The Past, Present, and Future of Seottish Agriculture 



best for the holding) and the prescribed track 

 is hedged round with pains and penalties. 

 The establishment of this regime of assumed 

 infallibility, practically (and legally) pre- 

 cludes experiment, and excludes improve- 

 ment, by binding down the tenant to a 

 hard and fixed line — making the famier, 

 indeed, a mere cultivating machine. 



Our position now is, however, that we 

 have outgrown this system of leading-strings, 

 and are entitled to be set at freedom. The 

 tendency of the restriction is to preserve the 

 land in heart for the benefit of the proprietor. 

 A man who is unworthy now of such a trust 

 is indeed unfit to be a farmer at all. On 

 the assumption that the present restrictive 

 plan has a determinate value, and that by 

 another mode of procedure in cultivation the 

 produce of the land should be increased with- 

 out the staple of the soil suffering any ex- 

 haustion thereby, would it not be impolitic to 

 forbid the change ? If it be argued that the 

 advantage of a change is only assumed and 

 not proved to exist, our plea, notwithstanding, 

 virtually remains the same, as by the present 

 restrictions the benefit, even if proved, would 

 be unavailing. The duty of the state is to 

 endeavour to secure the welfare of the gene- 

 ral community, and not to protect the interest 

 of a class. It should, therefore, see that a 

 door reasonably purporting to lead to an 

 increased means of subsistence to the popu- 

 lation is not by any party unduly barred 

 against the trial. 



Leases ought to be burdened with no un- 

 bending restrictions. Every fair opportunity 

 should be afforded for judicious experiment. 

 An inteUigent man will thus have an oppor- 

 tunity to carry out rational improvement ; an 

 honest man will regard his own interest and 

 that of his landlord as being both embarked 

 in the same bottom, subject to the same laws, 

 exposed to the same vicissitudes, and ob- 

 noxious to shipwreck through the same 

 disaster. To a man possessed of these quali- 

 ties much may safely be committed ; such a 

 man will require few rules for his guidance. 

 An individual possessing none of these quali- 

 ties ought not to be in the situation under 

 any system of rules. As to the expediency of 



the absence of rules such as have been judged 

 necessary to be imposed in our leases, Mr 

 J. C. T\Iorton, in remarking on an admirable 

 article by Dr Voelcker in the "Cyclopeedia 

 of Agriculture" very judiciously observes, 

 "Whatever (be) the cause of the increased 

 poverty of land under repeated crops of corn, 

 it may be so enriched by the artificial applica- 

 tion of manure, and even by such cultivation 

 as shall enable the full use of natural sources 

 of fertility, as entirely to counteract the ex- 

 hausting influence of any method of cropping 

 that it may be deemed advisable to adopt. 

 So that while adherence to a well-defined 

 rotation of crops may practically be a security 

 for the permanent value of the land, that can 

 (as well) be insured by the intelligent culti- 

 vator under any method of cropping which 

 markets may suggest for his adoption." 



As to the past and present state of agri- 

 culture there is little or no difficulty, 

 if we carefully examine the facts before us. 

 With regard to the time to come the case is 

 different. We can then only reason from 

 antecedent to consequent, by inferring one 

 general from several particular propositions, 

 and we therefore offer, with hesitancy, a 

 general view of its probable future de- 

 velopment. 



There is no accounting for extravagances. 

 We have heard of people warm in the sup- 

 port of a favourite hypothesis arguing even 

 against y^^/i-. When assured of the existence 

 of a fact hostile to their opinion, " So much 

 the worse for the fact," returned they. The 

 same may be said of the proposition of Mr 

 Malthus. His position has been contra- 

 dicted, argued against, an^ assailed in every 

 possible way. It must be evident to any un- 

 prejudiced mind that population has a tend- 

 ency to increase in a much greater ratio than 

 the means of its support. Statistics, which 

 we regard as equivalent to facts, shew that, 

 under ordinary circumstances, population 

 doubles itself every twenty-five years — and 

 this ratio we may fairly presume to be not 

 lessened in the future when the progress of 

 science and ethics, is considered; more 

 particularly improvement in the medical art, 

 a closer observance of the laws of hygiene, 



