No. CXXXIX.

Extract from an Account of a Society for Insurance of the Cows of Cottagers, &c. By the Rev. FRANCIS WRANGHAM.

On the 12th of May 1807, the establishment of a society for the insurance of the cows of cottagers, and other subscribers, took place in the neighbourhood of Scarborough. It had for its model a similar association which had been adopted, on an extensive scale and with striking success, in the north part of Lincolnshire, where it had been ascertained by experiment, that the average payment of three half pence per cow per week (or six shillings a year) would be sufficient to replace the ordinary losses of cows by death.

As similar institutions may be useful in other parts of England, we offer the reader an account of this Society, tho yet only in

its infancy. It is extended to the contiguous parts of the East and North Ridings of Yorkshire, the express object being to ensure to the labourer, at the abovementioned expense, the repayment of five sixth parts of the value of his cow* upon the following conditions.

1st. Every subscriber is to pay half yearly. on the 12th of May and 12th of November, for each cow by him or her insured, at the rate of one halfpenny for every twenty shillings, upon her value per month, into the hands of the treasurer of the district: which sums, when amounting to £20. respectively,

* I have great pleasure in inserting in a note, the first premium of the present year offered by the Board of Agriculture. DOUBTS having been expressed by some "persons, concerning the expediency of cottagers keeping "cows, except on rich soils, the Board will give to the

person who shall produce the most satisfactory account, "verified by experiments, of the best means of supporting "cows on poor land, in a method applicable to cottagers "—the Gold Medal. The accounts are to be produced "of the soil-articles cultivated-produce-stock kept ❝and every material circumstance---verified by certi"ficates, on or before the first Tuesday in May, 1808.

are to be placed at interest till wanted, to accumulate for the benefit of the fund.

2. No cow is to be admitted without the approbation and valuation of the Commissioner, or one of the Commissioners of the District, to whom (if required) she shall be sent for inspection.

3. Upon the death of any cow so admitted, the Commissioner or Commissioners of the -District shall inquire into the circumstances; and if it appear to have been caused by the wilful neglect of the owner, or by his or her refusing to employ such farrier as they may have appointed, whose bill when exceeding twenty shillings is paid out of the fund, he or she shall receive no benefit from the Institution: but, with this exception, for each cow so admitted and dying, there shall be paid five sixths of her estimated value; in no case however exceeding £12.; her hide, tallow, &c. to be sold for the benefit of the fund.

4. When the subscriptions amount in each

district respectively, to three per cent. upon the aggregate value of the cows admitted, the half yearly payments shall be suspended, until the respective funds shall be reduced by losses beneath that proportion; when they shall again be renewed: and, if in consequence of additional losses, resulting from any other cause than a murrain, those funds prove inadequate to the claims upon them, each subscriber shall be liable to contribute, in proportion to the value of the cow or cows by him or her admitted, to supply the deficiency of his subscription.

5. No subscriber shall receive any benefit from this Institution, upon the death of a cow above fourteen years old.

6. If upon any accident, the Commissioner or Commissione for the District deem it necessary to have a Cow slaughtered, the owner shall have the option of receiving the neat value of her carcase, after the expenses of slaughtering are deducted, or the five

sixths of her value, as entered in the book of the Club.

7. Every subscriber neglecting to make his payments on the days appointed by the third article for that purpose, or within fourteen days after notice in writing from the Treasurer of the District, shall be excluded.

8. All disputes upon the meaning of any part of these Articles, or of the purposes of this Institution, shall be determined by the Commissioner or Commissioners of the District wherein they occur, subject to the controul of a General Committee, to be elected hereafter from the whole circuit.

9. A Treasurer, and a Commissioner or Commissioners, without stipend, shall be elected for each District within the circuit of this institution.

10. In the event of one or more of the said