Great Estates 



of England (on the average considerably poorer), 

 and yet the price of land is taken as £63 per 

 acre against ours of £25. The difference is even 

 greater than at first appears, as land in Belgium 

 is valued apart from buildings, so that if we reckon 

 them in, each Belgian acre fetches nearly three 

 times more than ours. 



Again, the average rent in England is counted 

 as a pound an acre, whilst in Belgium it is 35s.; 

 42s. for pasture and 34s. 4d. arable land. Their 

 prices, like ours, have undergone great changes 

 since 1830, the earliest date for which figures are 

 available. Up to 1880 it rose steadily, doubling in 

 the fifty years. But then a serious drop occurred, 

 the price of arable land declining by no less than 

 thirty-three per cent, and that of pasture land by 

 twenty-three per cent, between 1880 and 1895. 

 This decline was due to the reduction in the price 

 of corn owing to the opening up of the corn fields 

 of America. This factor hit us in the same manner 

 in England, and it is interesting to observe how 

 the Belgians adjusted themselves to the new con- 

 ditions. Their cultivation became intensive, they 

 made use of co-operation, and devoted themselves 

 to new branches of agriculture, especially breeding 

 of live stock and raising garden produce. These 

 factors, with the increasing use of artificial manure, 

 brought back prosperity, and the prices and rents 



67 F2 



