres occupied by men than in those occupied by women. Forms of voluntary associations of women have existed, however, in English villages, and it is remarkable that the recent develop- ment of one association — the Women's Institute — should have been so rapid, and that persons who have been connected with tLe employment of women in agriculture during the war should have turned their attention, as they have, to the advantages of other forms of asf3ociation. Suggestions have been made to the Com- mittee that the Board of Agricidture, or some other authority, should advocate the organisation, or organise, guilds or unions of women employed on farms. While this indicates little under- standing of the principles of voluntary association it does also indicate that the value of associative life is being recognised by riiral women. The distinctive value of voluntary associations is that they express the inherent desire for association, that their aims nnd purposes express the desires which ai« most important to their members, and that service and loyalty are willingly given for the common good. This being the case, the Committee could not suggest that any part of the State organisation, either national or local, should attem^Dt to foster voluntary associations. In some measure associations so organised become mere extensions of the State organisation, while the true principle of social development is that the State should become an extension, of the voluntary association. The Committee are of opinion that the extension of voluntary associations amongst rural women is highly desirable; and they would not hesitate to suggest that women who are interested in any form of such association should do their utmost tO' establish their associations in the villages. However limited the scope of the organisation or its aims, it is ahvay? to be preferred that a woman should belong to some form of public association than that her associative life should be limited to that of the family. And it is probable that only through the growth of voluntary associations can women take their full part in the social life of their communities. It must be pointed out, however, that certain class distinctions affect the organisation of women's associations. For instance, the wives of the more prosperous farmers, on one hand, and the field-working women (at least those who are thus normally employed), on the other, rarely become members of the Women's Institutes. And if an analogy may be drawn from men's asso- ciations it appears that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to develop one association which will cover the needs, end express the desires of all the women directly connected with the work and life of English farms. In respect of organisation for some purposes, indeed, 'it may be found to be preferable that women 99 ■ should become members of organisations of which the membeir- ship has hitherto been practically confined to men, although no sex bar to membership has been raised. This applies particularly to organisations for economic purposes, as, for instance, agricul- tural co-operative societies. 129. Women's Institutes. — In regard to the more general func- tions of women in rural work and life, as in the home and the minor departments of work of the small holding and the small farm, however, it appears that one organisation with a catholic basis of membership, and a constitiition which allows the pursuit of many aims, may be organised with considerable success. The Women's Institutes are to some extent supplying the need of such an organisation in the districts in which they have been established ; and it is hoped that they will give increased special attention to women engaged in agriculture. It is highly im- portant that the essential character of the institutes as voluntary associations shall be maintained. While the assistance of the State may be given as regards the financial aspects of organisa- tion, and in the attainments of some aims which are fully recognised as a social vahie, especially where the institutes are engaged in tasks which have been recognised as part of the functions and responsibilities of the State (as in the provision of facilities for obtaining knowledge), the development of the general form of organisation and the policy of the institutes should be left to the members. Only on this basis will the real needs of women be expressed, and the loyalty of members secured. The Ctimmittee have been concerned with the work of the Institutes only in so far as it relates to matters which are connected with the functions of the Board of Agriculture or local authorities, or matters which may be so connected in the near future. — as education and the development of rural industries. They are of opinion that some of the most important work the Institutes can do is to stimulate women to use the facilities for obtaining knowledge which already exist, but which have hithertoi been inadequately used, and to urge upon local authorities the necessity of using their powers to provide facilities which hitherto have been lacking. In this connection the Committee wish to state that they bave been informed that the requirements of the Institutes in the matter of instructors have not always been met, and express their emphatic opinion that when an Institute can organise a class on any subject of local educational importance in which it is within the' legal power of the local authority to provide an instructor the demand should be met with reasonable promptitude. The other aspect of the work of the Institutes which appears to this Committee to be of great importance is the stimulation of mutual aid amongst women, by either informal or formal methods of co-operation. Here, again, the State has been con- cerned with development. In the case of formal co-operation in the agricultural industry the State has given financial aid in orgianisation, and this aid may be extended to societies deal- ing with the particular interests o^f women, under the usual con- ditions and safeguards. D2 25698 100 The work of tbe Women's Institutes, however, will not be confined to the sphere of the functions and responsiibilities of the Board of Agriculture and the Local Education Authorities acting in conjunction with the Board, but will be concerned with the work of other Departments, such as the Ministry of Health, and local authorities acting in conjunction therewith. This work may be of equal importance in the general life of women in rural districts to any of the Institutes' work the Committee have considered. Moreover, the ultimate value of Women's Institutes is not to be measured by the value O'f specific tasks accomplished, but by the extent to which they are able to create in the women of the rural districts an appreci^ation of the value of associative life, a realisation of what women may do for the benefit of their households and communities, and form a vehicle for the expres- sion of the needs of rural women as felt by their members. Apart from these general considerations it will be more con- venient to state the possibilities of State action in respect of each class of woman connected with farm work. 130. Dependants of occupiers. — Amongst this group the wives and relatives of small holders may be included with the wives and relatives of the farmers, both large and small. Their chief n^eed is that of greater facilities for obtaining knowledge of practical value in the work of the farms and the houses. This is more particularly true, of the wives and relatives of the small holders and small farmers. Everywhere there appears amongst this class a-lack of knowledge which would be helpful in some part of their work. The character of the information or experi- ence needed varies in different localities. In one locality the need of instruction in domestic economy appears uppermost, in another the general drudgery of the work is oppressive and methods of saving labour are required. A very detailed survey would be required to discover the specific need of each locality, but the general need is for stimulus to consider ways of improving methods of work, or of obtaining better results from- the work done. The specific need is shown in demands for instruction in bacon curing, or in fruit preserving, as the case may be; but the provision of facilities for teaching such subjects, which did not recognise that these demands were merely symptomatic, would not go far towards meeting the real general need. The Committee oonsider that domestic economy should form a part of the curricula of all farm institutes, which should be open to women, and that instruction in domestic economy should be given with special regard to the utilisation of home-grown produce and to the use of labour-saving'appliances in the farm house. Steps should be taken to induce wives and intending wives of farmers to take such courses. The Local Education Authorities should also give special facilities for classes in domestic economy through the Women's Institutes. The Committee also wish to recommend that the Women's Institutes should specially encourage and inculcate ideas as to the benefit of co-operative effort in the 101 maimfactiire of produce at central village centres, and should kold demonstrations of simple labour-saving devices in central villages. The direct results obtained from formal methods of teaching, either in institutions or through itinerent instructors, do not represent the total results of teaching, for much good accrues to a comparison of experience and methods amongst rural women, and effects of education percolate through the im^mediate recipients. The work of itinerant instructors and of the Women's Institutes is of greatest importance in connection with the work and life of women on small holdings. The Committee regard the work of these women as of such high importance as factors in success that special .consideration should be given to local possiibilities of their education, organisation and social life. 131. Farm servants. — In every district in which it hat, been customary to employ women servants for the work of the farm- house and yard, there is an unsatisfied demand for this type of worker. There is also a common unwillingness on the part of the class of women who have hitherto undertaken this type of service to enter it in such numbers as formerly. The problem is such that it does not readily lend itself to treatment by any public authority. It is difficult to regulate hours of labour in service of this character by statutory procedure, and although rates of ivages are fixed for such part of the work as is agricultural in character there is difficulty in enforcing them. It might be possiible to regulate total rates of wages, but from the evidence obtained by the Committee the rates of wages do not appear to be so great a cause of unwillingness to enter farm service as the hours of labour, the general drudgery of the work, and the loneliness of the life. Accordingly, the Committee feel that the problem is largely an internal one, for the consideration of the farmer and more especially of his wife. If they wish to procure servants in the future they must arrange the work and its attendant conditions in such a way as not to discourage women entering this employment. But it is necessary that they should receive some assistance from educational institutions in methods of re-organising work. Local demonstrations of simple labour- saving devices for the home, organised by the farm institutes for the localities in which the system of hiring women servants exists, might do. much to assist the mistresses to' solve part of the problem; while the education of some mistresses or intending mistresses in institutions would provide channels for the circula- tion of knowledge in this matter. Moreover, a number of scholarships for the best of the farm servants themselves should be established at the farm institutes for the counties in which farm servants are numerous. * There is no doubt whatever that there is much unnecessary' time spent in work, partly due to bad equipment of houses and 102 byres, and partly due to slovenly habits of work generated by feeling that accomijlishment of given tasks did not shorten the hours of labour. To remove this an entirely new spirit is re- quired in both mistresses an,d servants. Mistresses should realise that they have a right to a certain amount of labour accomplished rather than to the whole of the working hours of the servant; while servants should be able to feel that the speedy accomplish- ment of work would not lead to the imposition of other tasks in the time set free, especially if this time is outside the proper daily amount of time given to work. The work of female farm servants, like that of stockmen, must often be done at certain stated times, as when they undertake milking and stock tending, but if the time between these tasks is equivalent to a fair day there is no reason for extending work into the late evening hours. And with work of such regularity as milking and stock tending there is every reason for the establishment of certain regular holidays, arrangements being made for the work to be done by some other member of the household or the staff. The recognition of certain speciiied hours of work and leisure, besides relieving from drudgery, and very probably removing a spirit of " ca canny," would do a great deal to raise the status of the farm servant. Some efforts in this directioji are- urgently reqiiired. But the raising of the status of the farm servant, in the pasture farming areas, whether by the employers or through some external agency, would probably require a re-organisation of the farm work, and certainly something akin to a new spirit. It would mean a clear recognition by both parties to the contract of -employment of certain amounts of labour or time which wo\iid constitute the day's or week's work; and this would necessitate acceleration of the methods of working if the farms are to he carried on with their normal staffs. The Committee are of opinion that this is not impossible, but- ways and means should be considered by those responsible for agricultural education and manual training in the local areas. Further, m view of the present shortage of women servants in the north-western and south-western counties of England and in Wales, it is relevant to indicate that some changes in the system of employment of m.en would improve the^ situation in' most of the areas in which it is customary to board and lodge male farm servants in the farm houses. Part of the reason for this custom is to be found in the shortage of farm cottages, or the distance of available cottages from the farm homesteads. But the de- mand for female servants arises partly fro-m the extra work in the farm house as a result of lodging male servants, and any decrease in the number of these with corresponding increase in the number of married farm workers living in their separate iK)ttages, would relieve the situation in the farm houses. Still, where small farms prevail, and numbers of both the young men and women who are erstwhile servants hope to have farms of their own at a later stage, the servant system will remain. And as the wives of marnied labourers sometimes object to living in the isolated situations in which the farms are placed, there is much 1U3 to be said for the system of gathering th^ staif of the farm more or less under one roof. It is possible, also, that the development of systems of collecting milk for the wholesale trade or for chee&e- nialang may affect the demand for women farm servants But as the system of butter or cheesemaking o-n farms connected with the rearing of young stock is sure to continue in the outlying pasture districts the demand for female servants in these districts will also continue. With the present demands of workers, there- fore, even of those who hope later to have farms of their own, the system miist be adapted to the provision of leisure time, and to the provision of facilities for social intercourse outside the farm house. Any form of social club, or of voluntary associatiou, which could be organised for servants would help to relieve the feeling of isolation. At present, the Women's Institutes have very few members amongst the class of women servants. If they could make special efforts in the districts concerned to induce these -women to join, it would be of benefit to the whole of the farming community. Before recommending any social measures to deal with wages and hours of female farm servants, the Committee would wish that much consideration should be given by those locally con- cerned to methods of improving the internal working of the farm and homestead. The parties here concerned are the Local Education Authorities, the farmers, and the landowners. The Education Authorities, should 'provide for ;simple trials and demonstratibns of labour-saving devices. It may be that the installation of a donkey engine for the chum and wash-tub is as economic a part of the farm management as that of the engine which drives the chaff and root cutter; the farmers should consider these, and also methods of arranging for the restriction of work to certain hours (with due consideration to the requirements of the seasons). The owners of farms should very seriously consider the improvement of byres, yards and houses, with a view to curtailing unnecessary labour. While the Committee realise the difficulty of making extensive altera- tions in buildings, they are of opinion that small, alterations and improvements intelligently conceived may have consider- able effects on the utility of present equipment. 132. Casual women workers. — The rates of wages for these women, whether working on ordinary farms or market gardiens, can, legally, be determined by the Agricultural Wages Board. But, in practice, there is considerable difficulty in this pro- cedure, because a large amount of the work is done on the piece- rate system. There does not appear, however, to be any general abrogation of the time-rates fixed in each county in the fixing of piece-rates between employers and workers. Beyond the differential time-rates for overtime and for work before and after certain specified hours as fixed by the Agricultural Wages Board it does not appear that any regulation of hours is required in the cases of these workers. Much, if not most, of the work is seasonal, and, with the prevailing market conditions, it is e.ssential that some of the tasks should be carried on in tho 104 hours wJiiich are generally regarded as being outside the normal hours of farm work, as in the case of gathering and packing produce for market. The Committee have received evidence of the value of some form of organisation of casual women workers for the work of the farm, especially in the provisioii of a skilled worker and good organiser to act qs ganger or foipwoman. While such leaders have recently been supplied by organisations established under the auspices of the Board of Agriculture, the Committee feel that this is essentially a function of the farmer. Now that the wages of the casual worker have reached a much higher level than formerly, the employment of such a woman is usually to his financial advantage, and he should be responsible for her employment. When a number of women are employed on a farm, it is sometimes preferable that they work under a woman organiser. This ganger or forewoman would receive her orders from the ordinary foreman or the farmer, whichever managed the general labour of the farm. She would be able to collect the casual women workers, to teach such of them as were inexperienced the elements of the work, and generally to carry out the immediate supervision of their labour. There are numbers of women who have been trained in the Land Army and the Women's National Land Service Corps, some of whom have been in charge of gangs, who are quite capable of supplying these requirements. The Committee also suggest that farmers should supply shelters for women working in the fields. In the case of market gardens or farms of a similar type, where some crops on which women work are nearly always on a set of fields, a permanent shed, with a stove or facilities for fixes, should be provided for a mess-room, for shelter in inclement weather, and for drying clothes. Where the women frequently move from field to field, the fields being some distance apart, such shelter might take the form of a movable hut (such as a shepherd's). Where numbers of women, are employed, and are collected and distributed at the homiestead, sometimes being employed there or in the vicinity, similar conveniences should be provided for meals, and for leaving baskets and clothes. The more regular of these workers, especially those who have to support themselves, should be induced to develop their know- ledge and skill in work. Consequently, wherever any demand for training in manual operations arises, either from employers or workers, Local Education Authorities should make provision for such training. But these provisions should be limited to those that the farmer could not be held responsible for in the ordinary course of employment. As previously stated, employers of young or inexperienced workers ought still to provide such training as can be given by themselves or their representatives, or by other workers they employ, in the ordinary course of the work. Although the Committee have no definite recommendation to make, they consider that there are some possibilities of 105 linking up work in rural industries with casual work on the farm. The study of rural industries which the Committee were able to make was not suiEcient to enable them to' discuss practical details, but it appears that -knowledge of local conditions would reveal opportunities for establishing industries which would be of distinct value to the casual workers and to the district at large. They are of opinion that the possibilities of such development should be studied in * few districts in which casual workers are numerous, such as B.edfordshire and Kent. 133. Part-time milkers. — The Committee anticipate that there will be an increased demand for this type of worker on- dairy farms, and that the supply depends to' so^me extent upon the pro- vision which -nipjy be given for leiaming milking. Cei%i!in farmers who require this type of worker may be willing to teach ■ intending milkers, but others would lake to the idea more readily if a supply of trained milkers were available. Accordingly the Committee recommend, that in dairying districts the Local Education Authority should organise milking classes. As in the case of other women workers in byres and sheds, the work done by women would be facilitated by improivements in buildings. The lightening of the work induced by such changes would, in some cases at least, tend to the employment of women in the jjlace of men, and in any case would probably lead to an increase in the total number of women employed. 134. Full-time Tnilkers and stock women. — The considerations as to improvements in buildings again apply to this class, as also the considerations of the supply of convenience for meals and for drying clothes. The minimum of wages as determined for women in each county apply to these skilled workers, no special rates having been fixed for them. The Committee are of opinion that facilities for training stock women should be given so long as the demand for their services exist. This will be best accomplished through special short courses at Farm Institutes, and some scholarships or financial assistance will be required. 135. Skilled workers — Dairymaids and cheese makers. — As regards wages, hours and status the position of this class of worker appear to be comparatively siatisfactory. The action of public authorities, however, in relation to training greatly affects the interest of these workers. The interactions of supply and demand seem to be very close in the relation of training to both supply and demand for the skilled dairymaids and cheese makers. It is difficult to say whether the supply was more generally the cause of the demand or vice versa. But this being the case, it is essential that existing facilities for training shall not be diminished while the demand continues. The Committee consider that scholarships and assisted student- ships for training for sldlled posts in the dairy and cheese factory should be available in sufficient numbers for those who need them. Further, -this class of post should be open to the most intelligent and enterprising of the girls who enter farm service, having ihe 106 initiative later to^ obtain the necessary training. The posts should also be open to the daughters of small holders and small farmers; and for both the farm servant and tho daughter of the small farmer some form of financial assistance for training is required. The Agricultural Wages Board have power to fix rates of wages for these skilled dairy workers, sio far as they are employed on farms, but no special rates have as yet been determined. Evidence with regard to the prospects of employment of women cheese makers in factories is rather conflicting, but on the whole it appears that even with an extension of factories the demand for the skilled cheese maker is not likely to increase to any great extent. The general facilities for irainiug provided for farm cheese makers and dairymaids would also meet the public obliga- tions with regard to^ the training of factory cheese makers. 136. Poultry u-orkers. — The work of women in poultry keeping is likely to be of growing importance, both as skilled poultry women, and on farms and small holdings where the care of poultry occupies a portion of their time only. The demand for skilled poultry women is limited, but constant, and on the whole the conditions of their employment appear to be satisfactory. The need of this class and also of women who, among other duties, tend poultry on farms and small holdings is for better training and more opportunity to secure it. The provision for training a womon who desires to become a teacher or to manage a large commercial plant is, in the opinion of the Committee, inadequate and requires careful consideration. The need for efficient instruction of women who are partly engaged in the care of poultry is of even greater importance in relation to the immediate increase of production. The Committee consider that the present system of instruction should be extended ^nd supplemented by the establishment of demonstra- tion centres and that the system of supplying stock poultry and eggs through approved stations should be continued. CHAPTEE VIII ^ SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 137. Educational requirevients. — In concluding this Report,, the Committee wish to call attention to the fact that all evidence laid before them tends to show that the type of women who are wanted for the economic development of agriculture are mainly the local women, relatives of men engaged in agriculture. Of the fuU-itime imported workers the only women who appear to be essentially reqiiired in any large number are the farm domestic servants in Wales and the North of England. Of this type there is a shortage, due mainly to the unfavourable con- ditions of long hours, want of statiis, and the isolated position of the workers, rather than to the wages and type of work. 107 As regards tlie supply of the local worker in each branch of the industry, with the exception of the part-time milker, the immediate demand appears, on the whole, to be fairly well met. This does not mean however that the existing state of affairs is satisfactory and that no recommendatioiis are needed, for there is a vast amount of potential help which the industiy requires from local women, whether they are dependents of occupiers or wage-earners, before it can reach its fullest development. This need is expressed, not in terms of shortage of labour, but in a general absence both on the part of employer and employee of knowledge and training in methods oi how to make the best and most economical use of both time and labour, and how to turn home grown products to best accooint whether' they are for sale or home consumption. It is here that the function of the local woman wants develop- ing. The work of the farm home, intimately connected as it is with the agricultural industry, must be organised as highly as that of the farm itself, and woman's labour, whether in the house or on the farm, and whether of the wife or the wage-earner, must be used as economically and as efficiently as that of men. The subject of supplying the educational requirements of this type of worker, especially those of the smallholder's wife, there- fore is of greater importance than any other which has to be considered in relation to the work of women on tie land. As the women in question are seldom in a position to leave their homes, the key notes of any recommendations for the most eco- nomic employment of women in agriculture are local demonstra- tions and itinerant instiuction, local organisation of workers and such social enterprise as stimulates a demand locally for education and co-operative effort. The whole question thus resolves itself mainly into an educa- tional one, and for this reason, when we come to that part of our Report which deals with recommendations, we find ourselves largely covering the same ground as that of the Report of tJie Agricultural Education Conference on the Agricultural Educa- tion of Women, 1915. It is significant that the two enquiries having approached the suTjject from opposite ends, should reach similar conclusions. The Agricultural Education Conference studied the question of the requirements of women from the stand- point of agricultural education generally; this Committee has Studied it from the point of view of the need for woimen in the economic development of agriculture. If has dealt in this Report with wO'men's work, not as an isolated subject, but in its relation to the whole agricultural outlook. It has endeavoured to show, relatively and numerically, to what extent the past and present phases of agriculture have been dependent on women, and how the increase or decrease of particular types of farming and methods of cultivation may make greater or less demands on that help. Its aim has been to provide a brond basis of information for those who are responsible for providing facilities involvi §-2:3 Of P *^ £ §13 c p< IB h ei 3 >>§ i " d c3 a o ^ ro 60 o OJ <-> a fci '^ o a 2-a J3 -to-^ ■Sf 1- OQ ;:3 « ^^^ 02 « 02 CQ O (=1 >, 1^ 2 tS.2 . &, 3 g S - J ao m -.3 ? 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Relatives. Div. I. A. : Acres; Per cent. Bedford 64 43 120 Huntingdon 80 41 116 Cambridge 71 33 \ 33/ 99 „ leleofEly 54 SufEolk,-E .... „ w . -84 .. 99 28 \ 22/ 137 Eaeei 84 35 94 Hertford 88 38 95 Middlesex 45 72 147 London 35 68 46 Div. I. B. . Norfolk 77 27 131 Lincoln, Holland 45 261 „ Basteven 92 37 [ 156 „ Lindsey 71 36 J Yorks, E. R 89 34. 261 Div. 11. A .- Kent 66 59 107 Surrey 54 61 119 Sussex, E. „ w 65 84 7n 73/ 129 lierkshire 88 49 121 Hampshire 70 411 57/ 140 „ Isle of Wight 68 Div. II. B : Nottingham ... 64 51 173 Leicester !.. 63 80 154 Rutland 94 63 142 Northampton 98 70 \ 49/ 118 ,, Soke of Peterboro' 62 Buckingham 73 67 111 Oxford 93 52 109 Warwick 68 73 159 Div. III. A : Salop 62 69 244 Worcester 46 68 172 Gloucester 66 67 173 Wiltshire 103 63 131 Monmouth 51 86 247 Hereford 69 72 205 Div. in. B : Somerset... 60 81 261 Dorset 89 67 210 Devon 70 59 363 Cornwall 48 46 303' Div. IV. A : Northumberland 120 74 333 Durham 63 67 341 Torks.Jf.R 66 63 314 „ W.R 45 70 205 Div. IV. B: Cumberland 71 65 419 Westmorland 72 84 438 Lancaster 41 68 351 Chester 44 63 373 Derby 43 82 248 Stafford 49 74 246 115 II. — ^WoMEN IN Farm Work. The Besult of Enquiry issued to Employers. Number of Forms sent out, 480, viz. : — Representatives of Employers on Agricultural Wages i Board ... Per County Agricultural Organisers, Berks Per County Agricultural Organisers, Oxon Per County Agricultural Organisers, Cumberland Per County Agricultural Organisers, Northampton and Isle of Ely Per County Agricultural Organisers, Wilts Per Women's National Land Service Corps 354 14 14 30 26 12 30 Total number of replies received to April 2nd, 1919, 368. 480 BedfordsMre . 5 Middlesex 7 Berks . 15 Norfolk . 13 Bucks . 10 Northamptonshire . 19 Cambridgeshire . 11 Northumberland 2 Cheshire . 6 Nottinghamshire . 7 Cortiwall . 10 Oxon . 17 Cumberland . 45 Rutland ... 1 Derbyshire . 5 Shropshire 7 Devonshire 7 Somerset ... 8 Dorset 8 Staffordshire 4 Essex ' 9 Suffolk ... 6 Gloucestershire 7 Surrey 6 Hampshire . i) Sussex 3 Herefordshire . 5 Warwickshire 3 Hertfordshire . 14 Westmorland 6 Huntingdonshire Kent 3 . 16 Wilts Worcestershire . 11 . 8 Lancashire 9 Yorkshire . 10 Leicestershire 7 Wales . 24 Lincolnshire . 5 26698 116 Analysis of Replies. Total forms sent out, 480. Total replies received, 368. (1) Did you employ women before the War ? Yes. 127 No. 197 No reply 44 (2) Have you employed them during the War ? Yes. 345 No. 18 No reply 5 (3) To what capacity have you employed them ? Milking 12 Dairy work ... 1 Milking, stock and field work ... 120 Milking and stock ... 14 Milking, stock, field and poultry ... ... ... 2 Milking, stock, field and horse work ... ... 2 Milking and field work 48 Milking and garden ... ... 3 Stock and field work ... .. ... ... 13 Field work 99 Field work and sheep ... ... 3 Field work and garden ... ... 8 Field and horse work ... ... ... ... 2 Field work and forestry ,. ... ... ... '2 Harvest only ... ... ... 3 Garden market ... ... ... ... ... 3 Garden ... ... ... ... ... ... 3 Garden and horse work ... ... ... ... 1 Potato lifting ... ... ... ... ... 1 Glasshouses ... ... ... ... 1 Horse work ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 Tractor work ... ... ... ... ... 1 No reply ... ... ... ... ... ... 2 (4) Was their work satisfactory ? Yes. 220 No. 26 Fairly or partly 118 No reply 4. (5) Were the women local or imported ? Local 157 Imported 93 Both kinds 95 No reply 13 (6) Were the women whole or part-time workers ? Whole 134 Part 77 Both 123 No reply 34 (7) Do you anticipate a larger demand for Women's labour after the War than before the War ? Yes. 156 No. 117 Doubtful 27 No reply 68 117 III. — ^Female Agbicultural Laboubers, 1911. • {Beturn issued to House of Commons, March, 1915.) dranA Average Weekly No. of Female Agri- cultural Labourers Total Male and Female Percentage of Earnings of all A-gricullural Labourers (without board and County. Agri- cultural Females to Grand lodging) in 1907. (Board of Trade Census 1911. Labourers Census 1911. Total. Enquiry re earnings and hours of labour, . 1906.) (Cd. 5460.) Bedford 47 9,431 •49 s. d. 17 5 Berkshire 116 10,512 1-10 17 9 Buckingham 92 11,178 •82 17 9 Cambridge 468 19,487 2^40 17 2 Chester 433 14,813 2-49 19 9 Cornwall 158 10,524 1-50 18 5 Cumberland 191 6,593 2^89 20 5 Derby 107 7,811 1-37 21 1 Devon 326 21,501 1^52 18 1 Dorset 174 10,784 r62 16 6 Durham 690 6,312 10-93 22 9 Essex 402 32,336 1-24 17 7 Gloucester 145 14,052 1-03 17 6 Hants and Isle of 202 18,528 1-09 18 1 Wight Hereford 152 8,810 1^73 17 11 Hertford 126 11,127 1^13 18 3 Huntingdon 96 6,335 r5i 17 2 Kent 1,357 32,948 4-12 19 4 Lancashire 494 20,446 2^42 21 7 Leicester 56 8,137 •69 19 7 Lincoln 607 38,332 1-59 19 3 Middlesex 242 1,011 5-59 20 10 Monmouth 31 3,229 •96 19 1 Norfolk 351 35,857 •99 16 6 Northampton 68 12,986 •52 11 10 Northumberland ... 1,864 8,084 22^07 21 10 Nottingham 76 9,429 •80 20 6 Oxford 62 , 11,663 •53 16 11 Butland 9 1,525 •59 17 10 Shropshire 247 13,497 1-83 18 10 Somerset ... 355 17,944 1^99 17 8 Stafford 159 12,460 1^28 19 i Suffolk 166 29,668 •56 16 7 Surrey 188 10,212 1^84 9 9 Sussex 156 20,538 •76 18 9 Warwick 83 10,744 •77 16 6 Westmorland 52 2,178 2^39 21 8 Wilts 159 16,833 •96 16 9 Worcester 216 11,452 1^89 17 2 Yorkshire : — E. Riding 180 13,256 1-36 20 1 N. Riding 173 11,707 1^48 20 6 W. Riding 531 19,977 2-67 20 11 * While the Committee realise that these f gures are nc )w out of date, and at best are somewhat misleading, they aj •e included in an endea your to bring together the statistics relating to the subject. 118 IV. — NuMBEB OF Women Woeking on Mabkbt Gardens, 1918. {Exclusive of L.A.A.S.) England. August, 1918. Nov., 1918. Feb., 1918. Bedfordshire 748 331 167 Berkshire 18t 41 90 Birmingham, Dity of . 50 — — Bucks ... .,. 207 27 71 Cambs ... .. 266 827 132 Cheshire .. ., 200 140 159 Cornwall > , , — 87 87 Cumberland .. — 80 55 Derby ... 328 32 40 Devon ... / 775 349 394 Dorset ... >> 70 94 73 Durham ,, — 175 175 Essex ... 811 361 819 Gloucester 211 119 Hants ... ,, 685 582 447 Hereford , 58 13 13 Hertford ,. 162 239 89 Hunts ... .. 230 114 95 Isle of Ely 188 183 ' 111 Isle of Wigp .. 49 — 48 Kent, East . 498 424 36 Kent, West . 567 385 238 Lancashire . 219 316 85 Iieicester .> 85 56 34 Linos. (Holland) 965 200 481 Lines. (Kesteven) 20 27 17 Linos. (Lindaey) 124 204 19 Middlesex ... IjlO.^J 40 224 Norfolk 2,947 2,345 1,755 Northampton ... . 249 265 173 Northumberland , 274 274 274 Notts , 130 68 100 Oxford 96 64 48 Rutland 42 37 19 Salop 120 112 45 Soke of Peterborougl 1 — — — Somerset — 69 126. Staffs .. 89 50 77 Suffolk East ... 259 205 75 Suffolk West ... .. — 12 Surrey .. . 381 390 188 Sussex East ... .. 47 314 150 Sussex West ... .. — 86 13^ Warwick *< > 168 148 144 Westmorland .. .. , — 6 9 Wilts .. 405 437 260 Worcester .. 201 42 576 'iforks. East Biding , 13 17 17 Yorks, North Riding 8 10 10 Yorks,.West Riding ... 106 51 28 Total England 14,137 10,085 8,028 Wales. Anglesey 30 47 38 Brecon ... — 4 5 Cardigan — — — Carmarthen 60 40 40 Carnarvon 120 124 106 Denbighshire 68 9 141 Flint ... 14 14 79 Glamorgan 91 65 84 Merioneth — 2 22 Montgomery — 29 29 Monmouth 55 50 89 Pembroke 10 18 18 Radnor — — 2 Total Wales 448 402 653 Total England and Wales 14,586 10,487 8,681 119 V. — Returns of Market Gaedbners, 1911. Census of population, 1911, gives : — Male Market Gardeners. Employers 5,481 Labourers ... ... ... 19,185 Female „ ,, Employers 375 Labourers 1,439 Census of population, 1911. Administrative county areas gives: — Market gardeners, including labourers : — Bedford Cambridge Chesiire Cornwall Devon Essex ... Gloucester Hampshire Kent ... Lancashire Middlesex Norfolk Somerset SuflEolk Surrey Sussex, East West Wilts Worcester Yorkshire, East Riding West „ Men. Women 1,681 34 418 26 1,143 196 846 54 1,169 76 1,140 37 1,276 42 1,653 43 1,465 85 1,286 187 1,734 328 1,168 45 985 57 460 23 879 62 637 7 992 12 511 9 3,268 204 590 60 1,288 89 The remainder of the English counties and the whole number of Welsh counties do not return any men or women as " Market " gardeners, though all have certain returns under the heading of Nurserymen and Seedsmen 120 VI. — Women's Wages at the Various Dates. (Prepared by Miss Gladys Pott.) Table of Estimates of Wages taken from Valious Sources. Date. Amount of Woman's Wage. Authority. 15th Is. to Is. 6d. per week Thorold Rogers. Century 3s. in harvest time "Six Centuries of Work and Wages." 1860 4s. 2d. per week Ditto 1884 6s. Od. „ „ Ditto 1885-86 Is. 3d. to Is. 6d. per day, Northumber- " The Agricultural La- land. bourer," by Kebbel. 3s. harvest Figures taken from the 6s. per week with some food, Cheshire Royal Commission on Is. 6d. per day, Westmorland Agricultural Labour, 1867, 4s. 6d. to 5s. per week, Wilts 1869, and 1887. 5s. Od. to 6s. „ „ Hants 5s. Od. „ „ Gloucester 4s. 6d. „ „ 1 or }■ Hereford Is. Od. „ day, J 6s. Od. „ week, Worcestershire (double in har- vest). 7s. 6d. „ „ West Kent Is. to Is. 3d. „ day, Sussex 2s.- Od. :: week, }e««- 8d. to lOd. „ day, Suffolk 7s. 6d. „ week, Northampton ll:lt :; daV, iLi-olnshire lOd. „ „ Warwickshire 6s. Od. „ week, Cambridge 1902-3 Is. 3d. per day, Kent Royal Commission on Is. to Is. 2d. per day, Surrey Labour, 1893. Is. to Is. 3d. „ „ Warwick lOd. to Is. 3d. „ „ Essex 9d. to lOd. „ „ Dorset 9d. to lOd. „ „ Wilts. 9d. to lOd. „ „ Herts. Is. 6d. „ „ Westmorland 1902. Dairy-maids living in Shropshire £6 to £16 per year. Ditto 1902. Table of Wages quoted in Westmorland for experienced maids and servants who lived in. 1882 £10. 1888 £8 to £11. 1889 £10 to £11. 1890 £12 to £14. 1891 £14. 1892 £11 to £12. Ditto Women's Daily Wage in Westmorland Ditto 1882 Is. 3d. (harvest 3s.) per day 1884 Is. 4d. „ „ . 1886 Is. 4d. „ „ 1890 Is. 6d. „ „ 121 Table of Wages extracted from " Beturns of Wages." (Published between 1830 and 1886," 0. 5172/1887.) Women's Wages, 1861. Weekly. Time. Piece. 1860. 1861. s. d. s. d. B. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. Bedford 5 March Berks ... ... 3 to 5 3 6 to 5 5 3 Bucks No return. Cambridge 4 to 5 4 „ 5 Chester 6 6 6 to 7 Cornwall 3 „ 4 3 „ 4 Cumberland 4 „ 9 6 Derby No return. Devon 2 6 to 4 6 3 „ 4 Dorset 3 „ 8 3 „ 5 6 Durham 3 4 „ 6 4 2 „ 5 Essex 4 „ 5 3 6 „ 5 Gloucester 3 6 „ 5 3 6 ;; 5 Hampshire 4 6 „ 6 4 6 „ 5 7 6 to 12 Hereford 4 „ 5 4 „ 5 Hertford 2 „ 3 6 3 6 Huntingdon 3 6 „ 4 3 6 Kent 6 „ 8 6 Lancashire 4 „10 4 9 „11 Leicester 4 „ 6 4 „ 4 6 Lincoln 6 „ 7 5 Middlesex No return. Monmouth 2 6 to 6 2 6 „ 6 Norfolk 2 „ 4 6 3 6 „ 4 6 4 to 9 Northampton 4 „ 7 6 5 Northumberland 3 8 „ 7 5 „ 6 6 Nottingham 6 6 9 Oxon No return. Rutland 3 to 4 4 Shropshire 3 4 „ 4 6 4 6 Somerset 3 „ 4 6 3 s Stafford 5 „ 5 6 4 „ 5 SufEolk 3 6 „ 6 3 6 „ 4 6 Surrey 3 9 „ 5 3 Sussex 3 „ 6 4 6 5 to 12 Warwick 2 6 „ 3 6 3 „ 3 6 Westmorland 7 6 „10 6 „ 8 Wilts 3 „ 5 3 „ 4 6 Worcester 3 6 „ 5 3 „ 5 5 6 to 8 Yorkshire : — W. Riding 3 „ 9 5 „ 6 6 N. Riding 3 „ 7 6 3 6 „ 5 4 to 6