The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-08-05

ing land by n certain delay in the business
aud an uncertain risk in the cost OF pur-
chase. The expenses which attend convey
ancing In England not seldom amount to
onc-third Of the purchase money. Striking
examples have been cited lately in English
newspapers. among them that Of n gentle
man VINO purchased small lnaschold, sup
posing the lawyers account would not cx-
coed C15 As n matter Of fact it was c3j,
aud the buyer had no assurance that 1t
would not touch four times that figure.
Now II the property had been In South Aus
tralia, whore the registration system has
been introduced. the transaction would have
taken hours instead of weeks, and would
have cost fewer shillings than IT cost pounds
sterling. Moreover, and this Is the decisive
consideration, the charge would have been
one which the purchaser could have caleu-
lated exactly beforehand.
1t IL an assertion constantly I'm the mouths
OF those who uphold the English land sys-
tenn, that the agricultural production Of
Great Britain is relatively larger than that
Of other countries because the farms are
larger. There is no doubt that the Prussian
tables compiled by Herr BLOCK after the
war Of 1866 really show the produce Of wheat
per acre in England to be greater than that
of continental Statcs-than that OF Belgium
for example. But it il stated 10y NJ. DE
LAvELEyE that not "a blade OF grass grows
in Flanders without manure, aud that soil
OF the United Kingdom might with profit bc
bought to fcrtii1c the soil of the Fleming.
Inferority Of the land, therefore. is the
source of the difference observed when We
compare large farms in England with large
farms in Belgium. When We turn, however,
TO the Belgian district os small farms, where
thrift and industry have been stimulated by
ownership. we find tho yield Of wheat and
barley actually larger than the average
produce per aero of English farming So,
too. in France, the large estates Of the west
aud south offset Normandy. which is at
once the most minutcly subdiyidcd and the
most productive province Finally. if we
take that pant OF the Queens domnions
whore alone small farming may fairly Ice
compared with large, We see that certain
lands in Guernsey. where the agricultural
population is four times a. dense as that Of
! England, make "a return OF wheat three
times creator than the normal yield on the
mainland Of Britain.
One or two other points brought out in
this discussion are worth noting II il
often said that small owners cannot bear
the expense Of proper fertilization. But NJ.
DE LAvELLYE tells US with regard to Bel
| GUM that the large proprietor- 81 llainault
and Namur do not buy manure, fnncying
they would ruin themselves by the outlay,
whereas the Flemish small farmers invest
| from three to four millions Of dollars in
guano every year and quite as much in
other kinds ~ manure. As TO the common
| objection that small farmers cannot obtain
the bcstapparatus, it l. contradicted by the
fact that the most costly machine in general
use on English estates. the steam thrcs hing
machine is 10 be- found everywhere In Tlan-
doris. And SO 1t is according to Mr. AR
THUR ARNOLD among the peasant farmers
81 Roumnnia. In days passage up the
lower Danube the latter saw more thrcshing
machines OF English make than in any Six
hours OF rail travel IN Great Britain.