OXE-FIFTH OF PEOPLE CONNECTED WITH LAND. 45 



The great bulk of the land in the United Not culti- 

 vated by 

 Kingdom is not cultivated by the owners, but owners but 



by tenant- 

 by tenant-occupiers. Of these there are 561,000 farmers; 



in Great Britain, and 600,000 in Ireland. Ex- 

 cluding the mountains, wastes, and water, the 

 cultivated land is held by these at an average relative 



extent of 



of 56 acres each in Great Britain, and 26 acres their hold- 

 ings in 

 in Ireland. But the proportion of large and England 



and 



small farms in the two countries is very different, Ireland, 

 nearly half the land in Ireland being held in 

 small farms under 1 5 acres each, while less than 

 a fifth of Great Britain is so occupied. 86 per 

 cent, of the farmers in Ireland hold nearly half 

 the land, while 70 per cent, in Great Britain 

 hold less than a fifth. Agriculture is the prin- 

 cipal occupation of the people of Ireland, the 

 revenue from the land there forming twice as 

 much as that from all other sources, whilst in 

 Great Britain it is but a seventh of the whole. 

 Hence in Ireland the possession and occupancy 

 of land is the great political question, while 

 in Great Britain it has ceased to have much 

 prominence. 



This country, from its insular position and 



