PREFACE. 



multiplied number of manufacturers. The greater 

 productiveness has taken place principally in Scot- 

 land, where the soil is very dissimilar to that of 

 England, and in the agricultural districts far supe- 

 rior. The land is comparatively fresh, for agricul- 

 ture was scarcely known in the north as a system 

 a hundred years ago, and, as a whole, it is still con- 

 ducted in a manner very inferior to the best-farmed 

 districts in England. The neighbourhood of whin- 

 stone seems always to require under-draining, and 

 as this is the case with the greater part of the 

 north of England and the south of Scotland, large 

 sums have been successfully laid out upon that 

 operation, whereby the produce has been greatly 

 augmented. Such an increase, however, must 

 come to an end, because the fertility of soils is 

 not without bounds ; and neither the soil nor cli- 

 mate of Britain are naturally congenial to the 

 growth of wheat, for much of it is unfit to be made 

 into bread, when ground into flour, without a mix- 

 ture of some which has been ripened under a 

 warmer sun. 



The consolidation of the produce of divers taxes 

 seems to facilitate financial operations, and to make 

 the whole equally available for any and every part 

 of the public burdens ; but it is very questionable 

 whether this be really a wise practice. In private 

 life, an individual willre strain himself and econo- 



