THE EASTERN COUNTIES. 223 



perty, with barns and stables, which make no great show 

 outwardly, but the internal arrangements are most com- 

 plete, according to the new system. In the centre of 

 the property is a steam-engine, the soul, as it were, of 

 this large body. There he feeds, in addition to working 

 horses, one hundred horned cattle, one hundred and fifty 

 sheep, and two hundred pigs, or equal to about one head 

 of cattle per acre; and these animals, entirely stall-fed, 

 grow and fatten almost perceptibly. There is scarcely 

 any natural pasture on the farm one-half is in wheat 

 and barley, the other half in roots and artificial fodder. 

 Owing to the immense quantity of manure from the 

 animals, and the no less enormous amount of extra man- 

 ures which Mr Mechi purchases every year, the crops 

 obtained are magnificent, while at the same time the 

 land, instead of becoming exhausted, is constantly in- 

 creasing in richness. 



Mr Mechi visited Paris with the Lord Mayor of Lon- 

 don. He speaks French, and one cannot confer upon 

 him a greater pleasure than to go and see his farm. Both 

 the man and the place are curiosities. It is said that he 

 sinks a good deal of money on his experiments, and I 

 can easily believe it ; but I prefer this extravagance to 

 most others. In his position, a Parisian who had made 

 money would have an elegant villa with a Gothic sum- 

 merhouse, Swiss cottage, and all sorts of ostentatious 

 and often useless absurdities. I would ask, which of the 

 two is the best ? 



If in Essex we see at Mr Mechi's a specimen of the 

 revolution now going on, in the adjoining counties of 

 Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedford, and Northampton, we witness 

 the results of the agricultural and social revolution which 

 took place about sixty years ago. At the close of the 

 last century, the lands in this district were in a more 



