CHAPTER III. 



ENGLISH LAND CULTIVATION : A FIRST 

 IMPRESSION. 



I can recall now, and defend as sound in the 

 main, though calling for a great deal of modi- 

 fication in the light of more complete knowledge, 

 a " first impression " of English agriculture 

 recorded in September 1909. This " snapshot 

 view," written as a letter to an Australian 

 correspondent and published in the Morning 

 Post, ran : — 



" Yes, truly these English are an agri- 

 cultural people ; but it is around the agri- 

 culture of a century ago that their affections 

 are entwined. It is now the autumn in 

 London, and the sky weeps every day 

 instead of two days out of three, as in the 

 summer ; in the street barrows are ex- 

 posed for sale the fruit of the poor, and I 



