320 STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL 



and even M'CuUoch, the advocate of large farms, admits 



that, — 



"in the minute attention to the qualities of the soil, in the 

 management and application of manures of different kinds, 

 in the judicious succession of crops, and especially in the economy 

 of land, so that every part of it shall be in a constant state of pro- 

 duction, we have still something to learn from the Flemings." 



In France, though the farming may not be what we 

 call good, the industry and economy of the peasant-pro- 

 prietors is remarkable, while their well-being is sufficiently 

 indicated by the wonderful amount of hoarded wealth 

 always forthcoming when the Government requires a loan. 

 The connection of peasant-cultivation with well-being is 

 apparent throughout France. Sir Henry Bulwer remarks 

 that by far the greatest number of the indigent is to be 

 found in the northern departments, where land is less 

 divided than elsewhere, and cultivated with larger 

 capitals. Mr. Birkbeck, noticing that in one district the 

 poor appeared less comfortable, found, on inquiry, that few 

 of the peasants thereabouts were proprietors ; while in 

 Anjou and Touraine, Mr. Le Quesne noticed that the 

 houses of the country people were remarkable for their 

 neatness, indicative of the ease and comfort of their 

 possessors, and on inquiry as to the cause, was told that 

 the land was there divided into small properties. So when 

 the celebrated agriculturist and traveller, Arthur Young, 

 noticed exceptional improvement in irrigation and cultiva- 

 tion, he is so sure of the explanation of the fact that he 

 remarks : 



" It would be a disgrace to common sense to ask the cause ; the 

 enjoyment of property must have done it. Give a man secure pos- 

 session of a bleak rock and he will turn it into a garden ; give 

 him a nine years' lease of a garden and he will convert it into a 

 desert."^ 



It hardly needs to adduce more evidence to prove the 

 intimate connection of the sense of secure possession with 

 industry, well-being, and content. But we must briefly 

 notice one more example at our very doors, and under our 



1 For these and many other examples see Thornton's Plea for Peasant 

 Proprietors. 



