London to John O Groat's. 163 



CHAPTER IX. 



VISIT TO A THREE-THOUSAND-ACRE FARM SAMUEL JONAS HIS AGRI- 

 CULTURAL OPERATIONS, THEIR EXTENT, SUCCESS, AND GENERAL 

 ECONOMY. 



THE rain having ceased, I resumed my walk, in a 

 southerly direction, to Chrishall Grange, the resi- 

 dence of Samuel Jonas, who may be called the largest 

 farmer in England ; not, perhaps, in extent of territory 

 occupied, but in the productive capacity of the land 

 cultivated, and in the values realised from it. It is 

 about four miles east of Royston, bordering on the 

 three counties of Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, and 

 Essex, though lying mainly in the latter. It contains 

 upwards of 3,000 acres, and nearly every one of them 

 is arable, and under active cultivation. It consists of 

 five farms, belonging to four different landlords ; still 

 the} r are so contiguous and coherent that they form 

 substantially one great block. No one could be more 

 deeply impressed with the magnitude of such an esta- 

 blishment, and of the operations it involves, than a 

 New England farmer. Taking the average of our 

 agriculturists, their holdings or occupations, to use an 

 M 2 



