52 THE LANDED INTEREST. 



too far, inasmuch as the town population would 

 languish and diminish if not regularly recruited 

 by that of the country. A general conversion 

 of arable to pasture might so lessen the means 

 of employing an agricultural population, that 

 many must emigrate, and there would be no 

 surplus left to recruit the towns. When 

 population begins to diminish, our national 

 prosperity will have passed its zenith. The 

 future of British agriculture thus becomes a 

 question of vital importance. 

 Class of The land of the United Kingdom may be 



yeomen, 



farming sa id to be now almost wholly cultivated by 



their own 



land, now tenant-farmers. The class of yeomen, or small 



in very 



small pro- landowners farming their own land, is found 



portion to 



tenanf ^ iere an< ^ tnere m England, but scarcely at all 

 farmers. j n s co tl a nd, and now bears but small proportion 

 to the whole. Many of the larger landowners 

 retain a farm under their own management for 

 home supplies, or for the breeding of selected 

 stock ; very few as a matter of business, or for 

 profit. The general system is, that the land- 

 owners make the permanent works on their 

 estates, their income being paid in rent by 



