164 A Walk from 



English term, will not exceed 100 acres to each ; and, 

 including woodland, swamp and mountain, not over 

 half of this space can he cultivated. To the owner and 

 tiller of such a farm, a visit to Mr. Jonas' occupation 

 must be very interesting and instructive. Here is a 

 man who cultivates a space which thirty Connecticut 

 farmers would feel themselves rich to own and occupy, 

 with families making a population of full two hundred 

 souls, supporting and filling a church and school-house. 

 In the great West of America, where cattle are bred 

 and fed somewhat after the manner of Russian steppes 

 or Mexican ranches, such an occupation would not 

 be unusual nor unexpected ; but in the very heart of 

 England, containing a space less than the state of 

 Virginia, a tract of such extent and value in the hands 

 of a single farmer is a fact which a New Englander 

 must regard at first with no little surprise. He will 

 not wonder how one man can rent such a space, but 

 how he can till it to advantage ; how, even with the 

 help of several intelligent and active sons, he can direct 

 and supervise operations which fill the hands of thirty 

 solid farmers of Massachusetts. Two specific circum- 

 stances enable him to perform this undertaking. 



In the first place, agriculture in England is reduced 

 to an exact and rigid science. To use a nautical phrase, 

 it is all plain sailing. The course is charted even in 



