[

improvements in huſbandry became more general. Several weeks in ſummer and winter required but extremely little at=.

26 1

tention and labour, in compariſon of what muſt now be given in the cultivation of potatoes and other green crops 3 in ſum- mer fallowing, enclofing land, draining fields, procuring lime, removing ſtones,&c.&c. Theſe kinds of labour were not then much attended to by the cultivators of the ground. In theſe weeks, or rather months, of receſs, therefore, part of the Jabour of the community was properly dire&ted to the making and repairing of roads. The plan met with the approbation of the great body of the pcople, and with great alacrity they engaged in the performance of the feveral taſks required at their hands. More work could then be done by the ſame number of perſons, colle&ed by their own and the conſent of the community, than could have been expetted by hired ſer- vants. But as ſoon as the people were drawn away to make roads at a diſtance from the vicinity where they had their ha- bitations, or where they were immediately concerned in agri« cultural operations, they engaged in the work with reludtance, and conſequently made ſmall progreſs. All the intereſt and influence of a great man, who had got ways and means to attach the ſtatute labour to 2 favourite road, in which the public, or the perſons forced to make it, were little concern« ed, could not afford ſuflicient motives either to gain the ap- probation, or enforce the ſucceſsful labour of people brought from a diſtance. To give the farmer every opportunity of employing himſelf through the whole year on his own farm, and to prevent abuſes by idleneſs, miſmanagement, and the like, it was found neceflary to commute the ſtatute labour, and to have the work performed either by hired Jabourers, or by an undertaker by the piece, agreeably to a fixed bar- gan. The opening of turnpikes has, in many places, been of ſer-

vice to the parochial or bye roads, by concentrating the ſa- tute