254 BERMUDA. 



the uncertainty of the tenure; and the land being 

 so parcelled out, as barely to suflSce, even in the 

 growth of potatoes, to sustain the occupier's family. 

 The poor are then made to outbid one another in 

 the price at which they may obtain possession — the 

 term being so short, -and the rent so high, that 

 the object of the occupier is not to improve the 

 spot, but to procure a miserable existence for the 

 year. 



In Bermuda, the interest of the occupier in the 

 soil is also limited and precarious ; hence, as in 

 Ireland, the general discontent of the poorer agri- 

 cultural classes. Improvement is not, therefore, to 

 be expected, imtil a permanent interest in the soil 

 is afforded to the tenant. 



Nevertheless, throughout Bermuda there has been 

 remarkable progress in agriculture during the last 

 fifteen years. The following statistics of the culti- 

 vation of the potato, at three distinct periods, go far 

 to prove the fact : — 



In the year of 1843, the quantity of potatoes 

 raised in Bermuda was 13,436 bushels. Eight years 

 afterwards, namely, in 1851, the growth of the same 

 esculent had increased to 24,946 bushels, or, in 

 other words, had just doubled. Six years later, in 

 1857, the quantity rose to 97,500 bushels — ^nearly 



