2/4 Cfiftfideratrons en Regulating the Value of Lah'ur. Aug.' 



c'f ates the abundance of the harveO:, — who m every pickle fees a 

 head-ftalk, and in every handful a bufhel, the caft of the fow- 

 er, like the fliowt-r of plenty, will be hailed as a blclTing to the 

 liuman race ; and the expence o^ tillage vi'ill be confidered as a 

 loan to nature, for which an ufurioua interePt is about to be re- 

 turned. 



Let not, then, ihort- lighted views narrow the feld of agri- 

 cultural improvement ; let not the proprietor confider his inte- 

 lefl; as diftinft from that of the pofTcffor of the foil. If he 

 wifhes his lands to wave with corn, and his cftate to be a gar- 

 den, let liim not grudge to buy the plough, the harrow and the 

 fpade i but, above all, let him render tlie fituation of the culti- 

 vators of the foil as eafy as pofnble, and let him be afTured he 

 has made the firll and mod eflential ftcp to improvement, when 

 neither a homelefs tenant or a houfelefs farm exid upon his pro- 

 perty. 



I have enlarged a little on this fubje£^, becaufe complaints, fi- 

 milar to thofe of your correfpondenr, are not unfrequent at the 

 prefent day, and have occafioned many landed proprietors to 

 defift from improvements they had otherwife intended. 



What I have faid relates to the remote efFecls of fach im- 

 provements 5 but it may alfo be obferved, that the immediate 

 ones are not fo unprodu^llve as is generally imagined. The va- 

 lue of every commodity, in a civilized community, is determined 

 by the expence of its produ£lion — the quantity of labour that 

 has been employed upon it — as well as certain ideas of utility 

 and convenience,, which may depend upon the accidental con- 

 iideration of mankind. This holds, peculiarly, with regard tp 

 ihe habitations of men. A good houfe will, in itfelf, inde- 

 pendent of all other circumftances, rank high in the eftimatiori 

 of men. They have a very natural pride in being well lodged, 

 ■^nd comfortably fituated,— and in poffciring thofe little conveni- 

 ences which, though not abfolutely among the neceil'iries, can 

 fcarcely be clafl'^id among the luxuries of life. The poiTcirion of 

 thefe will always be an obje6l of defire to mankind; and as it 

 flatters vanity, it is paid for with pleafure. This is remarkably 

 the cafe among the lower Scots, notorioufly in point of drefs, 

 and equally fo with refpeCL to dwellings, wherever there is room 

 for a choice, or reafon for a preference. In a competition of 

 tenants, therefore, this will have its eflect ; a new, convenient, 

 nnd fubftantial fleading of farm buildings, will, for the comforts 

 it affords, independent of its utility as a neceffary component 

 part of the machiaery which is requifite for his ufe as a manu- 

 ta6lurer of rude produce, always decide the preference of an 

 incoming tenant, other tilings being the fame, or nearly the 



fame. 



