es 
xii INTRODUCTION, 
but be known, that pining /carcity is the frequent portion 
of fome, againft whom no particular indolence or moral 
turpitude may be imputable. And this, perhaps, if we 
except the miferable fecret chambers of crowded cities, is 
more frequently the cafe in obfcure villages, and folitary 
huts in the country, than elfewhere; in thofe very abodes 
of poverty, which may be neareft fituated to the field of the 
fluggard, of which we complain !+~Thefe poor people might 
be much relieved, in a two-fold fenfe, by a conduct the 
reverfe of that under confideration. ‘They want /abour, by 
which to add an important trifle to their income. The 
flovenly farmer wants, or ought to know that he wants, an 
additional hand or two, or perhaps three,‘on his farm, to 
clean and fcour out his ditches and drains, to remove his 
numerous thorns, briers, furze, docks, and thiftles, which 
are fuffered to grow, and increafe unmolefted from year to 
year, on fome of the moft convenient of his paftures. Such 
negligence always operates to the impoverifhment of the 
foil, and to the prevention of more valuable produce in 
milk, butter, cheefe, and butcher’s-meat, than would fuffice 
to nourifh, to their hearts’ content, twice the number of thofe 
poor people whom he ought to employ. ° The corn-fields 
of fuch a man are often a copious mixture of grain and 
weeds, abundant in proportion to the natural ftrength of 
the foil—the advantage of which he ftupidly counteracts; 
and on his miferable plan, one acre in ten—perhaps, of thofe 
under the plough, one in five—is thrown away. This latter 
proportion of lofs, alarming as it fhould he, is not uncom- 
mon even in improved diftrits. Ona comparifon of the 
wortt practice with that of the beft known, the proportion 
of potitive lofs will readily be conceived to be much greater! 
When the produce of a well-cultivated acre, through the 
youtine of judicious cropping, is confidered, and then the 
; aggregate 
, 
