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has since lived in comfortable and peaceable circumstances.
But that was the end of it, and since then tourists have been as safe from molestation in all parts of Greece as they are in Dumbartonshire.
The agricultural wealth of the two great plains of Thessaly, that of Larissa and the greater one of Trikala, profuse as it is, is capable of manifold increase. There is, as yet, no land-hunger here; at present there are not enough men to cultivate the soil in the sense that Western people understand
cultivation. The use of manure, if not unknown, is at least not practised, though, heaven knows, the streets of every town might furnish plenty of good material: the ears of wheat are reaped with as little straw as possible, the remainder being burnt: each farmer crops one-third of his holding annually, the remaining two-thirds lying fallow. The grain is of splendid quality, and is exported largely to Italy for the manufacture of macaroni. It is a sadly spendthrift system, for the fallow land is not really resting, but is burdened with a rank growth of thistles and other weeds, the strength of which (some of the thistles grow eight feet high) testifies to the generous qualities of this deep dry alluvium. To the politician or philanthropist, worried and puzzled by the land problem in the restless, toiling west of Europe, there comes at first a welcome feeling of relief at the sight of such ample elbow-room. Far as the eye can reach on these great champaigns—as far in every direction as a horse may travel before set of sun there is profitable industry, and room for three families for every one on the land at present. Threefold the present harvest might be reaped, which, of course, on the prevalent métayer system, would produce a threefold rent to the landlord. Contemplation of the conditions of Thessalian agriculture wealth of sun, fertilising rains and streams, an almost inexhaustible soil, steady markets and light taxation turns our envious, wistful thoughts back to the hard-wrung, often ungrateful fields with which British farmers have to deal. There is plenty of English machinery in Thessaly already: the energy of the Greek Government in road-making has opened access to traction-engines, reaping and threshing machines; what forbids some of our English farmers, bled nearly to death by free trade, from settling in this land of promise? Well, the chief obstacle seems to be the ineradicable jealousy which the Greek bears towards foreign enterprise. It was this that put an end to the profitable business of a French and Italian mining company at Laurium: it is this which threatens to make abortive for the time M. Tricoupi's beneficent work in reopening the ancient canals and draining Lake Copais in Bœotia, where the riparian peasant-proprietors resist an influx of strangers to till the land which they themselves are unable to take in hand. There is plenty of land to let in Thessaly; yet at present there is no opening for new tenants. It is not clear what will be the outcome of future years of steady and fostering government. The cruel old Turkish law which endured for centuries, under which the growing crops were taxed, has been lately repealed. Under the old system no husbandman might reap his harvest till it had been visited and valued by the tax-collector. This official, after the manner of Turkish officials, set no