INCREASING VALUE OF LAND. 95 



judgment has been shown in expenditure on 

 land improvement. Nature has given us a 

 climate more favourable to the production of 

 meat and milk, vegetables and grass, than that 

 of any other European State. These, in pro- 

 portion to their value, are the least costly in 

 labour, and therefore the least affected by a 

 rise of wages. The growing demand for them, 

 and their consequently increasing value, exer- 

 cise a constant pressure for increased production, 

 which can still to some extent be obtained by 

 improving the land we have. A large propor- 

 tion of the improvable land under cultivation 

 admits of this, and much of that vast tract 

 which has hitherto been left to nature might 

 also be profitably reclaimed for the rearing of 

 sheep and cattle. 



