250 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



London, and the numerous ports upon the coasts, but 

 where the great stimulus of manufactures is almost en- 

 tirely wanting. In entering Warwickshire we come into 

 a manufacturing district ; and Birmingham, with its 

 dependencies, first presents itself. During the last fifty 

 years the population of the county has more than 

 doubled ; at present it is little short of one per acre. 

 Four-fifths of this population are manufacturing, from 

 whence it follows that an acre is required to produce 

 food sufficient for one person, and that a farmer who 

 brings his produce to market finds four consumers to bid 

 for it ; and these consumers,- all in the receipt of high 

 wages, have the wherewithal to pay good prices for their 

 purchases. How is it possible that agriculture should 

 not prosper under such circumstances \ 



It must not be supposed that the soil of Warwickshire 

 is good throughout. All the northern part of the county 

 was at one time an immense moor, covered with wood 

 and heather ; now half the land is under grass, the 

 remainder being arable, and, as far as practicable, cul- 

 tivated upon the Norfolk system. Only one-fourth 

 of the soil produces cereals for human consumption, 

 and the fertility of this fourth, as well as of the rest 

 of the land, is continually increasing, not only from 

 the manure derived from an immense number of cattle, 

 but by additional manure obtained in the manufacturing 

 towns, and transported at a moderate cost by the canals 

 and railways which traverse the country. But it must 

 not be supposed that the system of large farming is that 

 which prevails in Warwickshire and in the other manu- 

 facturing counties : the average of the farms is one hun- 

 dred and fifty acres, and the majority are under this size. 

 Nor is it long leases which have much influence on the 

 progress of agriculture, for in general the farms are held 



