[TO THE EDITOR OP VIE "SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—In the postscript to his letter in the Spectator of August 29th "A Yorkshire Squire" says that he took the number of acres laid down to grass in the last thirty years "from an abstract of the agricultural returns," but fails to tell us from whence he took the number of labourers who, he says, in consequence have migrated into the towns,—seven million acres employing twelve million labourers! No wonder the poor Yorkshire squire found it necessary to give up at- tempting to farm arable land ; think of twelve labourers to every seven-acre field! On my farm of three hundred and fifty acres, of which one hundred and sixteen are arable, I employ seven men—viz., one bailiff, one cowman, three horse- men, and two labourers—and in addition spend about 250 a year on extra labour, and my labour bill by many would be considered a large one. In accounting for the migration of labourers to the towns "A Yorkshire Squire" says "The simple reason is that they are not wanted on the land." This doubtless may be the case where much arable land has been laid down to grass; but how is it that the difficulty in getting labour is so great in localities where the farms are chiefly arable and where little or no land has been of late years laid down to grass, and consequently the conditions have not altered ? Even for the little extra labour I require I can only get Irishmen. My own impression is that the migration of labourers to the towns is the natural outcome of education, which must tend to make the labouring class dissatisfied with the humdrum existence of the farm labourer's daily life; also that there is a growing desire for the excitement and pleasures of a town life. That the tide will ever turn and flow back to the country villages I have the gravest doubts; but should it ever do so, what sort of farm labourer will it bring P It is sometimes forgotten that in the case of the farm labourer an apprenticeship is as necessary as in other trades.—I am,
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