most desirable that all lands capable of yielding crops should
be reclaimed, but one great subject for the agriculturist to study
is, how to shorten the period of idleness in his already cultivated
plots. At present the earth is so very idle.

AFTER THE COUNTY FRANCHISE

The money-lender is the man I most fear to see in the villages after
the extension of the county franchise--the money-lender both in his
private and public capacity, the man who has already taken a grasp
of most little towns that have obtained incorporation in some form.
Like Shylock he demands what is in his bond: he demands his
interest, and that means a pull at every man's purse--every man,
rich or poor--who lives within the boundary. Borrowing is almost the
ruin of many such little towns; rates rise nearly as high as in
cities, and people strive all they can to live anywhere outside the
limit. Borrowing is becoming one of the curses of modern life, and a
sorrowful day it will be when the first village takes to it. The
name changes--now it is a local board, now it is commissioners,
sometimes a town council: the practice remains the same. These
authorities exist but for one purpose--to borrow money, and as any
stick will do to beat a dog with, so any pretence will do to exact
the uttermost farthing from the inhabitants. Borrowing boards they
are, one and all, and nothing else, from whom no one obtains benefit
except the solicitor, the surveyor, the lucky architect, and those
who secure a despicable living in the rear of the county court.
Nothing could better illustrate the strange supineness of the
majority of people than the way in which they pay, pay, pay, and
submit to every species of extortion at the hands of these incapable
blunderers, without so much as a protest. The system has already
penetrated into the smallest of the county towns which groan under
the incubus; let us hope, let us labour, that it may not continue
its course and enter the villages.

It may reasonably be supposed that when once the extension of the
franchise becomes an established fact, some kind of local
government will soon follow. At present country districts are
either without any local government at all--I mean practically,
not theoretically--or else they are ruled without the least shadow
of real representation. When men are admitted to vote and come to
be enlightened as to the full meaning and force of such rights, it
is probable that they will shortly dem