152 AN AMERICAN FARMER IX ENGLAND. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



Tillage Size of Farms Condition of Laborers Fences Hedges 

 Surface Drainage Under Drainage Valuable Implements for Stiff 

 Soils, not used in the United States. 



T SHOULD think that more than three-quarters of the land 

 * we have seen is in grass and pasture. I suppose that it would 

 be more productive of human food, and support a much larger 

 population, if it were cultivated ; but the fanners being generally 

 men of small means, barely making a living, are indisposed to 

 take the trouble to break up and till the tough sward and stiff 

 soil, from which, while it is in pasture, they are always sure to 

 realize a certain product of cheese without any severe labor. The 

 cultivation is not, either, very thorough, because the strongest and 

 most efficient implements and great brute forces are needed to 

 effectually act upon such a soil. Accordingly we have observed 

 on the large farms, where the extent of ground to be, of neces- 

 sity, cultivated, warranted the purchase of clod-crushers and other 

 strong and expensive implements, and made it necessary to em- 

 ploy a considerable number of laborers, the proportion of land 

 under tillage was more extensive, and much more thorough work 

 was made with it. 



I wish I could say that the condition of the laborers appeared 



