ESTATE MANAGEMENT. 5 



cultivated by the proprietor of it, but chiefly by tenants, who hold it on 

 lease for a certain period of years, and in a large proportion of cases 

 from year to year, under certain regulations and restrictions, &c. &c. 

 Those tenants are, generally speaking, men of small capital, and hence 

 comparatively few of them are able to improve their subjects to any 

 considerable extent; for which reason these are for the most part culti- 

 vated in such a way as the holders can best effect, in order to save 

 expense and make the most they can out of their farms during the 

 period of their occupation. 



The generally wet state of the land is the first observable feature in 

 its condition, and this prevails over a very large proportion of most 

 parts of the country; and it is certainly a matter of surprise that so 

 many tenants lay out their capital in the cultivation of land of this char- 

 acter, seeing that at best they must reap but scanty crops from it, and 

 at times run the risk of losing them altogether. In this, however, the 

 proprietors are more to blame than the tenants ; still, the fact of the 

 latter agreeing to cultivate land which is in a wet and undrained state 

 is a proof that they are not sufficiently aware of the disadvantages they 

 labour under in this respect. 



In cultivating the land, the upper surface only is stirred by the 

 plough, and that generally to the depth of about six or seven inches 

 seldom deeper, and often shallower. From this it follows that the roots 

 of plants cultivated on it are prevented from getting down sufficiently 

 to insure a full and healthy development in all their parts ; and thus 

 poor and unthrifty crops are reaped, instead of rich and highly profitable 

 ones, as is invariably the result where the same kinds of plants are 

 grown in a much deeper soil. 



But, besides, by continual cropping for many years on this thin 

 stratum of surface soil, it becomes foul from the seeds of all kinds of 

 weeds and eggs of insects lodging in it. In fact, there can be no doubt 

 that many of the diseases which attack both plants and animals reared 

 on such land are attributable to this accumulated foulness in its upper 

 stratum ; and it is equally clear that this state of things might be re- 

 medied by a different mode of procedure in regard to the cultivation 

 and general management of the land. 



Over a large extent of the country the farm-fences are found in a con- 

 dition quite the opposite of profitable for the tenants. How frequently 

 do we find the hedgerows in a wild, straggling, and uncared-for condi- 

 tion, presenting large gaps, frequently overgrown with brambles, and 

 occupying much land which might be made available for culture, and 

 therefore valuable under a different state of things ! In many parts of 

 England we see the hedges remaining uncut for a long period of years, 



