XXXTII LETTERS TO MARCO 227 



the outlook for the farmers is piteous in the 

 extreme : hay has already gone up i a ton ; 

 the young corn and root crops scarcely show 

 in the parched-up fields ; the springs on the 

 downs are again running dry, water having 

 to be fetched at great trouble and expense 

 from a distance of four miles, so that farmers 

 have the greatest trouble to find food and 

 drink for their live stock. 



I am one of Her Majesty's Commissioners 

 for Income Tax, and last week sat in our old 

 Town Hall hearing appeals, chiefly from 

 farmers. It was heart-breaking work to go 

 through the accounts, one after another, of 

 these old farmers ; men with grand weather- 

 beaten faces recounting their losses in broad 

 Saxon dialect. Small farmers seemed to have 

 suffered most ; but all are in a very bad way 

 in the matter of profit. Many farmers about 

 here are giving up their tenancies, whilst 

 others simply keep on their farms in working 

 order in hopes of better times. The reason 

 for the depopulation of our villages is not 



