A PRE-REFORMATION VILLAGE.
Incidentally, those who want to read a sort of prolegomena to agriculture might do worse than notice An Agricultural Problem, by F. N. Blundell, M.P., a pamphlet published by Sheed and Ward. The author has done much for agriculture in the House (and would make an excellent Minister if we ever come to the belief that knowledge of the subject has any value). He has had a most interesting personal experience in forming and managing a Federation of Rural Friendly Societies, that might be widely imitated with advantage. The village of BltmdelLsands, with which his family have been connected since the reign of King John, is interesting as one of the only places in England entirely unaffected by the Reformation ; and the agricultural development of the neighbourhood bears suggestive evidence of the continuity of its traditions. It need hardly be said that the moral of the pamphlet is an evolutionary, not a revolutionary, treat- ment of rural problems.
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