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The Country Gcntlcviaiis i\Iaga.':inc 



bargain, and the second carried all to two 

 accounts — a salesman for hogs, and another 

 for sheep and beasts, or sold at two auctions ; 

 by which method the gentleman's trouble is 

 reduced almost to nothing, Avhether he has or 

 has not a bailiff. A simplicity in business is 

 valuable of itself: for when products are of 

 such a great variety that they cannot be 

 united in sale, some trifling matter is for ever 

 calling for that attention which should be 

 employed on matters of importance. 



Another point of some consequence in a 

 gentleman's economical management is house- 

 keeping, so far as it concerns the farm. Ex- 

 cept in the greatest houses, where different 

 tables are spread for different ranks of ser- 

 vants, all live in the same manner ; and no 

 gentleman should imagine that farming will 

 answer while the people that carry it on are 

 fed in the same manner as family servants. 

 This is another of those points which, at first 

 sight, may by some be thought trivial, but is 

 really of importance. When only one or two 

 men are kept, the grievance is not wordi 

 noting (although the loss, it should ever be 

 remembered, in most points is proportioned 

 to the farm), but when many are employed 

 the case is very different. 



In large farms, that employ from four or 

 five servants, and upwards, it is certainly ad- 

 visable to have a house kept separately for 

 them ; any distinct office for a kitchen, with 

 chambers of rooms annexed, in which they 

 may all be lodged and fed, under the direc- 

 tions of the bailiff, with no intercourse of any 

 kind allowed between the family and them. 

 Whoever keeps many men will find something 

 of this management highly requisite. There 

 is no slight satisfaction in knowing exactly 

 what everything costs one, and particulariy so 

 in farming, in which it is absolutely requisite, 

 for the sake of clear and exact accounts ; but 

 such cannot be effected if a family and fann- 

 ing men are mixed together: for in what 

 manner can their board be calculated with 

 tolerable accuracy ? 



I shall conclude this sketch with a few re- 

 marks on the necessity of gentlemen con- 

 ducting their agriculture with spirit, if they 

 would have it profitable, or if thev would 



even have it truly amusing. Let them man- 

 age in what manner they please, yet common 

 farmers, who are not above working them- 

 selves, will, in numerous cases, have the ad- 

 vantage ; it should, therefore, be the gentle- 

 man's business to balance that advantage by 

 others, which it is not probable the farmer 

 should command. 



He ought, above all other points, so to 

 proportion his land to his money, that he may 

 never be disabled from practising, in all cases, 

 what he has reason to think is right. 



He should adopt the culture of such pro- 

 fitable vegetables as are not common in hus- 

 bandry, if his soil is proper for them, which 

 can scarcely be doubted. 



Respecting all tillage crops, he ought to 

 lay it down as a universal rule, that none 

 should ever be sown or planted if the soil is 

 not in excellent order to receive them, that he 

 may ensure, as far as it is possible, good 

 crops. He ought, at all events, to determine 

 to keep constantly a great stock of cattle, in 

 l^roportion to his farm, as a sure fund of pro- 

 fit both in themselves and in the article of 

 manuring. He should adopt some particular 

 system of conduct relative to labour and a 

 bailiff, that may obviate the great evils com- 

 monly resulting from gentlemen's management 

 in that point. He should, on many accounts, 

 reduce the products of his farm to as few 

 articles of sale as possible. 



These points, it should be observed, are 

 very applicable even to gentlemen who farm 

 chiefly for amusement ; for if a farm be 

 merely an experimental one, yet it is highly 

 expedient to banish all confusion, for I know 

 of no diversion that arises merely from a want 

 of order. And let a man's fortune be ever so 

 considerable, a certain degree of economy is 

 necessary, even in pleasure. If a gentleman, 

 without any attention of this sort,' can try a 

 hundred experiments annually, by means of a 

 certain sum he appropriates to agriculture, 

 with proper management, that hundred may 

 be doubled or trebled, and no extraordinary 

 expense incurred; and these, I think, are 

 matters well worth the attention of those who 

 practise husbandry, whatever be tlicir mo- 

 tive. 



