37Q 



Farming of Lincolnshire, 



Labour is the principal expense on this land, and as that is all 

 done by themselves, they are well able to stand against an occa- 

 sional failure of produce. They bid great prices for land, and 

 pay in some cases 4Z. and bl. per acre rent ; so that considerable 

 estates here have lately been sold at 70Z. or 80Z. per acre. Yet, 

 even in these cheap times, many of them are obtaining large profits. 

 The Stamford Mercury of November 9, 1849, gave an instance 

 of what labour accomplishes upon this land : — " One small culti- 

 vator of the name of J. Fowler, of Haxey, has bestowed remark- 

 able labour and attention to 4 acres of potatoes, which are of the 

 sort called Regents. The sets were put into the ground at the 

 beginning of May. After they had made their appearance, he 

 loosened the earth between the rows with a fork, and made the 

 soil as friable as possible : they were afterwards hand-hoed. The 

 crop was ploughed up a few days ago, and produced 70 loads 

 per acre, of 18 stones to the load, and fetched in the market 7s. 6d. 

 per load. The quality was as fine and sound as can possibly be 

 imagined. Thus these 4 acres have produced 280 loads, or 5040 

 stones, and realised the sum of 105/., or 261. 5s. per acre." 

 There is also further reason why these small holders should not 

 be compared but contrasted with the people of the same class in 

 Ireland,, — they are as much noted for their morality as their dili- 

 gence. A correspondent in the northern part of the Isle affirms 

 that the inhabitants generally are industrious, tolerably honest, 

 and persevering whilst the following is the character drawn by 

 an intelligent and trustwwthy observer in the south : — The 

 small farmers, or occupiers of the open held land, in the Isle of 

 Axhoime, are a most active and industrious class of people ; they 

 are collectively moral, sober, and industrious. I know no district 

 so totally devoid of crime of every kind : — petty larceny exists to 

 a very trifling extent, and the more serious offences are unknown." 

 How is it that the character, habits, and condition of these people 

 are so opposite to those generally portrayed of the Irish culti- 

 vators of the same class ? Another striking difference between 

 the Isle of Axhoime and Ireland will probably hint a solution to 

 this inquiry. There are very few middlemen or underletters, and 

 there is neither a monopoly in the ownership of the land nor a 

 race of absentee landlords, as in Ireland. Here the occupiers are 

 frequently owners, or at any rate they may become owners by a 

 thrifty industry, and thus it is a prospective as well as present 

 advantage that stimulates their energy ; for the land here is not 

 kept by law, to any large extent, out of the market, so as to sub- 

 ject the remainder to an undue competition, and thus check the 

 efforts of those who aspire to purchase and possess it. The open 

 field and other lands belong to an immense number of proprie- 

 tors, many of whom, while farming their own land, also let a 



