384 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1794. 



ftikings. Upon questions of such 

 importance to the national inter- 

 ests, it is much to be wished, that 

 the»verv best intelligence may be 

 procured, and that the most deep 

 and careful attention he given, to 

 astertain the comparative utility to 

 the public, of the different modes' 

 of applying the soil. 



It seems, at first sight, a little 

 singular, that the conversion of the 

 soil to a state of natuie, should be 

 esteemed so great an improvement, 

 as to call for prenrinms to reward 

 tlhosc who are the readiest to take 

 these retrbgade steps towards chan'- 

 g!ng the corn, cattle, andsheep of 

 Britain, into the savage robe of an 

 -jl^merican wilderness. Every acre 

 *"£ have in England, if securely- 

 enclosed, would, in the process df 

 BO' long lapse of time, become a 

 forest: it is the residence .of peo- 

 ple, with their flocks and herds, 

 and prosperity in their train, thai 

 proves the destruction of all forests. 

 What an odd policy, to be solici- 

 tous to drive back the natural pro- 

 gress of all that creates wealth, 

 and cover our lands with those 

 "woods, which the creation of 

 wealth has extirpated. One great 

 repror.ch of the Venetian govern- 

 ment in Istria, is, that the state is 

 more anxious to preserve the woods 

 than the people j that they have, 

 by severities, driven away the in- 

 habitants, as anim.als verj' noxi- 

 ous to woods, with such success, 

 that their aim is answered ; the 

 people are gone, and the forests 

 flourish. "VVe are anxious for the 

 same effect, but by different means : 

 we would not drive away the peo- 

 ple, but we would occupj' those 

 lands with limber, which at pre- 

 sent produce some mutton, and 

 with ll^e expence of planting. 



would produce a great deal : this 

 is pretty much the same thing, as 

 the way to have people, is to be 

 ib\e to feed them ; and what food 

 is yielded by a well-preset Ved wood 

 I am yet to learn. 



This fact is srt cldar, tfi&t we 

 may safely accept it for a maxim, 

 that the more wood there is in the 

 kingdom, the fewer people there 

 must necessarily be fed on the pro- 

 duct of our own soil. ' This is de- 

 monstration. ]t is a poor reply to 

 say, that some soils may be planted, 

 which will' riot yield food for man ; 

 there are, I confess, that yield lit- 

 tle, but all yield some ; I know 

 no waste lands that do' not' feed' 

 either sheep or rabbits, or cattle ; 

 and the black moors and mountains, 

 where the soil' is peat, feed great 

 numbers, are well adapted to sheep, 

 and, with very obvious inriprove.. 

 ments, would feed an infinitely' 

 greater nurnbef. Thus, in every 

 case of planting, the food of man 

 is excluded in favour of .something 

 else. To he sure— food for man, is 

 excludtfl for fuel for man; the one is 

 (7.< nccefsary as the otiier. This re- 

 ply is mgre obvious than thie; — 

 Coals are so inexhaustible in this' 

 island, that ever)- man in Britain 

 may be warmed by them for ten 

 centuries to come. Such plenty 

 points out the palpable policy, that 

 the bowels of the earth should' 

 warm, and its surface feed us. To 

 plant with a view to firing, is to 

 reject the beneficence of nature, 

 and to encumber those fields with a 

 commodity which can be spared, to' 

 the exclusion of others' wliich can- 

 not. The same observation is ex- 

 actly applicable to timber for naval 

 and building uses : it is infinitely 

 cheaper to buy, than to raise such : 

 so many countries yet remain in a 



waste 



