CONSTITUTION OF FARMING. 109 



five or six millions of small holdings below seven or eight 

 hectares ; but we have, at the same time, the equivalent 

 of Great Britain in the four or five hundred thousand 

 averaging fifty to sixty. And we are not altogether 

 without our farms of several hundreds of hectares ; some 

 such are to be found, principally in the neighbourhood 

 of Paris, which exhibit the best examples of large farm- 

 ing. It is only the immense farms which we have not 

 got, and these are not very numerous in England ; they 

 are to be met with only in the most sterile parts, such as 

 in the wild districts of the Highlands, or in the chalky 

 plains of the south, both equally suited for sheep pastures. 

 It is not, then, exactly in extent of the farms that English 

 farming is superior to ours ; in this respect we are even 

 more on a par than in respect to property. 



The real superiority of this constitution of agriculture 

 as regards Great Britain at least, for Ireland requires a 

 separate examination lies in these two important points : 

 first, the almost universal system of leases, which makes 

 agriculture a special occupation ; and, secondly, the num- 

 ber of monied men who fearlessly embark in farming. 



The advantages which leases possess over other modes 

 of working the soil, and particularly over the metayage, 

 are observable in those parts of France where the system 

 is found. It is the great principle of the division of 

 labour applied to agriculture. It raises up a particular 

 class of men, early educated to farming, and who devote 

 their whole life to it. These men are not exactly labour- 

 ers, but are in comparatively superior circumstances, and 

 are more intelligent. With them farming is a profession, 

 with all the chances of gain and loss ; and if the chances 

 of loss are sufficient to keep their attention awakened, 

 the chances of gain also suffice to excite their emulation. 

 England has many examples of fortunes made by farm- 



