274=5 
Coiitcttts. 
Chapter IV. — Distribution of Landed Property, 
Tendency to Diminution in number of small Estates — Proportion of Land- 
owners to whole Population as one in a hundred — These, being Heads of 
Families, equivalent to one in twenty — Hence one-twentieth of Population 
interested in Landed Property — Increased to one-fifth by the interests of 
Tenant Farmers as Part Owners of Agricultural Property. — One-fifth of the 
Land held by the Peerage — Not cultivated by Owners but by Farmers — 
relative Extent of tlieir Holdings in England and in Ireland — Trade and 
Colonies enable us to dispense with checks on Increase of Population — That 
checked in Ireland by Potato Famine — Decrease of smallest Holdings there 
on return of Prosperity — Diminution of Agricultural Population — and of 
Yeomen farming their own I^and — Experiment of Peasant Proprietors in 
Ireland .. ^ Pages 27-55 
Chapter V. — Landowner, Fanner, and Labourer. 
The Landowners, their position, duties, and influence — Their number, and the 
immense Capital Value of their Property — The Tenant Farmers, the pro- 
portional extent of their Holdings, their Numbers and Capital — The 
Laboiu'ers — condition now better than at any previous period, comparing 
their Wages with the Price of Bread — Each of the three classes constantly 
recruited by Changes of Property and Employment — Kesult of the System, 
compared with that of other countries, shows larger Eeturns at less Cost — 
Special Features of System in England — in Scotland — in Ireland — Tenancy- 
at-will in England — Leases in Scotland — Middlemen in Ireland, and the 
Kesults^ Pages 55-4i 
Chapter VI. — Land Improvement, 
Hindrances by Settlements and Incumbrances — Expedients adopted to overcome 
the incapacity of Owners to provide Capital for Improvement — State Loans 
for Land Improvement — Followed by Loans from Land Improvement 
Companies — Total Amount so expended — Parliamentary Inquiry into the 
mode of working these Loans, and their results — General Testimony to their 
remunerative character — Land Drainage the most remunerative Improve- 
ment — Greater Caution required in Expenditure on Buildings — Labourers' 
Dwellings, judiciously executed and placed, as remunerative as any other 
outlay of Landowner's Capital — Better Cottages wanted rather than more of 
them — Examples of remunerative Expenditure .. .. Pages 
Chapter VII. — Heccnt Rise in the Value of Land, 
Groat Rise in the Value of Land since the Repeal of the Corn Laws — only 
partly due to the outlay of Ca])ital in Improvements — Greatest Rise has been 
in the Grazing Counties, on Grass Lands, and in Scotland — TJie cause of 
this — Tile Scotch Landowner better trained to his Business— Landowning 
the only Business in which special Training is not deemed necessary — 
Security for Tenant's Capital required — Admirable Principle of Drainage 
Loans— Extended Powers of Sale in the case of Settled Estates desirable — 
ScttlenKUt,s should be limited to Lives in being .. .. I';i^e-> 4S-.5-^ 
