COUNTY SOCIETIES.
If " the county " us a social designation is happily vanishing, the county as a unit becomes prouder of itself and is doing not a little social service of a new sort. County societies have recently been formed ; and it is a good omen that their first really active job—in one county at any rate—is to take unemployment in hand. Excellent work is being done both in teaching and developing local crafts, and in providing allotments very much on the model of the Friends' wide and beneficent scheme. Among other units Barnet and the two garden cities are doing good service in this direction. One incidental but valuable discovery has been made. Men are often reluctant to take up an allotment, if there is any chance of a job in the future, for rewards from the land come slowly, and wasted labour is to no man's taste. It is found that this objection vanishes if the allotments are held by a little co-operative society. The continuity of the work on the allotment is thus assured, and compensation may be given for past labour or fertilization.
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