2792. oa manufactures and agriculture. 20§ 
ofacountry. I fhall therefore appropriate a few pages 
forthe purpose of discovering whether or not the ap- 
prehensions of the ingenious writer above quoted be 
well founded. 
The most obvious consideration that occurs, when 
_ agriculture and manufactures are considered as affec- 
ting each other, is, that manufacturers, by becoming 
-purchasers of the produce of the fields, offer encou- 
Tagement to agriculture; and that, ofcourse, the 
greater the number of manufacturers there are in 
any country, the more prosperous will the agricul- 
ture of that country be. 
There is, however, a fallacy in this reasoning; and 
unlefs several circumstances are attended to, and 
@uarded against, the conclusion here drawn may be 
very unjust. In many situations a great part of the 
subsistence of manufacturers may be drawn from fo- 
reign parts ; and where that is the case, the agricul- 
ture of the country is not encouraged in’ proportion 
to the prosperity of its manufactures. If laws are 
injudiciously made, so as to cramp the operations of 
agriculture, the prosperity of manufactures may e- 
ven, in some circumstances, retard the progrefs of 
agriculture ; for by raising the wages of servafts it 
diminifhes the farmer’s profit ; who finding greater 
returns for money and attention in prosecuting manu- 
factures, than in cultivating ground, the capitals of 
the most enterprising individuals will be withdrawn 
from rural operations, and vested in manufactures ; 
and with the general, poverty of the tenants, the 
progrefs of improvements by them must be great» 
ly retarded, 
