Country life -- England; England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century; Natural history -- Outdoor books
How else is he to meet the
increased cost of labour, of rent, of education, of domestic
materials; how else maintain his fair position in society? The
demand is reasonable enough; the one serious drawback is the
possibility that, even with this assistance, the idle earth will
refuse to move any faster.
We have had now the experience of many sewage-farms where the
culture is extremely 'high.' It has been found that these farms
answer admirably where the land is poor--say, sandy and porous--but
on fairly good soil the advantage is dubious, and almost limited to
growing a succession of rye-grass crops. After a season or two of
sewage soaking the soil becomes so soft that in the winter months it
is unapproachable. Neither carts nor any implements can be drawn
over it; and then in the spring the utmost care has to be exercised
to keep the liquid from touching the young plants, or they wither up
and die. Sewage on grass lands produces the most wonderful results
for two or three years, but after that the herbage comes so thick
and rank and 'strong' that cattle will not touch it; the landlord
begins to grumble, and complains that the land, which was to have
been improved, has been spoilt for a long time to come. Neither is
it certain that the employment of capital in other ways will lead to
a continuous increase of profit. There are examples before our eyes
where capital has been unsparingly employed, and upon very large
areas of land, with most disappointing results. In one such instance
five or six farms were thrown into one; straw, and manure, and every
aid lavishly used, till a fabulous number of sheep and other stock
was kept; but the experiment failed. Many of the farms were again
made separate holdings, and grass laid down in the place of glowing
cornfields. Then there is another instance, where a gentleman of
large means and a cultivated and business mind, called in the
assistance of the deep plough, and by dint of sheer subsoil
ploughing grew corn profitably several years in succession. But
after a while he began to pause, and to turn his attention to stock
and other aids. It is not for one moment contended that the use of
artificial manure, of the deep plough, of artificial food, and other
improvements will not increase the yield, and so the profit of the
agriculturist. It is obvious that they do so. The question is, Will
they do so to an extent sufficient to repay the outlay? And,
further, will they do so sufficiently to enable the agriculturist to
meet the ever-increasing weight which presses on him? It would seem
open to doubt. One thing appears to have been left quite out of
sight by those gentlemen who are so enthusiastic about compensation
for unexhausted improvements, and that is, if the landlord is to be
bound down so rigidly, and if the tenant really is going to make so
large a profit, most assuredly the rents will rise very
considerably. How then? Neither the sewage system, nor the deep
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