Page:Irish Emigration and The Tenure of Land in Ireland.djvu/211

Rh garden market,* a similar expenditure and a similar method of cultivation should he adopted in the valleys of Wales and the straths of the Highlands.

The chief lesson which we may learn from Flemish husbandry is this,— that a very high rate of production is compatible with low wages, rack-rents, and exceptionally short leases; and that diminutive tenancies, under certain favourable conditions, may be profitable to the proprietor while they are disadvantageous to the tenant. f The example of Belgium is salutary, therefore, so far as it implies thrift, industry, skill, and great attention to manuring, but of questionable authority with respect to its short tenures and minute

et tendent a dormer au sol ime valeur que n'aurait pu creer seul le progres agricole, quelquereel qu'il ait ete d'ailleurs." De Laveleye's Eco. Rurcde, p. 158.


 * " S'il fallait estimer tout l'avoir realisable d'un fermier, il faudrait le porter au moms a 700 francs, et a 1,000 francs par hectare pour une ferine tres bien garnie." — Eco. Ruralc, p. 49.

j" Even if we take the average size of Belgian farms for our standard, we shall see that consolidation in Ireland has not enlarged our holdings to any unreasonable degree ; the mean size iu Belgium varying from 1 acres to 11 acres ; whereas in Ireland two-filths of the acreage under tillage is subdivided into holdings averaging less than ten acres in extent, and of the total number of farms, more than half are less than 15 acres, and of the remainder, two-fifths are below 30 acres.

" Aussi Petendue moyenne de chaque exploitation, que M. de Lavergne porte pour PAngleterre h GO hectares, tombe t-rlle en Btlgique ii 4J- hectares, ,si on coni])te tout le domaiue productif, et incine si 3 hectares t* on ilefalque les bois < t les terres iucultes: e'est la recllemcut de la petite culture." Eco. liar, 2 13. N