BRITISH HUSBANDRY. 



Chapter I. 



ON IMPLEMENTS OF TILLAGE— PLOUGHS. 



Tillage, of which we have now to treat, embraces tliat portion of rural 

 economy which consists in the production of corn, pulse, and every species 

 of root and green crops which are obtained by the cultivation of the soil, 

 independently of natural grass, and requires more practical knowledge of 

 agriculture than those subjects which we have already discussed ; for, 

 although manure is, perhaps, the most important in a scientific sense, and 

 blunders are not unfrequently committed by persons who are ignorant 

 of its various properties, yet that knowledge can be obtained through read- 

 ing, and may therefore be considered as chiefly theoretical. That which 

 the land produces without labour is only trifling in comparison : it is by 

 industry that the greater part of those sensual enjoyments are obtained 

 which are procurable by wealth, and it is only by a continuation of that 

 industry that their possession can be secured. Even the capital which is 

 necessary to the development of our eftbrts can only be acquired by labour, 

 and it is the amount and quality of that labour which determine the value 

 of the thing produced. It must, however, be applied to some definite 

 object, and the primary one is the soil ; for, it being from thence that 

 our subsistence is extracted, it is ^tlie original "source to which all our 

 powers of exertion in every human art are due. Political economists, how- 

 ever, go too far in attributing national wealth solely to labour, for it is evi- 

 dent that the soil alone contributes a considerable part in its natural produc- 

 tions. When cultivated, also, its products, if it be fertile, will be more valu- 

 able than if it be sterile ; and if an equal number of inhabitants be located 

 upon a given quantity of land, those upon the former will reach to affluence 

 sooner than upon that of the latter description. 



The operations of tillage are, it is well known, chiefly performed by means 

 of the plough, the harrow, and the roller, though various otlier instruments — 

 to be hereafter noticed — are also used for pulverizing the soil and cleaning 

 it from weeds ; as well as a variety of machines for drilling and sowing the 

 seed. From the impulse given to agriculture during the late war, the art 

 of husbandry was carried much nearer to perfection ; the construction 

 of most of those implements partook of the improvement, and many new 

 inventions are daily added to the stock. Much has, in this respect, been 

 owing to the Scotch, both as farmers and as mechanics. The agricid- 

 ture of Scotland was, until the middle of the last century, far inferior to 

 that of England ; but the soil of a large portion of the southern districts is 

 of a very fine description, and, unUmited capital having been latterly applied 

 to its cultivation, large tracts fell into the hands of men of extensive for- 

 tune, as well as of superior education, who adopted the profession of hus- 

 bandry as a science, and thus had the means of pushing improvement 

 farther than the generality of those English farmers who were already settled 

 in the homes and habits of their forefathers. The encouragement thus 



Vol. II. " B 



