50 THE LANDED INTEREST. 



opportunity. As time went on, a great change 



was found to have taken place, the old eagerness 



for the occupancy of land returned, but not for 



Decrease its subdivision. In less than thirty years, 



of smallest 



holdings 270,000 of the smallest holdings were merged 



on the 



return of into adjoining larger farms, one-half of the small 



prosperity 



in Ireland, holdings of 1845 having totally disappeared. 

 The tide of emigration began to turn, extreme 

 poverty ceased, the proportion of paupers to 

 the population became much lower, and the 

 costs of poor relief nearly one-half less, than in 

 either England or Scotland. This was accom- 

 panied by better wages to the labourer, higher 

 profits to the farmer, and a rise in the value of 

 land, all fostered by a growing demand for the 

 kind of produce which the soil and climate of 

 Ireland are specially adapted to yield. But the 

 lesson left by the previous disaster has led to 

 the gravest distrust in the system of very small 

 holdings, in a country producing neither wine 

 nor oil, and where the occupier is not the owner 

 of the land. 



Diminu- It is worthy of note that the strictly rural 



cultural parishes of England exhibit some decline of 



