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 Yarborough'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 hundred 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 hundred 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.

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CHAPTER XVI.

THE WESTERN COUNTIES.

If the southern region is the zone of cereals, and the east the chief domain of the four-course system, the characteristic 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 cornlands 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 immemorial, 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 England owes its origin to them, for their existence has taught English farmers the importance of cattle. The

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. Agriculturists 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 grassland 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 assiduous 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 agriculture 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 privileged parts of the north and south of France, in some

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 proportion, 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 constitutes 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.

may

Grass-lands be turned to account in three waysnamely, 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 mountain 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 breeding 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

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 themselves. 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 grasslands 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 population 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 Dartmoor 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