PEASANT PR0PEIET0E3 129 



an extinct condition of society. At tlie present day means 

 of communication are easy; agriculture has ceased to be 

 self-sufficing, and has become dependent on manufacture ; 

 machinery has been introduced into all farming operations ; 

 foreign competition has to be faced. Reports of agricul- 

 tural enquiries abroad prove that the Continental pea- 

 santry are not more capable of competing with prairie 

 farmers and rich, if not vii'gin, soils than are our English 

 tenantry. The Agricultural Congress at Nancy, which 

 concluded its session in the last week of August T886, 

 practically decided that ' une seule ressource reste done 

 aux cultivateurs qui veulent eviter la ruine, c'est d'elever 

 les rendements de leurs recoltes.' In other words, high 

 farming is the recommendation of the congress. 



No country and no system of farming has entirely 

 escaped the present depression. Peasant proprietors have 

 suffered less than tenant farmers, only because they employ 

 no hired labour and grow corn, not for sale, but for their 

 own consumption. For tenant farmers the agricultural 

 crisis is hardly less serious in France than it is in England. 

 The proof lies on every side. Forced sales of stock and 

 rural bankruptcies are numerous ; disputes are rife re- 

 specting claims to unexhausted improvements ; farms are 

 difficult to let, rents are falling, population migrates into 

 the towns, land decreases in value. It no longer pays to 

 grow wheat ; flockmasters get nothing for their wool ; 

 American pork undersells French produce; the florist of 

 Angers complains of his Belgian rival; the madder of 

 Vaucluse is beaten out of the field by indigo. Wages are 

 rising in a falling market ; labour is not only scarce and 

 dear, but it has deteriorated in quality. The younger 

 generation is not, it is said, like the old ; lads go off" to 

 seek fortunes in towns, or cannot endure, after the gaiety 



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