82 KURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



copyholds, has just been considerably reduced by recent 

 legislation : it loses, besides, much of its importance 

 when we consider the expenses of all kinds to which 

 English property is exposed owing to the want of a good 

 system of registration. 



Here, then, is a first result of the great amount of pro- 

 duce obtained from the land in England the possibility 

 of increasing taxation. I shall not stop to point out the 

 great benefit resulting from it to the country in general, 

 and to agriculture itself, which is the first to reap advan^ 

 tage from the outlay of its own money. It is evident 

 that, if French landed property could pay much more 

 in taxes, the aspect of our fields would soon change ; they 

 would be covered with roads, bridges, aqueducts, and 

 works of enterprise and skill, which as yet they are with- 

 out, for lack of those funds which are abundant with our 

 neighbours. 



After taxes come the expenses accessory to cultivation ; 

 such as the cost of artificial manures, the keeping up of 

 implements of husbandry, renewals of seed, breeding- 

 stock, &c. : it is as much as a French farmer can do to 

 devote to these remunerating expenditures 4 or 5 francs 

 per hectare, whereas in the United Kingdom they cannot, 

 even previous to 1848, be estimated at less on an average 

 than 25 francs per hectare, and for England proper 50 

 francs at least. This, we may remark, is eight or ten 

 times more than in France, even making the reduction 

 of twenty per cent. Such is the second effect of this 

 superior production the more that is produced, the 

 greater the resources available for increasing the produc- 

 tion ; and wealth multiplies of its own accord. 



Notwithstanding this portion set apart for taxes and 

 accessory expenses, the remainder of the gross proceeds, 

 when divided among those who, by their capital, intelli- 



