CHAPTER XIII 



THE ADJUSTMENT OF THE RELATIONS BE- 

 TWEEN LANDLORDS AND TENANTS 

 IN ENGLAND 



So long as a country has an abundant supply of 

 productive land, and its agriculture is character- 

 ized by the extensive exploitation of the natural 

 fertility of the soil, the adjustment of the relations 

 between landlords and tenants is a comparatively 

 simple matter. But when some of the elements 

 of this original fertility have begun to show signs 

 of exhaustion, or when the increasing demands of 

 a growing population make it necessary that each 

 acre of land shall yield a larger product, so that 

 it becomes necessary to introduce a more intensive 

 system of culture, involving investments which 

 cannot be realized upon for several years, then it 

 is that the tenant problem becomes a serious one. 



The same progress which makes intensive 

 farming necessary, tends also to augment the num- 

 bers of those who must hire the land which they 

 cultivate. With the growth of population, com- 

 petition for the use of land becomes more and 

 more keen and drives the price of land higher and 

 higher. This makes it ever more and more diffi- 



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