' FALLOWS ' AND "WHAT FOLLOWS. 59 



for a few winters, in the execution (as much as possi- 

 ble by fairly-paid task-work) of these preliminaries, 

 is a matter of supererogation or an unprofitable out- 

 lay ? Suppose it cost 107. to the acre, and, including 

 all, we must prepare for such an average, is it so 

 extravagantly disproportionate to the looked-for re- 

 turn in the shape of Interest for Capital as to exceed 

 the ordinary ventures of men in other branches of 

 industry? Is the abolition of the bare summer 

 Fallow, of the half cultivated and therefore half 

 productive Headlands, of the eternal labour of hedg- 

 ing and ditching, the depredations of birds and ver- 

 min, the everlasting turning of $he plough and other 

 implements of culture, with time-losing, harness- 

 breaking, and horse-laming, to correspond ; the in- 

 jurious shade and droppings of trees, the stagnant 

 water, and the barren furrows, is the immunity, I 

 say, from all these and many other evils recurring 

 not once, but every mortal year, and year after year, 

 to the end of time, to be foregone, because of the 

 dreaded outlay (and is it a loss of the interest ?) of 

 WL per statute acre? 



The question seems simple enough : yet after all 

 is done, whether by Landlord or Tenant, or by both 

 in one, there is yet one more question to be asked 



