The Moral of this Narrative. 527 



strange that amidst all the conflicting politics of the present 

 day there has arisen no party which advocates the establish- 

 ment of the aristocracy of intellect ? England, said Theodore 

 Parker, is the paradise of the rich, the purgatory of the wise, 

 and the hell of the poor. The elevation of the second-named 

 to the position of the first, is surely the best means of releasing 

 the last from their occasionally unbearable surroundings — for 

 it is only because a large portion of the rich are also wise that 

 the poor have been relieved of much that once made the above 

 definition of their social status possible. 



When we turn from landownership to land tenure, we realise 

 that the pecuniary question is no secondary consideration. Out 

 of his profits the farmer must find, besides rates and taxes, the 

 livelihood of himself, his landlord, the titheowner, and the 

 labourer. In order to perform this difficult task, he must not 

 only fulfil the conditions laid down for him by Caird, and keep 

 the land dry, clean and rich, but he must advance the capacities 

 of production to the highest limit of perfection. Anything 

 that tends to restrict him in this purpose is highly inimical to 

 every interest connected with the land, and our History has 

 been one prolonged record of the changes in laws, customs and 

 practice, necessitated from time to time by the advance of the 

 agricultural pioneer. 



We may therefore now reasonably ask whether all has yet 

 been done that should be in this direction, and whether, under 

 the circumstances of climate and position, our English farming 

 has reached that stage of excellence beyond which it would be 

 impossible to carry it. 



At the period of history, when we have decided to close this 

 narrative, Caird was still advocating improvements in our 

 machinery, feeding stuffs, manures, mechanical operations, 

 and livestock, and at this very moment, the eve of a fresh 

 century, there is no man who would dare to assert that there 

 is no space for further advances. 



Now in the practice and industry of the British husbandman 

 himself there is but small occasion for fault-finding. Speaking 

 comparatively, his method is far beyond anythmg attained in 

 foreign climates ; but still speaking comparatively, its disastrous 



