THE 



COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE 



AUGUST 1868. 



AMATEUR FARMING A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. 



[Concluded from our la>t. ] 



NLESS a gentleman reduces his 

 business to very great simplicity he 

 will find too great a fatigue, and too 



constant an assiduity, requisite to 

 render farming of considerable profit. Keeping 

 all the people employed strictly to their bar- 

 gains; overlooking the servants as to their hours 

 of ploughing and other work ; and likewise the 

 manner everything is done in, with a variety of 

 other articles, require an unceasing attendance. 

 No gentleman that keeps any company, or, in- 

 deed, thatamuses himself with anything besides 

 his business, can perform it : he must employ a 

 bailiff or land-steward, whatever be his opinion. 

 Respecting his management of that bailiff, 

 a little' consideration and experience will 

 shew that business, of ever such an extent, 

 may be thoroughly overlooked and known by 

 a master through such first servant. It is 

 not requisite to observe and watch him as 

 much as he does the rest of the people ; a 

 much less degree of attention will effectually 

 do. The gentleman should have a minute- 

 book of work laid before him every evening, 

 that he may know distinctly every thing his 

 teams and men have that day been employed 

 about. As he knows the measure of his fields, 

 he can at any time tell if the proper quan- 

 tity of work of all sorts be executed or not, 

 and reprove his bailiff for omissions. As to 

 the manner in which the work is performed, 

 vol.. I. 



It IS very easy, when he rides out, to come 

 unawares upon ploughs, to see if they go 

 their proper depth ; or upon carts, to see that 

 they load fair; or into the hay or harvest 

 field, to see what hours the people work, and 

 how they perform their business. When a 

 bailiff finds the business under him observed 

 in this irregular manner, for which neither he 

 or the men can be prepared, he must neces- 

 sarily be spirited and alive in his attention, 

 and keep every part of the business in good 

 order. In case of absence, when he returns, 

 he has recourse to the minute-book for every 

 day's work of all kinds : a method so exact 

 will not allow him to be deceived. When 

 corn is thrashed, carried out, or sowed, or 

 bought for any purpose, all is entered, so that 

 neither mistakes nor foul play can ensue 

 without confusion, and consequently discovery. 

 All money matters should go through the 

 hands of the bailiff, who must keep an open 

 book in the most regular manner, to which 

 the master can have recourse at any time — a 

 room, for instance, with each a key. This 

 book should be balanced every Saturday 

 night ; and whenever much money is in hand, 

 which the master must always know by the 

 minute-book of transactions, he should order 

 the bailiff to bring him such sums as he thinks 

 proper, to be charged to his own account, 

 that no temptation of consequence should 



. K 



