Fortunes for Farmers 



of land have risen nearly to the level of 1880. They 

 are still rising, and before long will have passed 

 that high-water mark. In England we have not 

 nearly recovered ourselves, a not very creditable 

 comparison. In Belgium at the present time, the 

 returns show that land only brings in three and a 

 quarter per cent income on the average, so that 

 considered as an investment their landowner is no 

 better off than ours. 



This astonishing rise in price of land in Belgium 

 is accounted for by the division of the country 

 into small holdings, the fa 61 that nearly every one 

 can obtain a plot, and the consequent keen demand 

 and competition for them. They are able to pay 

 higher prices and rents, because the labour ap- 

 plied to the land is more efficient than in England, 

 most of the labourers having a dire6l interest in 

 their work, agricultural education is better, culti- 

 vation is more intensive, there are more light 

 railways, agricultural co-operation is more fully 

 developed, and, last of all, certain produces are 

 protected by a tariff. It is important to notice the 

 enormous effe6l which these fa6lors have pro- 

 duced upon land values, and Englishmen should 

 realize that the price and rent of land will rise as 

 methods of farming become more intelligent and 

 successful. On the other hand farmers will have 

 to pay a higher rent than they do at present to 



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