AGRICULTURE. 



every department, as well as a general account of 

 the whole concern. 



WASTE LANDS. 



According to the agricultural statistics of the 

 P.oard of Trade, it appears that out of the 

 77,500,000 acres in the United Kingdom, only 

 46,000,000 are in cultivated arable and pasture land, 

 the remaining 31,500,000 being thus distributed: 



Acres. 



Woods and plantations 2,000,000 



Sheep-walk (Scotland) 7,000,000 



Uninclosed pasture (Ireland) 8,000,000 



Mountain, peat, and flat red bog (Ireland) 3,000,000 

 Oiher waste say 11,500,000 



Much of this large proportion of our territory is 

 either situated at such an altitude, or else so natu- 

 rally barren, as to be hopelessly beyond the reach 

 of improvement ; but estimating from Mr Couling's 

 valuation in the year 1827, and the amount of land 

 inclosed since that time, we have now about 

 16,000,000 acres capable of being added to the 

 arable and pasture land of the kingdom. 



Considerable misapprehension exists as to the 

 character and capabilities of these cultivable waste 

 lands, and we have no reliable authority furnishing 

 us with exact information ; however, there is suffi- 

 cient evidence to shew that they generally consist 

 of the naturally poorest or most unfavourably 

 situated ground, or such as is least remunerative 

 to the husbandman, owing to the heavy outlay 

 required for its reclamation. 



The Inclosure Commissioners, in their Twenty- 

 seventh Annual Report, dated January 31, 1872, 

 say: 'The extent of waste land held in "common" 

 in 1844 was estimated at 8,000,000 acres, and that 

 estimate was based on a return (taken partly from 

 every county in England and Wales) of the actual 

 amount of "common" found on an area which 

 embraced one-fifth of the whole country. It may 

 therefore be assumed to give a fair representation 

 of the extent of "common land" at that time. 



'In addition to the "common land" there is also 

 a considerable extent of " commonable land," that 

 is, land held in severally for a portion of the year, 

 upon which, after the summer crops are removed, 

 certain rights of pasturage are exercised in 

 common during the remainder of the year. This 

 was supposed to comprise 2,000,000 acres, but 

 there is no certain basis for this estimate. It is 

 to be observed that these " commonable lands " are 

 subject to tithe rent-charge, and are also liable for 

 land tax, and to rates for parochial and local 

 purposes. 



'The estimate of 1844 of "common" and 

 "commonable" land together, at somewhat over 

 9,000,000 acres, may, we think, be accepted as 

 fairly accurate. In the twenty-five years since the 

 passing of the General Inclosure Act, 670,000 

 acres of these lands have been and are in course 

 of being inclosed, an extent equal to an average 

 English county. This leaves fully 8,000,000 acres 

 still to be dealt with, which is more than one-fifth 

 of the entire acreage of England and Wales. Of 

 this vast extent of country there is reason to 

 believe that upwards of 3,000,000 acres will be 

 found in the lowland counties of England, and the 

 remainder in the mountainous and moorland 

 counties, and in Wales. A large proportion of the 



"commonable lands," which are situated chiefly 

 in the lowland counties, is undoubtedly susceptible 

 of more profitable use and cultivation after in- 

 closure. In addition to the " commonable land " 

 (which at present is more or less under cultiva- 

 tion), we think it may be assumed as a very 

 moderate estimate that, out of the " commons," one 

 million acres might still be added to the pro- 

 ductive area of agricultural land in England. To 

 accomplish this, at the rate of progress hitherto 

 made with inclosures, many years must necessarily 

 elapse. Even when that is completed there would 

 remain about one-sixth of the area of the entire 

 country still open, and subject to rights of 

 "common," an extent so great as must shew how 

 erroneous have been the apprehensions expressed 

 of the speedy inclosure of every common in 

 England. 



' In estimating the value to be attached to these 

 figures, it will be borne in mind that they apply 

 to a country of limited extent, where mining and 

 manufacturing industry, railway extension, and 

 urban population are constantly pressing upon the 

 narrow limits of the cultivated land. The addition 

 of one million acres would be sensibly felt ; it is 

 more than has been won from the sea in three 

 centuries and a half by the laborious industry of 

 the Dutch, and would be nearly equivalent to one- 

 tenth of all the land at present under crops in 

 England, exclusive of grass. This would be an 

 outlet for labour and enlargement of cultivable 

 country exactly the same as an addition of an 

 equal extent of territory. Nor should it be 

 forgotten that, when inclosed and cultivated, these 

 lands would become a source of further revenue 

 for all purposes of imperial as well as local 

 taxation, and, being held in severally, would add 

 to the quantity of land capable of being brought 

 into the market for sale and purchase.' 



From the great decrease of inclosures during 

 the present century, in spite of the vast and rapidly 

 accelerating increase of population and demand 

 for food, it is plain that but little ground yet 

 remains waste which it would be worth while to 

 cultivate, under our present system of tenancy and 

 our present order of agriculture. The notion that 

 there exist wide-spread tracts of good land, un- 

 profitably waiting till their owners permit them to 

 be tilled, is not correct ; there are but few plots 

 capable of ordinary culture which are not already 

 brought under the plough, or appropriated to the 

 pasturage of cattle. British agriculture has arrived 

 at that point of its history in which the problem is, 

 how to increase the yield from each acre, rather than 

 where to extend the area operated upon. Still, so 

 long as the system under which land is occupied 

 continues to trammel enterprise and improvement, 

 and so long as science and practical skill are so 

 partially diffused among farmers, the waste lands 

 will be resorted to by bold proprietors and venture- 

 some tenants ; and that instinctive preference felt 

 by the great majority of men for agricultural before 

 all other pursuits, will not fail to lead strong-armed 

 labourers and town-wearied mechanics to push 

 stone-walled inclosures up the steep sides of 

 moors and fells, to creep with gardens and green 

 crops up the sandy heaths, to tap dropsical 

 mosses, and bale out the tide from fat marshes. 



The question as to the propriety of reclaiming a 

 really improvable waste is, in any particular case, 

 to be satisfactorily answered by ascertaining at 



