CHAPTER VI. 



LAND IMPROVEMENT. 



Having now endeavoured to explain the respec- Settle- 

 ments and 

 tive positions of the three interests engaged in incum- 



^ brances 



the cultivation of the soil in each of the three h'^ider the 



free action 



countries forming the United Kingdom, I of^^'iny 



° ^ land- 



proceed to consider the circumstances which °^^^^'^ '" 



embarrass the free action of a large proportion |]]en['^f' 

 of the landowners, and the modes by which these perty.^'^°' 

 have been more or less overcome. A very large 

 proportion of the land is held by tenants for life 

 under strict settlement, a condition which pre- 

 vents the power of sale, and it is also frequently 

 burdened with payments to other members of 

 the family, and in many cases with debt. The 

 nominal income is thus often very much reduced, 

 and the apparent owner of five thousand a year 

 may have little more than half of it to spend. In 

 such cases there is no capital available for the 



