agriculture a by-employment to some extent, (a) by
working small parcels of land, which varied from the size of allotments
to farms of a very few acres, and (b) by lending aid in gathering in the
harvest when their other work enabled them to do so. The association of
manufacturing and weaving survived beyond the first quarter of the 19th
century. Of the weavers in many districts and "more especially in
Lancashire" we read in the report of the committee on emigration, "it
appears that persons of this description for many years past, have been
occupiers of small farms of a few acres, which they have held at high
rents, and combining the business of the hand-loom weaver with that of a
working farmer have assisted to raise the rent of their land from the
profits of their loom."[18] One of the first lines of specialism to
appear was the severing of the connexion described above, and the
concentration of the weavers in hamlets and towns. Finer fabrics and
more complicated fabrics were introduced, and the weaver soon learnt
that such rough work as farming unfitted his hands for the delicate
tasks required of them. Again, really to prosper a weaver found it
necessary to perfect himself by close application. The days of the rough
fabrics that anybody could make with moderate success were closing in.
As a consequence the dispersion of the weavers becomes less and less.
They no longer wanted allotments or farms; and their looms having become
more complicated, the mechanic proved himself a convenient neighbour.
Finding spinners too was an easier task in the hamlet or town than in
the remote country parts. But there is no reason to suppose that
agriculture and the processes of the domestic cotton manufacturer had
ever been universally twin callings. There never was a time, probably,
when weavers who did nothing but weave were not a significant
proportion, if not the major part, of the class of weavers. All again
were not independent and all were not employees. Some were simply
journeymen in small domestic workshops; others were engaged by fustian
masters or Manchester merchants and paid by the piece for what they made
out of material supplied them; others again bought their warps and
cotton and sold to the merchants their fabrics, which were their own
property. The last class was swept away soon after the industry became
large, when by the organization of men of capital consumers and
producers were more and more kept in touch. In earl