Changes in Agriculture. 143 



annual home growth of corn keeps steady, 

 barley alone showing a gradual increase. The 

 production of bread and meat within these 

 islands appears to have nearly reached its limit. 

 The dairy and market-garden system, fresh milk 

 and butter, and vegetables, and hay and straw, 

 are every year enlarging their circle around 

 the seat of increasing populations. These are 

 the articles which can least bear distant 

 transport, and, therefore, are likely longest 

 to withstand the influence of foreign com- 

 petition. 



This country is becoming every ten years Country 



becoming 



less and less of a farm, and more and more of a less of a 



farm and 



meadow, a garden, and a playground. The deer more of a 



garden, 

 forest, and grouse, in the higher and wilder parts 



of the country, and the picturesque commons 



in the more populous districts, are already, in 



many cases, not only more attractive, but 



more remunerative in health and enjoyment, 



than they probably would be if subjected to 



costly improvement by drainage, or by being 



broken up for cultivation. The poor clay soils, 



which are expensive to cultivate, and meagre 



