84 THE FUTURE OF OUR AGRICULTURE. 



advantage has now become doubtful on both points enter- 

 ing into it. 



And if it were otherwise, if landlords were not popularly- 

 classed with the branches of the condemned " Upas-tree," 

 are our landlords of the present day as a class altogether 

 fitted for the work for which Mr. Hall has designed them ? 

 And are they likely to be accepted as leaders by those who 

 really stand for the agricultural interest ? Times have 

 changed. The squire of olden times, the Squire Western 

 or Squire Crawley, made his property his home and his 

 workshop. He played the master a little more than would 

 be consistent with the spirit of the present age. But he 

 was the soul of the local agricultural community, the pivot 

 around which local life turned. He was a bona-fide agricul- 

 turist. His farming might be backward. But he was 

 keen in his interest about the " shipses " and the beeves. 

 Every one knew him and he knew every one. He knew 

 every inch of his land and was intent upon the management 

 of his property. And there was not a move made in his 

 parish in which he did not take an active part. He was any- 

 thing but a squire faineant. But we have long since done 

 with men of that type — at any rate, as a class, li squires 

 of that old sort had continued in any number, who knows 

 but there might never have been a Farmers' Alliance, never 

 an " Agricultural Question " to trouble us. Land to-day 

 is for a good part only an investment — possibly a speculative 

 one — or else a foil to a jewel of riches acquired in other 

 callings — heancoup de montre et peu de rapport, meaning 

 a fine country house, in which to receive friends en grand 

 seigneur, good shooting and a privileged position in local 

 society, but not personal interest in Agriculture. Of course 

 there is to be an income. But the getting of that is a matter 

 for the agent. There is scarcely any link except the cash 

 nexus between the " new man " and the " old acres." Such 

 a condition does not favour the " taking a lead "in an 

 agricultural movement — in which, moreover, the new man 

 would probably not at all be accepted as leader, because 

 the mass of the agricultural body would have no confidence 

 in his knowledge of Agriculture and perception of its wants. 



