44 AWAKENING OF ENGLAND. 



The tendency in Germany of a migration from 

 the country to the newly created urban 

 district is due partly to the introduction of 

 new agricultural machinery, such as we have 

 seen operating in England and America for 

 some time, reducing the number of farm 

 hands ; but it is also due to the much more 

 potent fact that in Germany there are many 

 congested districts of peasants. We have 

 congested districts in Ireland, and by good 

 government we are trying to mitigate the 

 evil. But where in England can one put one's 

 finger on a single congested rural area ? 



" I think the coming farmer," says Edison, 

 " will be a man on a seat beside a push-button 

 and some levers." In this way, I suppose, shall 

 we get our large farms tilled and the crops 

 harvested by the labour of one man ; and yet 

 it is curious (is it not ?) that in England the 

 greatest results per acre are obtained to-day by 

 hand labour, and particularly in those districts 

 where the hands work close to one another. 



Fortunately for the well - being of our 

 nation, there are some landowners who take 

 their profession as landowners seriously, who 

 regard themselves not merely as rent-receivers 

 but as stewards to estates entrusted to them 



