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EUKAL ECONOMY 
 
 ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND 
 
PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH. 
 
THE 
 
 RURAL ECONOMY 
 
 OF 
 
 ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND 
 
 BY 
 
 LEONCE DE LAVEEGNE 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH 
 
 WITH NOTES BY A SCOTTISH FARMER 
 
 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS 
 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON 
 
 MDCCCLV 
 
P K E F A C E, 
 
 THIS Essay is a fragment of the course of Lectures which I 
 had undertaken for instruction in Rural Economy at the 
 Agricultural National Institute. Although denied the 
 opportunity of using them in the way of oral teaching, I 
 considered that these notes might prove useful in another 
 form, and began by publishing extracts from them in the 
 Revue des Deux Mondes. The kind reception which the 
 series met with, both in France and in England, has 
 induced me now to collect them info one volume. 
 
 I hope soon to give a sequel to this publication. In 
 the years 1851 and 1852, during the short existence of 
 the Agricultural Institute, I found time to compose a 
 complete course of Eural Economy. I am now revis- 
 ing my Lectures, and hope soon to publish them. But I 
 thought it advisable, for the sake of the science itself, to 
 precede the preceptive part of the subject by a practical 
 demonstration of its utility. 
 
 Some persons have done me the honour to consult 
 me as to what should be done in France, in order that 
 we may benefit from the examples of England and 
 
 99490 
 
VI PKEFACE. 
 
 Scotland. The answer to this question will be found 
 in my Course of Rural Economy, so far, at least, as I 
 alone can give it ; for it must be remembered that my 
 department of instruction formed but one branch of the 
 subject, and that the studies of agriculture, of zootechnie, 
 of tillage, and other applied sciences natural philosophy, 
 chemistry, &c. form an indispensable addition. 
 
 Unfortunately, our country is much more clever at 
 destroying than in constructing, and all that now re- 
 mains of this great attempt belongs to the past. Some 
 precious germs, which will by-and-by bear fruit, have, 
 however, succeeded in springing up. I shall give but one 
 instance, because it has been confirmed by an academic 
 reward ; I speak of the investigations of M. Doyere, 
 Professor of Zoology, as to the means for destroying 
 noxious insects, and particularly the corn alucite, whose 
 ravages cause the loss periodically of enormous sums. 
 Other results of these few years of study will successively 
 come to light. 
 
 If I may judge from the numerous communications 
 which I receive, public attention with us is at this moment 
 directed in a lively manner towards agriculture. I con- 
 gratulate myself upon this movement, feeling proud to 
 have contributed my humble part towards it ; but I 
 must at the same time confess, that it gives me some 
 cause for uneasiness. 
 
 Agriculture is the most beautiful of all arts, but it is 
 also the most difficult : it requires, especially, patience 
 and perseverance rare qualities among us. Let us be 
 careful lest we add many chapters more to the already 
 
PREFACE, vii 
 
 long history of our agricultural mistakes ; in such case, we 
 should soon relapse into discouragement, and at last dis- 
 cover that we had retrograded in place of having advanced. 
 
 I address those especially who, like myself, after hav- 
 ing tried other careers, have turned towards a country 
 life, disgusted by the revolutions of the times. In the 
 bosom of nature, which changes not, they will find what 
 they seek, occupation in undisturbed quiet, with an in- 
 dependence resulting from their labours, always provided 
 they do not undertake too much at once. 
 
 Those who may desire to devote their time to agricul- 
 tural improvements should, first of all, study the local 
 causes of what is called the routine. Very often these 
 causes are only transitory, or accidental, and may be boldly 
 set aside. Often, also, they are deep-rooted and funda- 
 mental, and failure is certain if they are attacked by 
 direct means. The most prudent plan is, to proceed step 
 by step, getting knowledge always by experience, and 
 leaving a large margin to time. If ' the practice which 
 attempts to do without theory results in disappointment, 
 the theory which pretends to dispense with practice is 
 vain and rash. 
 
 There is a radical difference between France and Eng- 
 land ; in the one is to be found the extreme simplicity, 
 and in the other the extreme variety, of the problem. In 
 France the mistake is almost always committed of gener- 
 alising too much, whereas nowhere is this less admissible 
 owing to the immense variety of soils, climates, crops, races, 
 origins, and social and economical conditions, which make 
 an infinitely multiplied world of our apparent unity. 
 
Ylll PREFACE. 
 
 But to return to this Essay, had I not feared to 
 increase needlessly the bulk of the volume, I would have 
 quoted the numerous authorities from whence I have 
 drawn information. I confine myself, however, to remark- 
 ing here, that, independently of my own personal observa- 
 tions during the four visits which I have paid to England 
 since 1848, I have consulted principally the Letters upon 
 English Agriculture in 1851, by Mr Caird, Commissioner 
 for the Times (the best work of the kind which has ap- 
 peared since Arthur Young), the excellent works of Messrs 
 Porter and M'Culloch, and the English periodical Maga- 
 zines devoted to subjects of economy and agriculture. 
 
 I cannot close this preface without also rendering my 
 public acknowledgments to M. le Comte de Gasparin, 
 who, during two years, fulfilled the duties of Director- 
 General of the Agricultural National Institute, and who, 
 in that capacity, sought to encourage in every way the 
 labours of myself and colleagues. I could wish that this 
 testimony of acknowledgment and respect from one of his 
 most devoted coadjutors might soften this severe dis- 
 appointment, which has come upon him in his old age, 
 after a life so nobly consecrated to the public good, and 
 particularly to the advancement of national agriculture. 
 
 L. L. 
 
 PARIS, \ttih March 1854. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PACK 
 
 I. THE SOIL AND CLIMATE, 1 
 
 II. SHEEP, 14 
 
 in. CATTLE, 31 
 
 IV. THE CROPS, 48 
 
 V. THE GROSS PRODUCE, 67 
 
 VI. RENTS, PROFITS, AND WAGES, 79 
 
 VII. CONSTITUTION OF PROPERTY, 93 
 
 VIII. CONSTITUTION OF FARMING, . . ' . . . 108 
 
 IX. COUNTRY LIFE, ' . . 120 
 
 X. POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS, 137 
 
 XL MARKETS, 151 
 
 XII. THE CUSTOMS REFORM, 169 
 
 XIII. HIGH FARMING, 182 
 
 XIV. THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES, 198 
 
 XV. THE EASTERN COUNTIES, 218 
 
 XVI. THE WESTERN COUNTIES, . 233 
 
 XVII. THE MIDLAND COUNTIES, 244 
 
 XVIII. THE NORTHERN COUNTIES, 261 
 
 XIX. WALES AND THE ISLANDS, '274 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 CUAP. PAGE 
 
 XX. SCOTLAND, . 285 
 
 XXI. THE LOWLANDS, 303 
 
 XXII. THE HIGHLANDS, 318 
 
 XXIII. IRELAND, 343 
 
 XXIV. STATE OF WARFARE, 359 
 
 XXV. THE FAMINE AND EXODUS, 377 
 
FRENCH WEIGHTS AND MEASURES, WITH THEIR 
 ENGLISH EQUIVALENTS. 
 
 SUPERFICIAL MEASURE. 
 
 Square yards. 
 
 Centiare, .... 1.1960 
 
 Are (a square decametre), 119.6040 
 
 Decare, 1196.0460 . 
 
 Hectare, 11960.4604 or 2 acres, 1 rood, 35 perches. 
 
 Arpent = 40.466 ares, = 4840 square yards, or 1 Imperial acre. 
 
 WEIGHTS. 
 Grains avoirdupois. 
 
 Miligramme, . . . . 0.0154 
 
 Centigramme, .... 0.1543 
 
 Decigramme, .... 1.5434 
 
 Gramme, .... 15.4340 
 
 Decagramme, .... 154.3402 
 Hectogramme, . . . 1543.4020 or 3.527 oz. 
 
 Kilogramme, 35.300 or 2.206 Ib. 
 
 Myriagramme, 22.0485 
 
 Quintal, 220.4850 
 
 Millier or bar = 9 tons 16 cwt. 3 qrs. 12 Ib. or . . . 22048. 
 
 MEASURES OP CAPACITY. 
 Cubic inches. 
 
 Militre, 0.06103 
 
 Centilitre, .... 0.61028 
 
 Decilitre, .... 6.10280 
 
 Litre (a cubic decimetre), 61.02803 or 0.264 wine gallons, or 2.1135 
 
 wine pints. 
 
 Decalitre, 2.642 
 
 Hectolitre, 26.419 or 22 imperial gallons, or 
 
 2.7513 imperial bushels. 
 Setier, 4.4300 
 
 LONG MEASURE. 
 
 Millimetre, . . . 0.03937 inches. 
 
 Centimetre, . . . 0.39371 
 
 Decimetre, . . . 3.93710 
 
 Metre, . . . 39.37100 or 3.2809 feet. 
 
 Decametre, 32.8091 
 
 Hectometre, 328.0916 or 109.363 yds. 
 
 Kilometre, 1093.633 
 
 Myriametre, 10936.330 
 
 League, . . 2.422 miles. 
 
 MONET. 
 
 1 franc =100 centimes = 9^d. 
 25 francs, ... 1. 
 
v - ivlv ^ 
 
 \CA, ^ 
 
 ^ScO/4 ' ( r-f 
 
 
 BURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE SOIL AND CLIMATE. 
 
 WHEN the Great Exhibition attracted to London an im- 
 mense concourse of the curious from all parts of the world, 
 strangers were struck, but not astonished, at the great 
 industrial and economical power of the English. People 
 generally were prepared for the great show which the 
 productions of Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, and 
 Leeds made under the transparent roof of the Crystal 
 Palace ; and also for that other, and not less wonderful 
 sight, the docks of London and Liverpool, with their 
 immense piles of warehouses and countless shipping. But 
 what caused surprise to more than one observer, was 
 the agricultural development displayed in those depart- 
 ments, of the Exhibition set apart for implements of hus- 
 bandry and English agricultural produce. Of this no 
 idea had been formed. 
 
 In France, perhaps, more than anywhere, and that too 
 notwithstanding our proximity, the belief that agricul- 
 
2 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 ture in England had been neglected for the sake of the 
 manufacturing and mercantile interests, has hitherto 
 been too prevalent. Ignorance of the principle and 
 effects of Sir Kobert Peel's .customs' reform has contri- 
 buted to spread among us these erroneous ideas. The 
 fact is, that English agriculture, taken as a whole, is at 
 this day the first in the world ; and it is in the way of 
 realising further progress. I design concisely to show its 
 actual condition ; to point out the true causes of that con- 
 dition ; and to draw inferences as to its future. France 
 may derive some useful lessons from this study. 
 
 Nearly five years ago, a serious and disastrous crisis 
 occurred, almost simultaneously, although from different 
 causes, in the agricultural concerns of the two countries. 
 I shall attempt separately to estimate the bearing of each. 
 But first it is of consequence to inquire what was the 
 position of agriculture in the two countries previous 
 to 1848. Two kinds of questions are connected with 
 this comparison ; the one, fundamental, belonging to the 
 entire history of their development ; the other transitory, 
 arising out of the crisis. 
 
 In the first place, we shall endeavour to give some 
 account of the theatre of agricultural operations the 
 Soil. 
 
 The British Isles have a total area of thirty-one millions 
 of hectares, * or equal to about two-thirds of the French 
 territory, which contains not less than fifty-three. But 
 these thirty-one million hectares are far from being of 
 uniform fertility ; on the contrary, they exhibit perhaps 
 greater differences than are to be found in any other 
 country. It is well known that the United Kingdom is 
 divided into three principal sections England, Scotland, 
 
 * A hectare=2 English acres. In acres, the amount for the British Isles is 
 77,394,433 : England proper, 32,342,400. See Porter'* Progress.- 3. D. 
 
THE SOIL AND CLIMATE. 3 
 
 and Ireland. England alone forms about one-half of the 
 whole territory, while Scotland and Ireland divide the 
 remainder between them in nearly equal portions. Each 
 of these three grand sections should itself be divided in 
 respect to farming, as in other points of view, into two 
 separate parts. 
 
 England, into England proper and Wales ; Scotland, 
 into Highlands and Lowlands ; Ireland, into south-east 
 and north-west regions. Enormous differences exist be- 
 tween these different districts. 
 
 England proper the largest and richest portion of the 
 three kingdoms contains thirteen millions of hectares, or 
 a little more than a third of the total extent of the British 
 Isles, and equal to one-fourth of France, It is this por- 
 tion especially which is now to be considered. In com- 
 paring with it the best-cultivated fourth part of France 
 viz. the north-west angle, comprising the ancient pro- 
 vinces of Flanders, Artois, Picardy, Normandy, the Isle 
 of France, and even adding to it the richest departments 
 in other parts of the country we have not an equal 
 extent of well-cultivated land to oppose to it. Certain 
 parts of our soil, such as almost the entire department of 
 the Nord, and some other detached districts, are superior 
 in productiveness to the best of England : others, such 
 as the departments of the Seine Inferieure, the Somme, 
 Pas de Calais, and Oise, may sustain a comparison ; 
 but thirteen million hectares, equal in cultivation to 
 the thirteen million hectares of England, we do not 
 possess. 
 
 Can it be that the soil and climate of England are 
 naturally superior to ours \ Far from it. One million 
 hectares out of the thirteen remain entirely unproductive, 
 having hitherto resisted all attempts at cultivation ; of 
 the remaining twelve, two -thirds at least are ungrateful 
 
4 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 and stubborn lands, which human industry alone has 
 subdued. 
 
 The southern point of the island forming the county 
 of Cornwall, and more than the half of Devonshire is 
 composed of granitic soils, similar to those of our Brit- 
 tany. There, in the ancient forests of Exmoor and Dart- 
 moor, the mountains which terminate at Land's End, and 
 those verging on the Welsh peninsula, are nearly one 
 million hectares of little value. In the north, more 
 mountains those which separate England from Scot- 
 land cover with their ramifications the counties of Nor- 
 thumberland, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and parts of 
 Lancashire, Durham, York, and Derbyshire. This region, 
 which contains upwards of two million hectares, is worth 
 scarcely more than the former. It is a country famous 
 for its picturesque scenery, studded with lakes and water- 
 falls ; but, like most picturesque countries, offering few 
 resources for cultivation. 
 
 Wherever the ground is not hilly, it is in general natu- 
 rally marshy. The counties of Lincoln and Cambridge, 
 now reckoned, especially the first, among the most pro- 
 ductive, were formerly but one vast marsh partially 
 covered by the sea, Kke the polders of Holland opposite 
 to them on the other side of the Channel. Numerous 
 peat-mosses still show the primitive state of the country. 
 In other parts are extensive sands abandoned by the sea : 
 the county of Norfolk, where that system of agriculture 
 arose which has made the fortune of England, is nothing 
 else. 
 
 There remain the undulating hills, which form about 
 half of the whole surface, and which are neither so dry 
 as the mountains, nor so wet as the undrained plains ; 
 but these lands are not all of the same geological forma- 
 tion. The Thames basin is composed of a stiff clay, 
 
THE SOIL AND CLIMATE. 5 
 
 called London clay, from which bricks are made for the 
 buildings of the immense capital, and which is tilled only 
 with difficulty. The counties of Essex, Surrey, and 
 Kent, as well as Middlesex, belong to this clay bed, 
 called in England stiff land, and well known to every 
 agriculturist as exceedingly troublesome, which aggra- 
 vates still further the coldness of the climate. Left to 
 itself, this clay never dries in England; and when not 
 transformed by manure and improved by draining, farmers 
 despair of making anything of it. It prevails through- 
 out the south-east, and also makes its appearance in many 
 parts of the midland districts, as well as in the east and 
 north. 
 
 A long band of chalky lands of indifferent quality runs 
 through this great bed of clay from south to north, form- 
 ing the greater portion of the counties of Hertford, Wilts, 
 and Hants ; the chalk shows itself almost in a pure state 
 on the surface. 
 
 The sandy clay lands, with calcareous subsoil, and 
 the loams of the lower valleys, occupy only about four 
 millions of hectares. The rivers in this narrow island 
 being shorter, and the valleys more confined than in 
 other countries, alluvial lands are rather scarce. It is 
 the light soils which predominate, what were formerly 
 called poor lands. These, not very long ago, were ex- 
 tensive moors, coming up to the very gates of London on 
 the west ; but now, through cultivation, they have become 
 almost as productive as the loams. A special method of 
 working, suited to their nature, was necessary, in order 
 to turn them to such good account. 
 
 It is the same with the climate. British agriculturists 
 have known well how to avail themselves of the pecu- 
 liarities in their climate, for in itself there is nothing 
 very seductive about it. Its mists and rains are pro- 
 
6 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 verbial ; its extreme humidity is little favourable to 
 wheat, which is the prime object of all cultivation ; few 
 plants ripen naturally under its dull sky ; it is propitious 
 only to grasses and roots. Eainy summers, late autumns, 
 and mild winters, encourage, under the influence of an 
 almost equal temperature, an evergreen vegetation. Here 
 its action stops ; nothing need be asked of it which de- 
 mands the intervention of that great producing power, 
 the sun. 
 
 How superior are the soil and climate of France ! In 
 comparing with England, not the fourth only, but the 
 north-west half of our territory that is to say, the 
 thirty-six departments grouped around Paris, exclusive 
 of Brittany we find more than twenty-two millions of 
 hectares, which surpass in quality, as they do in extent, 
 the thirteen millions of English hectares. Scarcely any 
 mountains ; few natural marshes ; extensive plains, sound 
 almost throughout ; a soil sufficiently deep, and of a 
 nature most favourable to production ; rich deposits in the 
 broad valleys of the Loire and Seine, with their tribu- 
 taries ; a climate not so moist, but warmer less favour- 
 able perhaps to meadow vegetation, but more suitable for 
 ripening wheat and other cereals ; all the productions of 
 England obtained with less trouble ; and, in addition, 
 other valuable products, such as sugar, textile and olea- 
 ginous plants, tobacco, wine, fruits, &c. 
 
 It would be easy to carry out this comparison step by 
 step, and to oppose, for example, to Leicestershire, which 
 is the most naturally fertile of the English counties, our 
 magnificent department of the Nord, to the chalky lands 
 of Wiltshire those of Champagne, sands to sands, clays 
 to clays, loams to loams ; and thus find for most of the 
 English districts one corresponding in the north of France. 
 Such a detailed examination would demonstrate in some 
 
THE SOIL AND CLIMATE. 7 
 
 measure acre by acre, and, with few exceptions, the supe- 
 riority of our territory ; there are no lands among the 
 worst in France, for which we do not find still worse on 
 the other side of the Channel ; nor so rich in England, 
 which with us may not be equalled, or even surpassed. 
 
 Wales is just a mass of mountains, covered with barren 
 moors. Including the adjacent islands, and that part of 
 England bordering upon it, it contains two millions of 
 hectares, only half of which are capable of cultivation. 
 In France, a similar country is to be found in the penin- 
 sula of Brittany, whose inhabitants are connected with 
 the Welsh by a common origin. But besides that Brittany 
 occupies relatively less space upon the map of France, 
 the English Armorica is more rugged and wild than 
 ours. The resemblance certainly is not very perfect, 
 excepting in some few localities. 
 
 The two divisions of Scotland are pretty equal in 
 extent, and are both well known by the names which 
 poetry and romance have rendered familiar. The Low- 
 lands occupy the south and east, the Highlands the north 
 and west. Each of these moieties, with adjacent islands, 
 contain about four millions of hectares. 
 
 The Highlands, without exception, form one of the most 
 unfertile and uninhabitable countries in Europe. Imagina- 
 tion pictures it only through the charming fancies of the 
 great Scotch novelist ; but if most of its scenery owes its 
 reputation to its sterile grandeur, these rugged beauties 
 are little capable of being brought under cultivation. It 
 is an immense granite rock cut up into sharp peaks and 
 deep precipices, and, to add still more to its ruggedness, 
 extending into the most northerly latitudes. The High- 
 lands face Norway, which in many respects they resemble. 
 The North Sea, which surrounds and penetrates them in 
 every direction, beats against them with its continual 
 
8 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 storms ; their sides, unceasingly torn by winds, and 
 flooded with those never-failing waters which collect and 
 form immense lakes at their base, possess only here and 
 there a thin covering of vegetable soil. Winter lasts there 
 nearly all the year ; and the islands belonging to them 
 the Hebrides, Orkneys, and Shetlands partake of the 
 gloomy Icelandic character. More than three-fourths of 
 the Highlands is uncultivated, and the small portion 
 which it is possible to work requires all the industry of 
 the inhabitants to produce anything. Oats even do not 
 always ripen there. 
 
 Where is such a country to be found in France \ That 
 most nearly resembling it is the nucleus of central moun- 
 tains, with their ramifications, which cover some ten 
 departments, and stretch to the Alps beyond the Ehone 
 namely, the ancient provinces of Limousin, Auvergne, 
 Vivarais, Forez, and Dauphine ; but the departments of 
 the Higher and Lower Alps, the poorest and most unpro- 
 ductive of all, and those of Lozere and Haute-Loire, which 
 come next to them, are still greatly superior in natural 
 resources to the celebrated counties of Argyll and Inver- 
 ness, and the still more inaccessible county of Suther- 
 land. This superiority, more and more marked in Cantal, 
 Puy-de-D6me, Correze, Creuse, and Haute- Vienne, be- 
 comes beyond all comparison when we come to oppose 
 to the best straths of the Highlands the Limagne 
 d' Auvergne and the valley of Gr^sivaudan, those two 
 paradises of the cultivator dropped into the midst of our 
 mountainous region. 
 
 Even the Lowlands of Scotland are far from being 
 everywhere susceptible of cultivation. Numerous ridges 
 cross the country, and may almost be said to unite the 
 Northumberland mountains to the Grampians. Out of 
 the four millions of hectares two are nearly unproductive ; 
 
THE SOIL AND CLIMATE. 9 
 
 the other two exhibit almost everywhere prodigies of the 
 most improved farming, especially in the neighbourhood 
 of Edinburgh and Perth; but only one million of hectares 
 are of rich and deep soil ; the rest is poor and thin. As 
 to climate, it is sufficient to bear in mind that Edinburgh 
 is in the same latitude as Copenhagen and Moscow. Snow 
 and rain fall in great abundance, and the fruits of the 
 earth have only a short and precarious summer for bring- 
 ing them to maturity. 
 
 The part of France which best corresponds with the 
 Lowlands of Scotland is the ten departments which 
 form the eastern frontier, extending from the Ardennes 
 to Dauphine by the Vosges and Jura ; but these again 
 are superior both in soil and climate. Nature has made 
 the pastures of Lorraine and Franche-Comte at least equal 
 to those of Ayr and Galloway, and Alsace is better than 
 the Lothians. The most northerly point of this region is 
 six degrees south of Berwick, and its most southern is 
 in the same latitude as Venice ; the hot air of Italy blows 
 as far as Lyons. 
 
 Of the two divisions of Ireland, that of the north-west, 
 embracing a fourth of the island, and comprehending 
 the province of Connaught, with the adjacent counties of 
 Donegal, Clare, and Kerry, resembles Wales, and even, in 
 its worst parts, the Highlands of Scotland. Here again are 
 two millions of unsightly hectares, the frightful aspect of 
 which has given rise to the national proverb, "Go to the 
 devil or Connaught." The other, or south-east and much 
 larger division, since it embraces three-fourths of the island, 
 and includes the provinces of Leinster, Ulster, and Mun- 
 ster, equal to about six millions of hectares, is at least 
 equal in natural fertility to England proper. It is not 
 all, however, equally good ; the amount of humidity there 
 is still greater than in England. Extensive bogs cover 
 
10 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 about a tenth of the surface ; more .than another tenth is 
 occupied with mountains and lakes. In fact, five only 
 out of the eight millions of hectares in Ireland are culti- 
 vated. * 
 
 Deducting the north-west of France, which we have 
 compared to England, and the middle and east to Scot- 
 land, the south only remains for comparison with Ireland. 
 This comparison holds good in some respects, for the south of 
 France, with reference to the north, is a distinct country, and 
 inferior in acquired richness, just as Ireland is in respect to 
 England ; but here the likeness stops, for in every other 
 respect no two things can be more dissimilar. The com- 
 parison, as in the former instances, and perhaps even to 
 a greater degree, is in favour of France. Our southern 
 region extends from the mouth of the Garonne to that 
 of the Var ; it contains some twenty departments and 
 thirteen millions of hectares ; it has also its mountainous 
 parts in the Pyrenees and CeVennes. But there is a 
 vast difference in fruitfulness between the mountains of 
 Herault and Gard, which produce silk, and even some 
 Pyrenean cantons, where cultivation may be carried to 
 the verge of perpetual snow, and the bleakness of Con- 
 naught and Donegal. The further we descend into 
 the plains, the superiority becomes more and more 
 striking, notwithstanding the natural advantages of 
 Ireland, which have acquired for it the poetical cog- 
 nomen of First flower of the earth, and first gem of 
 the sea. 
 
 The flat country which extends across the island, from 
 Dublin to the bay of Galway, and which is the pride of Ire- 
 land, is surpassed in richness, as well as in extent, by the 
 magnificent valley of the Garonne, one of the finest agri- 
 
 * 12,125,280 acres out of 19,441,944. J. D. 
 
THE SOIL AND CLIMATE. 11 
 
 cultural countries in the world. The Golden Vale, which 
 is the boast of Limerick, the pastures on the banks of the 
 Shannon, the deep lands around Belfast, so favourable to 
 the production of flax, are doubtless of great value ; but 
 the vineyards of Me'doc, the soils of Comtat, which grow 
 madder, those of Languedoc, where corn and maize suc- 
 ceed each other, and those of Provence, where the olive 
 and orange ripen, are more valuable still. Ireland has 
 over England this advantage she has less clay, sand, and 
 chalk, and her soil generally is of good quality ; but the 
 south of France has the advantage of her in sky. The 
 Irish bogs find no equivalent in the marshy landes of 
 Gascogne and Camargue, which are not so unsuitable 
 for production. 
 
 Thus our territory is superior in all points to Great 
 Britain, not only in extent, but in fertility. Our north- 
 west region is more valuable than England and Wales, 
 the middle and east than Scotland, and the south than 
 Ireland. 
 
 It is now more than sixty years since that great agri- 
 cultural authority, Arthur Young, admitted this natural 
 superiority of our soil and climate. At the conclusion of 
 his Agricultural Tour in France during 1787-90, he 
 says, " I now come to pass in review all the provinces of 
 France, and I believe that kingdom to be superior to 
 England as regards soil. The proportion of bad lands in 
 England, as compared to the extent of the country, is 
 greater than in France ; there is nowhere that prodigious 
 quantity of dry sand which is found in Norfolk and 
 Suffolk. The marshes, heaths, and landes, so common in 
 Brittany, Anjou, Maine, and Guienne, are much better 
 than ours. The Scotch and Welsh mountains are not 
 to be compared in point of soil to those of the Pyrenees, 
 
12 RITUAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Auvergne, Dauphin^, Provence, and Languedoc. As to 
 the clay soils, they are nowhere so stiff as in England ; 
 and in France I have never met with any clay like that 
 of Sussex/' This celebrated agriculturist renders similar 
 homage to the sky of France. " We know" says he with 
 pride, " how to turn our climate to best account, and the 
 French in this respect are still in their infancy!' * But as 
 regards the intrinsic value of the two climates, he does 
 not hesitate to give ours the preference. This conviction 
 is repeated in every page of his book ; and yet, in spite of 
 exceptions of detail Numerous, no doubt, but which do 
 not destroy the broad fact England, even previous to 
 1848, was better cultivated and more productive over 
 an equal surface, than the north-west of France. The 
 Lowlands of Scotland at least rivalled the east ; and 
 even Ireland, poor as it is, was richer in production than 
 our south. The Highlands of Scotland alone, as a whole, 
 are surpassed by their corresponding region, and that not 
 from any fault of the inhabitants. There is, however, a 
 portion of the French territory beyond the Continental 
 bounds, which may be compared to the Scotch Highlands 
 for the actual value of its productions, notwithstanding 
 the great disproportion between their natural resources. 
 I mean the island of Corsica. And this comparison may 
 be extended still further : both countries are difficult of 
 approach, and both were at one time possessed by an un- 
 tamable race of herdsmen and robbers. 
 
 If France has remained behind the United Kingdom, 
 she is considerably in advance of the other nations of the 
 world, excepting Belgium and Upper Italy, which possess 
 superior natural advantages. The causes of this relative 
 inferiority, however, do not originate with our agricultural 
 population the most laborious, intelligent, and economical, 
 
THE SOIL AND CLIMATE. 13 
 
 perhaps, that exist. These causes are manifold and 
 deeply, seated ; and I propose to inquire into them; but 
 first I must prove what I have advanced. For this pur- 
 pose, I am obliged to enter into some details which are 
 purely agricultural. I proceed, then, to show, in the first 
 place, how it is that English agriculture is richer than ours, 
 and shall then inquire why it is so. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 SHEEP. 
 
 THE most striking feature in English agriculture, as com- 
 pared to ours, consists in the number and quality of 
 its sheep. One has only to pass through any of the 
 English counties, even by railway, to discover that Eng- 
 land feeds a proportionately greater number of sheep than 
 France ; it requires only a glance at any one of these 
 animals to see that they are much larger in the average, 
 and must give a greater weight of meat than ours. The 
 truth of this must be perfectly obvious to the most super- 
 ficial observer ; and it is not only confirmed by an atten- 
 tive examination of the facts of the case, but such an 
 inquiry leads to the discovery of unexpected results. 
 That which to the mere traveller is simply a matter of 
 curiosity, becomes for the agriculturist and economist the 
 subject of investigations, which astonish even him from 
 the immensity of the results. 
 
 The English farmer, with that instinctive calculation 
 which distinguishes the class, has not failed to observe 
 that of all animals the sheep is the easiest to feed, the 
 one which derives the greatest benefit from the food 
 which it consumes, and at the same time gives the most 
 active and rich manure for fertilising the land. His first 
 object consequently is, to keep a great many sheep. In 
 Great Britain there are immense farms which have 
 
SHEEP. 15 
 
 scarcely any other stock. While our farmers have had 
 their attention distracted by many other things, the rear- 
 ing of the sheep tribe has from time immemorial been 
 considered by our neighbours as the most important of 
 agricultural pursuits. As if symbolical of the importance 
 which the nation attaches to this production, the Lord 
 Chancellor of England, as President of the House of Lords, 
 sits upon a wool sack (so called). Mutton also is highly 
 appreciated by the English. 
 
 For the last hundred years France and the British Isles 
 have kept equal pace in the number of their sheep ; in 
 both countries it has doubled. It is calculated that in 
 1750 each possessed from seventeen to eighteen million 
 head ; at present the numbers may be reckoned at thirty - 
 five millions. The French official statistics give thirty- 
 two millions, and JVTCulloch makes the number the same 
 for the United Kingdom ; * but both I believe are a little 
 understated. This apparent similarity, however, conceals 
 a serious inequality. The thirty-five millions of English 
 sheep live upon thirty-one millions of hectares, those of 
 France upon fifty-three. To have proportionately as great 
 a number as our neighbours we should have sixty millions. 
 
 This difference, which so far is material, is farther in- 
 creased when we compare France with England proper ; 
 the two other portions of the United Kingdom have but 
 few sheep relatively to their extent. Scotland, in spite 
 of all her endeavours, can maintain only about four 
 millions ; Ireland, which from its pastures ought to rival 
 England, reckons at most only two millions upon eight 
 millions of hectares ; and this is not one of the least of the 
 marks of its inferiority. England alone has about thirty 
 millions upon fifteen millions of hectares, or proportion- 
 ately three times more than France. 
 
 * 31,754,189. 
 
16 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 To this numerical difference has to be added a no less 
 important difference in the quality. 
 
 For a century past, independently of previous progress, 
 which had been greater in England than with us, the 
 two countries have pursued two opposite objects in the 
 rearing of their flocks. In France wool has been looked 
 upon as the principal product, and meat the accessory ; 
 in England, on the contrary, the wool has been looked 
 upon as the accessory, and meat the chief production. 
 From this simple distinction, which at first sight appears 
 unimportant, arise differences in results which count by 
 hundreds of millions of francs. 
 
 The efforts which France has made during the last 
 eighty years to improve the race of sheep may be summed 
 up almost entirely in the introduction of merinos. Spain 
 formerly was the sole possessor of this superior breed, 
 formed by slow degrees upon the immense table-land of 
 Castile. The reputation of Spanish wools induced many 
 other nations of Europe, especially Saxony, to try the 
 importation of the breed. This experiment having suc- 
 ceeded, France also desired to attempt it, and that excel- 
 lent prince, Louis XVI., who gave the impetus to all the 
 progress since realised, solicited and obtained from the 
 King of Spain a Spanish flock for his farm of Eambouillet. 
 This flock, improved, and to a certain extent remodelled 
 by attentive care, is the stock from which almost all the 
 merinos in France are derived. Two other sub-races, 
 also of Spanish origin, those of Perpignan and Naz, have 
 been surpassed by this one. 
 
 The French proprietors and farmers hesitated very 
 much at first to adopt this innovation, and in conse- 
 quence of the Eevolution many years elapsed before any 
 important results were obtained. It was scarcely before 
 the establishment of the Empire that the advantages of 
 
SHEEP. 17 
 
 the new race began to be understood. The movement, 
 once begun, gradually advanced; and additional spirit 
 was given to it by the great profits realised. 
 
 Much of the success of our farmers, especially in the 
 neighbourhood of Paris, dates from this period. The 
 breeding of rams for propagating the race had become a 
 very lucrative business in the first years of the Eestora- 
 tion. A Kambouillet ram was sold for 3870 francs 
 (155) in 1825. The fact is, that while the indigenous 
 sheep gave barely a few pounds of coarse wool, the 
 merino fleece gave double or treble the weight of fine 
 wool of greater value. This profit was considerable ; it 
 appeared sufficient to our farmers, who could imagine 
 nothing beyond. Thus it was that the propagation of 
 merinos was considered in France as the supreme object 
 which rural economy had to attain in the rearing of 
 sheep. About one-fourth of the French sheep at the pre- 
 sent day consists of merinos and half-bred merinos ; the 
 rest have at the same time improved, both in carcass and 
 wool, simply by means of more skill in their management 
 and better food. Without fear of exaggeration, it may 
 be said that the income of France from sheep has quad- 
 rupled during the last hundred years, although the num- 
 ber of these animals has only doubled. This is no doubt 
 a considerable advance ; but we are now about to point 
 out a much greater, in comparing the history of the 
 French flocks for the last hundred years with that of the 
 English for the same period. 
 
 England has always possessed a great many sheep ; 
 the British Isles were celebrated for this even in the time 
 of the Eomans. The primitive races lived in a wild state, 
 and their descendants are still to be found in the Welsh 
 mountains, the Cornish peninsula, and the Highlands of 
 
 B 
 
18 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Scotland, where, through time, the nature of the soil and 
 climate has only made them more hardy. Nearly three 
 centuries ago, at the period when commercial and manu- 
 facturing enterprise began to develop itself in Europe, the 
 breeding of sheep took a start in England unusual else- 
 where : wool was then the special object, as with us now r 
 in France. The distinguishing feature was between long 
 and short wool breeds, the former being the most highly 
 esteemed. Thus when we commenced to give our atten- 
 tion to the breeding of sheep, England was greatly in 
 advance of us ; and this advance became more marked 
 by the new revolution, which established in England the 
 superiority of meat over wool as a production. 
 
 About the time that the French Government sought to 
 introduce merinos into France, experiments of the same 
 kind were made in England. Following the example of 
 Louis XV L, George III., who paid a good deal of attention 
 to agriculture, on several occasions caused Spanish sheep 
 to be brought over, which he placed upon his own lands. 
 Those first imported died ; the wetness of the pastures 
 engendered diseases which soon destroyed them. Subse- 
 quent importations were placed upon drier land, and 
 they survived. From this time it was demonstrated that 
 the climate of England, although it limited the propaga- 
 tion of merinos, was not, at all events, an insuperable 
 obstacle to their introduction. Certain noblemen and 
 celebrated agriculturists actively engaged in the endea- 
 vour to naturalise this new race ; but the farmers from 
 the first made more serious objections than that of 
 climate. Ideas had changed, and the importance of the 
 sheep as an animal for food began to be foreseen. By 
 degrees this new idea predominated; the Spanish breed 
 has been abandoned even by those who at first vaunted 
 it most, and now neither merinos nor half-merinos are to 
 
SHEEP. 19 
 
 be found in England, except among amateurs, as objects 
 more of curiosity than of profit. 
 
 The greatest promoter of this preference was the cele- 
 brated Bakewell, a man of genius in his way, who has 
 done as much towards enriching his country as his con- 
 temporaries Arkwright and Watt. Before his day the 
 English sheep was not fit for the butcher till the age at 
 which ours are now slaughtered ; that is to say, about 
 four or five years old. Bakewell thought, very justly, 
 that if it were possible to bring sheep to their full 
 development before that age to make them fit for being 
 killed at two years old, for example the produce of the 
 flocks by this single means would be doubled. With 
 that perseverance which characterises his nation, he suc- 
 cessfully carried out this idea at his farm of Dishley 
 Grange, in Leicestershire, after many years of labour and 
 expense. 
 
 The breed thus obtained by Bakewell is called the new 
 Leicester, from the county, or Dishley, from the name 
 of the farm, where it took its rise. This extraordinary 
 breed, unrivalled in the world for precocity, produces 
 animals which may be fattened as early as one year old, 
 and in every case have reached their full growth before 
 the end of the second year. To this invaluable quality 
 is added a perfection of shape, which renders them more 
 fleshy and heavier for their size than any known breed. 
 They give on an average 100 Ib. of meat net, and some- 
 times more. 
 
 The means adopted by Bakewell for obtaining such a 
 marvellous result, is known to all breeders by the name 
 of selection. It consists in choosing individuals of a breed 
 exhibiting in the greatest degree the qualities desired to 
 be perpetuated, and to make use of such only for repro- 
 ducing. At the end of a certain number of generations, 
 
-20 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 following always the same principle, the points selected 
 in all the reproducers, both male and female, become per- 
 manent ; and thus the breed is established. This mode 
 of proceeding appears extremely simple ; but what is less 
 so, is the choice of those qualities to be reproduced, in 
 order to arrive at the best result. Many breeders mis- 
 take these, and, in a measure, work contrary to their 
 desired object. 
 
 Before BakewelTs time, the farmers on the rich plains 
 of Leicestershire, in their desire to produce the greatest 
 possible quantity of meat, sought, above all, great size in 
 their sheep. One of the merits of the illustrious farmer 
 of Dishley Grange, was his apprehension of more certain 
 methods for increasing the yield of butcher-meat; and 
 that precocity for fattening on the one hand, and round- 
 ness of form on the other, were of greater importance 
 than excessive development of bone. The new Leicesters 
 are not bigger than those they have replaced ; but the 
 breeder can now send three to market in the same space 
 of time that it formerly took him to prepare one ; and if 
 they are not taller, they are broader, rounder, and have a 
 greater development in those parts which give most flesh. 
 Of bone, they have absolutely no greater amount than is 
 necessary to support them, and almost all their weight is 
 pure meat. 
 
 England was astonished when the results announced 
 by Bakewell were definitively attained. The originator 
 of the new breed, who, like all good Englishmen, looked 
 especially to profit, reaped great advantage from the 
 emulation excited by his discovery. As everybody 
 wished to have Dishley blood, it occurred to Bakewell to 
 let out his rams in place of selling them. The first he 
 let, returned him only 22 francs (18s.) a-head. This was 
 in 1760, when his breed had not reached its perfection ; 
 
SHEEP. 21 
 
 but in proportion as he continued to make progress, and 
 the reputation of his flock increased, his prices rose 
 rapidly ; and in 1789, a society having been formed for 
 the propagation of his breed, he let his rams to it for one 
 season, at the enormous price of 6000 guineas (more than 
 150,000 francs). It has been estimated that in the fol- 
 lowing years the farmers of the midland counties spent 
 as much as 100,-000 a-year (2,500,000 francs), in the 
 hire of rams. In spite of all his endeavours to keep the 
 monopoly, Bakewell was not the only one who let rams : 
 this business spread around him, and many flocks were 
 formed after the model of his own. 
 
 The wealth which Bakewell has conferred upon his 
 country is incalculable. If it were possible to compute 
 what the Dishley breed has yielded to English agricultu- 
 rists during the last eighty years, the results shown would 
 be truly enormous. 
 
 But this is not all. Bakewell has not only produced a 
 particular kind of sheep, which realises the maximum of 
 precocity and return, but he has pointed out the means 
 by which the indigenous races placed in other circum- 
 stances may be improved. The pure Dishley does not 
 thrive equally well everywhere. Bred upon wet and fertile 
 plains, it succeeds only in like situations. It is quite an 
 artificial race therefore delicate ; rather of a sickly con- 
 stitution, precocity being only a disposition to premature 
 old age ; and its conformation incapacitating it for exer- 
 tion, it must have, together with a cool climate and abun- 
 dance of food, almost entire repose and constant attention, 
 which it repays with usury, it is true, but which it is not 
 always possible to give. 
 
 Like every other country, the soil of England may 
 be divided into three parts plains, uplands, and moun- 
 tains. The Dishley breed is the type of the sheep of 
 
22 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 the plains, and the one superior model which all breeds 
 should resemble as much as possible. Two others have 
 been selected, the one a little inferior to the Dishley, but 
 always tending towards it, constituting the type of the 
 higher ground the sheep of the south downs of Sussex ; 
 the other, inferior, in its turn, to the south downs, but 
 still somewhat similar in character, has become the type 
 of the mountainous country ; it is that which took its 
 rise in the north of Northumberland, between England 
 and Scotland, among the Cheviot mountains. 
 
 The south downs of Sussex are ranges of calcareous 
 hills, averaging a breadth of about five miles, by sixty 
 in length, running east and west along the coasts of 
 the channel opposite to France. The beautiful town 
 of Brighton, celebrated for its sea-bathing, and which 
 every year attracts a large concourse of English fashion- 
 ables, is situated at the front of these hills, which have 
 an appearance peculiar to England ; they are entirely 
 destitute of trees, show here and there patches of heath, 
 but are otherwise covered with a fine short and close 
 grass. From time immemorial these pastures have been 
 used for feeding sheep, for which they are admirably 
 adapted ; but the ancient race of these downs was small 
 and coarse, and yielded little meat ; otherwise their 
 mutton was highly esteemed, and their wool in request 
 for certain descriptions of cloth. 
 
 A proprietor of the district, called John Ellman, about 
 the year 1780 applied himself to the improvement of 
 this race, upon the principles which succeeded so well 
 with Bakewell in improving the long-woolled race. One 
 particular circumstance admitted of his making such a 
 trial with some chance of success ; all along the Sussex 
 hills there extends a strip of low and cultivated lands, 
 capable of furnishing, and which in effect did provide, a 
 
SHEEP. 23 
 
 supply of artificial nourishment for the down sheep 
 during the winter. What keeps the mountain sheep gene- 
 rally in low condition, is not so much the shortness of the 
 pasture during summer, as the almost entire want of food 
 in winter. The truth of this has been abundantly de- 
 monstrated by the experiments of EUman and his suc- 
 cessors with the down sheep. 
 
 As soon as this sheep had a good winter regimen added 
 to its summer food, it was observed rapidly to acquire a 
 fuller development; and as, at the same time, by a careful 
 selection of reproducers, attention was directed to give it 
 as much as possible aptitude for early fattening, and that 
 perfection of shape which characterises the Dishley, the 
 Southdowns have at last become almost rivals of Bake- 
 well's race. At the present day, after seventy years 
 of skilful treatment, the Southdown sheep gives on 
 an average 80 to 100 Ib. net of mutton. They fatten 
 generally about two years old, and are sold after their 
 second clip.* Their mutton is considered superior to the 
 new Leicester ; their fleece, like their carcass, has doubled 
 in weight ; and as they are continued on the same summer 
 pasturage to which they were accustomed, they have re- 
 tained their primitive robust and hardy constitution. 
 
 It is calculated that the downs of Sussex and neigh- 
 bouring plains feed now a million of the improved breed ; 
 and the race is not confined to its ancient limits, but is 
 widely spread to distant quarters, either as an entire sub- 
 stitute for local varieties, or to mix with, and remodel, 
 those by crossing. It has made its way wherever the soil, 
 not rich enough for the Dishley breed, is yet sufficiently 
 so to provide a proper quantity of winter food in addition 
 to good summer pasture. It predominates in all the dis- 
 tricts of lime formation, tends to displace the old breeds 
 
 * We believe few males ever reach this age. J. D. 
 
24 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 of Berks, Hants, and Wiltshire, and is found again as far 
 north as Cumberland and Westmoreland. 
 
 The history of the Cheviot sheep is not quite so bril- 
 liant as that of the Dishleys and Southdowns. Notwith- 
 standing, the breed is not less valuable than the others 
 inasmuch as it is a means by which every possible 
 advantage is obtained from cold and uncultivated regions. 
 Emanating from the mountains lying between the high 
 chains of England and the cultivated lands, like the 
 Southdowns it owes 1 its improvement to a supplement of 
 artificial nourishment during winter ; so far at least as 
 the wild district it inhabits permits. Besides, it has been as 
 much as any other the object of selections conducted with 
 great care, and its shape is now as perfect as can well be. 
 The improved Cheviot sheep fatten in their third year,'* 
 and yield on an average 60 to 80 Ib. of excellent meat. 
 Their fleece is thick and short. They spend even the 
 winter months upon their native mountains, exposed to 
 all the inclemencies of the seasons, and are seldom shel- 
 tered in folds. 
 
 In England the Cheviots have scarcely been introduced 
 anywhere out of their native districts, excepting in the 
 most mountainous parts of Wales and Cornwall. In 
 Scotland, whither they were imported by Sir John Sin- 
 clair, they have spread widely. They commenced by 
 invading the Highlands of the south, and from thence, 
 following the line of the Grampians, have penetrated as 
 far as the extreme north, where they increase rapidly. 
 Everywhere in these high and stormy regions they dispute 
 the ground with another still wilder race the black-faced 
 sheep of the heather which by degrees leave to the new- 
 comers the best walks, in order to take refuge upon the 
 wildest summits. 
 
 * Many now in their second. J. D. 
 
SHEEP. 25 
 
 These three breeds tend now to absorb all others, and 
 take entire possession of Great Britain. Some local varie- 
 ties, remain, however, and develop themselves separately. 
 Such are those of Komney Marsh in Kent, those of the 
 uplands or Cotswold hills of Gloucestershire, the long- 
 wool races of Lincoln and Teeswater,* the short-wool of 
 Dorset and Herefordshire, &c. All these breeds are im- 
 proved upon the principles followed with the Dishley, 
 Southdowns, and Cheviots. Throughout England, the 
 sheep farmer now seeks either to improve his breed by 
 itself, or by crossing it with others already improved, or 
 else he substitutes one of these breeds for his own 
 whichever method appears to him most efficacious for 
 increasing the precocity and giving roundness of form to 
 his produce. It may be said that the genius of Bakewell 
 pervades all his countrymen. 
 
 Let us attempt a rough comparison between the an- 
 nual produce derived by the two countries from this 
 equal number of sheep. 
 
 The production of wool in France may be put down at 
 about sixty millions of kilos.t This production in England 
 is reckoned at 550,000 packs, of 240 Ib. English, equal 
 to sixty millions of kilos also. The two countries would 
 then be on an equal footing as regards wool ; but England 
 takes the lead in an enormous ratio when the question 
 comes to be of meat. 
 
 About ten millions of head are annually slaughtered in 
 the British Isles, of which eight millions belong to Eng- 
 land alone, yielding, at the average weight of thirty-six 
 kilos (80 Ib.) of net meat, three hundred and sixty mil- 
 lions of kilos. 
 
 * The long-wools of Lincoln have of late risen into greater favour; and 
 some splendid specimens have recently been exhibited at the great Shows in 
 England. J. D. t A kilogramme = 2^ Ib. English. 
 
26 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Ill France there are about eight millions of head 
 slaughtered, which, at the average weight of eighteen 
 kilos of net meat, equal to one-half the weight of the 
 English sheep, give one hundred and forty-four millions 
 of kilos. 
 
 From whence it follows that the produce from the 
 thirty-five millions of French sheep would be represented 
 by the following figures : 
 
 Wool, . . 60,000,000 of kilos. 
 
 Meat, . 144,000,000 
 
 And the return from the thirty-five millions of English 
 sheep by these 
 
 Wool, . . 60,000,000 of kilos. 
 
 Meat, . . 360,000,000 
 
 These figures, doubtless, are not of mathematical cor- 
 rectness, but they are near enough the truth to give a 
 sufficient idea of the general facts. I have rather reduced 
 than added to the results given by the statistics in the 
 estimate relating to England, and on the other hand 
 rather increased those as to France. David Low, the 
 learned Professor of Agriculture in the University of 
 Edinburgh, in his Domesticated Animals of the British 
 Islands, published several years ago, sets down the value 
 of wool annually produced in England, at 227,000,000 
 of francs ; but this estimate is evidently exaggerated. 
 The French commentator of David Low reckons at the 
 same time the produce of English sheep in meat, at six 
 hundred and forty millions of kilos, which is an impossi- 
 bility, even supposing all the English sheep were Dish- 
 leys. On the other hand, M. Moreau de Jonnes, in his 
 agricultural statistics drawn up from official documents, 
 estimates six millions as the number of head slaughtered 
 in France, thirteen kilos as the average yield, and eighty 
 
SHEEP. 27 
 
 millions of kilos the total produce. I have raised all these 
 averages, as appearing to me too low.* 
 
 It is easy to foresee how this result, which appears 
 already so great for the British Isles, becomes enormous 
 when speaking of England alone. England feeds two 
 sheep per hectare, whilst the average for France is only 
 two-thirds of a head ; and the produce of the English 
 sheep being besides double that of the French, it fol- 
 lows that the average return of an English sheep-farm is 
 six times greater than a French one. 
 
 This sad disproportion does not hold good, doubtless, 
 for some French farms, where the rearing of sheep is as 
 well understood as in England, and where they are even in 
 the way of excelling our neighbours by a judicious mix- 
 ture of English and Merino blood. It is sufficient to refer, 
 among others, to the magnificent flocks of M. Pluchet at 
 Trappes (Seine-et-Oise), that of M. Malingie' at La Char- 
 moise (Loir-et-Cher), and the crossings which are being 
 carried on in the State folds, particularly at Alfort. But 
 France in general remains far behind. Ireland, alone of 
 the British Isles, is on a par with us as regards sheep ; 
 even Scotland is superior ; and these figures, in themselves 
 so striking, are far from showing the full amount of bene- 
 
 * These calculations are no doubt perfectly sufficient, up to the measure of the 
 information we possess, to warrant the striking result as to the superiority of 
 British agriculture at which M. Lavergne arrives ; and we have been surprised, 
 from the nature of the materials with which he has had to deal, on this as on 
 other occasions, at the superior discrimination he shows in the estimate which he 
 adopts. It is well known that in this country no means have hitherto existed 
 capable of affording correct data as to our agricultural wealth ; and the vague 
 and various statements upon many points which our best statisticians put forth, 
 attest too truly that we are more indebted to individual ingenuity and bold 
 assumption for attempted definite results, than to any opportunity of access, on 
 the part of those who hazard such conclusions, to superior information. It is 
 believed they manage these matters better in France. We have no means of 
 showing precisely the total number of live stock maintained in Great Britain, far 
 less of ascertaining the numbers annually slaughtered ; and we know this has 
 been variously estimated at from a third up to fully two-fifths of the whole 
 
28 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 fit which English agriculture derives from its sheep. It 
 must not be forgotten that this valuable animal not only 
 gives its meat and wool to the farmer, but further en- 
 riches him by its manure; and all this return is obtained, 
 while ameliorating the soil which produces it. This is in 
 some measure the perfection of rural economy. 
 
 If we now extend our view beyond Europe to the 
 British colonies, we there find the rearing of sheep carried 
 on with a marked predilection for the example set by the 
 mother country. The population there being fewer and 
 more scattered, and wealth consisting more particularly 
 in exports, wool, and not meat, becomes the object of pro- 
 duction. At the very time when England, was getting quit 
 of her merinos, she was importing them into her colonies. 
 At the antipodes are found uninhabited regions of bound- 
 less extent, admirably suited to the Spanish race. That 
 breed is there extensively propagated, and a new world 
 has been created ; magnificent towns have sprung up, as 
 if by enchantment, upon these desert lands. Thither the 
 stream of British emigration flows in a continuous tide ; 
 and yet it is a feeble animal the sheep which produces 
 all these wonders. At one time the people of England 
 
 though we believe the former, as adopted by our author, will be found nearest 
 the truth. With regard to wool, again, we feel inclined to adopt a much higher 
 superiority for England even than that above set down ; for supposing the num- 
 bers of sheep in France and the British Isles to be alike, the greater size and 
 nature of the wool of the majority of the sheep of the latter country may fairly 
 be assumed as producing a fleece nearly twice the weight of the merinos'of France. 
 Upon the whole, then, we have no doubt, upon this same number of sheep said to 
 be produced in France and England, the latter will yield upon an average fifty 
 per cent greater weight of wool. This, allowing for the greater number pre- 
 sumed to be clipped in France from the smaller proportionate number slaughtered, 
 as we have seen and assuming, as we are bound to do, a less price for the coarser 
 variety grown here may be held as showing the relative value of the wool of the 
 two countries to be as sixty to seventy-two, thus giving a still more favourable 
 result for Great Britain. We should not be surprised that Professor Low's esti- 
 mate in this matter will be found to come nearest the truth. J. D. 
 
SHEEP. 29 
 
 were very much afraid that the gold discovery would 
 cause an abandonment of the pastures; but these fears 
 are a little calmed, and the sheep disputes attention 
 even with the gold. 
 
 At the commencement of the present century, England 
 imported half of her foreign wools from Spain, but that 
 country now appears only nominally upon her import 
 lists. Countries which, fifty years ago, did not give a 
 pound of wool, the names even of which were scarcely 
 known, figure upon these lists for enormous quantities. 
 Among these are the British colonies in Australia, which 
 furnish forty million pounds of wool, the Cape of Good 
 Hope and the British possessions in India, which send 
 home ten to twelve million. These wools are of excel- 
 lent quality, and improve every day. The producers 
 from these far-off countries come to bid against our far- 
 mers for the Rambouillet rams, for which they give long 
 prices. Adding to her own the produce of her colonial 
 sheep, England every year realises six hundred to seven 
 hundred millions of francs, which she afterwards doubles 
 by her manufactures. What a wonderful power of hu- 
 man industry, that can thus turn the gifts of Providence 
 to such good account ! 
 
 Surpassed in the production of meat by the European 
 portion of the British empire, France is again left behind 
 in the production of wool by the colonies and mother 
 country together. Yet, both at home and in our African 
 colony, which is much nearer to us than the Australian 
 colonies are to England, we have abundant means- for 
 rivalling her. The same distinction which exists between 
 England and her colonies may some day probably exist 
 also between our own country and colony. Our breeders, 
 without altogether renouncing wool, will have their 
 
30 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 attention directed more than hitherto to the production 
 of meat. The Algerian breeders, in their turn, have a 
 wide field open to them for the production of wool. 
 The impulse is given from all quarters, and great pro- 
 gress is made every day in this double path ; but we are 
 a little late in setting out, and England has such a start 
 of us, that we shall find it difficult to overtake her. 
 
31 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CATTLE. 
 
 THE superiority of British husbandry to ours is not 
 quite so great in cattle as it is in sheep. There is still, 
 however, a sensible difference. 
 
 The number of horned cattle possessed by France is 
 reckoned at ten million head. The United Kingdom feeds 
 somewhat less, say about eight million ; but if the actual 
 number be less, the proportionate quantity is not so. 
 Of this number England and Wales count five million 
 head, Scotland one million, and Ireland two million ; 
 that is, England has one head for every three hectares, 
 Scotland one to eight hectares, and Ireland one to four. 
 Thus the average of France is in reality superior only to 
 Scotland ; and then it is her soil which causes the excep- 
 tion. We are even below Ireland, and a long way below 
 England. So much for numbers ; in quality our inferi- 
 ority is greater. 
 
 There are three descriptions of produce which man 
 may demand from cattle, besides the manure, the hide, 
 and the offal namely, their labour, their milk, and their 
 flesh. Of these three the least profitable is the first ; and 
 we here again find a distinction quite analogous to that 
 winch we observed in respect to sheep ; for while the French 
 agriculturist requires labour from his cattle, in preference 
 to everything else, the British agriculturist looks chiefly 
 
32 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 to the milk and the meat. This second distinctive feature 
 has led to differences almost as marked as the first. Let 
 us, in the first place, consider the milk produce in the two 
 countries. France possesses four millions of cows, and 
 the United Kingdom three millions. But three-fourths 
 of the French cows are not really milch cows, and almost 
 all the English ones are. The exigencies of labour re- 
 quiring a strong and hardy race, agree badly with the 
 condition favourable to an abundant supply of milk. 
 Bad food, want of care, absence of all precaution in the 
 selection of reproducers, and probably also, in the most 
 southern districts, the drought and heat of the climate, 
 these complete what labour had already begun. In those 
 parts of France where the attention of breeders has been 
 directed, from local circumstances, to the production of 
 milk, results equal, and often superior, to those obtained in 
 England show that, generally speaking, we are placed in 
 as favourable a position for this kind of husbandry as our 
 neighbours ; but if our milch cows are as good, and some- 
 times better than theirs, they are not so widely diffused. 
 There is no breed of cows in England superior appa- 
 rently to our Flemish, Norman, and Breton cows, for the 
 quantity and quality of their milk, nor for the propor- 
 tionate return in milk for the quantity of food consumed. 
 As to dairy produce, if English cheese is in general 
 superior to ours, French butter is better than English; 
 there is nothing in England to be compared with the 
 better qualities of butter made in Brittany and Nor- 
 mandy. In spite of these unquestionable advantages, 
 the total produce of the English cows in milk, butter, 
 and cheese, far exceeds that of the French, although the 
 latter are more numerous, and in certain districts as good 
 or even better milkers. It is the generality of a practice 
 only which can produce great results in agriculture ; and 
 
CATTLE. S3 
 
 in England it is the universal custom to keep one or 
 several milch cows. 
 
 The milch cow race par excellence of the British empire 
 comes originally from those islands of the Channel which 
 are detached fragments of our Normandy. The breed 
 usually goes under the name of Alderney, or, in French, 
 Aurigny. The greatest precautions are adopted for 
 maintaining the purity of this race, which is, after all, 
 only a variety of our own. A large number of heifers 
 are bred in the Channel Islands and sold into England, 
 where they are in great request among the wealthy 
 classes for their dairies in the country. Any one who 
 has visited Jersey must have admired these beautiful 
 animals, so intelligent and gentle -looking, which stock 
 the pasture-lands of that island, and which form a part 
 of the family of every farmer there. Although naturally 
 good, the affectionate care with which they are treated 
 has not a little contributed to render them so productive. 
 The Jersey people are as proud and jealous of them as if 
 they were the greatest treasures in the world. 
 
 This race, however, has a rival in one which much 
 resembles it, and which has been produced from it by 
 crossings namely, the Ayrshire in Scotland. It is not 
 long since Scotland was in an almost uncultivated state ; 
 Ayrshire, particularly, has been cultivated, with some 
 degree of care, only within the last fifty or sixty years. 
 This country, at one time covered with heather and moss, 
 has become a sort of Arcadia. Eobert Burns, the shepherd 
 poet, was born there. His rustic poetry, which was written 
 about the time of the French Eevolution, was coeval with 
 the dawn of agriculture in his native country. The same 
 feeling which inspired the pastorals of Burns, raised up 
 that charming race of Ayrshire cows, whose graceful 
 forms, speckled hides, quiet disposition, large udders, and 
 
34 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 rich and abundant supply of milk, realise the ideal of 
 pastoral life. A good cow of this breed will give more 
 than four thousand litres ~* of milk in the year : on 
 an average they yield three thousand. And these ani- 
 mals are to be found everywhere, both in Scotland and 
 England. 
 
 A cow which does not give milk may be considered 
 the exception in that country. Ireland itself possesses 
 two races of milch cows ; the one small and coarse, similar 
 to our Breton race, and belonging to the wild mountains 
 of Kerry ; the other large and strong, bred upon the rich 
 pastures of the Shannon. 
 
 The consumption of milk under every form is enormous 
 among the English. Their habits in this respect are those 
 of past ages. Caesar said of them, long ago, Lacte et came 
 vivunt. They are not in the habit of preparing their 
 food with fat and oil, like most of the French, but use 
 butter for all culinary purposes ; cheese, too, appears at 
 their principal repasts. The quantities of butter and 
 cheese manufactured throughout the whole extent of the 
 British Isles exceed all belief. Cheshire alone produces 
 cheese to the value of a million sterling, or twenty-five 
 millions of francs annually. Not content with what their 
 own dairies give, the English import butter and cheese 
 from abroad ; and this circumstance, showing to what 
 extent the national taste is carried, explains the reason 
 why it is that the average price of milk with them is 
 higher than in France. While our producers obtain at 
 most ten centimes per litre (Id. per quart) for their 
 milk, the English get twenty centimes (2d.) 
 
 In fine, the milk produce of English cows may be 
 reckoned at three milliards (three thousand millions) of 
 litres, of which one milliard goes to feed the calves, and 
 
 * A litre is equal to about a quart (or 2.1135 wine pints). T. 
 
CATTLE. 35 
 
 two for the consumption of man. This gives an average 
 of about one thousand litres for each cow. The produc- 
 tion of France is probably at most two milliards, or at 
 the rate of five hundred litres per head, of which at least 
 one-half is consumed by the calves. 
 
 Thus, while the French have only one milliard of litres 
 to sell for human consumption, the English have two ; 
 and as, in consequence of their large manufacturing 
 population, they obtain double the price for their milk 
 that we do, it follows that the dairy produce of Eng- 
 land is worth four times as much as it is in France. The 
 production of the two countries should, then, be repre- 
 sented by the following figures : 
 
 France, 1 milliard of litres at 10 cents, 100 million francs (4,000,000). 
 British Isles, 2 milliard of litres at 20 cents, 400 million francs (.16,000,000). 
 
 This difference, great though it be, will not cause 
 surprise to any one who may have compared, even in 
 France, the production of dairies in different localities. 
 Between a Normandy dairy, for example, where the pro- 
 duction and management of the milk are skilfully con- 
 ducted, and one in Limousin or Languedoc, where the 
 lactiferous properties of the cow have not been encouraged, 
 the contrast is greater than between an ordinary French 
 dairy and an English one. Not only is the quantity of 
 milk infinitely less, but the price obtained for it is less 
 also. The producer of the centre or south does not know 
 what to make of his milk when he has it ; the producer 
 of the north, on the contrary, derives from it a good 
 profit. In every country the art of dairy husbandry is a 
 profitable employment ; and the districts which make but- 
 ter and cheese are always richer than those that do not. 
 
 If the work we impose upon our large cattle deprives 
 us of a large revenue in milk, it also deprives us of a 
 not less important return in butcher-meat. 
 
36 RUEAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 It appears, at first sight, that the work which our 
 cattle are made to go through should have but little 
 influence upon the return they give in meat. It might 
 even be supposed that this work, since it turned the life 
 of the animal to account, admitted of a cheaper produc- 
 tion of meat. Experience, however, has shown, that if in 
 some particular instances such was the case, it is a mis- 
 take as a rule. Habitual labour causes animals to become 
 hardy, vigorous, and slow; which, like man given to labo- 
 rious work, causes them to eat much and fatten little, 
 to increase in bony structure, make little available flesh, 
 and that but slowly. Habitual inaction, on the contrary, 
 produces a soft and lazy race, which fatten early, assume 
 rotundity of form and fleshiness, and on an equal 
 amount of food give a better produce for the butcher. 
 Attention on the part of the breeder assists this natural 
 disposition, and increases it, in some measure, to an un- 
 limited extent. To this general cause of superiority may 
 be added other secondary ones, all arising out of the same 
 principle. Thus, where labour is the first consideration, 
 the animal is not killed until it has finished its office ; 
 but, on the other hand, where meat only is sought, it is 
 slaughtered just at that period when it gives most. Again, 
 with animals of draught, poor agriculturists are easily 
 induced to increase the number in proportion to their 
 requirements, without considering the quantity of food 
 they can give them. In this way they are led to breed 
 small and lean animals, which, after all, like the ass, 
 fulfil their intended purpose, but beyond that are value- 
 less : when on the other hand, however, the object is 
 meat, they very soon learn to have only as many as 
 they can afford to feed well, because these derive more 
 benefit from what they eat. 
 
 The result of all this is, that, contrary to appearances, 
 
CATTLE. # 
 
 it is the animals for slaughter which make the best return 
 for what they consume ; and that the working of horned 
 cattle, whether necessary or not, instead of being profit- 
 able, entails a loss. 
 
 It was, again, the celebrated farmer of Dishley Grange, 
 Eobert Bakewell, who gave the spur in England to the 
 improvement of cattle, considered specially with reference 
 to beef. His mode of proceeding was similar to that 
 practised with sheep, only individually he was not so 
 fortunate. The sheep, as produced by Bakewell, continues 
 to be the most perfect type of the animal for the butcher. 
 The race of cattle which he bred was not so successful. 
 The long-horned cattle of the midland counties, which 
 he selected as the subject for his operations, is a race in 
 many respects defective. In spite of his ability and 
 perseverance, he was not able to modify it sufficiently to 
 eradicate its primitive defects. This race is now pretty 
 generally abandoned ; but if this great breeder did not 
 altogether succeed in his undertaking, he has at least 
 given examples and models which have everywhere been 
 followed, and have caused an improvement in all the Eng- 
 lish races. There probably does not exist at this day in 
 Great Britain a single head of cattle which has not been 
 considerably modified according to Bakewell's method ; 
 and if none bears his name, as among the woolly tribe, 
 all have equally received his stamp. 
 
 Among the improved breeds of long standing, the short- 
 horn of Durham ranks first. It took its rise in the rich 
 valley of the Tees, and appears to have been formed 
 originally by a cross between the Dutch cow and the 
 native bull. When Bakewell's ideas spread in England, 
 this race was already remarkable for predisposition to 
 fatten, and for its lactiferous qualities. The brothers 
 Collins, farmers at Darlington, first thought of applying 
 
88 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 these principles to the race of Tees valley about the year 
 1775, and they obtained almost from the first important 
 results. The herd of Charles Collins had acquired 
 such a reputation in the space of thirty years, that 
 when sold by auction in 1810, the forty-seven animals 
 of which it was composed, and of which twelve were 
 under a year old, were purchased for 178,000 francs 
 (7100). The race of improved short-horns has spread 
 since that period throughout the United Kingdom, and 
 was some time ago introduced into France. The animals 
 bred from it may be fattened as early as two years 
 old, and attain at that age a weight which no other breed 
 can arrive at so soon. Their head, legs, and bones, have 
 been reduced to such small proportions, and the more 
 fleshy parts of the body so largely developed, that nearly 
 three-fourths of their weight is meat. 
 
 After the Durham short-horn, which among cattle is 
 what the Dishley breed is among sheep, come the Here- 
 ford and Devon breeds, which in their turn may be 
 compared to the Southdowns and Cheviots. The Here- 
 ford breed follows closely upon the Durham, and is 
 even more generally sought after, as offering almost 
 an equal precocity, the same aptitude for fattening, but 
 with greater hardiness. The county of Hereford, from 
 whence it comes, lies at the foot of the Welsh moun- 
 tains; and although renowned for its woods, its pastures, 
 and its landscape, possesses a soil of but indifferent fer- 
 tility. The cattle it produces are rarely fattened in the 
 country, but are purchased at an early age by graziers, 
 who bring them into more fertile districts, where they 
 undergo their full development : a mode of treatment 
 not easily accomplished with the Durhams, which require 
 an abundant supply of food from their birth. Here- 
 fordshire is thus to a great portion of England what 
 
CATTLE. 59 
 
 Auvergne or Limousin is to France a breeding country, 
 the produce of which is exported at an early period, and 
 by degrees reaches the market of the capital. To a con- 
 temporary of Bakewell, called Tomkins, is due the im- 
 provement of the Herefords.* 
 
 The Devon is a mountain race, which at one time was 
 much used for work, and in some places is so still. It is 
 small, but admirably formed. 
 
 All the other races of Great Britain, without having 
 reached precisely the same degree of perfection, have 
 been improved in the same way. Scotland produces 
 several which have a great reputation. A large number 
 of the Scotch cattle leave their mountains at about three 
 years old, to be fattened in England ; of such are those 
 called Galloways, the black race without horns from 
 Angus, and that excellent breed from the Western High- 
 lands one of the most wonderful creations of man : it 
 lives without shelter upon the wildest mountains of the 
 north, and, notwithstanding the barrenness of the soil 
 and severity of the climate, reaches an extraordinary 
 average weight. The value of this animal is further in- 
 creased by the excellent quality of its meat.t 
 
 The comparative results of the two systems may be 
 stated as follows : 
 
 In France the number of cattle annually slaughtered 
 is four millions, producing a total of four hundred million 
 kilogrammes of meat, at the rate of one hundred kilos 
 average weight. Official statistics make it only three 
 hundred millions. 
 
 In the British Isles the number annually slaughtered 
 
 * The improved Herefords, treated as liberally as tlie short-horns, may be said 
 to attain equal precocity. J. D. 
 
 *f* A complete collection of these valuable breeds had been made in France at 
 the Agricultural National Institution ; but in consequence of the breaking up of 
 that establishment, it has been dispersed. 
 
40 RUKAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 is two millions of head, giving a total of five hundred 
 million kilogrammes of meat, at the average of two hun- 
 dred and fifty kilos. " r 
 
 Thus with eight million head of cattle, and thirty 
 million hectares, British agriculture produces five hun- 
 dred million kilos of beef ; whilst France, with ten 
 million head, and fifty-three million hectares, produces 
 in all only four hundred million. 
 
 This new disproportion is perfectly explained, inde- 
 pendently of the difference in race, by the difference in 
 age of the animals slaughtered. The French cattle are 
 slaughtered either too soon or too late : the paramount 
 necessity for maintaining cattle intended for labour obliges 
 us to kill a great number of calves at that age when 
 growth is most rapid. In our four millions of head 
 figure two and a half millions of calves, which, on an 
 average, give not more than thirty kilos of meat ; those 
 that survive are not slaughtered until an age when growth 
 has long ceased that is to say, after the animal has for 
 several years continued to consume food which has not 
 served to increase its weight. The English, on the con- 
 
 * It has long been matter of regret that hitherto in this country we have had 
 no means of correctly ascertaining the number and value of the stock of cattle in 
 Great Britain ; far less can an accurate estimate be made of the proportion 
 annually slaughtered, or of the income thus derived. M. Lavergne has, with his 
 wonted care, adopted, in the number above set down, those which exhibit a fair 
 average of the estimates of our best authorities. The inquiry so long desired, 
 and now set on foot by the Government, will, we have reason to believe, this 
 year furnish with great precision the gross numbers of live stock of all ages and 
 descriptions maintained in the country ; but that the returns should be of real use, 
 it is further requisite that some discrimination should be made as to age and variety 
 of breed, and that we be made acquainted with the proportion annually disposed of 
 for the shambles. The machinery at present in use we have no doubt would easily 
 effect this, and we trust to see it attempted in another year. Until this additional 
 information is obtained, there will exist nearly the same difficulty in securing a 
 correct estimate of the value of the chief source of our agricultural wealth. In 
 proof that there is some reason to suppose this has hitherto been much underrated, 
 we think it may not be uninteresting to refer to the following facts lately educed 
 in relation to this matter, upon which some dependence may be placed. From 
 
CATTLE. 41 
 
 trary, kill their animals neither so young, because it is 
 when young that they lay on flesh most rapidly, nor 
 so old, because then they have ceased to increase : they 
 seize the precise period when the animal has reached its 
 maximum growth. 
 
 These results, so favourable to English rural economy, 
 are reduced, it is true, by the value of the labour which 
 the cattle in France give. We possess in all about two 
 millions of oxen used chiefly for work ; and among the 
 cows there are many also which work in the plough. If, 
 like the English, we had nearly everywhere dispensed 
 with the working of oxen, we should have been obliged 
 to replace them by horses, and these horses would have 
 involved an expense representing the actual value of the 
 labour of the horned cattle. Valuing this labour at about 
 200 francs (8) per team, would give an annual sum of 
 two hundred millions to put to the credit of our race of 
 cattle. 
 
 The produce of cattle in the two countries may there- 
 fore be reckoned in round numbers as follows, exclusive 
 
 the report of a Commission appointed by the Crown in November 1849, to inquire 
 into the state of Srnithfield Cattle Market, it was shown on satisfactory evidence 
 that the number of cattle sold in -that mart alone amounted to 247,000 in the 
 previous year. These are variously assumed as producing from 16 to 18 
 each, showing an average total value of 3,853,000 ; but as the consumption of 
 butcher-meat in London is otherwise made up from the dead market, to the 
 extent, it is calculated, of nearly three-fourths of the whole, it may be fairly 
 estimated _that the value of cattle consumed annually in London alone amounts to 
 not less than 4,8-16,000 or thus, to what appears to be nearly a fourth part of 
 the amount generally set down as the total value of the cattle consumed in the 
 whole of the British empire. Again, the evidence produced before the above 
 Commission tended to show that the value of butcher-meat of all kinds annually 
 consumed in the metropolis, with a population of 2,360,000, was upwards of 
 10,000,000 ; while the highest estimate which we have seen that of Mr Spack- 
 man gives the annual value of sheep and cattle slaughtered in the whole United 
 Kingdom, with a population of 27,720,000 (in 1851), at 45,000,000. We can 
 scarcely think., though no doubt it must be greatly superior, that the proportion 
 of animal food devoured in London can be so large in reference to that consumed 
 by the rest of the inhabitants generally. J. D. 
 
42 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 of the value of the offal and manure on both sides, as 
 these should about balance each other, and valuing the 
 kilogramme of meat at 1 franc (5d. per Ib.) : 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 Milk, . . 100,000,000 francs, or 4,000,000 
 
 Meat, . . 400,000,000 16,000,000 
 
 Work, . . 200,000,000 8,000,000 
 
 Total, . 700,000,000 28,000,000 
 
 Equal to 70 francs per head, and 14 francs per hectare 
 (55s. per head> and 4s. 9d. per acre). 
 
 UNITED KINGDOM. 
 
 Milk, . . 400,000,000 francs, or 16,000,000 
 
 Meat, . . 500,000,000 20,000,000 
 
 Total, . 900,000,000 36,000,000 
 
 Equal to 110 francs per head, and 30 francs per hectare 
 (85s. per head, and 10s. per acre). In England proper 
 this produce may be reckoned at about 50 francs per 
 hectare. 
 
 These figures are verified by a fact extremely simple 
 and easy to prove namely, the average price of the 
 animals in the two countries. Generally speaking, the 
 current price of an animal is a sufficiently correct criterion 
 of the profit which the purchaser expects to derive from 
 it ; now it is invariably the case that the average value 
 of horned animals in England is much above what it is in 
 France. It is not even necessary to go so far as England 
 to ascertain a difference of the same kind. We have in 
 France two districts the one where they do not work 
 the cattle, and the other where they do. If we take the 
 average values in these two quarters, we find that in the 
 former it is very much above what it is in the latter ; 
 and yet the art of rearing cattle for butcher-meat only 
 is still scarcely known in France. What would that be 
 
CATTLE. 43 
 
 if it had reached the point attained in England at the 
 present day 1 
 
 I am aware that the substitution of milking and butcher- 
 meat races for working animals is not always practicable. 
 I am not finding fault with those portions of our territory 
 where cultivation is carried on with oxen, or even cows. 
 I recommend no sudden and rash change ; I simply con- 
 fine myself to stating facts as they exist, and believe I 
 have demonstrated that, by the sole fact of the almost 
 entire abandonment of tillage by oxen, the soil of Britain, 
 even including Scotland and Ireland, has in cattle reached 
 a production double that of ours. Such in agriculture is 
 the power of a correct principle, when practically carried 
 out. 
 
 The other species of domestic animals are horses and 
 pigs. As regards horses, the pre-eminence of the English 
 breeders has long been recognised. We possess in France 
 about three millions of horses of all ages, or about six 
 head for every one hundred hectares ; in England, Scot- 
 land, and Ireland, these are reckoned at two millions, 
 equal also to about six head per one hundred hectares ; 
 but our three millions of horses cannot be valued at more 
 on an average than 150 francs each, making a total value 
 of four hundred and fifty millions ; whereas the two 
 millions of English horses are worth an average price of 
 300 francs, equal to a capital of six hundred millions. 
 It is true that, in order to make a complete comparison, 
 there must be added to our capital in horses the value of 
 our mules and asses, which official statistics set down at 
 eighty millions, though probably nearer one hundred ; 
 but even with the addition of this latter sum we are still 
 behind, although the extent of our soil should secure for 
 us a great superiority. 
 
 It will perhaps be said that the average value of our 
 
44 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 horses has been understated in the preceding estimate, 
 and that of the English increased. Such an assertion I 
 consider without foundation. Doubtless all the English 
 horses are not race-horses ; it' they were, they would be 
 worth more than 300 francs. The value of the English 
 race-horse is quite fanciful, but it is taken upon a small 
 number ; and so far it is in many respects justified by 
 the high value which the English set upon everything 
 capable of improving their breeds. It is entirely owing 
 to the enormous sums paid for first-rate stallions that the 
 breeders of Great Britain have been enabled to improve 
 their common horses in the way they have done. Each 
 species of domestic animal has its special use that of 
 the horse is for purposes where strength combined with 
 speed are required. The English seek to develop these 
 two properties in their horses, although the first expense 
 is considerable ; and, in the long run, it is found that 
 power and speed together do not cost them more than 
 it does us, because they concentrate as much as possible 
 their means of production and their care upon choice 
 individuals, in place of lavishing these on animals of no 
 value. 
 
 Besides their celebrated saddle-horses, they have breeds 
 for draught, which are equally valuable. Such, for ex- 
 ample, are the plough horses, the best of which perhaps 
 come from Suffolk. We have already observed that tillage 
 with horses has been generally substituted by the English 
 for that of oxen : they thought, and with reason, that the 
 quicker action of the horse made its work more productive. 
 But they have done more ; they have even substituted 
 horses for men wherever manual labour the most ex- 
 pensive of all could be replaced by a machine set in 
 motion by horse-power. The amount of agricultural 
 work executed in England by horses is therefore very 
 
CATTLE. 45 
 
 considerably more than in France ; and the number of 
 these animals employed in agriculture has not been 
 increased in proportion. The reason of this is, that their 
 teams, more choice and better kept than ours, are more 
 vigorous and active. 
 
 o 
 
 The brewers' horses, and those used in coal waggons 
 and for other heavy draughts, are celebrated for their 
 strength and bulk. The best fetch very high prices. It is 
 the same with the carriage horses : the breed of Cleve- 
 land bays from Yorkshire is reckoned one of the most 
 perfect which exists for carriage work. 
 
 As for the race-horse, and his rival the hunter, every- 
 body knows by what a combination of efforts the English 
 have succeeded in producing and keeping up these supe- 
 rior breeds. They are productions of human industry, 
 real works of art, obtained at great expense, and designed 
 to gratify a national passion. It may be said, without 
 exaggeration, that all the wealth of Britain seems to have 
 no other object than the keeping up of studs from whence 
 these privileged creatures emanate. A fine horse consti- 
 tutes with everybody the ideal of fashionable life ; it is the 
 first dream of the young girl, as it is the latest pleasure 
 of the aged man of business : everything which relates to 
 the training of saddle-horses, to racing, hunting, and all 
 exercises which display the qualities of these brilliant 
 favourites, is the great business of the whole country. 
 The common people, as well as the wealthier classes, take 
 great interest in these matters, and the day on which the 
 Derby is run at Epsom is a general holiday. Parliament 
 does not meet, no business is transacted, the eyes of all 
 England are directed to that course where a few young 
 stallions run, and where millions are gained or lost in a 
 few minutes. 
 
 We are still far from this national infatuation, and 
 
46 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 certainly it is not because our own breeds are without 
 value ; they are, on the contrary, possessed of natural 
 merits, which art alone has communicated to the English 
 horses. The truth is, that production with us is never 
 below consumption ; but what is needed for the improve- 
 ment of our breeds is, that we learn to pay a price for 
 good horses. This is the great secret. Nothing is more 
 expensive to produce than a good horse. As long as our 
 first object is cheapness, handsome and good horses will 
 be the exceptions with us, although it would be an 
 easy matter to multiply them. Our Percherons, our 
 Boulonnais, our Limousins, Bretons, and B&irnais, afford 
 already excellent types, which might be easily spread and 
 improved if our breeders could obtain sufficient remune- 
 ration for their trouble. 
 
 English pigs, on an average, are not larger than ours, 
 but they are much more numerous, and are killed younger 
 exemplifying always the great principle of precocity, 
 contended for by Bakewell, and applied to all kinds of ani- 
 mals destined for food. England alone feeds as many 
 pigs as the whole of France ; those of Scotland and Ireland 
 are over and above, and very few of these animals are kept 
 alive beyond a year. They are all of breeds which fat- 
 ten rapidly, and whose shapes have been improved for 
 a lengthened period. Official statistics make the annual 
 production of pork in France two hundred and ninety 
 millions of kilogrammes. This figure must be much 
 under the real amount, a great many of these useful 
 animals being killed and consumed in country house- 
 holds, without any account of them being taken ; but 
 even extending it to four hundred millions, the United 
 Kingdom produces double : a superiority, again, which 
 causes no surprise to any one who has witnessed with 
 what ability the piggeries of our neighbours are con- 
 
CATTLE. 47 
 
 ducted. Farms where pigs are fattened by hundreds are 
 not rare, and almost everywhere they figure among the 
 principal branches of farm revenue. 
 
 Such, at a rough estimate, are the advantages obtained 
 by British agriculture in the rearing of domestic animals. 
 It is true that France retaliates in another branch of 
 animal products, which is hardly reckoned in England, 
 and is very considerable with us that of the poultry- 
 yard. The English rear few fowls, the dampness of their 
 climate being unsuitable for it ; and notwithstanding the 
 endeavours which wealthy amateurs have been making 
 for some time past, this occupation has hitherto obtained 
 little favour. The most to which statistics bring the 
 annual value is twenty-five millions (one million ster- 
 ling) derived from this source ; whilst in France the 
 annual production of eggs alone is estimated at one 
 hundred millions, and that of all kinds of fowls at an 
 equal sum. A large portion of the population live upon 
 poultry, especially in the south, and this addition partly 
 makes up for what we lack in butcher-meat ; but while 
 rendering every justice to the real importance of this too 
 often neglected resource, we cannot shut our eyes to the 
 fact that it but imperfectly makes up the deficiency. 
 
 We shall see, in treating of the crops, what are at once 
 the causes and consequences of this large animal pro- 
 duction. 
 
48 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE CKOPS. 
 
 THE object of all cultivation is, to produce -the greatest 
 possible quantity of human food upon a given surface of 
 land : to attain this object, several widely different means 
 may be adopted. French agriculturists are greatly pre- 
 possessed in favour of the production . of cereals, because 
 these serve directly for the food of man ; but it is diffe- 
 rent in England, for, owing to the nature of the climate, 
 and upon a careful consideration of the subject, agricul- 
 turists there have been induced to take a more circuitous 
 course, which does not arrive at cereals until after having 
 passed through other crops, and it is found that this indi- 
 rect way is the best. 
 
 One great drawback attends cereals generally, which 
 has not been sufficiently appreciated by the French culti- 
 vators : they exhaust the soil which bears them. This 
 defect is scarcely perceptible upon certain favoured lands^ 
 capable of producing wheat almost uninterruptedly; it 
 may be of little consequence, also, where land is plenti- 
 ful and population scanty, for there corn need be grown 
 only on the best soils, or that which is inferior may be 
 allowed to rest for several years before being again brought 
 under the plough ; but as population increases, a different 
 system must be adopted. If attention is not given to 
 restoring the fertility of the soil, in proportion to its 
 
THE CEOPS. 49 
 
 exhaustion by cereal crops, a period arrives when the land, 
 too often required to bear corn, refuses to do so. Even 
 where climate and soil are most favourable, the old Eoman 
 system, which consisted in growing corn one year, and 
 leaving the land fallow the next, is found ultimately to be 
 insufficient ; the soil ceases to produce crops of any 
 value. 
 
 In northern latitudes, it is found that the land becomes 
 sooner exhausted under cereals than in the south : this 
 inferiority in their soil led the English to the know- 
 ledge of one of its valuable properties. The impossi- 
 bility of taking from their land as many white crops 
 as were elsewhere produced, set them at an early period 
 to discover the causes, and to effect a remedy for this 
 exhaustion. At the same time, their soil presented one 
 resource, which less naturally offers itself to southern 
 agriculturists ; namely, the spontaneous growth of an 
 abundant grass for cattle. These two facts combined 
 to produce their entire agricultural system. Animal 
 manure being the best agent for renewing the fertility of 
 the soil after a cereal crop, they concluded that they 
 ought to apply themselves especially to the feeding of a 
 large number of cattle. Besides that butcher-meat is 
 an article of food more required by the inhabitants of 
 northern than those of southern latitudes, they perceived 
 in this large animal production the means of increasing, 
 by the quantity of manure, the richness of the soil, and 
 so augmenting their production of corn. This simple 
 calculation succeeded, and since they adopted it, expe- 
 rience has led them to apply it every day more and 
 more. 
 
 At first the English contented themselves with natural 
 pastures for their cattle, and upon this system one-half 
 
 D 
 
50 RUKAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 of the land remained in pasture, the other half being 
 divided between corn and fallows. But by -and -by, 
 not satisfied with this proportion, the idea of artificial 
 grasses and roots suggested itself that is to say, the culti- 
 vation of certain plants exclusively intended for the food 
 of cattle and by so much was the domain of fallows 
 reduced. After a time the breadth of cereals itself was 
 diminished, and now, including oats, it occupies only a 
 fifth of the soil ; and what proves the excellence of this 
 system is, that in proportion as cattle increase, the return 
 from corn increases also ; though narrowed in extent, the 
 harvests are larger, thus effecting for agriculture a two- 
 fold benefit. 
 
 The decisive step in this direction was taken sixty or 
 eighty years ago. At the time when France was occu- 
 pied with the sanguinary struggles of her political Revo- 
 lution, a less noisy and more salutary revolution was 
 being accomplished in English agriculture. Another man 
 of genius, Arthur Young, completed what had been begun 
 by Bakewell. While the one showed how the most was 
 to be made out of cattle, the other taught how the largest 
 possible number of them could be fed upon a given extent 
 of land. Extensive proprietors, whose efforts have been 
 rewarded with large fortunes, favoured the diffusion of 
 these ideas, by putting them into practice with success. 
 It was then that the famous four-year course, known as 
 the Norfolk rotation, from the country where it arose, 
 began to spread. This system, which, with some varia- 
 tion, prevails at the present day in England, has com- 
 pletely changed the character of the most ungrateful 
 land of that country, and everywhere created agricultural 
 richness. 
 
 I will not here repeat the well-known theory of this 
 rotation. Everybody nowadays is aware that most forage 
 
THE CROPS. 51 
 
 plants derive from the atmosphere the principal elements 
 of their growth, while they give to the soil more than 
 they take from it ; thus both directly, and by their con- 
 version into animal manure, contributing in two ways 
 to repair the mischief done by cereals and exhausting 
 crops generally ; one principle, therefore, is, that they 
 should at least alternate with these crops : in this consists 
 the Norfolk rotation. Since the commencement of the 
 present century, great exertions have been made by 
 eminent agriculturists in France to introduce this benefi- 
 cial practice, and not without some effect. But the 
 English have greatly outstripped us ; and therefore this 
 precious fertilising capital, which no good agriculturist 
 should lose sight of, has in their hands been constantly 
 accumulating. 
 
 Nearly half the cultivated soil has been maintained in 
 permanent grass ; the rest, composing what is called the 
 arable land, is divided into four fields of operation, 
 according to the Norfolk rotation 1st year, roots (chiefly 
 turnips) ; 2d year, spring corn (barley and oats) ; 3d 
 year, artificial grass (chiefly clover and rye-grass); 4th 
 year, wheat. 
 
 The practice of late has been to add another year to 
 the course, by allowing the artificial grasses to retain pos- 
 session of the land for two years, thus making the 
 rotation quinquennial. For example, upon a farm of 
 a hundred and seventy-five acres, seventy-five would be 
 in permanent grass, twenty in potatoes and turnips, 
 twenty in barley and oats, twenty in artificial grass of 
 one year, twenty in artificial grass of the second year, 
 and twenty in wheat. In those parts of the country 
 most favourable to herbaceous vegetation, the proportion 
 of grass land is increased, and that of corn reduced ; and 
 where the soil is not so suitable for roots and grass, beans 
 
52 KUKAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 are substituted for turnips, and the breadth of corn is 
 extended in the place of other crops ; but, upon the 
 whole, these exceptions compensate the one for the other, 
 at least in Great Britain in Ireland the whole system 
 is different. 
 
 Upon the whole, deducting eleven millions of un- 
 cultivated hectares contained in the British Isles, the 
 twenty millions of cultivated hectares are divided nearly 
 as follows : 
 
 Hectares. 
 
 Natural pasture, ..... 8,000,000 
 
 Artificial grasses, ..... 3,000,000 
 
 Potatoes, turnips, beans, .... 2,000,000 
 
 Barley, .- ; . . . 1,000,000 
 
 Oats, ....... 2,500,000 
 
 Fallows, ...... 500,000 
 
 Wheat, ...... 1,800,000 
 
 Gardens, hops, flax, &c., . . . . 200,000 
 
 Wood, ...... 1,000,000 
 
 Total, ..... 20,000,000* 
 
 In France we have also eleven millions of hectares un- 
 cultivated out of fifty-three ; the remaining forty-two 
 millions being divided as follows : 
 
 Hectares. 
 
 Natural meadows, ..... 4,000,000 
 
 Artificial ditto, ..... 3,000,000 
 
 Boots, ...... 2,000,000 
 
 Oats, . . . . . . 3,000,000 
 
 Fallows, ...... 5,000,000 
 
 Wheat, . . . . 6,000,000 
 
 Eye, barley, maize, buckwheat, . . . 6,000,000 
 
 Other crops, . . . . . . 3,000,000 
 
 Vineyards, ...... 2,000,000 
 
 Wood, 8,000,000 
 
 Total, ..... 42,000,000 
 
 A comparison of these two tables shows the difference 
 between the two agricultures. 
 
 * This is a distribution of the soil of the British empire in many respects 
 differing from that given by any of our statists, so far as we have seen ; but as 
 
THE CROPS. 53 
 
 At first it appears that France has the advantage 
 over the United Kingdom in the proportion of uncul- 
 tivated to cultivated lands ; but then the lands left waste 
 by our neighbours are, for the most part, incapable of 
 cultivation ; they lie almost entirely in the Scotch 
 Highlands, the north of Ireland, and in Wales ; while 
 most of our waste lands are susceptible of cultivation. 
 We have, besides, more wood than our neighbours ; and, 
 adding our forest grounds to the uncultivated land, we 
 find nineteen millions of hectares out of fifty-three ex- 
 cluded from cultivation, properly speaking : this brings 
 the proportion to nearly the same in both cases. Owing 
 to the abundance of cheap fuel which their coal supplies, 
 the English have been enabled to get rid of the extensive 
 woods which once covered their island, and by this means 
 to redeem their inferiority in other respects : few vestiges 
 of their ancient forests now remain, and these are every 
 day threatened with destruction. 
 
 On the one side, then, the area under cultivation con- 
 sists of nineteen millions of hectares, and on the other of 
 thirty-four. At first sight, we find that out of the nine- 
 teen millions of English hectares, fifteen are devoted to 
 the growth of food for live stock, and at most four for 
 that of man. In France, nine millions of hectares are 
 appropriated to ameliorating crops, whilst the exhausting 
 crops occupy double that surface : the extent of fallows, 
 again, is enormous, and in their present state they cannot 
 be of much service in renewing the fertility of the land. 
 An examination into details will only confirm the truth 
 of what is here presented. 
 
 our best authorities in this matter differ materially, and it is well known that no 
 data commensurate with the scope of the inquiry, or of any reliable nature, have 
 ever yet been obtained to warrant a just estimate of so important a phenome- 
 non, we hold that the above, upon the whole, may be found as near the truth as 
 any that has been hitherto hazarded. T. 
 
54 EURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 First in order come the natural meadows, estimated as 
 covering four millions of hectares with us, and eight in 
 the British Isles here (in France) less than one-eighth, 
 there, nearly one-half of the cultivated land. It is true 
 that the English meadows consist principally of such as 
 are pastured only, but these pastures are as productive 
 as our mown meadows. 
 
 This extent of pasture is certainly one of the most 
 striking features of British fanning. Comparatively little 
 hay is made in England, the winter food of cattle being 
 chiefly obtained from the artificial meadows, besides roots, 
 and even corn. Of late, new systems, of which I shall 
 speak by-and-by, tend to the substitution of stall-feeding 
 even in summer, in place of the old national custom ; but 
 these trials are still, or were, at any rate, five years ago, 
 only exceptions to the rule. The almost universal prac- 
 tice is to confine cattle as little as possible. Three-fourths 
 of the English meadow-lands are grazed ; and as one-half 
 of the artificial grasses are so also, especially in the second 
 year ; as turnips, too, are to a great extent eaten off the 
 ground by sheep ; and, lastly, as the uncultivated lands 
 cannot be turned to account except in the shape of 
 commons, two-thirds of the whole soil are thus given 
 up to live stock. In this consists the peculiar charm of 
 the British fields. With the exception of Normandy, and 
 some other provinces where the same practice prevails, 
 our territory seldom presents that smiling aspect which 
 England does, with its greensward depastured with ani- 
 mals at large. 
 
 The attractive beauty of this landscape is enhanced by 
 the picturesque effect of the quickset hedges, often inter- 
 spersed with trees, which divide the fields. The existence 
 of these hedges is strongly assailed in the present day, 
 although hitherto they have been considered as indispen- 
 
THE CROPS. 55 
 
 sable to the general system of agriculture. Each field 
 being pastured in its turn, it is convenient to be able, in a 
 manner, to pen the cattle, so as to leave them without any 
 further care. It appears strange to us, whose habits are 
 so different, thus to see cattle, and especially sheep, left 
 entirely to themselves, on pastures sometimes far from 
 human habitations. To account for such a state of secu- 
 rity, it must be recollected that the English have destroyed 
 the wolves in their island; that they have, by severe 
 laws under a system of rural police, protected property 
 against human depredations ; and, finally, that they have 
 taken care to make their fields secure by means of 
 fences. These beautiful hedges, then, are thus a use- 
 ful defence as well as an ornament, and it is only sur- 
 prising how there should be any wish to do away with 
 them. 
 
 The system of pasturage has many advantages in the 
 eyes of English farmers : it saves manual labour, which 
 with them is no small consideration; it is favourable at 
 least, so they think to the health of herbivorous animals ; 
 it admits of turning to account lands which otherwise 
 would give but a small return, and which, in the course 
 of time, are improved by the deposits of the cattle ; it 
 supplies a food always springing up afresh, and the sum 
 of which is found, in the long run, to equal, if not to 
 exceed, what would have been obtained by the scythe. 
 Considerable importance, therefore, is attached to having 
 on every farm a sufficient extent of good pasture ; 
 even the mown meadows are often submitted to one 
 year of pasturing between two of hay cropping. Whilst 
 our pastures are, generally speaking, neglected, theirs, 
 on the contrary, are carefully attended to ; and any one 
 who has but a slight knowledge of this most attractive 
 kind of culture, can appreciate the immense difference 
 
56 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 that exists between a wild uncultivated pasture, and one 
 which has received proper care. 
 
 It may be confidently asserted, that the eight millions 
 of hectares of English meadows give three times as much 
 food for cattle as our four million hectares of meadows 
 and five million hectares of fallow put together. The 
 proof of this is to be found in the money value of these 
 different kinds of lands. The English meadows, whether 
 for mowing or otherwise, sell on an average at about 
 4000 francs per hectare, or 60 per acre ; and some are 
 worth 10,000, 20,000, and even 50,000 francs. With us 
 the good grass-lands of Normandy are the only ones we 
 have which may compare with any of these prices : our 
 meadows are worth, on an average, about three-fourths 
 that of the English; and as for our fallows, they are greatly 
 inferior. Nowhere has the art of improving meadows and 
 pasture-lands been carried to such an extent as in England : 
 they have been rendered sound by draining, fertilised by 
 irrigation, judicious manuring, subsoil-ploughing, clearing 
 off stones, embankments, improvements of every sort for 
 the encouragement of nutritious plants and the destruc- 
 tion of weeds, which spread so easily on grass-lands. 
 Nowhere is the expense of creating and maintaining less 
 grudged, when the object is to carry oat some improve- 
 ment which may be thought beneficial. Such instances 
 of skill and intelligence, favoured by climate, have been 
 productive of marvellous results. 
 
 Next come roots and artificial grasses. The roots uni- 
 versally cultivated in England are potatoes and turnips. 
 Beetroot, so common in France, is very little cultivated 
 as yet on the other side of the Channel, and makes very 
 little progress. Potatoes were in great favour before the 
 appearance of the disease. It is well known that the 
 quantity of these consumed by the population of Eng- 
 
THE CROPS. 57 
 
 land is much greater than in France ; in addition to 
 which, immense quantities are appropriated to the feed- 
 ing of cattle. But the great characteristic of English 
 rural economy, and that which in some degree may be con- 
 sidered the pivot of the whole system, is the turnip crop. 
 This crop, which with us covers but a few thousands of 
 hectares, and is little known except in our mountain- 
 ous provinces, is reckoned in England the surest indica- 
 tion, the most active agent, of agricultural progress. 
 Wherever it is introduced and thrives, fertility follows. 
 Through its means, ancient moors have been converted 
 into fertile lands. The value of a farm is most frequently 
 estimated by the extent of ground which can be profit- 
 ably devoted to this crop. It is no uncommon thing, in 
 going through the country, to see spaces of hundreds 
 of hectares of turnips. Their brilliant verdure is every- 
 where to be seen at the proper season. 
 
 Turnips were anciently cultivated in Holland, and 
 passed into England towards the end of the seventeenth 
 century, along with the financial and political institutions 
 brought over by William III. Lord Townsend acquired 
 a great name in the reign of George II. for having done 
 much towards their propagation, for these services are 
 not forgotten in England. 
 
 The turnip crop is the starting-point of the Norfolk 
 rotation ; upon its success depends that of the rest of the 
 course. Not only is it capable of insuring the succeed- 
 ing crops, from the abundance of manure given by the 
 quantity of cattle it can feed ; not only does it produce 
 much butcher-meat, milk, and wool, from the quantity 
 of food it supplies for all the domestic animals ; but 
 it further serves to clean the land, by the frequent 
 dressings it requires, and by the nature of its growth. 
 Neither is there any cultivation not even that directly 
 
58 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 producing wheat which has been brought to such a state 
 of perfection. The English farmers spare no pains upon 
 the turnip crop ; for it they reserve almost all their 
 manures, the most thorough weedings, and the most 
 assiduous cares. On an average they obtain from five 
 to six hundred metrical quintals * of turnips per hectare ; 
 or the equivalent of a hundred to a hundred and twenty 
 metrical quintals of hay, and sometimes as much as double 
 this. Turnips require a light soil and wet summers, con- 
 ditions which render them so suitable for successful culti- 
 vation in England. 
 
 It is easy to understand how such a resource, which 
 has but few analogies in France, would add to the pro- 
 duce of the natural pastures. Beans take the place of 
 turnips in the rotation on certain soils ; and on all, 
 artificial grasses complete the system. 
 
 French official statistics estimate the extent of artificial 
 grasses at only 1,500,000 hectares. But, considering the 
 constant progress which this kind of cultivation is making 
 among us, I consider this statement no longer correct, 
 and have, accordingly, set it down at double that is 
 to say, three millions of hectares reducing the fallows 
 to an equal extent. With this addition, however, we 
 are still much behind the English ; for, putting Ireland 
 and Scotland out of the question, they have upon the 
 fifteen millions of hectares in England the same extent 
 of artificial grasses as we have upon fifty-three. Our 
 artificial grasses are quite as good as theirs, for their 
 soil being little suited for lucern, they have little besides 
 clover and rye-grass ; and however good the produce 
 of these crops may be, it does not surpass that of the 
 superior kinds which we possess : to say that they are 
 equal is saying a good deal. For some time past the 
 
 * Metrical or new measurement quintal=100 kilos, or nearly 221 Ib. 
 
THE CROPS. 59 
 
 English have obtained remarkable results from Italian 
 rye-grass. 
 
 The remaining crop used for forage is oats. France 
 sows about three millions of hectares of oats every year, 
 while upon a less extent in the British Isles a much 
 superior harvest is gathered. The average production of 
 oats in France, deducting seed, is eighteen hectolitres * 
 per hectare (about twenty bushels per acre) ; in the 
 United Kingdom it is about twice as much, or five 
 quarters per acre, and sometimes even as much as ten. 
 We find differences as great in France also, when compar- 
 ing those districts where the cultivation of oats is well 
 understood, and well suited to the soil, with others where 
 such is not the case : moreover, of all the cereals, it is 
 the one which naturally thrives best in northern climates. 
 The Scotch, as a nation, had at one time scarcely any 
 other food ; from which circumstance Scotland got the 
 name of the Land of Cakes, just as Ireland, in the same 
 way, came to be called the Land of Potatoes. 
 
 Thus upon a total surface of thirty-one millions of 
 hectares, reduced to twenty by the uncultivated lands, 
 the British Isles produce much more food for cattle than 
 the whole of France, with twice the extent. The quantity 
 of manure, therefore, is proportionably three or four times 
 greater, independently of the animal products which go 
 directly for consumption, and yet this mass of manure is 
 not considered sufficient. Everything fitted for increas- 
 ing the fertility of the soil bones, blood, rags, oil-cake, 
 the refuse of manufactories, all kinds of animal and 
 vegetable waste, minerals considered as possessing fertil- 
 ising properties, such as gypsum, lime, &c. is assiduously 
 collected and put into the ground. British shipping go 
 in search of additional supplies to all parts of the world ; 
 
 * A hectolitre is 2f bushels. 
 
60 POJRAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 and guano, that rich material, is imported by shiploads 
 from the most distant seas. Agricultural chemistry is 
 constantly at work to discover either new manures, or 
 which are the best suited for particular crops ; and in 
 place of despising these researches, the farmers encourage 
 them by their active co-operation. In the expenditure 
 of every farm a good round sum figures every year for 
 the purchase of fertilising materials ; the more the farmer 
 can afford to lay out in these, the more does he consume. 
 The sale of these additional manures has given rise to a 
 large trade. 
 
 Land requires not only manure and fertilisers, but it 
 must also be dug, pulverised, levelled, weeded, drained, 
 and worked in every direction, so that the wet may pass 
 through it without lodging ; and be rendered pervious to 
 atmospheric gases, in order that the roots of useful plants 
 may have free scope to strike down and extend them- 
 selves easily. A host of implements have been invented 
 in order to facilitate these various operations. A pretty 
 correct estimate may be formed of the immense import- 
 ance attached to the manufacture of agricultural imple- 
 ments in England, and the great demand for them, by 
 the space they occupied at the Great Exhibition : there 
 were nearly three hundred exhibitors in this class, from 
 all parts of the kingdom, and some among them, as the 
 Garretts and Eansomes in Suffolk, employ thousands of 
 workmen, and every year execute orders to the value of 
 millions of francs. These machines economise labour 
 to a wonderful extent, and supply the place of a large 
 number of hands. 
 
 All these operations and expenses contribute mainly 
 to the production of two cereals barley, from which 
 the national beverage is produced ; and the queen-plant, 
 wheat. 
 
THE CROPS. 61 
 
 Upwards of a million of hectares are sown in barley 
 every year ; this is about as much as is grown in 
 France, where this cereal does not hold the same relative 
 importance ; but, as in the case of oats, the average pro- 
 duction is about twice as great as with us. In France 
 the yield is fifteen hectolitres while in England it is 
 thirty, or a little more than four quarters per acre. 
 More than one-half of this crop is used in the manufac- 
 ture of beer (and spirits). The duty collected on malt 
 proves that fourteen to fifteen millions of hectolitres of 
 barley are thus annually employed ; the other moiety 
 affords an additional resource for the feeding and fatten- 
 ing of live stock, especially pigs.* Human consumption 
 takes off a small quantity, as it does of oats ; but the use 
 of these coarser articles of food is falling off every day. 
 
 Besides barley and oats, the English formerly used a 
 good deal of rye as food. Eye, in fact, is, along with the 
 spring cereals, the grain best suited for the short sum- 
 mers of the north. All the north of Europe cultivates and 
 consumes rye only. In England, however, it has almost 
 entirely disappeared, being now scarcely ever grown ex- 
 cepting for green fodder in spring ; and its price, which 
 is generally very low, is quoted in the market only about 
 seed-time.t The quantity imported is insignificant. 
 Most of the soils which formerly grew only rye, now 
 grow wheat ; and those which were absolutely unfit for it 
 have been turned to other uses. The English rightly 
 
 * This, we fear, is not altogether correct. About five million quarters barley, 
 oil an average, are consumed as malt, besides upwards of one million quarters 
 distilled as raw grain. A large quantity goes otherwise for human food, and 
 little comparatively for feeding purposes. J. D. 
 
 f Rye is, no doubt, very sparingly cultivated in England, and is much out of 
 favour where the soil is suitable for any other cereal. Still it is scarcely so rare 
 as the above remarks would lead one to infer, as it is generally to be found in 
 our markets, and in some quantity is used for distillation the price being by 
 weight equal to that of barley. T. 
 
62 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 contend that this crop, which occasions as much work 
 and requires almost as much manure as wheat, for greatly 
 inferior results, does not merit that consideration which 
 it obtains throughout the rest of Europe, and even in 
 France. This is another of those correct principles in 
 rural economy which suffice to change the agricultural 
 aspect of a country. The abandonment of rye may be 
 considered in the same light as the abandonment of 
 labour by oxen, the increase in the number of sheep, 
 and all the other parts of the English system. 
 
 Eye is still cultivated in France to the extent probably 
 of about three millions of hectares. This includes half 
 the lands sown with wheat and rye mixed. In general 
 it gives a miserable result, yielding no more than five 
 or . six fold, and barely paying the expenses of culti- 
 vation. It would be well to renounce it entirely ; but 
 this is not always practicable. The abandonment of rye 
 would not of itself be sufficient : it is necessary to be in 
 a position to produce something else with success ; and 
 all are not in a position to force nature. To attain 
 their present production of wheat, the English have been 
 obliged to do violence to their soil and climate. The 
 use of lime as a stimulant has been their chief aid ; 
 and similar effects, by the same means, have been pro- 
 duced in many parts of France. At the same time, we 
 must bear in mind this other principle which the English 
 have laid down, that if it is scarcely ever advantageous 
 to grow rye, it is not profitable to grow wheat excepting 
 where circumstances are favourable. Ten hectares in 
 good condition are worth more, for the production of 
 corn, than twenty or thirty partially improved and badly 
 worked. 
 
 While nearly the fourth part of our soil is under cereal 
 crops for human consumption, less than one-sixteenth of 
 
THE CROPS. 63 
 
 the British territory say 1,800,000 out of 31,000,000 
 hectares is in corn ; at the same time, whilst out of 
 our eleven millions of hectares, five millions bear inferior 
 grain, not including barley and oats, the 1,800,000 Eng- 
 lish hectares produce wheat only. Deducting seed, the 
 whole grain production of France is estimated at seventy 
 million hectolitres of wheat, thirty of rye, seven of maize, 
 and eight of buckwheat. That of the British Isles may 
 be reckoned at forty-five million hectolitres of wheat 
 without any rye. 
 
 With us the average production is thirteen and 
 one-half bushels of wheat and eleven of rye per acre, 
 deducting seed. Adding to this maize and buckwheat, 
 and dividing the whole by the number of hectares sown, 
 the average result for each acre is rather more than seven 
 bushels of wheat, about three bushels of rye, and a little 
 more than one bushel of maize or buckwheat making a 
 total of about twelve bushels per acre. In England the 
 production is twenty-eight bushels of w T heat say more 
 than double in quantity, and in money value three times 
 as much. This superiority is certainly not to be attri- 
 buted, as in the case of the natural and artificial meadows 
 and roots and, to a certain extent, also with oats and 
 barley to the soil and climate, but to superior cultivation, 
 which shows itself chiefly in limiting the wheat crop 
 to the extent of land rendered fit for its production. 
 
 As to maize and buckwheat, in place of being causes of 
 inferiority, they ought to be sources of wealth ; for these 
 two grains are endowed by nature with a much greater 
 power of reproduction than the other two ; and what they 
 yield with us in certain parts, shows what they may be 
 made to produce elsewhere. 
 
 Scotland and Ireland are included in the above esti- 
 mate ; but taking England by itself, the results are much 
 
64 EUKAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 more striking. That small country, which is no larger 
 than a fourth of France, alone produces thirteen million 
 quarters of wheat, six of barley, and twelve of oats. 
 If France produced in the same ratio, her yield, deducting 
 seed, would be fifty million quarters of wheat, and seventy 
 of barley, oats, and other grain equal to at least double 
 her present production ; and we ought to obtain more, 
 considering the nature of our soil and climate, both much 
 more favourable to cereals than the soil and climate of 
 England. These facts verify this agricultural law that, 
 to reap largely of cereals, it is better to reduce than to 
 extend the breadth of land sown ; and that by giving the 
 greatest space to the forage crops, not only is a greater 
 quantity of butcher-meat, milk, and wool obtained, but 
 a larger production of corn also. France will achieve 
 similar results when she has covered her immense fallows 
 with root and forage crops, and reduced the breadth of 
 her cereals by several millions of hectares. 
 
 In this consists the whole system of English farm- 
 ing. Nothing is more simple. A large extent of grass, 
 whether natural or artificial, occupied for the most part 
 as pasture; two roots the potato and turnip; two 
 spring cereals barley and oats ; and a winter one 
 wheat ; all these plants linked together by an alternating 
 course of cereals or white crops with forage or green 
 crops, commencing with roots or plants which require to 
 be hoed, and ending with wheat : this is the whole secret. 
 The English have discarded all other crops, such as sugar- 
 beet, tobacco, oleaginous plants, and fruits ; some because 
 the climate is unfavourable, others on account of their too 
 exhausting nature, or because they do not like unneces- 
 sarily to complicate their means of production. Two only 
 have escaped this proscription ; these are the hop in Eng- 
 land and flax in Ireland ; both are very successfully pro- 
 
THE CKOPS. 65 
 
 duced in their several localities. The value of the flax 
 crop in Ireland is 15 per acre, but its extent is only 
 100,000 acres/" The hop yields a still higher return, 
 but it covers only about 50,000 acres. 
 
 Gardens and orchards occupy a relatively much less 
 space in England than in France, and their produce is 
 much inferior in value to ours. The English are not 
 great consumers of fruit and vegetables, and they are 
 right ; for both the one and the other, with them, are very 
 tasteless. All their eating as well as production is con- 
 fined to a few articles obtained in great abundance. 
 
 As in the case of animal products, France can show a 
 certain number of crops almost unknown among our 
 neighbours, and these extra productions with us have to 
 be added to those w r e both have in common. Such, for 
 instance, is the vine, a source of wealth belonging espe- 
 cially to our soil, covering not less than five millions of 
 acres, and producing at least 4 the acre ; then again, 
 rape, tobacco, sugar-beet, madder, the olive, and mul- 
 berry ; and, finally, two and a half millions of acres of 
 gardens and orchards, from which fruit, vegetables, and 
 flowers are obtained in great abundance. The sum of 
 these productions amounts in annual value to at least a 
 milliard (40,000,000). 
 
 These are unquestionable sources of wealth, which 
 partially redeem our inferiority, and may do so to a still 
 greater extent, for there is no limit to their production. 
 
 * The flax crop in Ireland has of late years attained to about 140,000 acres ; in 
 1853 it took a rapid rise to 175,000. T. 
 
 Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the Royal Flax Society of Ireland. 
 
 1848, 53,863 acres under cultivation, value 15 per acre. 
 
 1849, 60,314 ., 
 
 1850, 91,040 
 
 1851, 138,619 
 
 1852, 136,009 
 
 1853, 175,495 
 
 E 
 
66 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 The diversity of our climate, and, what is more, our 
 national genius, which naturally aims at quality in 
 variety, as that of England seeks quantity in uniformity, 
 give us promise of immense progress in those crops which, 
 to a certain extent, are dependent on art. We have not 
 yet shown all we can do in this respect ; our labourers, 
 like our mechanics, by means of improvements and novel- 
 ties, can compensate for our deficiencies in amount of 
 production. The art of horticulture, affording as it does 
 such large returns upon a small extent of land, would, 
 by extension, add considerably to our wealth ; and the 
 same may be said of improved methods in the fabrica- 
 tion of wines and brandy, as well as in the production 
 of sugar, silk, oil, &c. 
 
 Still, it is impossible to be blind to the fact that, as 
 matters stand, the English, with their two or three 
 crops upon a large scale, produce, by the univer- 
 sality and simplicity of the means they employ, much 
 superior results in the aggregate results which we also 
 obtain in particular parts of France where the same 
 system is followed. Those of our departments most 
 resembling England in the nature and distribution of 
 their crops, are those also which attain, upon the whole, 
 the best returns ; and if in some parts they are below 
 the English average, it is because the proportion of ex- 
 hausting crops there is still too great, notwithstanding 
 the progress made by means of the ameliorating crops 
 during the last fifty years. 
 
67 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE GROSS PRODUCE. 
 
 WE now come to value the total production of the two 
 agricultures. This valuation is no easy task, especially 
 when it becomes a question of comparison. 
 
 Even the best statistics contain repetitions. Thus, in 
 the statistics for France, animal products figure three 
 times first, as return from meadows and pastures, then 
 as return from live animals, and, lastly, return from 
 slaughtered animals. These three form but one : it is 
 the return from slaughtered animals that must be taken, 
 adding to it the value of the milk for the cows, that of 
 the wool for the sheep, and the cost of the horses reared 
 up to the age when they are usually sold say three years 
 old ; all the rest is but a series of means of production, 
 by which we arrive at the real produce namely, that 
 which serves for human consumption, whether upon the 
 farm itself, or beyond it. It is no less incorrect to take 
 into account the quantity of grain necessary for renewing 
 seed. Seed is not a product, but a capital ; the land does 
 not give it until after it has received it. Lastly, it is out of 
 the question to include, as do some statistics, the value of 
 straw and manure. Manure, with one important excep- 
 tion, which I shall mention by-and-by, is evidently a mean 
 of production ; and as for straw, it constitutes a product 
 
68 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 only in so far as it is used beyond the farm for example, 
 as food for horses employed in other ways. 
 
 Everything consumed on the farm itself as a mean of 
 production such as the food of working animals, and 
 even of animals generally, litter, manure, seed all ought 
 to figure in the means of production, and not as products. 
 That only is really a product which may be sold or given 
 in wages. In this respect English statistics are much 
 better compiled than ours ; * for, economical notions being 
 more diffused in England than with us, they keep distinct 
 what ought to be kept separate, and the real products 
 the exportable commodities are reckoned apart from the 
 means of production. It behoves us more especially to 
 do the same, since, the means of production being a larger 
 item with our neighbours than with us, the comparison 
 would act still more disadvantageously for us were we 
 to include these in the estimate. 
 
 This first difficulty being removed, we encounter others. 
 French proprietors complain of errors and omissions in the 
 official statistics ; these imperfections no doubt exist, but 
 they are not of such great importance as is believed. I 
 have already pointed them out, and attempted to rectify 
 them. They are not the most serious difficulty ; it is 
 the difference of prices which is the real stumbling-block. 
 Nothing is more variable than prices, whether from year 
 to year on the same spot, or in different districts of the 
 same territory : much more is this the case when the 
 question involves the placing in juxtaposition countries 
 so dissimilar. In France, anomalies are numerous ; 
 country prices are not those of the general market ; Pro- 
 vence prices are not those of Normandy ; the prices of 
 1850 are not those of 1847. It is precisely the same on 
 
 * That is, facts, so far as known, are better weighed and applied; but, as before 
 observed, we have n<J official agricultural statistics. T. 
 
THE GEOSS PRODUCE. 69 
 
 the other side of the Channel ; and when, to escape this 
 difficulty, recourse is had to averages, it is found that the 
 general average of the United Kingdom is not the same 
 as the general average of France. 
 
 Notwithstanding these difficulties, it is not absolutely 
 impossible to form at least an approximate idea of the 
 aggregate values annually accruing from agriculture in 
 the two countries. Deducting what are only means of 
 production, supplying as far as possible the omissions in 
 official statistics, and carrying back prices to the average 
 of years anterior to 1848, we find that the annual value 
 of the produce of French agriculture, before 1848, was 
 about five milliards, divided nearly as follows : 
 
 ANIMAL PRODUCTS. 
 
 Francs. 
 
 Meat (1 milliard of kilog., at 80 c.), . . 800,000,000 
 
 Wool, hides, tallow, offal, . . . 300,000,000 
 
 Milk (1 milliard of litres, at 10 c.), . . 100,000,000 
 
 Poultry and eggs, .... 200,000,000 
 
 400,000 horses, asses, and mules, 3 years old, . 80,000,000 
 
 Silk, honey, wax, and other produce, . . 120,000,000 
 
 Total, 1,600,000,000 
 
 VEGETABLE PRODUCTS. 
 
 Wheat (70,000,000 of hectolitres at 16 fr.), . 1,100,000,000 
 Other cereals (40,000,000 hectolitres at 10 fr.), . 400,000,000 
 
 Potatoes (50,000,000 hectolitres at 2 fr.), . 100,000,000 * 
 
 Wine and brandy, .... 500,000,000 
 
 Beer and cider, ..... 100,000,000 
 
 Hay, straw, and oats, for non-agricultural horses, 300,000,000 
 Flax and hemp, ..... 150,000,000 
 
 Sugar, madder, tobacco, oils, fruit, and vegetables, 500,000,000 
 Wood, ...... 250,000,000 
 
 Total, . ... 3,400,000,000 
 
 Say, on an average, for the fifty millions of hectares 
 
 * The total production is one hundred millions of hectolitres, but I have sup- 
 posed the half consumed by cattle. I have also cut off five millions of hectolitres 
 of inferior cereals, as maize and buckwheat, for the consumption of fowls and 
 other animals ; it ought to amount to considerably more. 
 
70 EURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 of our soil deducting three millions of hectares occu- 
 pied by roads, rivers, towns, &c. a gross production of 
 100 francs per hectare (32s. per acre), cultivated and 
 uncultivated lands together. The minimum is to be found 
 upon the uncultivated lands and forest grounds, which, 
 taking the one with the other, probably yield from 15 to 
 20 francs : the maximum is in the gardens, the most 
 esteemed vineyards, the lands bearing flax, hops, mulberry, 
 tobacco, and madder, the gross produce of which rises 
 as high as 1000, 2000, 3000 francs, and even more ; but 
 striking out these two extremes, we find for the greater 
 portion of the cultivated land say about thirty-two 
 millions of hectares the general average of 100 francs 
 per hectare. 
 
 Dividing France into two equal portions, north and 
 south, we find an average gross production of 120 francs 
 for the northern division, and 80 for the southern. 
 
 This disproportion is the more to be regretted, since 
 the southern region ought to be the richest. In some 
 localities, as in the environs of Orange and Avignon, the 
 vineyards of Cognac and Bordeaux, the districts pro- 
 ducing oil, silk, &c., the returns are magnificent ; but 
 the landes and the mountains cover a fourth of the 
 soil, and in the greater portion of the remainder farming 
 languishes without capital and without intelligence. The 
 north surpasses the south for the same reason which 
 makes England superior to us namely, because good 
 farming is there more general. 
 
 If we compare the departments one with the other, the 
 most productive prove to be always those of the Nord, 
 Pas-de-Calais, Somme, Oise, and Seine-Inferieure, where 
 the average gross production is 200 francs per hectare. 
 The department of the Nord produces at least 300 francs; 
 but this is the only one so high. On the other hand, 
 
THE GROSS PRODUCE. 71 
 
 those which produce the least are the Landes, Lozere, 
 Hautes and Basses Alpes, and especially Corsica. The 
 average gross product of these departments may be about 
 30 francs, and in Corsica 10 at most. The rest of France 
 varies between these two extremes. 
 
 A gross total of five milliards of francs had also 
 been attained as the production of the United Kingdom 
 previous to 1848. This amount was apportioned as 
 follows : 3,250,000,000 for England proper, 250,000,000 
 for Wales, 1,000,000,000 for Ireland, and 500,000,000 for 
 Scotland. Divided by the whole area in hectares, this 
 return gives the following result : 
 
 Francs. 
 
 England, 250 
 
 Ireland, Lowlands of Scotland, and Wales, . 125 
 
 Highlands of Scotland, . . . . 12 
 
 General average, . . . . 165 
 
 All English statistics represent this as still higher. 
 M'Culloch, the most moderate in his valuations, 
 makes the total produce five milliards and a half ; 
 others, as Mr Spackman, 250,000,000, or more than 
 six milliards. I have assumed the lowest estimate, and 
 it ought to be further reduced, on account of the differ- 
 ence in prices. It has been already shown, that for milk 
 English prices were double ours, for butcher-meat the 
 difference was 25 to 30 per cent, for cereals 20 per cent. 
 In Scotland and Ireland the difference was not so great, 
 since both countries sold to England. In the aggregate, 
 in order to establish an exact comparison, and to bring 
 the prices of the United Kingdom to the prices of similar 
 articles in France, we must reduce the five milliards by 
 a fifth. We have thus a total of four milliards, which 
 appears to represent pretty exactly the value of British 
 production compared to ours. This result, still so 
 
72 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 enormous in comparison, was obtained with a small 
 number of productions : the following shows how they 
 are divided : 
 
 ANIMAL PRODUCE. 
 
 Francs. 
 
 Meat (1,700,000,000 of kilog. at 80 c.), . 1,360,000,000 
 
 Wool, hides, tallow, offal, . . . 300,000,000 
 
 Milk (two milliards of litres at 10 c.), . . 200,000,000 
 
 300,000 horses above 3 years at 400 fr. each, 120,000,000 
 
 Poultry, ..... 20,000,000 
 
 Total animal produce, ... 2 milliards 
 
 VEGETABLE PRODUCE. 
 
 Wheat (45,000,000 of hectolitres at 16 fr.), . 720,000,000 
 
 Barley (20,000,000 of hectolitres at 8 fr.), . 160,000,000 
 
 Oats (15,000,000 of hectolitres at 6 fr.), . 90,000,000 
 
 Potatoes (200,000,000 of hectolitres at 2 fr.), . 400,000,000 
 
 Hay and oats for non-agricultural horses, . 400,000,000 
 
 Flax, hemp, vegetables, and fruits, . . 170,000,000 
 
 Wood, 60,000,000 
 
 Total vegetable produce, . . 2 milliards 
 
 The above I believe to be as near the truth as can be 
 ascertained by means of observations so general in their 
 character. 
 
 The most striking fact which these figures disclose, 
 besides the disproportion of the results, is the agreement 
 between the vegetable and animal products : whilst in 
 France the vegetable product forms four -sixths of the 
 whole, and the animal two-sixths only, a state of things 
 which at once shows an exhausting system of cultiva- 
 tion, or at least a stationary one, in the British Isles the 
 one is equal to the other, which betokens an improving 
 
 * The total production of barley is probably thirty millions of hectolitres, but 
 two-thirds only enter into human consumption, the other third being consumed 
 by cattle. I have also taken, as for human consumption, only about a sixth of 
 the production of oats, which ought to be not far short of ninety millions of 
 hectolitres, and of potatoes I have estimated one-half. (The consumption of 
 barley by cattle is very much less than the proportion here stated, certainly not 
 above one-tenth the entire produce ; while tha^ of oats by man may be taken at 
 one-fourth at least, instead of one-sixth. J. D.) 
 
THE GROSS PRODUCE. 
 
 73 
 
 cultivation. Wood, the lowest item of production, figures 
 on the one side for 250,000,000, and on the other for 
 60,000,000 only. 
 
 But we must not omit to notice that there are two 
 portions of the United Kingdom which, from different 
 causes, show results very much inferior to those of Eng- 
 land proper Scotland, on account of the irreclaimable 
 sterility of the greater portion of her soil ; and Ireland, 
 owing to peculiar social and political circumstances. I 
 shall refer to these two portions by-and-by in some detail ; 
 in the mean time let us examine England separately, 
 without including Wales, where the soil is scarcely bet- 
 ter than in Scotland, and the history of which, in some 
 respects, bears a resemblance to that of Ireland. 
 
 England herself produces five-eighths of these four 
 milliards that is to say, 2,600,000,000 francs divided 
 as follows : 
 
 OF THE ANIMAL PRODUCE. 
 
 Francs. 
 
 Meat (1,100,000,000 of kilog.), ... 880,000,000 
 
 Wool, hides, tallow, offal, . . . 200,000,000 
 
 Milk (1,500,000,000 of litres), . . . 150,000,000 
 
 200,000 horses at 400 fr., . . . 80,000,000 
 
 Poultry, ..... 15,000,000 
 
 Total, ..... 1,325,000,000 
 
 OF THE VEGETABLE PRODUCE. 
 
 Wheat (38,000,000 of hectolitres), . . 600,000,000 
 Barley (15,000,000 of hectolitres for human con- 
 sumption), ..... 120,000,000 
 Potatoes (65,000,000 of hectolitres for human con- 
 sumption), ..... 130,000,000 
 Hay and oats for non-agricultural horses, . 300,000,000 
 Flax, hemp, vegetables, and fruits, . . 85,000,000 
 Wood, 40,000,000 
 
 Total, 1,275,000,000 
 
 Distributed per hectare over the whole area of the 
 
74 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 United Kingdom, the total gross produce thus reduced 
 gives the following results : 
 
 England, .... 200 francs per hectare. 
 Lowlands of Scotland, Ireland, and 
 
 Wales, .... 100 
 
 Highlands of Scotland, . . 10 
 
 General average, 135 francs per hectare. 
 
 These tables suggest a host of reflections. Whilst 
 France, taken as a whole, produces 100 francs per 
 hectare, England proper produces 200. The animal 
 produce alone of an English farm is equal to at least 
 the total produce of a French farm of equal area all 
 the vegetable production being additional. Taking only 
 the three principal kinds of domestic animals sheep, 
 oxen, and pigs and not taking poultry into account, 
 the English obtain from these four times more than we do 
 in butcher-meat, milk, and wool. Among the vegetable 
 products, whilst the French soil does not produce quite 
 one hectolitre and a half of wheat per hectare, the English 
 soil produces three ; and it gives, besides, five times more 
 potatoes for human consumption. It produces neither 
 rye, maize, nor buckwheat, but abundantly makes up 
 for this in oats and barley; and this it requires to do, 
 for, less fortunate than we, it has to obtain from one of 
 these crops the national beverage. "We are forced," says 
 Arthur Young, "to have recourse to our best land for 
 our beer ; the climate of the French gives them a great 
 superiority in this respect, since the most barren soils are 
 available for the cultivation of the vine." 
 
 Here the animal product becomes sensibly superior to 
 the vegetable. We shall again find at least a similar 
 productiveness in Wales and in Scotland. Ireland alone 
 exhibits, like France, a reverse proportion. 
 
THE GEOSS PRODUCE. 75 
 
 This superiority in production is shown besides by two 
 facts, which serve to prove the statistical figures. The 
 first is, the condition of the population ; the second, the 
 selling price of the land. 
 
 By the census of 1841, the total population of the 
 United Kingdom was twenty-seven millions of souls, and 
 that of France thirty-four. Thus, while the United 
 Kingdom maintained nearly one head per hectare, France 
 maintained one only per hectare and a half. Supposing 
 the rate of consumption in both countries to be the same 
 which it should be in the aggregate, for if the English 
 population consume more than the French, the Irish con- 
 sume less we arrive at a result nearly equal to that 
 obtained by a comparison of the production of both agri- 
 cultures. The difference is slightly in favour of the 
 United Kingdom ; but this is again adjusted by the im- 
 portation of bread-stuffs. 
 
 If we divide the two populations into regions, the com- 
 parison gives us detailed results, which only confirm those 
 of the aggregate. 
 
 In 1841, England proper, even including Wales, main- 
 tained a population of four to 3 hectares, which we find 
 to be the case in those departments of France where 
 production is as high. Scotland, as a whole, maintained 
 only one head for every 3 hectares, and our central 
 region one to 2. Ireland counted one head per hec- 
 tare, and our south-west region one to 2, which indi- 
 cates for Ireland a production equal to double ; but 
 the unfortunate Irish being not nearly so well fed as our 
 people, the account becomes readjusted. 
 
 With respect to the average value of the land, which 
 is usually estimated by its productiveness, that of Eng- 
 land proper was worth 40 per acre, or 2500 francs per 
 
76 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 hectare; and the rest of the United Kingdom, exclusive 
 of the Highlands of Scotland, about one-half of this 
 figure, or 1250 francs. The Highlands of Scotland, with 
 their uncultivated lands, were worth, at most, 2 per acre. 
 Deducting 20 per cent from these prices, we obtain for 
 England an average of 32, for the Highlands 32s., and 
 16 for the rest of the United Kingdom. 
 
 The cultivated lands of the northern half of France 
 may be worth, on an average, 24 per acre, and those 
 of the southern half 16. Valuing the eight million 
 hectares of uncultivated lands at 2, and the eight mil- 
 lions of forest grounds at 10, we find a general average 
 of 16 per acre. 
 
 Thus a comparative examination of agricultural pro- 
 ducts, the number of the population, and the money value 
 of the land, all combine to prove, upon the most mode- 
 rate estimates, that, previously to 1848, the product of 
 British agriculture, taken as a whole, was to the product 
 of French agriculture over an equal surface as one hun- 
 dred and thirty-five to one hundred ; and if we com- 
 pare England alone with the whole of France, the former 
 produced at least twice as much as the latter. This de- 
 monstration appears to me to amount almost to proof. 
 
 To be very exact, there must be added to these pro- 
 ducts one which is very difficult to estimate, but which 
 is not among the least important : this is the unexhausted 
 fertility, the surplus accumulations of manures, and im- 
 provements of all sorts, which the crops have annually 
 left in the ground. It is in order not to lose sight of 
 this that most compilers of statistics have been led to 
 include forage, straw, and manure among the products ; 
 but such a mode of reckoning is evidently erroneous, 
 since the crops annually absorb the greater portion of 
 the vigour thus communicated to the soil. That which 
 
THE GROSS PRODUCE. 77 
 
 remains is the only real product, but how is this to be 
 measured \ One element alone may indicate it with some 
 degree of certainty namely, the increased value of the 
 soil ; no doubt, this increase may be brought about by 
 other means, but the steadiest and most active is the 
 increase of fertility resulting from good husbandry. 
 With our neighbours it may be reckoned, on an average, 
 at one per cent on the value of the land say 4s. to 5s. 
 per acre for the three kingdoms, and 7s. for England 
 proper. In France, it may probably be one -half per 
 cent on an average say 2s. per acre; in our best-culti- 
 vated departments, it reaches, perhaps, the English aver- 
 age, but in others it is almost nothing. 
 
 Although this estimate is, and can be, only hypotheti- 
 cal, it may suffice to explain the superior productiveness 
 of the land in England, notwithstanding the natural in- 
 feriority of both soil and climate. Artificial fertility, there, 
 compensates for these drawbacks, and has already con- 
 stituted a landed capital very superior to ours, and 
 which continues to increase. 
 
 Three sorts of capital conduce to the development of 
 agricultural wealth : 1st, Sunk capital, which is formed 
 in course of time by outlays of all kinds for bringing the 
 land into good condition ; 2d, Working capital, consist- 
 ing of animals, implements, and seeds ; 3d, Intellectual 
 capital, or agricultural skill, which is improved by experi- 
 ence and thought. These three capitals are much more 
 diffused in England than in France, and why 7 ? We 
 shall inquire into this presently, and it will surprise us 
 to find that the superiority of the English is not more 
 marked than it is. Arthur Young, when travelling 
 through our poorer districts in 1790, exclaimed, in his 
 characteristic language, "It does, indeed, try one's pa- 
 tience to behold a country so lovely, and so favoured by 
 
78 RUKAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Providence, treated so shamefully by men ! " He might 
 speak differently now, or, at least, he could speak thus only 
 of the most backward portions of our territory. We could 
 show him whole provinces almost as well cultivated as 
 his own dear England, and everywhere the elements of 
 progress ready to spring up. If the greater number 
 still only vegetate, it is owing to the absence of favour- 
 able circumstances. 
 
 Unfortunately, before arriving at a full explication of 
 the facts, we require to enter into some further statistics 
 of detail dry, no doubt, but necessary nevertheless ; the 
 next chapter will finish what we have to say on this 
 subject. 
 
79 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 BENTS, PROFITS, AND WAGES. 
 
 To give the finishing touch to this picture, we have now 
 to inquire how the gross production, previously 4;o 1848, 
 was distributed ; that is to say, after deducting taxes and 
 accessory expenses, what portion of this five milliards 
 (200,000,000) of nominal value came to the proprietors 
 of the land, constituting the rent ; what remuneration 
 the farmer got for his trouble and use of capital, or, in 
 other words, the profit; and how much of it was paid 
 for manual labour, properly so called, or wages. When 
 we have completed a similar inquiry for France, our com- 
 parison between the two agricultures will be complete. 
 
 First of all, the portion contributed to the general 
 expenses of the country, or taxes. 
 
 Many errors have been diffused, and are still credited 
 in France, respecting the system of taxation which exists 
 in England. It is commonly believed that land in Eng- 
 land is almost free of imposts, and that the whole public 
 revenue is composed of indirect taxes. This is a great 
 mistake, for nowhere does land bear such heavy bur- 
 dens as in England. Only it is not the State which 
 collects what the land pays directly; at least land con- 
 tributed hardly anything to the public treasury before 
 the imposition of the income-tax. The only impost paid 
 directly to the State was a trifling tax, which proprietors 
 
80 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 for the most part have redeemed the land-tax ; but if 
 indirect taxes constitute nearly the whole revenue of the 
 State, there are direct imposts which no less exist under 
 the form of local taxes. 
 
 These burdens are three in number : the poor's rates, 
 the parish and county rates equivalent to our communal 
 and departmental revenues and Church tithes. Taxa- 
 tion for the poor, in spite of all endeavours to reduce 
 it, amounted previously to 1848 to six millions sterling 
 for England alone. Parish and county rates, for roads, 
 bridges, police, prisons, &c., exceed, still for England 
 alone, four millions sterling together ten millions, of 
 which more than two-thirds is paid by rural property. 
 Add to this the unredeemed portion of the land-tax, 
 amounting to one million sterling for England ; and, 
 finally, the third charge namely, tithes at one time 
 variable and arbitrary in their rating, but now com- 
 muted to almost a fixed charge, amounting to at least 
 seven millions sterling ; and we have altogether a sum 
 of fifteen millions, which, for England and Wales, con- 
 taining fifteen millions of hectares, makes an average of 
 25 francs per hectare, or 8s. per acre. 
 
 This average gives but an imperfect idea of the bur- 
 dens upon certain parts of the soil in England, for a 
 portion of the tithes having been redeemed, as well as a 
 portion of the land-tax, and the poor's rate being very 
 unequally distributed since, not being centralised, it 
 varies with the fluctuations of pauperism in different 
 localities the consequence is, that certain districts are 
 much below, and others much above the average. It is 
 no uncommon thing to find lands in England paying as 
 much as 50 francs per hectare (16s. per acre) for all 
 kinds of taxes. 
 
 Ireland and Scotland are less burdened, particularly 
 
RENTS, PROFITS, AND WAGES. 81 
 
 Scotland ; most of the English taxes are unknown there. 
 Scotland pays about 500,000, and Ireland 1,500,000 
 of direct taxes/"" 
 
 In France the assessment on land, exclusive of house 
 property, amounts in principal and additional per-cen- 
 tages, and including payments in kind for roads, to a 
 total of two hundred and fifty millions, or 5 francs per 
 hectare ; this impost, therefore, is one-fifth in nominal 
 value, and in reduced value one-fourth, of what it is in 
 England. 
 
 To these figures must be added the income-tax, which 
 resembles our personal and movable property contribu- 
 tion, and absorbs about three per cent more out of the 
 net income of the proprietors, and one and a half per cent 
 of that of the farmers. The tax upon house property, of 
 which the landed proprietors bear their share, is pro- 
 portionate to that chargeable upon the land properly so 
 called. Lastly, the indirect taxes : these, besides that they 
 materially reduce the proprietors' revenue by increasing 
 the price of all commodities, bear heavily upon certain 
 agricultural products, especially barley, used in the 
 manufacture of beer, which pays an excise of no less 
 than five millions sterling : the question of reducing this 
 (the malt) tax has been recently agitated, but nothing is 
 yet decided. Our impost upon beverages produces, as is 
 well known, four millions sterling. 
 
 Landed property in England, to be sure, is partly free 
 from a charge which greatly affects the land in France ; 
 this is the tax upon successions, transferences, and mort- 
 gages. But this exemption, which applies only to land 
 that is freehold, and lands subject to manorial rights, or 
 
 * This, however, seems exclusive of tithes or taxes for the support of the 
 Church in both countries. We are not aware that there are very many local 
 taxes exigible in England which are not well known in Scotland, though the rate 
 may not be so high. T. 
 
 F 
 
82 KURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 copyholds, has just been considerably reduced by recent 
 legislation : it loses, besides, much of its importance 
 when we consider the expenses of all kinds to which 
 English property is exposed owing to the want of a good 
 system of registration. 
 
 Here, then, is a first result of the great amount of pro- 
 duce obtained from the land in England the possibility 
 of increasing taxation. I shall not stop to point out the 
 great benefit resulting from it to the country in general, 
 and to agriculture itself, which is the first to reap advan^ 
 tage from the outlay of its own money. It is evident 
 that, if French landed property could pay much more 
 in taxes, the aspect of our fields would soon change ; they 
 would be covered with roads, bridges, aqueducts, and 
 works of enterprise and skill, which as yet they are with- 
 out, for lack of those funds which are abundant with our 
 neighbours. 
 
 After taxes come the expenses accessory to cultivation ; 
 such as the cost of artificial manures, the keeping up of 
 implements of husbandry, renewals of seed, breeding- 
 stock, &c. : it is as much as a French farmer can do to 
 devote to these remunerating expenditures 4 or 5 francs 
 per hectare, whereas in the United Kingdom they cannot, 
 even previous to 1848, be estimated at less on an average 
 than 25 francs per hectare, and for England proper 50 
 francs at least. This, we may remark, is eight or ten 
 times more than in France, even making the reduction 
 of twenty per cent. Such is the second effect of this 
 superior production the more that is produced, the 
 greater the resources available for increasing the produc- 
 tion ; and wealth multiplies of its own accord. 
 
 Notwithstanding this portion set apart for taxes and 
 accessory expenses, the remainder of the gross proceeds, 
 when divided among those who, by their capital, intelli- 
 
RENTS, PROFITS, AND WAGES. 83 
 
 gence, and labour, have co-operated to realise it, is found 
 to be greater for each in England than it is in France. 
 
 In the first place, we take the rent paid to the pro- 
 prietor of the land, or the return upon capital invested. 
 The notion of rent is not so clearly defined in France as 
 it is in England ; it is confounded with the farmer's profit 
 and return for working capital when the proprietor directs 
 the cultivation himself, and even with wages properly 
 so called, when he cultivates his property with his own 
 hands. The average rent of land in France may, how- 
 ever, be reckoned at 30 francs per hectare that is to 
 say, the net return on capital sunk, after deducting all 
 return for working capital, wages, and profit ; say a total 
 of fifteen hundred millions on our fifty millions of 
 hectares, cultivated and uncultivated together. 
 
 Owing to the system of cultivation carried on in Eng- 
 land, which almost always discriminates between pro- 
 prietorship and tenancy, it is more correctly known what, 
 previously to 1848, was the rent from landed property 
 in the different parts of the United Kingdom. 
 
 We find the minimum rent in the extreme north of 
 Scotland Sutherlandshire and the adjacent islands 
 where it is as low as 1.25 francs per hectare of nominal, 
 or 1 franc of comparative value (4d. per acre). The whole 
 of the Highlands, containing, as we have seen, nearly four 
 millions of hectares, do not yield on an average more 
 than 3 francs per hectare to the proprietors (Is. per acre). 
 The maximum is obtained from meadow-lands in the 
 environs of London and Edinburgh, which let as high as 
 30 per acre; rents of 8, 5, and 3 per acre are 
 not uncommon in the Lothians, and in the neighbour- 
 hood of large towns in England. All the centre of the 
 island, including Leicestershire and the counties sur- 
 rounding it, gives an average of 30s. per acre (100 francs 
 
84 BURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 per hectare), and is beyond comparison the richest part 
 of the three kingdoms. As we recede from the heart of 
 the country, the rent of land declines : in the south- 
 Sussex, Surrey, and Hampshire it falls to 1 5s. per acre ; 
 in the north Cumberland and Westmoreland to 10s. ; 
 and in the west, and the poorest parts of Wales, to 3s. 
 The average for the whole of England is 24s. per acre 
 (75 francs per hectare). 
 
 In the Lowlands of Scotland, the million of hectares 
 upon the two firths of Forth and Tay are rented at 
 nearly as much as Leicestershire and the counties adjoin- 
 ing it ; but in like manner, as we recede from these fa- 
 voured lands, rent falls, and the average of the entire 
 Lowlands becomes equal to that of its English neigh- 
 bours, the counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland, 
 and the Principality of Wales. * 
 
 In Ireland, we find in County Meath, in Leinster, and 
 in the adjoining counties of Louth and Dublin, another 
 million of hectares where the rent is as high as the centre 
 of England, but at the same time we find a much lower 
 average in the mountains on the west, and in the whole 
 of Connaught. 
 
 In review of the whole, and adopting the same classi- 
 fication as when estimating the gross production, we have 
 the following result : 
 
 Average rent per hectare. 
 
 England, . . 75 francs, or, per acre, 24s. 
 
 Lowlands of Scotland and Wales, 36 12s. 
 
 Highlands of Scotland, . 3 Is. 
 
 Three-fourths of Ireland, . 50 16s. 
 
 North-west of Ireland, . 20 6s. 6d. 
 
 General average, . 50 16s. 
 
 But we have to reduce these figures 20 per cent, 
 
 * What are properly understood by the Lowlands of Scotland yield a higher 
 average rent by 3s. to 4s. per acre than the districts to which they are above com- 
 pared. T. 
 
KENTS, PROFITS, AND WAGES. 85 
 
 according to the basis of calculation already adopted, 
 making them as follows : 
 
 England, , . . . 60 francs, or 20s. 
 
 Lowlands of Scotland and Wales, . 30 10s. 
 
 Highlands of Scotland, . . 2.40 lOd. 
 
 Three-fourths of Ireland, . . 40 13s. 
 
 North-west of Ireland, . . 15 5s. 
 
 General average, 40 francs, or 13s. per acre. 
 
 In France, in the department of the Nord, rent attains 
 an average of 100 francs per hectare, making it equal, 
 and even superior, to the best English counties. In the 
 departments adjoining, it still amounts to 80 francs, from 
 'which it gradually declines until we reach the departments 
 of Lozere, and of the Higher and Lower Alps, where it falls 
 to 1 francs. In the island of Corsica, like the Highlands 
 of Scotland, it does not exceed 3 francs. 
 
 In the second place, as to the farmer's profit. This, in 
 England, is usually estimated at half the rent, say 25 
 francs per hectare for the whole of the United Kingdom ; 
 or in reduced value, 20 francs. This sum divides itself 
 into two parts, the return upon capital employed, and the 
 profit properly so called, or remuneration for agricultural 
 skill. The return for capital being reckoned at 5 per cent, 
 the portion for profit should be the same, which makes the 
 return upon capital employed 10 per cent. The average 
 working capital for the three kingdoms should therefore 
 be 250 francs per hectare, or 200 francs (65s. per acre) in 
 reduced value. As this capital belongs almost entirely to 
 the farmers, it is they who get nearly the whole of this 
 portion of the gross production. In England proper, the 
 average income of the farmers may be 40 francs per 
 hectare (13s. per acre), implying a working capital of 
 400 francs, or 320 in reduced value. 
 
 In France the corresponding profit amounts at most 
 to 1 francs per hectare ; that is to say, half the United 
 
86 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Kingdom average, and one-third of that of England 
 proper. Only the north of Scotland and west of Ireland 
 come below the French average : the rest, generally speak- 
 ing, is higher. In France it is as difficult to distinguish 
 the profit as the rent. One-fourth of the soil only is 
 rented, and in the remaining three-fourths, profit is con- 
 founded either with rent or wages. Upon the whole, 
 however, we may consider the working capital with us to 
 be 1 00 francs per hectare. This is one of the most striking 
 signs of our inferiority ; for in agriculture, as in all kinds 
 of industry, the working capital is one of the chief agents 
 of production. 
 
 The farmers of England proper, upon an equal surface, 
 enjoy a revenue at least equal to our French proprietors. 
 The farmer of two hundred and fifty acres, for example, 
 has a net income equal to 3000 francs (120), while a 
 proprietor with us, of a like extent, and under average 
 circumstances, would realise no more. Farmers in the 
 best parts of England make 50, 60, up to 100 francs per 
 hectare (15s. to 80s. per acre), and there are some whose 
 total incomes amount to from 500 to 1000. Hence 
 the importance, in a social point of view, of that class, 
 which is as firmly established upon the soil as pro- 
 perty itself. These are the gentlemen farmers ; they live 
 for the most part in a quiet comfortable style, have their 
 newspapers and periodicals, and produce occasionally 
 upon their table a bottle of claret or port. When visit- 
 ing the country in England, and provided with a few 
 letters of introduction, one meets with a hospitable recep- 
 tion from these kind and simple families, many of whom 
 have occupied the same land for several generations. The 
 most perfect order reigns in their domestic economy; 
 everything in their houses is conducted with that habitual 
 regularity which indicates long usage. Comfort has 
 
RENTS, PROFITS, AND WAGES. 87 
 
 gradually been built up by the industry of successive 
 generations, especially since the days of Arthur Young, 
 and they enjoy it as an honourable and laboriously ac- 
 quired possession. None of them ever dream of becoming 
 proprietors, for they are better off as they are : to have 
 100 of income as a proprietor, a capital of at least 3000 
 is necessary, whilst 1000 is sufficient to produce the 
 same income as a farmer. 
 
 Lastly, we come to wages. Here the advantage appears 
 to be on the side of France, inasmuch as we appropriate 
 to the payment of wages a larger portion of our raw 
 products than does the United Kingdom. This question 
 of wages, however, is very intricate, and when closely ex- 
 amined, the advantage again is in favour of our neighbours, 
 at least in respect to three-fourths of the country. Only 
 their superiority in this particular, previous to 1848, was 
 less marked than in the other parts of their rural system ; 
 it was in fact here that the weakest part of their system 
 lay. The evil in some parts of the country was serious 
 and deeply seated, and threatened to become general. 
 
 Upon examination into the distribution of wages pre- 
 vious to 1848, whether in France or in the different parts 
 of the United Kingdom leaving Scotland out of the 
 question for the present, on account of the peculiar phe- 
 nomena she presents we find that in England a fourth 
 only of the gross production was appropriated to payment 
 of wages say equal to 50 francs per hectare, or there- 
 abouts whilst in France and Ireland one-half was thus 
 disposed of say also 50 francs per hectare, or the 
 equivalent. But let us look at the other side of the 
 picture the number of labourers required on both sides. 
 In England this number had been reduced to the lowest 
 point ; in France it was much larger, and in Ireland 
 much greater still. The following may be taken as the 
 
88 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 approximate number of the rural population in the three 
 countries : 
 
 England, 4,000,000, out of a population of 16,000,000 
 France, 20,000,000, 35,000,000 
 
 Ireland, 5,000,000, 8,000,000 
 
 Hence it follows that the rural population in England 
 formed a fourth only of the whole community, in France 
 four-sevenths, and in Ireland two-thirds : distributed over 
 the surface of the soil, the proportions were England, 
 thirty head to one hundred hectares ; France, forty head ; 
 Ireland, sixty. 
 
 These figures explain everything. Although England 
 expended in wages only the equivalent of 50 fraucs per 
 hectare, whilst France and Ireland paid as much, the 
 effective wage would be considerably more in England 
 than in France, and in France than in Ireland, for this 
 simple reason, that it was divided among a smaller number 
 of hands. 
 
 With these data before us, we can now find the mea- 
 sure of the organisation of labour in the three countries. 
 In England, thirty persons suffice to cultivate one hundred 
 hectares, so as to produce equal to 200 francs per hectare, 
 whilst in France forty are necessary for obtaining an 
 average production of 100 francs, and in Ireland 60 ; 
 hence it follows that labour in England was much more 
 productive than in France, and in France than in Ireland. 
 
 These general data are confirmed by facts of detail. For 
 instance, the average wage of a farm labourer in England 
 before 1848 was 9s. to 10s. a-week, or 2 francs per work- 
 ing day ; and in reduced value, 1.60 francs. In the richest 
 districts it rose to 12s., or 2.50 francs per working day, or 
 2 francs reduced value. In the poorer districts it was as 
 low as 8s., or a little more than 1.50 francs per day, equal 
 to 1.25 francs reduced value. 
 
RENTS, PROFITS, AND WAGES. 89 
 
 In the Lowlands of Scotland, and in Wales, the average 
 rate of wages was 8s. a-week, or 1.25 francs reduced 
 value per working day. In the Highlands of Scotland, 
 and in three-fourths of Ireland, the average was 6s. a-week, 
 or 1 franc reduced value per working day. In the west 
 of Ireland, the average fell to 4s., say 70 centimes per 
 day.* 
 
 In France, the average farming wage is 1.25 francs to 
 1.50 francs per working day ; but in certain districts it 
 is as high as the English, and in others again as low as in 
 Ireland. 
 
 Thus, owing to the reduction of manual labour one of 
 the bases of their agricultural system the English were 
 enabled, although in a less proportion, to raise their rate 
 of wages at the time when rents, profits, taxes, and other 
 expenses took a start. 
 
 In addition to the annual sum paid in wages, amount- 
 ing, in England, to 28,000,000 of nominal value, the 
 labouring classes there possess another great resource in 
 the poor's-rate, which is nothing more nor less than a 
 supplementary wage, and goes to increase the amount 
 annually paid to them by 6,000,000. 
 
 Finally, it is only necessary to enter a labourer's cottage 
 in England, and to compare it with one such as our cultiva- 
 tors mostly inhabit, to perceive a difference in the general 
 comforts of the two people. Although the French peasant 
 is frequently proprietor of the land, and thus adds a little 
 rent and a little profit to his wage, he does not live so 
 well as the English farm-labourer. He is not so well 
 clothed, less comfortably lodged, and not so well fed : he 
 eats more bread, but it is generally made of rye, with the 
 
 * The wages here stated are, upon the whole, rather under the mark, both as 
 regards England and Scotland ; but at the higher rate they all the better turn to 
 establish the author's argument. J. D. 
 
90 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 addition of maize, buckwheat, and even chestnuts, while 
 the bread of the English peasant is wheaten, with some- 
 times a slight addition of barley and oats ; he sometimes 
 drinks wine or cider, while the English peasant has only 
 beer ; but he has rarely meat, and the English peasant 
 has it often, or at least pork. 
 
 Notwithstanding these advantages, the question of 
 wages, even in England, was a heart-burning subject 
 previously to 1848. There is no doubt that the race, the 
 climate, and the habits of the English farm-labourers, are 
 productive of more wants than with us. Wages in England 
 are lowest in the southern part of the island, comprising the 
 counties of Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall ; the rate there 
 was equivalent to 1.25 francs per day, and although on a 
 par mostly with our wages in France, this was generally 
 considered insufficient. In the parts of Ireland and Scot- 
 land where wages fell below the French average, the misery 
 produced was iu finitely greater than with us upon the 
 same rate. The equivalent of 20 sous (lOd.) a-day, with 
 which many of our peasants feel contented, caused a great 
 outcry ; at 70 centimes (7d.), as in the Hebrides and Con- 
 naught, existence appeared absolutely impossible. 
 
 Alas ! I know parts of France where the people still live 
 upon that rate, and that without much complaint. Cer- 
 tainly this poverty, in itself sufficiently distressing, is not 
 aggravated by the harshness of a hyperborean climate, and, 
 what is still worse, by the feeling of excessive inequality. 
 Seventy centimes a-day is anywhere a scanty wage ; but 
 it must be especially intolerable in a country where the 
 current rate of labourers' wages is in some places 2.50 
 francs, and that of mechanics on an average still more. 
 
 According to what has been above stated, the gross 
 production of France and that of England proper may be 
 divided nearly as follows : 
 
RENTS, PROFITS, AND WAGES. 91 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 Proprietor's rent, ... 30 francs per hectare. 
 
 Profit of the cultivator, . . 10 
 
 Taxes, .... 5 
 
 Accessory expenses, ... 5 
 
 Wages, .... 50 
 
 Total, ... 100 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 Nominal Value. Reduced by 20 per cent. 
 
 Proprietor's rent, . 75 francs per hectare. . 60 
 
 Profit of the farmer, . 40 ' . 32 
 
 Taxes, . 25 * . 20 
 
 Accessory expenses, . 50 . 40 
 
 Wages, . . 60 48 
 
 Total, . 250 . 200 
 
 All the recipient parts, with the exception of wages, re- 
 ceive then a larger share in England than in France, and 
 that even at the reduced value : rent is double, profit 
 more than treble, taxes quadruple ; wages, even although 
 equal, or nearly so, in absolute amount, are relatively a 
 little higher. The rest of the United Kingdom showed 
 less satisfactory results, but these almost always superior 
 to ours. 
 
 Such are the facts, or at least such they were, previously 
 to 1848. The changes that have since taken place, both 
 in France and in the United Kingdom, have been consi- 
 derable, especially with our neighbours, where a revolution 
 more legitimate, more rational, and above all, more fruit- 
 ful, than our revolution of 1 848, has been peaceably accom- 
 plished, while we are still labouring to regain the position 
 from which we precipitated ourselves. During the last 
 five years we have experienced a state of things not unlike 
 what took place in France and in England between 1790 
 and 1800. This period has been distressingly barren in 
 results for us, but largely productive for them. While 
 
92 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 we were vociferously propounding a multitude of ques- 
 tions, without settling any, they were quietly working out 
 theirs, and now we both come forth from the trial, they 
 strengthened and we weakened. 
 
 Before entering upon the subject of the respective crises 
 which have further increased the distance we have shown 
 as already existing between us, it is important to examine 
 into the causes of the superiority in English agriculture up 
 to 1847. These causes originate in the history and entire 
 organisation of the two countries. The agricultural con- 
 dition of a people is not an isolated fact, but part of a 
 great whole. The responsibility of the imperfect state of 
 our agriculture does not attach altogether to our cultiva- 
 tors ; its ulterior progress depends not solely upon them, 
 or, rather, it is not by fixing their attention on the soil 
 that they will altogether be able to avail themselves of 
 the phenomena there presented, but by endeavouring 
 again to rise to the general laws which govern the eco- 
 nomical development of communities. 
 
 Hitherto they have had little taste for such studies ; 
 they reject them almost unanimously, as practically use- 
 less and dangerous : I believe them to be mistaken, and 
 I hope to prove it to them. Practically, there can be no 
 good agricultural without a good economical condition ; 
 the one is the effect, the other the cause. 
 
93 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF PKOPEBTY. 
 
 THE superiority of English agriculture is pretty gener- 
 ally attributed to large property ; this opinion is true in 
 certain respects, but too much importance must not be 
 attached to it. 
 
 In the first place, property in England is not so much 
 concentrated as is commonly imagined. There are no doubt 
 in that country immense territorial fortunes ; but these 
 fortunes, although they strike the attention of a foreigner, 
 and even of the natives themselves, are not the only ones. 
 In addition to the immense possessions of the nobility, 
 properly so called, are the more modest domains of the 
 gentry. On the 19th Feb. 1850, Mr Disraeli stated, 
 without contradiction, in the House of Commons, that in 
 the three kingdoms it was reckoned that there were 
 250,000 landed proprietors ; now, as the whole extent of 
 the cultivated land is twenty millions of hectares, this 
 gives an average of eighty hectares to each family, and, 
 including the uncultivated land, it gives one hundred and 
 twenty to each. The same orator, in estimating, as we 
 do in France, the net revenue of the landed proprietary 
 at sixty millions sterling, found that these 250,000 
 divisions gave an average rental of 240, or equal to 
 190 in reduced value. 
 
 Like all averages, it is true that this gives but an 
 
94 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 imperfect idea of the facts. Among these 250,000 pro- 
 prietors, a certain number, at most 2000, possess among 
 them one-third of the land and total revenue, and of 
 these 2000 there are 50 having princely fortunes. Some 
 of the English dukes possess entire counties, and have a 
 revenue of millions (of francs). The other members of 
 the peerage, the baronets of England, Scotland, and Ire- 
 land, and the large proprietors who do not form part of 
 the noblesse, follow in their train. Allotting to these 
 2000 families, 10,000,000 hectares, and 500,000,000 
 francs of revenue, gives 12,500 acres, and 10,000 of 
 income to each family. 
 
 But the larger the possessions of the aristocracy, the 
 more does it reduce those of the second-rate proprietors. 
 Still these latter own two-thirds of the soil, and play a 
 part twofold more important in the constitution of 
 English property. Their average holding is reduced to 
 about 200 acres, and their income from land to 160 ; 
 applying the reduction of 20 per cent to this, it amounts 
 to only 130. As there must necessarily exist a great 
 difference among them, it may be concluded that proper- 
 ties yielding 50 to 100 of rent are not so uncommon 
 in England as one might suppose ; in fact, this is appa- 
 rent when looking into the subject more closely. 
 
 Another erroneous impression which, to a certain 
 extent, however, is true, though exaggerated is, that 
 landed property in England does not change hands. 
 Now, although English property is not so easily trans- 
 ferred as with us, it is far from being entirely fixed. 
 Here again a particular fact has been unduly generalised. 
 Certain lands possess entails or other rights, but most are 
 free. One need only run the eye down the immense 
 columns of advertisements in the daily newspapers, or 
 go for an instant into one of the estate agency offices, so 
 
CONSTITUTION OF PROPERTY. 95 
 
 numerous in London and other large towns, to be con- 
 vinced that properties of fifty to five hundred acres that 
 is, twenty to two hundred hectares are not rare in Eng- 
 land, and in fact are sold every day. 
 
 These newspaper advertisements usually run as fol- 
 lows : " For sale, a property of so many acres in extent, let 
 to a substantial tenant, with an elegant and comfortable 
 residence, a good trouting stream, beautiful lawn, kitchen 
 and flower gardens, close to a railway and town, in a 
 picturesque country, &c." In the offices they also show a 
 plan of the land, and a tolerably well-executed view of the 
 house and offices. It is always a pretty building, almost 
 new, beautifully kept, with exterior decorations in bad 
 enough taste, but the interior arrangements simple and 
 commodious ; standing upon a lawn, more or less exten- 
 sive, with clumps of trees upon each side, and cows graz- 
 ing in front. There are two hundred thousand resi- 
 dences of this description scattered over the verdant 
 surface of the British Isles. 
 
 Notwithstanding the strong desire in England for the 
 possession of land, which gives a man the title of land- 
 lord at once, its value is not proportionably higher 
 than in France. The cost is generally thirty times the 
 rent ; that it is to say, yielding about 3 per cent upon 
 the outlay. As soon as a man has made a little money 
 in business, and has a few thousand pounds to invest 
 in a country house, he has ten estates, varying in value 
 from 4000 to 40,000, to choose among. In a country 
 where the acre of land is worth on an average 40, it 
 only requires fifty acres to constitute a property of 
 4000, and only seven hundred and fifty for a value of 
 40,000, including house and offices. 
 
 In France the land is certainly much more divided. 
 Everybody knows the celebrated number of eleven and 
 
96 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 one-half millions of land assessments, which seems to indi- 
 cate a like number of proprietors ; but since the inquiry 
 instituted by M. Passey, it is also well known how far 
 this figure is deceptive. Not only does it often happen 
 that a single tax -payer pays several assessments, thus 
 destroying what this number would otherwise seem to 
 indicate, but the house property of towns figures in the 
 number of assessments, which reduces the actual number 
 of landed properties to five or six millions at most. 
 
 The assessment, however, has its particular value, and 
 as in England, in order to arrive at the most general 
 state of property, we exclude those vast possessions of 
 some great lords which would otherwise give an unduly 
 high average, so must we in France put in their true 
 place that multitude of small proprietary which so 
 greatly lowers the average. Upon eleven and one-half 
 million of assessments, five and one-half millions are 
 below five francs, two millions are from five to ten 
 francs, three millions ten to fifty francs, six hundred 
 thousand from fifty to one hundred five hundred thou- 
 sand only are above one hundred francs ; it is this half 
 million which constitutes the bulk of the landed property. 
 The eleven millions of assessments below one hundred 
 francs may be set down as appertaining to about one-third 
 of the total surface, or eighteen million hectares (forty- 
 five million acres), the other two-thirds, or thirty-two 
 millions of hectares, belong to four hundred thousand 
 proprietors, deducting those who are only urban pro- 
 prietors, and this for each property gives an average of 
 eighty hectares (two hundred acres). 
 
 Thus in cutting off, on the one side, the very large pro- 
 perties, and on the other the very small ones, occupying 
 in each country a third of the soil, the average in France 
 would be the same as the English average for the remain- 
 
CONSTITUTION OF PROPERTY. 97 
 
 ing two-thirds. Under this apparent similarity there 
 lies an inequality, inasmuch as the revenue per hectare is 
 much higher in England than with us ; but, all things 
 taken into account, the real difference is not what is sup- 
 posed. In France there are about one hundred thousand 
 landed proprietors who pay upwards of 300 francs of 
 direct taxes, and whose fortunes average those of the 
 mass of the English proprietors. Of these, fifty thou- 
 sand pay 500 francs and upwards. Estates of five hun- 
 dred, one thousand, and two thousand hectares are fre- 
 quently to be met with, and territorial fortunes of 25,000 
 to 100,000 francs and upwards of rent are not altogether 
 unknown. We may have probably about one thousand 
 large proprietors, who for extent of domain rival the 
 second grade of English landlords, by far the most 
 numerous of the class. It is true, we have propor- 
 tionably fewer of them than our neighbours, and im- 
 mediately following our chateaued gentry swarm the 
 host of small proprietors, whilst the English gentry 
 have at their back the immense fiefs of the aristocracy. 
 To this extent, but only to this extent, it is correct to 
 say that property is more concentrated in England than 
 it is in France. 
 
 This concentration is favoured by the law of succes- 
 sion, which, in default of will, transmits real property 
 to the oldest son ; whilst in France, real property comes 
 to be equally divided among the children. But these 
 two laws, so opposed in principle, are not so different 
 in their practical effects. The parent in either country 
 may devise his property as he chooses, and this is fre- 
 quently done ; besides, other common and more urgent 
 reasons induce a deviation from that appropriation which 
 is provided by law. 
 
 In France, dowries to married daughters reconstitute 
 
 G 
 
98 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 in part what the law of succession destroys. In England, 
 if real property is not divided, movable is ; and in a 
 country where personal property is so considerable, this 
 division cannot fail, through sales and purchases, to ex- 
 ercise an influence upon the partition of fixed property. 
 The more rapid increase of population with our neigh- 
 bours, is, in its turn, another element which distributes 
 property. In fact, properties are being constantly di- 
 vided in England, and every day new country residences 
 are constructed for new country gentlemen ; at the same 
 time, many properties are being reconstituted in France, 
 and the assessment returns show that the increase in the 
 number of the large is greater than that of the small. 
 
 Just as concentration of property in England is very 
 much overrated, so the influence which large property 
 exercises over agriculture is also exaggerated. This in- 
 fluence bears a relative proportion to the actual con- 
 centration, but both have their limits ; large property 
 does not always make large farming. The largest pro- 
 perties may be subdivided into small farms. It is of little 
 consequence whether ten thousand hectares are in the 
 possession of one man, if, for example, he divides them 
 into two hundred farms of fifty hectares each. We shall 
 presently see, in treating of farming properly so called, 
 that this is in fact commonly the case ; the influence of 
 large property is therefore nearly null. Let us admit, 
 however, that upon the whole, large properties are favour- 
 able to large farming, and that on this account it has 
 a direct influence upon a portion of the English soil ; is 
 this action as beneficial as some legislators believe ? and 
 are all other systems as injurious as they affirm \ That 
 is the question. 
 
 In the United Kingdom we have seen that, in a certain 
 sense, there are two descriptions of properties the large 
 
CONSTITUTION OF PROPEKTY. 99 
 
 and the middle sized. The large do not occupy more 
 than a third of the land, and a portion of that third being 
 divided into small farms, it follows that the action of 
 large properties is not felt, except to the extent of about 
 a fourth. Is this fourth the best cultivated ? I do not 
 believe it. The immense properties of the English aris- 
 tocracy are principally found in the less fertile regions. 
 The Duke of Sutherland, who is the largest proprietor in 
 Great Britain, possesses in one compact estate nearly 
 750,000 acres in the north of Scotland ; but these lands 
 are worth only 30s. per acre. Another nobleman the 
 Marquess of Breadalbane possesses in another part of 
 the same country almost as much of a similar value. In 
 England the extensive properties of the Duke of North- 
 umberland are situated, for the most part, in the county 
 of that name, one of the most mountainous and least 
 productive ; those of the Duke of Devonshire, in Derby- 
 shire, and so on. It is especially in such lands that large 
 properties should be ; there only can they produce good 
 effects. 
 
 The richest parts of the British soil the counties of 
 Lancaster, Leicester, Worcester, Warwick, and Lincoln 
 are composed of large and middling sized properties. In 
 Lancashire, one of the richest of all, even in an agricul- 
 tural point of view, middling and almost small proper- 
 ties predominate. Upon the whole, it may be asserted, 
 especially if Ireland is not included, that the best culti- 
 vated land in the three kingdoms is not that which be- 
 longs to the great proprietors. There are, doubtless, strik- 
 ing exceptions ; but such is the rule, generally speaking. 
 
 We find also, not exactly in England, but in an 
 English possession the island of Jersey and its depen- 
 dencies a country wholly composed of small proprietary. 
 The Norman laws of succession, which provide for an 
 
100 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 equal division of lands among the children, continue there 
 in full force. " The inevitable effect of this law," says 
 David Low, "acting for the last nine hundred years 
 within the narrow limits of this small island, has been to 
 reduce the whole land into small holdings. There is 
 scarcely to be found in the whole island a single property 
 of forty acres ; many vary from five to fifteen, and most 
 of them are less than fifteen." Is the agriculture there 
 poorer? Certainly not. The land so divided is culti- 
 vated like a garden. It is farmed on an average at from 
 4 to 5 per acre, and in the environs of St Heliers as 
 high as 8 to 12. In spite of these enormous rents, 
 the farmers live in a state of comparative comfort upon 
 an exten t of ground which, elsewhere, would not suffice to 
 maintain the poorest labourer. 
 
 In France, also, there are two descriptions of properties 
 the middle-sized and the small. It is generally found 
 that farming is farther advanced where the small pre- 
 dominates. Such are the departments of the Nord and 
 the Bas Rhin, and almost all the rich districts of the 
 other departments. It is under this subdivision of pro- 
 perty that most progress manifests itself with us. It is 
 a feature in the national character. The same fact is 
 observed in other countries in Belgium, in Ehenish 
 Germany, in Northern Italy, and even in Norway. 
 
 Everywhere else, except in England that is to say, 
 in Spain, in Germany very large properties have done 
 more harm than good to agriculture. The feudal lord 
 lives far from his domains ; he knows them only by the 
 revenue he draws, and which, before it reaches his hands, 
 passes through a host of servants and stewards, more 
 alive to their own than to their master's interests. The 
 land, impoverished by greedy hands, never receiving that 
 care which would restore and increase its fertility, aban- 
 
CONSTITUTION OF PROPERTY. 101 
 
 cloned to tenants as poor as they are ignorant, languishes 
 in a state of neglect, or gives only those scanty produc- 
 tions which it cannot deny. In England the case is dif- 
 ferent. Many noblemen think it no disgrace to manage 
 their own properties, and to devote to the improvement 
 of the land the greater portion of what they draw from 
 it. But the essential evil of very large properties is not 
 altogether destroyed ; for although many landlords admir- 
 ably fulfil their duties, how many of them neglect their 
 inheritance ! 
 
 Is it right, then, to extol the large-property system to 
 the disparagement of others, as has been done, to wish to 
 extend it everywhere, and to proscribe the small 1 Evi- 
 dently not. In viewing the question merely in an agri- 
 cultural aspect, the only one to be considered at present, 
 general results argue more in favour of small properties 
 than of large. Besides, it is no easy matter to change 
 the condition of property in a country. This condition 
 owes its origin to an accumulation of ancient circum- 
 stances essentially necessary, and which are not to be 
 done away with at pleasure. To assert that large pro- 
 perties in England are the sole cause of agricultural pro- 
 gress, and for this reason to wish to impose that system 
 upon countries which reject it, is manifestly wrong in 
 itself; and to lay down as a rule that progress in farm- 
 ing cannot go on, except upon the condition of an im- 
 practicable social revolution, is fortunately erroneous. 
 
 I do not the less admit that the state of property 
 in England is more favourable to agriculture than in 
 France; I wish only to contend against the exaggera- 
 tion of this view. 
 
 The question has been little understood. What is of 
 consequence to cultivation is, not that the property should 
 be large, but that it should be rich, and these are two 
 
102 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 very different things. Kich is a relative term. A man 
 may be poor with a large property, and rich with a small 
 one. In the hands of one thousand proprietors, who 
 have only ten hectares each, and who lay out 1000 francs 
 per hectare, the land will be twice as productive as in 
 the hands of a man who himself possesses the whole ten 
 thousand hectares, and lays out only 500 francs. Some- 
 times it is the large property which is rich, sometimes 
 the small, sometimes the middle-sized ; all depends upon 
 circumstances. The best constitution of property is that 
 which attracts to the soil most capital, either owing to 
 the owners being richer relatively to the extent of the 
 land they possess, or because they are induced to lay 
 out upon it a larger proportion of their income. Now, 
 there is no doubt that, in the present state of things, 
 our French proprietors are not in general so rich as the 
 English proprietors, and are consequently less disposed 
 to make advances to the soil. It is our smallest pro- 
 prietors who are most liberal to their lands, and this is 
 one of the reasons why small properties are looked on 
 with such favour among us. 
 
 In England, on the contrary, if it is not altogether the 
 very large proprietary, it is at least the best half of the 
 middle-sized, who can be, and in fact who are, the most 
 generous towards the soil. The best cultivated and most 
 productive lands are those whose owners enjoy about 
 1000 a-year of income. Among this class we find 
 both capital, too often wanting with the smaller pro- 
 prietors, and a taste for agricultural improvements, not 
 always to be found among the very large proprietors, 
 owing to their want of acquaintance with rural affairs. 
 
 When this love of country pursuits is found in a large 
 proprietor, it is perfection. All England must remember 
 with gratitude the great services rendered to the cause 
 
CONSTITUTION OF PROPERTY. 103 
 
 of national agriculture by the Duke of Bedford, the Duke 
 of Portland, Lord Leicester, Lord Spencer, Lord Yar- 
 borough, and many others. When the will to do good 
 is united to the power which high rank and fortune give, 
 astonishing results may be effected. The Bedford family, 
 among others, has bestowed upon its country magnificent 
 agricultural works. It has reclaimed entire counties 
 from the sea ; other portions of country, formerly no- 
 thing but extensive moors, have been rendered rich and 
 productive. The representative of this noble house enjoys 
 100,000 or 2,500,000 francs of income from landed 
 estates ; and he is worthy, by the use he makes of it, to 
 succeed to his great agricultural ancestor, whose statue 
 adorns one of the squares in London. 
 
 It is doubtless a matter of regret that we have not 
 this element among us, and the causes which have 
 destroyed our very large properties are to be regretted 
 still more than that destruction itself ; but we must learn 
 to resign ourselves to what cannot now be repaired, and 
 endeavour to guard against an increase of the evil. The 
 advantages of large property may be partly replaced by 
 the State carrying out a good administration of the local 
 imposts, and by a spirit of combination. This has already 
 begun to work in many parts. Even in England, where 
 the aristocracy have done so much in every respect for 
 national glory and prosperity, they, as a class, are not 
 those who have done most ; and, however striking their 
 services, these ought not to detract from those more 
 numerous and more efficacious services rendered by the 
 honourable body of gentry. 
 
 In France, where habits of economy are more general 
 than in England, an average income of 25,000 francs 
 (1000) is not necessary. To keep up a moderate 
 property with us, an income of 5000 to 6000 francs 
 
104 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 is sufficient. Upon this income the family of a coun- 
 try proprietor can live comfortably, as society with us 
 is at present constituted, and save every year for pro- 
 ductive outlays ; with less than this, difficulties arise, 
 unless economy is proportionately increased. With re- 
 spect to small property, as the possessor is at the same 
 time the cultivator, it prospers under much humbler con- 
 ditions. A peasant family may live very -well in an 
 ordinary way with an income of 1200 francs ; and pro- 
 vided they possess some few hundreds of francs over and 
 above this sum, the land does not suffer, but rather im- 
 proves, in their hands ; for nowhere is it the object of 
 more assiduous care, and nowhere does it more liberally 
 repay the attention bestowed upon it. 
 
 It is not necessary and this is one chief source of 
 error into which the advocates for exclusively large pro- 
 perties fall that the income of the possessor of the land 
 should come to him entirely from the land itself. A con- 
 siderable portion of this income may be derived from 
 any other source from some occupation or business in 
 the town, or a salaried post in the country. In this 
 case, the smaller the country property in proportion to 
 the income, the more chance it has of benefiting by in- 
 fusion of capital. In almost every case properties suffer 
 neglect owing to their being too large for the income of 
 the possessor, but especially when he is in debt : in this 
 case, the greater the extent of the property, the worse its 
 condition ; it is nothing then but a false show a fatal 
 delusion. 
 
 The great bane of property is debt not the debt con- 
 tracted for the purpose of making improvements, for that 
 is almost always remunerative, but that which trenches 
 upon income, and leaves the nominal proprietor without 
 resources for keeping the property in good order. This 
 
CONSTITUTION OF PROPERTY. 105 
 
 is the real evil with French property ; not so much its 
 subdivision. In many cases a still greater division might 
 be the remedy for this evil. The majority of our large 
 proprietors would be gainers if they held less land, and 
 had more money. Those who have less than 5000 to 
 6000 francs of net revenue would almost all benefit by 
 renouncing land altogether ; and among the small pro- 
 prietors there is also a large number who would do well 
 no longer to attempt a problem which they will never be 
 able to solve. That this liquidation, if it took place, 
 would be profitable to the large, the middle-sized, or the 
 small properties, it is impossible to say beforehand, and 
 in reality it signifies very little. 
 
 The debt on land in England is less injurious than in 
 France ; not that it is less, for it is on the contrary more, 
 being estimated at as much as half the total value of the 
 land ; but because it is borne by richer families. After the 
 payment of interest on their debt, the English proprietors 
 have a larger net revenue than ours, and their very 
 large movable property contributes, together with the 
 greater 'value of their land, to place them in a much 
 more advantageous position. Nevertheless, public atten- 
 tion on the other side of the Channel has been drawn 
 to the evils of mortgage debt it is now being seriously 
 considered and if ever measures be taken to diminish 
 the burden, the revolution which will grow out of it will 
 be rather unfavourable than otherwise to large property. 
 It is, in fact, the larger properties which are most bur- 
 dened ; and a liquidation, by bringing commercial and 
 manufacturing fortunes to be invested more largely in 
 land, would to that extent diminish the present extent 
 of exclusively territorial fortunes. This revolution has 
 already begun in Ireland, and progresses rapidly in con- 
 sequence of a special Act of Parliament. 
 
106 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 I admit that primogeniture has something to do with the 
 superiority in wealth of English proprietors, inasmuch as 
 it prevents the forced division of lands ; but the law of 
 entail, which is also put forward as favourable to cultiva- 
 tion, has only bad effects, because it places an obstacle in 
 the way of free disposal of land. It is no doubt hard 
 when a property goes out of the hands of one who has 
 inherited it ; and in France the mobility of property, 
 particularly with the fiscal laws, which press hard upon 
 it at every change, is one of its greatest drawbacks ; 
 but what is grievous is the cause which obliges the pro- 
 prietor to sell, not the sale itself. When a proprietor 
 gets into debt and becomes poor, it is desirable for the 
 common good that his property should pass as soon as 
 possible into other hands ; it will never otherwise do 
 any good. In this case, the French law, which places few 
 obstacles in the way of sale, is preferable to the English. 
 
 As to successions, it is different. The compulsory 
 division of landed property is a real evil, and the time is 
 coming, I hope, when an economical spirit will correct 
 the abuse of the system. The English, on their part, will 
 probably be induced, as rural wealth increases, to do 
 away with entails ; practically they have already greatly 
 mitigated their bad effects ; and it is noways impossible 
 for them to get free of them altogether, if they really desire 
 it.* Such as they are, the advantages and defects of the 
 two legislations are pretty equally balanced ; the source 
 of the superiority of the English system, however real, is 
 not very obvious. The chief cause of agricultural pro- 
 gress does not lie here. 
 
 This question was worthy of being put in its true light ; 
 
 * The English law allows an entail only for the benefit of one or more persons 
 living, and one unborn ; when the latter attains majority, the entail ceases, unless 
 it be renewed. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF PROPERTY. 107 
 
 it has been obscured by too many passions and prejudices, 
 which have nothing in common with rural economy. If 
 ever there be a question in France of giving more lati- 
 tude to the head of a family as regards the testamen- 
 tary disposal of his property, or of giving facilities in the 
 way of preserving real property intact in the case of suc- 
 cessions db intestat, it will be well to keep large property 
 out of the question, for such considerations do not apply 
 to it. It is not the law which has reduced large property 
 in France, but the Eevolution ; and not only is all arti- 
 ficial retrogression impossible, but in the course which 
 things have taken it would be of very doubtful utility. 
 
108 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF FARMING. 
 
 THE second cause of the agricultural prosperity of Eng- 
 land is generally attributed to large farming ; but here, 
 again, ideas on the subject are much exaggerated. 
 
 The soil of Britain is not more largely farmed than 
 largely held. No doubt there are very large farms, just 
 as there are very large estates ; but these form by no 
 means the majority. There is a multitude of farms under 
 the middle size, which would pass for such even in 
 France ; and the number of small tenants is infinitely 
 greater than that of small proprietors. It is reckoned 
 that there are not less than two hundred thousand far- 
 mers in England alone, which gives an average of sixty 
 hectares (150 acres) for each farm. In certain parts, such 
 as the plains of Wiltshire, Dorset, Lincoln, and York, 
 farms of several hundreds, and even thousands, of hectares 
 are not uncommon ; but in other parts, again, as the 
 manufacturing districts, those of ten and twelve hectares 
 are the most common. In Cheshire many are below ten 
 acres, or four hectares. Of these two hundred thousand 
 farmers, about one-half cultivate their farms themselves, 
 with the assistance of their families. In Scotland the 
 number of farmers exceeds fifty thousand, and in Ire- 
 land seven hundred thousand. 
 
 In France we have the equivalent of Ireland in our 
 
CONSTITUTION OF FARMING. 109 
 
 five or six millions of small holdings below seven or eight 
 hectares ; but we have, at the same time, the equivalent 
 of Great Britain in the four or five hundred thousand 
 averaging fifty to sixty. And we are not altogether 
 without our farms of several hundreds of hectares ; some 
 such are to be found, principally in the neighbourhood 
 of Paris, which exhibit the best examples of large farm- 
 ing. It is only the immense farms which we have not 
 got, and these are not very numerous in England ; they 
 are to be met with only in the most sterile parts, such as 
 in the wild districts of the Highlands, or in the chalky 
 plains of the south, both equally suited for sheep pastures. 
 It is not, then, exactly in extent of the farms that English 
 farming is superior to ours ; in this respect we are even 
 more on a par than in respect to property. 
 
 The real superiority of this constitution of agriculture 
 as regards Great Britain at least, for Ireland requires a 
 separate examination lies in these two important points : 
 first, the almost universal system of leases, which makes 
 agriculture a special occupation ; and, secondly, the num- 
 ber of monied men who fearlessly embark in farming. 
 
 The advantages which leases possess over other modes 
 of working the soil, and particularly over the metayage, 
 are observable in those parts of France where the system 
 is found. It is the great principle of the division of 
 labour applied to agriculture. It raises up a particular 
 class of men, early educated to farming, and who devote 
 their whole life to it. These men are not exactly labour- 
 ers, but are in comparatively superior circumstances, and 
 are more intelligent. With them farming is a profession, 
 with all the chances of gain and loss ; and if the chances 
 of loss are sufficient to keep their attention awakened, 
 the chances of gain also suffice to excite their emulation. 
 England has many examples of fortunes made by farm- 
 
110 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 ing ; these examples induce very many to become farmers 
 as a money-making profession ; while at the same time it 
 is one of the most agreeable, the most honourable, as well 
 as most healthy professions in which the mind and body 
 can be engaged. 
 
 The advocates exclusively for large property pretend 
 that it was the means of bringing about the lease system : 
 this is a mistake ; leases are not found always in connec- 
 tion with large property. In Eussia, in Spain, and in 
 Hungary, there are large proprietors who have on their 
 estates metayers, peasants paying rent in labour (pay sans 
 de corvee), but no farmers ; in France, in the depart- 
 ments about Paris, it is middle-sized properties which 
 prevail, and there there are farmers. The lease system 
 consorts better with large property than with any other, 
 but it is compatible with all grades of property, even 
 with small. 
 
 It is said that long leases are necessary to make farm- 
 ing pay, and that large properties can alone afford to 
 grant them ; this also is a mistake. Long leases are no 
 doubt advantageous, but they are not necessary. In 
 England they are almost unknown, or rather it happens 
 pretty frequently that they have no lease at all. Three- 
 fourths of the farms are held upon what is called tenancy 
 at will ; that is to say, on either side six months' notice 
 to quit may be given. I do not say that this is the best 
 contract ; I know that it is practicable only in certain 
 cases. I know, also, that at present the tendency in 
 England is to leases, and long leases too ; but I say, and 
 this cannot be denied, that the agricultural prosperity of 
 that country has arisen through farmers who, for the 
 most part, had only annual holdings. 
 
 We already know what the working capital of these 
 farmers is. Before 1848, 8 per acre, or 500 francs per 
 
CONSTITUTION OF FARMING. Ill 
 
 hectare, was reckoned the capital necessary for a good 
 farmer. Many, doubtless, had not so much, but others 
 again had more. All make advances to the land with 
 implicit confidence. In that country, where manufactures 
 and commerce offer such inducements for the employ- 
 ment of capital, many people prefer to embark their 
 money in agriculture. While our farmers are sparing to 
 the last degree, considering that what is saved is gain, in 
 England they try who can put most money into the land. 
 This confidence belongs in some measure to large farming. 
 Large farming has especially been the originating cause 
 of large outlay; it is large farming, too, which every 
 day gives the most striking examples of enterprise as ap- 
 plied to the working of the soil ; but middling and small 
 farming follow closely upon large. The small farmer, 
 who has only a few hundred pounds of patrimony, does 
 not hesitate to embark it any more than the great capi- 
 talist, who has ten times or a hundred times as much. 
 Both launch out together, and generally upon the faith of 
 an ordinary annual lease, expending sums which would 
 seem enormous with us, and which proprietors alone 
 would here undertake. When long leases are required, 
 it is in order that a man may more securely make those 
 advances which the land is constantly demanding. 
 
 To large farming is generally attributed the substitu- 
 tion of horses for oxen and machinery for out-door 
 manual labour. The same is said of large outlays for 
 manures and fertilisers, the expense of making and main- 
 taining roads and fences, levelling, subsoil ploughing, 
 draining, irrigation, &c. But this again is quite a mis- 
 take. Improvements that is to say, the useful employ- 
 ment of capital are a sign of rich and intelligent, rather 
 than of large farming. Small and middling farmers un- 
 derstand the benefit of these quite as well as the great, 
 
112 EURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 whether in England, or wherever farming is as far 
 advanced ; they are unknown only where the farmers 
 are poor or ignorant. Now, if farming in England is 
 liberal, it is no less intelligent and skilful. 
 
 The English farmers, even the smallest among them, 
 have every facility for becoming well informed with 
 regard to the latest improvements. It is a very common 
 thing for them to send their children as pupils to those 
 among themselves who are distinguished for their ability, 
 and they willingly pay boards which would frighten our 
 farmers. They hold frequent meetings for the purpose 
 of mutually communicating their ideas and experiences. 
 Those competitions of animals and implements, which the 
 government of France is obliged to institute at the na- 
 tional expense, have long been established by private 
 subscription in many places throughout the United 
 Kingdom. The first noblemen, headed by princes of the 
 blood, and even the husband of the Queen, consider it 
 an honour to preside at these competitions and agricul- 
 tural meetings, to take part in the discussions, and to 
 contend for the prizes. A host of magazines, devoted 
 entirely to agriculture, detail their proceedings ; even the 
 principal newspapers carefully chronicle all the news 
 which may interest the chief of all industries. As 
 poverty is not an attribute of agriculture in that 
 country, no more is ignorance. 
 
 Besides the local societies, which have been long estab- 
 lished over the whole of England, there has existed since 
 1835 a central Society of Agriculture, which has received 
 the title, very rarely bestowed, of Royal. Although re- 
 ceiving no aid from the Government, it disposes of con- 
 siderable sums, which it owes to voluntary subscriptions. 
 It is composed of life members and annual subscribers, 
 scattered over the whole kingdom. Among its life mem- 
 
CONSTITUTION OF FARMING. 113 
 
 bers figure almost all the aristocracy and the principal 
 country gentlemen ; the annual subscribers consist of 
 the small proprietors and common farmers. The Society 
 numbers no less than five thousand members for England 
 alone for Scotland and Ireland have their own societies 
 about one thousand being life members, and four 
 thousand annual subscribers. The ordinary amount of 
 annual subscription is 1, or 25 francs ; a life subscrip- 
 tion 10 ; and 50 for what is called a Governor. 
 
 With these funds, which are increased by some addi- 
 tional resources, the Society possesses an annual revenue 
 of 10,000, or 250,000 francs. This it applies to fur- 
 thering the progress of national agriculture : it holds 
 weekly meetings, at which the agricultural questions of 
 the day are discussed ; it publishes an excellent collec- 
 tion of all that it considers worthy of notice ; it pays 
 professors for instructing in those sciences relating to 
 agriculture, and, among the rest, a chemist whose special 
 duty is to furnish analyses of earths and manures. The 
 Society holds every year and this is the principal ob- 
 ject of its foundation a great meeting for competition 
 in cattle and farming implements, to which the whole of 
 England is invited. By all these means, this Society 
 exerts a powerful and useful influence. 
 
 In France, farming is not a branch of industry, pro- 
 perly speaking ; there are few real farmers among us, and 
 most of our cultivators, whether they be proprietors, 
 farmers, or metayers, have but an insufficient capital. 
 This is the real misfortune with us. The blame may, 
 with some appearance of reason, be laid upon the small 
 proprietary. With us, a cultivator, having a little money, 
 generally prefers to be a proprietor rather than a farmer. 
 The reverse is the case in England. Formerly there were 
 many small proprietors in that country, who formed an 
 
 H 
 
114 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 important class in the State ; they were called yeomen, 
 to distinguish them from the landed gentry, who were 
 called squires. These yeomen have almost disappeared, 
 but not by any violent revolution. The change has taken 
 place voluntarily and imperceptibly. They have sold 
 their small properties to become farmers, because they 
 found it more profitable ; and as most of them have 
 succeeded, those remaining will most likely shortly follow 
 the example. 
 
 Why do not many of our small proprietors do the 
 same ? it is because they do not see their immediate ad- 
 vantage in it. The English yeomen, too, were a long 
 time in making up their minds to the change. It re- 
 quires favourable circumstances, which are not yet very 
 generally apparent ; and something more than the wish is 
 needed in order to bring about agricultural revolutions. 
 Likewise it is not so much the extension of the lease 
 system, properly so called, as the want of capital to lay 
 out on the land that is wanted. The superior advan- 
 tage of the lease is apparent only where proprietors who 
 farm with their own hands have not a sufficient capital. 
 Where farming is the profession of proprietors who have 
 all the requisites, the effect they produce is quite as bene- 
 ficial as in the case of farmers. Proprietors have a direct, 
 permanent, and hereditary interest in the improvement 
 of the land, only they require a double capital, which 
 is not often to be met with ; first, a capital as proprie- 
 tors; and, secondly, another as cultivators. When there 
 is this twofold condition, added to inherited experience, 
 and that energy which is stimulated by a family name, 
 there is no mode of farming which can compete with 
 it, while there is no more desirable and better stamp 
 of men for a State than these ; and this is not to be 
 overlooked. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF FARMING. 115 
 
 The whole secret lies in these two words, Capital and 
 Skill. Large farming, without skill and without capital, is 
 not so useful as small farming, which possesses both, and 
 vice versd. There may be striking instances of capital and 
 skill combined with large farming, and others where they 
 are found with small ; these differences decide the matter. 
 
 A time will certainly arrive when a goodly number of 
 the small and even middling class of French proprietors 
 will find it their interest to give up, more or less, being 
 proprietors, and turn their attention to farming. Capital 
 invested in land yields at the most two or three per cent, 
 and when laid out in farming it ought to yield eight or 
 ten, if judiciously employed : the result is evident. A 
 host of small and middling proprietors will then disap- 
 pear, who are now very badly off; but this revolution 
 will never be general, nor is it necessary that it should. 
 Small farming, like small property, is more in conformity 
 with our national character. Capital with us being 
 more distributed than it is in England, it is expedient 
 that the farms should be smaller, so as to correspond 
 with the working capital. Many of our proprietors would 
 rather sell a portion of their properties than part with 
 them altogether ; and even supposing the latter done, 
 very few would realise enough to be able to work a large 
 farm advantageously. 
 
 The extent of farms, besides, is determined by other 
 causes, such as the nature of the soil, the climate, and 
 the kinds of crops prevailing. France, on this account, 
 is still destined in a greater degree than England to be a 
 country of small farming. Many branches of her agri- 
 culture require a great amount of manual labour, which 
 renders it necessary to have a greater division of fields of 
 operation. The great resource of pasture is less generally 
 within our reach. Almost everywhere the soil of France 
 
116 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 may be made to respond to the labour of man, and almost 
 everywhere it is for the advantage of the community 
 that manual labour should be actively bestowed upon it. 
 I know parts of our country where small farming is the 
 bane of the district ; I know others where it is of inestim- 
 able benefit, and for which the large system could never 
 compensate. 
 
 Let us suppose ourselves in the centre of France, in 
 the Limousin mountains ; we there find a soil poor and 
 granitic, and a climate rainy and cold. Cereals there 
 thrive badly, and do not pay the expense of cultivation; 
 crops destined for industrial purposes are out of the ques- 
 tion ; it is rye which predominates, and that gives only 
 a poor produce. Grasses and roots, on the contrary, 
 thrive well. Irrigation is rendered easy by the abun- 
 dance of streams, the fertilising properties of the water, 
 and the slope of the lands ; the breeding and fattening of 
 cattle may be carried on under favourable circumstances. 
 The soil and climate are nearly those of a large part of 
 England. Everything in this quarter calls for large 
 farming, but unfortunately, owing to circumstances 
 foreign to the question of agriculture, it is the small 
 which prevails, and there it is necessarily rather unpro- 
 ductive. Cereals exhaust the soil, for which insufficient 
 manuring does not make up. The manual labour be- 
 stowed on the land is excessive, considering the re- 
 sults; cattle, badly fed and worn out by work, give no 
 profit ; rent is almost nothing, and wages miserable. 
 
 On the other hand, let us suppose ourselves in the 
 rich plains of Flanders, on the banks of the Ehine, the 
 Garonne, the Charente, or the Ehone ; we there meet 
 again with small farming, but, unlike the other, it is rich 
 and productive. Every method for increasing the fruit- 
 fulness of the land and making the most of labour is 
 
CONSTITUTION OF FARMING. 117 
 
 there known and practised, even among the smallest 
 farmers. Notwithstanding the active properties of the 
 soil, the people are constantly renewing and adding to 
 its fertility by means of large quantities of manure col- 
 lected at considerable expense ; the breed of animals is 
 superior, and the harvests magnificent. In one district 
 we find wheat and maize ; in another, tobacco, flax, rape, 
 and madder; then again, the vine, olive, plum, and mul- 
 berry, which to yield their abundant treasures require 
 a people of industrious habits.- Is it not also to small 
 farming that we owe most of the market-garden pro- 
 duce obtained by means of large expenditure around 
 Paris'? 
 
 We have seen that even in England small farming has 
 not altogether been discarded, yet everything appears 
 tending to proscribe its limits : it has no grounds of sup- 
 port, as in France, from a small proprietary and division 
 of capital ; the theories of agriculturists and the general 
 system of farming are opposed to it. It has decreased 
 since the days of Arthur Young, and the progress made 
 by modern agriculture has been brought about by totally 
 different means. Still it persists, and everything leads to 
 the belief that in some parts, at least, it will maintain its 
 ground. The manufacture of cheese, for example, which 
 is quite a domestic industry, is well adapted to it : ten 
 or twelve cows suffice to give profitable employment to 
 a family in the country without extra assistance. There 
 is nothing so delightful as the interior of these humble 
 cottages, so clean and orderly ; the very air about them 
 breathes peace, industry, and happiness ; and it is pleasing 
 to think that they are not likely to be done away. 
 
 Even under circumstances most favourable to its de- 
 velopment, the very nature of large farming prescribes 
 bounds to it. The very large English farms, unless to a 
 
118 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 great extent in pasture, are subject to manifest drawbacks. 
 When cereals form a part of the cultivation, the distance 
 to be traversed by men and horses, even with the improved 
 means invented in the present day, becomes a serious loss 
 of time and power. It is a difficult matter for the farmer 
 to give his attention to different parts of the farm at 
 the same time. I have seen farms of this description be- 
 longing to noblemen home-farms, as they are called 
 and managed by stewards, which make a great appear- 
 ance, but where the waste is proportionately great. The 
 owners take a hereditary pride in these gigantic estab- 
 lishments, emblems of wealth and power ; but in most 
 cases they would be great gainers by letting them to 
 real farmers. 
 
 If the necessity for employing every day a larger 
 capital in farming, in order to increase the production 
 required to meet the greater consumption, tends to dimi- 
 nish the number of small farms, it cannot fail to have a 
 like effect upon the largest sized. They talk now in 
 England of a working capital of 16 per acre, and it is 
 probably not too much for the new methods every day 
 suggested by the progress of agriculture. Now, if many 
 cultivators who farm their own land find it difficult to 
 command such a sum, it is no less rare, even in England, 
 to find those who enter into large farming operations 
 possessed of a capital of ten or fifteen thousand pounds. 
 It is probable, then, that the number of large and small 
 farms will become reduced at the same time, and that the 
 middle-sized (150 to 300 acres), now the most common, 
 will increase. This, in fact, appears to be the size best 
 suited for the kind of farming most generally adopted, 
 but that, properly speaking, is not large farming.* 
 
 * In general, it will be found that the best and most liberal description of 
 farming in England is in occupations above three or four hundred acres. J. P. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF FARMING. 1 j 1) 
 
 It is probable that in France, also, a similar revolution 
 will take place, as the possibility of applying a larger capital 
 to farming increases. Small farms will be entirely given 
 up where they give no prospect of paying, and others 
 will be formed anew where indications are given of profit- 
 able results. Finally, the average extent may, without 
 inconvenience, be much less than in England ; a radical 
 change in farming is as little to be desired as it is in 
 property. But again, this is not the real question : we 
 have to inquire, not so much why farming and property 
 are not larger, but why they are more profitable and more 
 intelligent in England than in France \ 
 
120 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 COUNTEY LIFE. 
 
 IN my opinion, this agricultural wealth is owing to 
 three principal causes. That which first presents itself, 
 and which may be considered the origin of the two others, 
 is the taste of the wealthier and more influential part of 
 the nation for a country life. 
 
 This predilection is not of yesterday's birth, but dates 
 from the earliest history, and is a part of the national 
 character. Both Saxons and Normans are children of 
 the forest. Combined with a spirit of individual inde- 
 pendence, those barbarous races, of which the English 
 nation is composed, had all instinctively a turn for soli- 
 tary life. It was not so, however, with the Latin people. 
 Wherever the Eoman spirit was preserved in Italy, 
 Spain, and, to a certain extent, in France a predilec- 
 tion for town life was early manifested. The Eoman 
 fields were abandoned to the slaves ; all who aspired to 
 distinction resorted to the city. The name alone of 
 peasant, milieus, was a term of contempt, and the name 
 of city was associated with elegance and politeness, 
 urbanitas. In the modern Latin communities these pre- 
 judices still prevail. In our own day we still look upon 
 the country as a sort of exile, and it is still more so with 
 the Italians and Spaniards. The desire of all is to live in 
 town, for there intellectual enjoyment, refinement, society, 
 
COUNTRY LIFE. 121 
 
 and the means of making money, are to be found. Among 
 the Germans, and especially in England, the manners of 
 the people are different. The Englishman is less sociable 
 than the Frenchman ; he still retains something of the 
 wild race from which he is descended ; he has a repug- 
 nance to being shut up within the walls of towns ; the 
 open air is his natural element. 
 
 When the barbarian tribes poured in from all sides 
 upon the Eoman Empire, they spread themselves over 
 the country, where each chief, and almost every soldier, 
 set about securing his own position. From this inherent 
 disposition the feudal system took its rise, and in no 
 country is this system more strongly marked than in 
 England. The first care of the conquerors was to secure 
 to themselves a great extent of land, where they could 
 live without constraint, as in their native forests, adding 
 to the pleasures of the chase that wealth which was derived 
 from the cultivation of the land. The barbarian kings 
 differed from their vassals only in the extent of their 
 domains. Even in France the kings of the two earliest 
 races were just large proprietors, living on extensive farms, 
 as proud of the number of their cattle and the extent of 
 their crops as of the host of armed men who marched at 
 their command. The greatest of them all, Charlemagne, 
 was no less remarkable for the administration of his coun- 
 try possessions than as chief of an immense empire. 
 
 This tendency, which is common among all northern 
 races, was much more prevalent in England, when that 
 country was less populous, less civilised, and not so much 
 under the influence of Roman domination. As there 
 was no learning among the people, there w^as nobody 
 to contend for a town life ; and the towns being only 
 wretched villages, giving no inducement for pillage, rural 
 possessions alone were envied. The only wealth of these 
 
122 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 tribes was the land, and all they had to contend for was 
 its use. The song of the Welsh bards, while sheltering 
 themselves among their mountains against the attack of 
 the Saxons, was, "Never shall we yield to our enemies 
 the fertile lands watered by the Wye." The Saxons, 
 in their turn, fought in defence of their lands against 
 the Normans, and the first result of the great conquest 
 of the eleventh century was a division of the land among 
 the victorious invaders. 
 
 The paramount importance attached by the Normans to 
 possession of the soil is exhibited in that extraordinary 
 relic which shows the mind of the conquerors ; it is 
 unique of its kind, found only in England, and has exer- 
 cised a great influence on the subsequent development of 
 the country. I mean that general survey of properties, 
 executed about the year 1080, by order of William the 
 Conqueror, and called by the dispossessed Saxons Dooms- 
 day Book, because it established for ever the almost entire 
 dispossession of their race. This book, still preserved 
 in the Exchequer, is the starting-point of English pro- 
 perty, and to this day continues to be the great authority 
 on rights of tenure, no title being strictly legal except that 
 which may be traced back to this first source. No nation 
 can boast of the possession of a record so ancient, so de- 
 tailed, or so authentic. About fifteen years had elapsed 
 after the battle of Hastings when Doomsday Book was 
 commenced. The new proprietors had been for some 
 years settled on their estates, and most of them were 
 already engaged in agriculture. They reared a great 
 number of horses and cattle ; an old record of the time, 
 making mention of one of them, says, Multum agricul- 
 tures deditus ac in jumentorum et pecorum midtitudine 
 plurimum delectatus. The work ordered by William had 
 for its object not only the registration of the names of 
 
COUNTRY LIFE. 123 
 
 the possessors, but to set forth in detail the number 
 of measures of land, or hydes, as they were then called, 
 the number of domestic animals, ploughs, &c. The in- 
 quiry lasted six years, and proves a pretty fair advance- 
 ment in agriculture. The record includes all the country 
 actually subdued to the Norman rule ; that is to say, the 
 whole of England as far as north of York. The Nor- 
 thumberland mountains (and Durham) alone were ex- 
 cepted. 
 
 During the middle ages the whole history of England 
 is taken up with contentions between the barons and 
 the Crown, respecting the possession of their lands. At 
 one time (in 1101) they obtained from Henry I. an edict 
 thus worded, " I concede in fee simple to all knights who 
 defend themselves with helmet and sword the free pos- 
 session of the lands cultivated by their seignorial ploughs, 
 in order that they may provide themselves with arms and 
 horses for our service and the defence of the kingdom." 
 A century afterwards (in 1215), they took advantage of 
 John's weakness, and forced him to sign the Magna 
 Charta, confirming their right of property, and enabling 
 them to defend it in the sovereign assemblies. Forced 
 to seek support from the entire population, in order to 
 overcome the opposition of the sovereign, they took care 
 at the same time to stipulate for certain rights for the 
 commons, and thus it is that the origin of English politi- 
 cal liberty is mixed up with the rights of feudal property. 
 
 From the days of King John until now it is always 
 among the rural population that the true national cha- 
 racter the fighting people is to be found ; the towns 
 show nothing of it. The sovereigns themselves, yield- 
 ing to the national feeling, seek less than elsewhere 
 to diminish the power of the feudal lords. Notwith- 
 standing the absolute power enjoyed by Henry VIIL 
 
RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 when he suppressed the convents he felt himself obliged 
 to distribute among the nobles a portion of the spoil 
 taken from the monks. This accounts for the immense 
 properties owned by some families. When his daughter 
 Elizabeth beheld these same nobles leave their country 
 mansions to flock to her court, she herself recommended 
 them to return to their lands, where they would enjoy 
 more consequence. "You see," said she, "these ships 
 accumulated in the port of London ; they have no state- 
 liness here with their sails loose, their holds empty, and 
 all huddled together without order ; but see them with 
 their sails filled and spread over the wide ocean, each will 
 then be free, powerful, and majestic." A picturesque and 
 true comparison this, but one which Elizabeth's contem- 
 porary, Henry IV., and his grandson Louis XIV., could 
 never have made. 
 
 During the revolution of the seventeenth and the poli- 
 tical agitation of the eighteenth century, the country 
 aristocracy continued to maintain its ascendancy : it was 
 they who established the authority of 1688, who kept the 
 house of Hanover upon the throne, and who sustained 
 the contest against the French Eevolution. Until the 
 Keform Bill gave a greater representation to the towns, 
 which had become rich and more populous, the two 
 Houses of Parliament were entirely composed of this 
 party ; at this moment they are still labouring energe- 
 tically to maintain their threatened supremacy, and to 
 hold the new reformers in check. All the great and 
 glorious incidents in the national history are connected 
 with this class, hence its popularity. A country life is 
 sought after, not only for itself for its absence of re- 
 straint, its comfort, quiet occupation, and domestic hap- 
 piness, those cherished penates of the English but in 
 addition it gives consideration, influence, power, every- 
 
COUNTRY LIFE. 125 
 
 thing that a man can desire after his first wants are 
 satisfied. 
 
 There are certain privileges attached to landed pro- 
 perty. The wealthiest proprietor in a county is usually 
 lord-lieutenant, which, although more an honorary title 
 than anything else, invests its possessor with somewhat 
 of a regal consequence in the county ; the wealthiest 
 after the lord-lieutenant are justices of the peace. These 
 are the principal, and almost the only, administrators 
 of justice in the county, the representatives of public 
 authority. In France, public officers are almost all 
 strangers to the department where they are employed ; 
 they are bound by no ties to local interests. In Eng- 
 land, on the other hand, the landed proprietors are the 
 functionaries in their own district ; and although nomi- 
 nated by the Crown, they hold office from the fact alone 
 of their being proprietors. There is probably no instance 
 of a commission of justice of the peace being refused to 
 a wealthy and influential landed proprietor. 
 
 It is easy to understand how such a system gives con- 
 sequence to a person residing on his own property. In 
 France, when a proprietor is ambitious of playing a part, 
 he must come away from his estates ; in England he 
 must remain upon them. Therefore everybody in that 
 commercial and manufacturing country desires to become 
 a landed proprietor : those who make fortunes buy land, 
 and those who strive for riches aspire only to follow the 
 same course. The rage in this respect goes so far, that 
 when a man has had the misfortune to be born in a 
 town, he tries to conceal it as much as possible. Every- 
 body would be born in the country, because a country 
 life is the mark of an aristocratic origin ; and when a 
 man happens not to have been born there, he wishes 
 at least to die there, that his children may inherit the 
 
126 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 prestige. Look at a list of the House of Lords in the 
 official publications ; it is their country residences, and 
 not their town addresses, which follow their names. The 
 Duke of Norfolk is put down as residing at Arundel 
 Castle, in the county of Sussex ; the Duke of Devonshire 
 at Chatsworth, in Derbyshire ; the Duke of Portland at 
 Welbeck Abbey, in Nottinghamshire, and so on. Every 
 Englishman is familiar with the names, at least, of the 
 residences of the nobility, which are as famous even as 
 the names of the illustrious families who possess them. 
 Independently of the magnificence there displayed by 
 their possessors, some of them are connected with the 
 glory of the nation. The name of the Duke of Marl- 
 borough is inseparable from that of Blenheim, a magnifi- 
 cent mansion given by England to the conqueror of Louis 
 XIV. ; and a like origin associates the manor of Strath- 
 fieldsaye with the remembrance of the Duke of Welling- 
 ton's victories. 
 
 It is the same with the members of the House of Com- 
 mons as with the Lords. All those who have country 
 houses take care to have them indicated as their habitual 
 residences. Everybody knows the name of Sir Kobert 
 Peel's country-seat Drayton Manor. Appearances in 
 this respect are quite consistent with fact, for members 
 of both Houses are scarcely more than visitors in London 
 during the sitting of Parliament ; they pass the rest of 
 their time in the country, or in travelling. Show and 
 splendour are reserved for the country ; and it is there 
 more especially that an interchange of visits, fetes, and 
 pleasure-parties, takes place. 
 
 The national literature, as expressive of manners and 
 customs, contains throughout marks of this distinc- 
 tive trait in the English character. England is the 
 country of descriptive poetry ; almost all their poets have 
 
COUNTRY LIFE. 127 
 
 lived in the country, and sung of it. Even when English 
 poetry took ours for its model, Pope celebrated Windsor 
 Forest, and wrote pastorals : if his style was not rural, 
 his subjects were. Before him Spenser and Shakespeare 
 wrote admirable rustic poetry ; the song of the lark and 
 nightingale still resounds, after the lapse of centuries, in 
 Juliet's impassioned farewell to Eomeo. Milton the 
 sectarian Milton employed his finest verse in a descrip- 
 tion of the first garden, and in the midst of revolutions 
 and business his fancy carried- him towards the ideal 
 fields of Paradise Lost. 
 
 But it was principally after theEevolution of 1 688, when 
 England, now free, began to be herself, that all her writers 
 became deeply impressed with the love of country life. 
 It was then that Gray and Thomson appeared ; the first 
 in his celebrated Elegies, and among others his " Country 
 Churchyard," the other in his poem of the Seasons, strik- 
 ing in delightful sounds this favourite chord of the British 
 lyre. The Seasons abound with admirable description ; 
 it is sufficient to instance the hay-making harvest and 
 sheep-shearing, the latter being already in Thomson's time 
 a great business in England; and among the pleasures 
 of the country, his account of trout-fishing. The angler, 
 at the present day, may find in this little descriptive 
 picture his favourite art fully detailed. The feeling 
 is everywhere lively and spontaneous enthusiasm, real 
 and deep, for the beauties of nature and the sweets of 
 labour. To these Thomson joins that quiet high reli- 
 gious feeling which almost always accompanies a soli- 
 tary and laborious life, in the presence of the never- 
 ending wonders of the vegetable creation. It pervades 
 the whole poem, especially in the concluding part, where 
 he likens the awakening of the human soul after death 
 to nature after winter. 
 
128 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 It was at the very time when desertion of the country 
 with us had reached its height that Thomson was cele- 
 brating its praises : this was in 1 730. The nobles, attracted 
 to court by Eichelieu and Louis XIV., at last gave up all 
 thoughts about their paternal estates in the orgies of the 
 Eegency. Agriculture, enfeebled by the extravagances of 
 Versailles, gradually lost all vitality; and French litera- 
 ture/"" having other topics to occupy it, could only afford 
 to the cultivation of our land this terrible description of La 
 Bruyere, which will ever remain as a cry of remorse from 
 the Great Age : " We behold throughout the country a 
 set of ferocious-looking creatures, both male and female, 
 dark, livid, and scorched with the sun, attached to the 
 land which they dig and grub with an untiring pertina- 
 city : their voice has a resemblance to that of man, and 
 when they rise on their feet, they exhibit a human counte- 
 nance ; they are, in fact, men. At night they retire to 
 dens, where they live upon black bread, water, and roots. 
 They save other men the labour of sowing and reaping, 
 and certainly do not deserve to be without that bread 
 which they themselves have sown." 
 
 In the Henriade, which made its appearance about the 
 same time as the Seasons, it is mentioned that there was 
 not even grass for the horses. This total neglect of na- 
 ture continued up to the time when English ideas began 
 to find general favour in literature and society ; that is to 
 say, the years which preceded the Eevolution of 1789. 
 
 The English novels of the eighteenth century in some 
 way interest all in favour of a country life. While France 
 was busy with the stories of Voltaire, and the romances 
 of the younger Crebillon, England was reading the Vicar 
 of Wakefield, Tom Jones, and Clarissa. Goldsmith, de- 
 scribing Mr Primrose, says, "The hero of this piece unites 
 
 * We must except Fontaine, who had an ardent love of the country. 
 
COUNTRY LIFE. 129 
 
 in himself the three greatest characters on earth : he is a 
 priest, a husbandman, and the father of a family." This 
 sentence embraces a set of ideas peculiar to Protestant 
 and agricultural England. The whole romance is only a 
 commentary upon it; it is a picture of the interior of a 
 poor country clergyman's family. The Protestant minis- 
 ter, with a wife and children, has other duties than the 
 Catholic priest; he must support his family, and this 
 necessity obliges him to combine temporal work with 
 his spiritual occupations. The farm which Mr Prim- 
 rose rented was only twenty acres, but it satisfied his 
 ambition ; he cultivates it with care, assisted by his son 
 Moses, while his wife, who had not her match for goose- 
 berry wine, prepares the simple repast of the household. 
 On Sunday, when the weather is fine, the family, after 
 Divine service, go and seat themselves under a shady bank 
 of hawthorn and honeysuckle; the table-cloth is spread 
 upon a heap of hay, and they dine happily in the open 
 air; while two blackbirds in opposite hedges answer to 
 each other's notes, and the tame robin comes and pecks 
 the crumbs from the fair hands of the vicar's daughters. 
 It is in the midst of one of these happy scenes that the 
 hunted stag is run down, and the lord of the manor upon 
 his horse makes his appearance. 
 
 In other novels, the heroes are all represented as living 
 in the country. Among others, Mr Western is a type of 
 the squire great hunters and drinkers, according to all 
 accounts. As we approach our own time, the love of 
 natural scenery becomes more and more general, and is 
 taken up by the arts. Poets sing only of the beauties of 
 English landscape, painters represent only farm scenes. 
 The lakes, with their wild scenery, give inspiration to a 
 special school. The more war rages on the Continent, so 
 does the natural love of contrast in man turn the mind 
 
130 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 of the nation all the more to the peace and security of 
 rural life. When revolutions disturb the world, it is then 
 especially that the mind seeks to breathe the freshness of 
 natural scenery. England enjoys long draughts of this 
 happiness ; a common feeling of disapprobation and 
 security leads her back to conservative ideas and agri- 
 cultural habits. 
 
 Among others, hear what Coleridge says of this national 
 felicity, defended by the ocean : 
 
 ft Albion ! my mother isle ! 
 Thy valleys, fair as Eden's bowers, 
 Glitter green with sunny showers ; 
 Thy grassy uplands' gentle swells 
 
 Echo to the bleat of flocks ; 
 (Those grassy hills, those glittering dells, 
 
 Proudly ramparted with rocks), 
 And ocean, mid its uproar wild, 
 Speaks safety to his island- child.' 
 
 A traveller in England, forty years ago, facetiously re- 
 marked, " I would not advise the cottages there to attack 
 the mansions, for as the latter are twenty to one, the 
 former would soon be overwhelmed." With still greater 
 truth might the same remark be made at the present day, 
 for the wealthier habitations have gone on increasing. 
 The same individual remarked, that in England the poor 
 are swept like a heap of rubbish into a corner. The ex- 
 pression, though harsh, conveys a true picture of the 
 appearance of the country in England, for poverty ap- 
 pears to have been all swept into the towns. Just as 
 elsewhere great attention is paid to the handsome parts 
 of large cities, so in England it is the country from whence 
 everything that may offend the eye is removed, that the 
 mind may have only peace and contentment to dwell 
 upon. 
 
 In travelling through England, one cannot help being 
 constantly impressed with the contrast between town and 
 
COUNTRY LIFE. 131 
 
 country, so different is it from what one meets with in 
 France and the Continent generally. The largest towns, 
 like Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, or Leeds, are in- 
 habited only by workmen and shopkeepers, and the parts 
 of the town occupied by their dwellings have a poor 
 and melancholy appearance. Few or no ornamental 
 buildings ; little or no luxury ; nothing to be heard but 
 the noise of trades, and nothing but busy people to be 
 seen. The stranger as well as the inhabitant hastens to 
 get out of the smoke and dirt, to breathe beyond it a 
 purer air, and to escape the sight of that incessant work 
 which does not always keep away misery. In London, 
 even, the people think more of business than pleasure ; 
 and this is the reason why our good Parisians find them- 
 selves so much out of their element there ; they do not 
 meet with congenial tastes in London. 
 
 I never experienced this difference so much as in going 
 from Chats worth to Sheffield. Chats worth is one of the 
 finest of those princely residences of the English aristo- 
 cracy, where such kingly luxury is displayed. This 
 splendid palace is surrounded with a finely -timbered 
 park of several leagues in circumference, stocked with 
 deer, sheep, and cattle, all grazing together. Fountains, 
 artificial cascades, and ornamental basins, almost rival the 
 celebrated decorations of Versailles and St Cloud ; an 
 immense conservatory constructed with iron and glass, 
 and which gave the idea for the Great Exhibition building, 
 contains quite a forest of tropical trees ; an entire village 
 of handsome cottages, picturesquely situated, has been 
 built by the proprietor for his workmen and labourers ; 
 the river Derwent, winding beautifully through the park, 
 seems almost as if it were designed by art ; and encom- 
 passing this scene, already so grand, are the Derbyshire 
 mountains, forming a magnificent horizon to the whole : 
 
132 KURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 everything there has an air of wealth, luxury, and power. 
 Once beyond the barren ridge which separates you from 
 the country of York, and arrived at the neighbouring 
 town, everything changes. Nothing but blazing fur- 
 naces, hammers, and anvils, chimneys vomiting thick 
 smoke, a population of blacksmiths moving about like 
 spectres amidst flames : one may compare it to the infer- 
 nal regions at the gate of paradise. 
 
 The Duke of Devonshire's mansion is a specimen, on a 
 large scale, of all the residences of country gentlemen in 
 England. Every proprietor of any consideration has his 
 park ; the park the forest, on a small scale is the sign 
 of feudal possession, the necessary appendage to the man- 
 sion. The number of parks in England is enormous, vary- 
 ing in size from many thousand to only a few acres. The 
 largest, the oldest, those which alone deserve the name 
 of parks, are laid down on all the maps. Within the 
 bounds of the park, even those of the most modest pre- 
 tensions, game of all kinds is preserved, and cattle grazed. 
 The proprietor enjoys quite a pastoral scene from his own 
 windows, and can take rides along his own avenues, or 
 enjoy his shooting at a few paces from his own door. 
 Here he lives in the bosom of his family, far from the 
 tumult of life, imitating the life of the nobleman, as the 
 farmer does that of the independent gentleman. 
 
 The passion of the English for country sports is weU 
 known. Those country gentlemen who cannot afford to 
 have a pack of hounds of their own, unite to keep one by 
 subscription. The hunting-days are advertised before- 
 hand in the newspapers, and subscribers assemble on 
 horseback at the appointed place. At certain seasons, 
 fashion attracts thousands of these red-coated hunters to 
 particular parts of England or Scotland to enjoy this 
 sport, which involves actual danger. Sometimes it is the 
 
COUNTRY LIFE. 133 
 
 fox they hunt at Melton Mowbray, in Leicestershire; at 
 other times they shoot grouse on the most inaccessible 
 of the Highland mountains. All England is taken up 
 with these amusements ; the newspapers publish the 
 names of the best shots and the most skilful riders, also 
 the number of head of game killed. When the shoot- 
 ing season begins, Parliament breaks up. Women even 
 prefer these amusements to all others : give a young 
 English girl her choice between a ride on horseback and 
 a soiree or a ball, there is no doubt about which she will 
 prefer ; and there is nothing delights her more than a 
 gallop across the country. 
 
 When a man has not the good fortune to possess a 
 country place of his own, he will at least have it in ap- 
 pearance. Every town has its public park, which is just 
 a large grass field with fine trees in it. In London, cows 
 and sheep are to be seen quietly grazing in the Green Park, 
 or Hyde Park, amidst the incessant noise of carriages 
 passing along Piccadilly. The man constantly occupied 
 in business may at least see, in passing, a corner of Eden. 
 It is the desire of all to have their place of residence as 
 far as possible from the heart of the town, so as to be 
 nearer the fields ; and in the summer all escape as soon 
 as they can, to visit a friend at his farm, or to make a few 
 days' tour in some pretty part of the country. Wherever 
 the scenery is at all picturesque, there the people flock to 
 enjoy that quiet happiness peculiar to the English. The 
 favourite trip is into Scotland, where one may breathe 
 the pure air of the heather hills, and picture to himself 
 the roving life of the caterans, as described by Sir Walter 
 Scott. 
 
 The English sovereigns show the first example for 
 this universal predilection, living as they do as little as 
 possible in town. The fancy farm of Trianon was but a 
 
134 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 shortlived amusement to Louis XVI. and Marie Antoin- 
 ette, but Queen Victoria and Prince Albert take a real 
 pleasure in farming. The Prince has a farm at Windsor, 
 where the finest cattle in the three kingdoms are bred and 
 fattened. His produce generally gains the first prizes at 
 the agricultural shows. At Osborne, where she spends the 
 greatest part of the year, the Queen herself takes great inte- 
 rest in her poultry-yard ; and the newspapers have lately 
 announced a cure which her Majesty has discovered for a 
 particular disease among turkeys. We may laugh at 
 this, but our neighbours take it very seriously, and they 
 have good reason for doing so too. Happy and wise 
 among nations is the people which loves to see its princes 
 engaged in useful relaxations ! 
 
 The beneficial effects produced upon the land by the 
 habitual residence of families at their country places 
 may easily be conceived. While, in France, field-labour 
 goes to pay for town luxury, in England town-work pays 
 for the luxury of the country. Almost everything which 
 the most industrious nation in the world can produce 
 is there consumed, to the benefit of farming. The more 
 a proprietor lives on his property, the more disposed is 
 he to keep it in good order. Pride is the great stimulus. 
 A man does not like to let his neighbours see buildings 
 in ruins, bad roads, defective harness, ill-conditioned 
 cattle, neglected fields : he therefore lays out his pride 
 productively, just as elsewhere it is spent in folly from 
 the force of example. In England, a man has his pretty 
 country place just as in Paris they have their fine hotels 
 and rich furniture. 
 
 Taxation itself, which, in France, has an exhausting 
 influence upon the land, has quite a different effect in 
 England. All direct taxes are spent upon the spot where 
 they are collected. The poor-rate and tithes are scarcely 
 
COUNTRY LIFE. 135 
 
 paid by the fanner before they are again returned to him 
 in exchange for his produce. Other taxes in the same 
 way go to pay for works of local benefit. Half the indi- 
 rect taxation being absorbed in payment of the public 
 debt, which belongs for the most part to the landed pro- 
 prietors, it also in a great measure comes back to the 
 country residents. While a third, at least, of the French 
 budget finds its way to Paris, and another third to the 
 provincial towns, three-fourths of the public expenditure 
 in England is expended in the country, and, with the 
 incomes of proprietors and farmers, contributes to dif- 
 fuse there abundance and life. 
 
 We, alas ! are far from such a state of things ; let us 
 hope that it will be brought about by degrees. Of late, 
 everything seems tending towards it. The overcrowd- 
 ing of the wealthy class in the towns, the uncertainty of 
 the careers they there come to pursue, the feverish air they 
 breathe, all tend to cause disappointed ambition and tired 
 hopes to revert to country life. Those who have enough 
 to keep them comfortably in the country are coming to 
 the conclusion, that the safest and best course is to reside 
 there ; and those who do not see this, are very nearly being 
 forced to it by the constantly increasing difficulty of find- 
 ing an opening in the town. Besides which, there is a 
 new element at work tending to effect an entire change 
 in country life : improved means of communication, and 
 especially the extension of railways, by shortening dis- 
 tances, make a constant residence in the country compa- 
 tible with the pleasures of society, and prevent it inter- 
 fering with a man's public importance, cultivation of 
 mind, or the amusements of town life. This will be the 
 beginning of a healthy revolution in favour of our deserted 
 fields. We shall probably never be so rural in our habits 
 as the English ; our towns will never, like theirs, become 
 
136 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 simply workshops of commerce and manufactures ; but 
 provided we have a majority of the wealthier class again 
 inhabiting our deserted manors, the change will be a 
 beneficial one. 
 
 As to taxes, it will be no less difficult to divert the 
 current which carries these towards Paris and the large 
 towns ; but if anything can mitigate this perpetual drain, 
 it is a residence of the influential proprietors on their 
 estates, where they would protect their own interests a 
 little more, if they were in the habit of looking more 
 closely into them. 
 
137 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 THE second cause of progress forms really only a part of 
 the first, although its action is different. This is the good 
 public feeling of the English, which, for more than a cen- 
 tury and a half, has preserved them at once from the 
 power of despotism and from revolutionary disorders 
 both so fatal to every kind of labour. Nothing like the 
 latter half of Louis XIV/s reign, the entire reign of Louis 
 XV., and the miseries of the Eevolution, has afflicted this 
 favoured nation. The eighteenth century, so disastrous 
 to us from beginning to end, was for her a period of con- 
 tinuous advancement ; and when we began our not unin- 
 terrupted course, she was three quarters of a century in 
 advance. 
 
 Two hundred years ago, France, in agriculture as in 
 everything else, was the farthest advanced of the two. 
 The twelve years which elapsed from the peace of Vervins 
 to the death of Henry IV., formed perhaps the brightest 
 of those short periods of prosperity which appear at dis- 
 tant intervals, brief and rare, in the dark and bloody 
 course of our history. The annalist has few events to 
 chronicle during those years, apparently so blank ; they 
 are not remarkable for either wars or passages of histori- 
 cal note. Bat the popularity of Henry IV., the only king 
 the nation ever loved, sufficiently shows what they were. 
 
138 RURAL ECONOMY OP ENGLAND. 
 
 To be sure, Sully was not without his faults. His pride, 
 cupidity, and avarice would have rendered him unbear- 
 able, had he lived in our day ; even for his own time, he 
 was excessively prejudiced : he hated commerce and 
 manufactures, then beginning to dawn ; but fortunately 
 he failed in his efforts to prevent the introduction of 
 silk into France. Still, with all his faults, he was right 
 in one thing he understood the importance of agricul- 
 ture, if he mistook that of commerce ; and his encour- 
 agement sufficed to provoke an agricultural expansion, 
 surprising for that period. 
 
 Oliver de Serres, a contemporaneous writer, has left us 
 an admirable work, testifying to the general movement 
 which then took place. The Theatre d' Agriculture ap- 
 peared in 1600 : its author was a noble Protestant, lord 
 of Pradel, in Vivarais, who lived a retired life upon his 
 own estates during the period of religious and political 
 convulsions. His work, which he dedicated to Henry 
 IV., is both the best and oldest treatise on agriculture 
 which exists in any modern language. His name is 
 one of the glories of France : succeeding times forgot 
 Jiim ; and when, fifty years ago, he was again brought 
 to light, after another general peace gave an impetus to 
 labour, it was truly a resurrection. This is the way we 
 reward our great men. All the good systems of agricul- 
 ture were known in Oliver's time ; he gives directions 
 which might be adopted by our agriculturists at the 
 present day : production made rapid progress in the 
 course of a few years, "to the great profit of your people" 
 he says, addressing the king in his dedication, " dwelling 
 safely under their fig-tree, cultivating their land, and who, 
 under shelter of your majesty, have justice and peace 
 dwelling with them!' 
 
 The fatal genius which rules our destinies did not long 
 
POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 139 
 
 permit this beneficial quiet. The assassination of Henry 
 IV. again plunged France into chaos ; but the results of 
 this short period of hope were experienced throughout 
 the whole century, and the greatness of Eichelieu and 
 Louis XIV. was in a measure due to the good seed 
 sown at that time. All historical records testify to our 
 country districts being then inhabited by a numerous 
 nobility, whose interests were bound up with those of 
 the rural population ; the fatal separation which lost all, 
 did not take place until a subsequent period. 
 
 Civilisation, during the middle ages, proceeded always 
 from south to north. Agriculture, like the arts, flourished 
 first in Italy. Provence and Languedoc were in early 
 times the best cultivated parts of France, as being nearest 
 to the sun. Oliver de Serres was born on the confines 
 of these two provinces. Great Britain, situated much 
 farther off, did not receive the impulse till later. After 
 Elizabeth's reign, that country was still in a barbarous 
 state. Guichardin, in his time, estimated the popu- 
 lation of England proper at two millions only, others 
 call it four ; now it is sixteen. Three-fourths of the 
 land lay uncultivated. Bands of desperadoes devas- 
 tated the country. The nation, convulsed, sought to 
 be at rest ; but it was necessary that it should pass 
 through a long series of revolutions before settling 
 clown ; and meantime agriculture, like other things, suf- 
 fered. During the whole of the seventeenth century, 
 France sold corn to Great Britain. 
 
 After 1688 everything changed. Clouds gathered 
 over France, now exhausted by the follies of Louis XIV. 
 England, on the contrary, revived and renewed in youth, 
 took a start which was never to be arrested. Instead of 
 advancing, the population of France fell off, while that 
 of England rapidly increased. Boisguillebert, Vauban, 
 
140 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 and all records of the time, prove the progressive decline 
 of French agriculture. England, on the contrary, which, 
 under the Stuarts, did not produce enough for its own 
 wants, became a hundred years later the granary of 
 Europe. Although she had to feed twice the amount of 
 population, and this population living much better than 
 before, she sold to foreigners five hundred thousand to 
 one million quarters of corn, which is enormous, consider- 
 ing the means of transport at that period. It is calcu- 
 lated that during the last half of the eighteenth century 
 England sold to her neighbours, and especially to France, 
 one milliard of francs (40,000,000) worth of cereals. 
 
 What a prosperous state of things this for her, and 
 for us how much the reverse during that fatal period ! 
 In the first place, the terrible War of the Succession, the 
 cruel defeats of Blenheim, Kamillies, and Malplaquet, the 
 very existence of France jeopardised, and saved as if by 
 miracle at Denain ; then the Seven Years' War, more dis- 
 astrous still, the defeat of Kosbach, the loss of our fleets 
 and colonies, the ministry of Lord Chatham raising upon 
 our ruins the glory of his own country ; the credit of the 
 British nation founded upon a long series of success, ours 
 destroyed by the extortions of tyrants, and the mad Mis- 
 sissippi Scheme. The English people, happy and proud of 
 their government, becoming more and more attached to it, 
 and confidently applying themselves to labour, under pro- 
 tection of its laws and its victories ; ours, ruined, humili- 
 ated, oppressed, renouncing useful occupations, the pro- 
 fits of which were absorbed by the exchequer, and feel- 
 ing only hatred and contempt for its rulers. 
 
 Agriculture, like manufactures, requires especially secu- 
 rity and freedom. Of all the evils which can come upon 
 it. none is more fatal than a bad government. Eevolu- 
 tions and wars afford it some respite, but bad government 
 
POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 141 
 
 leaves it none. We have sufficiently authentic evidence to 
 prove into what a state French agriculture had fallen, a 
 century ago, under the deleterious influence of a detested 
 regime, in the articles Grains and Fermiers (Corn and 
 Farmers) of the Encyclopedic, written about 1750, by the 
 founder of political economy, Dr Quesnay. Our whole 
 territory (Corsica and a part of Lorraine did not then 
 belong to France) was estimated by Quesnay at a hun- 
 dred millions of arpents of fifty-one ares* which is con- 
 firmed by our present land registry. Out of these one 
 hundred millions of arpents, he estimated the arable land 
 at only thirty-six millions, or forty-five millions of acres, 
 of which eight million acres were under what he calls 
 large farming, and thirty-seven in small. By large farm- 
 ing he means that of farmers who used horses for tillage, 
 and who followed the triennial rotation wheat, oats, and 
 fallow ; and by small that of the metayers, who employed 
 cattle, and followed the biennial rotation, wheat and fal- 
 low. This division ought to be quite correct, for it still 
 corresponds with the existing state of things. France 
 continues still divided into two distinct regions ; the one 
 in the north, where the lease system prevails, tillage by 
 horses, and triennial rotation more or less modified ; the 
 other in the south, where small holdings predominate, 
 labour by cattle, and biennial rotation. Only, since 
 1750 the first has gained ground, and the latter has 
 declined. 
 
 Quesnay estimates the average produce in corn of an 
 arpent, under large farming, at five setiers of 156 litres, 
 deducting seed, and at two and a-half setiers that of the 
 small say seventeen bushels per acre for the one, and 
 eight and a half for the other, or altogether, for the 
 
 * 40.466 ares = 4840 square yards, or 1 English acre ; 51 ares = about lj acres 
 English. 
 
142 RUKAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 million hectares of wheat sown under the large cultiva- 
 tion, and seven and a half millions of the small, seventy 
 millions of hectolitres (twenty-four million quarters for 
 twenty-one million acres). Under the name of corn is 
 included, in addition to wheat, inferior grain, such as 
 rye and barley ; the same confusion is still common in 
 many parts of France. As rye was more generally culti- 
 vated at that period than wheat, these seventy millions 
 of hectolitres may be thus approximatively apportioned 
 twenty-five millions wheat, and forty-five of rye and barley. 
 Quesnay adds to this, for the breadth of oats, seven 
 millions of setiers, or about eleven millions of hectolitres. 
 At the present day the production of wheat has almost 
 tripled, that of rye and barley remains the same, and 
 oats have quadrupled: in 1750, potatoes were scarcely 
 known ; the valuable addition which they furnish for the 
 food of cattle and men was then entirely wanting. 
 Few dry vegetables were cultivated, and many other 
 products, which are at this day a source of wealth, did 
 not then exist. 
 
 According to Quesnay, the number of horned cattle 
 was five millions, or just half of what we have now. 
 As to quality, they were much inferior. The number 
 slaughtered for human food was four to five hundred 
 thousand annually, now it is ten times that number ; 
 and the cattle of that period, having to seek their own 
 subsistence on the arid wastes, bare fallows, and swampy 
 meadows, could not be compared in weight to those 
 of the present day, which are fed on sound grass, or 
 stall-fed upon roots and artificial fodder. The cattle in 
 some of the mountainous regions, where the old system 
 still prevails of feeding them on the coarse natural pas- 
 ture, may give an idea of all the cattle of that period. 
 Sheep were certainly neither more numerous nor propor- 
 
POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 143 
 
 tionately better. The number of pigs might have been 
 proportioned to the population. As to horses, we know 
 that Turgot, when he wished in 1776 to reorganise the 
 Posts, could not procure the six thousand draught-horses 
 he required. Quesnay makes only a passing remark about 
 the vine ; Beausobre estimates the annual production of 
 wine in 1 764 at thirteen million hectolitres''" (343,000,000 
 gallons), or a third of our present production. Upon the 
 whole, reckoning the production then at the price of the 
 present day, we find the total amount to be 1,250,000,000 
 francs (50,000,000) at most, as the value of French agri- 
 culture in 1750. 
 
 The population also, although it was not more than 
 sixteen to eighteen million souls, had reached a degree 
 of wretchedness beyond all belief. The condition of 
 the masses was frightful ; and the upper classes suffered 
 scarcely less amidst the general poverty. Vauban, in 
 his Dime royale, gives a picture of French society which 
 makes one shudder. According to the calculation of 
 Quesnay, the net revenue of the landed proprietors 
 amounted to 76,000,000 of Hvres for the corn-lands, 
 and, including the vineyards and other productions, the 
 amount may be doubled : the livre then was about the 
 value of a franc now. The farms were let for large 
 cultivation at 5 livres per arpent, and for small at 20 
 and 30 sous say, for the first, 3s. 6d., and the latter 9d. 
 to Is. per acre. Dupre de Saint-Maur, who was a con- 
 temporary of Quesnay, even says that in Berry, part of 
 Champagne, Maine, and Poitou, the farms let at only 15 
 sous per arpent, or 6d. per acre, and at this rent the 
 farmers had great difficulty in making a livelihood. 
 
 A frightful testimony, among many others, to this 
 general destitution is found in the Memoirs of the Mar- 
 
 * Hectolitre = 26 wine gallons. 
 
144 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 quis d'Argenson, who thus wrote in 1739, five years 
 before his appointment as Minister of Foreign Affairs to 
 Louis XV. : " The real evil that which undermines the 
 kingdom, and cannot fail to bring ruin upon it is, that 
 at Versailles they shut their eyes too much to the dis- 
 tressing state of things in the provinces. In my own 
 day I have observed a gradual decrease of wealth and 
 population in France. We have the present certainty 
 that misery has become general to an unheard-of degree. 
 While I write, in the midst of profound peace, with indi- 
 cations, if not of an abundant, at least of an average 
 harvest, men are dying around us, like flies, of want, 
 and eating grass. The provinces of Maine, Angoumois, 
 Touraine, Haut-Poitou, P^rigord, Orleanais, Berry, are 
 the most wretched, and the distress is advancing towards 
 Versailles. The Duke of Orleans lately laid before the 
 Council a piece of bread, which we got for him, made 
 of ferns : in placing it upon the king's table, he said, 
 ' Sire, here is what your subjects live upon!" 
 
 This is the abyss from which France has had to rise, 
 and therefore it is not to be wondered at that, after a 
 century of endeavours, her wounds should not have been 
 completely healed. During this century, agricultural 
 production has quadrupled, population has doubled, rents 
 have risen from 150,000,000 to 1,500,000,000 francs, or in 
 the proportion of one to ten. This is enormous progress ; 
 and if our starting-point had not been so low, it would 
 have sufficed, and been more than enough, to have enabled 
 us to keep our proper position. No other nation except 
 England has made as great progress in so short a time ; 
 and, besides, circumstances during that time were not 
 always favourable. About fifty years out of the hundred 
 were disturbed by horrible revolutions and bloody wars. 
 We had no really good times, excepting the reign of 
 
POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 145 
 
 Louis XVI., the Consulate, and the thirty-two years of 
 constitutional monarchy. 
 
 The regenerative movement began to be felt after the 
 peace of 1763, through the preaching of economists in 
 favour of free trade in grain. Quesnay's articles in the 
 Encydop6die point out both the wide extent of the evil 
 and the remedy for it. All the after-progress of national 
 agriculture was anticipated in these two articles. It 
 required some time before the new doctrine spread and 
 took root. Meanwhile old notions disappeared. On 
 the accession of Louis XVL, hopes of a better state of 
 things began to dawn. Turgot was the first to extend 
 a helping hand to the tottering fabric. Considerable re- 
 forms had already been made previously to 1789 ; free 
 scope had been given to labour, and free trade in corn 
 proclaimed. The Constituent Assembly, in its first 
 deliberations, finished what had been so well begun. The 
 nation breathed at last. If France of 1789 had known 
 where to stop, as England did in 1688, its general pros- 
 perity from that time would no doubt have prodigiously 
 increased. 
 
 The lamentable bouleversement which followed those 
 days of hope repressed the growing progress. After an 
 ordeal of ten years, the Consulate afforded some respite to 
 the country, and the movement, suspended during the 
 revolutionary storms, again broke forth with a power not 
 to be repressed. The happy days of the peace of Vervins 
 returned. But a fresh evil unfortunately arose again to 
 retard this advance : the fatal wars of the Empire be- 
 gan, capital again became dispersed, population was once 
 more decimated upon fields of battle ; it seemed as if the 
 great principles sown under Louis XVL were never to 
 arrive at maturity. France had only got a sight of peace 
 and liberty to see them vanish. It is really only since 
 
 K 
 
146 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 1815 that the labouring power of the nation has been 
 allowed to develop without hindrance, and what the re- 
 sult has been is well known. 
 
 We must go back to the reign of Charles I. to find in 
 England a condition corresponding to the state in which 
 France was a hundred years later. A marked advance 
 took place from 1750. Representative government was 
 established, and agricultural prosperity increased under 
 it. That country, which produced hardly two millions 
 of quarters of wheat under the Stuarts, was already 
 reaping double in 1750, and was destined to increase 
 progressively to thirteen, which it now produces. Meat, 
 beer, wool, every agricultural commodity, followed the 
 same movement. But besides this, while the rest of 
 Europe was languishing under oppression, liberty and 
 security were shedding their genial rays over the fields of 
 Britain. With the opening of the eighteenth century, 
 Thomson celebrates these sacred blessings as the founda- 
 tion of all the rest. " Liberty," he says, " reigns here in the 
 humblest cottage, and brings with it plenty/' Elsewhere 
 he exclaims, addressing England, " Thy fields abound in 
 riches, the possession of which is secure to the contented 
 labourer." For a hundred and sixty years the noble in- 
 stitutions which give liberty and protection to persons 
 and property have existed without interruption, and for 
 a hundred and sixty years prosperity has followed in 
 their train. 
 
 At the end of the eighteenth century, when the revolu- 
 tionary wars began, English agriculture was farther 
 advanced than ours at the present day. This is proved 
 by many documents ; among others the investigations of 
 Pitt, at the time he established the income-tax, and the 
 researches of Arthur Young and Sir John Sinclair. In 
 
POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 1798, Pitt estimated the total revenue from land in Eng- 
 land and Wales at 25,000,000, and the income of the 
 farmers at 18,000,000. This gives an average of 
 13s. 6d. per acre for rent, and 10s. for profit. It is very 
 doubtful, taking even the richest half of France, that a 
 similar result could be obtained at the present day. A 
 labourer's wages at that time were, on an average, 7s. 3d. 
 per week, or 15d. per working day ; and in many places 
 they were as high as 9s. and 10s., or 20d. per day. It is 
 again doubtful, taking still the best half of France, 
 whether agricultural wages are at this moment as high, 
 and the price of provisions then in England was rather 
 below than above what it is now in France. The value 
 of house property amounted, according to Dr Beeke, to 
 200,000,000 ; that of land, according to the same 
 author, to 600,000,000, or equal to 16 per acre, and 
 at that estimate they were giving an average return of 
 four per cent. 
 
 Such were the fruits of an age of free and unimpeded 
 development, notwithstanding some casual disasters, such 
 as the American War. In the half-century which fol- 
 lowed, from 1800 to 1850, the population has again 
 doubled, and agricultural production has made almost 
 an equal progress, in spite of the frightful struggle which 
 occupied the first fifteen years. Not only did constitu- 
 tional England succeed at last in conquering that des- 
 potic power and genius, which was armed with the whole 
 strength of a nation greatly more numerous and more 
 warlike than herself, but the steady increase of her inter- 
 nal wealth was not sensibly retarded by the violence of 
 the struggle. Never were enclosure bills, for turning 
 uncultivated lands to account, more numerous than dur- 
 ing the war with France. It was then that the Norfolk 
 
148 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 rotation made its greatest conquests, the doctrines of 
 Bakewell and Arthur Young received a more general 
 application, and large proprietors, such as the Duke 
 of Bedford, Lord Leicester, and many others, were so 
 greatly benefited by their large estates. 
 
 Scotland and Ireland did not share an equal prosperity 
 in 1798, because they were less well governed. Pitt 
 estimated the wealth of Scotland at an eighth of that of 
 England. As the Highlands ought to be taken at 
 scarcely anything in this calculation, this wou]d give an 
 average for the Lowlands of 7s. for the rent, and 4s. for 
 profit per acre ; but in fact Scotland has not enjoyed 
 much order and liberty except for the last fifty years. 
 When treating of Ireland, we shall be better able to 
 judge of the consequences due to the absence of liberty 
 and security. 
 
 It is perfectly evident, then, that both in France and 
 England agricultural development has followed in the 
 train of good government. The rural change which took 
 place in France between 1760 and 1848, had already 
 taken place in England between 1650 and 1800; the 
 producing causes in both cases were the same. The dif- 
 ference between England under the Stuarts and in the 
 time of Pitt, is the same as that of France under Louis 
 XV. and Louis Philippe. But this does not apply to 
 France and England alone. In ancient as well as in 
 modern times, agricultural prosperity came and went 
 with the mode of government. Eepublican Eome culti- 
 vated its fields admirably; enslaved Eome neglected 
 them. Spain, during the middle ages, did wonders in 
 cultivation, while the Spain of Philip II. ceased to work. 
 Switzerland and Holland fertilise rugged mountains and 
 hopeless marshes ; the Sicilian starves on the most fertile 
 
POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 149 
 
 soil. As Montesquieu remarks, in his Esprit des Lois, 
 " It is not fertility, but liberty, which cultivates a 
 country." 
 
 Liberty has been all the more influential in England, 
 owing to its not having been accompanied by those dis- 
 orders which have too often tarnished and disgraced it 
 elsewhere. Notwithstanding those apparent agitations 
 which, with the most sober-minded people, the exercise 
 of political rights always involves, the basis of English 
 society remained tranquil. Changes which time brings 
 about, and which constitute the life of nations, have 
 been effected imperceptibly, and without any of those 
 violent shocks which are always destructive to capital : 
 even the event of 1688 had the least possible of a revolu- 
 tionary character. This national moderation is usually 
 ascribed to aristocratic influence. No doubt aristocracy 
 had its weight in the matter, but so far only as its influ- 
 ence in society extends. For a long time past the British 
 Government has seemed to be more aristocratic than it 
 really was, but now even the appearance diminishes 
 daily. 
 
 The true ballast of the body politic the salt of society, 
 that which holds it together is the country feeling. 
 This feeling, no doubt, is of an aristocratic kind, 
 but it is not aristocracy itself ; both may exist inde- 
 pendently. British aristocracy has made common cause 
 with the country feeling, and this is what constitutes its 
 strength ; French aristocracy holds itself aloof from it, 
 and herein lies its weakness. In England, the country 
 life of the upper classes has, in the first place, produced 
 energetic and high-minded habits, out of which the con- 
 stitution has taken its rise ; and then, owing to these very 
 habits, liberty has been prevented from running into 
 
150 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 excesses. This liberal and conservative element has been 
 wanting to us in France. In our own day, as formerly, 
 absenteeism has effected, even in a political point of view, 
 nearly all the mischief; and this is the reason why these 
 two apparently distinct causes of prosperity liberty 
 without revolutions, and the country feeling are really 
 but one. 
 
lol 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 MARKETS. 
 
 I COME now to the more immediate, the most effective 
 of the causes which have contributed to the advancement 
 of British agriculture ; namely, the simultaneous develop- 
 ment of the greatest industrial power, and the richest 
 commerce in the world. These are really only part and 
 parcel of those just mentioned, for industry and commerce, 
 like agriculture itself, are the offspring of liberty, order, 
 and peace ; and these prime conditions originating for the 
 most part with the rural portion of the nation, the whole 
 may be said to proceed from this common source. But 
 just as the consequences of liberty and peace are to be 
 distinguished in their effects from those belonging to rural 
 life, properly so called, so may those which proceed from 
 industrial and commercial development be considered 
 apart; and the latter are the most active. If it were 
 possible for a nation to be largely engaged in manufactures 
 and commerce without possessing either security or 
 liberty, this of itself would be sufficient to cause great 
 agricultural prosperity ; arid if it were possible for a nation 
 to possess liberty and peace without becoming, from that 
 sole fact alone, large manufacturers and traders, liberty 
 and peace would not be sufficient, even with the aid of 
 rural habits, to produce an equal amount of prosperity. 
 Some minds, judging more from appearances than 
 
152 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 reality, have looked upon commerce and manufactures as 
 enemies and rivals to agriculture. This fatal error is re- 
 markably current in France ; it cannot be too much com- 
 bated, as nothing is more hurtful to agricultural interests. 
 In reality, the distinction between agriculture and manu- 
 factures is false : to bring the land into cultivation is also a 
 manufacture, and the transport, the sale, and the purchase 
 of agricultural produce is also a trade. Only this kind 
 of manufacture and commerce, being altogether of prime 
 necessity, can dispense a little more with skill and 
 capital than the others ; but then they remain in a state 
 of infancy; and when these two powerful aids are sup- 
 plied, they become a hundred times more fruitful. Even 
 admitting the distinction which usage puts between the 
 terms, there can be no profitable agriculture without pro- 
 fitable manufactures. This is in some measure a mathe- 
 matical axiom, for commerce and manufactures can alone 
 abundantly provide agriculture with the two most power- 
 ful agents of production which exist namely, markets 
 and capital. 
 
 From the reign of Queen Anne, England visibly takes 
 the lead of France in manufactures and commerce that 
 is to say, in everything ; for this advance supposes and 
 includes all others. After the American War, when the 
 nation, afflicted at the loss of its principal colony, sought 
 compensation for the loss by falling back on' its own 
 resources, the start it took was unrivalled ; it was then 
 that Adam Smith appeared, and immortalised himself in 
 a work which showed the causes of the wealth and great- 
 ness of nations. Then appeared the great inventors, 
 Arkwright and Watt, who seem, as it were, the instruments 
 for practically carrying out Adam Smith's theories ; then 
 William Pitt arose, to bring the same spirit into the 
 administration of public affairs ; finally, Arthur Young 
 
MARKETS. 153 
 
 and Bakewell made their appearance, only to apply the 
 new ideas to agriculture. 
 
 The system of Arthur Young is very simple ; it is 
 comprehended in one word, the meaning of which was 
 fixed by Adam Smith Markets. Up to that time the 
 English farmers had, like all those of the Continent, 
 worked with little view to a market. Most agricultural 
 productions were consumed on the spot by the producers 
 themselves, and although in England more was sold for 
 consumption beyond the farm than anywhere else, it was 
 not export which regulated production. Arthur Young 
 was the first who made the English agriculturists under- 
 stand the increasing importance of a market ; that is to 
 say, the sale of agricultural produce to a population not 
 contributing to produce it. This non-agricultural popu- 
 lation, which up to that time was inconsiderable, began 
 to develop, and since then its increase has been immense, 
 owing to the expansion of manufactures and commerce. 
 
 Everybody knows what enormous progress the em- 
 ployment of steam, as a motive power, has effected in 
 British manufactures and commerce during the last fifty 
 years. The principal seat of this amazing activity is in 
 the north-west of England, the county of Lancaster, and 
 its neighbour, the West Riding of Yorkshire. There Man- 
 chester works cotton, Leeds wool, Sheffield iron, and the 
 port of Liverpool, with its constant current of exports 
 and imports, feeds an indefatigable production ; there an 
 incessant excavation goes on of that subterranean world, 
 appropriately called by the English their Black Indies 
 an immense reservoir of coal which covers several coun- 
 ties with its ramifications, and throws up in all direc- 
 tions its inexhaustible treasures. The quantity of coal 
 annually raised is estimated at forty millions of tons; 
 this, at 10s. per ton, is equal to twenty millions ster- 
 
154 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 ling, which indicates a gigantic manufacturing production, 
 since coal is the material of first importance in all manu- 
 factures. 
 
 Under this impulse, the population of Great Britain, 
 from ten millions in 1801, has risen to twenty in 1851 ; 
 that of Lancashire and the West Riding has tripled ; 
 there is perhaps no other place in the world where the 
 population is more dense. France can show nothing 
 like it : its total population during the same period has 
 increased not more than a fourth ; from twenty-seven 
 millions she has reached thirty-six, and her most populous 
 departments, those of the Rhone and the Nord, after the 
 Seine, which forms an exception, as well as London, count 
 only two of a population to the hectare. 
 
 The more populous the country, the less proportion 
 does the agricultural population bear to the whole mass 
 of the people. Towards the end of the last century, the 
 return of the number of agriculturists in England, as 
 compared to the total population, might be about the 
 same as it is at present with us that is to say, about 
 sixty per cent. 
 
 Since then, as population increased, this proportion has 
 become reduced ; not that the rural population has de- 
 creased, for it has, on the contrary, slightly increased, but 
 because the manufacturing population has increased in a 
 far greater ratio. In 1800, it was reckoned that there 
 were about nine hundred thousand agricultural families 
 in Great Britain ; now there may probably be a million. 
 In 1811, the number of non-agricultural families had 
 already reached one million six hundred thousand ; in 
 1821, two millions; in 1841, two and a half millions; 
 now it may be put down at five millions. In general, 
 the rural population amounts to a fourth of the whole ; 
 but in particular parts it is much less. In Middlesex 
 
MARKETS. 155 
 
 there are two cultivators of the land for every hundred 
 of the population ; in Lancashire, six ; in the West Riding, 
 ten ; in Warwick and Staffordshire, fourteen. 
 
 In no part of France, not even in the department of 
 the Seine, do we find such a disproportion. For an urban 
 population, what is Paris with its million of souls, com- 
 pared to the gigantic metropolis of the British empire, 
 which reckons not less than two and a half millions of 
 inhabitants 1 What is Lyons, even with its appendage 
 St Etienne, compared to that- mass of manufacturing 
 towns grouped around Liverpool and Manchester, and 
 which form in the aggregate a population of three mil- 
 lions of souls'? One-third of the English nation is con- 
 gregated on these two points London in the south, and 
 the manufacturing towns of Lancashire and the West 
 Riding in the north. 
 
 These human ant-hills are as rich as they are numerous. 
 Many workmen in England receive from 4s. to 8s. a-day ; 
 the average wage may be reckoned at 2s. 6d. What be- 
 comes of the immense amount of wages paid to this mass 
 of workmen every year? It goes, in the first place, to 
 pay for bread, meat, beer, milk, butter, cheese, which are 
 directly supplied by agriculture, and woollen and linen 
 clothing, which it indirectly furnishes. There exists, 
 consequently, a constant demand for productions which 
 agriculture can hardly satisfy, and which is for her, in 
 some measure, an unlimited source of profit. The power 
 of these outlets is felt over the whole country ; if the 
 farmer has not a manufacturing town beside him to take 
 off his produce, he has a port ; and should he be distant 
 from both, he brings himself into connection with them 
 by canal, or by one or more lines of railway. 
 
 These improved modes of transit not only serve to 
 carry off, rapidly and at a moderate expense, what the 
 
156 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 farmer has to sell, but they bring him in the same way 
 what he requires among other things, manures and 
 improvers, such as guano, bones, rags, lime, gypsum, 
 soot, oil-cake, &c., all heavy and bulky articles, which 
 could not easily be conveyed otherwise, and the abun- 
 dance of which supposes a very active industrial de- 
 velopment. Among these are also iron and coal, which 
 are every day more and more used in agriculture, and 
 which, to a certain extent, represent industry itself. 
 Something more productive still than coal, iron, and 
 animal and mineral substances, namely, the spirit of specu- 
 lation, travels along with them from the manufacturing 
 centres, where it rises, to the fields, where it finds fresh 
 elements to work upon, and brings with it capital : a 
 fruitful interchange, which enriches manufactures by 
 agriculture, and agriculture by manufactures. 
 
 Notwithstanding the great facility of transport by 
 steamers and railroads, a sensible difference exists in the 
 gross and net agricultural produce between counties 
 which are exclusively agricultural and those which are 
 at the same time manufacturing. 
 
 The manufacturing districts par excellence, commenc- 
 ing with Warwickshire in the south, and ending with the 
 West Riding of Yorkshire, are those in which rents, 
 profits, and agricultural wages rise highest. There the 
 average rent is 30s. per acre, and a country labourer's 
 wages 12s. a- week; whilst in the district exclusively 
 agricultural lying to the south of London, the average 
 rent is not more than 20s. per acre, and wages 8s. a- week. 
 The intermediate counties approach more or less to these 
 two extremes, according as they are more or less manu- 
 facturing, and everywhere the rate of land and wages is 
 a sure criterion of the development of local industry. 
 
 It is pretty generally believed that pauperism prevails 
 
MARKETS. 
 
 more in the manufacturing than in other districts. This 
 is quite a mistake. It is shown, from a table published 
 by Mr Caird in his excellent letters upon English agri- 
 culture, that in the West Hiding, Lancashire, Cheshire, 
 Stafford, and Warwick, the poor's -rate is about Is. in 
 the pound, to 3s. or 4s. a-head, and the number of poor 
 three to four per cent of the population ; whilst in the 
 agricultural counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Bucks, Bedford, 
 Berks, Sussex, Hants, Wilts, Dorset, &c., it exceeds 2s. in 
 the pound, or 10s. a-head, and the number of paupers is 
 thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and even sixteen per cent of the 
 population. The cause of this difference is easily under- 
 stood ; the number of paupers and the cost of their main- 
 tenance increases as the rate of wages becomes lower. 
 Although the working population be three or four times 
 more dense in the manufacturing than in other parts of 
 the country, its condition there is better, because it pro- 
 duces more. 
 
 What has hitherto appeared to us as a series of pro- 
 blems, is now, if I mistake not, found to be perfectly 
 explained. 
 
 In the first place, as to the organisation of farming. 
 What characterises English rural economy, is, we know, 
 not so much large farming properly so called, as the rais- 
 ing of farming into a business of itself, and the amount 
 of capital at the disposal of professional farmers. These 
 two features are both due to the immense opening found 
 in the non-agricultural population. 
 
 If we transport ourselves to France, to the most back- 
 ward departments of the centre and south, where the 
 metayer system predominates, what do we there find ? 
 A thinly-scattered population, at the most not exceeding 
 on an average one-third that of the English one head 
 only, in place of three, to five acres and that population 
 
158 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 almost entirely agricultural ; few or no large towns, 
 little or no manufactures, trade confined to the limited 
 wants of the inhabitants ; the centres of consumption 
 distant, means of communication costly and difficult, 
 and expenses of transport equal to the entire value of 
 the produce. The cultivator has little or nothing to 
 dispose of. Why does he work ? To feed himself and 
 his master with the produce of his labour. The master 
 divides the produce with him, and consumes his por- 
 tion : if it is wheat and wine, master and mdtayer eat 
 wheat and drink wine ; if it is rye, buckwheat, potatoes, 
 these they consume together. Wool and flax are shared 
 in like manner, and serve to make the coarse stuffs with 
 which both clothe themselves : should there happen to 
 remain over a few lean sheep, some ill-fed pigs, or some 
 calves, reared with difficulty by overworked cows, whose 
 milk is disputed with their offspring, these are sold to 
 pay taxes. 
 
 Great fault has been found with this system ; how- 
 ever, it is the only one possible where markets are 
 wanting. In such a country agriculture can be neither 
 a profession, a speculation, nor an industry. To specu- 
 late there must be the means of selling, and that is im- 
 possible where there is no one to buy. When I say no one, 
 it is to strengthen the hypothesis, for such an extreme 
 case is rarely met with. There are always in France, 
 even in the most retired districts, some buyers, though 
 limited in number. It is sometimes a tenth, sometimes 
 a fifth, sometimes a fourth of the population who earn a 
 livelihood otherwise than by agriculture ; and as the 
 number of consumers increases, the condition of the cul- 
 tivator improves, unless he himself pays the incomes of 
 these consumers under the form of judicial expenses or 
 usurious interest for money, which some of them at least 
 
MARKETS. 159 
 
 do ; but a tenth, fifth, or even the fourth of a population 
 is not enough to furnish a sufficient market, especially if 
 this population is not itself a producing one that is to 
 say, engaged in trade or manufactures. 
 
 In this state of things, as there is no interchange, the 
 cultivator is obliged to produce those articles which are 
 most necessary for life that is to say, cereals : if the soil 
 yields little, so much the worse for him ; but he has no 
 choice he must produce corn or die of hunger. Now on 
 bad land there is no more expensive cultivation than this ; 
 even on good, if care is not taken, it soon becomes burthen- 
 some ; but under these conditions of farming no one 
 thinks of taking account of the expense. The labour 
 is not for profit, but for life : cost what it may, corn 
 must be had, or at all events rye. As long as the popu- 
 lation is scanty, the evil is not overwhelming, because 
 there is no want of land : long fallows enable the land 
 to produce something ; but as soon as the population 
 begins to increase, the soil ceases to be sufficient for 
 the purpose ; and a time soon arrives when the popula- 
 tion suffers severely for want of food. 
 
 Let us now take the most populous and most indus- 
 trious part of France the north-west ; still we do not 
 find there a population quite analogous to that of the 
 English, two head only per five acres, in place of three. 
 It is double, however, that which we have anywhere else, 
 and one-half of this population give their attention to 
 commerce, manufactures, and the liberal professions. The 
 country, properly speaking, is not more thickly populated 
 than the centre and south of France ; but we there find, 
 in addition, numerous wealthy manufacturing towns 
 and among them is the largest and most opulent of all, 
 Paris. A large trade is there carried on in agricultural 
 commodities : corn, wine, cattle, wool, fowls, eggs, milk, &c., 
 
160 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 are directed from all parts to the towns, where they 
 are paid for by manufactured goods. Consequently the 
 lease becomes possible, and in fact introduces itself. This 
 is the true cause of the lease ; its existence is a sure 
 indication of an economical condition, where the sale of 
 commodities is the rule, and where, consequently, farming 
 may become a specific branch of industry. 
 
 This industry begins as soon as a regular market for 
 it is opened that is to say, as soon as the industrial 
 and commercial populations exceed a certain proportion, 
 whether it be immediately on the spot, or at a sufficiently 
 moderate distance, with easy means of communication, 
 so that the expenses of transit do not absorb the profits : 
 it becomes more and more flourishing as the market be- 
 comes greater and more approachable that is, the nearer 
 its vicinity to large towns or great centres of manufacture. 
 In that case the market suffices to create profits which 
 rapidly increase capital, farming becomes more and more 
 prosperous, and progresses towards its maximum. This 
 is the case in the departments nearest to Paris. About 
 one-half of France is more or less in this position, the 
 other half possesses only uncertain markets : nothing is 
 easier than to distinguish the two at a glance, in the 
 one the lease prevails, in the other the metayer system. 
 
 In England, the half without markets has long ceased 
 to exist ; in all parts the rural population finds itself near 
 another community ; everywhere the outlet for its pro- 
 duce is as large as in the best parts of France, and in 
 some places much greater. This makes the difference 
 between the two agricultures. Take those parts of both 
 France and England where the outlet is equal, and of 
 as long standing, because time must be reckoned in the 
 comparison, and you will most certainly find a similar 
 agricultural development, whatever be the conditions 
 
MARKETS. 161 
 
 otherwise of property and farming. Every other con- 
 sideration depends upon this. 
 
 As soon as the producer finds a large sale for his com- 
 modities, his attention is naturally directed to questions 
 to which hitherto he had not paid any attention ; for 
 instance, what produce brings the highest price relatively 
 to its cost of production ? By what means is the cost of 
 production to be reduced, in order to increase the net 
 profit ifln this consists the whole agricultural revolution. 
 The first consequence is the abandonment of those crops 
 w T hich, in a given situation, are not profitable, throwing 
 the attention of the producer upon those which pay 
 best ; the second is the discovery of methods for econo- 
 mising labour, thereby rendering it more productive// 
 
 Why does the English farmer, for example, give a 
 preference to the production of meat ? It is not only 
 because the animals maintain, by means of their manure, 
 the fertility of the land, but also because meat is an article 
 very much in demand, and which sells with the greatest 
 facility throughout England. If our French producers 
 could all at once furnish as much meat, the price would 
 fall below the expenses of production, because the de- 
 mand is not great enough. Our population at present is 
 not rich enough to pay for meat ; we must wait until 
 manufactures and commerce have made sufficient progress 
 to furnish the means of exchange. In proportion as we 
 make progress in these the demand will increase, and 
 our producers will then set themselves to supply it ; it 
 would be madness to expect them to do it sooner. With- 
 out Arkwright and Watt, Bakewell would have been im- 
 possible ; the latter appeared just at the moment when 
 the impetus given to industrial production rapidly in- 
 creased the demand for meat. We do not require to go 
 so far as England to see that the production of this food 
 
 L 
 
162 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 becomes abundant as soon as there is a sufficient market 
 for it. The parts of the country where it is most largely 
 produced with us are those where it is dearest that is 
 to say, most in demand ; it is cheapest in the south, and 
 the south hardly produces any. In 1770 meat sold in 
 England at 3d. per Ib. ; the price now, after all that has 
 been done to increase the production of every kind of 
 cattle, is 6d., or just double. These figures speak volumes. 
 
 With respect to milk, is it surprising that milch cows 
 should be so numerous, when milk sells currently in 
 most parts of England at 2d. or 3d. per quart \ The 
 working classes in England consume a great deal of 
 milk. Near manufacturing towns, the average produce 
 of a milch cow is valued at 20, and it is not uncommon 
 for some to yield as much as 40. Butter, which in 
 1770 sold for 6d. per Ib., now sells for Is., it also has 
 doubled. Put our farmers in a similar position, and see 
 if they will not have as good and as well-kept cows. 
 Look what the proximity of Paris has done for the pro- 
 ducers of Gournay and Isigny. 
 
 The cultivation of wheat in place of rye is another 
 consequence of the same principle. In the districts of 
 France furthest from markets, the suppression of the 
 rye crop is quite impossible ; for, in the first place, the 
 mdtayer must have food. He must be near a market to 
 do otherwise than grow rye, even should the land be 
 unsuitable for cereals and most favourable for other 
 crops, because there must be the opportunity for selling 
 the new produce in order to buy corn. The substitu- 
 tion of wheat for rye presents the same difficulties, for it 
 requires disbursements for lime and other expenses ; and 
 why make the change, if wheat is in little demand, or not 
 wanted at all \ Wherever the demand for wheat is on 
 the increase that is, where there is a population which 
 
MARKETS. 163 
 
 will pay dear enough for its bread the transition takes 
 place even in France. It has already taken place every- 
 where in England, because the working classes earn suffi- 
 cient to pay for white bread. 
 
 The employment of horses in place of cattle, the use 
 of machinery to economise manual labour, are all owing 
 to this. The grand economical principle of division of 
 labour is practised under every form. The farmer with 
 no market for his produce seeks, above all, to curtail his 
 expenses, because he lacks the means of replenishing his 
 purse ; the farmer who is sure of a good market does not 
 shrink from useful expenditure. 
 
 The owner of property in this respect is no better off 
 than the farmer. Where small property is found to be 
 unremunerative, the absence of a market is chiefly the 
 cause. A man with a small capital has no inducement to 
 become farmer, when the chance of profit is small and 
 uncertain. His object also is to live so that the least 
 possible demand may be made upon his purse ; and 
 what better method of securing his subsistence, when 
 opportunities of interchange are wanting, than to invest 
 his little all in a piece of land and to work it himself ? 
 It was so in England before the great markets were 
 opened. The yeoman did not find it profitable to turn 
 farmer until the great industrial movement took place. 
 Arthur Young was the theorist, not the actual promoter 
 of this revolution : it was Watt and Arkwright who 
 effected it. 
 
 The same causes which enhance profits raise rents. 
 We have, to a certain extent, seen this to be the case, 
 when, in the reign of Louis XVL, trade in agricultural 
 produce became free. We have seen rents rise gradually 
 from 3 francs per hectare to 30 francs, according as in- 
 dustrial and commercial wealth progressed. We see it at 
 
164 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 this day reach 100 francs and upwards, in the depart- 
 ments where a non-agricultural population abounds, and 
 fall to 1 in those where it is wanting. If we had every- 
 where the same outlets as in England, no doubt our 
 average rent would very soon be equal to that of our 
 neighbour ; that is to say, double what it is now. Only 
 double the rent, and, even without changing the actual 
 condition of property, many of our poor proprietors 
 would become, by this means alone, rich proprietors. We 
 should immediately have the exact equivalent of the 
 English gentry. 
 
 There are, moreover, two kinds of property : the fixed, 
 called in England real property, and the movable or 
 personal property. The income from real property for 
 the three kingdoms is estimated at 120,000,000 sterling, 
 or three milliards of francs. Land, properly so called, 
 figures for only half of this : the rest is from house pro- 
 perty, mines, quarries, canals, railways, fisheries, &c. The 
 value of house property alone is nearly as much as the 
 land itself. In Great Britain, the income from land is 
 46,000,000 sterling, while that of houses is 40,000,000. 
 The income from personal property may, at the same 
 time, be valued at 80,000,000 sterling, or two milliards 
 of francs, deducting interest paid to mortgagees, already 
 included as income from properties mortgaged. It fol- 
 lows, therefore, that the rent of land, so high relatively, 
 does not amount to a third of the income of English 
 proprietors. 
 
 We see now how they come to be, on an average, 
 richer than ours. In the first place, they are propor- 
 tionately much less numerous ; and then, again, (and this 
 is the main reason), they have a much larger revenue to 
 be divided among them. With us the income from land, 
 which, to begin with, is proportionately less than the 
 
MARKETS. 165 
 
 whole rents of land in England, is not very much less 
 than the half of the income from all capital, both fixed 
 and personal together. Small as the distribution of 
 other wealth is in other hands, very little of it is found 
 in the hands of 'our landed proprietors. In England, on 
 the contrary, there are few landed proprietors who, in 
 addition to the income from their land, have not an 
 equally large, and oftentimes larger income, from houses, 
 railway shares, government stocks, &c. Many of them 
 are proprietors of coal-pits which have yielded them, and 
 every day bring them in, immense sums. Others have 
 property upon which are constructed manufactories, 
 dwelling-houses, canals, or railways, and from which 
 they have profited by a rise in value. 
 
 It is well known that the Marquess of Westminster, the 
 Duke of Bedford, and others, own a great part of the land 
 upon which London stands, and which is let upon long 
 leases. And it is the same with almost all the English 
 towns. Since the year 1800, 1,500,000 new houses have 
 been built in England alone, 6000 miles of railway have 
 been opened, and an enormous number of coal-pits and 
 mines have been set to work. Here are millions annually, 
 the greater part of which goes into the pockets of the 
 landed proprietors ; and it is not the great proprietors 
 only who partake in this good fortune, the middling and 
 smaller ones have also their share. 
 
 Lastly, there is another means which causes a large 
 portion of the capital created by manufactures to flow 
 towards landed property and that is, the acquisition of 
 estates by wealthy traders. These acquisitions, more 
 numerous than we in France suppose, add greatly to the 
 average wealth of property, and contribute to make its 
 possessors more liberal towards the soil. The new pro- 
 prietors bring into the administration of their country 
 
166 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 estates an amount of resources and speculative boldness, 
 which to the same extent is rarely found among the 
 others ; as witness one example among a thousand. Mr 
 Marshall, the son of a rich Leeds manufacturer, pur- 
 chased, some years ago, 1000 acres of land, at Patrington, 
 near the mouth of the Humber, in the East Eiding of 
 Yorkshire. The enormous expense to which he went in 
 rebuilding offices, erecting steam-engines, draining, liming, 
 &c., is well known throughout England. 
 
 Such things take place in France every day, but, no 
 doubt, of a less striking character, because industrial pur- 
 suits are less productive, though the features and cir- 
 cumstances are the same. "What fortunes have been made 
 during the last fifty years on the lands about Paris, and 
 other towns of France ! What large indemnities have 
 already been paid for railways, canals, mines, manufac- 
 tories ! What doubling of rents, caused by the opening 
 of new means of communication, or the development of 
 neighbouring large hives of industry ! Finally, what 
 quantities of land every day pass from insolvent and 
 poor hands into wealthy ones ! It is the natural progres- 
 sive movement of society, a movement which is acceler- 
 ated when not hindered by any political catastrophe. 
 
 Keduced to these limits, the agricultural question is 
 nothing more than one of general prosperity. If French 
 society, retarded by all the obstacles which itself origin- 
 ated, could ever have fifty years before it such as those 
 which have elapsed from 1815 and 1848, it would no 
 doubt regain in agriculture, as in everything else, the 
 distance which separates it from its rival. The greatest 
 difficulties are passed. We, as well as the English, make 
 use of those powerful means which nowadays increase 
 the power of labour, and which, applied to almost a new 
 
MARKETS. 167 
 
 field, are capable of advancing to an infinite extent the 
 progress of wealth. Nowhere are railways capable of 
 producing a more thorough and profitable revolution 
 than with us. In England these wonderful roads con- 
 nect only parts already connected by other means of 
 communication, and whose productions are similar in 
 character. With us their effect will be to unite regions, 
 all differing in climate and productions, which have as 
 yet only imperfect communication one with the other. 
 It is impossible to predict what may result from such a 
 radical change. 
 
 It is of consequence, then, that our proprietors and 
 cultivators apprehend clearly the only means of enrich- 
 ing themselves, lest they hinder their own prosperity. 
 Their opposition would not arrest the course of things, 
 bat would render it slow and tedious. All jealousy 
 between agricultural and industrial and commercial 
 interests, will only damage both. If you wish to en- 
 courage agriculture, develop manufactures and commerce, 
 which multiply consumers ; improve especially the means 
 of communication, which bring consumers and producers 
 nearer to each other ; the rest will necessarily follow. 
 Commerce and manufactures bear the same relation to 
 agriculture as the cultivation of forage crops and multi- 
 plication of animals do to cereal production. At first 
 they seem opposed to each other, but fundamentally there 
 is such a strong connecting link between them that the 
 one cannot make any considerable progress without the 
 other. 
 
 Markets this is the greatest and most pressing re- 
 quirement of our agriculture. The proceedings to be 
 adopted in order to augment production do not come 
 till afterwards. I have pointed out the principal methods 
 
168 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 followed in England, and will shortly point out others. 
 Our agriculture may there find useful examples ; but I 
 am far from giving them as models for imitation. Every- 
 where each soil and climate has its requirements and 
 resources. The south of France, for example, has scarcely 
 anything to borrow from English methods ; its agricul- 
 tural future is nevertheless magnificent. There is only 
 one law which admits of no exception, and which every- 
 where produces the same results that is, the law of 
 markets. 
 
169 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE CUSTOMS EEFOKM. 
 
 WE have now reviewed the principal causes of the origin 
 of English agricultural wealth. Its principle lies in the 
 predilection of the rich for a country life. Besides the 
 direct advantages arising from this to the land itself, 
 these inclinations have produced political liberty, and 
 preserved it from the impure contact of revolutions. 
 Liberty without revolutions has produced an immense 
 industrial and commercial development, and these again 
 have produced great agricultural prosperity : the fruitful 
 impulse reverts to its starting-point. It remains now to 
 give an account of a recent event, which appears con- 
 trary to these premises, but which nevertheless is only 
 a consequence of it : I mean the customs reform of Sir 
 Eobert Peel, and the crisis which followed it. 
 
 In the midst of its grandeur and wealth, England is 
 constantly exposed to a great peril the consequence 
 even of its wealth and that is excess of population. It 
 is now half a century since Malthus, one of its illustrious 
 sons, raised the cry of alarm for the future. Since then, 
 the country has had several sad warnings in the riot- 
 ings caused by scarcity. However rapid may be the 
 development of agriculture, it has difficulty in keeping 
 up with the still more rapid advance of population. A 
 rise in the price of food is the certain effect of this accu- 
 
170 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 mulation of people. We shall now see how useful this 
 rise has been, inasmuch as it has stimulated agriculture ; 
 but there is a point where it becomes hurtful, and that is 
 when it reaches a scarcity price. Then the suffering of 
 an important portion of the population reacts upon all 
 the rest, and the whole social machine works distressingly. 
 Under the state of production which we have pointed 
 out, and with a population of twenty-eight millions, the 
 equal distribution of food obtained from agriculture in 
 the three kingdoms gives the following results : 
 
 Meat, 60 kilogrammes per head, 
 Wheat, 1| hectolitres, 
 Barley and oats, 1 hectolitre, 
 Milk, 72 litres, 
 Potatoes, 7 hectolitres, 
 Beer, 1 hectolitre, 
 
 130 Ib. 
 
 bushels. 
 
 16 gallons. 
 16 bushels. 
 22 gallons. 
 
 Total value, 130 francs, according to English prices ; or 105 
 with the reduction of twenty per cent. 
 
 In France, a similar distribution gives : 
 
 Meat, 28 kilogrammes, j 
 
 Fowls and eggs=6 kilogrammes of meat, > 
 Wheat, 2 hectolitres, . . . 5 bushels. 
 
 Rye and other grain, 1 hectolitres, . 4| 
 
 Milk, 30 litres, . . . 7 gallons. 
 
 Potatoes, 3 hectolitres, ... 8^ bushels. 
 
 Vegetables and fruits, value, . . 8 francs. 
 
 Wine, 1 hectolitre, .... 22 gallons. 
 
 Beer and cider, hectolitre, . . 11 
 
 Total value, 105 francs. 
 
 The average alimentation, therefore, is as nearly as pos- 
 sible the same in both countries. The British Isles have 
 the advantage in meat, milk, and potatoes ; which France 
 makes up for in cereals, vegetables, fruits, and quantity 
 as well as quality of beverage. In point of require- 
 ments, the situation of both populations should make it 
 the same ; but, from some cause or other, the English con- 
 sume more than the French. England proper takes to 
 
THE CUSTOMS REFORM. 171 
 
 herself almost all the meat, and nearly all the wheat, of 
 the two islands, leaving to the great majority of the 
 Scotch and Irish population only barley, oats, and pota- 
 toes ; and yet, in spite of the greatly superior production 
 of the English lands, and notwithstanding the large im- 
 portation of cattle and corn from Scotland and Ireland, 
 the demand for alimentary substances in England is such, 
 that prices there are generally a good deal above what 
 they are in France ; and they would have been higher, 
 had not foreign importations kept them down. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the question of a supply of 
 provisions has always been one of primary importance 
 with English statesmen. In a country where population 
 is so condensed that about a third of the people are 
 reduced to the strict necessaries of life, and the other two- 
 thirds, although the best off of any in the world, still do 
 not consider that they have enough, the least deficiency 
 in the harvest is apt to cause serious embarrassment. 
 This has at different times happened, especially during 
 the height of the war with France. Corn then rose to 
 extreme prices 4, 5, and up to 6 per quarter. 
 Since 1815, the progress in farming and importation has 
 gradually brought the price of wheat back to something 
 under 60s. the quarter, and in 1835 it even fell to 40s. ; 
 but since 1837 the tendency has been to rise, and it has 
 already several times passed the rate of 70s. per quarter. 
 
 It was at this price when the blight took place, which 
 threatened the existence of one of the chief articles of 
 the national food; I mean the potato disease. This 
 blight, which produced a grievous famine in Ireland, 
 had even in England disastrous effects ; and it was 
 shortly followed by serious apprehensions for the corn 
 crops, fears which were too truly realised in the bad 
 years of 1845 and 1846. 
 
1*72 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Other reasons called the attention of provident minds 
 to the price of food. The whole framework of British 
 wealth and power rests upon the exportation of its manu- 
 factures. Until lately, English industry had few rivals, 
 but other nations have gradually been making progress 
 in manufactures, and English productions are not the 
 only ones which now appear in the European and Ameri- 
 can markets. English merchants cannot, then, sustain 
 a universal competition, except by cheapness ; and this 
 cheapness is not possible, excepting when wages are mo- 
 derate. Now, the English workmen, although the best 
 paid in the world, are not, or at least were not, in 1848, 
 satisfied with their wages. The storm which raged on 
 the Continent in 1848-9 began to be felt in England, 
 and was exhibited in expressions of discontent. 
 
 This, then, was the manner in which the problem to 
 be solved presented itself; a terrible problem, carrying 
 with it the life and death of a large number of people, 
 and perhaps also the life and death of a great nation. 
 On the one hand, scarcity already devastating one portion 
 of the British territory, and threatening to extend itself 
 over the rest the price of food consequently threaten- 
 ing to rise to an unlimited height ; on the other, the neces- 
 sity, notwithstanding the probable rise in the price of food, 
 for keeping wages at such a rate as to allow and facilitate 
 the exportation of manufactured goods ; and, to complete 
 the difficulty, a strong desire among the labouring classes 
 for an increase of comforts, at the very time perhaps when 
 food was to fail them, and when death from famine had 
 begun in Ireland. It was then that the eminent indivi- 
 dual intrusted with the helm during that difficult period, 
 at once decided upon the bold and liberal measure which 
 saved all. 
 
 For a long time previously, English legislation upon 
 
THE CUSTOMS REFORM. 173 
 
 grain had in view to keep the price as nearly as possible 
 at 56s. per quarter, by means of an ingenious but com- 
 plicated system, more efficacious in appearance than in 
 reality the Sliding Scale. A popular agitation, well 
 known under the name of the League, had been organised 
 to defeat this legislation, and had made considerable pro- 
 gress. Sir Eobert Peel, then Prime Minister, felt that 
 the time had now come for adopting a wider and more 
 radical measure. He therefore decided upon doing that 
 which he had himself previously opposed namely, to 
 abolish entirely the duties levied upon the importation 
 of articles of food ; and what is still more to be ad- 
 mired than the resolution itself, is, that in the two 
 Houses, composed mostly of landed proprietors, a majo- 
 rity was found for carrying it into law. 
 
 The disturbance occasioned by this reform has been 
 great, no doubt, but nothing in comparison with the 
 calamities which it avoided. The urgency of the case 
 was immediately shown by the immense quantity of 
 grain and flour imported, amounting, during the single 
 year of 1849, to 
 
 13 million hectolitres of wheat, . = 4| million quarters. 
 6 Indian corn, =2 
 
 4 barley, . = 1 
 
 4 oats, . = 1| 
 
 3 wheat flour, = 1 
 
 besides butter, cheese, meat, lard, fowls, and as many as 
 four million dozen of eggs. This alone saved England 
 from the scarcity which threatened it, and from which it 
 was found impossible to save Ireland. For the future, 
 supplies are certain, since the English consumer has the 
 whole world from which to supply himself. The price 
 of articles of food fell immediately more than twenty 
 per cent. In this way the necessity for a nominal rise 
 in wages was obviated, and the prosperity of the lower 
 
174 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 classes increased one-fifth ; and exportation, which is the 
 fortune of England, having remained in a flourishing 
 state, the demand for labour increased, while the num- 
 ber of poor receiving public aid diminished. 
 
 One great interest, however, seemed likely to suffer 
 from this crisis namely, that of farming and landed 
 property. Noisy reclamations were not wanting from 
 that quarter, and doubts were for some time entertained 
 respecting the future of this reform. Now the question 
 is settled, and henceforth the reform is accepted even by 
 those who combated it with the greatest acrimony. Its 
 effects have been seen, and the exaggerations of the first 
 moment have disappeared. 
 
 In the first place, people saw that agriculture, properly 
 speaking, had not so much to do with the question as 
 income from property. The high price of food serves 
 more than anything else to cause a rise in rent, and, 
 provided rent falls in proportion to the fall in prices, 
 the farmer, properly speaking, becomes almost a disin- 
 terested party. This simple distinction has sufficed to 
 separate the farmer's interest in the question from that 
 of the proprietor. Lower your rents ! was the cry against 
 property from all quarters, and farming will not suffer. 
 The argument was all the more powerful, because for 
 fifty years past high prices had raised rents, and even 
 after a considerable reduction they would still be above 
 those of 1800. In the impassioned language of the 
 moment, they called this reduction a partial restitution 
 of what had been unduly levied by the proprietors upon 
 the subsistence of the public for the last fifty years. 
 
 In the second place, it was argued that that which 
 occasions the prosperity of landed property is industrial 
 and commercial wealth. Now, if the price of food rises, 
 or if it be only maintained at the established price that 
 
THE CUSTOMS REFORM. 175 
 
 is to say, much higher than anywhere else wages must 
 rise in order to satisfy the new wants of the working 
 population. English manufactures will no longer be able 
 to sustain a foreign competition ; exports will fall off ; and 
 the distress of manufactures and commerce will react 
 upon agriculture, which will no longer be able to sell its 
 productions. A fall will then become inevitable ; but it 
 will be a terrible fall, produced by poverty. Popular 
 outbreaks of the worst kind will again take place, and no 
 resistance can oppose a starving population. Better give 
 in beforehand, when times are quiet, when a judicious 
 concession may not only prevent interference with manu- 
 facturing production, but will add to its activity. In- 
 crease of population and wealth will soon return to agri- 
 culture more than it has lost, by increasing at once the 
 number and the means of consumers. 
 
 To these arguments supported by facts, the conviction 
 gradually arose that the evil was not altogether uni- 
 versal and irremediable ; that a good number of pro- 
 prietors and farmers had been only slightly injured ; 
 and that the rest had means of making up the loss in 
 price by increased production. From that moment the 
 cause of reform was secured, for the English nation is 
 instinctively a nation of economists, they all very well 
 understand the advantages of cheapness when it is pos- 
 sible. There have been, and no doubt will still be, many 
 individual cases of suffering ; but, upon the whole, as is 
 now admitted, this check, which appeared likely to be 
 so fatal to English farming, will, on the contrary, open 
 out for it a new path ; and, in addition to the immense 
 advantage of dissipating all fear concerning the national 
 supply of food, and the no less great advantage of re- 
 moving all cause of inferiority for English manufactures 
 in the markets of the world, there must be added that of 
 
176 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 a notable increase in agricultural production. What a 
 rise in price did formerly, a fall will have effected at the 
 present day. This apparent contradiction is not one in 
 reality, for they will have had both a similar beginning- 
 wealth. 
 
 England may be divided into two nearly equal bands 
 by a line running from north to south. The western 
 division being very much more wet and rainy than 
 the eastern, the cultivation of grasses there predomi- 
 nates ; in the eastern half, on the contrary, it is the 
 cereals. The fall having been less, and not so general 
 upon animal as upon cereal productions, the crisis has 
 been less felt in the western than in the other division ; 
 and it may be said that in many quarters it has not been 
 felt at all. The eastern half, in its turn, divides itself 
 into two distinct regions ; the one to the north, where 
 light soils predominate, and where the Norfolk rotation 
 reigns ; the other in the south, where argillaceous or 
 calcareous-clay lands prevail, and where the cultivation 
 of roots has made less progress. In the first, cereals not 
 being yet the chief production, the crisis, though real, has 
 been endurable ; in the second, where cereals hold the 
 first rank, it has been severe. 
 
 Many proprietors of the west and north have been 
 able to preserve their rents intact, others have managed 
 to limit their reductions to ten and fifteen per cent. In 
 the south-east, and in the clay districts in general that 
 is to say, over about a fourth of England the reduction, 
 to be efficacious, required twenty to twenty-five per cent, 
 and in some places farmers have entirely abandoned their 
 farms. These descriptions of land were already the most 
 indifferently cultivated, the least productive of the Brit- 
 ish soil, and those which gave over an equal surface the 
 lowest rents, the lowest wages, and lowest profits. 
 
THE CUSTOMS REFORM. 177 
 
 Under such a trial, the industrious spirit of our neigh- 
 bours was set to work. The causes which, since the intro- 
 duction of the Norfolk rotation, had occasioned a relative 
 inferiority in clay lands, once looked upon as the most 
 fertile, were carefully studied, and new systems have 
 arisen to effect a remedy. Besides the proprietors and 
 farmers interested, a new class of men took up the ques- 
 tion. These were the partisans of free trade. They under- 
 took to prove that, even under the worst circumstances, 
 the agriculture of the country could survive and prosper. 
 Commercial men purchased land for the express purpose, 
 in the most severely tried districts, in order to make all 
 sorts of experiments. The first results were not satisfac- 
 tory ; but by degrees the new principles developed them- 
 selves, and it may now be affirmed that clay lands are 
 destined to resume their ancient position. The English 
 rarely fail in what they undertake, because they carry 
 along with them a perseverance which nothing discou- 
 rages. 
 
 In addition, the means adopted for transforming the 
 strong lands, seemed applicable, to a certain extent, to 
 the others ; and the improvements which necessity forced 
 upon some points, tend more or less to become general- 
 ised.' The entire soil will thus profit from the remedy, 
 without having equally suffered from the evil. 
 
 Meantime the working classes have derived all the 
 profit they looked for in the lowering of prices, and are 
 content with it. What is no less worthy of admiration in 
 England than the spirit of concession in the one class, is 
 the expression of patience in the other. At one time it 
 was thought that wages would fall. Public opinion pro- 
 tected them, and they have been maintained. The labour- 
 ing classes have profited, therefore, by the whole fall in 
 the price of necessaries. It was also thought that the 
 
 M 
 
178 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 demand for manual labour would fall off.* Everything, 
 indeed, betokens that in certain quarters it will be reduced, 
 but in others it will be increased. Upon the whole, it 
 will remain at least equal to what it was before. 
 
 Public opinion demands other improvements in favour 
 of the poorer classes. It is desired that the laws respecting 
 settlement in the matter of poor-rates should be revised, in 
 order that labourers may easily remove from those places 
 where wages are low, to where they are higher, without 
 forfeiting their claim to public relief. It is also required 
 that the proprietors should take a parental charge of their 
 labourers, and watch over their education and morality, 
 as well as their personal comforts ; and the highest noble- 
 men consider it an honour to fulfil this duty. Many of 
 them build healthy and commodious cottages, which they 
 let at reasonable rents. Prince Albert, who desires to be 
 the first always in setting a good example, exhibited in 
 his own name at the Great Exhibition a model of such 
 buildings. A small garden is generally attached, where 
 the tenant may grow fresh vegetables. These are what 
 are called allotments. On all large estates the pro- 
 prietor builds churches and schools, and gives encourage- 
 ment to associations which have for their object the good 
 of the community. 
 
 Thus the great war of classes has been prevented ; and, 
 without other shocks than those which were absolutely 
 unavoidable, England has made a great step, even in an 
 agricultural point of view. This is the reason why Eng- 
 land went into mourning when Sir Kobert Peel died ; the 
 great citizen had been understood. 
 
 * Since the above was written, circumstances have changed. After having 
 remained low for several years, prices have begun again to rise, and now (January 
 1854) they are higher than they were previous to the reform ; but this rise, being 
 partly the effect of the bad harvest of 1853, and having nothing artificial about it, 
 is not attended with the same inconvenient effects. 
 
THE CUSTOMS REFORM. 179 
 
 I shall not stop to point out the difference between the 
 English crisis of 1848 and the French one of the same 
 period. The rural interest is that which suffered most 
 with us also ; but it did not suffer alone all were 
 shaken at once. We witnessed a sudden fall in food 
 not, as in England, because it was too high, but be- 
 cause, industrial and commercial occupations being at a 
 stand-still, the non-agricultural classes had not the where- 
 withal to buy food. Consumption, in all branches, in 
 place of increasing, as with our neighbours, was reduced 
 to bare necessaries ; and in a country where the ordinary 
 quantity of meat and corn was scarcely sufficient, both 
 were found to exceed the resources of an impoverished 
 population. Farming and property, dismayed, found no 
 support from capital as in England, since much of it had 
 been swept away, and the remainder in alarm was sent out 
 of the country or secreted. Happily, by peculiar favour of 
 Providence, the fruits of the earth were abundant during 
 that trial ; for if the least doubt had arisen as to supplies, 
 in the midst of general disorder, we should have seen the 
 horrors of famine associated, as formerly, with the horrors 
 of civil war. 
 
 Returning confidence begins to repair in part these 
 disasters. France once again shows, what she has so 
 often shown, especially after the anarchy of '93 and 
 the two invasions, that she cannot do herself an irrepar- 
 able injury. The more resources she exhibits, in spite of 
 the immense losses she has sustained, the more one is 
 struck with the progress she ought to have realised in the 
 last five years, had she not violently put a stop to her 
 own progress. The receipts from indirect taxation, which 
 is one of the most certain signs of public prosperity, were 
 eight hundred and twenty-five million francs in 1847, and 
 have recovered slowly, after an enormous falling off, to 
 
180 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 eight hundred and ten millions in 1852. These would 
 have reached, in the present year, nine hundred and fifty 
 millions, or one milliard, if the impetus which they had 
 received previous to 1848 had been sustained ; and all 
 branches of public wealth would have responded to this 
 brilliant sign of prosperity. 
 
 Finally, if I have found it necessary to relate what has 
 taken place in England since 1847, it must not be con- 
 cluded that a similar revolution appears to me desirable, 
 or even possible, in France. We are in all respects diffe- 
 rently circumstanced. To establish cheapness of food 
 cannot be a question with us, for that we already have ; 
 since England, after all her efforts, has not been able to 
 come below our highest current rates ; and over half the 
 country our prices are only too low. The rich and fully 
 populated parts of the country must not be confounded 
 with those which are not so. The requirements of the 
 one are not at all those of the other. We do not re- 
 semble the England of 1846, but the England of 1800. 
 With us it is not production which fails consumption, 
 but, in the half of France at least, it is consumption 
 which falls short of production. Instead of seeing every- 
 where corn at 56s. per quarter, and meat at 6d. per lb., 
 we have whole districts where the producer scarcely ob- 
 tains half of these prices for his commodities. It is not 
 a fall, but a rise that they there require. The time is 
 still distant when they will suffer from the excess of 
 demand for their agricultural produce, and from high 
 prices. 
 
 But neither must it be imagined that the sliding-scale 
 for corn, and exorbitant duties upon foreign cattle, could 
 do any good to France. In fact, these duties have hither- 
 to had no effect in raising prices : they have rather con- 
 tributed to lower them by arresting the expansion of 
 
THE CUSTOMS REFORM. 
 
 181 
 
 commerce. French agriculture, which considered itself 
 protected, was not, and could not, be so : its own prices 
 gave it only too much protection from foreign competi- 
 tion. It is not, then, upon custom-house regulations, 
 but upon the increase of foreign consumption, through 
 the improvement of communication and reciprocity, 
 and in some respects upon exportation, that it should 
 rely for a better market for its products. Every other 
 plan is chimerical, and, what is more, hurtful to its inte- 
 rests. The same freedom of trade which tends to lower 
 prices of food in England, because they are too high, 
 would have rather the contrary effect in France, because 
 they are habitually too low with us, at least in a great 
 many quarters. 
 
182 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 HIGH FAEMING. 
 
 AMONG the innovations in agriculture which the last 
 crisis produced, by far the most important that which 
 will remain as the most useful effect of that great disturb- 
 ance is the process of putting the land into good condi- 
 tion, known by the name of drainage. The draining away 
 of superabundant water, especially upon stiff soils, has 
 always been the chief difficulty in English agriculture. 
 Hitherto the means employed for getting rid of it were 
 imperfect. Now, however, the problem is completely 
 solved. " Take this flower -pot," said the President of a 
 meeting in France lately ; " what is the meaning of this 
 small hole at the bottom \ to renew the water. And 
 why to renew the water \ because it gives life or death : 
 life, when it is made only to pass through the bed of 
 earth, for it leaves with the soil its productive principles, 
 and renders soluble the nutritive properties destined to 
 nourish the plant ; death, on the other hand, when it re- 
 mains in the jpt, for it soon becomes putrid, and rots the 
 roots, and also prevents new water from penetrating." 
 The theory of drainage is exactly described in this figure. 
 The new invention consists in employing cylindrical 
 tiles of burnt clay to carry off the water, instead of open 
 ditches, or trenches filled with stones or faggots, me- 
 thods known even to the ancients. These tiles are several 
 
HIGH FARMING. 183 
 
 decimetres* long, and placed end to end at the bottom 
 of trenches, which are then filled in with earth. It is 
 difficult at first to understand, without having seen the 
 effect of these tiles, how the water can get into them 
 and so escape ; but as soon as one sees a drained field, 
 not the smallest doubt of the fact can remain. The 
 tiles perform the office of the small hole always open 
 at the bottom of the flower-pot. They attract the water, 
 which comes to them from all parts, and carry it out 
 either into drain-pits, or main-drains, where the inclina- 
 tion of the land admits of it. These tiles are often made 
 by machinery, which renders their manufacture in- 
 expensive. They are made of various dimensions, and 
 laid in the trenches at a greater or less depth, and more 
 or less apart, according to the nature of the soil, and the 
 quantity of water to be drained off. The total cost for 
 purchase and laying amounts to about 4 an acre. It 
 is now generally considered that this outlay is money in- 
 vested at 10 per cent, and the farmers scarcely ever refuse 
 to add to their lease 5 per cent per annum upon the pro- 
 prietors' outlay for draining. 
 
 There is something magical in the effect of draining. 
 Both meadow and arable lands are equally benefited by 
 it. In the meadows, marsh plants disappear ; the hay pro- 
 duced is at once more abundant and of better quality.t 
 On the arable lands, even the most clayey, corn and roots 
 shoot more vigorously, and are healthier, and less seed is 
 required for a larger crop. The climate itself gains sensibly 
 by it. The health of the inhabitants is improved ; and in 
 
 * The decimetre equal to nearly four inches. 
 
 + Experience has shown, for some time past, the danger of draining grass- 
 land in the drier parts of England. I mention this exceptional fact here, in 
 order to put upon their guard those who are seeking to introduce drainage 
 into .France. One cannot be too cautious where an agricultural innovation is 
 concerned. 
 
184 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 all parts where drainage has been vigorously carried out, 
 the mists of the foggy isle seem less thick and heavy. 
 Drainage was thought of for the first time ten years ago, 
 and a million of hectares at least are already drained ; 
 everything promises that, in ten years hence, almost the 
 whole of England will be so. It is as if the island were 
 once more rising out of the sea. 
 
 The second improvement, of a general kind, which will 
 date from the last few years, is a large increase in the 
 employment of machines, and particularly of steam. 
 Previously to 1848, very few farms possessed a steam- 
 engine. Now, one may safely say that, in ten years hence, 
 the exceptions will be those without them. Smoking 
 chimneys are to be seen in all parts of the country. 
 These steam-engines are used for thrashing corn, cutting 
 fodder and roots, grinding cereals and oilcake. They are 
 also employed to raise and distribute water, to churn 
 butter, &c. Their heat is no less available than their 
 power, and serves to prepare food both for men and 
 cattle. Some movable steam-engines go from farm to 
 farm like a labourer, to do heavy work. Small portable 
 railways have been invented for conveying manure to 
 the fields, and carrying back the crops. Machines for 
 mowing and tedding hay, reaping, and digging, are now 
 under trial. Some have even undertaken to plough by 
 steam, and do not despair of success. The great desire 
 at present is to find means for turning up the soil 
 to a depth hitherto unheard of, in order to give greater 
 vigour to the arable bed. Everywhere mechanical genius 
 is making exertions to carry into agriculture the wonders 
 it has elsewhere realised. 
 
 These new processes are only new applications of old 
 principles ; but there is one which is at variance with all 
 habits, and which encounters more opposition. I have 
 
HIGH FARMING. 185 
 
 already remarked how much the pasturage of cattle was 
 held in repute by the English farmer. The new school 
 does away with this mode of feeding, and introduces 
 permanent stall-feeding (stabulation). But this improved 
 stabulation differs as much from the imperfect system 
 practised upon the Continent, as the cultivated pasture 
 differs from the coarser pastures of our poor districts. 
 Nothing is bolder, more ingenious, more characteristic of 
 the spirit of enterprise among the English than the pre- 
 sent system of stabulation, such as has been first prac- 
 tised in clay districts by the inventors, and which tends 
 to extend itself everywhere. 
 
 Suppose a cattle-house, thoroughly aired,, usually con- 
 structed of open planking, with mats of straw, which are 
 raised or lowered at pleasure for the purpose of sheltering 
 the animals, in case of need, from the wind, sun, or rain. 
 The cattle, usually of the short-horned Durham breed, are 
 there shut up loose in boxes, where they remain till ready 
 for the shambles. The flooring under them is pierced 
 with holes, to allow their evacuations to fall into a 
 trench below. Beside them is a stone trough, with abun- 
 dance of water ; and others contain an unlimited quantity 
 of food. This food is sometimes composed of chopped 
 roots, bruised beans, crushed oilcake ; sometimes a mix- 
 ture of chopped hay and straw and bruised barley ; the 
 whole more or less boiled in large boilers, heated by the 
 steam-engine, and fermented some hours in closed vats. 
 This extraordinary food, the appearance of which con- 
 founds a French agriculturist, fattens the cattle with great 
 rapidity. Milch cows even may be submitted to this 
 seclusion. Examples of this stall-feeding are found even 
 in the counties most renowned for their dairies, those of 
 Cheshire and Gloucestershire. The animals are there 
 fed on green meat, and the strictest attention is paid 
 
186 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 to ventilation, and having the sheds thoroughly lighted 
 and clean, warm in winter, and cool in summer, protected 
 from variations in temperature, and from all that might 
 disturb or annoy the cows, which there live in a con- 
 stant state of ease and quiet very favourable to the 
 secretion of milk. 
 
 The manure which accumulates in the trench is not 
 mixed with any kind of litter ; it has been thought much 
 more profitable to make the cattle eat the straw. This 
 manure is very rich, owing to the quantity of oily sub- 
 stances contained in the food of the animals, a portion of 
 which is not assimilated by digestion, notwithstanding all 
 the means used for that purpose. This manure is taken 
 out every three months, when required for use. In the 
 mean time, it is neither washed by rain nor dried by the 
 sun, as is too often the case with the manure-heap ex- 
 posed in the farmyards. A light sprinkling of earth or 
 other absorbent hinders or retards the disengagement of 
 ammonia, and its consequent dissipation in the atmo- 
 sphere. In entering these sheds, the absence of smell is 
 remarkable. The manure in this way preserves all the 
 fertilising elements which escape elsewhere and poison 
 the air, in place of fertilising the soil. Sometimes it is 
 employed in a solid state for cereals, sometimes diluted 
 with water, and applied in a liquid state to meadow- 
 land. 
 
 Pigs, like oxen, are fed indoors, and upon perforated 
 flooring : their food is similar. Sheep alone are still fed 
 out of doors, but they also are immured as much as may 
 be. No bad effect upon the health of one or other has 
 yet been perceived from this strict confinement ; pro- 
 vided they enjoy constant pure air in their prison, and 
 have the necessary space to move about that is to say, 
 a yard square for a sheep or a pig, and two to three 
 
HIGH FARMING. 187 
 
 yards square for a bullock it is said that they thrive 
 excellently. Exercise in the open air, hitherto con- 
 sidered necessary, is now looked upon as a loss, which 
 shows itself by a diminution in weight. 
 
 One cannot help feeling sorry to see these poor ani- 
 mals, whose congeners still cover the immense pastures 
 of Great Britain, thus deprived of their liberty, and pre- 
 vented from moving about, and in thinking that the day 
 may perhaps come when all the English cattle which now 
 enjoy the green pastures will be shut up in melancholy 
 cloisters, which they will leave only for the slaughter- 
 house. These manufactories of meat, milk, and manure, 
 where the living animal is absolutely treated as a machine, 
 have something about them revolting, like a butcher's 
 stall ; and after a visit to one of these stalled prisons, 
 where the process of making the staple food of the English 
 is so grossly carried on, one takes a loathing at meat for 
 several days. But the great voice of necessity speaks out. 
 Every energy must be used to feed that population which 
 unceasingly multiplies, and whose wants increase in a 
 greater ratio than their numbers. The cost of producing 
 meat must be lowered as much as possible, in order to 
 obtain a profit with the new scale of prices. 
 
 Adieu, then, to the pastoral scenes of which England 
 was so proud, and which poetry and painting vied with 
 each other to celebrate. Two only chances remain to 
 them ; and these are, that some new discovery may be 
 made for raising the produce of pasturage to the same 
 height as that which stabulation now gives, or that 
 further experience may show some detriment to the cattle 
 from this confinement. Already complaints are made 
 about the quality of the meat so abundantly produced 
 in this way ; it is said that the oilcake gives it a bad 
 taste, and that the excess of fat on the Durham cattle 
 
188 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 and Dishley sheep renders the meat neither very agree- 
 able nor so nourishing. It is possible that this is an 
 evil in the new system, and that pasturage, surpassed 
 in quantity, maintains its position for the quality of its 
 produce ; it is possible, also, that some new disease may 
 suddenly develop itself among these inert and unnaturally 
 fattened races, and oblige a new infusion of more energetic 
 blood. In any case we may depend upon this, that the 
 old-fashioned pasturing will not be given up without a 
 struggle ; if it is destined to disappear, it will be because 
 of there being no other alternative. The most likely 
 result is the adoption of a mixed system, partaking of 
 the advantages of both methods. * 
 
 "While by means of the improved pasture farmers suc- 
 ceeded in keeping at most one head of large cattle or 
 its equivalent to one hectare in cultivation, which was 
 already much more than could be done in France, it is 
 now maintained that by stabulation they will be able to 
 keep two, and even three, and so increase considerably the 
 production of cereals. In that case, all the land becomes 
 arable ; and the Norfolk rotation may be applied over the 
 whole extent of the property, in place of being confined to 
 a half. Such are the changes which take place in things 
 human ; agriculture is subject to them like all else. 
 Hitherto it was the use of the pasture-land which, by 
 increasing the number of cattle, and reducing the breadth 
 of cereals, swelled the average return of the corn-land. 
 Now the reduction or abolition of pasturage, while it 
 further increases the number of cattle, supplies fresh 
 means for increasing the fertility of the soil, and conse- 
 quently the production of corn for human consumption. 
 
 * We believe this last conjecture is that most likely to be realised. Box-feed 
 ing and soiling is not gaining so rapidly in favour as to cause us any anxiety, 
 either as to the desertion of our pastures, or the comfort and health of our 
 stock. J. D. 
 
HIGH FARMING. 189 
 
 We have already noticed that, in the present state of 
 things, a farm of 175 acres, taken in average condition, 
 would have 75 in grass and natural pasture, 20 in roots 
 and pulse crops, 20 in barley and oats, 40 in artificial 
 grasses, and 20 in wheat. By the new system, pushed to 
 its greatest extent, the natural meadows would disappear, 
 and the 175 acres would be thus divided, 35 in roots 
 or pulse crops, 35 in barley and oats, 70 in artificial 
 grasses, and 35 in wheat. The proportion of improv- 
 ing crops to exhausting, which in the first case was 
 135 to 30, would in the second be only 105 to 70 ; but 
 this difference, it is said, would be more than compensated 
 by the additional quantity of manure, since, instead of 
 feeding 70 head of cattle, 150 or their equivalent might 
 be kept, and not an atom of manure would be lost. 
 
 Can the extension of roots, pulse crops, and artificial 
 grasses, at the expense of natural pasture, really give, as 
 is affirmed, two or three times more food for cattle 1 
 This question is already, in many respects, proved by 
 facts. All these crops are improved together, and, with 
 the aid of draining and machinery, carried to their 
 maximum. The cultivation o'f turnips in drills, called the 
 Northumberland system, nearly doubles their produce ; 
 the rutabagas, or swedes, which are substituted for 
 English turnips on clay lands, give a better result ; and 
 a still larger increase is obtained from the artificial mea- 
 dows since two new methods have been introduced for 
 rendering vegetation more active : the first is the use 
 of a particular kind of rye-grass, called Italian rye-grass ; 
 the second an improved method for distributing liquid 
 manure. 
 
 The Italian rye-grass is a plant remarkable for its rapid 
 growth. It lasts only two years ; but under favourable 
 circumstances it may lie cut as many as eight times in one 
 
190 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 season. The hay it gives is hard, but, consumed in the 
 green state, it is excellent. It thrives even in the coldest 
 districts, notwithstanding its name and origin ; and it is 
 fast coming into general use both in England and Scot- 
 land. If it realises the expectations formed of it, it 
 would seem to be superior to lucerne. 
 
 As to the mode of distributing the liquid manure, it is 
 certainly the most original and curious part of the system. 
 It was invented by Mr Huxtable of Dorsetshire, the prin- 
 cipal promoter of the new agricultural revolution. It 
 is as follows : The evacuations of the cattle, after 
 falling into trenches running under the stalls, pass 
 through pipes into a reservoir, where they are mixed 
 with water and fertilising substances ; from thence other 
 pipes branch off underground to the extremities of the 
 property. At distances of every fifty or sixty yards are 
 placed vertical pipes rising from the conducting-pipe to 
 the surface of the ground, the orifice of which is closed 
 by a cap. When it is desired to manure a part of the 
 land, the cap is removed from one of the vertical pipes, 
 and a gutta-percha tube fitted on ; a pump put in motion 
 by the steam-engine drives the liquid through the pipes, 
 and the man who holds the movable tube waters around 
 him as from a fire-engine. A man and a boy are able to 
 manure in this way five acres a-day. 
 
 The expense of the pipes and pumps amounts to about 
 80s. per acre where earthenware pipes are employed, and 
 4 where they are made of cast iron. The construction 
 of reservoirs and setting up a steam-engine constitute a 
 separate expense, and ought not to be included in the 
 estimate, since both the one and the other are hence- 
 forth indispensable in every well-ordered farm. The 
 laying of the pipes becomes then an economy rather than 
 an expense. The outlay for first cost and keeping up is 
 
HIGH FARMING. 191 
 
 very soon regained by the saving in manual labour and 
 time, and the results obtained are splendid. Vegetation 
 very quickly takes up the enriching properties thus 
 divided and distributed in showers. The effect of the 
 application is in some degree immediate ; and it may be 
 constantly exhausted, since it can be constantly renewed. 
 
 This ingenious invention is evidently destined to meet 
 with the greatest success. Mr Huxtable began upon 
 sixty acres ; but now there are farms, particularly in 
 Ayrshire, where these pipes extend over five hundred. It 
 has the merit of being adapted to all systems of cultiva- 
 tion, and may be the means even of preventing the doing 
 away with pasturage : it is capable of application in 
 all climates, and may be carried on in hot countries, 
 where it would effect much greater wonders. It appears 
 capable of a still wider application than drainage, and it 
 can hardly be too strongly recommended to the attention 
 of French farmers. 
 
 Owing to this increased quantity of manure, enhanced 
 still further by all the artificial manures which the ima- 
 gination has been able to discover, the return from cereals 
 may be increased in the same proportion as animal pro- 
 duction. Upon lands cultivated under the new methods, 
 the average return amounts to forty-four bushels per 
 acre of wheat, fifty-five bushels per acre of barley, and 
 sixty-six bushels per acre of oats : as the extent of wheat- 
 sown land is at the same time much increased, the total 
 production is more than doubled. These are not mere 
 speculations, but facts realised in many parts of the 
 United Kingdom. In every county there is one farm at 
 least where some rich proprietor is not afraid to make 
 these trials, and the body of farmers observe, study, and, 
 according to the extent of their resources, copy what is 
 successful. 
 
192 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 The whole of the system can only be advantageously 
 practised in the districts most favourable to the produc- 
 tion of cereals that is to say, in the south-east, where 
 the crisis told the most severely. In the west and north, 
 cereals are being almost entirely given up. Division of 
 labour thus makes a fresh step : the cultivation of cereals 
 becomes extended upon the lands most adapted for them, 
 and is diminished on those least favourable to their pro- 
 duction. Upon the whole, it does not appear that the 
 proportion of corn-sown lands ought sensibly to change. 
 In those districts where the attention of farmers is being 
 more and more directed to the feeding of cattle, the re- 
 sults obtained solely by means of stabulation and the use 
 of liquid manure, if not better, are at least more certain. 
 I will quote but one example the farm of Cunning 
 Park, in Ayrshire. This farm, which is only fifty acres 
 in extent, was, previously to the crisis, in the average 
 condition of England. The rent did not exceed 25s. per 
 acre, and the gross produce 4 per acre ; now the gross 
 produce reaches 24 per acre, and the net at least 8. 
 Nevertheless, Cunning Park produces only milk and 
 butter ; but as a result of the new methods, it now 
 supports forty-eight in place of ten cows, and each of 
 these cows is much more productive. 
 
 Such are the general features of the present agricultural 
 revolution high farming, as it is called. I must, however, 
 point out one more circumstance which may serve still 
 further to characterise the system the war waged against 
 hedges and game. 
 
 When pasturage was the leading feature in English 
 farming, large hedges had their use, but as stabulation 
 increased that use diminished ; they may, moreover, be 
 replaced by low hedges or other enclosures. Farmers 
 now find them only inconveniences ; they take up a 
 
HIGH FARMING. 193 
 
 great deal of room, their shade and their roots are both 
 hurtful to the crops, and they give shelter to a host of 
 birds, which devour the seed. The majority of pro- 
 prietors are still opposed to their destruction ; first, be- 
 cause the prunings and thinnings of the hedgerow trees 
 bring them in an income, and then because these hedges 
 contribute greatly to the beauty of the landscape. But 
 some have already cleared them away, and the rest will 
 have to yield, at least to a certain extent; for the public, 
 impressed with the importance . of the question, declares 
 itself more and more every day in favour of the farmer. 
 A similar fate is evidently reserved for the game, the 
 increase of which has hitherto been favoured by the 
 severity of the Game Laws, to the great injury of. crops. 
 Opinion, so favourable in England to large property, and 
 at the same time so exacting with regard to it, begins 
 to make it a matter of duty with landlords to sacrifice 
 their pleasure to the new necessities of production. 
 
 While assisting in this peaceable contest, the issue of 
 which cannot be doubted, one cannot help feeling that 
 abuses of the same nature w r ere one cause of the French 
 Eevolution. In order to preserve themselves from the 
 ravages of the seignioral hares and rabbits, our farmers 
 found no better method than to demolish the chateaus, 
 and kill or drive out their proprietors. English farmers 
 exhibit more patience and moderation, and they are no 
 less successful in attaining their end without violence. 
 Their only weapon is the obstinate representation of their 
 grievances. They quietly calculate how many acres of 
 land are thrown out of cultivation by large hedges how 
 many hares it takes to consume the food of one sheep. 
 It is a common and frequent saying among them, that 
 they are obliged to pay three rents the first to the 
 proprietor, the second to his hedges, and the third to his 
 
 N 
 
194 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 game. In some districts they have clubbed together to 
 purchase the right of shooting, and have then set about 
 exterminating the hares, which pays better than killing 
 the landlords. 
 
 All these works of drainage, construction of buildings 
 for stabulation, erection of steam-engines, &c., involve 
 great outlays. The expense to the proprietor may be 
 estimated at about 8 per acre, and that of the farmer 
 4. On the strong lands it must necessarily be more, 
 but on the light much less. This fruitful outlay accom- 
 plished and well executed, of course rents and profits rise 
 beyond their former figure, and that even in places where 
 they have been the least affected by the fall ; it also pro- 
 duces an adequate return upon the new capital put into 
 the soil. The land will then produce at least one-third 
 more of alimentary substances. The gross average pro- 
 duction, which was equal before to 3 per acre, will then 
 be 4, 10s., while the average rent will probably rise to 
 30s., and the farmer's profit to 18s. per acre. 
 
 The only question is this, Are proprietors and farmers 
 in a condition to furnish the required capital? The 
 question is one involving no less an amount than four or 
 five hundred millions sterling. For any other country 
 than the United Kingdom such an undertaking would be 
 impossible ; for her even it is an arduous one, but only 
 arduous. The nation which, in the course of a quarter 
 of a century, has spent 240,000,000 upon railways 
 alone, may well employ twice that amount in renewing 
 its agriculture. 
 
 The Government felt the necessity for setting the 
 example. In 1846, at the time when it was thought 
 desirable to bring about lower prices, it allowed itself to 
 depart from its established principle of non-interference 
 
HIGH FARMING. 195 
 
 with private enterprise, and proposed to the proprietors 
 to lend them 3,000,000 for draining, to be secured on 
 mortgage, redeemable by payment of interest for twenty- 
 two years at the rate of 6^ per cent per annum a prin- 
 ciple very like our General Land Loan Association (So- 
 ci&te general de credit fonder). This first loan having 
 succeeded, Government made others, and a great num- 
 ber of proprietors in the three kingdoms have availed 
 themselves of the advance. Private capital has followed 
 the impulse. The suffering proprietors who were possessed 
 of personal property, or had securities upon which they 
 could borrow, passed through the crisis with credit ; but 
 those who were already embarrassed, struggled sorely. 
 About a tenth of the English proprietors found them- 
 selves in this latter position, and for these, economists and 
 agricultural authorities discovered no better remedy than 
 to help them to the sale or division of their real property. 
 To do this at the present day is a difficult and expen- 
 sive proceeding, owing to the uncertainty of titles. A 
 class of lawyers live by the examination of titles, and the 
 confusion which there reigns. It was proposed to adopt 
 a system of registration like ours, in order to regulate 
 and facilitate transfers : the ideas promulgated upon 
 this subject are of the most radical kind. They go the 
 length of requiring that landed property should be trans- 
 ferred as easily as the funds or other movable property, 
 and demand no less than that a book should be opened 
 for the registration of real property, legal extracts from 
 which shall constitute titles, and these to be transferable 
 by endorsation. Everybody must admit that we are far 
 from holding antiquated ideas upon the fixity of pro- 
 perty, and those who propose this reform are not 
 visionaries, but serious writers, and justly respected. 
 
196 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 The subject is even under the consideration of Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 For the farmers, leases of twenty-one years are asked, 
 which will allow them to make the necessary advances, 
 with a certainty of reimbursing themselves. At the same 
 time it is proposed to do away with the farms of too 
 limited extent where the tenants have not sufficient 
 capital, and to effect a subdivision of the too large for 
 the same reason. Those farmers who have not sufficient 
 capital drop off like the involved proprietors ; such as 
 remain close the ranks as in a combat, and in a short 
 time all will disappear. 
 
 All this, no doubt, constitutes an immense revolution. 
 Agriculture changes from a natural, and becomes more 
 and more a manufacturing process ; each field will 
 henceforth be a kind of machine, worked in every sense 
 by the hand of man, pierced below by all kinds of canals, 
 some for carrying off water, others for bringing manure, 
 and who can tell \ perhaps also to convey hot or cold 
 air as required, for effecting the most rapid changes on 
 its surface ; the steam-engine sends forth its columns of 
 smoke over the green landscapes celebrated by Thom- 
 son. The peculiar charm of the English fields threatens 
 to disappear with the green fields and hedges ; the feudal 
 character is weakened by the destruction of the game ; 
 parks themselves are attacked as depriving the plough 
 of too much space. At the same time, property is un- 
 dergoing a change ; it is being divided, and in part pass- 
 ing into new hands ; while the farmer, with long leases, 
 becomes more and more enfranchised from the authority 
 of his landlord. 
 
 There is involved in all this more than an agricultural 
 question the whole body of English society is affected 
 
HIGH FARMING. 197 
 
 by it. It must not be supposed that the English make 
 no revolutions ; on the contrary, they revolutionise to a 
 great extent ; they are always at it, but in their own 
 quiet way : thus they attempt only what is possible and 
 really useful ; and one may be sure that at the close 
 there will be complete satisfaction without the entire 
 destruction of the past. 
 
198 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE SOUTHEEN COUNTIES. 
 
 TAKING a rapid glance separately at each of the divisions 
 of the United Kingdom, will only confirm what a preli- 
 minary examination of the whole system of English rural 
 economy has already shown us. 
 
 England proper is divided into forty counties, the ave- 
 rage area of which is about half that of one of our French 
 departments, but they are very unequal in size. But- 
 land is scarcely larger than one of our cantons, while 
 York alone is equal to two of our largest departments. 
 They are commonly divided into five groups southern, 
 eastern, midland, western, and northern. I begin with 
 the southern, the poorest of the five, because it is the first 
 which presents itself to those arriving from France. This 
 group contains seven counties. 
 
 Landing at Dover, we enter the county of Kent. 
 French travellers are led to judge of England by the 
 country they pass through between Dover and London. 
 Kent, indeed, presents the ordinary features of English 
 landscape, and may give to a foreigner a general idea 
 of the rest of the island ; but in reality it has a character 
 peculiar to itself; and the English, more alive than we 
 are to the differences, may truly say that it forms an ex- 
 ception to all the other counties. The exceptional points 
 are everywhere visible, in the crops, the extent of the 
 
THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES. 199 
 
 farms, and even the laws which govern it. Kent once 
 formed a distinct kingdom of itself, and in a country so 
 tenacious of old customs, some remains of them are still 
 found there. 
 
 Geologically speaking, Kent belongs to the great clay 
 basin of which London is the centre. Such land, in the 
 present state of British agriculture, being the worst culti- 
 vated and the least productive, this county may be con- 
 sidered in arrear of the greater part of the kingdom ; still 
 it is not so far behind as the .neighbouring counties of 
 Surrey and Sussex, although the clay of these is not of 
 such a refractory nature, and notwithstanding the benefit 
 they must derive from the impulse which is given to 
 industry by the great commerce of the Thames and the 
 neighbourhood of the capital. The subsoil is calcareous. 
 A line of chalk hills runs along the coast, forming those 
 white cliffs from which the island received its name of 
 Albion. 
 
 In 1847, the rent of land in Kent was nearly equal 
 to the average; that is to say, 20s. to 25s. per acre, tak- 
 ing arable and uncultivated lands together. This is high, 
 no doubt, compared to the average of rents in France, 
 but nothing as compared to the central and northern 
 parts of the island. English agriculturists disapprove 
 of the mode of cultivation still practised in Kent, but it 
 was formerly considered one of the best cultivated coun- 
 ties in the country. It has retained most of its ancient 
 methods of tillage, which have been discarded by the 
 wealthy and skilful farmers of the north. It may be said 
 that the agricultural revolution commenced by Arthur 
 Young has not reached this quarter, and that it follows 
 more the old English system than the modern. The 
 rich grass-cultivation, the pride and peculiar feature of 
 Britain, is, there little adopted. The wet lands by the 
 
200 EURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 banks of the rivers form almost the only natural mea- 
 dows, excepting, however, the celebrated Komney marsh, 
 one of the richest pastures in the kingdom, situated upon 
 the coast, and covering an area of about forty thousand 
 acres. There the fine race of sheep, known as the New 
 Kent, takes its rise, which combines with a high quality 
 of mutton the advantage of a wool superior to other 
 English breeds. 
 
 With the exception of this valuable breed of sheep, 
 there is nothing remarkable in the stock of Kent : the 
 great national types are not to be found there. The crops 
 even are not what they ought to be, although for some time 
 past improved methods of tillage have been spreading. 
 The agricultural crisis fell severely upon Kent, and induced 
 new efforts. Drainage is extending, and appears destined 
 to alter the character of the clay lands ; but, generally 
 speaking, the old system prevails. Everybody must have 
 remarked, in passing, the heavy plough of the district, 
 drawn by four horses, when two would suffice, and all 
 the rest is just in keeping. 
 
 While the entire island devotes itself to two or three 
 main crops, Kent remains faithful to those special produc- 
 tions which have acquired for it the name of the garden 
 of England. It grows half the hops produced in the king- 
 dom. In the Isle of Thanet, all kinds of seeds are pro- 
 duced for the supply of the London seedsmen ; while 
 those parts nearest to the capital are occupied by kitchen 
 gardens on a large scale. There are to be seen orchards, 
 and whole fields of vegetables. The number of villa resi- 
 dences belonging to the wealthier inhabitants of London 
 is also considerable. The extent of the farms varies a good 
 deal, but small and middling farming prevails. Many 
 are not more than ten to fifteen acres, few exceed two 
 hundred acres. The reasons for this are many ; but the 
 
THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES. 201 
 
 chief cause is to be found in the peculiar laws which relate 
 to land in this part of the country. 
 
 In Kent, the fixed property of the head of a family 
 dying intestate, does not by law descend absolutely to 
 the oldest son, as is the case in the rest of England. 
 Lands, except such as come under a special act of the 
 legislature, are held in gavdkind ; that is to say, divided 
 in equal portions among the sons of the father dying 
 without a will, and, in default of male children, among his 
 daughters. This is supposed to have been the common 
 practice in England before the Norman conquest, but it 
 now exists only in Kent and a few other localities. This 
 ancient custom, more than anything else, has tended to 
 the subdivision of land ; and in this respect, as well as in 
 some other particulars, Kent resembles more a province 
 of France than an English county. It is true that the 
 national feeling is against this dispensation of the law, 
 which is not the case with us. Most parents take care to 
 provide for the oldest son by will ; others desire to have 
 their property placed by special law upon the footing of 
 equal right. The number of yeomen, or proprietors who 
 cultivate their own lands, is still considerable in Kent; 
 but this class, found only there and in certain mountain- 
 ous districts, begins to disappear before the new constitu- 
 tion of property and farming. 
 
 Kent is among the most populous counties in England ; 
 it contains about five hundred and fifty thousand inha- 
 bitants'* upon an area of one million acres, or more than 
 one head to two acres, which is about the same popula- 
 tion as our department of the Bas-Khin. Fortunately 
 this population is not solely dependent upon its agricul- 
 ture for subsistence. If industry, properly speaking, is 
 rather inactive, commerce at least is flourishing, owing 
 
 * By the last census, six hundred thousand. 
 
202 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 to the numerous ports upon its coast. The condition 
 also of the people appears to be better in Kent than in 
 the neighbouring counties. The average wage of a 
 working man is about 12s. a- week, or 2s. per working 
 day. 
 
 Upon the whole, Kent does not exhibit any striking 
 feature, either good or bad, to the observer. In general 
 appearance, as well as from its situation, it forms a sort 
 of transition between the north-west of France and Eng- 
 land. Greatly superior as an agricultural country to the 
 average of our departments, it is, upon the whole, in- 
 ferior to our best, such as the departments of the Nord 
 and Seine Inferieure. Travellers generally pass rapidly 
 through it in order to get to London ; we shall therefore 
 linger upon it no longer. Everywhere else but in Eng- 
 land, a district which had arrived at this point of pro- 
 duction and population would be worthy of more minute 
 observation, but here it is nothing out of the common. 
 Even the scenery, which the English talk so much about, 
 is pretty without being very remarkable. In nothing is 
 it beyond the average, whether in picturesque beauty or 
 agricultural richness. 
 
 To the south-west of Kent lies the ancient kingdom of 
 the southern Saxons, now the county of Sussex. The 
 average rent of land here falls to 18s. per acre. Wages 
 also are lower than in Kent, the average being 10s. per 
 week, or Is. 8d. per working day. 
 
 The area of Sussex is nearly equal to that of Kent. 
 The population is only three hundred thousand,* or a 
 little less than one to three acres. What is called the 
 Weald occupies about half its area, and is perhaps the 
 most backward part of the whole of England in point of 
 agriculture ; this is mostly attributable to the extremely 
 
 * By last census, three hundred and thirty thousand. 
 
THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES. 203 
 
 argillaceous nature of its soil. In former times this part 
 of the country was covered with dense forests, as indicated 
 by its name, which signifies wood. It was here that the 
 once extensive forest of Andraswald grew, where Sige- 
 bert king of Wessex was slain by a swine-herd. The 
 Weald is still famed at the present day for the number 
 of fine trees which it produces. It is divided into farms 
 of from fifty to two hundred acres, rented at from 5s. to 
 15s. per acre, but even at these rates most of the far- 
 mers cannot make it pay. Generally speaking, they are 
 men without capital, and as ignorant as they are poor ; 
 before the low prices, they had scarcely anything to live 
 upon, and now they are extremely ill off. Wherever 
 rents are high in England, farmers are better off than 
 where they are low ; poverty and inferiority seem to 
 league themselves together in the one case, and success 
 with wealth in the other. 
 
 Improved implements are little known in the Weald ; 
 thrashing with the flail is still practised there. This is 
 the only part of England, too, where they still employ 
 oxen for tillage. These animals, which are strong and 
 of a large size, are a contrast to the other national 
 breeds ; and the cows, as is the case with all working 
 races, are bad milkers. In passing through the Weald, 
 one might fancy they were in one of our second-rate 
 provinces. 
 
 The Duke of Eichmond, who is one of the largest 
 landed proprietors in England, and who pays a good deal 
 of attention to agriculture, has his principal seat Good- 
 wood in Sussex. He was one of the leaders of the 
 crusade against Free Trade. 
 
 It is evident that the Weald cannot remain in its pre- 
 sent state. To use the expression of Sir Kobert Peel, no- 
 where is a large infusion of capital more necessary : but 
 
204 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 this capital is not easily found ; it does not exist, cer- 
 tainly, on the spot. The proprietors themselves, not 
 being wealthy, are scarcely better able than their tenants 
 to make advances. The money must come from other 
 quarters, by a change either in the farming or the pro- 
 perty, although such crises are always to be lamented. If 
 the large system of farming is to be introduced and in 
 the existing state of ideas and capital in England, it is 
 difficult to see how the resistance of the soil can be other- 
 wise overcome what is to become of that population of 
 small tenant-farmers which for generations have gone on 
 increasing under shelter of the old system \ These un- 
 fortunates, who have cultivated their native soil for gene- 
 rations past, will be forced to emigrate. Such is the 
 decree of modern fate : whoever does not know how to 
 produce enough, is rejected as a burden on the com- 
 munity. 
 
 Several successful attempts demonstrate what the land 
 of Sussex may become in the hands of men of ability 
 and capital. Among these, as foreshadowing its future, 
 is the farm of Hove, near Brighton, tenanted by Mr 
 Rigden, containing about 740 acres, and let for 1300, 
 which makes the rent equal to 35s. per acre. The taxes 
 amount to 150, insurances 100 ; altogether about 
 1550. The annual working expenses are 3000, divided 
 as follows : wages, 1700 ; tradesmen's accounts, 350 ; 
 cost of manure and seeds, 950; total annual expenses, 
 6 per acre. Besides this, Mr Rigden expended on 
 entering the farm 12,000, or about 16 per acre, to 
 bring it into condition. This capital, according to the 
 recognised rule in such cases in England, ought to give 
 a return of ten per cent. Mr Rigden should, therefore, 
 in order to be recompensed, obtain a gross return of 
 about 7, 12s. per acre, or a total of 5600. This is 
 
THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES. 205 
 
 a specimen of large English farming in all its mag- 
 nificence. 
 
 The following is the rotation followed : forty acres in 
 permanent pasture ; of the remaining seven hundred, half 
 is in grain, and the other half in forage crops. The three 
 hundred and fifty acres of grain are thus divided : wheat, 
 two hundred and fifty ; barley forty, and sixty in oats. Of 
 the three hundred and fifty acres in forage crops, twenty 
 are in beetroot ; twelve, turnips ; forty-two, swedes ; six, 
 carrots ; fifty, potatoes ; ten, cabbages ; and the remainder 
 in clover, rye-grass, lucerne, sainfoin, and vetches. This 
 proportion differs a little from that usually followed in 
 England, inasmuch as it gives a greater breadth to wheat 
 and a less to turnips ; but this is owing to the nature of 
 the soil, which is more suitable for wheat than barley, 
 and for roots than green crops. 
 
 Mr Eigden has sold every year, even after the reduc- 
 tion in prices, more than 2400 worth of wheat and 
 barley. The stock he keeps is as follows : three hundred 
 and fifty Southdowns, of the best breed ; twenty tups ; 
 twenty-one milch cows ; twenty-eight farm-horses, and 
 a small number of pigs. He does not fatten sheep, but 
 sells annually about two hundred and fifty lambs of six 
 months, and about a hundred ewes of four years old, which 
 he replaces from his younger stock. This branch of his 
 farming brings him in about 500. On account of the 
 high reputation of his stock, his young lambs fetch 20s. 
 a-piece, and the ewes and rams more than double that 
 price. His milch cows give an average of nearly twelve 
 quarts of milk per day ; this milk sells at Brighton for 2d. 
 per quart, making the return from each cow about 35 
 a-year. Taking into account the sale of calves and fattened 
 cows, this department brings in some 700 or 800. In 
 addition, Mr Eigden must sell about 2000 worth of 
 
206 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 straw, hay, and potatoes. For his hay and straw the 
 vicinity of Brighton insures a market, owing to the num- 
 ber of horses which are there during the bathing season. 
 Of his twenty-eight farm-horses, seven are almost con- 
 stantly employed carrying produce to market and bring- 
 ing back manure. 
 
 Mr Bigden's example has hitherto had few imitators ; 
 everybody, indeed, has not 12,000 to invest in a farm, 
 especially in a district like Sussex, where agriculture has 
 suffered for a length of time. Nevertheless a beginning 
 has been made, and it may be confidently asserted that 
 in the course of a few years the transformation will be 
 in full play. Two railways one from Dover to Brighton, 
 and the other from Tunbridge to Hastings cross the 
 Weald, while other two lines skirt it, the Dover and 
 London, and Dover and Chichester. Its situation brings 
 it close to the two great markets of London and Brighton, 
 and under such circumstances it is scarcely possible for 
 it to escape the influence of the revolution now going on 
 in agriculture. 
 
 Next the Weald, the county of Sussex presents one 
 of the most primitive and prosperous districts of Great 
 Britain what are called the Southdowns. The soil of 
 these hills is poor and arid, and resists all attempts at 
 cultivation. This very sterility has proved their fortune. 
 From time immemorial they have been covered with 
 flocks of sheep, that feed upon the short but sapid 
 grass, which is manured by their excretions. We have 
 already noticed that the sheep are the stock of the breed 
 called Southdowns, now the most esteemed. The chief 
 amusement of the wealthier classes of the English who 
 flock to Brighton in the season, is riding over these 
 immense downs, where there is nothing to interfere with 
 them no trees, and very little heath or shrubs, but one 
 
THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES. 207 
 
 uninterrupted green carpet of fine close grass. Under 
 this apparent neglect, however, and leaving of the land 
 to itself, this desolate-looking country, inhabited only by 
 sheep, is nevertheless the field of a skilful and lucrative 
 kind of farming. 
 
 Kents in Surrey should be pretty much the same 
 as in Sussex, for the soil naturally is not better. The 
 southern portion of the county touches the Weald, and 
 partakes of all its disadvantages. On the west is an- 
 other kind of barrenness, consisting of unsound moors, 
 which farming has not yet everywhere ventured upon, 
 because it would not pay the expense of cultivation. As 
 for the north and east, London occupies the whole of 
 this with its environs and immense dependencies ; all 
 the right bank of the Thames at London, occupied by 
 the borough of Southwark, is part of the county of 
 Surrey. 
 
 Surrey, therefore, is of no importance as an agricul- 
 tural county ; its large population is more urban than 
 rural. It is, besides, of no great extent, having an area of 
 only about 450,000 acres, about equal to one of our 
 arrondissements. It is, however, the county most visited 
 by foreigners, owing to its vicinity to London, and the 
 number of fine residences, regal and other, which it con- 
 tains. Kew, Richmond, Hampton Court, Twickenham, 
 Claremont, and Weybridge, are all within it ; and Wind- 
 sor, the Versailles of England, is quite close. The beauty 
 of Surrey has always been celebrated, and not without 
 reason. A few miles above London, the Thames is 
 neither more nor less than a park river, whose clear 
 waters, covered with swans, wind through green mea- 
 dows and under the shade of magnificent trees ; its 
 banks are studded with mansions and parks, interspersed 
 with elegant villas and pretty cottages ; well-kept roads, 
 
208 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 running throughout this enchanting country, disclose its 
 beauties at every turn. 
 
 Every nation has its peculiar taste in gardening. The 
 Italian gardens are works of art, where sculpture and 
 architecture subject even the trees to ornamental effect ; 
 French gardens consist of long alleys cut in deep woods, 
 and elegant parterres where verdant shrubs and flowers 
 mingle their colours and forms. English gardens have 
 nothing of this ; they are entirely rural. The taste of 
 the people is pastoral ; they are essentially agriculturists 
 and sportsmen even more than naval. Properly speaking, 
 they have no woods, but trees scattered here and there 
 over large grass fields ; and instead of footpaths, they 
 have roads : nothing artificial, or having the appearance 
 of arrangement real country, brought to perfection by 
 the freshness of the turf, the beauty of the trees and 
 flocks, depth of horizons, and happy distribution of water 
 the useful and pleasurable, in fact, united ; art aspir- 
 ing no further than to separate nature from its rough- 
 ness and decay, in order to leave it adorned with all 
 its loveliness and fruitfulness. Such is the appearance 
 which the county of Surrey presents. The undulating 
 character of the country (as the English, who like to 
 apply sea terms to things on the land, call it) adds 
 beauty to its perspectives. Thomson thus sung more 
 than a century ago : 
 
 " Say shall we ascend, 
 While radiant Summer opens all its pride, 
 Thy hill, delightful Shene ! Here let us sweep 
 The boundless landscape. 
 
 Heavens ! what a goodly prospect spreads around, 
 Of hills, and dales, and woods, and lawns, and spires, 
 And glittering towns and gilded streams, till all 
 The stretching landscape into smoke decays ! 
 Happy BRITANNIA ! where the Queen of Arts, 
 Inspiring vigour, liberty abroad 
 
THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES. 209 
 
 Walks, unconfin'd, even to thy farthest cots, 
 And scatters plenty with unsparing hand. 
 
 Unmatch'd thy guardian oaks ; thy valleys float 
 With golden waves ; and on thy mountains flocks 
 Bleat numberless ; while, roving round their sides, 
 Bellow the blackening herds in lusty droves." 
 
 Every Englishman who enters Surrey cannot fail to 
 respond to these lines. It is not the soil, however, 
 which has done these wonders, because, naturally arid 
 in the high, and marshy in the low grounds, it has 
 been brought to its present state only by dint of 
 labour. 
 
 Even the commons, which are here and there to be 
 met with, covered with their furze and broom and heather, 
 contribute by their wildness to give an agreeable variety 
 to the view. Everything in England has its charm for 
 the English ; and so, in fact, has the uncultivated land in 
 the midst of the cultivated. These commons are inter- 
 sected by numerous paths, and filled with people wan- 
 dering about ; they are, as it were, souvenirs of the 
 ancient state of the country, a kind of prelude to those 
 immense Highland moors so dear to tourists and poets. 
 The young Amazons of the neighbouring villas there gal- 
 lop their horses with the same freedom as if they were 
 riding over an American savannah, and a foreigner 
 cannot but admire that ingenuity which can turn the 
 poverty of the soil into a source of pleasure and luxury. 
 
 Every part of this suburb of London has its historical 
 recollections. The greatest men of England statesmen, 
 poets, and warriors have resided there. Even we 
 Frenchmen begin to stock it with sacred spots ; the 
 greatest wrecks of our civil discords have there sought 
 refuge. In a small chapel in one of those quiet coun- 
 try villages Weybridge repose the mortal remains 
 of King Louis Philippe, not far from Twickenham, 
 
 o 
 
210 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 where he spent part of his youth, and close to Clare- 
 mont, where he died, after wearing a crown between 
 two revolutions. The whole modern history of England 
 and France agrees in this, that here is always storm, 
 there always peace. 
 
 Hampshire comes next to Sussex, continuing along the 
 south coast. People arriving in England from France, 
 and disembarking at Southampton, make acquaintance 
 first with Hampshire, as those landing at Brighton do 
 with Sussex, and with Kent when they land at Dover. 
 This county is considered to be one of the most agree- 
 able as a residence, on account of its mild and healthy 
 climate. The Isle of Wight, for which the wealthier 
 class of the English have such a predilection, and where 
 the Queen has her favourite residence, belongs to Hamp- 
 shire. 
 
 Generally speaking, the soil is bad, especially towards 
 the north. There was formerly an immense moor here, 
 known as Bagshot Heath the Sologne of England. 
 Several portions of it have been cleared, and others 
 planted with pine trees; but for the most part it re- 
 mains in its original state, and what has been cultivated 
 has not paid the expense. Moors again make their ap- 
 pearance towards the south, where there is a large forest, 
 called the New Forest, made by William the Conqueror, 
 who, it is said, destroyed towns and villages, and inter- 
 dicted population over an immense space, that he might 
 have it for a hunting-ground. It is this open and 
 desert space which was then called, and still retains, the 
 name of Forest, from the old French word fors, without, 
 derived from the Latin. The ground, left in a state of 
 nature, gradually became covered with brushwood, and 
 then with large trees ; this is the origin of most of the 
 existing forests. The New Forest covers sixty-five thou- 
 
THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES. 211 
 
 sand acres, and belongs to the Crown. Remains of other 
 forests in the county are still to be met with. 
 
 The character of Hampshire, then, is a country of 
 ancient forests and heather. The heather supplies food 
 for a race of smaU but excellent sheep, known as Bagshot 
 sheep. The oak forests, similar to those described in the 
 novel of Ivanhoe, provide food in like manner for herds 
 of swine, which furnish excellent bacon, that of Hamp- 
 shire having still the highest reputation. This county, 
 although to a certain extent modified by cultivation, still 
 retains much of its original aspect ; there are plenty of 
 fine trees in it, and large tracts of heather and wood are 
 to be met with. The New Forest is famous for its wild 
 scenery. Eents there are low enough, the average being 
 1 5s. per acre ; but this low average is caused by the 
 quantity of inferior land producing nothing but woods 
 or bad pasture. The population, more numerous cer- 
 tainly than might be supposed, considering the nature 
 of the land, amounts to about one head for every three 
 acres. It is true, a portion of their means of livelihood 
 comes from extraneous sources, and that more so even 
 than in Kent. The ports of Southampton and Ports- 
 mouth, the one commercial, the other military, are places 
 of great activity. 
 
 In the poorer districts, single farms contain as much 
 as one thousand, two thousand, and three thousand acres. 
 In the southern part of the county they are less, rang- 
 ing from about one hundred to five hundred acres. The 
 large farms are almost entirely devoted to sheep, and 
 the race has been greatly increased in number, though 
 not improved in the quality of the meat. The race of 
 pigs is no longer that tall, active, and strong race of for- 
 mer days, but one that fattens better and more quickly. 
 
 The New Forest, with Windsor Forest in Berkshire, 
 
212 KUKAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 and some few others, are all that remain of the ancient 
 forests of England. The existence of the New Forest 
 is threatened just now on the score of its harbouring 
 poachers and depredators, and also that the ground it 
 occupies might be advantageously parcelled out and sold, 
 either for farms or parks. In England the prejudice 
 against clearing land is not so great as it is in France, 
 there not being the same need for wood for fuel ; and 
 the advance in population has been so rapid that it is very 
 necessary to look about for means for its support. It is 
 perfectly evident to everybody, that it is for the general 
 interest to render the land as productive as possible ; and 
 to keep that in wood which might be producing some- 
 thing better, is submitting every year to a very consider- 
 able sacrifice. On the other hand, considerable impor- 
 tance is still attached to the royal forests from consi- 
 derations connected with the navy. It is contended that 
 they alone are capable of furnishing the oak necessary 
 for building ships of war, those moving bulwarks of 
 England ; but even that reason has lost much of its 
 force, for it has been shown that it is much cheaper to 
 import foreign wood for naval purposes, than to produce 
 it in the State forests. 
 
 The New Forest, therefore, is no longer defended, ex- 
 cept by the residents in the neighbourhood, who enjoy 
 those privileges everywhere attaching to public domains, 
 and by those who take delight in grand natural scenery. 
 These considerations will probably be insufficient to with- 
 stand the expression of public opinion, which aims at its 
 being broken up. 
 
 Moreover, it is to be observed, that the destruction of 
 forests does not imply that of the large trees : far from 
 it. If England has less wood than most other countries, 
 she possesses more fine trees. Most of her counties 
 
THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES. 213 
 
 present the aspect of a well -wooded country; but the 
 trees are scattered among the hedgerows, in the parks, 
 and along the roads. They are not packed together, and, 
 with the exception of a few patches of coppice here and 
 there, do not undergo those regular cuttings which, with 
 all our eight millions of hectares of wood, make it with 
 us a rare sight to see a solitary tree. At the same time, 
 lands which are unfit for anything else are planted. The 
 art and taste for plantations are now widely extended in 
 England, and give promise to be a future great source of 
 wealth, on account of the variety and choice of the means 
 and the intelligence and care which are brought to bear 
 upon this as well as all other cultivation. 
 
 It is the forest properly so called which the English 
 suppress ; that is to say, those large tracts abandoned to 
 natural wood, or where, perchance, wood may not grow 
 at all. Their object is, not to confound land fit for grow- 
 ing corn with those lands which are inferior and con- 
 demned to comparative sterility, simply because, in times 
 past, there happened to be a wood in that particular spot. 
 To grow corn on corn lands, and timber upon land not 
 suited for cultivation, and everywhere else to make use 
 of trees as shelter and screens, as well as for ornamental 
 purposes, to have, in fact, a sufficiency without having 
 too many of them, but to respect them and defend them 
 from the hatchet ; this is the system, and I think it a 
 good one. 
 
 Strathfieldsaye, presented by the nation to the Duke 
 of Wellington, lies in the north of Hampshire. This, 
 again, is one of those stiff clay-soils so difficult to work. 
 The Duke laid out the whole rental upon improvements 
 of all kinds. He spent large sums in draining, marling, 
 and farm-offices, and to very little profit. Such an out- 
 lay upon a less rebellious soil should have given ten times 
 
2U RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 the result ; but the old soldier persevered in this struggle, 
 as he did in former days upon fields of battle. He be- 
 longed to that class of large proprietors, more numer- 
 ous in England than elsewhere, who consider it a point of 
 honour, as well as duty, to be stronger than their land. 
 He was much beloved by his tenants and neighbours, 
 who benefited by his liberality. The Duke caused com- 
 modious and comfortable cottages to be erected for his 
 labourers, with about two perches of garden ground 
 attached to each. These he let at the rate of Is. per 
 week, payment for which he took in labour. 
 
 Dorset is the next county to Hampshire, following the 
 coast line. Here the aspect of the country changes. 
 In place of the wooded hills and dales of Hampshire, 
 we find extensive calcareous downs bare, without trees 
 or shelter of any kind ;' possessing a scanty popula- 
 tion of about one to three acres ; few habitations ; very 
 few gentlemen's seats ; very extensive farms ; in point 
 of agricultural wealth, rather inferior to Hampshire, but 
 having a higher average of rent. This county being 
 dull and uninteresting, there is nothing to take attention 
 off production, which being obtained without much labour, 
 a larger return comes to the proprietors. 
 
 Most of the county is in pasture. Agricultural occupa- 
 tions are principally the rearing of sheep for the butcher, 
 and the care of milch cows for the production of butter. 
 Upon this poor and dried-up soil, greatly resembling the 
 Downs of Sussex, any other system of culture would pro- 
 bably be attended with difficulty. Turned to account in 
 this way, it can afford an average rent of about 20s. per 
 acre. Dorsetshire, being little engaged in either manu- 
 factures or commerce, and having scarcely anything but 
 its agriculture to depend upon, is one of the parts of 
 England where wages are lowest, although the population 
 
THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES. 215 
 
 is by no means dense. Labourers' wages do not exceed 
 7s. 6d. per week ; a rate considered quite insufficient in 
 England. 
 
 Mr Huxtable, one of the boldest pioneers of English 
 agriculture, resides in this county. This gentleman was 
 one of the first to assert the opinion, as he did in a 
 pamphlet, that, even at the low prices, English farmers 
 could retrieve themselves if they kept up their cou- 
 rage. One can imagine the storm raised by such an 
 assertion. Mr Huxtable was treated as a public enemy, 
 although himself a farmer, as well as rector of the 
 parish of Sutton Waldron. He has two farms, upon 
 which he puts his theories to the formidable proof of a 
 practical demonstration. The one, situated a mile from 
 Sutton Waldron, and the least important of the two, 
 is that upon which the distribution of liquid manure 
 by means of subterranean pipes was first practised. The 
 other, containing two hundred and eighty acres, lies 
 upon a bare calcareous hill, much exposed, and rising 
 abruptly for several hundred feet. It was at one time 
 almost in a state of nature, but is now admirably 
 cultivated. Here are to be seen all the new methods 
 carried out in some measure from their source. Mr 
 Huxtable's farm-offices are particularly worthy of notice, 
 from the great economy of their construction. Gene- 
 rally speaking, the English care less for show in their 
 farm-offices than we do : they sacrifice nothing to appear- 
 ance ; all they seek is utility. Mr Huxtable's cattle-sheds 
 are constructed with hurdles of broom and branches of 
 trees, roofed with straw; but nothing which may contri- 
 bute to the health and comfort of the animals has been 
 neglected. 
 
 The remaining two southern counties are mountainous, 
 and of granite formation. Devonshire, which comes next 
 
216 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 to Dorset, contains about one million six hundred and 
 fifty thousand acres. Famous for the beauty of its 
 scenery and the mildness of its climate, it is no less worthy 
 of attention in an agricultural point of view; for in this 
 respect great progress has been made during the last five- 
 and-twenty years. In mountainous parts as well as in 
 clay districts, and in general whenever the land requires 
 much labour upon a confined space, the fields of operation 
 become naturally much divided. Small farms abound in 
 Devonshire, say of from ten to fifty acres ; but these poor 
 farmers are not those who have contributed much to the 
 rapid advance in farming. It is upon the larger farms of 
 five to six hundred acres that improvements have been 
 carried on, which have changed the face of the country. 
 The small farmers profit subsequently by the examples 
 set them. 
 
 In no part of England has irrigation been carried to a 
 greater extent than in Devonshire. The streams which 
 run through granitic soils are particularly fertilising, and 
 the land there lies very favourably for such works. It 
 may be said that there is not a stream in all the county, 
 however small, which is not collected and turned to 
 account. The new breed of cattle is justly reckoned 
 one of the handsomest and most productive in great 
 Britain. It is below the average size ; but, for symmetry 
 and the excellence of its beef, there is no breed superior. 
 The cows do not give much milk, but the quality of the 
 butter made from it is celebrated. It is, in fact, butter 
 and cream alone which the numerous dairies of Devon- 
 shire supply. Cereal cultivation is very limited, the soil 
 being more suitable for green crops. The country is 
 covered with apple trees, from which a great deal of cider 
 is made. The grass fields and orchards give this part of 
 England very much the appearance of Normandy. 
 
THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES. 217 
 
 Eents in the neighbourhood of Exeter rise to 80s. per 
 acre, the average for the rest of the county being 20s. 
 
 Cornwall, the most southern of the English counties, 
 occupies the extremity of that long narrow peninsula 
 running between the Bristol and English Channels, and is 
 covered with a mass of barren mountains. As, however, 
 from its insular position the climate is equable and mild, 
 especially on its western side, agriculture is more ad- 
 vanced and productive than one might have expected. 
 The population numbers about two to five acres, which is 
 very large for such an ungrateful soil. The tin and copper 
 mines of Cornwall employ a considerable number of 
 people ; and another occupation that of fishing also 
 gives employment to a number of hands. Agriculture 
 holds only a third place among the occupations and re- 
 sources of the county. The good effects produced upon 
 farming from proximity to industrial occupations, are 
 everywhere observable in this naturally wild and retired 
 part of the country. The ordinary rent of these inferior 
 lands is from 20s. to 25s. per acre. 
 
218 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE EASTERN COUNTIES. 
 
 WE now cross the Thames and enter the eastern district. 
 Middlesex is the first county which meets us ; but, properly 
 speaking, it has no agricultural importance, for, besides 
 being one of the smallest containing only about one 
 hundred and eighty thousand acres it is almost entirely 
 occupied by the immense metropolis of the British empire. 
 Beyond the town properly so called, all that is not in 
 villas or gardens is under grass, either natural or artifi- 
 cial ; the hay from which is sold in London, or goes to 
 supply the dairies of the capital. Proximity to such a 
 large population affords enormous supplies of manure, by 
 which the fertility of the soil is renewed as it becomes 
 exhausted by incessant production. It is admitted, how- 
 ever, that farming in the neighbourhood of London is not 
 altogether what it might be. High as rents for arable land 
 are averaging 40s. per acre they do not exceed, nor 
 even reach, the rate paid in some other parts of England. 
 The state of agriculture which prevails in the surround- 
 ing counties makes itself felt up to the very gates of the 
 greatest existing centre of consumption. Farms in this 
 part of the environs of London average one hundred 
 acres in extent. There are some of three and four hun- 
 dred, but a great number are below one hundred. Among 
 the most skilfully managed is one at Willesden, only three 
 
THE EASTERN COUNTIES. 219 
 
 or four miles distant from Eegent's Park. It consists of 
 one hundred acres entirely in grass, of which sixty is 
 natural meadow, and forty Italian rye-grass. It is let 
 at about 3 per acre ; the tenant, besides, paying tithes 
 and other taxes, amounting to about 15s. per acre more. 
 
 Immediately to the north of London is the small county 
 of Hertford, which, like Surrey on the south, is filled with 
 villas and gardens. It possesses one of the most curious 
 and remarkable establishments in England, namely, the 
 laboratory of agricultural chemistry belonging to Mr 
 Lawes of Rothhampstead Park, near St Albans, the 
 only establishment of the kind now existing, since that 
 established at great expense by the Agricultural Institute 
 of Versailles was destroyed. A private individual has 
 established, and supports at his own expense, a costly en- 
 terprise, which elsewhere governments have declined to 
 undertake, and which will be of immense utility to the 
 whole country. All England looks to the results of ex- 
 periments there carried on, and it has already furnished 
 valuable information respecting the different kinds of 
 manures best suited to the various kinds of crops and soils. 
 Mr Lawes' laboratory is upon the scale of a regular manu- 
 factory : a steam-engine of ten-horse power; a cast-iron 
 stove eight feet long ; enormous furnaces ; everything, in 
 fact, fitted for carrying on his experiments. The entire 
 carcasses of cattle are there reduced to ashes for the pur- 
 pose of exact analysis. M. Pay en, who is a good judge 
 in such matters, has seen these arrangements, and ex- 
 pressed his admiration of them in a report which has been 
 published. A piece of ground of twelve or fifteen acres, 
 divided into twenty-eight compartments, serves as a field 
 for trying experiments with the different manures. 
 
 Any one who has with a little attention followed the 
 movement in agriculture at the present day, must be satis- 
 
220 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 fied that the time is approaching when further progress can 
 only be made by means of what is properly called Science. 
 All that expense can do has been nearly done already. 
 The world still advances, population goes on increasing, 
 and the comforts of life are more generally diffused. 
 What was sufficient for yesterday is not enough for to- 
 day ; and what is enough for to-day will not satisfy the 
 wants of to-morrow. We must continue unceasingly to 
 draw new treasures from our common Mother Earth. We 
 should have nothing but famine, depopulation, and death 
 before us, had not God, who daily gives us so many new 
 wants to satisfy, supplied us at the same time with a 
 powerful' mean for warding these evils off. This exhaust- 
 less mean is Science. Science, which fills the world with 
 its wonders ; which has supplied the electric telegraph, 
 enabling us to communicate instantaneously from one end 
 of the earth to the other ; which has given us steam, and, 
 perhaps ere long, heated air, to transport vast multitudes 
 of men and merchandise by land and sea ; which in the 
 workshops of industry produces so many wonderful 
 changes in inert matter; but which has scarcely as yet 
 been tried on agriculture. Nothing serves better to show 
 the progress making in agricultural chemistry in England, 
 than a quarter of an hour's conversation with the first 
 farmer one meets. Most of them are already familiar 
 with the technical terms. They talk of ammonia and 
 phosphates like professed chemists, and are quite alive to 
 the unlimited field of production this study may open 
 up. Cheap publications upon the subject abound, and 
 lecturers paid by subscription hold forth throughout the 
 country. In London there is a thriving school of chem- 
 istry and geology as applied to agriculture, under the 
 direction of Mr Nesbit. 
 
 After these two counties comes the ancient kingdom 
 
THE EASTERN COUNTIES. 221 
 
 of the East Saxons, now the county of Essex, containing, 
 like Sussex and Kent, about one million of acres, and 
 in point of history very similar to these. Notwith- 
 standing its proximity to London, however, we shall not 
 find it in a better condition. It almost all rests upon 
 the clay ; owing to which, as in similar districts of Sus- 
 sex, the system of farming is that which has cereals for 
 its object. From the same cause, also, there is a greater 
 division of property and farming than in three-fourths of 
 England. The generality of farms are from one hundred 
 to three hundred acres, and many are cultivated by their 
 own proprietors. Formerly the agriculture of the county 
 owed a relative prosperity to these different circumstances. 
 At the beginning of the present century rents averaged 
 20s. per acre, and rose gradually to 25s. ; but since 
 strong lands lost favour, this was followed by a down- 
 ward movement, which reduced them nearly to their 
 former figure. 
 
 This falling off in the return produced the ordinary 
 consequences ; properties, generally speaking, have been 
 mortgaged to the extent of more than half their value. 
 The English do not fail to attribute this to their too 
 great division. Whatever be the cause, the evil was real, 
 and it left the proprietors defenceless against the crisis. 
 The result has been a pretty large number of forced 
 sales, which has lowered the average value of the land 
 by one-fourth, or probably a third. 
 
 Fortunately for Essex, it possesses, like its neighbours, 
 one of those energetic individuals who anticipate the 
 future while seeking by every means to escape from the 
 difficulties of the present. In one of the worst parts of 
 the county, near Kelvedon, is situated the famous farm 
 of Tiptree Hall, belonging to Mr Mechi, a cutler in the 
 City, who is devoted to agriculture. 
 
222 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 All our agriculturists who have visited London have 
 been to see Mr Mechi's farm : it is now very generally 
 known even in France. All that the inventive spirit of 
 the English could imagine to make the soil produce to 
 its utmost extent, and especially to overcome the resist- 
 ance of clay lands, is directly employed by that indefati- 
 gable inventor. It must not be supposed, however, that 
 Tiptree Hall presents the true state of English agriculture ; 
 it is not even that which is likely to prevail over the 
 greater portion of the country, for some of its principal 
 features are there wanting entirely. But it is one of the 
 most complete resumes of the vigorous efforts making for 
 some time past to improve stiff land, and at the same 
 time affords a striking example of the social and political 
 character of the revolution now going on in agriculture. 
 It was a movement essentially of an aristocratic character 
 which, since the time of Arthur Young, has so greatly 
 advanced English agriculture : that which promises at 
 the present day to cause another stride, and of which Mr 
 Mechi is one of the most active agents, is, I will not say 
 democratic, but urban (bourgeois). 
 
 Mr Mechi's farm, which is his own property, contains 
 one hundred and seventy acres, the average size of both 
 property and farming in the county ; but in one respect it 
 does not keep to the average, and that is in the disburse- 
 ment account. Mr Mechi purposely chose his farm upon 
 marshy land which had hitherto resisted all kinds of 
 culture ; and he has taken care to leave all around a 
 specimen of the land as it was, to show its former state. 
 Everything had to be made ; first, the soil, which Mr 
 Mechi relieved of the stagnant water by thorough-drain- 
 ing, and then turned it up to the depth of two feet, and 
 transformed it by means of the most powerful fertilisers. 
 Mr Mechi has built an unpretending house upon the pro- 
 
THE EASTERN COUNTIES. 223 
 
 perty, with barns and stables, which make no great show 
 outwardly, but the internal arrangements are most com- 
 plete, according to the new system. In the centre of 
 the property is a steam-engine, the soul, as it were, of 
 this large body. There he feeds, in addition to working 
 horses, one hundred horned cattle, one hundred and fifty 
 sheep, and two hundred pigs, or equal to about one head 
 of cattle per acre; and these animals, entirely stall-fed, 
 grow and fatten almost perceptibly. There is scarcely 
 any natural pasture on the farm one-half is in wheat 
 and barley, the other half in roots and artificial fodder. 
 Owing to the immense quantity of manure from the 
 animals, and the no less enormous amount of extra man- 
 ures which Mr Mechi purchases every year, the crops 
 obtained are magnificent, while at the same time the 
 land, instead of becoming exhausted, is constantly in- 
 creasing in richness. 
 
 Mr Mechi visited Paris with the Lord Mayor of Lon- 
 don. He speaks French, and one cannot confer upon 
 him a greater pleasure than to go and see his farm. Both 
 the man and the place are curiosities. It is said that he 
 sinks a good deal of money on his experiments, and I 
 can easily believe it ; but I prefer this extravagance to 
 most others. In his position, a Parisian who had made 
 money would have an elegant villa with a Gothic sum- 
 merhouse, Swiss cottage, and all sorts of ostentatious 
 and often useless absurdities. I would ask, which of the 
 two is the best ? 
 
 If in Essex we see at Mr Mechi's a specimen of the 
 revolution now going on, in the adjoining counties of 
 Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedford, and Northampton, we witness 
 the results of the agricultural and social revolution which 
 took place about sixty years ago. At the close of the 
 last century, the lands in this district were in a more 
 
224 RUKAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 miserable and neglected state than those in the south at 
 the present day, and their poor and sandy character 
 seemed to offer far fewer resources to the cultivator. It 
 was never thought possible to turn the greater part of 
 them to better account than as large rabbit-warrens ; 
 but now they rank among the richest and best. What 
 mercantile adventure, moderate-sized farming, permanent 
 stabulation, drainage, and steam, have done in our day 
 for stiff lands, large property, large farming, and the four- 
 course rotation accomplished then for light soils. 
 
 Arthur Young was born in the county of Suffolk, and, 
 like all great men, made his appearance just at the proper 
 time. He came when, an impetus having been given 
 to the industrial arts, it became necessary to think 
 about increasing the production of food with a dimin- 
 ished number of hands, in order to supply the wants of 
 the new population which was about to crowd the 
 workshops. At the same time the revolutionary state 
 of France fostered the aristocratic feeling in England. 
 Money in those days was not so plentiful as now, and large 
 amounts of capital were confined to a few hands. Every- 
 thing tended to favour large property and large farming, 
 and the lands most free for the purpose were just those 
 best suited for carrying on large operations. Hence the 
 great success of Young's system, which up to the present 
 day has acted like a second charter for the English. 
 
 Suffolk has not herself profited most by the example 
 which she set. No man is a prophet in his own country ; 
 and the ill success of Arthur Young as a farmer militated 
 against his authority as a reformer in his own neighbour- 
 hood. Besides, a large portion of the county partakes 
 of the clayey nature of the neighbouring soils to the 
 south ; in the north alone light soils are to be found, at 
 least to any extent. It is to Arthur Young especially 
 
THE EASTERN COUNTIES. 225 
 
 that Suffolk owes its fame as being the seat of the 
 largest manufacture of agricultural implements in Eng- 
 land. There are to be found the celebrated establishments 
 of Messrs Eansomes of Ipswich, Garrett of Leiston, &c. 
 These immense factories testify to the extensive use 
 among English farmers of the heaviest and most costly 
 machines. A similar trace of M. Mathieu of Dombasle 
 remains in the department where he lived ; the recollec- 
 tion of that great agriculturist, who in some respects 
 resembled Arthur Young, is preserved more particularly 
 by a manufactory of implements. 
 
 Norfolk has been the true theatre of the success of 
 Arthur Young. The north and west of this county 
 forms an immense sandy plain of 750,000 acres, where 
 there is no obstacle to large property and large farm- 
 ing, and where everything favours horse-tillage, cultiva- 
 tion of roots, the use of machines in one word, the 
 four-course rotation. By means of this system, steadily 
 pursued for sixty years, these inferior lands, producing 
 scarcely 5s. per acre in 1780, now return, on an average, 
 25s. per acre, or five times their former net production ; 
 and the gross production has risen in at least an equal 
 proportion. 
 
 A large part of the credit due to this wonderful 
 transformation belongs to an extensive proprietor in 
 the county, the friend and disciple of Arthur Young 
 Mr Coke, who, in acknowledgment of his services to agri- 
 culture, was created Earl of Leicester. He died a few years 
 ago, at an age not far short of a hundred. Mr Coke had 
 a large property in the west of the county, called Holkham, 
 containing about thirty thousand acres. This immense 
 estate, which is now worth at least 1,200,000, was worth 
 at most 300,000 in 1776, when Mr Coke inherited it. 
 It was then in the occupation of a great number of small 
 
 p 
 
226 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 farmers, who paid their rents very badly, although these 
 were very low ; and ultimately a great many of them 
 abandoned their farms altogether, because they could not 
 make a livelihood out of them. It was then that Mr 
 Coke decided upon farming a portion of these sandy 
 wastes himself ; the rest he put into very large farms, 
 and, by offering leases of twenty-one years, held out an 
 inducement to farmers of intelligence and capital to take 
 them. It is estimated that in the course of fifty years 
 Mr Coke expended 400,000 in improvements of all sorts, 
 which caused the farmers to lay out about as much more 
 an excellent investment on the part of both, since they 
 have all made money by it. 
 
 Any one who wishes to get an idea of this period in 
 the history of English agriculture ought to visit Hoik- 
 ham. The farm which Lord Leicester personally directed 
 lies in the park belonging to the mansion. Its extent is 
 1800 acres, 500 of which are in permanent pasture ; the 
 rest is arable, laid out exactly for the four-course rotation. 
 The farm maintains 250 large cattle, 2500 southdown 
 sheep, and 150 pigs. An equally profitable visit may 
 also be paid to Castleacre, a farm of 1500 acres, and 
 several others in this district also deservingly famous. 
 It will be found that the same principles are everywhere 
 applied upon as large a scale, and followed by similar 
 results. The whole of this land formerly grew only rye ; 
 now it does not produce a particle of this grain, but 
 instead are to be seen the finest wheat crops and the best 
 cattle in the world. The present Earl of Leicester is a 
 worthy representative of his father. 
 
 The agricultural amelioration of Bedfordshire has been 
 no less complete and rapid than that of Norfolk. Less 
 than a century ago, three-fourths of the county consisted 
 of nothing but waste commons. These unproductive 
 
THE EASTERN COUNTIES. 227 
 
 lands have been gradually divided, enclosed, and culti- 
 vated, and, owing to the four-course system, now rank 
 equal to the full average of English lands. As in Norfolk, 
 we here also find an influential and energetic promoter 
 of the revolution the celebrated Duke of Bedford 
 who, like Lord Leicester, has realised an enormous for- 
 tune. A visit to Woburn, the seat of the Bedford family, 
 with the farms belonging to it, is the necessary sequel 
 of a visit to Holkham. Besides the galleries of his- 
 torical paintings, adorned with portraits by Van Dyke, 
 which at every step revive recollections of illustrious 
 members of the house of Russell, princes, and great 
 men of their time, there are other galleries filled with 
 models of ploughs, representations of animals of differ- 
 ent breeds, samples of agricultural produce in fact, a 
 complete agricultural museum. Of these trophies the 
 Bedford family is no less proud than of the others. 
 
 The conduct of the present Duke towards his tenantry 
 presents another model for imitation. He caused all his 
 rents to be revised after the crisis, and offered new terms 
 to his tenants, such as they willingly accepted ; he built 
 for his labourers excellent cottages, with small gar- 
 dens attached, schools for their children, churches, &c. 
 These benevolent acts do not ultimately involve any 
 sacrifice ; all that is necessary is the advance of money. 
 In fact, the rent of his property has not been sensibly 
 diminished, but will even be increased in consequence of 
 the extensive works in draining, farm-offices, and other 
 substantial improvements which he has effected. The 
 assistance afforded by the Duke to his tenants has been 
 more apparent than real. In giving them the option 
 of a lease at a fixed or a grain rent, he restored their 
 confidence and excited emulation. An English farmer 
 is capable of any effort, when he feels confident that 
 
 3 r 
 
 OF THE 
 
 I UNI\ 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
228 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 he is under a good landlord, who does not tie him down 
 too strictly, and who will help him at a pinch. Again, 
 the clean and comfortable cottages provided for his 
 labourers are not given them for nothing ; they pay a 
 good rent ; and it is quite understood that a proprietor 
 who builds a village should get a return of at least three 
 per cent for his money. 
 
 The Duke has likewise cut down all his large hedges ; 
 and he was one of the first to give up the greater part of 
 his shootings. With him everything is subordinate to 
 utility. In the middle of his park, adjoining his home 
 farm, is a factory which employs a hundred workmen, 
 who are engaged in the manufacture of all that is 
 necessary for the construction of the numerous works 
 constantly in train upon some part or other of his exten- 
 sive domain. From the windows of his mansion he views 
 the chimneys of his steam-engine and factory smoking 
 opposite to each other, not far from the last herds of deer 
 which still bound over the lawns, but which are every day 
 giving place to sheep. 
 
 In Northamptonshire, adjoining Bedford, rents, during 
 the last sixty years, have tripled from the same causes. 
 The Bedford family holds considerable property in this 
 county ; and Lord Spencer is another large proprietor, 
 who, as an agriculturist, deserves equal celebrity with Mr 
 Coke and the Duke Francis. 
 
 Of the ten counties which compose the eastern region, 
 the three last, Cambridge, Huntingdon, and Lincoln, 
 form a division by themselves the fens. In looking 
 at the map of England, we observe a large bay running 
 into the land to the north of Norfolk, called the Wash. 
 All round this muddy bay the land is flat, low, and con- 
 stantly being covered by the sea. These marsh-lands, at 
 one time uninhabitable, now rank among the richest mea- 
 
THE EASTERN COUNTIES. 229 
 
 dow land in England. Situated opposite to Holland, 
 they have, like that country, been reclaimed by means 
 of dykes. The area of these three counties is about 
 2,500,000 acres ; of which the fens, properly speaking, 
 occupy about a third, and are formed by the rivers Ouse, 
 Nen, Cam, Witham, and Welland. 
 
 The draining, commenced by the Komans, was carried 
 on during the middle ages by the monks who had estab- 
 lished themselves on the islands rising here and there out 
 of the inundated land. The English are slow in making 
 mention of services rendered by the ancient monasteries ; 
 but it is nevertheless certain that in their island, as else- 
 where, the only monuments of any value which remain 
 from the most remote periods are due to the Catholic 
 religion. Agriculture, in particular, owes its first success 
 to the religious orders. At the time of the Keformation, 
 the lands belonging to the monastic orders were bestowed 
 upon powerful families, who have continued what the 
 monks had begun. The residences of many of the nobi- 
 lity still retain the names of the abbeys which they have 
 replaced such as Woburn Abbey, Welbeck Abbey, &c. 
 Before the monks were driven out, they had made pretty 
 considerable progress in the reclamation of land ; and, in 
 addition to their canals and cultivation, the fine cathedrals 
 of Peterborough and Ely remain to mark their passage. 
 These churches still continue to be the leading features 
 of that part of the country. 
 
 At the commencement of the seventeenth century, one 
 of the Earls of Bedford put himself at the head of a com- 
 pany for continuing the works, to which a concession of 
 one hundred thousand acres was granted. From that 
 time the undertaking has gone on without interruption. 
 Windmills . and steam-engines, erected at great expense, 
 are continually pumping off the water ; these, with 
 
230 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 immense ditches and indestructible dykes, are the 
 means employed for effecting the object. The lands 
 reclaimed are already intersected with roads and rail- 
 roads ; towns have been built, and farms laid out upon 
 them. These once submerged and unproductive lands 
 are let at a rent of 25s. to 30s. per acre. Cereal and 
 root crops are occasionally to be seen ; but the most part 
 is in grass, upon which are fattened short-horned cattle, 
 and sheep of a cross between the old Lincolnshire and the 
 Dishley. 
 
 All the north of Cambridgeshire forms part of the 
 fen district. The average rent there has doubled within 
 the last forty years. Population has rapidly increased, 
 owing either to the improved climate, or because the 
 progress of draining has produced a demand for labour. 
 The southern part of the county is not in such a satisfac- 
 tory state ; it more resembles Hertfordshire, of which it 
 forms in a manner the continuation. Clay soils predo- 
 minate, and consequently the crisis there was pretty 
 severe ; moreover, the inhabitants live in constant dread 
 of fires. The farm buildings being all constructed of 
 wood, and roofed with straw, a fire makes great havoc. 
 The least discontent among the labouring population is 
 shown in incendiary acts, the authors of which almost 
 always escape the vigilance of the police. This evil 
 appears also in other parts of England, but nowhere to 
 such an extent as in Cambridgeshire. Assurance com- 
 panies sometimes altogether refuse to insure steadings 
 which have been burnt several times. The blaze of these 
 fires reflects the bad condition of the labouring classes 
 in those counties which are only agricultural: of these, 
 Cambridgeshire is one ; the poor there amount to a tenth 
 of the population. 
 
 Between Cambridge and Bedford lies the small county 
 
THE EASTERN COUNTIES. 231 
 
 of Huntingdon, having an area of not quite two hundred 
 and fifty thousand acres, and a population of only sixty 
 thousand. Small though it be, it plays a great part in 
 English history, as being the country of Cromwell. In 
 an agricultural point of view, nothing recommends it 
 specially to our attention. 
 
 If Norfolk has long held the first rank among the 
 English counties for agricultural development, Lincoln- 
 shire, which a century ago was more waste and sterile, 
 now disputes the palm. Lincolnshire contains about 
 1,800,000 acres, and may be divided into three very 
 distinct agricultural districts : fens in the south and east, 
 wolds or plains in the north, and moors in the west. 
 
 The fen district goes by the name of Holland, which, 
 in fact, it much resembles. The advancing dykes, which 
 gain more and more from the sea every day, are the 
 same, the meadows are the same, and the flocks nearly 
 similar ; the appearance of the country, too, is the same, 
 low and wet. In some parts the high price of grain 
 gave encouragement to the cultivation of cereals ; but 
 these now give way on all hands to grass, which is better 
 suited to the soil. Kent there rises to an average of 30s. 
 per acre. The wolds are dry and bare uplands, with a 
 calcareous subsoil, which the four-course system has 
 entirely transformed. They are let at an average of no 
 less than 25s. per acre. The breeding of cattle is there 
 carried on to some extent ; and, excepting in winter, the 
 animals have rarely any other feeding than that which 
 the marsh ground usually attached to each wold farm 
 supplies. The Norfolk rotation is there modified, inas- 
 much as the clover crop holds possession of the land two 
 years, and wheat comes only once in five. But this 
 modification, which had been adopted for the purpose of 
 saving manual labour, has rather fallen into disfavour, 
 
232 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 because it allows more time for weeds to root themselves 
 in the land. That part of the county called Lincoln 
 Heath was at one time perhaps even more barren than 
 the wolds, but now the change there also is not less 
 great. 
 
 Lincolnshire, like Norfolk, Bedford, and Northampton, 
 owes the important changes which have taken place there 
 to a wealthy proprietor Lord Yarborough. Lord Yar- 
 borough's property extends to about "thirty thousand 
 acres, yielding a rental of 30,000, which, a century ago, 
 brought in probably not a tenth of that sum. To give 
 an idea of the state of this part of the country, now so 
 populous and cultivated, it is said that near to Lincoln 
 a tower or lighthouse was erected not more than a hun- 
 dred years ago, for the purpose of guiding travellers who 
 might lose their way at night in these desert moors. 
 
 Large farming, as well as large property, flourishes in 
 the wolds of Lincolnshire. We find there farms of a 
 thousand, fifteen hundred, and even two thousand five 
 hundred acres. Such farms grow from two to five hun- 
 dred acres of turnips, a like extent of barley or oats, as 
 much clover, and an equal quantity of wheat. The farm 
 buildings are kept in excellent order ; and the farmers, 
 who are almost all wealthy, live in a liberal style. Some 
 of them have fine houses, numerous servants, and keep 
 their hunters and superb harness-horses. Like Norfolk, 
 it is the perfection of large property and large farming. 
 I do not speak of one farm only, but of all. In the 
 more naturally fertile parts of the county, again, one 
 meets with middling -sized, and even small farming, 
 which is rather remarkable, so close to the more brilliant 
 model of the large. 
 
233 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE WESTEEN COUNTIES. 
 
 IF the southern region is the zone of cereals, and the east 
 the chief domain of the four-course system, the charac- 
 teristic of the west is grass, that primitive wealth of the 
 English soil. The rural prosperity of this region is of old 
 standing. At one time the entire agricultural wealth of 
 the island was confined to two zones, grass in the west 
 and part of the central districts, and corn-lands in the 
 south-east ; the remainder was nothing but heaths, marshes, 
 and uncultivated mountains. Later, however, these corn- 
 lands have been surpassed by the light soils worked 
 on the quadrennial rotation ; but the grass -lands have 
 maintained their old superiority. The rain which falls 
 in the west of England is three times more than in the 
 east; and some influence upon vegetation seems to be 
 caused by the saline particles which the sea breezes from 
 the west deposit on that side of the island. A similar effect 
 is observable upon our western coasts. From time imme- 
 morial, whole counties there form but one immense prairie 
 covered with flocks, and successive generations of cattle 
 have continued to deposit an amount of manure, which 
 still goes on increasing. These prairies, like the coal, are 
 gifts of Providence. The whole rural economy of Eng- 
 land owes its origin to them, for their existence has 
 taught English farmers the importance of cattle. The 
 
234 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 perfection of the art has been to imitate in other quarters 
 what in the west has been so bountifully bestowed. 
 
 Nowadays, the grass country in its turn begins to lag 
 behind ; the very fact of its prolonged and easy success 
 has sent it to sleep, while all around progresses. Agri- 
 culturists of the present day are not very favourable to 
 what is called old grass ; human art can do little for it, 
 and where there is any great extent of it, agricultural 
 science, so called, has made little advance. The grass- 
 land farmers of the present day do just as their fathers 
 did before them ; the spur of necessity has not touched 
 them, and modern improvements make their way among 
 them with difficulty. The skilful stabulation of the 
 Huxtables and Mechis, the art of drainage, the assi- 
 duous search after new manures, the ingenious invention 
 of implements, the selection of seeds, all that feverish 
 activity which characterises the new school, is to them 
 unknown. The school of Arthur Young himself has not 
 produced any thorough modification of their system. 
 The two revolutions, which at the interval of half a 
 century have agitated the agricultural world, have passed 
 over almost without touching them. They rest upon 
 their old superiority, obtained and preserved hitherto 
 without exertion. 
 
 But will it be always so ? This may reasonably be 
 doubted ; for not only does the improved system of agri- 
 culture produce, in general, a larger gross return, but in 
 some parts it gives a greater net result. In the mean 
 time, rents of grass-land are still, upon the whole, the 
 highest. In the United Kingdom there are many 
 millions of acres probably one-fourth of the whole 
 surface in old grass. Nowhere else is found a like 
 extent of lands giving such a revenue. In certain privi- 
 leged parts of the north and south of France, in some 
 
THE WESTERN COUNTIES. 235 
 
 parts of Belgium, Italy, or Spain, higher rents may be 
 shown, but only for small tracts. 
 
 The average of rents in England, as in France, amounts 
 to about one-third of the gross production. This propor- 
 tion, however, varies considerably, according to the mode 
 of farming. In parts where expenses are high, rents fall 
 to one-fourth, or even to one-fifth, of the gross return ; 
 but, on the other hand, where they are low, the rent con- 
 stitutes one-half, and upwards. This is the case with 
 grass-lands, for the amount of. manual labour bestowed 
 upon them amounts to scarcely anything ; all that has 
 to be done is in a manner to reap. The capital required 
 is small, and the chances of loss small also ; the whole is 
 nearly sure profit. Thus we see rents given of as much 
 as 8 per acre. 
 
 Grass-lands may be turned to account in three ways 
 namely, for breeding stock, fattening, and the production 
 of milk. In England, as well as in France, it is found 
 that breeding is the least profitable of the three. To 
 this only the poorest pastures are devoted ; and the 
 same system of bringing young stock, bred in the moun- 
 tain districts, to the more fertile country to be fattened, 
 is adopted equally in England and in France. But new 
 notions are opposed to these migrations of the cattle ; 
 and wherever such ideas find favour, fattening and breed- 
 ing are combined, for the basis of the system consists in 
 providing abundance of food during tender age. As yet, 
 however, the plan is but very partially adopted ; the 
 general facts point at distinction in the occupations. 
 Fattening is looked upon as the most lucrative and certain 
 where the pastures are of a better kind ; and, in fact, we 
 know, from the experience of our Normandy graziers, how 
 simple and advantageous this system is. But it is 
 the milk which carries the day both in England and in 
 
236 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 France. The graziers of the west make cheese, which, 
 for the most part, is very much esteemed. 
 
 The western districts are among those which form an 
 exception to the common rule in England, property and 
 farming being there generally divided. For a few large 
 estates to be met with, there are a great many small 
 ones, some of which are worked by the proprietors them- 
 selves. We have already found this division in Kent, 
 Sussex, and Devonshire ; we shall meet with it again. 
 The cause differs according to locality : in Kent, it is due 
 to the diversity of the crops ; in Sussex, it is owing to 
 the stiffness of the soil ; in Devonshire, the mountainous 
 character of the country is the cause ; while in the grass- 
 lands the nature of the prevailing occupation prohibits 
 its being carried on upon a large scale. English economists 
 find that this division has been carried too far ; and they 
 are probably right, for the general condition of the popu- 
 lation is not good, notwithstanding the high value of the 
 produce, and wages are rather low. 
 
 The western region contains six counties. In that of 
 Somerset, the portion which adjoins Devonshire is, like it, 
 rugged and mountainous, and contains one of the most 
 desolate and uncultivated districts in the island the 
 granitic moorland, called Exmoor Forest, rivalling Dart- 
 moor in wildness : its extent is about twenty thousand 
 acres, abandoned to a kind of half- wild sheep, and forming 
 a refuge for the shyest kinds of game, such as deer. As a 
 set-off to this, the vale of Taunton, bordering on Exmoor, 
 is celebrated for its beauty and fertility ; and all the 
 country about Gloucester, near which is Bath, famous for 
 its mineral waters, and the populous seaport of Bristol, 
 abounds in excellent pasture. Nowhere in England, 
 unless perhaps in Leicestershire, and always excepting 
 Middlesex, are rents so high as in Somersetshire ; the 
 
THE WESTERN COUNTIES. 237 
 
 average is 30s., and it rises to double, and even treble in 
 the Vale. 
 
 A country uniting so many advantages, so near to 
 London, and with such outlets as Bath and Bristol for 
 its produce, favoured besides by nature with that beauti- 
 ful grass vegetation which produces such high rents, might 
 be supposed to be in a very flourishing condition. The 
 working classes suffer, however, and the manifest cause 
 of it is over-population. It is just this over-population 
 which, by provoking an undue competition for the farms, 
 has caused at once high rents and the too great division 
 of land. Since 1801, the population of Somerset has 
 risen from 280,000 to 444,000, while the land has not 
 proportionately increased in richness ; the balance being 
 thus destroyed, a remedy can only be effected by an 
 increased production of the land, or a reduction in popu- 
 lation. 
 
 Gloucestershire, which adjoins Somerset, divides itself 
 into two parts what are called the Cots wolds, or high 
 grounds, and the Vale, or valleys of the Severn and Avon. 
 These two agricultural districts require to be considered 
 separately. 
 
 The Cotswolds form a series of table-lands from five 
 hundred to six hundred feet above the level of the sea, 
 intersected with shallow valleys. The character of the 
 soil is poor, and the climate cold. At one time they were 
 almost entirely devoted to sheep pastures, but cultiva- 
 tion has gradually extended itself over this naturally 
 unproductive soil, and by means of the Norfolk rotation, 
 and the purchase of extra manure, remarkable results 
 have been obtained. The average rent now reaches 
 16s. per acre. The farms are extensive, and farmers 
 in general well off. Paring and burning is much prac- 
 tised, and is better understood than in France. In place 
 
238 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 of sowing corn for the first crop, they begin with turnips, 
 and these are eaten off by sheep ; then comes barley 
 with grass seeds ; the third year clover, and the fourth 
 wheat. The chief stock of the Cotswolds is sheep. 
 The old breed of the county become, by modern im- 
 provements, one of the best in England rivals the Dishley 
 and Southdowns. Upon the whole, the agriculture of 
 the Cotswolds may be held up as a model for light and 
 poor soils. 
 
 The Agricultural College of Cirencester is situated in 
 the Cotswolds. It was built by subscription upon pro- 
 perty belonging to Lord Bathurst, and rented specially 
 for the purpose. The first men in the county are mem- 
 bers of this large establishment, which in many respects 
 resembles our Institution of National Agriculture. Like 
 ours, it had obstacles and difficulties to contend with, 
 such as all young institutions encounter ; but English 
 perseverance is not so easily put down, and it is now in 
 a flourishing condition. 
 
 In this neighbourhood resided Lord Ducie, one of the 
 large landed proprietors of England interested in agri- 
 cultural improvements. After the death of this skilful 
 agriculturist, a sale of his stock took place on the 24th 
 of August last year, at which was witnessed one of those 
 sights to be seen only in England. Nearly three thou- 
 sand amateurs assembled at Tortworth Court farm, where 
 sixty-two head of short-horned cattle realised the sum of 
 9371, or 234,000 francs, equal to an average of 159 
 each. One cow alone, three years old, with her calf of 
 six months, brought 1010 guineas; it is true, she was a 
 descendant of Charles Collings' celebrated " Duchess." 
 
 The Yale of Gloucester has been endowed by nature 
 differently from the Cotswolds ; but human industry has 
 done less for it. The average of rents there reaches 29s. 
 
THE WESTERN COUNTIES. 239 
 
 per acre. The land is almost entirely under grass, and 
 it holds an ancient and deserved reputation for its cheeses. 
 Notwithstanding these advantages, it is admitted that 
 the system of agriculture might be improved, and the 
 production easily increased. Draining is little resorted 
 to, and the use of supplementary manures is not very 
 common. This backwardness is usually attributed to 
 the too great division of property and farming. The 
 crisis, which in general did not affect grass districts, was 
 severely felt in the Vale of Gloucester. The general 
 fall in prices affected cheese as well. The small farmers, 
 already poor, and reduced by competition to the bare 
 necessaries of life, were unable to stand such a fall. 
 Proprietors, on the other hand, needing all their incomes, 
 found it difficult to lower their rents, or to make advances 
 for improvements in order to increase production. Such 
 is the unfortunate involvement of affairs, from which, 
 however, escape must be found. 
 
 Under this accidental poverty lies a large amount of 
 real wealth, for the gross produce is still there. No actual 
 distress meets the eye. One seldom sees a more charming 
 country than those refreshing valleys of the Severn and 
 Avon, with their ever-green verdure, their luxuriant 
 hedgerows, and thousands of grazing cattle. It seems as 
 if comfort and happiness should never fail in such a 
 country. 
 
 Among the six western counties, three form the grass 
 district, the other three belong to the mountainous region 
 which separates England from Wales. The small county 
 of Monmouth, the most southerly of the three, situated 
 between the sea and the mountains, presents the greatest 
 variety of aspects : towards the west and north, we have 
 the rugged wildness of the Alps ; while the east and 
 south, bordering on the Wye, is a perfect garden. Culti- 
 
240 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 vation by oxen is still sometimes to be seen there, but 
 this is becoming more rare in England every day. On 
 the coast, rents rise very high, and fall in proportion as 
 they near the mountains. Although the population is 
 greater than the natural resources of the country might 
 lead one to suppose, still they are throughout in a 
 flourishing condition, a considerable amount of labour 
 being absorbed by the coal and iron mines. 
 
 Herefordshire exhibits fewer contrasts than Monmouth ; 
 it has less of mountain and plain, but the county gene- 
 rally is hilly. The average rent is somewhat higher than 
 in Monmouth. As to Salop, the last and largest of the 
 three frontier counties, one part of it is just a con- 
 tinuation of Hereford, the other is a transition between 
 the hilly country and the more flat county of Chester ; 
 its numerous iron-mines and potteries rival those in the 
 neighbouring county of Stafford. 
 
 The chief agricultural occupation of this district is the 
 breeding of that fine race of white-faced red cattle known 
 by the name of Herefords. These cattle, which the graziers 
 of the midland counties, who purchase them for fattening, 
 esteem most highly, fatten more readily than any other 
 breed when put upon good pasture ; and their beef is 
 better than the Durham, but slower in forming. If, as 
 appears to be the case, the breeding of short-horns is 
 increasing in parts of the country where they have not 
 hitherto been reared, the most profitable occupation of 
 the Welsh frontier will be threatened, and the Hereford- 
 shire breeders will also be forced to turn their attention 
 to fattening. 
 
 Lastly comes the county of Chester, the richest of the 
 six. Cheshire cheese has a fame out of England wider 
 even than that of Gloucester. The county contains 
 seven hundred thousand acres, one-half of which is under 
 
THE WESTERN COUNTIES. 241 
 
 grass. The number of milcli cows it maintains is above 
 one hundred thousand, each of which gives from two 
 hundred to four hundred pounds of cheese, and fifteen 
 to twenty pounds of butter. The rent of grass-land 
 exceeds in general 30s. ; but as arable land is lower, 
 the general average of the county is 26s. to 28s., the 
 farmer paying tithes and taxes. Property is less divided 
 than in Gloucester and Somerset, but farming is quite as 
 much so. There are scarcely more than one or two farms 
 of four hundred acres, the majority being not more than 
 seventy, and a large number in the cheese districts are 
 under twelve. 
 
 This agricultural condition is not attended with the 
 same inconvenience here as it is in Gloucester and Somer- 
 set, either because there is not a corresponding division 
 of property, or more probably owing to the neighbour- 
 hood of the manufacturing districts, which offer immense 
 outlets. A labourer's average wage is 12s. per week, or 
 2s. per working day. Drainage is general, and the use 
 of supplementary manures frequent. 
 
 This ancient and prosperous rural economy has not 
 prevented the spirit of innovation from finding its way 
 into Cheshire. Mr Littledale's farm on the Mersey, 
 opposite to Liverpool, is already famous for its admirable 
 stabulation. The cows on this farm never go out, 
 which appears monstrous to the graziers in the neighbour- 
 hood : in summer they are fed on clover, Italian rye- 
 grass, and green vetches ; in winter, on corn, chopped 
 hay, turnips, and beetroot. It is asserted that by this 
 means eighty-three milch cows and fifteen working 
 horses are easily kept upon eighty acres. 
 
 The Marquess of Westminster, a very extensive pro- 
 prietor, and whose magnificent residence is the ornament 
 of the county, is a great encourager of draining ; he has 
 
 Q 
 
242 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 tile- works, which make a million of drain-tiles in the year, 
 and these he gives gratuitously to his farmers. 
 
 The most successful manure for these grass-lands is 
 bone-dust. Farmers willingly pay the proprietors seven per 
 cent of the expense for laying this powerful manure upon 
 the soil ; upon every four acres it gives them, they say, 
 sufficient extra food for an additional cow. Agricultural 
 chemistry explains perfectly how this wonderful effect is 
 produced. The phosphates are taken out of the soil by 
 the constant carrying away of the milk, and require to 
 be renewed. One to two tons of ground bones are used 
 to the acre, the effect of which is immediate, and lasts 
 from fifteen to twenty years. These bones come from 
 Manchester, where they have already undergone a process 
 which deprives them of their gelatine for glue. Thus, 
 industry and agriculture render each other mutual assist- 
 ance, and the third sister, science, brings them near, and 
 unites them modern divinities, which go hand in hand, 
 like the ancient sisters. We obtain like results with ani- 
 mal charcoal after it has been used in the sugar-refineries. 
 
 The Cheshire cheeses weigh from fifty to one hundred 
 pounds each ; the largest are considered the best : some 
 smaller are made in the shape of pine-apples, but they are 
 not so much appreciated. It takes about four quarts of 
 milk to produce one pound of cheese. The red colour, 
 which distinguishes them, is produced with annotto, and 
 they are sometimes kept as much as three years before 
 being sold for consumption. The cooler for the milk, the 
 salting -tub, the large and powerful presses, the store 
 filled with these huge shapes, the well-kept utensils of 
 wood and iron, everything in these dairies wears an air 
 of comfort. The city of Chester, which is one of the most 
 curious towns in England, from the singularity of its con- 
 struction, carries on a considerable annual trade in cheeses. 
 
THE WESTERN COUNTIES. 243 
 
 Among the productions of rural industry, this, in my 
 opinion, is one of the most interesting ; besides furnish- 
 ing the mass of the population in all countries with a 
 wholesome, palatable, and nourishing food, easily carried 
 and easily procured, cut in any quantity which may be 
 needed, and requiring no preparation, I cannot forget that 
 it was the manufacture of cheese which enabled Holland 
 and Switzerland, two of the noblest nations of modern 
 Europe, to establish their independence. There is more 
 connection than is generally supposed between a nation's 
 political history and its rural economy. This industry 
 passed into England from Holland, along with turnip 
 cultivation, and the latter of these gifts is worth nearly 
 as much as the other. 
 
 The trade in cheese appears likely to be greatly 
 extended in the present day. In the producing countries, 
 especially in Holland, the rise in price shows the increased 
 demand ; wherever the condition of the labourer improves, 
 the first addition he makes to his piece of bread is a 
 morsel of cheese. The European colonies in the New 
 World offer, besides, an almost unlimited market, and it 
 is principally for these new colonies that the Dutch 
 cheeses are purchased. France also makes excellent 
 cheeses, but not as yet in sufficient quantity, especially 
 for exportation. Nothing, however, is more simple than 
 to imitate the most esteemed qualities of Dutch, Swiss, 
 and English cheeses ; it only requires a little attention 
 and a certain amount of capital. France, besides, has 
 certain kinds of her own which compare advantageously 
 with the best of the foreign kinds ; among others, for 
 example, is the ewe-mi]k cheese of the Eoquefort moun- 
 tains, which has nothing analogous in Europe, and which 
 may become one of our most valuable sources of wealth, 
 as it is already one of the oldest. 
 
244 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 
 
 PURSUING our tour of agricultural inspection through 
 England, we arrive at the central districts. The first 
 counties west of London are Buckingham, Berks, and 
 Oxford, none of which present any remarkable feature, 
 nor is their agricultural condition either above or below 
 the average. 
 
 Buckinghamshire has an area of four hundred and 
 seventy thousand acres, with a population of only one 
 hundred and sixty thousand, which, in England, indicates 
 a country exclusively agricultural. The division of the 
 land among the various crops is about equal, and this is 
 the case also in respect to the farms, which are of all sizes 
 large, small, and middling : the extent of hill and level 
 country is about the same, and strong arid light soils 
 divide the county between them. The valley of Ayles- 
 bury is reckoned one of the most fertile in the kingdom. 
 The farms there are larger, and rents double what they 
 are in the rest of the county. Its pastures are devoted 
 to the fattening of sheep and of oxen, and the feeding of 
 milch cows, in the proportion of about one-third to each 
 of these kinds of stock. A particularly fine kind of 
 white duck is bred by the small farmers about Aylesbury ; 
 these, and John Hampden's name, are the pride of Buck- 
 inghamshire. 
 
THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 245 
 
 Berkshire adjoins Surrey higher up the Thames. In 
 the east its soil is of the same sandy and poor description 
 as in Surrey and Hants. In this quarter are Windsor 
 Forest and tracts of uncultivated heath ; the rest is com- 
 posed of calcareous hills or downs, of the same nature as 
 those of Sussex and Dorset, and a valley famed for its 
 fertility, called the White Horse Vale, from the fact of 
 one of the chalk hills in it having been cut in the form of 
 a horse. The chief occupation in this valley is the 
 making of cheese, which is sold under the name of Glou- 
 cester. The chalk hills pasture sheep similar to the south- 
 clowns, and natives of the same kind of country. The 
 fattening of pigs is carried on to a great extent about 
 Farringdon, the Berkshire breed being one of the best in 
 England. We here find few large farms, but a great 
 number of small ; a few yeomen even remain, who culti- 
 vate their own land. 
 
 The most celebrated farm in Berkshire is that of Mr 
 Pusey, the present President of the Royal Agricultural 
 Society of England. This farm contains about three 
 hundred and seventy acres. All branches of farming 
 there are equally well managed ; but what is particularly 
 worthy of admiration, is the breeding and fattening of 
 sheep. The flock consists of eight hundred head, one- 
 half of which is composed of breeding ewes. In winter 
 they are fed with roots, and during summer upon irri- 
 gated meadows. These meadows are the most striking 
 feature in Mr Pusey's farming. Mr Pusey engaged an 
 experienced irrigator from Devonshire, and laid out about 
 5, 10s. per acre upon the work. The production of 
 these meadows appears to be enormous, as Mr Pusey pro- 
 fesses to feed, during the five summer months, seventy- 
 three fine southdowns upon two acres. These sheep are 
 put upon the meadows in pens, and as the grass is eaten 
 
246 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 down the pens are shifted; before putting the sheep on 
 the water is stopped off, and let on again when they are 
 removed. Mr Pusey asserts that, fed in this way, and 
 finished off upon corn and oilcake in sheds, they are 
 fattened at a year old, and sold at a high price for the 
 butcher. Notwithstanding these great results, and those 
 which he obtains in other branches of his farming, the 
 general opinion is that Mr Pusey does not realise any 
 profit ; however, he not the less does good service to agri- 
 culture. It is acknowledged by all that he has succeeded 
 in fattening four times the number of sheep, and dou- 
 bling the produce of cereals upon his farm : this will lead 
 others to attempt like results by more economical means, 
 and probably with success. 
 
 The average rent of Oxfordshire is the same as in 
 Bucks and Berks, and it presents similar fluctuations, ac- 
 cording to the nature of the district. Perhaps in no other 
 part of Great Britain is. such diversity of soil to be found. 
 The rent of light soils is, on an average, as high as 30s. 
 per acre ; but the Oxford clay being quite as stiff as the 
 London basin, clay soils scarcely reach 8s. The old three- 
 year course is still followed up on these clay lands 
 namely, wheat, oats, fallow. Upon the light soils it is 
 the Norfolk rotation, which is, as usual, successful. 
 
 The worst part of the county is the west. Here, 
 among other large properties, is Blenheim, belonging to 
 the Duke of Marlborough. This estate, presented by the 
 nation to the conqueror of Louis XIV., is justly reckoned 
 one of the finest places in England. The park alone con- 
 tains upwards of twenty-five hundred acres, and the re- 
 mainder of the property is considerably more. During the 
 last crisis, almost all the tenants threw up their farms, 
 because the Duke refused to make any concessions, and 
 he was therefore obliged to employ agents to carry on the 
 
THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 247 
 
 farming upon his own account. The Duke's conduct was 
 severely censured in England, where public opinion re- 
 quires landlords to be very lenient towards their tenants. 
 It is more than probable, too, that the experiment has not, 
 in a pecuniary point of view, succeeded. All along the 
 Thames and other rivers there are excellent meadows, 
 which furnish the means for supplying butter to the 
 London market. Between Oxford and Buckingham rises 
 another ridge of calcareous hills or downs, called the 
 Chiltern Hills. 
 
 Upon the whole, whoever wishes to see an epitome of 
 the agriculture and soil of England should visit Oxford 
 and the counties adjoining it. Other attractions than 
 these, however, take the traveller to this part of the 
 country. Oxford is one of the most interesting towns 
 in the three kingdoms, and Blenheim, with its magni- 
 ficent collection of paintings, is also deserving of a visit. 
 The county affords an example of every kind of crop, 
 every sort of land, all grades of rent, and every method 
 of cultivation, and the average of the whole agrees with 
 the general average. We may add that Oxford is now 
 only a few hours by rail from London. Manufacturing 
 and commercial England alone are unrepresented there, 
 the vicinity of London and Bristol supplying only im- 
 perfectly their absence. 
 
 Wiltshire is divided into two very distinct parts, north 
 and south. These two districts differ as well in agricul- 
 tural production s as in geological formation. The northern 
 portion, consisting of verdant valleys, through which flow 
 the tributaries of the Avon, is a country of grass and 
 dairies. The southern, composed of extensive calcareous 
 downs like Dorset, is a region of cereals and sheep : 
 here we have the famous Salisbury Plain, containing the 
 Druidical remains of Stonehenge. In the north rents rise 
 
248 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 to 80s. and upwards, and fall to 15s. in the south. In 
 the north the farms upon the whole are small, say from 
 fifty to two hundred and fifty acres ; but in the south 
 they are immense some of two thousand and three 
 thousand acres, but mostly about one thousand. The 
 small farmers in the north are, generally speaking, men 
 of no capital, cultivating the land with their own hands, 
 with the aid of their families. In the south they are, for 
 the most part, wealthy men of enterprise ; and yet the 
 crisis did not affect the prosperity of the north, while the 
 southern part of the county was one of the districts where 
 it was most felt. 
 
 The reason of this is, that cereals were too extensively 
 cultivated there. Salisbury Plain presents to the eye the 
 appearance of a deserted country, where a few farms, at 
 great distances from each other, are hid from view in 
 hollows, and where fields of corn, without a tree or fence, 
 extend as far as the eye can reach. These immense tracts 
 were formerly used only for sheep-pastures, but the high 
 price of corn caused them gradually to be converted into 
 arable land ; and this transformation, although profitable 
 at first, was not in every case judicious. Ricardo had 
 them in view, when he says that it is the good land that 
 is first cultivated for corn, then the middling, and finally 
 the bad, and that, the demand increasing always with the 
 population, it is the most expensively raised article which 
 regulates the price of the market. This axiom, however 
 true at the time, and in the country where it was pro- 
 pounded, has since been disproved in more than one in- 
 stance. England is about to show the reverse by aban- 
 doning the cultivation of cereals upon bad and middling 
 land successively, and this south Wiltshire can vouch for. 
 To produce at the dearest rate, even when an accidental 
 state of the market admits of its paying, is a wrong 
 
THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 249 
 
 principle in rural as well as in industrial economy ; the 
 more prudent plan is not to venture upon it. 
 
 It would appear that an excessive and mistaken appli- 
 cation of large farming has been practised in this part of 
 the country. Large farming is beneficial when it reduces 
 thj3 expenses of production, but is useless when it increases 
 them. There is a limit to everything. The Weald of 
 Sussex and South Wiltshire are the two parts of England 
 which suffer the most ; in the one the cause of the evil 
 is the smallness of the farms, . and in the latter it is 
 because they are too large. The best system is univer- 
 sally that which, in any given situation, pays at once the 
 best rent, the best profit, and the best wages. Now this 
 is not what Wiltshire does at present with its immode- 
 rately-sized farms, for proprietors, farmers, and labourers 
 all complain. In no part of England are wages lower 
 and poverty more rife. It is evident that one of the first 
 remedies is to divide these large farms, for they require 
 too great a capital ; and in the second place, probably 
 a reduction in the breadth of corn, and adoption of a 
 system more suited to the nature of the soil. 
 
 We observe quite another state of things in the mid- 
 land counties, properly so called Warwick, Worcester, 
 Eutland, Leicester, and Stafford. Situated between the 
 grass country of the west and the four -course system 
 of the east, this district presents a happy association 
 of both systems ; it is the richest farming district in 
 England. 
 
 Beginning with Warwick, we at once see the chief 
 cause of this great rural prosperity. Hitherto we have 
 had under our observation only those parts of the country 
 exclusively agricultural, or at least little industrial, where 
 outlets abound, no doubt, to a greater extent than in 
 three-fourths of our France, owing to the proximity of 
 
250 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 London, and the numerous ports upon the coasts, but 
 where the great stimulus of manufactures is almost en- 
 tirely wanting. In entering Warwickshire we come into 
 a manufacturing district ; and Birmingham, with its 
 dependencies, first presents itself. During the last fifty 
 years the population of the county has more than 
 doubled ; at present it is little short of one per acre. 
 Four-fifths of this population are manufacturing, from 
 whence it follows that an acre is required to produce 
 food sufficient for one person, and that a farmer who 
 brings his produce to market finds four consumers to bid 
 for it ; and these consumers,- all in the receipt of high 
 wages, have the wherewithal to pay good prices for their 
 purchases. How is it possible that agriculture should 
 not prosper under such circumstances \ 
 
 It must not be supposed that the soil of Warwickshire 
 is good throughout. All the northern part of the county 
 was at one time an immense moor, covered with wood 
 and heather ; now half the land is under grass, the 
 remainder being arable, and, as far as practicable, cul- 
 tivated upon the Norfolk system. Only one-fourth 
 of the soil produces cereals for human consumption, 
 and the fertility of this fourth, as well as of the rest 
 of the land, is continually increasing, not only from 
 the manure derived from an immense number of cattle, 
 but by additional manure obtained in the manufacturing 
 towns, and transported at a moderate cost by the canals 
 and railways which traverse the country. But it must 
 not be supposed that the system of large farming is that 
 which prevails in Warwickshire and in the other manu- 
 facturing counties : the average of the farms is one hun- 
 dred and fifty acres, and the majority are under this size. 
 Nor is it long leases which have much influence on the 
 progress of agriculture, for in general the farms are held 
 
THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 251 
 
 from year to year. Nevertheless the farmers go to con- 
 siderable expense for improvements ; and although rents 
 have doubled since 1770, they do not complain of their 
 landlords. When both are making profit, everything 
 goes on smoothly. Wages in their turn participate in 
 this prosperity, the rate being on an average 20d. per 
 working day. 
 
 A Warwickshire farmer commonly cultivates one hun- 
 dred and fifty acres, for which he pays a rent of 240, 
 besides taxes, which amount to 60 ; he gives good wages, 
 and, without much care or trouble, makes an income of 
 120. Of course, he is not such a great man as the 
 wealthy Norfolk or Lincolnshire farmer ; but in the eyes 
 of us Frenchmen, who prefer moderate riches, such a con- 
 dition is more satisfactory, inasmuch as it provides for a 
 larger number more equally. The land, in the aggregate, 
 is more productive ; both the gross and net produce are 
 higher, and a denser population enjoys at least an equal 
 amount of moderate comfort. A tour through this smiling 
 county is very pleasant. Kenilworth and Warwick, 
 with their historical associations, and the delightful 
 banks of the Avon, are additional attractions to such an 
 excursion, which may be crowned by the wide field of 
 interest afforded by the manufactures of Birmingham ; 
 and that nothing may be wanting, the shade of the 
 great Shakespeare attends you through this, his native 
 county. 
 
 In the present state of our fields, there is probably no 
 part of France which will bear comparison with War- 
 wickshire : we have nothing nearly so well dressed by 
 the hand of man. The English are acquainted, moreover, 
 with all the good things they possess, while we do not know 
 ours. There is no English landscape fresher or more 
 fertile than the rest which is not immediately known to 
 
252 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 all, at least by name. With us, on the contrary, what 
 numbers of smiling valleys, fertile plains, and beautiful 
 hills display their unknown beauties to the sun without 
 a single curious eye to visit them ! Our neighbours 
 are justly proud of the magnificent mansions they can 
 show ; in this respect, however, we are not so much 
 inferior to them as people suppose : our fields have not 
 always been so deserted by the wealthy families as dur- 
 ing the last hundred years ; and previously to 1789 we 
 were fully as rich as the English in fine country residences. 
 After all the demolitions, effected as much by revolu- 
 tionary fury as by a barbarous speculation, we could 
 still show a tolerable number of chateaus of the last three 
 centuries to oppose to the most celebrated English man- 
 sions ; only, while ours are in a state of ruin, theirs, 
 preserved with religious care, and enlarged every gene- 
 ration, respected by all as national heirlooms, remain in 
 good repair. Even their ruins, when these are to be met 
 with, which is not often, are kept with care. They even 
 go so far as to build imitations of them when they have 
 not got them, and the taste for what is called the Tudor, 
 or pointed and turreted style of architecture, is carried to 
 a ridiculous extent. 
 
 What I have remarked in respect to Warwickshire 
 applies equally to the neighbouring counties of Worcester 
 and Leicester. The valley of the Avon runs into Wor- 
 cestershire, carrying along with it the same beauty and 
 fruitfulness. Leicestershire, perhaps, is even richer still. 
 Grass husbandry succeeds well on lands situated upon 
 the lias, and there is a great deal of such land in Leices- 
 tershire. The small town of Melton Mowbray, which 
 is greatly resorted to in the hunting season, owes its 
 popularity to the nature of the country ; the ground is 
 slightly undulating, with full and sluggish rivers wind- 
 
THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 253 
 
 ing through rich pastures intersected with hedges, mak- 
 ing it peculiarly favourable for this sport. The county 
 is famous for its Stilton cheese, and for the farm of 
 Dishley Grange, once occupied by Bakewell, from whence 
 emanated the great principle of the transformation in 
 breeds of domestic animals, one of the most valuable 
 conquests of human genius. 
 
 Notwithstanding its traditional prosperity, Leicester- 
 shire did not altogether escape the effects of the crisis. 
 Like most grass countries, its. very success had sent it 
 to sleep, and, as is generally the case with such coun- 
 tries, it had permitted too great an invasion of small 
 proprietorship and farming. When the fall came, both 
 small proprietors and small farmers found themselves in 
 difficulties. Some changes among the occupants became 
 necessary, and these very soon took place. The small 
 county of Rutland, containing only ninety-five thousand 
 acres, is very similar to Leicestershire. 
 
 Staffordshire affords probably the most striking ex- 
 ample in England, with Lancashire, of the influence 
 which the vicinity of manufactures exercises on agricul- 
 ture. The mountains which run through it, naturally 
 barren and wild, rise to a thousand feet and more above 
 the level of the sea. The manufacturing districts are 
 situated exactly in the least fertile parts, and are divided 
 into two classes : the potteries in the north, towards 
 Lancashire, and the iron works in the south, extending 
 all the way to Birmingham. Owing to the extraordinary 
 progress which these manufactures are making every day, 
 the population of the county exceeds six hundred thou- 
 sand, upon an area of seven hundred and thirty thousand 
 acres. With such a mass of population the land must 
 be stubborn indeed which cannot be forced to produce. 
 The annual produce of the potteries alone is estimated 
 
254 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 by English statistics at two millions sterling, and the 
 iron-founderies produce six hundred thousand tons annu- 
 ally. All this wealth reacts upon agriculture. 
 
 Large property predominates in Staffordshire, as is the 
 case in all countries not naturally fertile. The Duke of 
 Sutherland, descendant of the lords of Stafford, the Earl 
 of Litchfield, Lords Willoughby, Talbot, and Hatherton, 
 the Marquess of Anglesea, and Sir Eobert Peel, are the 
 largest proprietors in the county. Generally speaking, 
 the farms are let from year to year, and this is preferred 
 by the farmers a proof of the good understanding exist- 
 ing between landlord and tenant. The effects of the crisis 
 here have quite passed away : the landlords at the time 
 had to make but trifling concessions, for the farms in 
 general were let at moderate rents, and the tenants suffi- 
 ciently well off to stand a temporary reduction of pro- 
 fits. Wages are 20d. per working day, and the poor- 
 rate the infallible sign of the condition of the working 
 classes is not at all high. It frequently happens that 
 there is not a single pauper on the estates of Lord Hath- 
 erton. For the whole county, the average of poor is only 
 four per cent of the population, whilst in Wiltshire it 
 amounts to sixteen per cent. It is the Norfolk rotation, 
 again, which causes this prosperity. Wherever this sys- 
 tem coexists with large property and manufactures, 
 English agriculture reaches its climax. Staffordshire 
 partakes of the advantages arising from irrigation, 
 which has transformed the sterile slopes of the hills into 
 excellent grass-lands. 
 
 The principal farms in the county are those of Lord 
 Hatherton, at Teddesley, containing seventeen hundred 
 acres ; the Duke of Sutherland's, at Trentham ; and 
 Drayton Manor, the residence of Sir Eobert Peel. It is 
 
THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 255 
 
 curious to witness how Sir Eobert Peel, himself a large 
 proprietor, settled, in his own concerns, the question he 
 so boldly brought forward upon public grounds. Every 
 one may remember the letter which he wrote to his 
 tenants on 24th December 1849. The views he then 
 stated have been fulfilled. Sir Kobert caused all his 
 lands to be drained at his own expense, under the direc- 
 tion of Mr Parkes, upon condition that his tenants paid 
 him four per cent on the outlay. These terms they 
 accepted. All their rents were revised, but few reduced, 
 as in general they were moderate enough ; and it is suf- 
 ficient to state that the farmers to whom leases were 
 offered refused them. They preferred yearly tenancy, 
 upon which terms their farms had been held by their 
 families for generations. 
 
 The estates of Sir Eobert Peel are a model of good 
 management. The excellent state of the buildings, the 
 goodness of the roads, the levellings and drainage, the con- 
 struction of good cottages with gardens for the labourers 
 all bespeak the wealth and liberality of the master. 
 The farmers, on their part, having the utmost confidence 
 in their landlord, do not hesitate to lay out money on 
 the land, which yields them an excellent return. Every- 
 where the most improved implements, the choicest seeds, 
 the most productive methods ; everywhere also the best 
 crops and the best cattle : even the day-labourers work 
 with additional energy, confident that a sort of provi- 
 dence anticipates their wants. Here, as at the Duke of 
 Bedford's, the Duke of Portland's, and Lord Hatherton's, 
 may be seen the ideal of the large proprietor of England, 
 who considers himself as having at least as many duties 
 as rights, and who employs advantageously for his de- 
 pendants, as well as for the good of the land, which 
 
256 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 brings forth fruit under his hands for the greater good 
 of the community, that fortune, which in a manner is 
 only intrusted to his care. 
 
 To the north of the green plains of Leicester the moun- 
 tains which compose the two counties of Nottingham and 
 Derby take their rise. Properly speaking, the mountain- 
 ous district is confined to Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire 
 being rather what may be called a hilly country, though 
 partaking of the character of the Derbyshire mountains. 
 In former times Sherwood Forest, made famous by the 
 exploits of Eobin Hood, covered the greater part of these 
 hills. The forest has now disappeared before the pro- 
 gress of the plough, but the sterility of the soil still 
 remains. By a good fortune peculiar to England, the 
 very barrenness of the old forest has proved advantage- 
 ous in one respect : it has continued in the possession of 
 a few noblemen, who, for their own enjoyment, have laid 
 it out in fine parks and extensive estates. The district 
 goes by the name of the Dukery, because the number of 
 ducal residences it contains is greater than in any other 
 part of England. The Dukes of Newcastle and Port- 
 land, and Earls Manvers and Scarborough, have all 
 splendid residences there. In a remote corner of the 
 forest, not far from the oaks still shown as those which 
 afforded protection to Robin Hood, stands the half-ruined 
 Abbey of Newstead, the scene of Lord Byron's boyhood. 
 Any one who has visited this secluded spot can better 
 understand how, amid ruins haunted by the spirits of 
 the dispossessed monks, and the silent woods conjuring 
 up stories of bold outlaws, that melancholy genius which 
 sprung out of it was formed. 
 
 The Duke of Portland, the largest proprietor in this 
 part of England, is also one of the greatest agriculturists 
 in the country. During his long and honourable career 
 
THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 257 
 
 (for he is now upwards of eighty), the Duke has unceas- 
 ingly employed the influence of his name and wealth for 
 the improvement of agriculture. Through his instru- 
 mentality the environs of the small town of Mansfield 
 have been quite regenerated ; in place of the moors which 
 once covered them, a rich cultivation now exists. The 
 most striking work of the Duke's is an extensive system 
 of irrigation close to Mansfield, effected by means of 
 a small stream, diverted so as to form a wide canal 
 which waters four hundred acres. This undertaking 
 cost 40,000, and the gross return is estimated at 10 
 or 11 per acre. These meadows yield two hay crops 
 annually, and during the rest of the year they afford 
 good pasture for southdown sheep. Nothing gives more 
 the idea of power than Clipstone farm, to which these 
 irrigated lands belong, and which contains altogether 
 not less than two thousand five hundred acres. The 
 immense paved court, where a herd of Scotch cattle of 
 the Angus breed is kept in the open air the whole year 
 amidst ricks of hay, is a magnificent and striking sight. 
 
 The properties of the Dukes of Newcastle and Port- 
 land are also distinguished by another kind of cultiva- 
 tion namely, nurseries and plantations of all kinds of 
 trees. I have already mentioned that some noblemen 
 had set about planting regular forests in parts where the 
 attempt to improve the land had not been attended with 
 success. By this it will be ascertained how far these forests, 
 sown and planted by man, composed of selected plants, 
 freed from all parasitical vegetation, carefully thinned, 
 and, in fact, cultivated with every care, will be found 
 superior to those natural forests which have grown up 
 of themselves. 
 
 Owing to these well-directed efforts, the inferior lands 
 of Nottinghamshire have reached an average rent of 26s. 
 
 li 
 
258 RUKAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 It is true that the no less beneficial influence of manu- 
 factures has to be added to that produced by large pro- 
 perty in the hands of men devoted to the public good. 
 The town of Nottingham, with its suburbs, has a popu- 
 lation of about one hundred thousand, and is the seat of 
 numerous manufactures. The population of the county 
 has doubled within the last fifty years, and during the 
 same period rents have tripled. These two facts are every- 
 where observable, the last being a result of the former. 
 The Trent valley, the natural fertility of which forms an 
 exception to the rest of the county, is of extraordinary 
 richness. 
 
 Derbyshire, one of the most picturesque counties in 
 England, is visited by crowds during the summer. The 
 charming village of Matlock is the headquarters of 
 tourists. It is famous for its mineral waters, and its 
 situation reminds one of the prettiest valleys in the 
 Pyrenees. From this quarter are made all kinds of 
 excursions, sometimes to the tops of the neighbouring 
 mountains or into the deep dales ; but the most inte- 
 resting is that to Chatsworth, the magnificent residence 
 of the Duke of Devonshire. The roads through his im- 
 mense park are, with great liberality, thrown open to 
 all, and used as freely as the Queen's highway. These 
 large properties are not altogether profit ; for, however 
 wealthy may be the proprietor, the keeping up of that 
 beautiful palace, with its gardens and magnificent park, 
 all which the public enjoy more than the owner himself, is 
 attended with great expense. The saying, Noblesse oblige, 
 applies to the English more than to any other people. In 
 England, titles and wealth command great respect, but the 
 necessity of keeping them up sometimes ends in ruining 
 the possessors. One can foresee that a time will come 
 when no private fortune will be able to stand the expense 
 
THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 259 
 
 of keeping up Chatsworth ; and then the consequence will 
 be, that this Versailles of England will either disappear 
 altogether, or it will become national property, which it is, 
 in fact, already, considering the use that is made of it. 
 
 The Duke of Devonshire is, besides, proprietor of a 
 large part of the county. The Duke of Kutland has also 
 extensive property there, a part of which consists of the 
 High Peak mountains, separating Derbyshire from York- 
 shire, and which form the dorsal fin of England. Culti- 
 vation, of course, is completely. checked upon these high 
 lands, which are covered with barren moors as far as the 
 eye can reach ; but these waste grounds subserve another 
 object of luxury ; they are enclosed with walls to the 
 extent of many square leagues, and stocked with all 
 kinds of game. 
 
 The lower mountains, of which three-fourths of the 
 county consist, are covered with pasture. Wheat there 
 thrives badly ; the only cereal which succeeds is oats. 
 It is a rearing country, as such countries generally are ; 
 there are bred short-horned cattle and Dishley sheep, 
 which are sold to the low -country farmers : cheese is 
 made to a considerable extent, which, without having the 
 reputation of that produced in the rich valleys of the 
 west, meets a ready market. This county much resem- 
 bles the mountainous districts in the middle of France, as 
 Auvergne and Limousin, both in appearance and in the 
 occupation of its inhabitants. Unfortunately, if the means 
 employed be the same, the results are widely different ; for 
 while rents in the middle of France scarcely reach 5s. per 
 acre, they are on an average nearly 20s. on the Derbyshire 
 hills ; but it must also be added, that while our central 
 departments have no outlets for their produce, roads and 
 railways run through Derbyshire in all directions. Loco- 
 motives are to be seen dashing along the sides of steep 
 
260 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 rocks which one would have thought goats only could 
 have reached. The working of the mineral wealth of the 
 county encourages this movement. 
 
 Though Derbyshire is a country of large property, the 
 farms are principally of middling and small size. The 
 Duke of Kutland's estates, in particular, are laid out in 
 small farms. Altogether this high land, naturally so un- 
 productive, is one of the most prosperous parts of England. 
 Manufactures and agriculture are there equally balanced. 
 To these two sources of wealth, that expenditure which 
 the ducal residences involves has to be added, and also the 
 money spent by tourists and those who attend the baths 
 at Matlock. We find here large property and small 
 farming harmoniously combined ; both have their ad- 
 vantages; the first moderates rents and increases useful 
 expenditure, while the second secures a larger gross pro- 
 duction. The population of the county is large, num- 
 bering nearly one for every two acres, and no class 
 appears to be ill off; not even since the fall in prices. 
 The average rate of wages, that criterion of prosperity, 
 is 2s. per day. 
 
261 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE NOKTHEKN COUNTIES. 
 
 THE northern region, the last to come under our notice 
 before quitting England proper, commences with Lanca- 
 shire and the West Eiding of Yorkshire. Here every- 
 thing is on a large scale. Lancashire has an area of 
 1,200,000 acres, and a population of upwards of 2,000,000, 
 which is nearly two per acre ! The southern part of the 
 county is the chief seat of manufactures, and the most 
 densely peopled ; the seaport town of Liverpool, and the 
 manufacturing city of Manchester, cover it with their 
 ramifications. 
 
 If this is the most productive district in the world, it is 
 also the dullest. Let any one fancy an immense morass, 
 shut in between the sea on one side and mountains on the 
 other ; stiff clay land, with an impervious subsoil every- 
 where hostile to farming ; add to this a most gloomy 
 climate, continual rain, a constant cold sea- wind, besides a 
 thick smoke, shutting out what little light penetrates the 
 foggy atmosphere ; and, lastly, the ground, the inhabi- 
 tants, and their dwellings completely covered with a 
 coating of black dust fancy all this, and some idea may 
 be formed of this strange county, where the air and the 
 earth seem only one mixture of coal and water ! Such, 
 however, is the influence upon production of an inex- 
 haustible outlet, that these fields, so gloomy and forsaken, 
 
262 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 are rented at an average of 30s.; and in the immediate 
 environs of Liverpool and Manchester arable land lets as 
 high as 4 per acre. There are not many soils in the 
 most sun-favoured lands which can boast such rents. At 
 the sight of such wonders one is almost tempted, with 
 the Latin poet, to exclaim, " Hail, Saturnian land, the 
 fruitful mother of harvests and of men ! " 
 
 " Salve, magna parens fruguin, saturnia tellus, 
 Magna virfrm ! " 
 
 At one time Lancashire was a country of large property 
 and large farming ; the same ccfndition of property still 
 remains, but farming has become more divided with the 
 increase of population. And still, in the midst of this 
 dense population, there is room for a number of noble- 
 men's parks : such are Knowsley, belonging to Lord 
 Derby ; Croxteth, to Lord Sefton ; Childwall Abbey, to 
 the Marquess of Salisbury, &c. These parks take away 
 large tracts from farming, properly so called, and begin 
 to excite murmurs among the Manchester school. An 
 association has been formed, under the auspices of the 
 celebrated Cobden, for the purpose of purchasing large 
 properties, and cutting them up into small lots. This 
 society numbers many thousand adherents, and a very 
 large amount of subscriptions. 
 
 This populous district is the seat of democratic and 
 bourgeois opinions I might almost say of a revolutionary 
 spirit, if such an expression were compatible with the 
 moderation always maintained by the English in their 
 most violent agitations. They there talk in the most 
 unceremonious way of the necessity for a change in pro- 
 perty as well as in political influence : if such language 
 were held on the Continent, it would most certainly indi- 
 cate approaching disorders. Fortunately, the English are 
 well aware that it is better to be patient, and progress 
 
THE NORTHERN COUNTIES. 263 
 
 gradually. Meantime, large property remains mistress 
 of the land, and has hitherto been wonderfully benefited 
 by the manufacturing activity which prevails around it. 
 
 The Lancashire proprietors have less reason than any 
 to complain of the effect which low prices may have upon 
 rents. It is true that Manchester and Liverpool promul- 
 gated the opinions which ended in Free Trade ; but 
 before agitating a possible reduction in the income 
 derivable from landed property, the vicinity of these 
 indefatigable workshops had already increased it con- 
 siderably. Even supposing a reduction of ten or twenty 
 per cent to have taken place, the Lancashire proprietors 
 would still be gainers. The late Premier, Lord Derby 
 he who at one time appeared likely to revoke the 
 measure of 1846, but who ended by confirming it is, 
 in fact, the largest proprietor in Lancashire, where his 
 ancestral name is still cherished. Before yielding, as 
 minister, to the force of public opinion, he had made up 
 his mind as a proprietor. He succeeded in averting any 
 reduction in his rents, by using the great antidote, that 
 universal remedy drainage. A body of nearly one 
 hundred labourers, under a special agent, has been em- 
 ployed to drain his lands. The farmers are required 
 simply to cart the draining-tiles ; and upon completion of 
 the work, pay, in addition to their rents, five per cent on 
 the outlay. Such is the effect of draining upon these clay 
 lands, and under that damp climate, that every one profits 
 by it ; even Lord Derby himself has benefited malgrS lui. 
 
 In a report upon the agriculture of Lancashire, a farm 
 of 155 acres is mentioned, where the yearly quantity 
 of extra manure purchased is two thousand tons. Such 
 manurings ought certainly to produce good harvests. 
 Koots and potatoes, especially, give remarkable results. 
 In some parts, two crops of potatoes are obtained in the 
 
264 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 year ; upon others, Swedish turnips give forty tons per 
 acre. The manure employed costs 5s. to 6s. per ton. 
 
 The plan adopted tor bringing the moss-land into cul- 
 tivation is worth describing. First of all, deep trenches 
 are cut at a distance of thirty feet apart, in which the 
 tiles are placed ; after that, vegetation on the surface is 
 burnt, and the ground broken up by several cross-plough- 
 ings. When the whole is well pulverised, marl is carried 
 by means of a movable railway, and spread over the 
 land at the rate of 100 to 150 tons per acre. During this 
 operation, it frequently happens that the ground is so soft 
 that it is necessary to put planks under the feet of both 
 men and horses, to prevent their sinking. The land then re- 
 ceives a manuring of nightsoil and cinders, and is planted 
 with potatoes ; after this crop, which is usually a good 
 one, the Norfolk rotation follows. The whole draining, 
 marling, making roads, and building farm-offices costs 
 10 to 12 per acre. In this way many thousands of 
 acres have been reclaimed, and among them a portion of 
 Chat Moss, between Liverpool and Manchester. 
 
 In the south of Lancashire the average wage is 13s. 
 per week. This is the highest which has hitherto come 
 under our notice. The practice generally, in regard to 
 leases, is to give seven years ; but to wealthy and clever 
 farmers, landlords now offer longer periods. 
 
 North of Lancashire are the five counties next to 
 Scotland York, Durham, Northumberland, Cumberland, 
 and Westmoreland. The most southern and least moun- 
 tainous of the five is York, the largest county in England, 
 and much exceeding in size any of the others, containing 
 as it does 3,800,000 acres. It has been divided into three 
 parts, called Hidings, each of which is still larger than an 
 ordinary county : strictly speaking, the city of York 
 forms a distinct district in the middle of the other three. 
 
THE NORTHERN COUNTIES. 265 
 
 The "West Eiding is the appendant to Lancashire, and, 
 like the latter, one of the greatest manufacturing dis- 
 tricts in the world. It contains the great and well-known 
 manufacturing towns of Leeds and Sheffield, the one 
 as famous for its woollens, and the other for its hard- 
 ware, as the towns of Lancashire are for their cottons. 
 Near these immense marts of British manufactures, with 
 the less important, though not less busy, towns which 
 surround them, agriculture must necessarily flourish. 
 Eents are as high as in Lancashire, and wages even 
 higher, the latter reaching 2s. 6d. per working day. The 
 land is nearly all in grass ; and, like all districts where the 
 population is great, dairy farming and the fattening of 
 cattle are the chief occupations. Many farms are below 
 twenty acres, and these, for the most part, are cultivated 
 by the journeymen weavers, who thus add the produce of 
 their farm to that of their loom. Among the most pro- 
 ductive crops, Italian rye-grass has lately been conspi- 
 cuous. Mr Caird makes out that forty tons of green 
 fodder per acre worth, at present prices, 48 may, 
 with good management, be obtained from this rye-grass. 
 
 The East Eiding is quite different from the West 
 without manufactures, no large towns, no small farms, 
 and no superabundant population ; nowhere perhaps is 
 property less divided. After crossing the Humber, the 
 quiet of an exclusively agricultural country succeeds to 
 the bustle of a manufacturing one. These contrasts are 
 frequent in England. The wolds of the East Eiding 
 are a continuation of those of Lincoln. Large farming 
 there reigns supreme, and has been the means of in- 
 creasing the production three-fold within the last fifty 
 years. 
 
 The mountainous region begins again in the North 
 Eiding. It contains some fertile valleys, but the whole is 
 
266 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 avast table-land (plateau) of not less than 400,000 acres, 
 which rises 1000 to 1500 feet above the level of the sea ; 
 these are called the Yorkshire Moors. Human ingenuity 
 has discovered a way of turning them to good account. 
 Both hill and valley are almost entirely in pasture ; and 
 the stock reared upon them, horses, oxen, and sheep, 
 are all held in great repute. The best English carriage- 
 horses are bred in the North Riding ; they belong originally 
 to the valley of Cleveland, but the breed now extends be- 
 yond its native valley. The sheep of the Yorkshire 
 mountains are a distinct race, improved after Bakewell's 
 principle, and these supply the principal markets of 
 the north. As to cattle, the North Hiding nowadays 
 furnishes the largest quantity of the short-horned breed. 
 This breed took its rise on the southern bank of the 
 Tees, which river divides Yorkshire from the county of 
 Durham ; but since the death of the brothers Collins it 
 has crossed to the northern side, where the finest speci- 
 mens are now to be found. There are at most some half- 
 dozen breeders, who to a certain extent have a monopoly, 
 and who spare neither pains nor expense to keep up and 
 improve the stock : it is not uncommon to see their bulls 
 fetching 200 to 400 ; and they let them out for the 
 season at. corresponding prices. 
 
 The county of Durham is only half the size of 
 the North Eiding. Its population, however, is nearly 
 double ; this is as much as to say that it is not exclu- 
 sively agricultural. Its principal wealth consists in coal 
 mines, the inexhaustible produce of which is exported from 
 Newcastle and the neighbouring ports. The two largest 
 proprietors in the county are Lords Durham and London- 
 derry, who, during the last thirty years, have made enor- 
 mous sums by their coal. One may judge of the capital 
 required for the working of these mines by a single fact : 
 
THE NORTHERN COUNTIES. 267 
 
 Lord Londonderry has constructed, at his own expense, 
 a harbour for the export of his coal, and also a railway to 
 transport it thither, costing together between 300,000 
 and 400,000. As yet, agriculture has only followed the 
 movement at a distance. Clay-lands, with their usual 
 difficulties, predominate, and upon them the old triennial 
 course is still followed. The average extent of the farms 
 is sixty acres, and the farmers, generally speaking com- 
 mon labourers who do everything for themselves, are not 
 rich enough to lay out much upon the land. 
 
 At the time of the low prices, these small farmers, 
 however economical and laborious, were not able to live. 
 A revolution became necessary there also ; and it has 
 begun. Fortunately, property was not so much divided 
 as farming, and most of the proprietors have been able, 
 in default of their tenants, to make advances to the 
 land. Lords Londonderry and Durham, and the Duke 
 of Cleveland, in a measure rival each other in generosity. 
 A large portion of the profits realised from coal is ex- 
 pended upon all kinds of improvements. Tile-drains 
 are being laid down in every direction, farm-offices con- 
 structed, and large quantities of fertilisers and manures 
 are imported, so that in a few years the face of the 
 country will be quite altered. But the whole of it does 
 not need remodelling ; for upon some parts the light 
 soils, for instance, under the Norfolk rotation, and the 
 rich grass-lands farming is already in a prosperous con- 
 dition. We must not forget that the breed of short- 
 horned cattle came out of one of the Durham valleys. 
 
 The small county of "Westmoreland is, as its name in- 
 dicates, the land of the west moors, and the most moun- 
 tainous, the most uncultivated, and thinly peopled part 
 of England. The population is only one to nine acres. 
 Agriculture flourishes in the valleys, especially in those 
 
268 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 of Eden in the north, and Kendal in the south ; other- 
 wise, it is the Switzerland of England, the. land of lakes 
 so celebrated by the poets. From Manchester and Liver- 
 pool a railway runs to the banks of Windermere, the first 
 in order, as well as the largest and most beautiful, of all 
 the lakes. Emerging from the noise and smoke of the 
 manufacturing districts, one finds himself, as if by magic, 
 in a smiling solitude, where all is peaceful, fresh, and 
 pure; limpid waters, bracing air, and verdant soil, are 
 exchanged for muddy water, murky atmosphere, and a 
 soil black with swamps and collieries. A steamer carries 
 you up the long and narrow lake, which winds like a 
 river through charming scenery. Windermere is only 
 ten miles long by one broad. At its further end pas- 
 sengers land at Ambleside, where excellent coaches are 
 waiting to convey them through passes, and along the 
 banks of other lakes, to Keswick. 
 
 In the south-east of Cumberland rise the highest peaks 
 of England proper, Scafell, Helvellyn, and Skiddaw, which 
 are the highest in the island, with the exception of the 
 Caernarvonshire and Scotch mountains. The lakes which 
 lie at the base of these masses of rock are a continuation 
 of those of Westmoreland. At one time a population 
 of small proprietors, called Statesmen, dwelt on the bor- 
 ders of these lakes. Each family possessed fifty to one 
 hundred acres, which they had continued to cultivate 
 for many generations. It is supposed that this class 
 of people owed their origin to the necessity of defence 
 against the invasions of Scottish marauders. This district 
 being close upon the borders of Scotland, and much ex- 
 posed to the incursions of marauders, it is said that the 
 feudal lords made over portions of land to certain indi- 
 viduals, upon condition of personal service, as in the case 
 of the Highland clans. Whether this supposition be true 
 
THE NORTHERN COUNTIES. 269 
 
 or not, it is certain that the Statesmen existed in con- 
 siderable numbers at the beginning of the present century. 
 Their mode of life is pleasingly described in the poetry 
 of Wordsworth, who lived much at the lakes. 
 
 One could wish that the portrait he drew were still 
 true, but unfortunately it is not. The Statesmen rapidly 
 disappeared before the large proprietary ; here and there 
 may still be seen their old cottages, but they are now 
 tenanted by farmers : on the very spot where a family of 
 these lairds as they were also called found it impos- 
 sible to live, with no rent to pay, a rent-paying farmer 
 now makes a livelihood. Debts, from one cause or another, 
 had accumulated upon these small properties, which at 
 last absorbed all the return. The predilection of the 
 Statesmen families for their old usages, the absence of 
 ready capital, and want of skill, rendered the land less 
 productive in their hands than in the hands of farmers 
 with a little money and more ability. Nothing can stop 
 a decay of this kind. 
 
 In the low grounds of Cumberland coal-pits again 
 make their appearance, the produce of which is exported 
 from the ports on the coast. This trade gives employ- 
 ment to a numerous population, whose requirements as 
 usual exercise an influence upon agriculture. What- 
 ever progress the art of farming has made during the last 
 half-century, it has never been able to keep pace with the 
 local consumption ; the consequence is, that the populous 
 towns are obliged to import a part of their supplies. Thus 
 the farmers in the neighbourhood have an unlimited 
 market before them, and a certainty of profit to stimulate 
 their energies. The breed of short-horned cattle begins to 
 spread among them, and their sheep are almost all either 
 Cheviots or black-faced ; latterly, however, they have 
 preferred a cross between the Cheviot and Leicester. 
 
270 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Netherby, a large property belonging to Sir James 
 Graham, occupies the north-west extremity of the county, 
 bordering upon Scotland, at the further end of the 
 Solway Firth. Its extent is thirty thousand acres in a 
 ring fence, and it merits the character of being one of the 
 best managed properties in the kingdom. Sir James is 
 one of the leading men in the House of Commons, and, as 
 a statesman, seems to be the best qualified to succeed Sir 
 Eobert Peel : he exhibits, too, great ability in the manage- 
 ment of his own affairs, and is a first-rate agriculturist. 
 The starting-point of his improvements was, to get rid of 
 the small farms, and to lay out the land in large holdings. 
 In 1820, the property contained three hundred and forty 
 farms, averaging ninety acres each ; now there are only 
 sixty-five. This reduction in the number of farmers admit- 
 ted of a selection of the best such as, from their capital, 
 skill, and energy, offered the best security ; and on entry, 
 Sir James offered them fourteen years' leases in place of 
 seven. The curtailment of the number of farms rendered 
 a large number of buildings useless, which were conse- 
 quently cleared away ; and where the subdivision of fields 
 was too great, hedges were removed. By these means 
 rents were advanced as high as 30s. per acre for the best 
 lands, the average of the whole being 22s., although the 
 land generally is wet. Sir James is a great Free-trader ; 
 he felt bound to prove that, upon well-conducted proper- 
 ties, low prices should not necessarily bring about a re- 
 duction of rents. He made no reduction on his leases, 
 but extended the draining considerably at his own ex- 
 pense, upon the usual condition of the tenant paying five 
 per cent upon the outlay. 
 
 The farther we go west and north, the more necessary 
 and efficacious does draining become. Nowhere in Eng- 
 land is the benefit more observable than on the lowlands 
 
THE NORTHERN COUNTIES. 271 
 
 of Cumberland. This is attributable to two causes the 
 clayey nature of the soil and subsoil, and the great abun- 
 dance of rain. In London, the amount of rain which falls 
 during the year is twenty inches ; in Lancashire, forty ; 
 upon the coast of Cumberland, forty seven; and as much 
 as one hundred and sixty in the high valleys of the lake 
 district. 4 " To carry off all this moisture, a larger drainage 
 is necessary than in the rest of the island. At first the 
 drains were made about two feet in depth, and about 
 twenty yards apart, but the results were not satisfactory. 
 Now they are four or five feet in depth, and six to ten 
 yards apart, and care is taken to use only tiles of one and 
 a half inch interior diameter, while one inch suffices else- 
 where. By this means only have they succeeded in suffi- 
 ciently draining the land. At present there are thirty 
 tileworks in this part of the country. 
 
 All north of the Humber was once called Northumber- 
 land, but the name now applies only to the most northern 
 county of England. Northumberland is situated on the 
 eastern side of the range of the British Apennines, Cum- 
 berland occupying the western side, and, like the latter, 
 it is divided into two parts, namely, mountains on the 
 west, and low ground on the east. The mountainous 
 part is mostly sterile. The range of Cheviot hills which 
 
 * The tropical amount of rain above mentioned, which it has recently been 
 ascertained falls on the north-western coast of England, is confined to an ex- 
 tremely limited area a few elevated spots in the mountain range, where arable 
 culture is scarcely known ; and hence it can have little influence as affecting the 
 general rule of drainage. The diameter of tiles, it may, however, be remarked, 
 falls of course to be regulated as much by the length of drain in a continuous line, as 
 by the quantity of rain falling within a given time ; and as on the east coast, where 
 no doubt throughout the year a comparatively limited amount of rain falls, the 
 quantity is often fully greater in a short space than in districts of prevalent mois- 
 ture, it is a mistake to suppose that tiles of a smaller diameter can be efficiently 
 employed in districts showing a lower average of rain. In the exercise of a false 
 economy, the tendency on both sides of the island is to make use of tiles of too 
 limited a diameter. J. D. 
 
272 RUKAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 separates England from Scotland has, nevertheless, pretty 
 good pasture, and on these the race of sheep which bears 
 their name takes its rise. The beauty of the valleys in- 
 tersecting these hills is much praised, especially that of 
 the Tyne, which follows the line of the old Pictish wall, 
 and debouches at Newcastle. The land there is excellent, 
 and lets at a high rent. 
 
 The agriculture of the lowlands of Northumberland has 
 a high reputation. In making an agricultural tour in Eng- 
 land, everybody tells you to go north, visit Northumber- 
 land, and, if possible, go to Scotland. As far as regards 
 Scotland, the advice is good, but not quite so in respect to 
 Northumberland. This preference is based to a certain 
 extent upon a predilection for the light soils, which lie 
 between the mountains and the coast, and upon which 
 the quinquennial course took its rise, known as the 
 Northumberland rotation : it is simply a modification of 
 the Norfolk 1st, turnips; 2d, wheat or barley; 3d, 
 clover ; 4th, clover ; 5th, oats. It was there also that 
 the sowing of turnips in drills was first introduced, now 
 so generally adopted by all good farmers. But the clay- 
 lands all along the coast did not escape the crisis. 
 Nevertheless, large property and large farming there pre- 
 dominate. A considerable portion of the county belongs 
 to the Duke of Northumberland, and other noblemen and 
 wealthy gentlemen possess large estates there. The cele- 
 brated Chillingham Park, belonging to Lord Tankerville, 
 is sufficiently extensive to admit of a particular kind of 
 wild cattle being kept in it. The general size of farms 
 in the county is from two hundred and fifty to five 
 hundred acres ; some are one thousand, and even twenty- 
 five hundred. The farmers are reckoned wealthy, and 
 some undertake several large farms at one time. 
 
THE NOETHERN COUNTIES. 273 
 
 However rich these farmers were, they had not all a 
 capital sufficient for the great extent of their farms ; and 
 the fall in prices, bearing upon large quantities of pro- 
 duce, proved disastrous for them. It is a remarkable 
 fact, that this is the only quarter in England where rents 
 have declined since 1815 : from about 15s. per acre, to 
 which they had attained by the end of the war, they fell 
 to 13s. before the crisis, and are lower since. The Duke 
 of Northumberland has latterly reduced his rents ten per 
 cent ; and another large proprietor, the Duke of Portland, 
 has done more, his reductions amounting, it is said, to 
 twenty-five per cent. At the same time, these powerful 
 landlords carry on, at their own expense, extensive works 
 of draining, &c., upon the usual terms of five per cent. 
 By means of these improvements, and supposing a 
 reduction to be made in the over-sized farms, as in Wilt- 
 shire, the balance will finally be adjusted. * 
 
 * The above sketch of the somewhat anomalous position of the county of Nor- 
 thumberland is no doubt justified by facts ; but to account in some measure for 
 this, it may be necessary to explain, that the nature of the soil is very various, 
 and, after all, it was to a very limited extent, until the system of thorough drain- 
 age was introduced, that turnip husbandry could be successfully practised ; and 
 even with this advantage, a large portion of the county is ill adapted for the most 
 profitable occupation, being of that poor clay description which has been found 
 least able to contend with low prices. Upon the dry lands on the north-eastern 
 border, where the farms are chiefly large, no better system of husbandry is to be 
 found, and rents have been well supported. J. D. 
 
274 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 WALES AND THE ISLANDS. 
 
 HERE finishes our tour of England, the sovereign por- 
 tion of the three kingdoms the sceptred isle, as Shake- 
 speare calls it : 
 
 " This royal throne of kings, this sceptred Isle, 
 This precious stone set iu the silver sea." 
 
 Before proceeding to Scotland and Ireland, I shall say 
 only a few words upon the dependencies of England 
 the Principality of Wales and the Islands. Wales con- 
 sists of that peninsula bristling with mountains which 
 extends from the mouth of the Severn to that of the 
 Mersey, containing about five millions of acres, and 
 which, in many respects similar to Cumberland and 
 Westmoreland, in some parts even recalls to mind the 
 most inaccessible mountains of the Highlands of Scot- 
 land. Elsewhere such a country would be almost 
 deserted by man ; but, like most mountainous coun- 
 tries, it abounds with minerals, and the working of its 
 mines and quarries with English capital has caused a 
 proportionate agricultural development. 
 
 In an agricultural point of view, Wales may be divided 
 into three distinct regions : the good, which includes the 
 counties of Flint, Anglesea, Denbigh, and Pembroke ; 
 the middling, Glamorgan, Caermarthen, Montgomery, 
 and Caernarvon ; and the inferior Cardigan, Radnor, 
 
WALES AND THE ISLANDS. 275 
 
 Brecon, and Merioneth. In Flint, the best of all the 
 counties, rents rise to the average of England, 25s. per 
 acre ; in Merioneth the most sterile, they are as low 
 as 5s. The general average of the Principality is 
 about equal to that of France, although both soil and 
 climate are incomparably inferior. Population also fol- 
 lows about the same proportion, averaging one head to 
 five acres. If the low grounds are equally populous 
 with the neighbouring English counties, the mountain- 
 ous parts may be classed among the most thinly in- 
 habited of Europe ; but even these uninhabited parts 
 have made pretty good progress in farming during the 
 last fifty years. The land is worth 10 to 15 per acre, 
 which is as much as in one-half of France. 
 
 Here again, as we always find, it is the live stock which 
 makes so ungrateful a soil available. In those districts 
 which are susceptible of culture, the four-course system 
 is being more adopted every day, and the improved 
 breeds of England are becoming naturalised. In the 
 steep and uncultivated parts of the country there is a 
 kind of half-wild oxen, sheep, and horses, of small size, 
 but docile and active, which seek their food among the 
 rocks and precipices. Welsh beef and mutton are greatly 
 esteemed ; and the island of Anglesea alone exports 
 thousands of these animals yearly to England. Formerly 
 they had to swim the Strait, which nowadays is passed 
 by the Menai Bridge. The small "Welsh horse's are also 
 in pretty good demand. 
 
 Until lately, the general condition of the Welsh popu- 
 lation was not very satisfactory. Although it is a long 
 time since it became united to England, this Princi- 
 pality has continued to preserve its distinct language and 
 peculiar character. The Welsh and Irish belong to the 
 Celtic race ; and as if this origin alone were not suffi- 
 
276 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 cient to separate them entirely from the Saxons, the wild 
 character of their country has helped to complete their 
 isolation. Their ancient barbarism has stuck to them 
 now for a long time ; and any efforts made by England 
 to assimilate them have frequently, as in the case of the 
 Irish, resulted in quite the contrary effect. 
 
 Gavdkind was the primitive law of the country that 
 is, land was equally divided among all the children ; 
 and thus the land became covered with small and poor 
 proprietors. About two centuries ago, the English Gov- 
 ernment considered it an act of good policy to introduce 
 the law of primogeniture, thereby artificially implanting 
 large property. But such changes, when they are not 
 free and natural, are always difficult to engraft; the con- 
 sequence has been that farming has been rather retarded 
 than furthered by this premature reform. It proved a 
 difficult matter to introduce the system of renting farms, 
 owing to the absence of capital and skill. The ejected 
 population fell into a condition of increased poverty; bad 
 feeling was engendered, and showed itself from time to 
 time in violent outbreaks. On the appearance of Chart- 
 ism, Wales became one of its strongholds ; and the riots 
 of the peasantry in 1843, known under the singular name 
 of Rebecca and her daughters, show that the evil con- 
 tinued very nearly up to our revolution. 
 
 Men with blackened faces, under a leader disguised 
 as a woman, called Eebecca, appeared suddenly at night 
 in the most remote districts, burning turnpike gates, 
 demolishing workhouses, and threatening proprietors and 
 farmers in their houses. At other times the pretended 
 woman-chief took the name of Miss Cromwell, eldest 
 daughter of Rebecca, and under this formidable appella- 
 tion, which recalled confused notions of old revolutions, 
 
WALES AND THE ISLANDS. 277 
 
 distinguished herself by exploits similar to those of her 
 more notorious mother. England at first was amused by 
 these half-frightful, half-ridiculous scenes, not unlike the 
 insurrection of the Demoiselles in our Pyrenees some 
 twenty years ago. However, the terror among those who 
 had anything to lose became so great and so general that 
 it was found necessary to send in troops, and appoint a 
 commission of inquiry. By degrees order was restored, 
 partly by voluntary submission, and partly by force. 
 But the inquiry revealed distressing facts, which showed 
 real suffering among the agricultural population. 
 
 "Do you wish to know who Rebecca is?" the Welsh 
 peasants would reply, when interrogated respecting their 
 chief, " Rebecca is misery." And in fact Rebecca with 
 them was only the symbolic expression of their grievances 
 under English rule. Invariably their answers exhibited 
 a vague expression of oppressed nationality. Sometimes 
 it was the Anglican Church, whose tithes crushed them ; 
 sometimes their oppressor was the English proprietor, or 
 the English steward, whom they looked upon as strangers 
 living at their expense. We recognise in these complaints 
 the feeble echo of those vented more loudly by their Irish 
 brethren. It had been better had their national customs 
 been respected, leaving them in possession of their small 
 properties, as has been done elsewhere, and to have re- 
 nounced the idea of introducing among them the English 
 system. 
 
 Fortunately, increased activity at the mines and quar- 
 ries at last mitigated these sufferings, by affording occu- 
 pation for the superabundant supply of hands. Wales 
 alone now supplies about one-third of all the iron pro- 
 duced in Great Britain, and iron is but a part of its im- 
 mense mineral production. Improved means of commu- 
 
278 KURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 nication, and among these two railroads, have at last 
 penetrated this mass of mountains, and opened up chan- 
 nels for importation and export. Agriculture, as a trade, 
 has become practicable ; and wages, which had fallen to 
 the level of Ireland, have risen. No doubt, something 
 more remains to be done, for the remoter districts still 
 conceal much distress ; but assimilation of habits and 
 ideas is being rapidly accomplished. The Druidical 
 island of Anglesea, the last refuge of the Celtic religion 
 and nationality, is now joined to the mainland by two 
 bridges, one of which, the celebrated tubular bridge, a 
 marvel of modern art, forms part of the railroad between 
 London and Dublin. Throughout the country there are 
 visible indications of a healthy revolution. Everything 
 is improving, even to the coarsest and wildest races of 
 animals. Those half- wild sheep, with hairy wool and 
 straight horns, a kind of animal between the sheep and 
 chamois, giving at most 20 Ib. or 25 Ib. of mutton, 
 are gradually increasing in weight, and losing their 
 coarseness, either through crossing with the Scotch 
 breeds, or by simply improving their food ; and with 
 the cattle and horses it is the same they gain in 
 height and breadth without losing their hardiness. One 
 step more remains to be taken : most of the mountain 
 pastures are still used as commons that is to say, they are 
 entirely neglected. When this ceases to be the case, the 
 problem for Wales will be solved. 
 
 As compared to England, Wales is a mixture of Scot- 
 land and Ireland. For a long time it leaned to the 
 worse, or Irish side ; but now it decidedly inclines to the 
 good, bearing more resemblance to Scotland. 
 
 Our peninsula of Brittany, which is the counterpart 
 of Wales, has fewer mountains. It contains, besides, im- 
 
WALES AND THE ISLANDS. 279 
 
 portant harbours, as Brest and Lorient, Nantes and St 
 Malo, which have hitherto been wanting to Wales ; * its 
 population is proportionately twice as numerous, and its 
 agricultural development greater, at least as regards 
 three-fourths of the country. In this respect, then, the 
 comparison is in our favour, the cause being found in 
 the difference of ruggedness between the two soils. Brit- 
 tany owes also part of this superiority to a crop which 
 I am astonished not to see more prevalent in England 
 that of buckwheat. These five departments alone pro- 
 duce about a million and a-half quarters of this grain, 
 as well as an equal quantity of wheat, and it is much 
 used there for human consumption. This is the case 
 also in many parts of Europe, especially in Holland. 
 
 Although it is said, and perhaps with reason, that 
 buckwheat, when made the chief article of alimentation, 
 has a bad effect upon the brain, it is a valuable addi- 
 tional resource both for men and cattle ; and it is one of 
 those crops which succeed best upon granitic and light 
 and poor soils, provided the summers be wet, and the 
 autumns without frost. Everything indicates that the 
 soil and climate of a great part of England and Wales 
 should be very favourable to this plant ; it is, never- 
 theless, scarcely ever cultivated, except for pheasants, 
 which are very fond of it, and sometimes as a manuring 
 crop to be ploughed into the land, for it is one of the 
 best green manures known. Several English agricultural 
 authorities have recommended its more extensive use 
 among others, Eham, in his excellent Farm Dictionary 
 but with little effect hitherto. We shall some day 
 hear of its brilliant success from the other side of the 
 
 * Milford Haven, which is likely to be an important harbour, is only begin- 
 ning to be resorted to. 
 
280 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Channel, when some enterprising and clever practical 
 man there takes the matter up to try the experiment on 
 a large scale. 
 
 We shall then learn what is already known in some 
 of our provinces, such as Brittany and part of Nor- 
 mandy, but scarcely out of these all the advantages of 
 this crop, which occupies the land only during three 
 months of the year, and which consequently figures in 
 the first rank among catch crops, which accommodates 
 itself to all soils, requires little manure, has scarcely any 
 exhausting effect upon the land, keeps the ground per- 
 fectly clean by the rapidity of its growth, and which, 
 notwithstanding, yields on an average fifty-fold, and 
 may easily be raised to double that quantity. Maize 
 itself, although much more exhausting, does not give 
 more. Chemical analysis shows that the flour of buck- 
 wheat is at least as nourishing as that of wheat, taking 
 weight for weight; and we have processes of grinding 
 now which remove its roughness. 
 
 Among domestic animals, the goat is one which, 
 though little in favour owing to its capricious and de- 
 structive instincts, merits a better appreciation on 
 account of its fecundity, and one which appears to be 
 perfectly adapted for such districts as Wales. The last 
 statistics show that the number of goats is rapidly in- 
 creasing in Ireland, at which I am not surprised. Be- 
 sides throwing usually two kids, while the sheep pro- 
 duces (in general) only one, and being of a more hardy 
 constitution and less subject to disease, the goat, when 
 well fed, gives an abundance of extremely rich milk, 
 which may be made into excellent cheese. In France, 
 where all agricultural industries are known, although 
 often too very imperfectly practised, whole districts owe 
 their prosperity chiefly to the goat. Such is the Mount 
 
WALES AND THE ISLANDS. 281 
 
 d'Or, near Lyons, where a goat yields as much as a cow 
 elsewhere. As population increases, I have no doubt 
 the goat will be more appreciated ; only we must learn 
 to treat it properly, and reclaim it from that half-wild 
 state which rendered it dearer to the shepherds of Theo- 
 critus and Virgil than to agriculturists and cultivators. 
 All the gifts of Providence are good when kept in their 
 places, and treated with skill. The goat's place is on 
 the barren mountains, where shrubby plants can be 
 cultivated for its food, unless, as at the Mount d'Or, it 
 is subjected to the strictest stabulation. 
 
 Civilisation tends to equalise in value soils the most 
 unequal in appearance. The worst may produce a great 
 deal, provided that only is required of them which they 
 are capable of producing. The constant aim of cultiva- 
 tors being to produce cereals, it is often the case that 
 lands yield no income, because the expense of raising 
 such crops upon them costs more than the produce is 
 worth. But cereals are not everything. With the vine 
 in France we obtain, upon soils unsuitable for corn, 
 results equal, or even superior, to those from lands the 
 most favourable to wheat. In other places the resinous 
 pine gives marvellous results from the driest sands ; rice 
 turns the marshes to account, &c. The skill of the agri- 
 culturist lies in discovering what is best suited to the 
 different soils. Virgil long ago wrote in his Georgics, 
 
 " Nee vero terrse ferre omnes omnia possunt." 
 
 The small islands belonging to England partake of the 
 general prosperity of the mainland. A good report is 
 given of the state of agriculture in the Isle of Man, 
 lying midway in St George's Channel between England 
 and Ireland, and which was once a separate kingdom. 
 Although very mountainous, the population numbers 
 fifty thousand, upon an area of one hundred and fifty 
 
282 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 thousand acres, half of which only is susceptible of cul- 
 tivation ; and still the island raises a surplus of wheat, 
 barley, and cattle for exportation. With agriculture the 
 inhabitants combine the occupations of fishing, naviga- 
 tion, and mining. Comfort is pretty general throughout 
 the island. For the most part the land belongs to small 
 proprietors, or yeomen, who till the land themselves. 
 This division of property and farming is very ancient in 
 the island ; and here, at all events, the English Govern- 
 ment has had the prudence not to interfere with it. 
 
 But the triumph of small property and farming is to 
 be found, as I have already had occasion to show, in the 
 island of Jersey, close upon our own coast. The extra- 
 ordinary richness of this small island, which contains 
 only forty thousand acres, with a population of fifty- 
 seven thousand, may partly be attributed to the large 
 sums expended there by the British Government to 
 maintain it against us. But France also lays out enor- 
 mous sums in Corsica, which has many more natural 
 resources than Jersey, and still it remains poor and un- 
 productive, notwithstanding the sum it costs us. The 
 population of Jersey is twelve times denser than that of 
 Corsica, and yet the former enjoy a greater degree of 
 comfort. Guernsey and Alderney almost rival Jersey, 
 and truly all three islands rank among the finest jewels 
 in the British Crown. 
 
 Nowhere is the difference which at present exists be- 
 tween a French district and most parts of England more 
 painfully striking than in comparing Jersey with the 
 French coast opposite to it. It lies at the entrance of 
 a bay, the two sides of which are formed by the depart- 
 ment of La Manche on one side, and that of the Cotes- 
 du-Nord on the other. Climate, soil, products, race of 
 people, all resemble each other. These two departments 
 
WALES AND THE ISLANDS. 283 
 
 rank among the most prosperous in France : that of La 
 Manche standing eighth out of eighty-six, and the Cotes- 
 du-Nord twelfth, in point of density of population and 
 richness ; yet, while Jersey counts nearly three inhabi- 
 tants to two acres, La Manche and the C6tes-du-Nord 
 count less than one; and the same disproportion is ob- 
 servable alike in the gross and the net produce of the land. 
 Certainly in this instance the difference cannot be attri- 
 buted to large property and large farming, since the land 
 is much more divided in Jersey, than with us. It must 
 be admitted that the real cause lies somewhere else. 
 
 This small island has uninterruptedly enjoyed, for 
 many centuries, almost complete independence, which has 
 secured to it the two greatest earthly blessings peace 
 and liberty. It has not known the bad government, 
 revolutions, or wars which have so often retarded the 
 progress of its French neighbours. In this respect it has 
 been more favoured than even England itself. 
 
 With such a history, everything should prosper. Left 
 to itself, the local development took the form of small 
 property and small farming ; though it might have taken 
 others, which would equally have succeeded. I believe, 
 however, that had they adopted other methods, these 
 islands would have found it difficult to support such 
 a large population. As they have plenty of capital, 
 small property and small farming become, so to say, un- 
 bounded in productiveness. A large empire could not 
 be organised quite in this way, because the condition 
 and circumstances of its people must necessarily be more 
 various. These islands have neither to govern nor to 
 defend themselves ; they have nothing to do but to be 
 happy, and they are so ; a limited and monotonous sort of 
 happiness no doubt, but of old standing, and worthy of 
 respect. They have made no figure in the arts, politics, 
 
284* RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 or war ; their part is more humble. Industrious and 
 peaceful hives, they show what unfettered labour at 
 length produces. 
 
 Mr William Thornton, in his Plea for Peasant Pro- 
 prietors, lays great stress, and justly so, upon this agri- 
 cultural and social condition ; and Mr Mill, in his Prin- 
 ciples of Political Economy, agrees with Mr Thornton. 
 A school has lately started up in England as advocates 
 for small property and small farming. I rejoice to see 
 such ideas spreading in the country of Arthur Young. 
 Provided the reaction is not carried too far and for 
 this the English may be trusted it is sure to produce 
 good effects. Even in Jersey, if the agricultural popula- 
 . tion is numerous, the non-agricultural portion is numer- 
 ous also. 
 
 Although the soil of Jersey is- granitic and poor, the 
 aspect of the island is delightful ; it may be called a 
 forest of fruit trees, with meadows and small cultivated 
 fields interspersed, filled with charming habitations, 
 decked with virgin vines, and shady walks winding 
 under the trees. David Low observes that the subdivi- 
 sion of the land, which might seem likely to become infi- 
 nite in the course of a certain number of generations 
 in so small and populous an island, is limited by arrange- 
 ment among the families, so that a stop is put to it when 
 it becomes inconvenient. This example ought to give 
 new confidence to those who are afraid of seeing the soil 
 of France frittered into dust. 
 
285 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 SCOTLAND. 
 
 SCOTLAND exhibits one of the most striking examples of 
 the power of man over nature. I know of only one 
 country which can be compared with it in this respect, and 
 that is Holland. Switzerland even does not present such 
 great obstacles to human industry ; but what adds still 
 more to this marvellous rise of prosperity upon so 
 ungrateful a soil is, that it is all recent. The ante- 
 cedents of Scotland are different from those of Eng- 
 land. Only a century ago it was one of the poorest and 
 most barbarous countries in Europe ; but now, although 
 the last remains of its ancient poverty have not quite 
 disappeared, it may be said that, upon the whole, there 
 is not a better regulated country under the sun. 
 
 The total production during the last hundred years 
 has increased tenfold. Agricultural products alone have 
 increased in an enormous ratio. In place of the periodical 
 scarcities which formerly devastated the country, and 
 one especially, which lasted from 1693 to 1700, leaving 
 an indelible impression, alimentary commodities are now 
 produced there in such abundance as to admit of a very 
 large export. Scotch agriculture is at this day supe- 
 rior even to English, in some districts at least. It is 
 to the model farms of Scotland people send their sons 
 to be taught farming. The best books upon farming 
 
286 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 which have appeared of late years, have been published 
 in Scotland ; and when an English proprietor requires a 
 good bailiff, he generally sends to Scotland for one. 
 
 Scotland and its adjacent islands contain a total of 
 nineteen millions of acres, or 7,600,000 hectares, nearly 
 three -fourths of which are absolutely unfit for cultiva- 
 tion ; this latter portion is mostly to be found in the High- 
 lands and Islands of the north, as the Hebrides and 
 Shetlands. The two and a half million hectares of arable 
 land may be divided as follows : 
 
 Hectares. 
 
 Meadows and artificial pasture, . . . 1,000,000 
 
 Oats, ...... 500,000 
 
 Barley, . . . . . 200,000 
 
 Wheat, ...... 150,000 
 
 Turnips, ...... 200,000 
 
 Clover, ...... 200,000 
 
 Potatoes, ..... 100,000 
 
 Fallows, ...... 100,000 
 
 Other crops, ..... 50,000 
 
 2,500,000* 
 
 The great country for oats is the Highlands, which 
 grow scarcely any other grain. In the Lowlands, the 
 four -year course is that now generally followed. The 
 average gross production of each crop being about the 
 same per acre as in England, the total vegetable produc- 
 tion destined for human food, including oats, which 
 forms, in fact, the chief food of the country, may be esti- 
 mated at 8,000,000 sterling, and the animal produc- 
 tion at about one -third more, which makes the whole 
 production 20,000,000. This, for a population of 
 2,600,000, gives an average of 8 each, as in England, 
 while it is only 5, 1 Os. in France ; and there is less 
 
 * The remark which we made as to the distribution of the soil of England 
 holds also here. No data exist from which any precise information can be 
 hazarded on the subject ; but this uncertainty, we have no doubt, will be satis- 
 factorily set at rest by the returns to be completed in the present year. J. D. 
 
SCOTLAND. 287 
 
 reason for the reduction of twenty per cent here, Scotch 
 and French prices being more on a par. 
 
 How comes it that Scotland has so rapidly attained 
 this high production, in spite of the natural infertility of 
 her soil and climate \ 
 
 Property in Scotland is not so much divided as it is 
 in England, and entails are stricter and more common. 
 The number of proprietors is estimated at 7800, which 
 would give 2500 acres as the average size of properties ; 
 but this high average is owing to the extensive High- 
 land estates, some of which are of 200,000, 400,000, and 
 even 700,000 acres. In the Lowlands there is a much 
 greater subdivision, where the average falls to 500 acres. 
 By far the most extensive proprietor in the Lowlands is 
 the Duke of Buccleuch, whose Palace of Dalkeith is 
 situated in one of the finest farming countries. The 
 other great Scotch noblemen, the Dukes of Sutherland, 
 Atholl, and Argyll, the Marquess of Breadalbane, &c., have 
 the greater part of their estates in the Highlands. De- 
 ducting these large rentals, we find that three-fourths of 
 the Scotch proprietors have an average income of 400 
 to 500 per annum. Two-thirds of the land, producing 
 about one-third of the whole rental, is in the hands of 
 large proprietors, and about one-third, giving the remain- 
 ing two-thirds of income, belongs to the other category. 
 Small property, although not quite unknown, prevails 
 less in Scotland than anywhere else ; less even than in 
 England. Upon the whole, Scotland presents a favour- 
 able specimen of large property. 
 
 With farming it is rather different. The number of 
 farms is reckoned at about fifty-five thousand, with an 
 average rent of 90. This, it will be observed, is the 
 small, or at least the middling-sized farming, rather than 
 the large. The average of farms in England is just 
 
288 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 double that is to say, 180 of rent. In the Highlands 
 there are farms of many thousand acres each ; but we 
 find a number in the Lowlands of not more than fifty ; 
 and thousands of acres in the north often yield less to 
 the proprietor or tenant than fifty situated in the fertile 
 country around Edinburgh and Perth. 
 
 The usual practice of tenure in Scotland is much supe- 
 rior to that which exists in England. Leases, in place 
 of being annual, are mostly for nineteen years. This 
 material difference proceeds from various causes. In 
 the first place, the Scotch proprietors attach less im- 
 portance than the English to the power of influencing 
 the votes of their tenants, there being less of party spirit 
 and politics among them. Then, again, the rise of agri- 
 culture in Scotland being of more recent date, the old 
 practice of tenancy at will has not had time to establish 
 itself, while the preferable use of long leases has been 
 prevalent from the first. We have already observed that 
 annual leases have not interfered much with England's 
 agricultural prosperity ; but had the other system been 
 introduced, it is probable that progress there would have 
 been still greater than it is : this, at least, is what we 
 may infer, judging from what has ensued in Scotland, 
 where, upon long leases, notwithstanding their poverty 
 and ignorance at starting, a few years have produced a 
 class of farmers equal, if not superior, to those who have 
 been farming for centuries in England. 
 
 The Scotch farmers, who, generally speaking, were not 
 very well off a hundred years ago, are still a little inferior 
 to the English in point of capital. While the working 
 capital in England is 5 to 6 per acre, it is only 3 to 
 5 in the Lowlands, and 6s. to 10s. in the Highlands. 
 The Scotch, however, make up for the difference by their 
 greater economy, and by a greater amount of personal 
 
SCOTLAND. 289 
 
 labour. The farmers for the most part work themselves ; 
 their capital likewise is rapidly increasing. Besides that 
 saving propensity which is one of their characteristics, 
 they have proportionately a larger share in the distribu- 
 tion of the produce. The profit, which in England does 
 not exceed half the amount of the rent, in Scotland 
 reaches commonly two-thirds, and sometimes equals the 
 rent itself.""" This is peculiar to Scotland, and forms one 
 of the most striking features in its rural economy. This 
 proportion, so favourable to the progress of farming, may 
 be attributed to the system of long leases, which pre- 
 vents the proprietor coming in so often to participate in 
 the benefit arising from improvements as under annual 
 leases. It is but justice, also, to ascribe it to a spirit of 
 moderation and good sense on the part of the Scotch pro- 
 prietors, who, having less need for show and expense than 
 the English proprietors, can afford to be less exacting in 
 their rents. After all, and this they fortunately under- 
 stand, it is only laying by for the future ; for with the 
 farmer's prosperity the richness of the land is increased. 
 
 The superiority of the Scotch system is apparent in 
 other things. Thus, in England and Ireland the law 
 considers a lease personal property, and consequently 
 divisible equally among the children of the tenant when 
 he dies. But in Scotland it is looked upon as real 
 property, and as such passes intact to the heir-at-law. 
 Disastrous consequences have resulted from the former 
 
 * Though the average capital employed in the cultivation of land in Scotland, 
 from the larger proportion of inferior soil, cannot fail to be under that of Eng- 
 land, we believe it will be found that, upon farms of a similar description, the 
 amount expended by the Scotch occupier is fully equal to the English. Our 
 experience has rather taught us that rents, in the properly rural and best agri- 
 cultural districts of England, are under those of Scotland generally. M. La 
 vergne seems afterwards to admit this to some extent. We are not aware that 
 farming is more profitable in Scotland ; and if the Scotch farmer makes more 
 money than his neighbour of England, it is because he spends less. 
 
 T 
 
290 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 system in Ireland, which, though not the entire cause of 
 agrarian outrages in that country, has no doubt been one 
 of their fruitful sources. The law of Scotland has not 
 had exactly large farming for its effect, that being rather 
 the exception there than the rule; but it has in some 
 measure put a stop to too great a division, and encou- 
 raged a spirit of industry. The younger sons of a farmer, 
 knowing that they have no title to share in their father's 
 lease, seek a livelihood in other ways, while the oldest 
 prepares himself at an early period for the heritage which 
 awaits him. This is a new and successful application of 
 the right of primogeniture in matters relating to the soil, 
 and it is favourable to that natural movement which, in 
 a society in a state of progress, diverts the surplus popu- 
 lation from rural occupations into other channels. With- 
 out this law the tendency to division might have been 
 dangerous to Scotland ; but there is less risk of this in 
 England, where manners and conventions incline rather 
 in the opposite direction. 
 
 In most of the Scotch leases, especially on grain farms, 
 the rent is not a fixed money-rate, payable under any 
 circumstances, but variable, wholly or in part, according 
 to the current value of grain ; that is to say, it is repre- 
 sented by a payment in kind, converted at the market 
 price, with a maximum and minimum limitation for 
 periods of scarcity or abundance. In this way the 
 farmer is protected against sudden fluctuations in the 
 value of his commodities, as well as in that of money. 
 This clause has been widely adopted in England since the 
 crisis, and is considered to be an improvement on the 
 principle of a fixed rent. 
 
 Finally, all gratuities or grassums are done away with, 
 as well as all extra expenses on entry, and indemnity to 
 the outgoing tenant, called in England tenant right, of 
 
SCOTLAND. 291 
 
 which I shall speak more particularly when I come to 
 Ireland. Suffice it to say here, that in Scotland opinion is 
 unanimous in respect to avoiding all unnecessary charges 
 upon the incoming tenant, so that his capital may be as 
 little diminished as possible. The usual term for renew- 
 ing leases is Whitsunday, as being the most favourable 
 period to prepare for the crops of a new course."' 5 " 
 
 The theory of leases has nowhere received greater at- 
 tention than in Scotland, where it may be said that the 
 system has reached perfection.. They have been able to 
 dispense with this minuteness in England, for time and the 
 general wealth of the country rendered it unnecessary. 
 But in Scotland, where they had no time to lose, and 
 where they had to begin on small means, it was necessary 
 to consider beforehand what were the best conditions for 
 developing production. Everything is directed towards 
 one end, namely, the formation of farming capital. Scot- 
 land, and not England, is the quarter to which we must 
 go for models when introducing the lease system into a 
 country where it does not already exist, and where the 
 object is to convert poor and ignorant cultivators, 
 mdtayers, and farm-servants, into intelligent and well- 
 to-do farmers. Unfortunately, the Scotch system will 
 not please everybody, for it involves many sacrifices on 
 the part of the proprietors lengthening of leases, mode- 
 rating of rents, payment in kind ; but it is almost 
 necessary to put the farmer who has no means of his 
 own in a position to make something ; and experience 
 has proved that such concessions were exceedingly wise. 
 Eents are already, on an average, almost as high in the 
 better parts of Scotland as in England ; in some parti- 
 cular spots they are even higher ; and the interiors of the 
 
 * The entry to the fallow, or the portion intended for green crop, being gene- 
 rally arranged to be given in the previous winter or early spring. J. D. 
 
292 liURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 farm-houses, which were at one time so poor, present a 
 striking appearance of comfort at the present day. 
 
 In addition to the excellent principle of leases, there is 
 another cause of progress which we do not find existing 
 to the same extent in England, and that is the superior 
 system of credit which prevails in Scotland. 
 
 The English have for a long period extensively availed 
 themselves of credits, and one of the chief elements of 
 their power has been the old-established practice of 
 banking ; but this very antiquity is the reason why the 
 organisation of these banks is imperfect in many respects ; 
 though the abundance of capital supplies to a certain 
 extent that wherein they are deficient. There is besides 
 in England a spirit of speculation and extravagance, which 
 might make it dangerous to give a greater extension to an 
 instrument so powerful for evil as well as for good. In 
 Scotland, on the other hand, the character of the people 
 is so cool, calculating, and correct, that the widest system 
 of credit has not only been unattended with any disad- 
 vantages, but productive of the most magnificent results. 
 Adam Smith was a Scotchman, and we find all his coun- 
 trymen more or less endowed with the sagacious and 
 decided character which belonged to that great man. 
 There is no country where the true value of money is 
 better understood than in Scotland. Banks were already 
 in existence in Adam Smith's time, and he has given a 
 careful account of their working. It is with reference to 
 them that he wrote the following often-quoted passage : 
 " The gold and silver which circulates in a country may 
 be compared to a highway which, although instrumental 
 for the conveyance of corn and hay to market, yet does 
 not itself produce a single grain of corn. The operations 
 of a well-conducted bank, by opening up, as it were, a 
 road in the air, allows a country to turn its roads into 
 
SCOTLAND. 293 
 
 pastures and corn-fields, and thereby to increase the pro- 
 duce of its territory/' 
 
 The general principle of the Scotch banks is as follows : 
 There are eighteen in all, of which seven have capitals of 
 not less than a million sterling, having their head-offices 
 in the principal towns, and branches all over the country. 
 There is no district, however small or remote, that has not 
 at least one branch ; and it is reckoned that there are 
 four hundred of these spread over Scotland, which is 
 equal to one for every six thousand of the population. 
 If France had as many in proportion, she would have six 
 thousand. These banks all issue notes, payable in specie 
 at sight, which are received with such confidence that 
 everybody prefers notes to coin, even for small payments. 
 Money, properly speaking, has been almost entirely put 
 out of circulation so much so, that the metallic circula- 
 tion of Scotland is supposed not to exceed 400,000 to 
 500,000. Advanced as England is, it is not so far forward 
 either in the number of its banks or the credit they enjoy. 
 
 Euns on the banks, which frequently happen in England, 
 and oftener in Ireland, are unknown in Scotland. In- 
 dependently of habit and custom, which exert such a 
 powerful influence over men, and which, when a sign or 
 representative is universally adopted in everyday business, 
 naturally keeps up its value ; independently also of a 
 certain composure in the national character, which does 
 not admit of being easily alarmed, this marvellous state 
 of security is based upon well-grounded principles ; for 
 not only are all the shareholders of a bank, by the law of 
 England, responsible for all the obligations of that bank 
 to the whole extent of their fortune, but the issue of notes 
 by each bank has been limited by law since 1845, as it 
 was previously so in practice, to about one-third of its 
 capital, unless a disposable amount of coin is kept in its 
 
294 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 exchequer to represent any issue in excess ; and the banks 
 being obliged to exchange each other's notes on presen- 
 tation twice a-week, they exercise upon each other a 
 control which renders all excess of issue impossible. 
 
 The credit of the banks being thus established, they 
 make the following use of it, and it is in this respect 
 more especially that they prove useful. They receive in 
 deposit any sum above 10, and notwithstanding that 
 these monies can be withdrawn at will, interest upon 
 them is allowed at the rate of 2^ or 3 per cent. Conse- 
 quently nobody keeps money by him ; every one has his 
 account at the neighbouring bank, where he pays in or 
 draws out according as he requires. It is incredible how 
 greatly this custom encourages economy in all classes of 
 society. Servants and labourers, as soon as they can 
 scrape together 10, have their banking accounts like 
 their masters. 
 
 These deposits do not lie idle, but are advanced by the 
 banks, at from 4 to 5 per cent, to those who can furnish 
 security. Independently too of the ordinary discount 
 business, any one known as a clever, industrious, and re- 
 spectable man, and who can offer two good sureties, may 
 obtain a credit according to the confidence he merits ; 
 this is called a Cash account. These open credits do not 
 amount, for the whole of Scotland, to any very large sum, 
 being reckoned at four to six millions sterling. Those 
 who have such accounts are always anxious to clear them 
 off as soon as possible ; and their sureties also look to its 
 being done, so that this class of debtors is constantly 
 changing. But this floating sum of four to six millions, 
 distributed over a community who commence with small 
 capitals, has produced the happiest results upon the pro- 
 gress of industry and agriculture ; and so judicious is the 
 
SCOTLAND. 295 
 
 selection made by the banks of those to whom they grant 
 such facilities, that bad debts are rarely made. 
 
 This excellent machinery gives an incredible facility in 
 the transacting of business ; sales and purchases of any 
 importance being paid for by simple cheques, a small 
 issue of notes suffices for the transaction of a large 
 amount of business. Agriculture as well as manufac- 
 tures is benefited by the system. It may be said that 
 money is never wanting to a reasonable extent, even for 
 agricultural adventure. It seems to be a point of honour 
 not to take an undue advantage of the facilities given, 
 and thus this general credit is maintained. Besides, all 
 know each other in these small towns, where every man 
 has his banking account ; everybody is aware what his 
 neighbour is about, and if a farmer borrows from his 
 banker, the reason why he does so is known. These 
 banks occasionally lend money, but only for short 
 periods, on mortgage, which is just the same as our re- 
 demptive sale (vente d remerti). Loans on mortgage are 
 less requisite for farming purposes in Scotland and Eng- 
 land than in France, because farming in the two former 
 countries is more generally distinct from property ; they 
 exist, nevertheless, to some amount, owing to the ad- 
 vances proprietors are often required to make for per- 
 manent improvements ; and under that form, as well as 
 in other ways, plenty of money is to be had on good 
 terms. Life assurance companies also lend on mortgage 
 security within the United Kingdom. 
 
 Means for propagating a knowledge of the best methods 
 of cultivation are adopted in Scotland quite as much as 
 in England. The Highland and Agricultural Society of 
 Scotland, dating as far back as 1784, has the start by half 
 a century of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. 
 
296 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 It is composed of nearly three thousand members, who 
 pay an annual subscription of 25s. each, or a life-payment 
 may be made, varying from 8 to 12, according to cir- 
 cumstances. The present President is the Duke of Kox- 
 burghe ; the Dukes of Buccleuch, Sutherland, Hamilton, 
 Montrose, &c., have successively filled that office. The 
 Vice-Presidents are Lord Aberdeen, Lord Breadalbane, 
 Lord Dalhousie, Lord Douglas, &c. A number of prizes, 
 distributed into classes, are annually given by the Society, 
 for the practice of agriculture and special crops, woods 
 and plantations, improvement of waste lands, agricultu- 
 ral machinery, all kinds of live stock, dairy produce, and 
 cottages and gardens. These competitions, which always 
 conclude with a dinner, where a small farmer may seat 
 himself beside the greatest aristocrat, are at least as 
 famous as those of its English rival. The Society has an 
 agricultural museum at Edinburgh, where may be seen 
 models of all the implements used in Europe, samples of 
 all kinds of cultivated grain, and reduced models of the 
 animals which have obtained prizes since the beginning 
 of the competitions. Mr Peter Lawson, seedsman to the 
 Society, has the finest establishment of the kind existing. 
 The unique collection of seeds which he contributed to the 
 Great Exhibition of 1851 was universally admired. 
 
 Special newspapers, cheap pamphlets, local meetings, 
 subscription lectures, diffuse, as in England, all kinds of 
 information on the subject of husbandry ; and as a testi- 
 mony to the scientific interest attached to these studies, 
 there has been for many years past a chair of agriculture 
 in the justly-esteemed University of Edinburgh, which 
 is at present (1853) occupied by the celebrated David 
 Low. 
 
 But all these encouragements, however powerful, do 
 
SCOTLAND. 297 
 
 not sufficiently account for the rapid progress of Scotch 
 agriculture ; they have been the means, but are not the 
 first causes. The true causes are the same as those which 
 exist in England, and if their effect has been more rapid, 
 it is because they sprang up suddenly, and not by de- 
 grees. I allude to industrial wealth and free institutions. 
 
 If England's history as a manufacturing country is 
 brilliant, what shall we say of Scotland I We may judge 
 by a single example. The counties of Lanark and 
 Kenfrew, where manufactures and commerce are most 
 active, have increased in population in the space of a 
 hundred years from one hundred thousand to six hun- 
 dred thousand, and Glasgow alone from twenty thousand 
 to four hundred thousand. Clydesdale, once deserted, 
 now rivals Lancashire for its collieries, manufactories, 
 and immense shipping trade. In 1750 the germ even 
 of this wealth did not exist; it was English capital, 
 combined with the plodding and frugal genius of the 
 Scotch people, which in so short a time made that un- 
 productive district what it now is. Strong proof this of 
 the advantages which may accrue to a non- manufac- 
 turing country by being associated with one rich and 
 already industrial. Scotland, as long as she remained 
 separate from England, and dependent on her own 
 resources, only vegetated; but as soon as the capital and 
 experience of her powerful neighbour broke in upon her, 
 she took a start quite equal to England. 
 
 This sudden growth of manufactures has been in- 
 creased, as always happens, by a corresponding advance 
 in agriculture. In proportion as commerce and manu- 
 factures multiply men and augment wages, agriculture 
 renews its efforts to supply food for the constantly in- 
 creasing mass of consumers ; and in a limited country 
 
298 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 like the Lowlands, a population such as that of Glasgow 
 and its dependencies causes the demand for agricultural 
 produce to be felt over its whole extent. 
 
 The Union besides was the great means of at once giving 
 value to Scotch agriculture, by opening up the immense 
 market of England itself for her produce ; and even now, 
 notwithstanding an increasing local consumption, there 
 is a considerable export of Scotch agricultural commo- 
 dities for the English markets.""" 
 
 The pastures of Galloway and Forfarshire, and even 
 the remote Highlands, send their thousands of young 
 cattle to be fed and fattened on the grass-lands of the 
 South. Even in the markets of London, where they are 
 greatly appreciated for the quality of their beef, may be 
 seen the shaggy Highland cattle, the black cattle of 
 Angus, and the polled cattle of Galloway, all distinctly 
 recognisable in character. So with us, the red cattle 
 of Auvergne, the white from Charolais, the brown from 
 La Vendee, and the russet from Limousin, which are 
 sent in droves to the abattoirs of Paris, are easily 
 distinguished from the speckled breeds of Normandy 
 and Brittany. Scotland sends to England, besides, 
 a large portion of her wheat, reserving scarcely more 
 than the oats and barley. In this way, for the last 
 hundred years she has been a seller to England to the 
 value of tens of millions sterling, t 
 
 But England's best gift to Scotland, as in that is included 
 all the rest, is her constitution and political character. 
 
 Up to 1750 Scotland was the stronghold of feudal 
 
 * But perhaps the most valuable contribution which Scotland now makes to 
 the English stock markets is in the great quantity of fat cattle and sheep which 
 she sends to England from her eastern counties particularly from Aberdeen, 
 East Lothian, Berwickshire, and Roxburgh a great part of the former of which 
 are imported lean to the latter districts from the South. J. D. 
 
 t We fear this leads to an inference which would be far from correct. Un- 
 
SCOTLAND. 299 
 
 government ; and it was not until after the battle of 
 Culloden that her eyes began to be opened. A higher 
 sentiment rapidly succeeded, so that fifty years later no 
 part of Great Britain was more attached to the House of 
 Hanover, the personification of modern liberty. The 
 Scotch, so long faithful to their patriarchal traditions, 
 now found themselves all at once brought into contact 
 with English customs and laws, so highly favourable to 
 individual independence and order. From the first they 
 went even greater lengths than England. It may be said 
 that Scotland, in a political point of view, is an improved 
 edition of England. 
 
 In no part of Europe is the machinery of government 
 more simple ; its parallel is perhaps to be found only in 
 America. The system of central administration, so much 
 vaunted, and which in France levies a contribution upon 
 three-fourths for the benefit of the other fourth, and 
 denies all personal or local interference, is there quite 
 unknown. The public functionaries are few in number, 
 and for the most part unsalaried. None of the abuses 
 which custom has sanctioned in England have been set 
 up there. The English Church establishment, which costs 
 the rest of the United Kingdom eight millions sterling 
 of tithes, does not extend to Scotland ; parish and county 
 rates have been limited to strict necessities ; the poor- 
 rate, recently introduced, has not fallen very heavily ; 
 in one word, direct taxation of all kinds upon the soil 
 scarcely exceeds 6d., while it amounts in England to 8s. 
 per acre. Even the income-tax is not very rigorously 
 
 doubtedly Scotland, in many seasons, exports a considerable quantity of wheat to 
 England, and, in a manufactured state chiefly, a large quantity also of oats and 
 barley ; but there is, at the same time, an interchange of wheat as well as barley 
 to some amount in ordinary years ; and it is not thought, upon the whole, that 
 Scotland generally grows more than is sufficient for its own requirements if 
 indeed even so much. J. D. 
 
300 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 collected.'* It yields half a million sterling, which is only 
 one-tenth of the amount contributed by England. 
 
 That beneficial expenditure which taxation promotes 
 elsewhere is, nevertheless, not neglected ; but it is England 
 which bears the heaviest charges, such as the cost of the 
 army and the maintenance of military ways. In this 
 respect Scotland is on a large scale what Jersey is on a 
 small. Spared the expense of the national defence, 
 which is the first care and heaviest charge of a nation, 
 she is free to devote all her resources to the develop- 
 ment of her prosperity. That spirit of order and eco- 
 nomy which regulates individual affairs is carried into 
 the public expenditure, and causes money to go much 
 farther. What is not done by means of taxation is 
 accomplished, both more speedily and at a more mode- 
 rate cost, by public spirit or private enterprise. Scot- 
 land is the cradle of economical science, and there its 
 lessons have found their best and most direct applica- 
 tion. A Scotchman trusts to his own resources, or looks 
 only to those whose interests are identical with his own ; 
 he does not waste his time in agitation and fruitless 
 proceedings ; having no favours to ask, he occupies 
 himself wholly about his own affairs, and conducts them 
 well, because nothing hinders or diverts his attention. 
 There is an absence of all those rivalries engendered 
 by ambition ; in private life each lives as he likes with- 
 out interfering with others, and, as often happens, when 
 any one requires the assistance of au other, matters are 
 easily arranged upon the principle of mutual interest. 
 
 * This must be taken as rather a partial account of the immunities of Scotland. 
 In some recent discussions as to the amount of burdens affecting land, we have 
 seen those in the principal agricultural districts of Scotland variously stated at 
 from five and a half to thirteen and a half per cent on the rental ; thus fully 
 equivalent on the average to the sum set down above as exigible from the soil in 
 England. (See Pamphlet by Mr Aitchison of Alderston, March 1854). J. D. 
 
SCOTLAND. 301 
 
 In this small country, of less than three millions of in- 
 habitants, the connection of interests that fundamental 
 principle so indifferently comprehended elsewhere is 
 apparent and felt by all. Scotland, in fact, is one family. 
 
 Is it surprising that agriculture should have profited 
 by such a concurrence of circumstances 1 Its progress, 
 especially from 1790 to 1815, was extraordinary; that 
 is to say, from the time when these combined causes 
 began powerfully to operate. England showed herself 
 capable, during that period, of taking off an almost inde- 
 finite quantity of commodities ; corn and butcher-meat 
 rose to enormous prices in the English markets, which, 
 for a new country like Scotland, could not fail to give 
 an immense impetus to production. 
 
 If it is true, according to Eicardo, that a small capital 
 brought to bear upon a virgin soil produces more at first 
 than a larger amount applied at a later period, this 
 axiom was then most fully realised ; on certain lands the 
 return was tenfold in the short space of a few years. 
 The general comfort, too, was increased to such an ex- 
 tent, that, according to a French traveller (Simond), 
 who visited Edinburgh in 1810, houses in the Old Town 
 were pointed out to him, inhabited by the working and 
 lower classes, where persons of the highest rank had 
 only lately resided. " A chair-porter," writes a corre- 
 spondent of Sir John Sinclair, " has lately quitted Lord 
 Drummore's house because it was no longer habitable ; 
 the Marquess of Douglas's is occupied by a cartwright, 
 and the Duke of Argyll's by a hosier at a rent of 12." 
 
 "When the fall in prices took place after the peace of 
 1815, this progress began to abate ; it was not possible 
 that it could go on at the same rate for any length of 
 time, but it still continues to a certain extent. Eailways 
 have been productive of much greater effects in Scot- 
 
302 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 land than in England, in this respect, that they have 
 produced a more intimate union between the two coun- 
 tries. The cheapness of transport, the quickness of com- 
 munication, and the doing away with a necessity for 
 agents for the sale of produce, have all contributed to 
 keep up prices in opposition to other lowering tenden- 
 cies ; and on this account the crisis of late years has 
 been much less felt in Scotland than in England. But 
 few complaints have found their way across the Tweed ; 
 both proprietors and farmers have put a good face on 
 the matter, and, in fact, they have suffered but little. 
 The great economy of the one, and the wise moderation 
 of the other, conjoined with energy on the part of both, 
 prepared the way for that which was completed by the 
 extension of markets. 
 
303 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 THE LOWLANDS. 
 
 THE observations I am about to make have reference 
 more particularly to the Lowlands, which comprise about 
 one-half of Scotland the best half yielding nine- 
 tenths of the whole produce of the country. 
 
 The most inferior part of this division of Scotland is 
 that bordering on England, and which is more or less 
 covered with the ramifications of the Northumberland 
 hills. It consists of the three counties of Dumfries, 
 Peebles, and Selkirk, and the mountainous part of Eox- 
 burghshire, containing in all about 1,200,000 acres.'* 
 
 Selkirk and Peeblesshire are quite Highland in their 
 character, only a tenth part being capable of cultivation. 
 This is the country so celebrated by Sir Walter. Scott 
 under the name of the Borders. The Tweed flows through 
 it, laving with its pure waters the residence of the great 
 novelist Abbotsford. The principal scenes in the Lay 
 of the Last Minstrel, Marmion, and the Monastery, are 
 laid in its passes, where the war-cries of two neighbour- 
 ing and hostile people so often resounded. It was there, 
 among the shepherds' huts, that Sir Walter Scott, in his 
 youth, collected those legends which inspired his first 
 
 * This can only be said of these districts as regards the production of grain 
 generally. Here are very valuable pastoral districts, celebrated for the^roductioii 
 especially of sheep. J. D. 
 
304 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 song. That country, once so unsettled, now enjoys the 
 most perfect security. Its thin herbage, only sufficient 
 for sheep -pasture, is now devoted to the rearing of 
 these innocent animals ; and all the strife now witnessed 
 is that of the Cheviot against the old black-faced breed, 
 which gradually retreats before its rival, as the bandits 
 and troopers of old did before the shepherds. The ave- 
 rage rent may probably be 3s. to 4s. per acre, which is 
 pretty high simply for pasture.'* These hills are subject 
 to severe storms in winter, which used to bury whole 
 flocks ; but better provision has now been made for 
 their shelter. 
 
 Abbotsford is situated at the foot of these mountains, 
 where the more fertile and better cultivated country 
 begins. Eoxburghshire, or, as it is sometimes called, 
 Teviotdale, contains the districts where the highest 
 farming flourishes, and where it was first introduced. 
 A Roxburghshire farmer, called Daw son, has been the 
 Arthur Young of Scotland ; and, more fortunate than 
 Arthur Young, he succeeded in carrying his theoretical 
 knowledge into successful practice. The farmers around 
 him have followed his example, and the consequence is 
 that we find this part of the country covered with fine 
 crops." 
 
 I remember stopping one day at one of these farms, 
 situated upon the left bank of the Tweed, opposite to 
 Abbotsford : the soil of it was better than the average, 
 and a great part was in pasture ; nevertheless it let for 
 16s. an acre. The farmer, with some degree of pride, 
 showed me his implements and his stock. He had a 
 water-power thrashing-machine, and next year proposed 
 
 * This average, we incline to think, is low. Measurement is not much regarded 
 in these mountains ; but we know some extent of land on the Cheviot border, en- 
 tirely devoted to the rearing of sheep, produces from 8s. to 10s. per acre. J. D. 
 
THE LOWLANDS. 305 
 
 to purchase a steam-engine. He had just laid in his 
 winter stock of oilcake for his cattle, which amounted 
 to fifteen tons. He took me over his fields, which lay 
 on the slope of the hill, and I followed him with an 
 admiring eye for his barley and oats, but my mind a 
 little abstracted, I confess, by the sight of Abbotsford, 
 which lay below us, its turrets reflected in the Tweed. 
 "If Scott were still alive," said I to myself, "this fine 
 fellow would no doubt be one of his heroes in the Tales 
 of my Landlord" Who does not remember the delight- 
 ful description of the farm of Charlie's Hope in Guy 
 Mannering, with its well-drawn characters of Dandy 
 Dinmont and his wife Ailie, and all the amusing inci- 
 dents of fox-hunts and salmon-fishing ? Charlie's Hope 
 was not far from where I then stood, just over in the 
 valley of the Liddell, behind the blue-tinted peaks on 
 the verge of the horizon. Dinmont is the local name 
 for a shearling male sheep. 
 
 A few miles further eastward, after coming down from 
 the Lammermoors (another name famed in poetry and 
 song), we enter upon the undulating country which 
 surrounds Edinburgh, called the Lothians, and contain- 
 ing also about 1,200,000 acres. The farming here is cer- 
 tainly not to be equalled. Eents of 30s., 60s., and even 
 5 per acre, are not uncommon ; the average is 25s., 
 with nearly as much in the shape of profit for the 
 farmer. The meadows in the neighbourhood of Edin- 
 burgh, which are irrigated with the sewage from 
 the town, show the maximum rent hitherto obtained 
 in Great Britain ; some let as high as 30 per 
 acre.* 
 
 A great part of the wheat produced in Scotland is 
 
 * These meadows are cut six or eight times during the season, and have brought, 
 we believe, in some instances, above 40 per annum. J. D. 
 
 U 
 
306 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 grown in the Lothians, which are particularly famous for 
 cereal crops. The soil at one time was reckoned in- 
 capable of bearing even rye ; only barley and oats were 
 cultivated, and these are still the cereals generally grown 
 in the rest of the country. It is mentioned that in 1727 a 
 field of wheat, of eight acres, about a mile from Edinburgh, 
 was the object of universal curiosity. Now, one-fifth of 
 the land, or about 250,000 acres, is in wheat, and in good 
 seasons this crop yields from thirty to forty-five bushels 
 per acre. Here again it is the Norfolk rotation more or 
 less modified according to local circumstances, but still 
 maintaining the general character of that system, which 
 produces this large return. Turnip cultivation, the basis 
 of the rotation, is nowhere better understood than in the 
 Lowlands. Indeed, we find in the Lothians, more than 
 in England, the realisation of all agricultural improve- 
 ments. A complete system of drainage has existed 
 for a long time past. Every farm, or nearly so, has 
 its steam-engine. Stabulation of cattle has been long 
 in common practice. The thrashing-machine was in- 
 vented, at the end of last century, by a Scotchman of the 
 name of Meikle, and was in use in Scotland before it 
 reached England. It was also a Scotchman (Bell) who in- 
 vented the reaping-machine, and who claims priority over 
 the Americans. The most successful and extensive expe- 
 riments, in the application of steam to cultivation, which 
 have yet been made in the three kingdoms, were carried 
 out at the Marquess of Tweeddale's, near Haddington. 
 
 In the county of Haddington alone, which contains not 
 quite 200,000 acres, or scarcely the extent of one of our 
 smallest French arrondissements, there were, in 1853, 
 185 steam-engines employed for agricultural purposes, 
 of an average power of six horses each, being nearly one 
 for every 1000 acres besides eighty-one water-mills. 
 
THE LOWLANDS. 307 
 
 In former times the lands of a farm in the Lothians, 
 as well as other parts of Scotland, used to be divided 
 into what were called in-field and out-field. The out-field 
 portion remained quite in a state of nature, and was used 
 as pasture ; the in-field, on the other hand, produced corn 
 crops uninterruptedly, barley and oats in succession. A 
 worse system can scarcely be imagined. Fallows are an 
 improvement on this barbarous practice, and were intro- 
 duced simultaneously with wheat-cultivation in 1725-50. 
 The principal merit of their introduction is attributed to 
 the sixth Earl of Haddington, who had seen their good 
 effects in England. Thus we see how much has been 
 done in a short space of time. If the point now reached 
 is the highest that at present exists, the starting-point was 
 certainly the lowest of any. 
 
 All the Lothian farms are worth visiting ; but I will 
 take only one as an example that of Mr John Dickson, 
 a few miles out of Edinburgh, composed of what was 
 formerly three farms. It contains five hundred Scotch 
 a^res,* and is let at 5 per acre, or 2500. In size this 
 farm is an exception, there being few such in this part of 
 the Lowlands. Those around it are in general not so 
 large, but the methods practised are the same on all ; and 
 some of them are let even higher. Notwithstanding 
 these enormous rents, the Lothian farmers make a good 
 business of it. They have almost all excellent houses ; 
 and whatever may be the national character for frugality, 
 they live at least as well as many of our proprietors, even 
 of the higher class. Wages, as usual, profit by the gene- 
 ral state of prosperity ; they are paid half in money, and 
 the rest in kind, amounting together to from Is. 8d. to 
 2s. per day. 
 
 * A Scotch acre is equal to 51 ares 41 centiares = 1 (or 1.27083) imperial 
 acres. 
 
308 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 In order to make up 1,200,000 acres, I include, with 
 the Lothians proper, all the low country along the 
 coast from Berwick to Dundee, not only on the south, 
 but also on the north of the Firth of Forth, and also 
 the Carse of Gowrie near Perth. This is about one- 
 fifteenth of the whole area of Scotland, and less than one- 
 seventh of the Lowlands. We have already observed 
 that an equal extent is covered by the Border mountains. 
 The remaining seven million acres of the Lowlands 
 form the intermediate region, which is neither so rich 
 as the Lothians, nor as rugged as the Borders. Their 
 average rent is about 8s. per acre ; and cattle-rearing is 
 the chief purpose to which they are devoted. 
 
 Of these, in the first place, a portion is occupied by 
 that distinct district which has received the name of 
 Galloway the way of the Gauls or Celts because form- 
 ing, as it does, a peninsula on the south-west of Scotland, 
 it stretches forward, as it were, towards Wales and Ire- 
 land, in anticipation of the migrations of Celts which 
 have been always coming over from these quarters. Gal- 
 loway includes the whole of the counties of Wigtown and 
 Kirkcudbright, and a portion of those of Ayr and Dum- 
 fries. The surface is broken by what the English call 
 hills that is to say, something between mountainous 
 and undulating country. The climate is extremely wet, 
 like that of Cumberland, which is only separated from 
 Galloway by a firth. The soil produces an abundant 
 natural grass, which is superior to that of the mountains 
 in the neighbourhood. There are a few grain-farms ; 
 but farming, properly speaking, is rather on the decline, 
 on account of the preference given to cattle."''" Eoots and 
 
 * We believe, as is the case in other parts of the country, it will be found that 
 the greater attention to the improvement and increase of stock in Galloway has 
 rather tended to materially improve and extend the general cultivation of the 
 Lmd.-J. D. 
 
THE LOWLANDS. 309 
 
 forage crops are cultivated for the winter food of these 
 animals ; during summer they are turned out upon the 
 pastures. 
 
 The primitive race of Galloway cattle is small, without 
 horns, very hardy, and affording meat of the best descrip- 
 tion. An export of these excellent cattle began at the 
 time of the union of the two kingdoms, and this has 
 been increasing for the last 150 years; but a change, 
 similar to that already noticed in districts of the same 
 kind in England, has been going on for some time. The 
 Galloway farmers had confined themselves to the rearing 
 of stock, which they sold at two or three years old, and 
 which were sent chiefly to Norfolk to be fattened. But 
 since railroads have established more direct communica- 
 tion with the markets of consumption, the pastures, by 
 drainage and other means, have been improved, and 
 winter food has been increased by means of special crops, 
 so that cattle are now fattened on the spot. The short- 
 horned breed, which almost never fails where skill and 
 the means of fattening are combined with care in the 
 breeding, is being rapidly propagated, and tends to take 
 the place of, or at least seriously to interfere with, the 
 native breed. The quality of the meat will not be im- 
 proved, but the quantity, to which more importance is 
 attached, will be considerably increased. Another occu- 
 pation, that of dairy-farming, is on the increase in Gal- 
 loway, where hitherto, notwithstanding the proximity 
 of Ayrshire, it was little known. The farm of Baldoon, 
 under Mr Caird, author of the Letters upon English 
 Agriculture, is especially worthy of notice, and offers 
 one of the best models of a well-managed dairy of one 
 hundred cows. 
 
 At the end of the last century, Ayrshire, which 
 borders on Galloway, was still in a most deplorable con- 
 
310 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 dition. " There was scarcely a road which was passable 
 in the whole country," says a local writer ; " everywhere 
 the cottages were built of mud and thatched with straw, 
 the fire in the centre, with an opening in the roof to 
 serve as a chimney, and surrounded with a dunghill, 
 while the land was covered with all sorts of weeds. No 
 green crops nor sown grasses, nor even carts, were to be 
 seen. The only vegetable cultivated consisted of a few 
 Scotch cabbages, which, with milk and oatmeal, formed 
 all the food of the population. Successive crops of oats 
 were taken off the same field as long as it continued to 
 produce anything beyond the seed sown, after which it 
 remained in a state of absolute sterility, until it was 
 again fit for producing another miserable crop. The 
 rent was usually paid in kind, under the name of half- 
 fruits. The cattle were famished in winter ; and when 
 spring arrived, could scarcely rise without assistance. 
 There was not a farmer with money sufficient to im- 
 prove this state of things, and proprietors had not the 
 means either." Might we not almost fancy we were 
 reading a description of one of our poorest and most 
 remote provinces, where a bad state of metayage still 
 reigned, and where escape from the common wretched- 
 ness seemed impossible ? 
 
 The Ayrshire country now ranks among the most 
 flourishing districts of Great Britain. It is there where 
 that grand innovation in English agriculture the dis- 
 tribution of liquid manure by means of subterranean 
 pipes was originally tried upon a large scale, and 
 where we find the small farm of Cunning Park, the 
 present wonder of the United Kingdom. This radical 
 change has all been effected in the space of sixty years. 
 To be sure, the district is close to Glasgow; this is the 
 great secret of it all. Like the English, the Scotch con- 
 
THE LOWLANDS. 311 
 
 sume a great deal of milk in all its forms. The in- 
 creasing demand for dairy produce has created the fine 
 breed of Ayrshire cows probably just our Brittany 
 race improved' and has changed those ancient heaths 
 into profitable pastures. Dunlop cheese almost the 
 only kind of Scotch cheese which has any reputation 
 is made from the Ayrshire milk. In the space of a 
 century, the rent of land in the county has increased 
 tenfold. One will cease to wonder at this, when it is 
 stated that milk in Glasgow is sold at 3d. per quart, and 
 butter at Is. 2d. per Ib. 
 
 The upper part of the Clyde Valley or, as it is called, 
 Clydesdale is remarkable for another production, which 
 also owes its origin to the commerce and industry of 
 Glasgow * namely, a breed of very powerful draught- 
 horses, well adapted for heavy loads, such as are required 
 for the traffic from the collieries in the district, and for 
 the trade of the port, which, after London and Liverpool, is 
 the most active in Great Britain. 
 
 Finally, the north part of the Lowlands, comprising 
 the low grounds of the counties of Forfar, Kincardine, 
 Aberdeen, Banff, Elgin, Nairn, and Caithness, and which 
 remained for a long time very backward, because of the 
 unfavourable nature of the climate and greater distance 
 from markets, is, in its turn, making great progress, since 
 railways have reached it, and now unite Aberdeen to 
 London by way of Edinburgh. The two principal towns 
 in the district, Aberdeen and Dundee, have each a popu- 
 lation of about seventy thousand, and carry on several 
 
 * The Clydesdale breed of horses certainly dates earlier than the rise of the 
 commerce of Glasgow. It is said to owe its origin to one of the Dukes of Hamil- 
 ton, who, in the seventeenth century, introduced stallions from Flanders, which 
 were used to cross mares selected from the best Lanarkshire breed. No doubt it 
 has been much encouraged by an increasing demand in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood. J. D. 
 
312 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 prosperous trades. Salmon-fishing in the rivers, and the 
 North-Sea herring fishery, are great sources of profit to 
 them. The two most southern counties, Forfar and Kin- 
 cardine, are the furthest advanced in agriculture, and 
 almost rival the county of Ayr.* Their prosperity is due, 
 in a great measure, to the Angus breed of polled black 
 cattle, which has been skilfully improved by the native 
 breeders upon the Bakewell principles,t and has as great 
 a name for its beef as the Ayrshire for milk ; nor does it 
 in this respect bear an unfavourable comparison with the 
 best of the English breeds the Durham not excepted. 
 
 The further we go north, richness decreases ; but drain- 
 ing, the cultivation of turnips and forage crops, extra 
 manures, such as bones and guano, subsoil-ploughing, 
 and liming, everywhere convert frightful mosses and 
 barren rocks into good land. One might almost call it a 
 second creation. Every day this part of Scotland is ra- 
 pidly increasing its production of meat and milk. Oats and 
 barley follow the movement, although at a distance ; and 
 wheat dares to show itself in the gloomy and cold county 
 of Caithness the most northerly of all, where at one time 
 myriads of sea-fowl were almost the sole occupants. J 
 
 In one of his interesting agricultural excursions, M. de 
 Gourcy mentions an enterprising Englishman, Mr Mactier, 
 who, after having realised a fortune in the East Indies, 
 purchased a property of twenty-two thousand acres from 
 
 * We think it will be found that the system of agriculture, in the lowlands of these 
 counties generally, is much superior upon the whole to that of Ayrshire. J. D. 
 
 *f* The first to cariy these principles out in application to the Angus breed, was 
 the well-known Hugh Watson of Keillor, who still maintains a superiority in this 
 class of cattle. J. D. 
 
 J It is evident M. Lavergne's happier experience leads him to regard with 
 too great asperity the influence of our northern climate ; and hence the above 
 fctatement scarcely conveys a correct impression of the wonderful improvements 
 lately effected in the North. Cereals of all descriptions, of superior quality, are 
 abundantly produced along the whole north-eastern coast of Scotland, and ex- 
 ported to some extent ; and the wheats of Ross-shire and Caithness vie with those 
 of the Lothians. J. D. 
 
jNlVERS 
 
 OF 
 THE LOWLANDS. < 
 
 the Duke of Gordon, in Aberdeenshire, which was almost 
 entirely in a state of nature. The price paid was nearly 
 120,000; and he is laying out upon it, in improvements 
 of all sorts, 25 per acre, or five times its original cost. 
 These operations consist principally of subsoil-ploughing. 
 The property being covered with granite rocks, these are 
 blasted and removed. The ground, after being thus 
 cleared, is levelled, drained, and limed, and laid out in 
 farms of about four hundred acres each. These farms, 
 it is stated, are let on nineteen years' leases, at the rate 
 of 5 per cent on the money expended upon them. 
 The whole operation, when finished, will absorb between 
 600,000 and 800,000. This is the scale upon which 
 agricultural undertakings are sometimes conducted. Eng- 
 lish capital readily finds its way to Scotland, because of 
 its being a newer country than England. 
 
 Even applying the 20 per cent reduction to the Scotch 
 prices, it will be seen that the gross production of the 
 Lowlands gives, in the aggregate, about 100 francs per 
 hectare, divided as follows : 
 
 Proprietor's rent, . 30 francs per hectare, or 10s. per acre. 
 
 Farmer's profit, .25 8s. 
 
 Taxes,* . .3 Is. 
 
 Incidental expenses, .17 6s. 
 
 Wages, . .25 8s. 
 
 100 33s. 
 
 I have already stated that the average gross production 
 of the lands in France may also be reckoned at about 
 100 francs, notwithstanding our immense superiority in 
 both soil and climate. Eents also may be about the 
 same, but the remainder is very differently divided. 
 Owing to the superabundance of hands and limited 
 
 * Taxes in the Highlands that is to say, in the other half of Scotland are 
 very insignificant, which doubles the portion to be allotted to the Lowlands. 
 
314 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 capital, wages with us absorb one-half, in place of a 
 fourth, of the gross produce; so that all that remains for 
 the farmers' profit and incidental expenses, or the most 
 productive portion, is only a third of what accrues to 
 these in Scotland. The profit, which in France is about 
 a tenth of the gross produce, and one-third of the rent, 
 amounts in Scotland to a fourth of the gross produce, and 
 four-fifths of the rent. In England the gross average 
 production is double, and the division proportionately 
 about the same, except that taxes in Scotland being very 
 much less, the farmers' portion profits by almost the whole 
 difference. 
 
 The greatest superiority of the Scotch rural economy 
 consists in the smallness of the number of its labourers. 
 In France, as we have already observed, the rural 
 population amounts to about sixteen per one hundred 
 acres, and in England to twelve ; but in the Lowlands it 
 is only five, for an average production at least equal to 
 that of France, and to one-half that of England. This 
 proportion is probably the lowest in Europe ; and still it 
 will decrease for production continues to increase, whilst 
 the rural population remains stationary, or nearly so. 
 
 There were formerly in the Lowlands, as everywhere 
 else throughout Scotland, a great many cottiers or 
 crofters, small farmers who worked a few acres after a 
 miserable fashion, like our metayers, under tacksmen or 
 middlemen that is, stewards or bailiffs, who managed 
 for their masters' account. All these cottiers have dis- 
 appeared ; some have become workmen in the mines or 
 manufactories, others are farmers, only a few are common 
 day-labourers. The average size of farms has increased, 
 without being yet very great, since it does not exceed 
 one hundred and fifty to two hundred acres ; and the 
 farmers themselves form one-half of the rural population, 
 
THE LOWLANDS. 315 
 
 while only the other half is composed of labourers and 
 servants. Even in the second half, servants, paid by the 
 year, and living in the house of the master'"" by whom 
 they are employed, form by far the greater number. 
 The day-labourers, properly so called, make rather the 
 exception than the rule. 
 
 It appears to me that this system is preferable to that 
 in England, where the number who live solely upon day- 
 wages is still too numerous ; and for us in France, it is 
 easier to imitate the Scotch than the English system. 
 We have, besides, an element which is wanting in Scot- 
 land, and which I maintain is useful to a certain extent- 
 small property. With this, provided it be not pushed too 
 far, and that the farming be healthy in other respects, a 
 better combination still may be attained. 
 
 For the moment, it is the Scotch system which is, in 
 my opinion, the better of the two, and that notwithstand- 
 ing the want to which I have just alluded. But if they 
 have not there the good element of small property, neither 
 have they the bad. The Scotch farmers, with more in- 
 telligence than any other of the same class, are careful to 
 undertake only what they are in a condition to do well. 
 In that country not only are they not ambitious to become 
 proprietors, when they have only capital sufficient to be 
 farmers, but they take care not to rent a hundred acres 
 when they have capital only sufficient to work fifty. They 
 have the sense to live rather below than above their in- 
 come; and such as with us would pretend to be gentle- 
 men, do not mind putting their hand to the plough. 
 They prefer in everything realities to appearances. That 
 unfortunate false pride which finds so many victims in 
 France, has disappeared before the natural good sense of 
 the Scotch. A trip to Scotland would be no less useful 
 
 * Or rather supported from the produce of the farm in separate houses. J. D. 
 
316 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 in this respect, as well as in many others, to our small 
 and middling proprietors, than to our large. 
 
 Scotland, moreover, has long ago experienced a revolu- 
 tion, which has not taken place yet in France, and which 
 even in England has not been carried to the same ex- 
 tent namely, the doing away with commons. Nothing 
 can be done on a large scale, in the way of a good distri- 
 bution of labour and comfort, so long as an important 
 part of the soil remains necessarily in an uncultivated 
 state, serving only to foster misery and idleness. Let 
 portions be retained here and there for public walks, 
 as is the case near London. To this there can be no 
 objection. But there must not be too many of them. 
 Commons still occupy a twentieth part of our territory. 
 The extent in England is greatly less ; and, during the last 
 fifty years especially, acts for enclosure have happily 
 multiplied. About two millions of acres, during that time, 
 have been allotted, enclosed, and cultivated. But there it 
 requires a special act for each common ; while in Scot- 
 land the simple request of the parties interested is all that 
 is necessary. The Act authorising this is dated in 1695, 
 and is one of the last and best passed by the Scotch Par- 
 liament. It has been justly remarked that, had a like 
 law been passed at the same period by the English Parlia- 
 ment, agriculture in England would have made greater 
 progress. 
 
 Since 1695 the Scotch commons have successively been 
 added to property, especially in the Lowlands. All that 
 were capable of cultivation are now reclaimed ; and even 
 the non-arable lands are the object of an intelligent and 
 profitable system of working. Looking back two or three 
 centuries, we find nearly the same rural organisation 
 existing over the whole of Europe ; only, since then, 
 we have severally more or less emerged from our primi- 
 
THE LOWLANDS. 317 
 
 tive barbarism. That state of commonality which still 
 exists among the peasantry of Eussia, once existed every- 
 where, and has everywhere more or less receded before 
 civilisation. 
 
 Population has not increased over the whole extent of 
 the Lowlands to the degree it has in the counties of Lanark 
 andKenfrew. If in some counties, as Ayr and Edinburgh, 
 it has trebled, in many others, even the richest, such as 
 Haddington and Linlithgow, which form part of the Lo- 
 thians, it has progressed very slowly. It has doubled, upon 
 the whole, however, and is now a little above one head 
 per five acres, or equivalent to Wales, and some depart- 
 ments in the centre of France those of Haute Vienne, 
 Creuse, Dordogne, and Correze. This increase of popula- 
 tion is therefore far from being in correspondence with the 
 increase of wealth. Within the same period the popu- 
 lation of England has trebled, and that of Ireland 
 quadrupled. 
 
 Even upon this nice question of population, the Scotch 
 possess an instinctive knowledge as great as the first 
 economists. Wherever a permanent demand for labour 
 arises, there population increases to meet it. But this de- 
 mand does not equally arise everywhere ; and in purely 
 agricultural districts the tendency is rather the other way. 
 Thus Scotland is sheltered from those troubles and suffer- 
 ings which excess of population produces. She has never 
 any ground to fear as to her subsistence, since she freely 
 exports much of her agricultural produce ; and the limited 
 number, as well as the moderate habits of her consumers, 
 admit of a large part of her receipts being turned into 
 capital, 
 
 We shall presently see in the Highlands a much more 
 rigorous application of the same principle. 
 
318 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS. 
 
 THE Highlands comprise the four large counties of Argyll, 
 Inverness, Koss, and Sutherland, and the greater part of 
 Perth, Aberdeen, Banff, Elgin, and Nairn. Adding to 
 these the Hebrides, Shetlands, and other islands, this is 
 at least one-half of Scotland. 
 
 I have already remarked upon the appearance presented 
 by these desolate regions, almost destitute of trees, and 
 with scarcely even heather ; everywhere steep and naked 
 rocks, streams of water of all sizes, lakes, falls, foaming tor- 
 rents, immense mosses, perpetual snows and rain, and 
 violent winds from the North Sea. It seems as if rural 
 economy could have nothing to do with such a country. 
 The Highlands have had their share, however, of the 
 change which is being effected in Scotland. Their share, 
 too, has not been the least, for these mountains have been 
 the scene of one of the most complete revolutions of this 
 revolutionary age. What has taken place, has been alto- 
 gether exceptional in its character, and deserves a special 
 notice; the more so, as the legality and utility of such a 
 radical change has been strongly debated. The argu- 
 ments raised on the subject have left wrong impressions 
 on the minds of many, which it is important should be 
 rectified. The Highlands were the scene of that syste- 
 matic depopulation which made such a noise in Europe 
 
THE HIGHLANDS. 319 
 
 thirty years ago. M. de Sismondi, among others, with 
 the most praiseworthy but short-sighted intentions, con- 
 tributed in no small degree to excite public animadver- 
 sion against this measure ; which, admitting that it was 
 too violently executed, has undoubtedly produced bene- 
 ficial results. 
 
 The Highlands, in former times, like all inaccessible 
 mountain countries, were the natural fastnesses of a war- 
 like people. They differed in all respects from the rest of 
 the world costume, language, race, and manners. Gaelic 
 was the only language, the kilt and plaid the only dress. 
 Poetry and romance have immortalised this small people. 
 Habituated to warfare, the state of society among them 
 was not unlike that of the Arab tribes. Each great 
 family or clan yielded obedience to a hereditary chief. 
 The territory of each clan being looked upon almost as 
 common property, under rule of the chief, each individual 
 took what he wanted, upon the simple condition that he 
 paid a small fine in kind, and rendered personal military 
 service. Their wretched fields produced very indifferent 
 oats ; herds of cattle and sheep, as wild as their owners, 
 supplied a little wool, milk, and flesh. For the rest, the 
 mountaineers lived by hunting and fishing, but for the 
 most part by plunder. From time to time they made 
 predatory incursions upon the Lowlands ; and when not 
 united in one large body on such occasions, they sepa- 
 rated and pillaged, each upon his own account. 
 
 Up to the time of the Battle of Culloden in 1746, the 
 chieftains thought only of increasing the number of 
 their followers. Their importance consisted, not in the 
 amount of their revenues, but in the numerical strength 
 of their armed bands. Although the agricultural and 
 social state of the middle ages had long passed away 
 elsewhere, it was found still existing in these retreats. 
 
320 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 All, however, became changed after the final expulsion of 
 the Stuarts. Ideas and requirements belonging to a new 
 state of society sprang up even in the most remote glens, 
 originating, in the first instance, with the chiefs. During 
 the previous half-century, the Scotch nobility had been 
 acquiring some insight into what was going on in other 
 parts of the world. Some of them had been at the 
 English court, others had visited the court of France. 
 These had blushed for their proverbial poverty, and found 
 only partial consolation in the consciousness of their 
 military power, for what they wanted in wealth, refine- 
 ment, and comfort. The natural course of events, which 
 is continually modifying human institutions, whether good 
 or bad, daily increased these secret feelings. Deprived 
 of their feudal independence, the Highland chiefs sought 
 to increase their revenues, in order to make another kind 
 of display. Although they might not have chosen habits 
 of luxury, which forced them to this, they would have 
 been led to adopt them solely by the progress of a grow- 
 ing civilisation. 
 
 Now, the only way by which they could increase their 
 means was to turn their estates to account ; and to this 
 two obstacles presented themselves first, the asperity of 
 the soil and climate ; and secondly, the inveterate wildness 
 of the people. They were not long, however, in disco- 
 vering that one of these difficulties could be overcome; 
 for there is no soil so unkind that will not yield some- 
 thing of a net produce ; but the people were more un- 
 tamable than nature itself. The common vassals had not 
 the same stimulus for increasing their labour ; the pater- 
 nal hut satisfied them, and they never dreamt of any 
 better style of living. Wherefore, then, should they 
 change their habits ? By the sweat of their brow to 
 make the earth bring forth fruits to be reaped by others! 
 
THE HIGHLANDS. 321 
 
 Better the proud poverty of their heather and their pris- 
 tine idleness. 
 
 There would have been some hope of being able to 
 overcome these impediments, over which time, in all feudal 
 countries, had triumphed, had there not been in this case 
 a peculiar difficulty which rendered success absolutely 
 impossible. Although scanty in numbers, as compared 
 to the extent of their country, the Highlands counting no 
 more than from two hundred and fifty to three hundred 
 thousand inhabitants upon nearly ten millions of acres, 
 population was still too dense for the productive powers 
 of the soil. However inured to fasting, the Highlanders 
 were decimated by famines, and it frequently happened 
 that they bled their half-starved cattle in order to feed 
 upon the blood. Although the population had been 
 ever so laborious, it could only have succeeded, while 
 remaining thus numerous, in feeding itself a little better, 
 without saving anything ; and if in some parts a better 
 culture appeared practicable, it was of no use attempting 
 this while the neighbouring districts were in possession of 
 the ancient clans ; for neither crop nor cattle could escape 
 the plunder which old habits sanctioned. 
 
 Thus it was that the Highland chiefs came gradually 
 to the conclusion that it was impossible to make any- 
 thing of their mountains but by depopulating them. From 
 that time they have not ceased endeavouring, first by 
 indirect means, and then openly and by force, to dimin- 
 ish that population which their ancestors, for purposes of 
 warfare, had multiplied. 
 
 The English government, with some tact, encouraged 
 these proceedings. They began by holding out attractions 
 to the chiefs to come to London, in order to wear off, by 
 degrees, their national feelings, and to instil into them new 
 ideas and habits. Then, after persuading them that the 
 
322 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 ancient organisation of the Highlands was incompatible 
 with a state of peace and industry, the government aided 
 them in accomplishing the difficult transition. To fur- 
 nish an outlet for the military portion of the population, 
 family regiments were raised, each composed of men from 
 the same clan, and commanded by their hereditary chiefs 
 in the pay of the State. These regiments bravely main- 
 tained the honour of their new colours, and, in the wars of 
 the Empire especially, the Highlanders, well known by 
 their singular costume, were considered the flower of the 
 English army. Those families, at the same time, who 
 consented, were removed from their mountains to the low 
 country, and emigration to America was set on foot for 
 the most refractory. 
 
 Up to the end of the eighteenth century these measures 
 had been executed with forbearance ; but the great agri- 
 cultural revolution of Arthur Young gave a more decided 
 turn to the movement. More than anywhere else, the 
 advantage of large fields for improvement in these sterile 
 mountains was evident. The feudal system, in which 
 formerly the power of the Gaelic race consisted, was 
 now the very thing which caused its destruction. The 
 territory of a clan being considered the property of the 
 chief, the Highlands were divided into only a few 
 extensive domains. The chief of each clan now set 
 about hunting out his subjects. Many of these unfortu- 
 nate people emigrated to Canada, others sought employ- 
 ment in the Lowlands ; while, upon the ruins of their 
 cabins, large sheep-farms arose. In 1808, Lord Selkirk, 
 a Scotch nobleman, published the theory of this depopu- 
 lation. It was then, and is still, called clearing an estate. 
 
 Just at that time England and Europe were reading 
 with delight the works of Walter Scott. His first poem, 
 the Lay of the Last Minstrel, appeared in 1805, and his 
 
THE HIGHLANDS. 323 
 
 first novel of Waverley in 1814. In these wonderful fic- 
 tions the old Highlander of ancient Scotland was depicted 
 to the life, with his tartan plaid and formidable claymore. 
 People's minds were all filled with visions of that land of 
 poesy, and imagined the shores of its lakes, its mountain 
 heather, its deep glens and caves, peopled with all those 
 loved fancies which the great novelist's imagination con- 
 jured up ; and at the very moment when genius threw 
 so much light upon the picture, what remained of these 
 people were being persecuted and expelled for the aggran- 
 disement apparently of a few rich proprietors. 
 
 On all sides an outcry was raised. The absolute right 
 to the land, claimed by these mere feudal chiefs, was dis- 
 puted. It was contended that they were nothing more than 
 suzerains, and that the land belonged as much to their 
 vassals as to themselves. In many respects this observa- 
 tion might be just. Taking tradition only as the rule, it 
 might have been received ; but in the struggle between 
 the present and future against the past, history must needs 
 be in the wrong. The utility of the thing was evident, 
 if the right was not completely established. Deeming it 
 out of the question to leave the labouring population of 
 the Lowlands exposed to such a dangerous neighbour- 
 hood, the government interposed on behalf of public 
 safety. Thanks to the help thus afforded, the depopula- 
 tion was accomplished, and by degrees the Highlands 
 have been gradually deprived of the greater portion of 
 their wild inhabitants. 
 
 Nowhere has the experiment been tested on so large a 
 scale as in Sutherlandshire, which forms the north-west 
 extremity of Great Britain. It is a wild, rugged country, 
 where the mosses are more numerous, and the rocks more 
 bare, than in the adjacent districts, and it is not even 
 more picturesque on account of its desolation. Situated 
 
324 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 in the same latitude as Sweden and Norway, it is subject 
 to a like severity of climate, rendered still more severe 
 by the height of its mountains. A narrow strip of good 
 soil extends along the coast, especially towards the 
 south. There is a want of it everywhere else ; but though 
 it existed, the prevalence of cold and storms would be 
 sufficient to render cultivation almost impossible.* There, 
 isolated from the rest of the world, dwelt the largest and 
 most unmixed of the Gaelic tribes. A great chieftain, 
 called Mhoir-Fhear-Chattaibh, or the Great Man of the 
 South, in allusion to his contests with the Danish pirates 
 who infested the Caithness coasts to the north, was for- 
 merly the head of this clan. The population of the 
 country was not great, owing to the want of food, and 
 they were very badly off. Upon an area of about eight 
 hundred thousand acres, fifteen thousand men, women, 
 and children, existed in a condition little better than that 
 of beasts. 
 
 At the time of the military organisation of the clans, 
 Sutherlandshire raised the 93d regiment of the line. In 
 the early part of the present century, the Countess of 
 Sutherland, sole descendant of the Great Man of the 
 South, having become Marchioness of Stafford by mar- 
 riage with a wealthy English nobleman, undertook to 
 
 * This rugged picture, conveying an impression of general barrenness, is, it will be 
 seen, considerably softened by what immediately follows, when M. Lavergne 
 comes to treat of the improvements which have recently taken place in Suther- 
 land. After all, it is with the latitude of the very southern parts of Norway and 
 Sweden that this county ranges, and we know that the severity of its cli- 
 mate is much mitigated by its insular situation ; indeed, we have no reason 
 to think its summers are inferior, especially on the eastern coast, to those of 
 the Lothians, though they are undoubtedly a little shorter. There is a consi- 
 derable breadth of very useful land, in fine herbage, in the extensive valleys by 
 which the mountain ranges are intersected ; and the statistical returns, obtained 
 from Sutherlandshire last year, exhibit a total of up wards of twenty- two thousand 
 acres of arable land, nearly four thousand five hundred of which were in green 
 crops, and upwards of ten thousand five hundred in grain of different kinds. J. D, 
 
THE HIGHLANDS. 325 
 
 strike the first blow. She ordered all her vassals to quit 
 the interior of the country, at the same time offering to 
 establish them on the sea-coast, where they might become 
 sailors, fishermen, labourers, and even cultivators of the 
 soil, since the soil and climate there offered greater re- 
 sources. Those who refused had no alternative but emi- 
 gration to America. This measure was carried out 
 between 1810 and 1820. Only thirty years have elapsed 
 since the whole thing was finished. Three thousand fami- 
 lies were forced to quit the country of their fathers, and 
 were transplanted into the new villages upon the coast. 
 When resistance was shown, the agents of the Marchion- 
 ess demolished their miserable habitations, and in some 
 instances, in order to effect this more speedily, the 
 huts were set on fire. 
 
 As soon as what was going on in Sutherlandshire 
 became known in England and in Europe, the irritation, 
 which similar proceedings had already excited, reached 
 its height. The maledictions which rose from the burning 
 embers of the cottages were echoed with redoubled force, 
 until Lord and Lady Stafford, in 1820, felt themselves 
 called upon to publish a justification of their conduct ; and 
 this they did through their chief agent, Mr James Loch. 
 
 According to Mr Loch, the heiress of the Earls of 
 Sutherland had done her vassals a real service in obliging 
 them to leave a country where they were subjected to 
 nothing but misery. In place of the mud cabins in 
 which they were huddled together upon their native 
 mountains, she had prepared more commodious dwell- 
 ings for them under a less inclement sky. In place of 
 those pastures, immense no doubt, but wholly unculti- 
 vated, where their scanty flocks were dying of hunger, 
 she had provided more fertile land, which was, besides, 
 open to the sea. The people had not been driven out, 
 
326 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 but only displaced for their own good. If some of them, 
 blinded by prejudice, had preferred emigration, the ma- 
 jority had gratefully accepted the change ; while those 
 whom it had been found necessary to expel by force 
 were but the exceptions. 
 
 In fact, as Mr Loch always contended, time alone 
 would show the wholesome results of these measures. 
 In 1820 the new villages were already infinitely superior 
 to the old ones. The Marchioness had spent consider- 
 able sums in opening up roads in every direction ; 
 throwing bridges across streams, and even arms of the 
 sea ; constructing inns and posting establi shments ; and in 
 rendering the small harbours of the coast more accessible 
 and safe. This country, which ten years previously was 
 absolutely closed, became henceforth approachable both 
 by sea and land ; coaches ran through it from one end 
 to the other, and numbers of vessels loaded and discharged 
 upon these formerly deserted coasts. The outlay upon 
 the harbour and works at Helmsdale alone amounted to 
 more than 16,000. This once unsafe inlet, where not a 
 vessel touched before 1814, became, five years afterwards, 
 the seat of a trade employing some thousands of tons of 
 shipping. At first the Marchioness's agents had to 
 import at considerable expense all materials required for 
 their works lime from Sunderland, coal from Newcastle, 
 and slates from Aberdeen ; and to bring, besides, their 
 own engineers masons, quarrymen, sailors, and artifi- 
 cers, even such as bakers, cartwrights, and joiners, for 
 none of these existed previously on the place. At the 
 time Mr Loch wrote, only a few of these strangers re- 
 mained : the native population had learned from them 
 enough to provide for their own necessities. These once 
 barbarous people had become, in the course of a few 
 
THE HIGHLANDS. 327 
 
 years, clever workmen, good seamen, and hardy miners. 
 The Marchioness caused to be built, at her own expense, 
 churches and schools ; and it only required a very short 
 time to complete the work of regeneration. 
 
 At the same time, Mr Loch had no difficulty in prov- 
 ing that, in point of rural production, properly so called, 
 the operation was a successful one. The depopulated 
 lands were divided into twenty-nine large sheep-farms, 
 averaging twenty-five thousand acres each. Cheviot 
 rams and ewes of the improved breed had been im- 
 ported in large numbers, and were added to the native 
 black-faced race. The heather was burned, mosses were 
 drained by open ditches, and the water was collected and 
 distributed along the mountains by means of artificial 
 canals. Owing to these judicious proceedings, a fine 
 and close natural grass covered the highest summits, 
 just as in the lower valleys. This natural grass, grow- 
 ing upon a thin bed of soil, and which could not have 
 borne the tread of heavier animals, was improved, and 
 grew every day thicker from the manuring of the sheep. 
 At this time it was estimated that the number of sheep 
 fed upon the Sutherland mountains amounted to 118,000 
 cheviots, and 13,000 black-faced. The export of wool 
 rose to 415,000 Ib. annually, and was sold to the York- 
 shire manufacturers at the Inverness market ; and 30,000 
 sheep were delivered to the south-country farmers, to be 
 fattened for market. These products, already much 
 greater than anything formerly obtained for that was 
 almost nothing gave promise of rapid increase. 
 
 The coast farmers, in their turn, finding themselves 
 placed in better circumstances, had, at the instigation 
 and with the assistance of their masters, adopted im- 
 proved methods of cultivation ; and fine fields of barley 
 
328 RUKAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 and wheat, turnips sown in drill, and artificial grasses, 
 took the place of the brambles so dear to the ancient 
 inhabitants. 
 
 All Mr Loch's hopes have been realised. Time has 
 brought all his prognostications to pass. The necessary 
 capital for effecting all this could never have been found 
 in Sutherlandshire. It required the marriage of the 
 heiress of the county with a very wealthy man, who was 
 willing to devote part of his fortune to the improvement of 
 his wife's patrimony. In acknowledgment of this revolu- 
 tion, the English government raised Sutherland to a 
 duchy ; and, by a great sacrifice, the Marquess of Stafford 
 saw the noble name of his family merged in that which 
 he helped to restore. The son of the Countess of Suther- 
 land and Marquess of Stafford now enjoys the title of 
 Duke of Sutherland. From these eight hundred thousand 
 acres this nobleman derives an income of 40,000, and 
 that, it is said, is only a fifth of his immense fortune. The 
 rest is derived from his paternal estates in the counties 
 of Stafford and Salop, which have also been greatly im- 
 proved, but in another way, owing to their different 
 character. 
 
 When the present Duke came into possession of his 
 Highland estates in 1840, he was received with marks 
 of attachment on all hands. The remembrance of old 
 struggles was effaced, the smoke of past burnings had for 
 ever passed away. All the farmers who had taken 
 leases, whether in the depopulated mountain districts of 
 the interior, or on the uncultivated moorlands upon the 
 coast, had made money ; and Mr Loch, the factor, had 
 become a member of Parliament. The population, which 
 had increased from fifteen thousand to twenty thousand, 
 nd were still congregated along the coast, no longer 
 
 ught of leaving it. There the bad lands, cleared of 
 
THE HIGHLANDS. 329 
 
 underwood and stones at great expense, and thoroughly 
 improved by means of sea-weed and all kinds of artificial 
 manure, were giving a rental of as much as 30s. per acre. 
 Harbours, mines, fisheries, all had succeeded. From his 
 lofty feudal tower of Dunrobin, which overlooks this 
 part of the coast, the descendant of the Mhoir-Fhear- 
 Chattaibhs encouraged a scene of active industry, which 
 his ancestors never dreamt of. 
 
 In the interior of the country the old race of black- 
 faced sheep had almost disappeared, and were succeeded 
 mostly by the cheviot. Now two hundred thousand 
 sheep are pastured on a surface which formerly fed only 
 a fourth of that number. What an admirable property 
 this is in the sheep, of adapting itself to all sorts of 
 soil and climate ! The same animal, which is the chief 
 wealth of the Arab on the sandy deserts of Saharah, 
 enables us to turn to profitable account the rocks and 
 peat-mosses of the extreme north ! M. de Gourcy says : 
 " One cannot help being surprised, in passing through 
 these solitary regions, to find them covered with splendid 
 sheep, giving every year 5 Ib. of pretty fair wool, and, 
 with no other food than what they find there summer and 
 winter, weighing alive, at three years and a half, two 
 hundred Ib. English." The hills serve for summer pas- 
 turage, and the glens or valleys for the winter. Dur- 
 ing the long nights even, the flocks remain exposed to all 
 weathers, with no other shelter than what a few birch 
 trees afford. The only protection they receive against 
 the extreme wet is an application or smearing of tar and 
 butter in the month of October. 
 
 As for human inhabitants, there are none. If the 
 sound of the bagpipe is heard among the rocks, it is no 
 longer the gathering-call of warlike mountaineers, but 
 the more peaceful amusement of a shepherd, who, in 
 
330 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 place of war and pillage, devotes his time to the care of 
 sheep, and receives wages from a neighbouring farmer. 
 He scarcely knows anything of the warlike history of 
 his clan ; but, instead, can tell you if it has been a good 
 lambing season, and how wool is selling. This is all that 
 remains of an extinct race. One of these shepherds can 
 look after five hundred sheep. There may be four hun- 
 dred or five hundred such upon these eight hundred 
 thousand acres. 
 
 The history of Sutherlandshire is more or less that of 
 the whole Highlands. Wherever it has been practicable 
 to displace the old population, they have been succeeded 
 by sheep. Where the soil is a little better, and the de- 
 population therefore less complete, a few oats and turnips 
 are cultivated round the farm-houses ; and, in addition 
 to the sheep, we find a few horned cattle. These cattle, 
 well known under the name of West Highlanders, are 
 just the old race of the country, which, through care and 
 attention, have acquired a fulness of flesh and an un- 
 common aptitude for fattening. The cattle-stealers of 
 Waverley would now scarcely recognise these animals as 
 the progeny of the small beasts they used to drive be- 
 fore them on returning from their marauding excursions 
 hundreds of which they used to hide in their caves. 
 One will now weigh as much as five or six of former days. 
 
 It was Archibald, Duke of Argyll, who, about the 
 middle of the last century, began to improve this breed, 
 which has now reached its climax. As shaggy as a bear, 
 and of a black or brown colour, they have still, at first 
 sight, a wild look, quite in keeping with the locality 
 from whence they come. But their leisurely gait and 
 quiet eye soon show that they also have lost their former 
 wildness, and that they have little in common with their 
 fierce brethren of Andalusia, trained for the fight. No 
 
THE HIGHLANDS. 331 
 
 change has been made in their general mode of life. 
 Like the sheep, they never enter a shed, but live, night 
 and day, summer and winter, in the open air, and ob- 
 tain their only food upon the mountains, where the hand 
 of man has never scattered a seed. 
 
 The British, as a nation, are rough -mannered. They do 
 things harshly, and often take the wrong way of doing 
 them when really their ultimate object is right. The 
 heirs of the large Scotch fiefs evidently went too far in 
 employing force to reduce their vassals. It would have 
 been better had they trusted to time which soon passes 
 for the change to have taken place of its own accord. 
 Even although constraint had been necessary, it was 
 scarcely advisable to have exercised it towards a people 
 whose devotion to them amounted even to fanaticism. 
 With this exception, the effect of the displacement has 
 been beneficial, useful, and well ordered, both in an 
 agricultural and political point of view. This has been 
 abundantly proved, after fifty years' experience. The 
 Scotch themselves allow that, if there exists any ground 
 for regret, it is that the operation has not everywhere 
 been as complete as in Sutherlandshire. A sufficient 
 justification for the expulsion of their predecessors ap- 
 pears in the fact that, in those parts where the High- 
 landers still remain too numerously congregated, they 
 are in a state of misery, and the force of circumstances 
 must no doubt cause them gradually to disappear. 
 
 In his entire condemnation of what took place in the 
 Highlands, M. de Sismondi has fallen into several errors. 
 He has spoken of Sutherlandshire as a country in the 
 ordinary state of fertility and civilisation ; and what he 
 regarded as an abuse of property, has made him forget 
 the insufficiency of production and the danger of a state 
 of barbarism. When a soil and climate are not suffi- 
 
332 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 ciently productive conveniently to maintain a human 
 population, is it not rather to be desired that the people 
 remove elsewhere \ It matters little whether a portion 
 of the produce is collected by the proprietor in the shape 
 of rent, or whether all the production goes to be divided 
 among those who till the ground : the proportion may 
 alter, but the real difficulty of the case remains. Sup- 
 posing the Highlanders had been recognised as proprietors 
 of their native soil, a change of locality would still, under 
 the circumstances, have been necessary for the majority. 
 This first question being disposed of, the second, that 
 of rent, next comes. ~* Is it advantageous, is it legiti- 
 mate, that such a country should produce a rent ? I 
 do not hesitate to answer that it is. Even the worst 
 lands make no exception to the general rule. All land, 
 to be really useful to the community, ought to produce 
 something over and above the expenses of production. 
 This surplus is for the support of those who do not till 
 the land ; that is to say, for those who give themselves 
 up to industrial and commercial pursuits, and to the 
 arts and sciences. Every country which has no net pro- 
 duce is condemned to barbarism. Although impelled 
 altogether by personal interest, the heads of the Scotch 
 clans have been instrumental in carrying out that great 
 social law which makes the payment of rent the very 
 principle of civilisation. Without rent there is no divi- 
 sion of labour ; no wealth, no comfort, no intellectual 
 development. Besides, we almost invariably find that 
 when the net produce is increased, so also is the gross. 
 
 * By rent, I mean what is generally understood in France by the term the 
 net revenue of the proprietor. Another meaning for it is frequently implied, 
 especially in the writings of English economists, altogether ideal, invented by 
 Ricardo, and which has given rise to interminable discussions. I have been careful 
 to avoid giving it any other than its original meaning throughout this essay. See 
 the examination of Ricardo's theory in my Cours tf Economic Rurale. 
 
THE HIGHLANDS. 333 
 
 The Highlands produce infinitely more than they did a 
 century ago not only in respect to rent, but in every- 
 thing. 
 
 An old Highlander, relating in rather an odd way the 
 misfortunes of his race, observed : " When I was young, 
 a Highland gentleman measured his importance by the 
 number of men he could maintain upon his land ; some 
 time after that, the question came to be as to the number 
 of cattle ; but now it is the quantity of sheep he has. 
 I suppose our children will be inquiring how many rats 
 and mice an estate can produce." This, of course, is a 
 joke ; but still it is not fair. It is enough, in reply, to 
 state, that the population of the Highlands, which was at 
 most three hundred thousand in 1750, is now six hun- 
 dred thousand ; and that the profits, as well as the wages 
 of this population, have increased much more than the 
 rents, even in the depopulated mountains. But, after all, 
 these mountain districts do not yield more than Is. per 
 acre to the proprietors. The tenants make about as 
 much, and the common shepherds receive about 40 
 a-year ten times more, certainly, than their forefathers 
 ever earned. 
 
 It is just the same with the displaced population ; 
 they were starving in the interior of the country for 
 want of profitable occupation, but now they are in 
 prosperous circumstances on the sea-coast, where they 
 can always find remunerative employment. This people, 
 once so formidable to their neighbours, have changed 
 their state of lawlessness for an industrious and steady 
 life. There has, then, been no falling off in work and 
 comfort, as M. de Sismondi alleges, but a marked in- 
 crease in both. 
 
 A somewhat similar revolution took place in Eng- 
 land, according to the evidence of all historical docu- 
 
334 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 ments, beginning with the reign of Henry VII. ; that 
 is to say, immediately after the Wars of the Koses, 
 when some degree of order and security was restored. 
 The feudal system, suitable enough for warlike times, 
 was at that period found to be incompatible with a state 
 of peace. No sooner did the English nobility desire to 
 have fewer armed men and more revenues, than they 
 acted at the end of the fifteenth century exactly as 
 the Scotch nobility did two hundred years later ; they 
 reduced, as much as possible, the number of their re- 
 tainers, and replaced them by sheep. During the whole 
 of the succeeding century, this systematic depopulation 
 continued, and especially after the expulsion of the 
 monastic orders, which produced that multitude of vaga- 
 bonds who infested the rural districts, and caused the 
 establishment of the famous poor-rate. It was only 
 towards the end of Elizabeth's reign that ideas on this 
 subject began to change; because, owing to the increase 
 of the industrial and commercial population, it became 
 necessary to provide more corn for food ; and the English 
 nobility had not the same excuse as those of the High- 
 lands at a later period, because the country which they 
 depopulated was infinitely more susceptible of cultiva- 
 tion. 
 
 Even Walter Scott, the Bard of the Clans, when, leav- 
 ing fiction, he turned historian, forcibly recognises the 
 necessity for their dispersion. In his History of Scot- 
 land he says, " The view which we cast upon the system 
 of clanship, as it existed in the time of the last genera- 
 tion, is like looking upon a Highland prospect, enlivened 
 by the tints of a beautiful summer evening. On such 
 an occasion, the distant hills, lakes, woods, and preci- 
 pices, are touched .by the brilliancy of the atmosphere 
 
THE HIGHLANDS. 335 
 
 with a glow of beauty which is not properly their own, 
 and it requires an exertion to recall to our mind the 
 desolate, barren, and wild character which properly be- 
 longs to the objects we look upon. For the same reason, 
 it requires an effort of the understanding to remind us 
 that the system of society under which the Highland 
 clans were governed, although having much in it which 
 awakens both the heart and the fancy, was hostile to 
 liberty, and to the progress both of religious and moral 
 improvement, by placing the happiness, and indeed the 
 whole existence, of tribes at the disposal of individuals 
 whose power of administration was influenced by no 
 restraint saving their own pleasure. Like other men, 
 the heads of the clans were liable to be seduced into the 
 misuse of unlimited authority. The possession of such 
 power by a few men made it always possible for them to 
 erect the standard of civil war in a country otherwise 
 disposed to peace ; and their own bravery and that of 
 their retainers only rendered the case more dangerous, 
 the provocation more easily taken, and their powers of 
 attack and resistance more bloody and desperate. Even 
 in peace the power of ravaging the estates of a neigh- 
 bour, or of the Lowlands, by letting loose upon them 
 troops of banditti, kennelled like blood-hounds in some 
 obscure valley till their services were required, was giv- 
 ing to every petty chieftain the means of spreading 
 robbery and desolation through the country at pleasure. 
 With whatever sympathy, therefore, we may regard the 
 immediate sufferers, with whatever general regret we 
 may look upon the extinction, by violence, of a state of 
 society which was so much connected with honour, 
 fidelity, and the tenets of romantic chivalry, it is im- 
 possible, in sober sense, to wish that it should have con- 
 
336 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 tinned, or to say that, in political wisdom, the govern- 
 ment of Great Britain ought to have tolerated its longer 
 existence." * 
 
 Kennelled like blood-hounds. Nothing was ever ex- 
 pressed more forcibly ; and Walter Scott here treats of 
 the moral and political side of the question only : he 
 does not touch at all upon the economy of such a system, 
 which is not less important. 
 
 In France we have nothing resembling these freebooter 
 tribes of ancient Scotland, and on the score of public 
 safety we have need of no similar transportation. Still 
 we may derive instruction from the example of the High- 
 lands, inasmuch as they should teach us to consider the 
 condition of some of the rural populations in the most 
 unproductive parts of our own country. May we not also 
 have, on some parts of our territory, a population too 
 dense for the powers of the soil on which they dwell, 
 and who, even with the most assiduous labour, find 
 insufficient food while they remain so numerous ? Might 
 it not be desirable for the general good, as well as for 
 the unfortunate people themselves, seeing that they form 
 a part of the great family, to remove a portion, and 
 employ them more usefully elsewhere \ Would not this 
 be a double gain, first to the country they leave behind, 
 and then to that in which they would find employment \ 
 Would they not themselves be benefited by better wages 
 and greater comfort \ We may be thankful that the 
 employment of force in such a case could not happen 
 with us ; it would be the result only of a necessity freely 
 recognised by the parties interested ; but may we not 
 prepare the minds of the people beforehand for such 
 an event \ 
 
 A clearance once effected, everything becomes easy in 
 
 * Tales of a Grandfather, third series, chap. xxvi. 
 
THE HIGHLANDS. 837 
 
 the Highlands. The mountains there are quite free from 
 wood. This nakedness is referred to several causes, espe- 
 cially to the sea- winds ; but all parts of this immense 
 surface are not equally exposed to storms : the destruc- 
 tion of wood is therefore to be attributed, in a great 
 measure, to the same cause which has so completely 
 stripped French Africa, and which is so rapidly destroying 
 every kind of vegetable earth upon our own mountains ; 
 namely, the unrestricted grazing of the flocks. As soon 
 as the population left, care was taken to apportion to 
 pasture and forest each their separate ground. Since the 
 Scotch chieftains have become large proprietors, they 
 have undertaken immense plantations. The late Duke 
 of Atholl planted fifteen thousand acres with larch. 
 This splendid forest, now of sixty years' growth, has 
 sprung up with astonishing vigour, covering with its 
 dark mantle the mountains north of the Tay around 
 Dunkeld, and is not among the least of the beauties of 
 that grand scenery. It is doubtful if Baden and the 
 Black Forest are to be compared with it. I am not sure 
 that the forest planted by man does not bear away the 
 palm from the natural forest, the larch against the fir. If 
 woods are out of place in the low country, where the land 
 is fit for producing corn, meat, or wine, they are undoubt- 
 edly in their proper place upon steep heights, where no- 
 thing else will grow. Besides their own peculiar value, 
 they protect the valleys from the violence of storms, regu- 
 late the fall of rains, and, what is not to be overlooked, 
 add to the grandeur of the scenery. The foaming falls 
 of Tay are ten times more beautiful for being clothed 
 with this majestic foliage. 
 
 Finally, and this perhaps is the most curious feature 
 in that skilful turning to account of wilderness, there is 
 the extraordinary profit derived from its game. Ptar- 
 
338 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 migan, blackcock, all kinds of waterfowl, and especially 
 grouse, breed upon these moors in great plenty : fallow 
 and red deer have also been artificially propagated upon 
 them. Fashion has given great value to these sports. 
 A hill stocked with game lets for 50 for the season. 
 Shooting-lodges, built in the most retired spots, are let, 
 including the right of shooting over the adjacent hills, at 
 500. What is called a forest that is to say, several 
 thousands of acres, not exactly planted with trees, but 
 reserved for deer to the exclusion of all kinds of cattle 
 brings an extravagant rent. The large Scotch proprietors, 
 following the example of William the Conqueror, have laid 
 out many of these forests upon their estates. Gentlemen 
 go there at great expense to enjoy the sport of shooting 
 the fleet monarchs of these wilds in their precipitous 
 retreats expeditions which are all the more attractive 
 from the fatigue imposed and some little danger that 
 attends them, and which revive in these children of the 
 North the wild instincts of their forefathers. 
 
 Nothing is more fashionable than Highland sports. 
 The pencil of Landseer, the favourite delineator of British 
 sport, has described under every form its most stirring 
 incidents ; and that bustle which, for two or three months 
 in the year, awakens in the slumbering echoes of the 
 rocks something like the gathering of the clans, results 
 in handsome incomes to the proprietors. 
 
 Public opinion, which, after much hesitation, at last 
 approved of the expulsion of the Highlanders, has for 
 a long time sanctioned the Scotch deer-forests as the 
 valuable remains of a former state of things now properly 
 abolished. People, however, are beginning to murmur 
 against these last vestiges of ancient feudalism, contend- 
 ing that the deer are too few in number profitably to 
 occupy the vast tracts set apart for them, and that it would 
 
THE HIGHLANDS. 339 
 
 be better to use them for feeding sheep. I can understand 
 such an argument when the question concerns England, 
 where certain wealthy proprietors still persist in keeping 
 waste for their shootings large tracts of land in the middle 
 of populous districts, that might otherwise bear crops ; 
 such, for example, is Cannock Chase in Staffordshire, 
 which contains nearly fifteen thousand acres ; but in the 
 Highlands of Scotland I can scarcely believe that the loss 
 is very great. A few thousands of sheep more or less 
 would be no great addition to the national food ; and then, 
 again, the last remains of savage nature in Great Britain 
 would be gone. Nothing but sheep is rather monotonous ; 
 nor are we called upon to give way to a mania. To rob 
 country life of all its poetry, is going rather too far even 
 in the interests of farming ; and should we not hesitate 
 before destroying the greatest charm which entices the 
 wealthy out of the towns \ 
 
 The Highland fishings are no less famous than the 
 shooting grounds. In a country abounding everywhere 
 with streams, fish naturally are plentiful ; the salmon 
 especially has given rise to a very large trade. Shortly 
 after the pacification of Scotland, it was a fortune to any 
 one who possessed a fall upon a river. Simond mentions 
 a fishing on the Tay which before 1800 was rented at five 
 guineas a -year, and in 1810 was let for 2000. " It is 
 not because the fish are more plentiful," he says, " but 
 there is more attention paid to catching them, and there 
 are more consumers." So much has been done in this 
 way, that salmon and trout are not found in such quan- 
 tities as formerly. Of late, however, a new art artificial 
 fish-breeding gives fresh hopes. The present Duke of 
 Atholl is one of those who devote great attention to the 
 means for re-stocking the lakes and rivers, and numerous 
 experiments prove the success of the measures employed. 
 
340 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Everything promises that this valuable resource of the 
 Highlands will be preserved, and probably increased, by 
 human art. This is man's proper occupation in such a 
 country ; with pastures and forests, it is the only prac- 
 ticable and profitable kind of culture. 
 
 That perfect security which the Highlands now enjoy 
 that dead silence of a land without inhabitants the 
 rocks, crags, waterfalls, and heather, with their romantic 
 and poetical associations all combine, despite the dulness 
 of the climate, to give a peculiar charm to a residence 
 among these mountains. Comfortable abodes have taken 
 the place of the huts of the clans. Not only have the 
 old chieftains built themselves castles upon the ruins of 
 the cottages, but wealthy Englishmen have purchased 
 large tracts of territory, and removed their residences 
 thither. There is now scarcely a desirable situation which 
 is not occupied by a modern mansion. The average cost 
 of land is about 30s. per acre, which gives a large extent 
 for little money. The houses stand many miles apart, 
 and the lands belonging to them are occupied solely by 
 sheep and grouse. Notwithstanding the bare and deserted 
 appearance of many of these houses, their interiors present 
 every comfort, which is always an agreeable contrast. 
 
 Capital roads, and steamboats on the lakes, give easy 
 access to the most remote places. The general aspect of 
 the country is that of a vast park of many millions of 
 acres, where the greatest of landscape-gardeners has end- 
 lessly multiplied the most sublime effects. Thousands of 
 tourists wander over the country during the fine season, 
 if, to be sure, the summer of that country deserves the 
 name ; and this is another source of gain not less pro- 
 fitable than the others, which the " canny " Scotch take 
 good care to profit by. 
 
 The finest of the noble residences is Taymouth Castle, 
 
THE HIGHLANDS. 341 
 
 belonging to Lord Breadalbane, situated at the point 
 where the river Tay flows out of the loch of the same 
 name in Perthshire. Lord Breadalbane is a descend- 
 ant of the chiefs of the clan Campbell, one of the most 
 powerful in the Highlands. His domains extend one hun- 
 dred English miles, or forty leagues, in length, and reach 
 nearly from sea to sea. The same means of clearance 
 were employed here as elsewhere, and the clan, properly 
 speaking, no longer exists ; and in place of the old 
 mansion a regular palace has been built, the splendour 
 of which astonished even the Queen when she paid a 
 visit to Lord Breadalbane. The finely timbered park, 
 through which the bounding waters of the young Tay flow, 
 well stocked with hares, partridges, and pheasants, and 
 studded with plots of flowers, combines with the natural 
 beauties of these wild glens those charms which the most ex- 
 quisite art alone can give, incompatible as they may seem. 
 It must have required a considerable sum of money thus 
 to have conquered the soil and climate. This the pastur- 
 ages have supplied, for they are inhabited only by sheep. 
 I arrived at Taymouth upon a long summer evening by 
 the left shore of Loch Tay, which cannot be less than six 
 leagues in length. Several farms appeared here and there 
 on the banks of this little sea, with their fields of turnips 
 and oats ; but on the mountains themselves no trace of man 
 or house was to be seen. Black-faced sheep were grazing 
 on the hill-sides without any one to look after them, and 
 as we passed they gazed at us with their little frightened 
 black faces ; West Highland cows, whose shadows were 
 thrown upon the rocks with the last rays of the sun, 
 filled the air with their bellowings at our approach ; and 
 just as we reached Kenmore Bridge, we saw under the 
 lofty larches, planted by the father of the present Mar- 
 quess, some stags, under cover of evening, coming down to 
 
342 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 drink in the loch. These peaceful pictures are far pre- 
 ferable to the scenes of blood described by Sir "Walter 
 Scott in his Fair Maid of Perth, as having taken place on 
 this very spot. 
 
 The Shetlands, Hebrides, and other islands which lie 
 scattered along the Highland coasts, have not been visited 
 by civilisation to the same extent ; but regular steam 
 communication has now been established with them, and 
 in a few years we may expect to see similar proceedings 
 effect the same results. ' The island of Lewis, the largest 
 of the Hebrides, containing about three hundred and fifty 
 thousand acres, has been purchased by an enterprising 
 Englishman Sir James Matheson who has commenced 
 a series of improvements there, the starting-point of which 
 is the emigration, more or less voluntary, of a large por- 
 tion of the inhabitants. 
 
343 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 IRELAND. 
 
 THE agricultural history of Ireland, until within the last 
 few years at least, is as lamentable as those of England 
 and Scotland are brilliant. What was to be the ultimate 
 fate of this unfortunate island was long an unanswered 
 question ; now, however, the problem begins to be eluci- 
 dated, but at what a cost ! 
 
 Ireland is not wanting in natural resources. Even the 
 English admit that Ireland, in point of soil, is superior 
 to England. The conformation of the country is pecu- 
 liar ; mountains range along nearly the whole extent of 
 its coasts, the interior being a vast plain, and for the 
 most part highly fertile. Ireland contains eight millions 
 of hectares/'" Bocks, lakes, and bogs occupy about two 
 millions of these, and two millions more are indifferent 
 land. The remainder that is to say, about half the 
 country is rich land, with calcareous subsoil. What 
 better could be conceived? "It is the richest soil I ever 
 saw," says Arthur Young, speaking of counties Limerick 
 and Tipperary ; " and such as is applicable to every pur- 
 
 * The acreage of Ireland is reckoned at 19,944,209, exclusive of lakes, divided 
 as follows : 
 
 Leiuster, ..... 4,749,584 acres. 
 
 Munster, 5,835,220 
 
 Ulster, . . 5,224,274 
 
 Connaught, ..... 4,135,131 J. D. . 
 
344 RUEAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 pose you can wish." The climate being damper and 
 milder than in England, extremes of heat and cold are 
 there almost unknown, at least as regards three-fourths 
 of the island. Herbaceous vegetation is luxuriant, and 
 it is not without reason that the clover or shamrock has 
 been adopted as the heraldic emblem of the Emerald Isle, 
 as it is called. The south-west coast enjoys a perpetual 
 spring, owing to the ocean-currents which set in from the 
 tropics. Myrtles there grow in the open air, and the 
 arbutus or strawberry tree is one of the commonest of 
 shrubs. 
 
 No country has more natural facilities for water-car- 
 riage, interior as well as exterior. Immense inland lakes 
 as Lough Neagh, with an area of one hundred thou- 
 sand acres ; Lough Corrib, of fifty thousand, and others 
 profusely scattered over the country, afford unexampled 
 means for transport. The Shannon, the finest river in the 
 British Isles half river, half lake .extends nearly across 
 the country from east to west, for a distance of two hun- 
 dred miles, and possesses this great advantage, that, 
 saving a few obstacles which might easily be removed, 
 it is navigable to its source. Other rivers, equally navi- 
 gable, flow in all directions from different lakes, and form 
 branches of a vast system, which short canals might easily 
 complete. The coast also is everywhere indented with bays 
 and harbours, one of which Cork could shelter all the 
 fleets of Europe. The nature of the country is no less 
 favourable to road communication. Ordinary roads and 
 railways are capable of being constructed with less labour 
 and at less expense than in Great Britain. 
 
 Notwithstanding these natural advantages, the misery 
 of the Irish has long been proverbial. Four large cities 
 Dublin, containing 250,000 inhabitants, Cork 100,000, 
 Belfast 80,000, and Limerick 60,000, and situated in 
 
* IRELAND. 345 
 
 the centre, as it were, of the four faces of the island con- 
 stitute the capitals. Dublin especially may justly be 
 considered as one of the finest cities of Europe ; its mag- 
 nificence astonishes a stranger ; but the rest of the country 
 contains few large towns, and the fields exhibit a heart- 
 rending poverty, which extends to the suburbs of the large 
 cities. Those harbours, lakes, and rivers, which might 
 carry life into every part of the country, are almost desti- 
 tute of trade. The gross agricultural production, at least 
 previously to 1847, amounted scarcely to one-half that 
 of England upon an equal surface, and the state of the 
 rural population was even worse than could be charged 
 to this difference in. production. Let us pause, in the 
 first place, at this period of her history, which is more 
 important here than for the rest of the United Kingdom. 
 Let us ascertain what was the condition at that time 
 both of her agriculture and her rural population, and 
 what were the causes producing it ; after that, I shall 
 proceed to notice what has occurred since. 
 
 Of the four large provinces which once formed separate 
 kingdoms, Leinster is the richest in point of agriculture, and 
 in this division Dublin is situated next comes about one- 
 half of Ulster, in which is Belfast ; then Munster, where 
 we find Cork and Limerick ; and lastly Connaught, with 
 part of Ulster, one of the poorest and most barren tracts 
 of country in the world. In 1847, the relative produc- 
 tiveness of county Meath in Leinster, and county Mayo 
 in Connaught, was as ten to one ; in the former, rents 
 were 30s. per acre, which is equal to the best of the 
 English counties; and in the latter the rate was 3s. In 
 Ulster, counties Armagh, Down, and Antrim, surround- 
 ing Belfast, and in Munster, counties Limerick and 
 Tipperary, the most fertile in Ireland, rival Leinster in 
 productiveness ; but even in the richest districts the 
 
346 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 poverty of the cultivator was reacting upon the land. 
 The absence of capital was apparent almost everywhere. 
 In favoured parts, the natural richness of the soil, indeed, 
 made up for what was otherwise lacking ; but where this 
 resource failed, the misery was frightful. 
 
 Of the two capitals which contribute to rural produc- 
 tion, the principal one sunk capital, that which con- 
 sists of all kinds of works, which in process of time 
 accumulate upon, and are incorporated with, the soil, 
 while bringing it into a proper state of productiveness, 
 including buildings, fences, roads, improvers, drainage, and 
 appropriations to special crops was almost altogether 
 wanting. Gentlemen's parks, to be sure, were kept up with 
 a care equal to those in England ; but whereas in the 
 latter country it was often impossible to distinguish the 
 farm from the park, a most distressing contrast showed 
 itself in Ireland as soon as the bounds of the reserved 
 enclosure were passed. No more ditches for carrying off 
 the water ; no trees, hedges, and well-kept fences, nor trim 
 and well-defined roads ; everywhere bare and neglected 
 land no further labour bestowed upon it than was 
 absolutely necessary ; no longer those pretty English 
 farm-houses covered with clematis and honeysuckle, with 
 their offices always convenient, and often ornamental, 
 but instead, mud cabins built by the tenant himself, and 
 never repaired by the landlord. 
 
 The second, or working capital, consisting of cattle, 
 implements, seeds, and harvests stored, were not so 
 entirely wanting, because it is less possible to do without 
 them. The quantity of large cattle was not so deficient, 
 owing to the immense facilities for feeding them afforded 
 by the general and spontaneous growth of grass ; but 
 still the number was much less than might and ought to 
 
IRELAND. 347 
 
 have been, and what there were, were for the most part 
 inferior. Pigs, reared almost always in the house of the 
 cultivator, gave a tolerable return; but the deficiency 
 in sheep was very great. Of these the proportion, as 
 compared to England, was as one to eight, and no know- 
 ledge as to the means for improving the breeds existed. 
 As to implements, there was an absence of the most 
 simple descriptions ; scarcely any ploughs or carts, spades 
 and panniers supplying the place of all other tilling im- 
 plements; and this state of matters existing, too, even 
 next door to the richest country in the world for agri- 
 cultural machinery ; no sort of advances made to the 
 farmers not even sufficient provisions for food, in con- 
 sequence of which most of them were obliged to borrow, 
 upon heavy terms, even their seed and a little flour for 
 bread, until harvest. 
 
 Intellectual capital or agricultural skill had made no 
 greater progress. The four-year course was scarcely 
 known, save upon a few farms, which were managed by 
 Englishmen or Scotchmen. Very few turnips, beans, or 
 artificial grasses ; even the natural grass-lands, that in- 
 valuable treasure peculiar to the soil and climate, were 
 filled with stagnant pools, and covered with weeds. 
 Owing to the want of the proper means for maintaining 
 the fertility of the land, wheat and barley were little 
 cultivated ; all was sacrificed to two crops, destined 
 chiefly for human food namely, oats and potatoes, and 
 yet both indifferently understood, inasmuch as they were 
 continuously taken off the same land as long as it con- 
 tinued to yield anything. 
 
 Imagination fails to appreciate the loss which a country 
 in such a state sustains. To have furnished Ireland with 
 the capital which she lacked in sheep alone, as compared 
 
348 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 to England, would have required 20,000,000 sterling. 
 Double that amount at least would have been necessary 
 for other kinds of cattle, 120,000,000 for draining, and 
 a like sum for the construction of more comfortable dwell- 
 ings, fences and country roads, and for the purchase of 
 the most necessary implements. In all say 300,000,000, 
 which would still have been only 16 per acre. Certainly 
 a much larger sum has been absorbed by England, 
 
 The advocates for large property exclusively had some 
 cause for being perplexed when the question was mooted 
 with reference to Ireland. Large property there ruled 
 supreme, more so than in England, or even in Scotland. 
 A few small proprietors existed in the neighbourhood of 
 large towns, where a little trade and manufactures had 
 developed a citizen class ; the rest of the island was di- 
 vided into immense estates of from one thousand to one 
 hundred thousand acres,"* and the greater the extent the 
 more dilapidated their condition. The largest remained 
 in a state of nature, like the famous district of Connemara, 
 in Connaught, well known by the name of Martin's Estate. 
 Entails, much more common than in England, prevented 
 most of these domains from being sold. The primi- 
 tive law of the land was gavelkind, or equal division 
 among the male children, until the English imported the 
 right of primogeniture. 
 
 In their turn, those who considered small farming as 
 the universal panacea were no less perplexed, for if Ire- 
 land was the land of very large properties, it was also, 
 par excellence, the country of very small farming. There 
 were no fewer than 300,000 farms below five acres, 
 250,000 from five to fifteen, 80,000 from fifteen to thirty, 
 
 * The Irish acre is equal to 65 ares 55 centiares rather more than 1^ im- 
 perial acres. 
 
IRELAND. 349 
 
 and 50,000 only above thirty acres. The law of succes- 
 sion favoured this division, by causing the partition of 
 the leases among the children, and this was not, as in 
 England, a dead letter. 
 
 This combination of large property and small farming, 
 which in different parts of England and Scotland has 
 had such good effects, produced a consequence quite the 
 reverse in Ireland. Proprietors and cultivators seemed 
 determined upon ruining themselves by doing all in their 
 power to destroy the instrument of their common wealth 
 the soil. Instead of that salutary custom adopted by 
 the English proprietors of residing upon their properties, 
 the Irish landlords were always absent, and drew their 
 whole rents for expenditure elsewhere. They let their 
 lands when they could for long periods to English specu- 
 lators, who were represented by agents, called middlemen. 
 Improvident and spendthrift as all are who get money 
 without knowing how having, besides, only uncertain 
 and precarious incomes, because they neglected to make 
 seasonable advances these landlords mostly all lived 
 beyond their resources, consequently their debts in the 
 end increased to such an extent that the bulk of their 
 fortune was swept away. 
 
 The middlemen in their turn, intent upon increasing 
 their profits without expending a shilling, having no inte- 
 rest, direct or personal, in the farming properly so called, 
 sub-let the land to an unlimited extent. The rural popu- 
 lation having multiplied to excess, numbering about 
 twenty-five to one hundred acres, whilst it is sixteen in 
 France, twelve in England, and five in the Lowlands of 
 Scotland, only too readily responded to the call, and the 
 consequence was an unrestrained competition among the 
 cultivators for possession of the land. As none of them 
 
350 KURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 possessed more capital than his neighbour, no one had a 
 preference in this competition. Every father of a family 
 desired to become a tenant or locator upon a few patches 
 of land, which he might work with the assistance of his 
 family. Thus the cottier system, as it is called, grew up 
 a system not bad in itself, unless carried to extreme ; for, 
 besides that it admits of dispensing with capital, when 
 that is not forthcoming, by substituting labour in its 
 stead, it has this advantage, that it does away with the 
 paid servant that is to say, that class of men who live 
 entirely upon the demand for labour, and are subjected 
 to its vicissitudes. In 1847, Ireland, strictly speaking, 
 contained very few persons receiving wages ; those who 
 would otherwise have been day-labourers were small 
 farmers. But there must be a limit to everything, and 
 the division of allotments came to an end, owing to the 
 increasing number of competitors. The small tenants had 
 commenced by taking farms upon which a family could 
 barely exist after paying their rent. These farms then 
 underwent a first division, then a second and a third, 
 until at last it came to those 600,000 rentings below 
 fifteen acres that is to say, to a point where the culti- 
 vator could obtain only just sufficient to keep him in life, 
 where the least failure of the crop began by render- 
 ing payment of rent impossible, and ended in being a 
 sentence of death for the tenant himself. 
 
 Owing to the superior quality of the soil and abun- 
 dance of hands, the gross produce, although equal to 
 only half of the English, was still pretty considerable, 
 and, reduced to French value, might be estimated at 
 800,000,000 francs, or 100 francs per hectare, (=32s. 
 per acre), as in France, divided as follows : 
 
IRELAND. 351 
 
 Wheat, . . . 60,000,000 of francs. 
 
 Barley, . . . 30,000,000 
 
 Oats, . . . 150,000,000 
 
 Potatoes, . . . 550,000,000 
 
 Flax and Gardens, . 50,000,000 
 
 540,000,000 
 Animal production, . 260,000,000* 
 
 800,000,000 of francs. 
 
 Thus the animal productions were, as in France, equal 
 to half the value of the vegetable sure indication of an 
 exhausting culture ; whilst both in England and Scotland 
 the former are superior to the latter, and the inclination 
 is every day further in the same direction sign of an 
 ameliorating husbandry. This return of 100 francs per 
 hectare may be thus divided : 
 
 . Proprietor's rent, 32 francs per hectare, 10s. Od. per acre. 
 
 Middleman's profit, 8 2s. 8d. 
 
 Taxes, 5 Is. 8d. 
 
 Incidental expenses, 5 Is. 8d. 
 
 Wages, . . 50 16s. Od. 
 
 100 32s. Od. 
 
 Distributed over the whole population of the island, 
 the total value of agricultural production gave 100 francs 
 per head, whilst the same dividend amounted to 140 
 francs for France, and for England and Scotland 200. 
 Wages in the same way averaged 80 francs per head for 
 the labouring rural population, whilst in France it is 
 125 francs, in England 160, and Scotland 200. 
 
 The result of these figures shows the inadequate pro- 
 duction, as compared to the whole population, and parti- 
 cularly to the rural portion. In France, our whole popu- 
 lation does not exceed twenty-six per hundred acres, 
 
 
 Say 10s. or 10s. 6d. per acre. In France, the average of the same production 
 (oxen, sheep, horses, and pigs) is 8s. 6d., and in England upwards of 30s. 
 
352 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 but in Ireland it amounts to forty ; and our rural popu- 
 lation, upon an equal surface, is equivalent to only two- 
 thirds of the rural population of Ireland. In England 
 the whole population was more numerous, but then the 
 agricultural production was double, and the rural popu- 
 lation amouDted to only half that of Ireland. In Scot- 
 land the proportions were still more favourable. 
 
 We may notice, besides, as in favour of our country, 
 that the rural population of France is not entirely depen- 
 dent upon wages ; they partake of a considerable portion 
 of the rent, as proprietors of part of the soil likewise a 
 portion of the profit, since they include farmers and 
 metayers; whilst in Ireland the peasantry not being pro- 
 prietors, and the farmers-general, or middlemen, belong- 
 ing to the urban population, the rural population was 
 living entirely upon that which would otherwise have 
 been wages. I mean here by wages all that was given 
 up to the small tenantry as the return for their labour, 
 and which, though not actually paid them in the shape 
 of wages, was nevertheless the real earning, since return 
 upon capital and agricultural skill went for nothing. 
 
 It has often been alleged that rents in Ireland were 
 raised to an undue extent. No doubt there is some truth 
 in the accusation, but it is not the rate in itself which 
 deserves it. We see, in fact, that the rent reached in Ire- 
 land, as in France, in England, and even in Scotland, to 
 only one-third of the gross production, besides being in 
 many cases merely nominal ; the actual amount collected 
 fell to one -fourth or one -fifth of the produce, and pro- 
 bably even lower. In a well-constituted state, such a 
 rent would scarcely have sufficed to feed the non- rural 
 population ; under a better system, its tendency would 
 have been to rise rather than to fall. 
 
 The wretched condition of the cultivators cannot be 
 
IRELAND. 353 
 
 attributed to the small amount of wages as distributed 
 over the whole, for not only did this item amount in 
 principle to half the gross produce, while in England 
 and Scotland it is only a fourth, but it was frequently 
 higher owing to the non-payment of the rent. Nowhere, 
 perhaps, was the share of wages greater ; whereas, com- 
 pared to the rent, it should have been less rather than 
 more. 
 
 Finally, neither can we charge the blame to that por- 
 tion widen represents profit, for. this item amounted to 
 only one-twelfth of the gross produce, whereas in Scot- 
 land it reaches a fourth ; and, under a good system of 
 rural economy, it would have been far from adequate. 
 
 The real defect as regards the rent was the way in 
 which it was spent. In place of helping to make capital 
 on the spot, it was remitted to England or the Continent, 
 and there lost as far as any benefit to Ireland was con- 
 cerned.""" This constant drain of rent was shown in the 
 continual export of agricultural produce. About half the 
 wheat crop, a fourth of the oats, the greater portion of the 
 animal produce upon the whole, about one-third of the 
 total rural production was yearly transmitted from Ire- 
 land to England, and went to pay either rent, or, what came 
 to the same thing, interest upon mortgages in the hands 
 principally of English capitalists. A country is enriched 
 through its exports when it receives something in ex- 
 change. This is the case with Scotland ; but when, as 
 in Ireland, there is a constant export, and no return, it 
 is ruinous. That island producing just the necessary 
 
 * Many English economists, Mr M'Culloch in particular, whose authority in 
 these matters is great, have disputed the evil influence generally attributed to the 
 non-residence of proprietors. The reasons advanced in favour of this opinion are 
 purely theoretical. They would merit a careful examination if this were a didactic 
 exposition of the principles of the science ; but, as far as regards Ireland at least, 
 the question appears to me to be settled by the facts. 
 
 Z 
 
354 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 amount of food for its inhabitants, whatever went out of 
 it created a void which was not filled up by any return. 
 
 Part of the taxes followed the same course. Direct 
 taxation, indeed, was not in itself heavier than the rent, 
 since it amounted to only 5 francs per hectare, whilst 
 in England it was 25. But in England this was spent 
 upon the spot ; whereas in Ireland, the greater part 
 going to pay the Anglican clergy, who were almost as 
 great absentees as the landed proprietors, constituted, like 
 the rent, a certain yearly loss. What remained behind 
 but ill performed the part due from taxation in every 
 well-governed country namely, the increase of national 
 capital in roads, bridges, canals, public buildings, and 
 maintenance of the public peace. 
 
 The same disadvantage did not result from the middle- 
 man's profit, as that remained in the country, but it 
 scarcely ever returned to farming. 
 
 These are certainly powerful causes of impoverishment. 
 Still they were not sufficient to account for that state of 
 misery into which the greater part of Ireland had fallen, 
 apart from the mad multiplication of the rural popula- 
 tion : in this lay the root of the evil. Even with the 
 regular export of rent and a portion of the taxes, and in 
 the absence of capital, public as well as private, the rural 
 population would have been able to live, had they been, 
 as in England, less numerous by half. The enormous 
 number of starving beggars had upset all the principles 
 of production. At one time Ireland was not nearly so 
 populous : in 1750 the population was two millions; and 
 in 1800, four millions, instead of the eight millions of 
 1846. The whole island formed then but one immense 
 pasture- country, for which by nature it is best fitted, and 
 which is the most profitable account to which it can be 
 turned. When this superabundant population arose, the 
 
IRELAND. 355 
 
 potato crop, at once the cause and effect of the excess, 
 was proportionately extended, and absorbed the whole 
 attention, labour, and manure of the country. Of all 
 known crops, the potato furnishes, particularly in Ire- 
 land, the largest quantity of human food upon a given 
 surface. This renders it one of the most valuable gifts 
 of Providence, but only on condition that it is not too 
 greatly extended, as then it becomes a scourge, for it 
 exhausts without renewing the means of production. 
 
 Experience has too well proved the danger of depending 
 upon one product as food for a whole nation. Besides, 
 the potato, by itself, constitutes a gross food, and is not 
 nearly so nourishing as an equal weight and bulk of 
 cereals and leguminous food a sufficient reason for not 
 making it the staple article of human consumption. It 
 is liable also to casualties different from those which 
 befall the grain crops, and this makes it an inestimable 
 complement to these crops, but should prevent it being 
 relied upon as the sole article of food. The true place of 
 the potato, in a well-ordered rural economy, is as a plen- 
 tiful provision for cattle, and a supplement to that of 
 man, so that, in the event of other crops failing, this 
 resource might supply the deficiency. But Ireland was 
 not in a position to choose the best ; necessity called, and 
 required to be obeyed. The potato already occupied a 
 third of the arable land, and threatened to extend further ; 
 it alone formed three-fourths of the food of the peasantry, 
 the other fourth consisting also of an inferior food 
 namely, oats. 
 
 So long as these two productions were obtainable in 
 any quantity, the population of small tenantry, although 
 badly off, yet managed to exist, and unfortunately multi- 
 plied. When the crop happened to fail, or only to de- 
 crease, scarcity decimated their numbers ; and when, on 
 
356 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 these occasions, they were unable to pay their rent, the 
 landlord ordered them to be ejected, which was not very 
 easily done. Being only tenants at will, nothing remained 
 for it but an armed resistance. The agent charged to 
 levy the rent, and the police who came to enforce the 
 ejectment, were received with a discharge of fire-arms ; 
 and when such outrages were followed up by indictments, 
 witnesses could not be found to support the accusations, 
 nor juries to find the prisoners guilty. The dispossessed 
 tenants, having no means of subsistence, became thieves, 
 their wives and children turned beggars, and, as there 
 was no poor's tax a dangerous remedy no doubt, but 
 sometimes necessary there was no limit to the exten- 
 sion of this misery and crime. The most fertile districts 
 suffered severely from these troubles ; the evil reached 
 it^s climax in the worst parts of the island, namely, the 
 west. 
 
 The population of Connaught had reached nearly two 
 for every five acres, or equal to our rich Normandy 
 departments ; and the nature of the soil afforded but 
 an insufficient resource for the sustenance of such a 
 population, half the land, or two out of four millions of 
 acres, being incapable of cultivation. The neighbouring 
 counties of Donegal and Kerry were still worse off ; one- 
 third only of their area consisted of arable land, the rest 
 being either mountains or lakes. Suppose the population 
 of the departments of La Manche, Somme, or Calvados, 
 transported to the Higher or Lower Alps, and consider 
 what would be the consequence ! These counties having 
 neither busy manufactures nor populous towns, the entire 
 population lived by agriculture if that could be called 
 agriculture which was but the short-sighted and hungry 
 exhaustion of the productive powers of the soil. Is it 
 surprising that it became impossible to collect even the 
 
IRELAND. 357 
 
 small rent of 5s. per acre, or that famine in all its horrors 
 should, as it were, have taken up its abode there 1 
 
 Among the expedients set on foot for making as much 
 out of the land as was possible without capital, two ap- 
 parently offered great advantages to the landlord, but 
 were ultimately found to be as ruinous for him as for the 
 tenant : these were, partnership-tenure, and the con-acre 
 system. 
 
 Partnership-tenure or, as it was also called, rundale 
 or ?*unrig, a word apparently of Scandinavian origin 
 consisted in letting a piece of land of a given extent (for 
 example, one hundred, two hundred, or five hundred 
 acres) to a village, the inhabitants of which constituted 
 the partners in the concern. That portion which they 
 could not cultivate was common to all, the remainder 
 being divided annually among the different families ; 
 and each of these lots might again be divided among the 
 several members of a family, if they thought right to do 
 so. After the crop was gathered, the whole land was 
 again common property, and a new partition was made 
 for the following year. In the most backward districts 
 of France we have a good many villages somewhat upon 
 the same principle, only with this difference, that, in place 
 of farming the property, the community owns it : but, 
 notwithstanding this advantage, the right in common 
 everywhere produces similar results namely, the im- 
 poverishment both of the land and of the people who 
 cultivate it ; and this poverty becomes greater and greater 
 as the population increases. We have seen a hundred 
 acres let in this way to one hundred co-tenants, who 
 lived in the greatest misery, and never succeeded in 
 paying any rent. This system was to be found most 
 prevalent in the least fertile districts, and such villages 
 as adopted it possessed scarcely any cattle, while the 
 
358 RUKAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 people were almost totally ignorant of the most simple 
 methods of farming. 
 
 The con-acre system was scarcely any better. When, 
 from some cause or other, a field had accumulated a suf- 
 ficient amount of fertility, it was let in that state to a 
 tenant for a single crop at an exorbitant price, usually 
 payable in days' work. This person planted it with 
 potatoes, and took as much out of it as he could with 
 one crop. "Near Limerick, the ordinary rent of fields 
 upon the con-acre system was 30 per acre ; and at this 
 rate a half or even smaller parts of an acre were some- 
 times let. " Competition for the land, especially when 
 possessed of some fertility/' remarked a witness upon the 
 inquiry of 1833, "is so great in some parts of Ireland, - 
 that hardly any rent asked is not immediately promised." 
 In Ireland, however, more than anywhere else, to promise 
 and to fulfil are two different things. But the two parties 
 contracting did not look at the matter so closely ; each in 
 the mean time got what he wanted the one, possession 
 of the land ; the other, the prospect of an unreasonable 
 rent. When accounts came to be settled between them, 
 they arranged as best they might. 
 
 Paring and burning, which sacrifices future prospects 
 for the sake of the present, was much practised ; and this 
 accounts for the large extent of uncultivated, though cul- 
 tivable, land which is found in a country where arable 
 land was the object of such spirited competition. Years, 
 in fact, of dead fallow were necessary in order to repair 
 the injury inflicted by one or two bad crops upon a soil 
 treated in this way, unless done as the starting-point of 
 a skilful and progressive system of farming, which never 
 happened in Ireland. 
 
359 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 STATE OF WARFARE. 
 
 How came such an immense difference to exist be- 
 tween two islands close together, and to all appearance 
 subject to the same laws : one, and that the least fer- 
 tile of the two, paying rents of 25s. per acre, heavy 
 taxes, a considerable profit and high wages, maintain- 
 ing also a larger population in a greater degree of 
 comfort ; while the other, more fertile, with a smaller 
 population, paid lower rents, profits and taxes lower 
 still, and inadequate wages ? The cause of so strange 
 an anomaly is comprised in one word the oppression of 
 Ireland. Having witnessed both in England and in 
 Scotland the beneficial effects of liberty, we now see in 
 Ireland the results of a contrary state. The two sides 
 of the same picture will thus have been presented to 
 our view. 
 
 To escape this responsibility, the English contend that 
 the Irish character has peculiar failings, which under 
 any circumstances would have arrested their rise as a 
 nation. I am willing to believe that the Celtic race has 
 not the same degree of energy as the Anglo-Saxon, but the 
 difference does not appear to me sufficient to account for 
 everything. More than one instance, both in ancient 
 and modern history, proves that the Irish possess emi- 
 nent qualities. If Ireland, in spite of its fearful disor- 
 
360 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 ganisation, has produced energetic men, and great spirits of 
 all kinds, how much more would this have been the case 
 if the national strength had not been violently repressed ! 
 That which, among an oppressed people, has not attained 
 beyond a transitory light, would, in a freer atmosphere, 
 have become a bright and lasting flame. 
 
 The English attribute an enervating influence to the 
 Catholic religion. This assertion may also be in some 
 respects well founded ; for it is true that in general 
 the Protestant nations of modern Europe exhibit a 
 steadier and more decided character than the Catholic ; 
 but it has not always been so, and even at the present 
 day it is not an absolute rule. Spain and Italy, in arrear 
 at the present day, preceded Holland, England, and Ger- 
 many, in civilisation; and I do not see that Catholic 
 Belgium, and to a certain extent France herself, are much 
 inferior to most Protestant countries. 
 
 A patent and undeniable fact, besides, replies to these 
 imputations. For some years past a large emigration of 
 Irish has been going on to America. As soon as they 
 put foot upon that new soil, where they are no longer 
 subject to the restraint of England, but free to exercise 
 their characteristic activity, these demoralised, degraded, 
 and improvident beings become changed, and take their 
 position among the most industrious citizens of the United 
 States. Even their fanaticism, about which so much is 
 said, disappears when their religion is no longer perse- 
 cuted. When permitted to enjoy religious liberty, they 
 become tolerant of others, and voluntarily free themselves 
 from that exclusive domination of their clergy which they 
 so eagerly embrace upon their native soil. All the pre- 
 judices in the world cannot countervail this incontestible 
 fact, w^hich is confirmed and strengthened every day ; 
 for it is not a matter relating to a few individuals only, 
 
STATE OF WARFARE. 361 
 
 but to an entire people flying from Europe, where they 
 slave and suffer, to rise to an independent and proud 
 condition on the other side of the Atlantic. 
 
 No doubt at least so it appears to me had Ireland 
 been cast in a more distant part of the ocean, in place of so 
 near to her powerful sister, her career would have been 
 a brilliant one ; or as now situated, if, instead of being 
 much the smaller island, she had been the larger of the 
 two, she would have ultimately absorbed the other, and 
 given her stamp to British civilisation. Neither the 
 national character nor the Catholic faith would have 
 been material obstacles to this so different a destiny. 
 Her whole misfortune consists in this, that, being very 
 near, she is the more feeble of the two, and also that 
 she is not near enough nor weak enough to allow herself 
 to be absorbed without resistance, the worst of all con- 
 ditions for a people. Scotland also resisted assimilation 
 with England. But besides an affinity of race and creed 
 there, which was not the case with Ireland, the proximity 
 of the two countries and disproportion in population 
 forced her in time to yield. Ireland remains conquered 
 and refractory. 
 
 As a consequence of their unbending temperament, 
 the English will not put up with anything that does not 
 belong to themselves ; their disposition is exclusive ; 
 they have, moreover, an inveterate hatred of the Papacy, 
 which they look upon as irreconcilable with liberty. In 
 their eyes, Ireland was not only a formidable neighbour 
 and natural enemy ; it was odious as a nation, and anti- 
 pathetic to all their ideas. Unable to subdue it, England 
 sought to crush it. 
 
 This was England's grand excuse. It would no doubt 
 have been far better for both countries had England 
 from the first adopted a more humane policy towards 
 
362 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 the sister isle, as she sometimes calls it ; but after all, in 
 attempting to incorporate this neighbouring country, 
 England only followed the same course that has been 
 pursued by other nations. Had the English entertained 
 a true fraternal feeling for the Irish, it would certainly 
 have been a fine example, though a solitary one, in times 
 when nations mutually sought each other's destruction. 
 Have we not seen in our own country, as we]l as else- 
 where, Catholics and Protestants unmercifully massacring 
 each other I Throughout history do we not find fire and 
 sword sweeping over whole kingdoms, in order to extin- 
 guish the smallest germ of a distinct nationality, and to 
 mould their ruins into vast empires ? Have any of the 
 great nations (unites nationales) been formed otherwise 1 
 Does not that perpetual misunderstanding still exist, 
 which causes contests between men and classes and 
 nations ; and is not the fact of being born upon opposite 
 sides of a river sufficient excuse for people tearing each 
 other to pieces \ Looking at it in this way, England's 
 fault was in not having done enough, since the assimilation 
 was not complete. Be this as it may, the state of open 
 warfare which for ages was the normal condition of 
 Ireland in its relations with England, only too well 
 accounts for the contrast we are about to notice in the 
 rural economy of the two islands. 
 
 The first result is the state of property. Most of the 
 Irish properties were originally confiscations, from whence 
 arose that evil which, although not confined to Ireland, 
 being found to a certain extent everywhere, took a wider 
 extension there, namely absenteeism. 
 
 The English invaders always looked upon Ireland as a 
 foreign and hostile country, which was good to possess, 
 but where they would rather not establish themselves. 
 As early as the thirteenth century, this feeling was ap- 
 
STATE OF WARFARE. 363 
 
 parent among the Norman barons, who would not reside 
 upon their Irish grants. Their adopted country was Eng- 
 land, and there they leagued themselves around their chief 
 for mutual protection. After them, every renewed attempt 
 of England to subdue Ireland was followed by a new 
 importation of English and Scotch proprietors, who came 
 always with the same object namely, to spoil the inhabi- 
 tants, and to make as much out of the land as possible, 
 but not to take up their abode upon it. During Eliza- 
 beth's reign, six hundred thousand acres were thus dis- 
 tributed ; under James I., six entire counties were con- 
 fiscated and partitioned out : one was altogether made 
 over to the corporations of London, and is still held by 
 them, whence its name Londonderry. In the reign of 
 Charles I., all Connaught was declared the property of 
 the Crown. Under Cromwell the same system of appro- 
 priation was applied to the other three provinces, and 
 there was even a proposal to sell all the Irish lands to the 
 Jews. The finishing -stroke to this work was under 
 Charles II. and William III. Every government of 
 England under absolute monarchy the Tudors and 
 Stuarts, the Commonwealth, the Kestoration and Consti- 
 tutional monarchies, all had the same idea with respect 
 to Ireland namely, to prevent the Irish holding land 
 in their own country. 
 
 Almost all property is derived from conquest, but in 
 time it gradually loses that character. The residence of 
 the conquerors among the conquered people at length 
 brings about a mixture of races and conformity of inte- 
 rests ; but in Ireland, opposition remained as lively as at 
 first. A new element religion had traced one of those 
 indelible lines of demarcation between the conquerors 
 and the conquered which keeps up a lasting hatred. 
 England, after she adopted Protestantism, wished to 
 
364 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 plant it by force in Ireland ; but the more England 
 persevered, the more determined was Ireland to remain 
 Catholic. The war of nationalities now took the character 
 of a religious war the most unsparing of all, as it gives 
 to worldly interests and feelings the excuse of a faith. 
 After unexampled efforts, England at last succeeded in 
 establishing in Ireland a Protestant community, to the ex- 
 tent of one-fifth of its population, the remaining four-fifths 
 being Catholic. The former chiefly resided in the towns, 
 and the latter in the country. The proprietors belonging 
 in general to one religion, and the farmers to another, there 
 could be no bond of connection between the two classes, 
 but everything to disunite them. Confiscations, which 
 had made the one masters of the soil, and reduced 
 the other to the condition of helots, had not been accom- 
 plished without frightful bloodshed. These sanguinary 
 recollections, continually revived by legal persecutions, 
 stirred up animosity to frenzy. Proprietors took good 
 care not to live upon their lands where they were 
 exposed to personal violence, and their representatives 
 the middlemen absented themselves for the same 
 reason. Both from a distance oppressed a people whom 
 they detested, and they were answered with maledictions, 
 and often by murders. 
 
 Besides its absolute necessity as a means of progress, 
 rent, in most civilised countries, is justified by the expen- 
 diture of that capital which, in process of time, is put into 
 the soil. There are few lands, whether in France or Eng- 
 land, the actual value of which represents anything else 
 than this capital. Often even their value is far from re- 
 presenting the total amount of money they have absorbed. 
 In Ireland, property had not this justification, which other- 
 wise might have legitimised its revolutionary origin. Kent 
 was not employed for the benefit of the land from which 
 
STATE OF WARFARE. 365 
 
 it was drawn, and did not represent a return from any 
 capital, since the proprietor took care to lay out nothing. 
 It was the produce of brute force, and was, like the rest 
 of the Irish constitution, like the tithes imposed upon a 
 Catholic people for the support of a Protestant clergy, 
 neither more nor less than an excuse for war and op- 
 pression. 
 
 Strict entails, which had here a special object besides 
 that of aristocratic aggrandisement, helped to aggra- 
 vate the odious character of the rent. A few properties 
 had managed to change hands, and, in consequence of these 
 voluntary mutations, had lost the stigma attaching to their 
 original tenure ; but the rest traced back their origin 
 through regular succession to one of those inauspicious 
 dates, chronicled in the hearts of the Irish as the most 
 grievous moments of their long sufferings. As another 
 consequence of this state of warfare, England had stifled 
 every species of manufacture and commerce in Ireland ; 
 but she now discovers her mistake, and begins to make 
 amends, though tardily, and with an inclination still to the 
 old distrust. In times past she fell into the common mis- 
 take of thinking that the prosperity of her neighbours 
 was incompatible with her own, and therefore continued 
 to smother in Ireland that wealth which gives power. 
 England's history abounds with violent measures adopted 
 to this end, and she only too well succeeded. Her desire 
 was to make Ireland poor, and in this she succeeded. We 
 have witnessed, both in England and Scotland, how im- 
 portant to agriculture is the neighbourhood of a growing 
 industry and commerce ; for besides that it furnishes 
 markets and capital, it permits, by a fresh demand for 
 labour, an unlimited increase in the rural population. The 
 want of this, especially, has been fatal to Ireland. As 
 there was no other employment for the people, no other 
 
366 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 means of subsistence except the land, upon the land fell 
 the whole burden of the population ; and although the 
 island was less populous, upon the whole, than England, 
 the rural districts were twofold more so, because manu- 
 factures, which in England engage two-thirds of the 
 hands, were entirely wanting. 
 
 This multiplication of the rural population was en- 
 couraged by the proprietors, because it increased compe- 
 tition, brought down wages, and raised the rent of their 
 lands, a calculation as false as it was culpable, for the rent 
 thus extorted ended in becoming delusive. Everywhere 
 else, and particularly in England, proprietors are obliged 
 to construct, and keep in repair, the buildings which serve 
 as dwellings for most of the farmers. In this way 
 they have an interest, to a certain extent, in not multi- 
 plying the number beyond a certain point. In Ireland, 
 as each family built their own cabin, they had, or thought 
 they had, the opposite interest. The cultivators, in 
 their turn, prompted to improvidence by their very 
 indigence, giving themselves little concern about the fate 
 of their children, who could neither be bettered nor be- 
 come worse off, became beggars (proletaires) in the full 
 acceptation of the old Latin word proletarii, which vul- 
 garly expresses one of the most sad consequences of 
 human degradation. 
 
 There were also two mysterious causes of this unlimited 
 propagation, both proceeding from the miserable con- 
 dition of the people. The first is the inexplicable physio- 
 logical law which ordains, for all living species, that the 
 means of reproduction increase in proportion to the 
 chances of destruction. The action of this law may be 
 observed among the lower animals, and also in the human 
 race inhabiting unhealthy climates. As the chances of 
 death increase, births also increase ; and, whether among 
 
STATE OF WARFARE. 367 
 
 animals or men, the strongest and best-fed races are not 
 those which multiply most. Indifferent as to individual 
 life, nature's first care is to preserve the species. 
 
 The second cause was altogether political. Ireland, 
 under its state of oppression, instinctively felt that it had 
 no other power to depend upon than numbers, and ''that 
 it was only in this way it could defend itself. At every 
 renewal of the grand struggle, England proceeded to re- 
 gular exterminations, but a few years sufficed to fill up 
 the gap. Like an army which closes the gap made in its 
 ranks by cannon, the Irish rapidly repaired the breaches 
 made among them by wars and famine. Attempts had 
 often been made to induce them to emigrate, but always 
 without success. Despoiled of all property in their native 
 soil, they covered it with their children, as a perpetual 
 protest against the invasion, and that they might at least 
 keep possession de facto, awaiting a period of restitution. 
 Population went on increasing, especially in the moun- 
 tains of the west, those Asturias of Ireland, which have 
 always been the last refuge of its nationality. 
 
 All this sufficiently shows, without pleading the influ- 
 ences of race and religion, how it is that the Protestant 
 party of the provinces of Leinster and Ulster have suffered 
 less than the rest of the country. In Leinster an English, 
 and in Ulster a Scotch colony, had established them- 
 selves : the first around Dublin, which is the seat of the 
 government ; the other round Belfast, which is but a short 
 distance from the coast of Scotland. These settlers en- 
 j oyed all kinds of privileges, while severe laws, rigorously 
 enforced, interdicted all lucrative employment to the 
 Catholics. The splendour of Dublin, its dense population, 
 the military force kept there, the retinue of high-salaried 
 functionaries, all these making it, as it were, the citadel 
 of England in the heart of Ireland, had the effect which 
 
368 RURAL ECONOMY OP ENGLAND. 
 
 artificial capitals always have namely, the enrichment 
 of the immediate neighbourhood at the expense of the 
 community at large. 
 
 As to Belfast, the linen trade, the only manufacture 
 worthy of the name which existed in Ireland, and which 
 is an agricultural as well as a manufacturing business, 
 flourished there without opposition on the part of the 
 English. The annual export of linens from Belfast was 
 valued at 4,000,000, and of this 1,200,000 was the 
 proportion paid for wages. Nothing of the kind is to be 
 found in other parts of the country. The most fertile 
 districts, such as Tipperary, were just those where con- 
 fiscations and devastations had been most rigorously put 
 in force, without succeeding, however, in driving out the 
 native race. The Protestants there are still called Crom- 
 wellians, or followers of Cromwell, as if it were only 
 yesterday that the frightful incursion of that bloody 
 tyrant had taken place. 
 
 Everybody has heard of the bands of armed ruffians 
 which have always existed in Ireland. They have been 
 named, from time to time, according to the sign they 
 adopted, Whiteboys, Steelboys, Defenders, Levellers, 
 Thrashers (their weapon being a flail), Carders (as 
 armed with carding-machines), Rockites (from the pre- 
 tended Captain Eock), and Molly Maguires (from the 
 name of a fanciful woman-chief, like the Eebecca of 
 Wales), &c. These bands signalised themselves wherever 
 they went by horrible atrocities, the only possible re- 
 venge for poor Ireland ! Close to the most peaceable 
 country in the world, where a soldier is never seen, and 
 where, without a national guard, without an army or 
 public force of any kind, each individual, under the sole 
 protection of the law, enjoys perfect security, to the 
 lasting credit of the nation, was to be found a country 
 
STATE OF WARFARE. 369 
 
 profoundly troubled by a constant peasant war. When 
 murders, fire, and plunder were suspended for a short 
 time, agitation did not cease ; it continued under other 
 forms, summing up its grievances and its hopes in that 
 national cry repeated on all occasions, Ireland for the 
 Irish ! 
 
 We must do England the justice to say, that she at 
 last recoiled before her work. About thirty years ago, 
 when more correct views in political economy began to 
 dawn in England, she found out. her mistake, and that a 
 kinder policy should be adopted, in order to gain the 
 attachment of the sister isle. The political emancipation 
 of the Catholics, in 1829, was the first decided step in 
 the new direction. Since that time, Ireland has taken 
 part in the government of the United Kingdom. There 
 is now no chance of a return to the old outrages. This 
 was a great concession, no doubt ; yet it was not enough. 
 From 1830 to 1847, every Ministry has looked upon 
 Ireland as one of its chief difficulties. All honestly 
 sought a remedy for its state of inveterate misery, the 
 growth of ages, and which seemed to require ages to 
 cure. Even O'Connell, speaking for Ireland, pointed out 
 only one way, and that would have been both impossible 
 and ineffectual the Kepeal of the Union. Impossible, 
 inasmuch as England could never, after having done so 
 much to incorporate her neighbour with herself, consent 
 to a separation ; and ineffectual, inasmuch as Eepeal had 
 nothing to do with the real merits of the question the 
 constitution of property and superabundance of popula- 
 tion. Political expedients could produce effects only in 
 the long-run ; a more local and immediate remedy was 
 required. 
 
 The Irish themselves were quite aware of this, and 
 pointed out very clearly what they considered a remedy; 
 
 2 A 
 
370 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 but it was not listened to, because, under a form more or 
 less disguised, it virtually involved a change in property. 
 It was sometimes called tenant's right, sometimes fixity of 
 tenure, and appeared to relate only to matters which con- 
 cerned the landlord and tenant. 
 
 Tenant-right especially might have passed as quite 
 harmless in its effects. It was already practised, not only 
 in Ireland, in the province of Ulster, but in several 
 counties of England; and some agriculturists have con- 
 sidered it as a very equitable and proper concession. The 
 understanding was this, that the outgoing tenant should 
 have a right to compensation from the new tenant for 
 unexhausted improvements, such as manurings, marlings, 
 limings, extra dressings, &c. So far all was correct, at 
 least in appearance ; but the difficulty consisted in agree- 
 ing about the compensation. Nothing is more difficult 
 to estimate than unexhausted improvements ; in Ireland 
 especially, where nobody does improve, whether farmer or 
 proprietor. The real meaning of the term was the right 
 of the outgoing farmer to demand an indemnity for the 
 simple fact of his being turned out, which might be called 
 the right to the lease. The effects of such a principle may 
 be easily conceived. 
 
 Even in a farming point of view, leaving the question 
 of property alone, it is at all events doubtful if the cus- 
 tom of tenant-right would be advantageous. The agri- 
 cultural prosperity of Lincolnshire has been attributed 
 to tenant-right ; but it has been justly remarked, that 
 it exists also in the Weald of Sussex, the most backward 
 part of England, and that this may be considered as 
 one of the causes of its rural poverty. In Scotland, 
 where everything is so well arranged for the interests 
 of farming, the question of tenant-right has been nega- 
 tived. It opens a door to fraud and trickery, and 
 
STATE OF WARFARE. 371 
 
 induces the farmer to look more to the indemnity he will 
 obtain in going out, than to good farming while he is in 
 possession. Clever and unscrupulous farmers have been 
 known to change from farm to farm, receiving a com- 
 pensation each time, and always making money by the 
 change. 
 
 Besides, tenant-right becomes in the long-run a charge 
 so heavy to the incoming tenant, that it swallows up 
 all his resources at once, and leaves him without the 
 means of meeting the most necessary expenses. In Lin- 
 colnshire and Nottingham, where the custom prevails, it 
 is reckoned that the incoming farmer nowadays has to 
 pay equal to 4 or 4, 10s. per acre for the tenant- 
 right alone, independently of the usual farm charges. In 
 Sussex, the usual rate is 30s. to 50s., which is perhaps still 
 heavier, since the land is in worse condition. With such 
 advances before them, one can understand how the 
 English agriculturists should be nearly unanimous in 
 condemnation of tenant-right, at least as a general rule. 
 Long leases, and, in some cases, special agreements, are 
 deemed a sufficient solution of the difficulty.* 
 
 If it is thus with tenant-right when justified by real 
 outlays, what would be the consequence if that right, 
 such as it existed in Ireland, were legalised, as it was 
 desired it should be 1 What the incoming farmer would 
 
 * We are not aware that the system of tenant-right has been so universally 
 condemned. This is not the place to enter into any discussion as to the real 
 mexits of the general question ; but while it may be said some convention of this 
 kind is in many respects essential for Ireland in its present circumstances, in order 
 to restore confidence and encourage improvement, there is no doubt a well-devised 
 system of indemnification to tenants, as an accessory to the lease, would in gene- 
 ral greatly tend to increase the produce of the soil. The main objection to the 
 lease, in as far as the grand question of productiveness the maintenance of the 
 people is concerned, is, that towards its close, from the uncertainty which attaches 
 to the renewal of the tenure, there occur several years in which the tenant can- 
 not safely apply such ameliorations as are often necessary to maintain the soil in 
 full and vigorous bearing. His interest too frequently requires that at this period 
 
372 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 there have had to pay, was not remuneration for im- 
 provements which had no existence, but a payment 
 for the peaceable possession of his lease ; or, as it was 
 naively called, the goodwill of the outgoing tenant. 
 It was difficult not to perceive in this a real right 
 of partnership. When this right has existed from 
 time immemorial, as in Ulster, where it appears to 
 have been introduced with James I/s great experiment 
 of Protestant colonisation, and with the view of at- 
 tracting foreign settlers by the expectation of great 
 advantages, nothing can be said against it ; but where it 
 was only recently established, it is evident that its 
 introduction could not take place without altering the 
 conditions of property. Attempts have also been made 
 in France to establish something of the same kind. Such 
 is that which, in certain parts of the department of the 
 Nord, is called le mauvais gr& (the ill will) ; that is to 
 say, a regular coalition among the farmers to force pro- 
 prietors to let their lands low, or to give previously a 
 large indemnity to the outgoing farmer, whether he has 
 improved the land or not. But this abuse, which is 
 opposed to every kind of agricultural advancement, 
 and which has, in addition, a demoralising effect 
 upon the rural population, has never extended very far 
 with us. 
 
 Whatever may have been the wrongs of Irish pro- 
 
 his chief attention should be directed to exhaust the means he has previously 
 applied. Hence the soil, for a considerable part of the lease, both at its close, as 
 we have seen, and at its commencement when this exhaustion is under the pro- 
 cess of repair may be said to be very partially performing its full functions. 
 Unless, therefore, some well-considered principle of remuneration for unexhausted 
 improvements be devised, we fear we must be content to submit to a material 
 curtailment of the supplies which the soil is otherwise capable of furnishing. 
 Tenant-right, no doubt, owes its origin to the conflicting interests of individuals ; 
 but before the problem is fully solved, it will require the introduction of higher 
 elements. J. D. 
 
STATE OF WARFARE. 373 
 
 perty, it is clear the English Government never wished 
 to impose upon it such a bondage as this. The ques- 
 tion was, not only how the errors of the past were to 
 be repaired, but also what was to be done for the 
 future. What, then, would have become of property, and 
 consequently of farming, which is so closely connected 
 with it, if this plague-spot had first been put upon it 1 
 Some people have been pleased to say that tenant-right 
 has succeeded in Ulster ; but this pretended success 
 proves nothing. For, as Mr Campbell Foster has clearly 
 shown, in his Letters upon the Condition of the Irish, 
 published in 1846, this province contains both county 
 Down and county Donegal, in the first of which there 
 exists comparatively a pretty fair degree of prosperity, 
 and in the latter the extreme of Irish misery. Tenant- 
 right existed in both ; tenant-right certainly : but that of 
 Down was not the least similar to that of Donegal. The 
 first alone was conformable with the English practice 
 the utility of which may be questioned, but which is 
 nevertheless legitimate in many respects ; the second was 
 the real Irish tenant-right, that which has nothing to do 
 with unexhausted improvements. The latter was every- 
 where coincident with the common ruin both of proprietor 
 and tenant, being, in short, nothing less than the actual 
 value of the land, so that the unfortunate individual who 
 took a farm had to pay the sale price for it ; or, in other 
 words, to purchase the property for liberty to pay the rent. 
 Nothing but the imperceptible work of time can account 
 for the establishment of such a singular and fatal anomaly. 
 In its turn, fixed tenure was nothing more nor less than 
 a sale of the land upon the terms of a perpetual rent ; and 
 as that system did not leave the amount of rent to be 
 fixed between the interested parties, but was regulated 
 according to Act of Parliament upon an official valuation, 
 
374 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 it was really, in fact, only another name for dispossession. 
 M. de Eaumer and M. de Sismondi have both extolled this 
 forced system, which has found a good many partisans 
 even in England. Here again it may be said that Irish 
 property in general deserved little consideration, both on 
 account of its origin and the use that had been made of 
 it ; but, after all, it was property that is to say, the 
 most solid basis of society. The name, at all events, 
 commanded respect ; and in every case there are always 
 numerous exceptions, which it would not be right to 
 include in a general condemnation. 
 
 There was nothing to prove, moreover, that this remedy 
 would be efficacious. It was countenancing absenteeism, 
 one of Ireland's greatest curses ; and more than ever 
 doing away with the connection between rent and farm- 
 ing. Supposing that the measure had, for the moment, 
 good effects, it was creating for the future a position full 
 of embarrassment and difficulty. In France, perpetual- 
 lease rents were very common under the old regime ; but 
 they entailed such a complication of interests, that it was 
 judged necessary to do away with them, or at least to make 
 them essentially redeemable. The power of repurchase 
 would have been but an insufficient remedy in Ireland. 
 Besides, according to the manner in which it works in a 
 country in a state of revolution, it would only in most 
 cases have completed the expropriation. It may answer 
 when perpetual-lease rents are the exception ; but when 
 this is the universal condition of property, it could have 
 only an imperceptible effect; and properties which are 
 not free, remain a long time the rule. 
 
 Ulster being constantly quoted as a favourable ex- 
 ample of fixed tenure as well as tenant-right, proves no 
 more in the one case than in the other. It is true that 
 in some parts of this province, and by way of encourage- 
 
STATE OF WARFARE. 375 
 
 ment to settlers, recourse was had many centuries ago 
 to perpetual leases ; but the particular districts where 
 this system prevailed were not the most prosperous, 
 and yet the rent, or rather fine, reserved for the nominal 
 proprietor was quite insignificant. The tenant was the 
 real proprietor ; and one remarkable thing, inasmuch as it 
 shows the true point of the difficulty, is that these lands, 
 held in perpetual lease, had been divided and subdivided 
 at least as much as any others ; so that although the rent 
 was almost nominal, most of the cultivators had not 
 enough to live upon. Whole districts were divided into 
 farms of only three or four acres each, and it was seldom 
 that any above ten or twelve were to be met with. 
 
 An unmitigated dispossession of the proprietors, 
 which the Irish more or less desired, would have been 
 but an imperfect remedy for the evil. Properties, like 
 farms, would have come to be divided, and after the first 
 generation they would have found themselves in the 
 same predicament as before. If large property should 
 have bounds, so should small. The danger from too small 
 properties is to be dreaded even more than from large. 
 
 Above all, then, it is necessary that a limit should be 
 put upon this never-ending subdivision of farms, which 
 is fraught with impoverishment to the soil, the wretched- 
 ness of the cultivators, and trouble and annoyance to 
 proprietors. 
 
 The English Government applied itself as earnestly 
 to encourage industrial and commercial enterprise, as it 
 formerly did to strangle them ; but time was an indispen- 
 sable element for developing this new and inexhaustible 
 source of employment, and that mass of unfortunate people 
 could not afford to wait. It was also thought that a means 
 for raising the rate of wages would be found in the estab- 
 lishment of a poor-rate for Ireland, but the number of 
 
376 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 poor was so great that it was found to produce no sensible 
 result; while all the time it imposed a heavy burden upon 
 property. Others proposed to make a distribution of 
 the uncultivated lands among the peasantry ; but the 
 too palpable reply was, that these, for the most part, were 
 incapable of cultivation ; and that, as regarded those 
 which might be brought into condition, heavy expenses 
 would be necessary as well as time that time which was 
 wanted for everything. Numerous inquiries were made, 
 and the question discussed both publicly and privately, 
 but without eliciting anything decisive. 
 
 The question remained to be solved by God ; and that 
 proved a terrible solution. All that long arrear of crime 
 and error was to be atoned for only by an unexampled 
 catastrophe. 
 
377 
 
 CHAPTER XXY. 
 
 THE FAMINE AND EXODUS. 
 
 THE year 1846, so disastrous throughout Europe, was 
 particularly fatal to Ireland. The potato disease, which 
 had some time before made its appearance, became very 
 virulent that year, destroying three-fourths of the crop. 
 Oats, the other resource of the poor cultivator, were 
 equally short. On the news of this terrible disaster, it 
 was very evident what would be the result. The Eng- 
 lish Government, alarmed at the prospect, took the most 
 active measures for bringing supplies from all quarters. 
 Although it had to concert measures at the same time for 
 England, which was also suffering from scarcity, but in a 
 less degree, the Government made extraordinary efforts 
 to provide work for the Irish. It took half a million of 
 labourers into its pay ; made arrangements for employing 
 them upon government works; and spent, in relief of all 
 kinds, ten millions sterling. 
 
 The proprietors, too, very different in this respect from 
 their forefathers, who would have looked upon these 
 sufferings with indifference, made in their turn every 
 possible sacrifice on behalf of their tenantry. In case of 
 need, the law forced them to do it, for the poor-rate rose 
 in an enormous proportion. In 1847, neither rent, taxes, 
 nor interest on mortgages, were paid. 
 
378 EURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 These tardy measures of kindness, however, did not 
 suffice to arrest the evil. Famine was universal, and lasted 
 several years ; and when the decennial census of 1851 was 
 taken, it was found that, instead of an important increase 
 as usual, there was a startling decrease in the population. 
 One million out of eight an eighth of the population- 
 had died of misery and starvation. 
 
 This frightful calamity has effected what years of war 
 and oppression failed to do it has subdued Ireland. 
 When the Irish beheld the loss of their chief article of 
 food, they began to perceive that there was no longer 
 sufficient room for them on their native soil. They who 
 had hitherto obstinately rejected the idea of emigration, 
 as a flight before the enemy, now suddenly passed to the 
 opposite extreme. A current, or, as it might be more aptly 
 termed, a torrent of emigration ensued. For the last 
 seven years for the movement began in the height of 
 the famine one million five hundred thousand persons 
 have embarked for America; and the tide still flows on. 
 Those who have found work and are well off in the United 
 States, write to their relatives and friends to follow their 
 example, and at the same time send funds enough to pay 
 the passage of these fresh emigrants. It is reckoned that 
 the total sum thus remitted, since 1847, amounts to four 
 millions sterling ! The unfortunate Irish never dreamt of 
 such a sum. They look upon America as the land of 
 riches and liberty, and regard their own country as a 
 scene of misery, slavery, and death. Ties of country and 
 religion, once so strong, no longer hold them back. To 
 find a name for this popular flight, we must go back to 
 Bible history, for it can only be likened to the great 
 migration of the Israelites, an exodus like that in Moses' 
 time. 
 
 The proprietors, in place of opposing, second the move- 
 ment. This they are in some measure constrained to do, 
 
THE FAMINE AND EXODUS. 379 
 
 owing to the ruinous pressure of the poor-tax ever since 
 this starving population was charged upon them, and 
 henceforth they have great interest in thinning it. 
 
 There is certainly nothing more distressing than such 
 a sight, and nothing could have been more strikingly 
 condemnatory of England's conduct towards Ireland in 
 times past. But it must, at the same time, be admitted, 
 that all the hitherto undetermined problems are practically 
 solved by this rapid depopulation. England finds in it 
 at once her punishment and her safety. Ere long, the 
 population of Ireland will have been reduced by a half ; 
 and as emigration and mortality have affected only the 
 agricultural and Catholic part of the population, all the 
 fundamental difficulties go along with them. Previously 
 to 1847, the Protestants formed only a fifth of the 
 population : they will soon come to be one-half. The 
 rural population was twenty-four to the acre, now it is 
 approaching to twelve, as in England ; and from the 
 wildest and most rugged districts, such as Connaught, 
 after suffering most from the famine, the exodus takes off 
 the greatest number. It may now be said that warfare 
 between the two countries no longer exists : the Irish 
 have left the field. Those who remain are not sufficiently 
 numerous either to carry on the struggle, or to occasion 
 much trouble by their wants. One fact, in particular, 
 shows the general pacification of the country : agrarian 
 outrages have ceased, and security is as complete now in 
 Ireland as it is in England. God has employed the 
 formidable means of which Tacitus speaks He has made 
 peace out of solitude. 
 
 What was before impossible in rural economy, hence- 
 forth becomes easy. The too great division of the 
 farms is no longer a matter of necessity. In place of 
 seven hundred thousand farms, there may now be, and 
 indeed ought to be, only half the number, and conse- 
 
380 
 
 KURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 quently of twice the size.* Where two families of culti- 
 vators were unable to exist, one may henceforth live in 
 comfort. Potatoes and oats, which had been grown 
 to excess, may now be reduced within proper bounds. 
 Present wants being now less urgent, more thought may 
 be given to the future. The four-course system may be 
 more extended, and with it rural prosperity, of which it 
 is the token. Meadows and pastures, hitherto neglected, 
 begin to receive the attention they merit, and which they 
 ought to repay a hundredfold. Ireland will again become 
 what she should never have ceased to be the Emerald 
 Isle par excellence that is to say, the finest grass coun- 
 try in the world. Cattle, which were never sufficiently 
 encouraged, because the population could not obtain 
 enough to feed themselves, will now find a more abun- 
 dant alimentation. Farming, in place of desperately 
 seeking effects without causes, may at length, by substitut- 
 ing an ameliorating in the place of an exhausting system, 
 be taken up at the beginning. Wages being no longer 
 unduly depressed by a superabundance of hands, labour 
 becomes more productive and better paid ; and, provided 
 the impetus imparted to manufactures and commerce for 
 the last few years is maintained and increased, the over- 
 crowding of the fields need no longer be feared, even 
 should population rise again to its former level. 
 
 * DECREASE OF HOLDINGS FROM 1841 TO 1851. 
 
 HOLDINGS. 
 
 1841. 
 
 1851. 
 
 Decrease. 
 
 Increase. 
 
 Above 1 and not exceeding 5 acres, 
 5 15 
 ,,15 30 
 30 
 
 310,375 
 
 252,778 
 79,338 
 48,623 
 
 88,083 
 191,854 
 141,311 
 149,090 
 
 222,292 
 60,924 
 
 61,973 
 100,467 
 
 
 
 691,114 
 T< 
 
 570,338 
 )tal Deere 
 
 283,216 
 ase, 120,7 
 
 162,440 
 76 
 
 Parliamentary Papers. J. D. 
 
THE FAMINE AND EXODUS. 381 
 
 Under this new state of affairs, the English hope to be 
 able to introduce into Ireland their favourite system of 
 large farming. No doubt they will, to a certain extent, 
 succeed ; but it does not appear that it ought to become 
 the general state of the country. Large farming requires 
 what is wanting to Ireland, and that is capital. Induce- 
 ments are held out for drawing over to Ireland wealthy 
 English or Scotch farmers. Whenever one crosses, all 
 the newspapers proclaim it, in order to bring over others. 
 But hitherto few have been induced to go there. Capital 
 fears to risk itself in a country which, though tranquil, 
 it is true, bears the marks of recent frightful disorders. 
 To all appearance it is likely that Ireland will continue 
 to be worked chiefly by the Irish. Agricultural regener- 
 ation will thus proceed more slowly, but its basis 
 will be wider and more natural. Farming by the na- 
 tives presupposes a small or middling farming. The 
 example of Scotland shows what may be made out 
 of it, and the average size of the farms may, without 
 inconvenience, be less in Ireland than in Scotland, be- 
 cause of the greater fertility of the soil. Twenty or 
 five-and-twenty acres per farm on the good lands, a 
 couple of hundred or so in the worst, where it would 
 be chiefly pasturage, and about fifty as the average, 
 would probably be a fair measure. With these limits 
 the farmer should not only live and pay rent, but accu- 
 mulate capital. 
 
 The real question which concerns the production of 
 farming capital, so deficient among the Irish, and which 
 seems little disposed to reach them from other quarters, 
 is that of leases. There again Scotland sets an excellent 
 example, which cannot fail to be followed. Tenant-right 
 such, at least, as they understand it in Ireland is not 
 necessary. That engine of war is out of place in a well- 
 
382 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 regulated community. It is the same with perpetual 
 leases. Instead of extending them, they should rather 
 be reduced by repurchasing the fine, and by reuniting 
 nominal property with actual possession. What is needed 
 are long leases, with moderate rents, and a constant care 
 to prevent subdivision ; or, if it be desired to preserve the 
 old system of tenants-at-will, great liberality towards the 
 tenants on the part of proprietors. No more middlemen 
 speculating upon under-lettings ; no more partnership- 
 tenure, con-acre, and other contrivances for making a 
 momentary gain at the expense of the land ; but in their 
 place useful advances, hitherto unknown and beyond the 
 reach of the common farmers. While necessity will oblige 
 farmers to dispense at starting with ready-made capital, 
 they will find such capital as they can avail themselves 
 of, as buildings, marlings, drainings, &c., extremely useful 
 in hastening the formation of the other. Wherever large 
 farming is established, it can go to the expense of these ; 
 but, otherwise, these fruitful expenditures fall as a charge 
 on the property. 
 
 In default of natural benevolence, the poor-tax, under 
 skilful management, has certainly acted as a powerful 
 social lever ; it lays the proprietors under the necessity 
 of making exertions, if they do not wish to see all their 
 income absorbed by the workhouse. And this means of 
 coercion, already so powerful, is not the only one which 
 was to be employed to expiate the past wrongs of Irish 
 property. A radical improvement in the relations be- 
 tween proprietor and tenant was not possible to any 
 extent without a kind of revolution in property. Even 
 allowing them more enlightened and liberal intentions, 
 most of the proprietors, already overhead in debt, could 
 do nothing : they had exhausted their credit and re- 
 
THE FAMINE AND EXODUS. 383 
 
 sources. Accordingly, the English Government decided 
 upon ordering a general liquidation. 
 
 This measure, the best of all that had been proposed, 
 has this advantage, that, without violating the principle 
 of property, it admits of the desired results being at- 
 tained. Those proprietors who are such only in name, 
 will disappear, and, in their stead, real proprietors will 
 come, who will be able to make advances. This change of 
 owners, moreover, affords an opportunity for doing away 
 with entails; of dividing the too large estates ; of sweep- 
 ing away that chaos of contradictory rights which always 
 accumulates round real property under mortgage ; and 
 takes from Irish property part of the odious associations 
 connected with it, by breaking the chain of its traditions : 
 valuable and positive advantages purchased, no doubt, 
 by the disagreeable means of a forced liquidation, but 
 which ought in the end to save Irish property, by remov- 
 ing from it its exceptional character. M. Gustave de 
 Beaumont, a great authority in Irish matters, pointed out 
 from the first the necessity of this change. 
 
 In consequence, an act was passed by Parliament, in 
 1849, appointing a Royal Commission, consisting of three 
 members, for the sale of encumbered estates. The powers 
 of this Commission were at first conferred for only three 
 years; but they have been extended first for one year, 
 and are about to be extended again. These powers con- 
 sist in ordering properties burdened with debt to be sold 
 by auction, upon the simple petition of a creditor, or of the 
 proprietor himself, and that in the most summary way 
 the purchaser receiving what is called a parliamentary 
 title that is to say, one that is perfectly legal and indis- 
 putable, conferring an absolute right to the property, called 
 in English fee simple. Those who formerly had claims 
 
384 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 over the land, have no longer any, but only upon the pur- 
 chase-money. The Commission is charged with exami- 
 nation into the validity of these claims, and with the dis- 
 tribution of the sum realised. 
 
 The functions of the new court commenced in Novem- 
 ber 1849 ; and up to November 1852, three years after- 
 wards, it had received two thousand five hundred and 
 fifty-four petitions for the sale of as many properties, re- 
 presenting in all an annual rental of 1,360,000, and 
 charged with mortgages to the extent of 30,400,000, or 
 nearly their whole value. Up to the same period, about 
 one-third of the properties under petition say eight 
 hundred and thirty- nine in all had been sold. One mil- 
 lion two hundred and fifty thousand acres had changed 
 hands. In 1853 and 1854 the sales were being con- 
 tinued in the same proportion. 
 
 The average sale-price has been at the rate of 5^ to 6 
 per cent on the nominal rental ; or, as they say in 
 England, eighteen years' purchase. This rate caused a 
 great outcry on the part of the dispossessed proprietors, 
 a pretty considerable number of whom found themselves 
 ruined at once ; but, on a nearer view, it is not found 
 to be quite so disadvantageous. Properties in the good 
 counties, such as Antrim, Down, Tyrone, Meath, "VVest- 
 meath, and Dublin, sell at rates equal to a return to the 
 purchaser of four per cent. If those situated in what 
 were formerly the most wretched districts have produced 
 only such a price as will give eight to ten per cent, it is 
 because they were not worth more. Nothing was more 
 uncertain than the declared rental ; it was based upon 
 that of 1847, and even then it was seldom paid. At the 
 time of sale, several years' rent was in arrear, while 
 the future appeared to have still worse prospects than 
 the past, and considerable outlays on the part of the 
 
THE FAMINE AND EXODUS. 385 
 
 purchasers were necessary to bring these bare lands into 
 value. 
 
 It is no doubt vexatious that these forced sales took 
 place at the very time when Ireland was undergoing a 
 terrible crisis. But does it not always so happen 1 Crises 
 are just the periods which bring about and justify extra- 
 ordinary measures. Calm weather is not the time chosen 
 for throwing part of the cargo overboard to preserve the 
 ship from future storms. The remedy is applied only 
 when the evil is at its height :. it would be still less ac- 
 ceptable if it came sooner. Perhaps it might have been 
 possible to mitigate a little the working of this realisa- 
 tion, by giving facilities to the indebted proprietors for 
 saving something out of the wreck. But at the time of 
 the passing of the Incumbered Estates Bill, England 
 had already made, without success, immense sacrifices 
 for Ireland, and was not inclined to do more. 
 
 As to the measure itself, the necessity for it cannot be 
 questioned. The proprietors could neither pay the in- 
 terest on their debts nor borrow a fraction more. Among 
 these accumulations of mortgages there were some dat- 
 ing as far back as Cromwell. One naturally pities a man 
 who, to-day, possesses a fine property, and to-morrow finds 
 himself with nothing ; but it is not dispossession which 
 is the grievance, but debt. The man had been for a long 
 time only nominal proprietor, and in one day pays for 
 the mistakes and follies of many centuries. 
 
 Taking the number of properties sold up to the end of 
 1852, according to the foregoing figures, we find the 
 average to be 10,000 for fifteen hundred and sixty 
 acres, which is equal to nearly 6, 10s. per acre. Surely 
 Irish land is worth, and certainly will be worth, more 
 than this. But it must also be remembered, that this 
 figure comprises large tracts of uncultivated land, called 
 
 2 B 
 
386 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 the Irish Highlands ; as a specimen of which Martin's 
 estate is always quoted. This domain is of such extent 
 that the porter's lodge stands twenty -five miles from 
 the house. The inheritor of this vast property died in 
 poverty, upon the ocean, while flying from the soil that 
 no longer belonged to him. As formerly, in the case of 
 Sutherlandshire, we are not told in what condition this 
 gigantic property was found, which could no longer sup- 
 port either the owner or the tenants. 
 
 After all, the Incumbered Estates Court brings forward 
 for sale only two and a half to three millions sterling 
 worth of properties per* annum, or the fiftieth part in ex- 
 tent, but in value hardly a hundredth part of the island. 
 At this rate the sale of one-tenth, the most burdened 
 portion of Irish property, will last ten years. In France, 
 where we hamper transfers of property with expensive 
 formalities, prejudicial both to the creditor and the owner 
 of the land, sales more or less forced take place annually, 
 to the extent of one-hundredth part of the total value of 
 land in the country ; and we have not several centuries 
 of arrears to settle. If, under favour of interminable 
 delays and expenses of the Court of Chancery, Irish pro- 
 prietors had got into a habit of not paying their debts, it 
 is just as well, for their own sakes, that they should 
 be deprived of the opportunity for the future. 
 
 For a year past the prices given have been advancing 
 materially. The worst sales were the first, and, as always 
 happens in such cases, the owners of these properties 
 were the greatest sufferers. In the good counties, land 
 sells almost as high as in England ; and in the bad, the 
 return is about five or six per cent on the purchase. As 
 prospects brighten in Ireland, prices will become more 
 and more satisfactory. 
 
 The most characteristic symptom produced by these 
 
THE FAMINE AND EXODUS. 387 
 
 sales is, that the land is obviously becoming more di- 
 vided. The Commissioners made four thousand lots out 
 of the eight hundred and thirty-nine domains sold up to 
 the end of 1852, and the average price per lot was 2000. 
 Many were sold at 1000, and these were not always the 
 best bargains. This subdivision, generally speaking, has 
 been approved of, as it creates what in Ireland has hitherto 
 been wanted a middle class. Those proprietors, whose 
 estates have come to the hammer are not all entirely 
 dispossessed. Some retain portions of their old proper- 
 ties ; and in many cases such portions, being entirely 
 free from debt, are worth more to them than the whole 
 estate was in its involved condition. A man is not rich 
 in proportion to the number of acres he owns, but accord- 
 ing to the rent he draws from it ; and when that can be 
 increased by reducing the extent, there should be no 
 hesitation about doing so. 
 
 Another no less important fact is deserving of notice, 
 and that is, that the majority of the purchases are 
 for Irish account. It was hoped that English or Scotch 
 purchasers would have been induced to buy land in 
 Ireland, and farm it ; but neither, it seems, have come 
 forward ; and for this reason, that agriculture nowadays 
 requires capital to a greater amount than ever, both in 
 England and Scotland, and the remuneration upon the 
 spot is quite sufficient without any necessity for going 
 elsewhere in search of it. Besides, there exists an old 
 distrust of Ireland, not soon to be eradicated. Neither 
 do they like to bring themselves into contact with misery : 
 they fear the revival of jacqueries, and detest popery and 
 the papists. Ask an Englishman to invest his capital in 
 Ireland, promising him at the same time a return of eight 
 or ten per cent : it is much the same as proposing to a 
 Frenchman to send his to Africa among the Arabs. This 
 
388 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 is the reason why only an eighth of the properties sold 
 have been purchased by other than Irishmen ; and for the 
 most part these acquisitions have been forced on the 
 purchasers, who, being creditors, have found no better 
 way of getting back their money. Martin's Estate is a 
 case in point. It has passed into the possession of a Life 
 Assurance Company, who were mortgagees, and who 
 now desire to sell it piecemeal. 
 
 The other seven-eighths of the properties sold have, gen- 
 erally speaking, been bought by former middlemen ; for 
 even they had mortgages upon the properties which they 
 managed, as is always the case with stewards of a liberal 
 household ; and there is no cause for regretting it, since 
 property thus takes a more national character. 
 
 Such, then, is the twofold movement accomplished in 
 Ireland, beginning with depopulation, and expropriation 
 following the concentration of farming, and division of 
 property, both brought within proper bounds. Farming 
 is being just sufficiently concentrated to put a limit upon 
 extreme division, without depriving the Irish of the pos- 
 session of the soil. Notwithstanding its detestable rural 
 system, Ireland seems to have preserved one excellent 
 feature namely, the almost entire absence of day-labour- 
 ers, properly so called. Almost all its cultivators, conse- 
 quently, will be capable of becoming small farmers as 
 before, but under more favourable circumstances. On 
 the other hand, the division of property suffices to make 
 it more accessible to the natives ; or, in other words, does 
 away with their estranged and hostile feeling, at the same 
 time that it opens to them a source of credit. 
 
 As for what is properly called small property, the intro- 
 duction of which has been advocated by many clever 
 men among others, Mr Stuart Mill, in his new Principles 
 of Political Economy it appears to me less desirable in 
 
THE FAMINE AND EXODUS. 389 
 
 the face of such facts. Ireland will probably, one day, come 
 to small property, for its natural tendency is in that 
 direction. Meantime, however, the rural population is 
 too poor. It must gain in farming what is necessary to 
 become proprietor. It is not for its interest to think 
 about it sooner. 
 
 The English Government, being desirous at the same 
 time of providing regenerated Ireland with capital, and 
 outlets for its productions, offer, as they did in England, 
 to lend 4,000,000 to such proprietors as may be de- 
 sirous of draining their land, or repairing their build- 
 ings and farm -roads ; the amount borrowed to be re- 
 paid at the rate of 6^ per cent for twenty-two years. 
 A good many have accepted this offer, and are proceeding 
 with these useful works. The Irish banks, whose history 
 had hitherto been full of disasters, have taken up a new 
 position. During the former struggles, a run on the banks 
 was a means often adopted by the agitators for throwing 
 the country into confusion. These disturbances to the 
 circulation are, however, much less to be feared now. 
 The banks can safely let themselves out a little more, and 
 extend their business to a larger circle of customers. A 
 net- work of railways begins to cover the island, and har- 
 bours and rivers are being improved. 
 
 The improvement in means of communication shows 
 itself by the rise in agricultural commodities all over the 
 country. Exportation, which was formerly an evil, inas- 
 much as it carried off the food of the people, without 
 giving anything in return, becomes a benefit now that 
 Ireland has fewer mouths to feed, and that rents are 
 expended more upon the spot. 
 
 Finally, instruction in agriculture, of which Ireland stood 
 much in need, is widely extending, and forms part of a re- 
 cently organised system of popular education. Since 1826, 
 
390 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Ireland has possessed an Agricultural College at Temple- 
 moyle, in County Londonderry, founded by. subscription, 
 with a grant of 17,000 from the corporations of Lon- 
 don, who own the greater part of the county. Sixty 
 pupils there receive theoretical and practical instruc- 
 tion. A farm of one hundred and seventy acres, con- 
 ducted by a clever Scotch agriculturist, is attached to the 
 school. At a special inquiry in 1843, eighteen years 
 after its foundation, it was proved that, by means of its 
 pupils, and the examples it gave, Templemoyle had 
 exerted a beneficial influence upon the local agriculture. 
 In all the large Irish colleges, chairs of agriculture had 
 been founded ; but the instruction disseminated was un- 
 able to contend against the bad system of husbandry. 
 This is a seed which can only grow under favourable condi- 
 tions. These conditions being henceforth possible, the time 
 for advantageously giving an impetus to instruction has 
 arrived, and we see farm-schools springing up in every 
 county. Peripatetic lecturers have been started ; a new 
 order of missionaries carry agricultural preaching into the 
 poor villages, and disseminate cheap pamphlets among 
 the cabins of the people. No pains are spared to acquaint 
 the people with the two or three fundamental principles 
 which form the basis of good husbandry, the theory of 
 rotations, the beneficial use of manures and improvers, 
 and the art of breeding and fattening cattle. 
 
 One of the most remarkable examples of the new sys- 
 tem which tends to establish itself, is to be found in the 
 present condition of an immense property in Kerry, be- 
 longing to Lord Lansdowne, a nobleman most justly 
 respected in England. This property contains no less than 
 one hundred thousand acres. The greater part of it is 
 mountain, affording excellent pasture, but not equally 
 
THE FAMINE AND EXODUS. 391 
 
 suited for cultivation. A twentieth part only may be 
 advantageously brought under the plough. It contained 
 sixteen thousand of a population ; and, in spite of the per- 
 severing efforts of the proprietor, these people lived in a 
 state of misery. When the famine came, a fourth died 
 from hunger or disease, without the possibility of help. 
 Another fourth has since emigrated; and, with the aid of 
 money remitted from America, and advances from Lord 
 Lansdowne for facilitating emigration, the still supera- 
 bundant population is rapidly going off; so that in a short 
 time it should be reduced to only an eighth of the ori- 
 ginal number say two thousand, which is reckoned quite 
 sufficient to bring the land into value. The old cabins, 
 which are not worth 50s. a-piece, are being pulled down, 
 and in their stead more comfortable houses, though fewer 
 in number, are erected for the new tenants, and now built 
 by the proprietor. 
 
 It is still the system of cottiers, or small farmers, which 
 will be followed on Lord Lansdowne's property ; for really 
 it does not seem possible to carry out any other to a great 
 extent. But the application of this system promises for 
 the future to be as advantageous to proprietor and tenant 
 as formerly it was disastrous for both. In place of three 
 thousand farms, there will be in all four hundred. The 
 extent of arable land will probably be confined to what 
 will pay a good profit on its cultivation; that is, ten or 
 fifteen acres to each family, making five thousand upon the 
 whole property. The remainder, consisting of pasture, will 
 be occupied by cattle in place of human beings. This, it 
 will be perceived, is the system practised in the High- 
 lands, but on easier terms, as here the -soil and climate are 
 more favourable to manual labour and the feeding of 
 cattle. The return to each family will be at least quad- 
 
,31)2 KURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 rupled, and the proprietor's rent will rise in proportion. 
 The nominal rent of this immense property is 9000, 
 of which the poor-rate still takes nearly the half. For 
 several years to come, the greater part of the remainder 
 will be absorbed by assistance afforded to emigrants, the 
 erection of new farm-houses, cost of implements, new roads 
 and fences, and stocking with cattle. These expenses 
 will all tell by-and-by, and so will it be wherever the 
 proprietor can come forward with similar advances. 
 
 Everything in Ireland is now approaching to a solu- 
 tion : the mysterious designs of Providence oftentimes 
 bring good out of the excess of evil. 
 
 And now I bring to a close the task which I had 
 imposed upon myself namely, to give a summary 
 account of the rural economy of the three kingdoms. 
 What I have said regarding Ireland appears to me to be 
 not the least useful in an instructive point of view ; for 
 although it does not show us what good farming is, it 
 warns us of the troubles and dangers resulting from bad. 
 In no part of France do we find anything quite identical : 
 the state of warfare between two nations, which brought 
 on the misfortunes of Ireland, has no analogy with us. 
 Still we find, on several points of our territory, other 
 causes producing similar effects, though with less inten- 
 sity. We have all the evils resulting from absenteeism, 
 middlemen, excess of population, crushing debt upon the 
 land, misery of the farmer, and exhaustion of the soil. 
 We see to what these lead when pushed to extremes. Let 
 us learn, then, from this example, not to slumber with 
 such an abyss under our feet ; and let us take care, 
 especially, how we speculate upon low wages through a 
 superabundance of hands. There is no greater or more 
 
THE FAMINE AND EXODUS. 393 
 
 fatal error than this. Good rents cannot be kept up 
 unless with good wages, and good wages cannot be paid 
 unless rents are good : both should rise and fall together. 
 To increase production without proportionately increas- 
 ing the number of hands, and thereby to add to the 
 general comfort this is the ultimate object of economical 
 science, the solution of the greatest social difficulties. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 The following Tables will, the Translator thinks, prove interesting and 
 useful to the reader of this work. 
 
 AREA AND POPULATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, 
 
 WITH COMPARATIVE DENSITY OF THE DIFFERENT COUNTIES, ACCORD- 
 ING TO THE CENSUS RETURNS OF 1851. 
 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 SOUTHER! 
 
 f COUNTIES. 
 
 
 
 Kent, 
 Sussex, 
 Surrey, 
 Hants, ..... 
 
 Area acres. 
 
 1,041,479 
 934,851 
 478,792 
 1,070,216 
 
 Population. 
 
 615,766 
 336,844 
 683,082 
 405,370 
 
 Pop. to five 
 acres. 
 
 2.96 
 1.80 
 7.13 
 1.90 
 
 Dorset, 
 Devon, ..... 
 Cornwall, .... 
 
 632,025 
 1,657,180 
 873,600 
 
 184,207 
 567,098 
 355,558 
 
 1.46 
 1.71 
 
 2.04 
 
 Total, 
 
 6,688,143 
 
 3,147,925 
 
 2.35 
 
 EASTERN 
 
 COUNTIES. 
 
 
 
 Middlesex, .... 
 Hertford, .... 
 
 180,168 
 391,141 
 
 1,886,576 
 167,298 
 
 52.35 
 2.14 
 
 Essex, 
 Suffolk, .... 
 Norfolk, .... 
 Bedford, .... 
 Northampton, 
 Cambridge, .... 
 Huntingdon, . . . 
 Lincoln, .... 
 
 1,060,549 
 947,681 
 1,354,301 
 295,582 
 630,358 
 523,861 
 230,865 
 1,776,738 
 
 369,318 
 337,215 
 442,714 
 124,478 
 212,380 
 185,405 
 64,183 
 407,222 
 
 1.74 
 1.78 
 1.63 
 2.11 
 1.68 
 1.77 
 1.39 
 1.15 
 
 Total, exclusive of Middlesex, 
 
 7,211,076 
 
 2,310,213 
 
 1.60 
 
 Total, 
 
 7,391,244 
 
 4,196,789 
 
 2.84 
 
396 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 ENGLAND Continued. 
 
 WSTEB> 
 
 r COUNTIES. 
 
 
 
 Somerset, . . . . 
 Gloucester, .... 
 Monmouth, .... 
 Hereford, .... 
 Salop, 
 Chester, . . . 
 
 Area acres. 
 
 1,047,220 
 805,102 
 368,399 
 534,823 
 826,055 
 707,078 
 
 Population. 
 
 443,916 
 
 458,805 
 157,418 
 115,489 
 229,341 
 455,725 
 
 Pop. to five 
 acres. 
 
 2.12 
 
 2.85 
 2.14 
 1.08 
 1.39 
 3.22 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total, 
 
 4,288,677 
 
 1,860,694 
 
 2.17 
 
 MIDLAND 
 
 COUNTIES. 
 
 
 
 Buckingham, ... 
 Berks, 
 Oxford, . . . . 
 Wilts, 
 Warwick, . . . . 
 
 466,932 
 451,040 
 
 472,887 
 865,092 
 563,946 
 
 163,723 
 170,065 
 170,439 
 254,221 
 475,013 
 
 1.75 
 
 1.89 
 1.80 
 1.47 
 4.21 
 
 Worcester, .... 
 Rutland, .... 
 Leicester, .... 
 Stafford, .... 
 Nottingham, 
 Derby, 
 
 472,165 
 95,805 
 514,164 
 728,468 
 526,076 
 658,803 
 
 276,926 
 22,983 
 230,308 
 608,716 
 270,427 
 296,084 
 
 2.93 
 1.20 
 2.24 
 4.18 
 2.57 
 2.25 
 
 Total, 
 
 5,815,378 
 
 2,938,905 
 
 2.53 
 
 ' NORTHER! 
 
 * COUNTIES. 
 
 
 
 Lancaster, .... 
 York (West Riding), . 
 (East Riding), 
 (North and city), . 
 Durham, .... 
 Westmoreland, 
 Cumberland, 
 Northumberland, . 
 
 1,219,221 
 1,708,026 
 768,419 
 1,352,841 
 622,476 
 485,432 
 1,001,273 
 1,249,299 
 
 2,031,236 
 1,325,495 
 220,983 
 251,517 
 390,997 
 58,287 
 195,492 
 303,568 
 
 8.33 
 
 3.88 
 1.44 
 0.93 
 3.14 
 0.60 
 0.98 
 1.21 
 
 Total, 
 
 8,406,987 
 
 4,777,575 
 
 2.84 
 
 j 
 
 Total England, . . 3 
 
 rea acres. 
 2,590,429 
 
 Population. Po 
 16,921,888 
 
 p. to five 
 acres. 
 
 2.60 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 397 
 
 WALES. 
 
 NORTH. 
 
 Anglesey, .... 
 Caernarvon, .... 
 Denbigh, .... 
 Flint, 
 Merioneth, .... 
 Montgomery, 
 
 Total, 
 
 Area acres. 
 
 193,453 
 370,273 
 
 386,052 
 184,905 
 385,291 
 483,323 
 
 Population. 
 
 57,327 
 
 87,870 
 92,583 
 68,156 
 38,843 
 67,335 
 
 Pop. to five 
 acres. 
 
 1.48 
 1.19 
 1.20 
 1.84 
 0.50 
 0.70 
 
 2,003,297 
 
 412,114 
 
 1.03 
 
 SOUTH. 
 
 Brecknock, .... 
 Cardigan, .... 
 Caermarthen, 
 Glamorgan, .... 
 Pembroke, .... 
 Radnor, . 
 
 Total, 
 
 460,158 
 443,387 
 606,331 
 547,494 
 401,691 
 272,128 
 
 61,474 
 70,796 
 110,632 
 231,849 
 94,140 
 24,716 
 
 0.67 
 0.80 
 0.91 
 2.12 
 1.17 
 0.45 
 
 2,731,189 
 
 593,607 
 
 1.09 
 
 Area-acres. Population. Vo l^ Ve 
 
 Total Wales, . . . 4,734,486 1,005,721 1.06 
 
 ISLANDS. 
 
 
 Area acres. 
 
 180,000 
 
 Population. 
 
 52,387 
 
 Pop. to five 
 acres. 
 
 1.45 
 
 Jersey, . 
 
 40,000 
 
 57,020 
 
 7.13 
 
 Guernsey I 
 and adjacent Islands, . ) 
 
 32,000 
 
 29,757 
 3,962 
 
 I 5.27 
 
 Total, 
 
 252,000 
 
 143,126 
 
 2.84 
 
398 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 SCOTLAND. 
 
 SOUTHERN DIVISION. 
 
 Ayr, 
 
 Berwick, .... 
 Bute, 
 Clackmannan, 
 Dumbarton, .... 
 Dumfries, .... 
 Edinburgh, .... 
 Fife, ...... 
 
 Area acres. 
 
 650,156 
 309,375 
 109,375 
 29,744 
 189,844 
 722,813 
 254,300 
 322,031 
 185,937 
 49,531 
 610,734 
 631,719 
 64,375 
 226,488 
 150,000 
 460,938 
 170,313 
 295,875 
 326,736 
 
 Population. 
 189,858 
 
 36,297 
 16,608 
 22,951 
 45,103 
 78,123 
 259,435 
 153,546 
 36,386 
 8,924 
 43,121 
 530,169 
 30,135 
 10,738 
 161,091 
 51,642 
 9,809 
 86,237 
 43,389 
 
 Pop. to five 
 acres. 
 
 1.46 
 0.59 
 0.76 
 3.86 
 1.19 
 0.54 
 5.10 
 2.38 
 0.98 
 0.90 
 0.35 
 4.20 
 2.33 
 0.24 
 5.37 
 0.56 
 0.29 
 1.46 
 0.66 
 
 Haddington, . . 
 Kinross, .... 
 Kirkcudbright, 
 Lanark, .... 
 Linlithgow, .... 
 Peebles, .... 
 Renfrew, .... 
 Roxburgh, .... 
 Selkirk, . 
 Stirling, .... 
 Wigtown, .... 
 
 Total, 
 
 5,760,284 
 
 1,813,562 
 
 1.57 
 
 NORTHERN DIVISION. 
 
 Aberdeen, .... 
 Argyll, 
 Banff/ 
 Caithness, .... 
 Elgin or Moray, . 
 Forfar, .... 
 Inverness, .... 
 Kincardine, .... 
 Nairn, 
 Orkney and Shetland, . 
 Perth, 
 
 1,260,625 
 2,083,126 
 439,219 
 455,708 
 340,000 
 568,750 
 2,723,501 
 252,250 
 137,500 
 988,873 
 1,814,063 
 2,016,375 
 1,207,188 
 
 212,032 
 89,298 
 54,171 
 38,709 
 38,959 
 191,264 
 96,500 
 34,598 
 9,956 
 62,533 
 138,660 
 82,707 
 25,793 
 
 0.84 
 0.21 
 0.62 
 0.42 
 0.57 
 1.68 
 0.18 
 0.69 
 0.36 
 0.32 
 0.38 
 0.21 
 0.11 
 
 Ross and Cromarty, 
 Sutherland, .... 
 
 Total, 
 
 14,287,178 
 
 1,075,180 
 
 0.38 
 
 Area-acres. Population. Pop 'j 
 
 Total Scotland, . . 20,047,462 2,888,742 0.72 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 399 
 
 IRELAND. 
 
 LEINSTER. 
 
 (1841 Population, 1,973,731). 
 
 Carlow, .... 
 
 Area acres. 
 
 221,342 
 226,414 
 418,436 
 509,732 
 493,985 
 269,409 
 201,906 
 579,899 
 424,854 
 453,468 
 576,588 
 500,178 
 
 Population. 
 
 68,059 
 405,092 
 95,688 
 158,746 
 112,080 
 82,350 
 90,812 
 157,595 
 111,623 
 111,409 
 180,159 
 98,978 
 
 Pop. to five 
 acres. 
 
 1.54 
 8.95 
 1.14 
 1.56 
 1.13 
 1.53 
 2.25 
 1.36 
 1.31 
 1.23 
 1.56 
 0.99 
 
 Dublin, .... 
 
 Kildare, .... 
 
 Kilkenny, .... 
 King's County, . 
 Longford, .... 
 Louth, .... 
 Meath, .... 
 Queen's County, . 
 Westmeath, . 
 Wexford, .... 
 Wicklow, .... 
 
 Total, 
 
 4,876,211 
 
 1,672,591 
 
 1.72 
 
 MUNSTEB. 
 
 (1841 Population, 2,396,161). 
 
 Clare, 
 Cork, 
 
 827,994 
 1,846,333 
 1,186,126 
 680,842 
 1,061,731 
 461,553 
 
 212,428 
 649,071 
 238,239 
 262,136 
 331,487 
 164,051 
 
 1.28 
 1.76 
 1.00 
 1.93 
 1.56 
 1.78 
 
 Kerry .... 
 Limerick, .... 
 Tipperary, .... 
 Waterford, .... 
 
 Total, 
 
 6,064,579 
 
 1,857,412 
 
 1.53 
 
 ULSTER. 
 
 (1841 -Population, 2,386,373). 
 
 Antrim, .... 
 Armagh, .... 
 
 762,453 
 328,076 
 477,360 
 1,193,443 
 611,919 
 457,195 
 518,595 
 319,757 
 806,640 
 
 352,264 
 196,085 
 174,071 
 255,160 
 328,754 
 116,007 
 191,868 
 141,813 
 255,819 
 
 2.32 
 2.99 
 1.82 
 1.07 
 2.69 
 1.27 
 1.85 
 2.22 
 1.59 
 
 Donegal, .... 
 
 
 Fermanagh, .... 
 Londonderry, 
 Monaghan, . . . . 
 Tyrone, .... 
 
 Total, 
 
 5,475,438 
 
 2,011,841 
 
 1.84 
 
400 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 IRELAND Continued. 
 
 CONNAUGHT. 
 
 (1841 Population, 1,418,859). 
 
 
 Area acres. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Pop. to five 
 acres. 
 
 Galway, .... 
 Leitrim, .... 
 Mayo, 
 Roscommon, 
 Slteo. 
 
 1,566,354 
 392,363 
 1,363,882 
 607,691 
 461,753 
 
 321,831 
 111,841 
 274,612 
 173,417 
 128,510 
 
 1.03 
 1.42 
 1.01 
 1.43 
 1.39 
 
 Total, 
 
 4,392,043 
 
 1,010,211 
 
 1.15 
 
 Area acres. Population. ^acreY^ 6 
 
 Total Ireland, . . 20,808,271 6,552,055 1.57 
 
 1841 Population, 8,175,124 1.96 
 
 GRAND TOTAL. 
 
 
 Area acres. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Pop. to five 
 acres. 
 
 ENGLAND, .... 
 
 32,590,429 
 
 16,921,888 
 
 2.60 
 
 WALES, .... 
 
 4,734,486 
 
 1,005,721 
 
 1.06 
 
 ISLANDS (Man and Channel), 
 
 252,000 
 
 143,126 
 
 2.84 
 
 SCOTLAND, .... 
 
 20,047,462 
 
 2,888,742 
 
 0.72 
 
 IRELAND, .... 
 
 20,808,271 
 
 6,552,055 
 
 1.57 
 
 
 78,432,648 
 
 g^- sag.^^ 
 
 27,511,532 
 
 1.75 
 
 THE END. 
 
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