56
APPENDIX.
being out of their reach, they are compelled to hire
land at a very high price.
Hearing of an extraordinary piece of waste land, let for
ninety-nine years for a manufactory, containing above
sixteen hundred acres, I was induced to visit this spot,
passing through several hundred acres of waste land
not far distant from Tunbridge Wells, uncultivated,
or cultivated in such a manner as to afford no profit,
but ruin to the poor, to whom it was granted on quit-
rents. I inquired of one of these quit-rent tenants, and
found his situation to be this—he had twenty acres, for
which he paid five shillings per acre, and twelve pounds
for tithe and taxes; a fine also was demanded by the
Lord. This poor man, though called a farmer, was in
fact a pauper in the utmost distress ; and having no ca-
pital was quite unable to cultivate this land; but for the
maintenance of his family was obliged to break stones
for the repair of the roads. Had this land been let to
twenty persons instead of one, all of them might have
gained a profit by their capital, which would have been
produced by their own strength and industry. On
approaching Hastings, Eastbourne and Brighton, I
found things much improved, but little attention paid
to the system of allotments till I arrived at Lord
Chichester's seat at Stanmore, where I found this
system of allotments in the highest state of cultivation ;
the men happy, contented and grateful, and well may
they be so, for it has been proved that the produce of
half an acre of this land is worth six or seven pounds
per annum. I understand that the same system is
practised by the Duke of Richmond, Lord Egremont,