254 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



by English statistics at two millions sterling, and the 

 iron-founderies produce six hundred thousand tons annu- 

 ally. All this wealth reacts upon agriculture. 



Large property predominates in Staffordshire, as is the 

 case in all countries not naturally fertile. The Duke of 

 Sutherland, descendant of the lords of Stafford, the Earl 

 of Litchfield, Lords Willoughby, Talbot, and Hatherton, 

 the Marquess of Anglesea, and Sir Eobert Peel, are the 

 largest proprietors in the county. Generally speaking, 

 the farms are let from year to year, and this is preferred 

 by the farmers a proof of the good understanding exist- 

 ing between landlord and tenant. The effects of the crisis 

 here have quite passed away : the landlords at the time 

 had to make but trifling concessions, for the farms in 

 general were let at moderate rents, and the tenants suffi- 

 ciently well off to stand a temporary reduction of pro- 

 fits. Wages are 20d. per working day, and the poor- 

 rate the infallible sign of the condition of the working 

 classes is not at all high. It frequently happens that 

 there is not a single pauper on the estates of Lord Hath- 

 erton. For the whole county, the average of poor is only 

 four per cent of the population, whilst in Wiltshire it 

 amounts to sixteen per cent. It is the Norfolk rotation, 

 again, which causes this prosperity. Wherever this sys- 

 tem coexists with large property and manufactures, 

 English agriculture reaches its climax. Staffordshire 

 partakes of the advantages arising from irrigation, 

 which has transformed the sterile slopes of the hills into 

 excellent grass-lands. 



The principal farms in the county are those of Lord 

 Hatherton, at Teddesley, containing seventeen hundred 

 acres ; the Duke of Sutherland's, at Trentham ; and 

 Drayton Manor, the residence of Sir Eobert Peel. It is 



