Aviatcuv FaniiiuQ- a Hundred Years Ao;o 



[37 



unusual order all his implements, harness, &c., 

 are kept in, the security of his draught catde 

 from abuse, and in being thoroughly taken 

 care of; can he think that the difference be- 

 tween these and many other articles and com- 

 mon management, are not of more importance 

 than the work of one man ? May I not say 

 (in a considerable business) than that of five ? 



Another economical point in a gentleman's 

 management, which I take to be of much 

 consequence, is to convert the product of his 

 farm into as few articles of sale as he can, 

 consistent with his profit. 



A bailiff has a greater opportunity of being 

 a knave in buying and selling than in any 

 other part of the business, for which reason 

 that part of his employment should be con- 

 tracted as much as possible. And if no 

 bailiff is employed, a gentleman will find it a 

 disagreeable part of his business ; and, con- 

 sequently, the same reason for reducing it to 

 as small a compass as possible. 



Wheat cannot be consumed upon the farm, 

 nor converted into anything else; for this 

 reason it must be sold as other farmers do : 

 not, however, in dribs of twenty sacks at a 

 time, to have twenty or thirty markets to go 

 to, and as many bargains to make ; but all laid 

 up in a granar}^, and as soon as the whole 

 crop is thrashed, sold by one sample and in 

 one parcel, which conduct would reduce the 

 trouble of a gentleman's feeling it himself, 

 whether he had or had not a bailiff, to a mere 

 trifle. It would likewise be of some conse- 

 quence in the price ; for wheat sells, in gene- 

 ral, better during the summer than the winter. 

 One cannot move one's length in matters of 

 farming without finding something or other 

 that requires money in plenty. The conduct 

 now in question is, undoubtedly, very bene- 

 ficial ; but, if the gentleman did not at first 

 appropriate a sufficient sum of money to the 

 purpose of husbandry, he will find himself too 

 much cramped for want of it, to be able even 

 to sell his corn Avhen most suitable. Nothing 

 can go on as it ought if a farmer is ever for a 

 single hour in want of a hundred pounds. 



Of oats no more should be sown than 

 wanted for the horses. 



Barley, peas, and beans should all be 



appropriated to fatting hogs, which (manure 

 considered) will pay better than selling them 

 at market, all expenses of carriage, &:c., 

 taken into the account, besides the cir- 

 cumstances of trouble, and taking the sale 

 out of the bailiff's hands. 



Potatoes should be applied to the same use. 



CaiTOts may either be given to the hogs, 

 or to any other sort of cattle. 



Natural and artificial grasses, green and in 

 hay, cabbages, turnips, &c., are all con- 

 vertible into beef and mutton. A dairy is 

 much more complex ; but if it proves more 

 profitable than other cattle, convenience must 

 in that, and other circumstances, give way to 

 profit. 



There are two methods of selling cattle; 

 both are attended with little trouble, nor is 

 the bailiff trusted in either. One is by send- 

 ing them up to London for sale by the sales- 

 man ; the other, by advertising an auction 

 twice a year ; one about the middle or the 

 latter end of April, for all sorts of beasts that 

 have been fatted in the winter, hogs in- 

 cluded. The other in autumn for such as 

 have been summer-fatted. 



There are many situations in which it is not 

 profitable to send to London, and others in 

 Avhich it is particularly so ; one of these 

 methods will suit every part of the kingdom. 

 In case of the latter, in a few years many 

 butchers, &c., would depend on the auction, 

 and regularly account on purchasing at it. 

 But, at all events, a gentleman should abso- 

 lutely reject the low dirty way of making 

 twenty or thirty different bargains with coun- 

 try butchers : an odious work for himself and 

 the greatest source of villany, when in the 

 hands of a servant, that can be invented. 

 The advantages of selling by auction are so 

 many, that they will more than balance a 

 lower price than separate bargains would 

 gain, for that leaves no bad debts, the money 

 is all paid at once : there are no expenses of 

 driving, nor falling off in flesh by it ; and all 

 sorts of commodities are sold, good, bad, and 

 indifferent. 



If cows are not kept for a dairy, all the 

 products of a farm may be reduced to — i, 

 wheat ; and 2, cattle : all the first sold in one 



