MR. UOWNING'S LETTERS FROM ENGLAND. 



159 



nent and equally hard working faruaers of the 

 United States.* 



Farming, here, is a vastly more scientific 

 and carefully studied occupation than with 

 us ; and the attention bestowed upon landed 

 estates, (many of which yield a revenue of 

 650,000 or $60,000 a year, and some much 

 more,) is, as you may suppose, one of no tri- 

 fling moment. Hence the knowledge of prac- 

 tical agriculture, by the owners of many of 

 the.se vast English estates, is of a very high 

 order ; and I am glad, from considerable ob- 

 servation, to say that the relations between 

 owner and tenant are often of the most con- 

 siderate and liberal kind. No doubt the pre- 

 sent free trade prices of corn make a hard 

 market for many of the tenant farmers of 

 England. Yet, as the interests of the land- 

 lord and tenant run in parallel lines, it is 

 clear that rents must be modified accordingly. 

 Upon this estate, this has been done most 

 wisely and judiciously. The good under- 

 standing that exists between both parties is 

 therefore very great ; as a proof of which, I 

 will mention that the Earl gives a dinner 

 twice a year, to which all his tenants are in- 

 vited. At the last festival of this sort, he 

 took occasion to speak publicly of the low 

 prices of bread stuffs, and the complaint so 

 frequently made of the high rents at which 

 farms were still held. To meet the state of 

 the times, he added, that he had, from time 

 to time, altered the scale of his rents ; and 

 had now resolved to make a still further re- 

 duction of a certain number of shillings per 

 acre to all who would apply for the same 

 after that day. He now mentioned to me, 

 that although nearly two months had elapsed, 

 not a single application had been made ; and 



♦ At the celebrated farm of Mr. W.. in this county, his 

 cellar contained, at the commencement of harvest, 24 hogs- 

 heads of beer ; barely enough, as I was told, for the harvest 

 labor — about nine pints per day to each man. There was 

 nearly a strike among the workmen for ten pints ; indeed, a 

 gallon per day is no very uncommon thing for a beer drinker 

 in England; 



this, perhaps, solely because the tenants ap- 

 preciated the justice and liberality with which 

 the estate had been managed, and knew the 

 free trade policy, where this is the case, falls 

 as heavily on the landlords as on themselves. 

 Nothing can well be more complete, of its 

 kind, than this highest kind of country life in 

 England. I leave out of the question now, 

 of course, all republican reflections touching 

 the social or political bearing upon other 

 classes. Taken by itself, it has been per- 

 fected here by the long enjoyment of heredi- 

 tary right, united to high cultivation and 

 great natural taste for rural and home plea- 

 sures, till it is difficult to imagine anything 

 (except, perhaps, a little more sunshine out 

 of doors,) that would add to the picture. In 

 the first place, an Englishman's park, on one 

 of these great estates, is a species of king- 

 dom by itself — a vast territorial domain, 

 created solely for his own enjoyment, and 

 within the bounds of which his family and 

 guests may ride, drive, walk, or indulge their 

 tastes, without in the least interfering with 

 any one, or being interfered with, by the 

 presence of any of the rest of the world. 

 In the next place, the climate not only favors 

 the production of the finest lawns and plea- 

 sure grounds in the world, but promotes the 

 out-of-door interest in, and enjoyment of 

 them. Next, these great domestic establish- 

 ments, (so immense and complete that we 

 have nothing in America with which to com- 

 pare them,) are still managed, (owing to the 

 exercise of the service, and the division of 

 labor,) with an ease and simplicity quite in- 

 comprehensible to an American, who knows 

 from experience how difficult it is to keep a 

 household of half a dozen domestics tosether, 

 even in the older parts of the Union. Here, 

 there are sixty servants, and I have been in 

 houses in England where there are above a 

 hundred, and yet all moving with the quiet 

 precision of a chronometer. There are few 



