2 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



ture in England had been neglected for the sake of the 

 manufacturing and mercantile interests, has hitherto 

 been too prevalent. Ignorance of the principle and 

 effects of Sir Kobert Peel's .customs' reform has contri- 

 buted to spread among us these erroneous ideas. The 

 fact is, that English agriculture, taken as a whole, is at 

 this day the first in the world ; and it is in the way of 

 realising further progress. I design concisely to show its 

 actual condition ; to point out the true causes of that con- 

 dition ; and to draw inferences as to its future. France 

 may derive some useful lessons from this study. 



Nearly five years ago, a serious and disastrous crisis 

 occurred, almost simultaneously, although from different 

 causes, in the agricultural concerns of the two countries. 

 I shall attempt separately to estimate the bearing of each. 

 But first it is of consequence to inquire what was the 

 position of agriculture in the two countries previous 

 to 1848. Two kinds of questions are connected with 

 this comparison ; the one, fundamental, belonging to the 

 entire history of their development ; the other transitory, 

 arising out of the crisis. 



In the first place, we shall endeavour to give some 

 account of the theatre of agricultural operations the 

 Soil. 



The British Isles have a total area of thirty-one millions 

 of hectares, * or equal to about two-thirds of the French 

 territory, which contains not less than fifty-three. But 

 these thirty-one million hectares are far from being of 

 uniform fertility ; on the contrary, they exhibit perhaps 

 greater differences than are to be found in any other 

 country. It is well known that the United Kingdom is 

 divided into three principal sections England, Scotland, 



* A hectare=2 English acres. In acres, the amount for the British Isles is 

 77,394,433 : England proper, 32,342,400. See Porter'* Progress.- 3. D. 



