'When the oppressive duty-work in Ireland was no longer claimed, and
no longer inserted in Irish leases, there arose a difficulty to
gentlemen in getting labourers at certain times of the year, when
all are anxious to work for themselves; for instance, at the
seasons for cutting turf, setting potatoes, and getting home the
harvest.
'To provide against this difficulty, landlords adopted a system of
taking duty-work, in fact, in a new form. They had cottiers
(cottagers), day-labourers established in cottages, on their estate,
usually near their own residence. Many of these cabins were the
poorest habitations that can be imagined; and these were given rent
free, that is, the rent was to be worked out on whatever days, or on
whatever occasions, it was called for. The grazing for the cow, the
patch of land for flax, and the ridge or ridges of potato land were
also to be paid for in days' labour in the same manner. The
uncertainty of this tenure at will, that is, at the pleasure of the
landlord, with the rent in labour and time, variable also at his
pleasure or convenience, became rather more injurious to the tenant
than the former fixed mode of sacrificing so many days' duty-work,
even at the most hazardous seasons of the year.
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