ENGLISH FARMERS.

North Otago Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3970, 2 June 1885, Page 4

ENGLISH FARMERS.

Forty years ago the British farmer, iayi the London Mail, wa«, as a rule, a wealthy man, and in the days when Arkwright labored shoddr was unknown, and the territorial landlord was not only lord over his own dominions, but socially and politl cally am tin of Foni' importance. In those days «nhn >il«np, fi-r*n»n innnure, and ex pei eire agriculturul machinery were un-kn-nv , an . «uh no ot cr n'v\ t a > need, the dimt.' I'oni tt.f stHi leu of the imni, old wo( dtn ploughs Hiid unsiylnly and crudeh shuperi wooi.cn harrows, immense fortunes were made out ot the land, and to be a farmer was to be regarded as a man of wme importance and consideration. The mistress and the n aster were never idle, while Jane, Mary, and Anne, and Jack, Tom, and Harry, the farmer's daughters and sons, wvre always bmy either in the dairy or in tne field. With the introduction of new nppmncn all thete conditions were chunked. We all know that the farrmr ol lory yeaisugo wasslo* to adopt them. Like ad ol a conservative turn of mind, he was not favourable to sudd n changes, and so it came to pass that b' , re . garded tbe application oHoniga i* Janure as calculated to impair the vitality o j t jj e •oil, while subsoilinu and improvev c( j pi OUKriB and agricultural machinery *" „r e unknown generally looked upon as so many innova . tion?, introduced with no ' dt her object thau, that of Demoting »»gat 9e at 9 and manu fac lurcrs, and ol iucreat ' the wor king expeniesolbis hold- ° gtUl tne time came. when, omnr to wbat ia called keep ing pxce " with tl)e Bpirit of tLe timeß^. nie wliole^ Cj, 1( ]j t j ri)B or / armlng were tnanuert. A -h e Bciintifa'c chemist and the ogricuUur.aigJmpienj ni maker prev^i^ H«.d vsii fl the new light liyht thus diffused over tbe soil -there set in a desire for the relidenientß of the age on the part of the iaruurs sons and daughters ; and bo, wlhile the 'working expenses of an English furm vetd tnhanc d, and a considerable poruion of the protits devoted to luxuries which their fathers knew not, they ignored the fact that they were pioueers out in TrainsAtJautic countries preparing to compete vrith them, under more profitable cirennv •tanceb than they could work, inthtir -own market*.