History of Agricultural Rent in England 25 



abandon the works. But ultimately these 

 endeavours were successful, and thousands 

 of acres of land were reclaimed, either by 

 new works or by the restoration of the 

 old embankments. 



By far the most interesting of all these 

 cases is that of the reclamations begun by 

 Francis, the fourth Earl of Bedford, in 1630. 

 You will find an account in one of the 

 most interesting and instructive books ever 

 written on the economics of agriculture. 

 I refer to the book entitled : "A Great 

 Agricultural Estate : being the story of the 

 origin and administration of Woburn and 

 Thorney," by the Duke of Bedford. This 

 book was based on a speech made by the 

 Duke in 1896. As indicating the value of 

 the work, I may say that in an appendix 

 (2) are given accurate accounts of the 

 expenditure and the revenue of the two 

 estates named from 1816 to 1896, whilst 



