58 
Agriculture of the Islands of 
said in favour of Guernsey : here as in the sister island the tem- 
perature is mild, and the air salubrious : plants, which in England 
are cultivated with care in greenhouses, will here be seen to 
thrive well in the open air ; frosts are neither severe nor dur- 
able ; and the heat of summer is tempered bj gentle sea-breezes. 
The prevailing winds are from the west and south-west, except 
in the spring, when north-east winds sometimes prevail. The 
mean annual temperature of Guemsev is quoted at three degiees 
lower than that of Jersey. The annual fall of rain is about 
36 inches. 
With regard to property, the tenure is very similar to that 
before described ; but there is one essential difference ; it is — 
that, according to the law of succession, propertv becomes much 
more divided. A freehold is purchased in the same manner as 
in Jersey ; it is paid for either in money or in rents. The system 
of rents differs, inasmuch as in this island they are due in 
com, but, as the payment is more conveniently made in cash, 
the Court fixes every year at Easter the average price of the 
value of corn, and determines thereby the annual value of the 
rent per quarter. 
In the division of property, the privileges of eldership are not 
so great as in the other island. In Guernsey little more than one- 
sixth of an acre is all that the eldest can claim with the house ; he 
is also at liberty to keep possession of all lands to which he can 
have access without crossing the public road, but for such parts 
as exceed his own share he must pay to his co-heirs the price 
put upon it by the assessors of the parish in which the land 
is situated ; in general, the assessments are made high, and 
it frequently follows that the eldest is compelled to waive all 
ideas of purchase. With the exception of one part of the 
land, which is reserved for the sons, and out of which has been 
taken the eldership, the real property is divided — two-thirds 
amonff the sons, and one-third amon? daughters : but should 
their relative numbers give an advantage to the daughters if a 
third were allotted to them, the sons, by waiving their claim to 
the point of land in question, may compel them to forego that 
advantage, and to share equally with brothers. From the extreme 
subdivision of land, farms are still smaller than in Jersey, none 
exceeding 40 acres ; and the average may altogether be said to 
be at least one-fourth less in extent than in the last-mentioned 
island. The value is also much less : within a mile of town, land 
may be had for the annual rent of 5/. per acre ; and in other 
parts of the island the usual price is 4/., in many cases even less. 
The system of rotation is not particularly attended to, but the 
following is what is considered the old Guernsey course : — 
