Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-11-20

The results of Lord Derby's motion for par
liamentaTy return Of the owners of land in En-
gland will no doubt excite interest and provoke
discussion. We shall, however, be surprised If
it leads TO much change. The English have
found agriculture on large scale pay. and they
see that in France on a small scale it has not
done so. Where there is so little land, it be-
comes very essential that the most should be
made Of it, and undoubtedly great proprietors
have been the pioneers Of improvement, where
small ones could not posslbly-eyen had they
possessed the requisite will and intelligence
have been so. And experience Is rather against
their possessing these qualities
"When, in 1776, MIR. Coke succeeded to the
great estate OF the Leicester family at HOlkham
in Norfolk, he found one part of it blowing
sand, another a sharp fiinty gravel, and no part
OF the soil was superior. On these strata, aided
by skill, capital, and enterprise, there now eX-
lists one Of the most fertile estates in England.
When an eminent agriculturiSt visited Hol6-
ham in 1876 he was astonshed at the eXuOer-
ance of the crops, the richness of the soil and
its freedom from weeds. Yet so sterile bad this
portion of the estate been considered that
large tract had been let 1.-THE free, at three shi-
lings an acre, and Mr. Coke offered another lease
OF twenty-one years at five shillings an acre,
but the tenant had not courage 10 take it. Yet
Mr.. Coke made it yield double the average crop
of the best land in the county, and nearly treble
that of many counties.
When the father of Turner of Barton, breed
er of cattle and sheep famous on both sides Of
the Atlantic, began to drill turnips, q wellto-do
neighbor said TO his son, 81 suppose your father
will be sowing pepper out of a cruet next Sir
Robert Peel presented farmers club in 1885
with two iron ploughs of the best construction.
On his next visit the old ploughS were again at
work. eve tried the iron, Sir Robert" said
member of this enlightened society, "but we
all be of one mind that they made the weeds
grow"
1t has only been by patience, perseverance,
and the expenditure of enormous sums that the
present high stateOf agriculture in Great Brit
ain has been attained, and in many instances
the fruits of the enterprise not reaped until
long years after the seed was sown.
There is a district in the north of England
which at the commencement of the century was
almost entirely owned by yeomen holding from
two hundred to six hundred acres, who were
called Statesmen" But by degrees this class
a very valuable One-haS died out, having, like
larger owners, found il answer better to sell
their land for 4 high price and put their money
into a more profitable investment. In one in-
stance the SON of Cumberland statesman, who
has made an immense fortune in China, as his
brothers have also retains hi; ancient heritage,
but has added extensively to it, and now owns
a great estate surrounding the little parimony
which had belonged to his forefatheTs for CEN
turtles. In some of the outlying counties, nOta-
bly, in the moorland parts of Devonshire, good
many of the Statesmen" still exist, and their
venerable gabled mansions, oak paneed parlors
and snug homeSteadS are very pleasant features
in the rural life of England. -LippiHcOus Nag
azjUe