Managing English Farms

Mr. W. J. Harria gives a most hclpíul and interesting account of tho Hahvill tnanor estáte. This was poor land and ufach of it was untouched for long periods, being treated as a smnmer run for cattle. The investor, Mr. Harris, was tempted at first to cío what at that time was generally done by landlords- consolídate farms, pull down old cottages and in fact generally reduce the available population and labor on the land. Several farms feil in soon after Mr. Harris' purchase of the estáte, but he was "converted'' by observing that, where the landlord or the farming tenant had allowed the cottagers to cultívate the land immediately around them, the value of the land had boen doublod by the laborer without indeed any guar-i antee of permanent residence. Instead of (lestroying, tlie uew landlord built and repaired, and having farms on his hands was enabled to cut off certain fields and allot them to cottagers. Small farms grew up and the larger ones were reduced. Thus land was let that otherwise would not have been- moorland iiiclosures, for iustance - andit was on these that the value of the system made itself at once apparent. Land not valued at more than five shillings per acre in its rough state became, when meadow land, worth from thirty to fifty shillings, and as the cottages were in demand the population increased, and farmers knowing that labor could alwíiys be obtained took the large farms, reduced though they were. Wages have risen from ten and eleven shillings to twelve and fourteen shillings per week. Mr. Harris says he made the mistake of working his vacant fanns with bailIffs, thinking, as the land wás in low condition, he might do it better than a tenant. But, as he says, it is the laborer who knows best and who succeeds, provided he has not more land than he can manage. One of these small holflers now has fifty acres and gives occasional employment. One secret of the small farmer's success is that one man works on his farm for no wages at áll, and that is the farmer himself . The small farmers help each other, and they seldom let a erop stand too late or get behindhand, as is the fasïilon with soma misguided men, who underman their large farms and depend on Dntside labor for chronic emergencies. The harm that a large landowner can do by farming meanly is incalculable. -