iSoo. 



On the Proper Size of Farms. 



381 



bouriag villages ; being fons 

 ofweaversi tailors, &c. 



Rent about 230I. 



.1793-. 

 ply the neighbouring towns, 



or to the f mailer arms in the 



neighbourhood luhich cannot fi!p~ 



ply themfelves ! There are alfo 



at this time, four young men 



from this farm at fea. 



Rent 636I. 



As to the queftion, Hoiv large ought a farm to he P I c'Wi 

 perceive no bounds, in point of propriety, except thqfe which 

 nature lias fet to the genius of the farmer, and Providence 

 to his fortune ; for the larger that the farm be, if the tenant 

 has capital, and abilities anfwerable, the better it will be, in 

 every refpe6t, to the community ; as not only more produce 

 is brought to market, but adlually more is produced, from 

 the fuperior advantages the great farmer enjoys, of being 

 more able to make improvements, becaufe more wealthy j 

 but alfo better inclined to do fo, from being more intelligent. 

 We even fee, that the population of a country thus occupied, 

 is augmented, from the circumftance of his intereft being 

 concerned, in giving the preference to married fervants, in- 

 ftead of lads and boys, and fuperannuated men, with which 

 the fmall farms are peopled. That he does not employ the 

 whole progeny of theie hinds, is a favourable circumftance 

 to the public, as they ferve as an excellent nurfery for the fup- 

 ply of the mechanical branches, which not only cannot be re- 

 cruited from a country laid out in fmall farms, but are them- 

 felves drained of their youth, to keep up the population o£ 

 that unprodu^ive fyftem*. 



Inltead, therefore, of inquiring what ought to be the fize 

 of a farm, an aflize ought to be held on the judgement of 

 the farmer, and the capital he is able to command ; for al- 

 though it may be remarked, that the powers ot the mind, 

 even in the fame ptrfon, expand and contract, according to 

 the fituation in which he m.ay for feme time be placed, yet 

 there can be no doubt, alfo, that there are people whofe ge- 



K k 2 nms 



* It is cijrioas to obferve the cant of declamation (for depopulating the coun- 

 try) Vrhichhas, for thtfe laft forty years, been kept up igamil the uniting of 

 liie fmall farms, which has token place chiefly in that period, v/hich has not 

 only been an sra of great agiiciiltural inij'rovcment, but the jiopulation, froiu 

 ECluai inveftigation, has increaled, iu Scotland, ii ar 300,000 fouls, or aboue 

 *jic dfth i.1 the whole. 



