124 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



modes of agriculture, which would be pursued under a system 

 of large proprietorship. 



There is undoubtedly a good deal of weight in the latter 

 reason ; for implements and fixtures connected with an improved 

 system of husbandry are themselves expensive, and few great 

 and substantial improvements can be made without a consider 

 able outlay of capital. Such improvements likewise demand 

 systematic arrangements, and often extensive combinations, in 

 order to their being effected. I have known numerous instances 

 / where lands required draining, and indeed were comparatively 

 / worthless without it ; but this draining could not be effected, 

 from the obstinacy of a neighbor, through whose land only could 

 ^ the water be made to descend. In other cases, where fields 

 were held in common, the same evil has been suffered from a 

 refusal on the part of the owners of the several pieces to enclose 

 the land, and to unite in accomplishing the common object. It 

 / cannot be doubted, likewise, that the minds of men are 

 I greatly affected by the nature of their employments ; and 

 / although there are many cases in which active and strong minds 

 / will rise above every barrier, and, in spite of the circumstances 

 by which they are surrounded, will develop their native great 

 ness, yet the constant confinement of the mind to a narrow and 

 U very limited sphere of action, will not be without its effects 

 \ upon all its operations. The successful management of a large \ 

 farm, like the management of any other large concern, requires a 

 great deal of inquiry, calculation, reflection, and knowledge ; , 

 and all this, from the necessity of the case, begets more inquiry, / 

 calculation, reflection, and knowledge. It is to minds only oi\ 

 this superior cast that we can look with confidence for enterprise 

 and distinguished improvements. 



The effect of such small subdivisions of land as those of which 

 I am writing, and those which are said to take place in France, 

 upon the production of national wealth, is another question, and 

 must be put in an exact form before it can be answered. If we 

 could suppose all these small farms to be cultivated in the most 

 improved and perfect manner, the gross produce would be greater 

 than under any other system. This, however, is not to be ex 

 pected, and, for reasons already assigned, would hardly take 

 place. In a pecuniary result, therefore, the subdivision of land 

 into small farms is likely to fall much short of the product of the 



