34 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



where active and strong ; and where all seem bound to con 

 tribute, according to their power, to the general welfare, comfort, 

 and improvement. Society exists in the United States under 

 circumstances so entirely different from those in which it is found 

 here, that a comparison can hardly be instituted between them. 

 The intercourse to which I have here referred, can scarcely be 

 said to exist in England j the general character of the laboring 

 population being not many removes, as far as intellectual im 

 provement is concerned, above that of the other animals which 

 cultivate their fields. 



In several respects, it must be admitted, the mild temperature 

 of the English climate affords singular advantages. The winter 

 season furnishes the best opportunity for draining and ditching ; 

 the active operations of the farm being, in a degree, suspended, 

 labor is obtained at a low rate ; and as a great portion of field 

 work, in England, is done by the piece instead of the day, the 

 shortness of the days makes no difference of expense to the 

 employer. 



XII. AGRICULTURAL POPULATION. 



I have referred to some differences in the condition of society 

 here, and in the United States, and those differences it may be 

 well to understand. The agricultural population in England is 

 divided into three classes the landlord, the tenant farmer or 

 occupier, and the laborer. 



1. THE LANDLORDS ; RENTS ; AND TAXES. The landlord 

 is the owner of the soil. Most of the landlords are noblemen or 

 gentlemen, and are looked up to with a deference and veneration, 

 on account of their rank, with which those of us who have been 

 educated in a condition of society where titles and ranks are 

 unknown, find it difficult to sympathize. They own the land. 

 Some few of them keep portions of their vast territories in their 

 own occupation, and under their own management ; but, by 

 most of them, their lands are leased in farms of different sizes, 

 seldom less than three or four hundred acres, and in many cases 

 eight hundred, a thousand, and twelve hundred acres. The rent 

 of land varies in different places ; in some being as low as five 



