258 ON THE STATE OF IRELAND. [BOOK III. 



can only exist in farms of at least two hundred 

 acres. What shall we say, then, to the childish 

 proposition of establishing in each district a model- 

 farm of three or four acres ? The art of agricul- 

 ture is wholly practical. Every ten acres of land, 

 presenting a different quality and surface, requires 

 a different treatment, which can be learned only by 

 experience. He who cultivates the land must also 

 have the necessary capital, and a sufficiently long 

 tenure of the soil to induce him to risk its employ- 

 ment upon it. This is the only possible school. 



