86 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



Kingdom average, and one-third of that of England 

 proper. Only the north of Scotland and west of Ireland 

 come below the French average : the rest, generally speak- 

 ing, is higher. In France it is as difficult to distinguish 

 the profit as the rent. One-fourth of the soil only is 

 rented, and in the remaining three-fourths, profit is con- 

 founded either with rent or wages. Upon the whole, 

 however, we may consider the working capital with us to 

 be 1 00 francs per hectare. This is one of the most striking 

 signs of our inferiority ; for in agriculture, as in all kinds 

 of industry, the working capital is one of the chief agents 

 of production. 



The farmers of England proper, upon an equal surface, 

 enjoy a revenue at least equal to our French proprietors. 

 The farmer of two hundred and fifty acres, for example, 

 has a net income equal to 3000 francs (120), while a 

 proprietor with us, of a like extent, and under average 

 circumstances, would realise no more. Farmers in the 

 best parts of England make 50, 60, up to 100 francs per 

 hectare (15s. to 80s. per acre), and there are some whose 

 total incomes amount to from 500 to 1000. Hence 

 the importance, in a social point of view, of that class, 

 which is as firmly established upon the soil as pro- 

 perty itself. These are the gentlemen farmers ; they live 

 for the most part in a quiet comfortable style, have their 

 newspapers and periodicals, and produce occasionally 

 upon their table a bottle of claret or port. When visit- 

 ing the country in England, and provided with a few 

 letters of introduction, one meets with a hospitable recep- 

 tion from these kind and simple families, many of whom 

 have occupied the same land for several generations. The 

 most perfect order reigns in their domestic economy; 

 everything in their houses is conducted with that habitual 

 regularity which indicates long usage. Comfort has 



