AGETCULTURE. 131 



paid a certain sum yearly to a landlord in the shape of rent, 

 or to a mortgage company in the shape of interest. No 

 more it would if he were a real farmer, and were certain that 

 the returns of his farm, if properly managed, would leave 

 him a fair surplus, after his interest and expenses were 

 paid. And, above all, if he had a sufficient capital left, 

 after buying and stocking his farm, to work it properly ; 

 then this mortgage society would not only be of great ser- 

 vice to the landowner, but a blessing to the country, because 

 any man would naturally feel more pride in improving an 

 estate if it were his own, than if it belonged to a stranger. 



We have seen before that, allowing the cultivated land 

 in Sweden to be 4,000,000 tunnland, the interest on these 

 mortgage debts gives a yearly rent- charge, of about 5 rqr. 

 per tunnland, upon every cultivated tunnland throughout the 

 country. Now it is quite clear that the land can bear this, 

 and that it is not the only cause why the Swedish farmers 

 are kept poor. 



According to Sanderson's statistics, in 1861, the ascer- 

 tained acreage of Great Britain was nearly 73,000,000 acres, 

 of which nearly 25,000,000 were under a rotation of crop- 

 ping, and 14,000,000 in permanent pasture, or in all about 

 39,000,000 acres, capable of producing food for man ; leaving 

 a balance of about 39,000,000 acres of unreclaimed land, 

 12,000,000 of which, now only covered with coarse grass, 

 could be made capable of carrying good crops. 



He takes the value of the food produce of these 

 39,000,000 acres on an average, at 4 per acre. I believe 

 we may take the average rent of land throughout Britain at 

 1 10s. -per acre; so that, after paying off this yearly rent- 

 charge, if Sanderson's statistics are correct, there remains 

 only a balance of 2 10s. per acre in the farmer's hands to 

 pay his expenses, taxes, and living, interest on capital in- 

 vested, etc. 



Agardth reckons that, after all impediments are de- 

 ducted, there should remain in Sweden an area of above 

 50,000,000 English acres of land, capable of cultivation. 



It will not, however, be fair to charge the 4,000,000 



