I have heard of men, by the last bad
seasons unable to buy guano, having to strip the roofs off their houses
that the rain may wash off the soot into the land to fructify it. On
account of shelter for game, it is not permissible to cut heather for
bedding, for stock, or covering for houses. Breaking this prohibition
even on land for which they pay rent and taxes is, they complain,
punished with fines of from two and sixpence to seven and sixpence for
as much as could be carried on the back.
For a farmer to get on here he must be able to buy manure. The crop on a
farm has to pay rent, which is high, and taxes, which are heavy, even if
no guard for somebody has to be paid for, or no malicious outrage is
levied for on the county in compensation, and manure, which, if got
before paying, is charged, I am told, twenty-five percent additional for
waiting; all this must be met before the support of the family can be
thought of beyond merely existing. The more one looks at the want of the
people, the more one becomes bewildered with the perplexities of the
situation, and the more hopeless about the setting of things right by
the Land Bill or anything else.
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