DECLINE OF LANDOWNING FARMERS IN ENGLAND 319 



In Westmoreland the landowning farmers had gradually 

 disappeared until, in 1895, they were nearly extinct. " How- 

 ever, we may regret the change," to quote Coleman, after 

 Wilson Fox, " it appears to have been inevitable. Land is an 

 expensive luxury, and not a profitable investment. As civi- 

 lization progressed, and the cost of living increased, returns 

 were not proportionately advanced. The land became gradu- 

 ally burdened with charges, and often suffering in condition, was 

 eventually parted with, going as a rule to swell the larger 

 estates. Nor as regards the public advantage, need such a 

 result be lamented, for it is quite certain that a flourishing ten- 

 antry under a liberal and wealthy owner, are far more productive 

 than owners whose means are too straitened to allow of the 

 proper application of capital. Probably the most complete 

 illustration of this change is seen in the Earl of Bective's fine 

 property at Underly, which comprises about 25,000 acres. 

 ... A large part of this property was formerly owned by 

 small proprietors, mostly statesmen. These men held on as 

 long as possible, and were eaten up by debts and charges, 

 and the soil wretchedly impoverished. The trustees of the 

 late Alderman Thomson, who himself, if I mistake not, sprang 

 from a statesman family, bought up the farms by degrees, and 

 there is still money waiting similar investments. In no case 

 did the investment pay more than two and three-fourths per 

 cent on the purchase money. In many cases the former owners 

 continued as the tenants; and when the land was drained 

 and limed, and proper buildings erected, these men, who were 

 formerly hard up, became well-to-do farmers. . . . The 

 Underly Estate probably yields more than double the prod- 

 uce of which the land was capable when divided and ill 

 managed." 



Writing of this same estate, Lefevre gives some additional 

 facts which are very interesting and give clearness to the 

 picture. " This great property . . . was gradually accumulated 

 and purchased under the express direction of the will of a man 

 who, two generations ago, made a large fortune in trade, and 

 whose only daughter married a nobleman. The estate was 



