Allotments, small plots of land let to agricultural labourers, who cultivate them in their spare time. In 1790 the lord of a manor near Tewkesbury, observing that the occupants of certain cottages with a little land were marked by superior respectability, set apart 25 acres for the use of the poor; and in two years the poor-rates were reduced to 4d., as compared with 2s. 6d. to 5s. in surrounding parishes. In 1795 a select committee of the House of Commons reported favourably on the system, and in 1819 and in 1831, acts were passed for its extension; societies were also formed for the same object. The severe distress among the labourers, and the alarming rise of the rates under the old poor-law, forced the subject on the attention of landlords and legislature. Inclosure Acts provided that garden allotments should be reserved for the poor as compensation for the advantages lost to them through the inclosing of lands; but in 1868 it was proved by a government commission that 7,000,000 acres had been inclosed since 1760, with very scanty provision for the poor. From the General Inclosure Act of 1845 down to 1867, 484,893 acres were inclosed; and of this amount only 2119 acres were set aside for the poor. Of recent years much attention has been given to the question of allotments, chiefly in connection with proposals for giving to local bodies compulsory powers for creating them. In 1882 an Allotments Act (known as Mr Jesse Collings' Act) was passed, which compelled trustees of charity lands to offer the land in allotments to the labouring class. Much has been done for the extension of the system by voluntary arrangement on the part of the landowners. According to a return in 1873, there were in England 242,000 allotments under one acre detached from cottages; in 1886 there were 348,872. In 1887 the Allotments Act was passed, which gave to local authorities compulsory powers for the acquisition of land for allotments. The direct and indirect effect of this act is shown by the return of 1890, which gave the number of allotments in England at 441,024, showing an increase of 92,152 since 1886, the year before the passing of the act. In 1890 the Allotments Appeals Bill was passed, which makes the act of 1887 more effective in its operation. In view of the continued depopulation of rural districts, the decline of our agriculture, and the long-established divorce of the labourer from the land, the expediency of giving the worker a larger interest in the soil of the country is generally admitted; and it has been found that the allotment system, when wisely applied, is beneficial to all concerned. The size of allotments varies greatly in different parts of the country. A quarter of an acre is about the average size; but they are often much larger. They are usually cultivated with the spade. In Scotland and Wales allotments hardly exist. By the Local Government Act (England) of 1894, the working of the whole machinery of the Allotment Acts was transferred to the Parish Councils as newly constituted. Whereas under the act of 1887 only 2249 acres were acquired for allotments in seven years, it was reported in December 1898 that under the Parish Councils 14,872 acres had been allotted amongst 32,663 tenants.
See LAND LAWS, PEASANT PROPRIETORSHIP; the Earl of Onslow's Landlords and Allotments (1886); J. L. Green, Allotments and Small Holdings (1896).