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fo it undoubtedly is a very great caufe of the 

 increafe in the price of provifions. 



Let us confider only how many idle horfes, 

 clogs, cats, rats, &c. &c. are maintained in. 

 confequence of the augmentation of thefe ci- 

 ties ; at the fame time, that horfes in cities 

 are maintained at three times the expence of 

 thofe employed in cultivating the ground in 

 the country : And it may be truly faid, that 

 within thefe few years, the confumpt of corn 

 and hay for horfes, has increafed twenty 

 times what it was formerly. This is certain- 

 ly a great encouragement to farming ; but is 

 mentioned here only as one of the caufes of 

 the dearnefs of provifions. 



The general fa6l, that a great proportion of 

 land is employed in raifing the food of horfes, 

 is obvious to every one. Yet few, perhaps, 

 would fuppofe, that the maintenance of a 

 horfe is four times as great as that of a man. 

 The following account, which I received 

 fome years ago from a nobleman's fteward in 

 Scotland, will throw confiderable light on 

 this fubjeft. The whole of the bread and 

 beer ufed in this nobleman's family, was 

 baked and brewed in the houfe. Forty bolls 



of 



