312 Experience!^ of a Scotsman on the Essex Clays. 
half; but the dairy districts were the last to feel the storm, and 
have weathered it best. In the case of these latter, much of 
the work is done bv the farmer and his family, especially in the 
smaller holdings, and there has been a tremendous competition 
for every vacant farm. This, of course, raised the rent, and even 
now there are so many would-be tenants that the one who is, 
unfortunately, the successful competitor for a vacant holding, has 
offered a rent which means a ceaseless struggle to enable him to 
make ends meet. 
This combination of high rents and a greater number of 
farmers than can possibly obtain farms can only mean that 
the latter must " hive off" to another locality. About eight or 
ten years ago reports and advertisements of vacant farms in the 
south of England appeared in the papers — notably in the North 
Britkli Agriculturint .—land actually going begging for tenants ; 
so we turned our eyes southward. First one or two came, and 
finding the taste good, sent back a satisfactory report to their 
friends behind. When these latter came, they in their turn sent 
for other friends, until now the country is overrun with us. 
The first consideration is, of course, the rent ; and the Essex 
squires, never having been accustomed to what a Scotsman 
would call a big rent, meeting with tenants who had, came to 
terms with comparative ease. The chief difficulty has been the 
buildings. In the North there is always a superabundance of 
stone of some sort — sandstone, basalt, granite, &c. — so that the 
farm offices, however inadequate they may be, are solid and 
substantial. Here in Essex there is no stone of any value. 
This want of cheap building material has necessitated the 
extensive use of the native timber (oak and English elm), and 
thus we see whole homesteads made of oak fi'aming and elm 
boarding. When these are new, they are as good as any one 
could desire — cheap, comfortable, and easily adapted to any kind 
of stock ; but when old and rotten, and settled down off the 
plumb, they need to be accompanied by very cheap land indeed 
to catch the North-countryman. Thus the landlord has often to 
lay out a considerable sum on the buildings in merely putting 
them into tenantable order. Besides this, there are often 
many additions and alterations required for the new style of 
farming being introduced, such as fitting up a byre, bringing 
water in pipes to the house and yard. Sec. 
Coming from a country where long leases were the rule, it 
was a novel experience to have farms as yearly tenants ; but I, 
for one, prefer to have it so. On this farm where I write there 
was at first a short lease — now expired — and we now sit on at a 
twelve-months' notice; the Agricultural Holdings Act, plus 
