6 Landlords' and Tenants' Interests Identical. 



of the three great causes of their difficulties was the 

 exhaustion of the soil. But the system which I have to 

 urge in these pages will continually enrich the soil, 

 and, what is often of greater importance, improve its 

 physical condition. And it may be well to notice in this 

 connection that the system to be proposed will not only 

 suit the times, but also the interests of both the land- 

 lords and tenants. Formerly, their interests were in a 

 great naeasure opposed, the object of the tenant being to 

 take all he could out of the land, and the object of the 

 landlord to retain all the strength he could in it ; and, 

 with the aid of artificial manures, the tenants have been 

 only too successful in depleting the soil, and, in a large 

 number of instances, after having sucked the orange, 

 have thrown the empty peel in the landlord's face. But 

 with the system I advocate it will be as much to the 

 tenant's as to the landlord's interest that all the strength 

 possible should be retained in the land, for, in the 

 future, on no other principle can farming in these 

 islands be profitably carried on. And here it may not 

 be uninteresting to notice that similar principles were 

 laid down by M. Porcius Cato (bom 234 B.C.) in his 

 agricultural treatise, "De Re Rustica." He was asked 

 what was the most certain profit rising out of land. 

 " To feed stock well," he replied. Being asked what 

 was the next point of importance, he said, " To feed with 

 moderation." Evidently meaning to the extent that 

 paid best, or, in other words, that the farmer should aim 

 at a low cost of production. He also, I may add, laid 

 down that "a good husbandman should be a seller 

 rather than a buyer," which, of course, means that he 

 should breed his own stock, and produce for himself 

 everything that he profitably can. And it seems hardly 

 necessary to add that the Act which now requires that 

 all imported animals should be slaughtered at the port 

 of debarkation still further enforces the necessity for 

 adhering, as far as possible, to these old Roman agricul- 

 tural maxims. It is interesting to note that Cato 



