HIGH FAKM1NG. 251 



5th. Which is not dry by nature or thoroughly drained, 

 and entirely emancipated from all sacrifices to taste, fancy, 

 or prejudice. 



We assume capital and skill in the occupier. We believe 

 that, under any circumstances which we can anticipate, 

 men of capital and skill will be ready to take farms com- 

 plying with these conditions ; that they will pay an annual 

 sum to cover rent, tithe, and tax ; and that on an average 

 of years they will make a competent profit. They will 

 farm higher or lower (but never so as to diminish the fer- 

 tility of their lands), in conformity with the principles which 

 have been developed in this article. 



The conditions here stated are novel in British agri- 

 culture, but they are not unreasonable. Mutatis mutandis, 

 they would not be considered stringent if applied to any 

 manufacture ; indeed, no manufacture could prosper which 

 did not comply with them. 



In speaking of the farm of Auchness we made allusion to 

 the advantages which some farmers have derived from paying 

 attention to crops which either do not occur or occur on a 

 more limited scale in the ordinary routine. Probably new 

 objects of culture may be introduced, because pressure is 

 near enough akin to be also the mother of invention. We 

 look forward also to a different appreciation of the present 

 objects of culture. Fine wheat appears to us to be in Great 

 Britain a forced production, and very ungrateful for the se- 

 dulous care which we bestow upon it. We select seed with 

 the utmost attention, we create and import varieties, we in- 

 vent implements expressly for the culture of wheat, we write 

 more on the culture of wheat than on that of any other 

 grain ; and when we have done all, the random cultivation 

 of Poland and of many other countries leaves us far in the 

 rear in quality. The Times, containing a return dated 

 " Cora Exchange, Monday, March 17, 1851," is now before 

 us, and it presents the following results : The highest price 

 of any British wheat is 4 5 s. per quarter. The highest 

 price of Dantzic is 48s. The highest price of Lincolnshire 



