314 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



the improvements winch have been made in agricultural 

 implements. And they point to France, whose small holdings 

 and comparatively depressed state of husbandry is in strong 

 contrast with that of England. But the first cause assigned 

 may well be challenged. It is contrary to our experience, 

 that any business of importance is so well performed by a 

 tenant or agent, as by a principal whose interest would lead 

 him to improve the condition of his estate, as well as to pro- 

 duce the largest annual crops, and whose daily attention to his 

 growing crops would be a guarantee for good tillage certainly 

 equal to the stipulations of a lease. Belgium may be referred 

 to as affording a satisfactory illustration of the benefit of a 

 minute subdivision of land. The whole kingdom is divided 

 into nearly 600,000 patches, of which forty-tliree per cent, do 

 not exceed one acre and a quarter each ; twelve per cent, do 

 not exceed two acres and a half, and not more than eight per 

 cent, exceed twenty-five acres. But it is unnecessary to go out 

 of England to prove that a higher state of cultivation may be 

 expected from small holdings than has yet been exhibited upon 

 large ones. The evidence furnished by Mr. Coleman, of hus- 

 bandry in England, under an allotment system of a few acres, 

 (in no case exceeding seven to an individual,) fully demon- 

 strates the superiority of small holdings over large ones, for 

 successful cultivation. That a judicious outlay of capital in 

 agriculture would result in its advancement is undoubtedly 

 true. That it is one of the causes of the farming prosperity of 

 that kingdom is manifest from the very improved condition of 

 the fens, marshes and other lands, which were long considered 

 waste, and now reclaimed, are yielding crops which bear a 

 comparison with those of the best lands in England. That a 

 particvilar examination of the constituents of soils, and the at- 

 tention given to needful manures, and further, that the great 

 improvements in agricultural implements and machines have 

 contributed much to advance agricultural production in the 

 British Empire, is also true. But it is not to these causes alone 

 that the favorable state of her husbandry is due. 



The change from the old system of fallowing, — the strict re- 

 gard had to the rotation of crops, — the introduction and suc- 

 cessful prosecution of the turnip culture, — the increased atten- 

 tion to the breeding of cattle, — and more than all, the raising 



