Country Life
A GLOOMY LANDOWNER.
In a speech delivered during the course of the Smithfield Show, Sir Walter Gilbey declared, with all the emphasis he could muster, that eighty, if not ninety per cent. of our farmers could not pay 20s. in the £ if they were asked to. Now, Sir Walter has enjoyed—with apologies for the word—a too common and very bitter experience in farming. When some years ago he decided to give up the vain struggle against Essex clays, he sold his farms and houses ; and did considerable service by allowing the results full publicity. His famous and well-advertised property quite close to London did not fetch the price of the buildings on it, or anything like the price. So far as I remember, the estate sold for about £8 an acre, all included. It is not therefore unnatural that Sir Walter, who has an inherited attraction towards agriculture, should take a gloomy view. * *
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