TWENTY-FIVE YEARS* WORK. 11 



emigrate, were, if they liked, employed with their 

 families, but treated merely as other labourers. 

 Some of these have proved our very best men, and 

 are still with us. It has for years been their pride 

 to go to mass better dressed than the small farmers 

 around. 



Yet the results of the first three or four years, as 

 shown in the balance-sheets, were far from encourag- 

 ing : 7s. or 8s. per acre for rent and interest was the 

 best that could be made, after charging all that 

 could be fairly charged to capital as permanent 

 improvements. And for this a large outlay was 

 needful. The land that had been gone over, no 

 doubt had a very improved appearance, but the 

 whole required the same process. The lea oats 

 seldom returned the seed and labour, and 50 or 60 

 acres manured in a year made slow progress over 

 500. 



But in spite of discouragement it was resolved 

 to go on. The former rent of the land thus taken 

 up varied from 9s. 6 d. to 20s. per acre. It averaged 

 on the whole about 17s. At length in 1851 the 

 return for rent and interest rose to 12s. per acre; 

 1852 was no better; but in 1853, a year of high 

 prices for everything, the balance suddenly started 

 to 27s. The next year, however, it went back to 

 22s. In 1855 it was 23s. 6d., and in 1856 it fell 

 off again to 21s. 6d. In 1857, however, another 

 great step was gained, and 31s. was reached, though 



