DEPRESSED FARMS.
A great deal has been said and written of late about the plight of the British farmer. Unquestionably a great number have been losing money ; and it is proving very difficult for those who spent their capital in buying their farms to tide over the bad time. There used to be a farmer's saying : "Better a bad landlord than no landlord " ; and many sighs have gone up of late for the old-fashioned landowner who would remit rents at a crisis and do repairs. There are some signs of better business in the future, especially perhaps for those who farm in the West, the land of lush grass. But it is a question with a good many cultivators in most counties whether they can maintain the battle till the fatter years come. Nationally, the trouble is that a great deal of land is losing quality, largely because no one has money enough to drain it properly and keep it "in good heart." This means that such acres can never benefit from an era of prosperity until considerable capital is expended on them. They have relapsed to prairie, but have not prairie fertility. It is on such reclamation of land that the nation should spend money if there is money to be spent.
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