434 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



Suppose, on the other hand, the same area of land, worked by 

 1 6 small owners, to yield but 960, and so give 60 to each of them. 

 I should, for my part, consider this second organisation superior 

 to the first. 



Neither extreme poverty nor extreme opulence is the thing to 

 be desired. Pauperism and divitism alike are the parents of 

 vice in private and revolution in public life. 



In England a contrast is often drawn between Flanders and 

 Ireland, and the former is said to enjoy agricultural advantages 

 not possessed by Ireland, such as great markets, a better climate, 

 abundance of manure, more manufactures. This is a point on 

 which some light should be thrown. 



Flanders does enjoy certain advantages, but they are equally ac- 

 cessible to the Irish, derived, as they are, from human industry ; 

 whereas the advantages possessed by Ireland, coming, as they do, 

 from nature, are not within the reach of the Flemish. 



Let us look, first, at climate and soil. The climate of Ireland 

 is damper and less warm in summer, but less cold in winter. In 

 Flanders it rains one hundred and seventy-five days in a year ; 

 in Ireland, two hundred and twenty days. On this account, the 

 Irish climate is more favourable to the growth of grass, forage, 

 and roots, but less so to the ripening of cereals ; yet the Flem- 

 ing would be but too happy had he such a climate, cereals being 

 but of secondary importance with him, and often used as food 

 for his cattle. He seeks only abundance of food for his cows, 

 knowing that the value of live stock goes on increasing, while 

 that of cereals remains stationary. Butter, flax, colza, and chic- 

 ory are the staple articles of his wealth, and the climate of Ire- 

 land is at least as well suited to the production of these as that 

 of Flanders. 



As for the soil of Ireland, it produces excellent pasture spon- 

 taneously, whilst that of Flanders hardly permits of the natural 

 growth of heather and furze. It is the worst soil in all Europe 

 sterile sand, like that of La Campine and of Brandenburg. 

 A few miles from Antwerp, land sells for 20 francs (16 s.) an 

 acre, and those who buy it for the purpose of cultivation get 

 ruined. Having been fertilised by ten centuries of laborious 



