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BURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND, 



CHAPTER I. 



THE SOIL AND CLIMATE. 



WHEN the Great Exhibition attracted to London an im- 

 mense concourse of the curious from all parts of the world, 

 strangers were struck, but not astonished, at the great 

 industrial and economical power of the English. People 

 generally were prepared for the great show which the 

 productions of Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, and 

 Leeds made under the transparent roof of the Crystal 

 Palace ; and also for that other, and not less wonderful 

 sight, the docks of London and Liverpool, with their 

 immense piles of warehouses and countless shipping. But 

 what caused surprise to more than one observer, was 

 the agricultural development displayed in those depart- 

 ments, of the Exhibition set apart for implements of hus- 

 bandry and English agricultural produce. Of this no 

 idea had been formed. 



In France, perhaps, more than anywhere, and that too 

 notwithstanding our proximity, the belief that agricul- 



