202 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



to the numerous ports upon its coast. The condition 

 also of the people appears to be better in Kent than in 

 the neighbouring counties. The average wage of a 

 working man is about 12s. a- week, or 2s. per working 

 day. 



Upon the whole, Kent does not exhibit any striking 

 feature, either good or bad, to the observer. In general 

 appearance, as well as from its situation, it forms a sort 

 of transition between the north-west of France and Eng- 

 land. Greatly superior as an agricultural country to the 

 average of our departments, it is, upon the whole, in- 

 ferior to our best, such as the departments of the Nord 

 and Seine Inferieure. Travellers generally pass rapidly 

 through it in order to get to London ; we shall therefore 

 linger upon it no longer. Everywhere else but in Eng- 

 land, a district which had arrived at this point of pro- 

 duction and population would be worthy of more minute 

 observation, but here it is nothing out of the common. 

 Even the scenery, which the English talk so much about, 

 is pretty without being very remarkable. In nothing is 

 it beyond the average, whether in picturesque beauty or 

 agricultural richness. 



To the south-west of Kent lies the ancient kingdom of 

 the southern Saxons, now the county of Sussex. The 

 average rent of land here falls to 18s. per acre. Wages 

 also are lower than in Kent, the average being 10s. per 

 week, or Is. 8d. per working day. 



The area of Sussex is nearly equal to that of Kent. 

 The population is only three hundred thousand,* or a 

 little less than one to three acres. What is called the 

 Weald occupies about half its area, and is perhaps the 

 most backward part of the whole of England in point of 

 agriculture ; this is mostly attributable to the extremely 



* By last census, three hundred and thirty thousand. 



