as among the labouring population, for it
will lead to the more general application of science to the land and a
higher amount of production. If the labourer attempted to rise he would
be praised; why not the farmer?

It is simply an unjustifiable libel on the entire class to accuse them
of wilful extravagance. I deliberately affirm that the majority of
farmers in Wiltshire are exactly the reverse; that, while they practise
a generous hospitality to a friend or a stranger, they are decidedly
saving and frugal rather than extravagant, and they are compelled to be
so by the condition of their finances. To prove that their efforts are
for the good of the community I need only allude to the work of the late
Mr. Stratton, so crowned with success in improving the breed of
cattle--a work in the sister county of Gloucester so ably carried on at
this present moment by Mr. Edward Bowly, and by Mr. Lane and Mr. Garne
in the noted Cotswold sheep. The breeds produced by these gentlemen have
in a manner impregnated the whole world, imported as they have been to
America and Australia. It was once ably said that the readings of the
English Bible Sunday after Sunday in our churches had preserved our
language pure for centuries; and, in the same way, I do verily believe
that the English (not the Wiltshire only, but the English) farmer as an
institution, with his upright, untainted ideas of honour, honesty, and
morality, has preserved the tone of society from that corruption which
has so miserably degraded France--so much so that Dumas recently
scientifically predicted that France was _en route a prostitution
generale_. Just in the same way his splendid constitution as a man
recruits the exhausted, pale, nervous race who dwell in cities, and
prevents the Englishman from physically degenerating.--I am, Sir,
faithfully yours,

RICHARD JEFFERIES.

COATE FARM, SWINDON, _November 25, 1872_.

_THE ALLOTMENT SYSTEM._

(_To the Editor of the "Times."_)

SIR,--Many gentlemen having written to me for further information upon
the system of glebe allotments for labourers mentioned in my letter to
the _Times_ of November 14, it has occurred to me that the following
facts may be interesting:--

The glebe alluded to was that of Lyddington, near Swindon, and the plan
was originated by the late incumbent, Mr. May, but carried out into a
complete system by the present much-respected rector, the Rev. H. Munn.
The land itself is situated not