Book IV. MANAGEMENT OF LANDED PROPERTY. 691 



4256. The execution of the different improvements, of which an estate has been found 

 susceptible being determined on, it is always advisable to begin with one which is obvious ; 

 which may be effected with the greatest certainty ; which will repay most amply the 

 expenses of carrying it into effect : or which leads to other improvements ; as embank- 

 ment, drainage, &c. To attempt a doubtful project, while plans which are obvious and cer- 

 tain, remain unexecuted, to try experiments before the list of known improvements has been 

 gone through, is seldom to be recommended; thoughit might sometimes turn out to be right. 



4257. All rural operatio?is are more or less public, and as it were performed on a stage ; 

 and spectators fail not to criticise. If an experiment should prove abortive, or a pro- 

 posed improvement turn out to be false, the ardor of the improver will be liable to be 

 damped, his people to be discontented (as partaking in the discredit), and the expecting 

 public around him, to be disappointed. A few miscarriages, in the outset, might frustrate 

 the best intentions, and the most profitable schemes. But if, by prosecuting plain and 

 certain improvements, a man once gain his own confidence, as well as that of the people 

 about him, he may then venture to explore less beaten paths. And this he will be able 

 to do with greater caution, and more probability of success, by the experience that he has 

 already gained : this being a further motive for pursuing the line of conduct here 

 suggested. 



4258. All works of improvement should be executed with vigor. Many faulter in the 

 midst of well planned works, either through the want of foresight or of business-like 

 exertion, in consequence the money already expended lies dead, and the works are injur- 

 ed by the delay. Some works, as embankments and drainages, may be ruined by the 

 slightest neglect or relaxation, and indeed, as Marshal observes, we see in every depart- 

 ment of the kingdom, these and other works deserted and left to moulder into nuisances 

 or disreputable eyesores. 



4259. In carrying on a work, execute every thing substantially, and in a workman-like 

 manner. Too often a false economy leads to the subversion of this principle. To save 

 a few pounds in the first cost, materials of an inferior quality are laid in, or an insuffi- 

 cient quantity used, to give the required substance and strength to the work. By either 

 of these imprudences, its duration is abridged ; and the eventual loss, by repairs and 

 renewal, may be ten times greater than the sum injudiciously saved in the original 

 erection. Nevertheless, to increase the evil of these ill-judged savings, inferior work- 

 men are employed, or sufficient workmen at inferior prices, at which they cannot afford 

 to make good work ; nor can a superintendant urge them to make it under such circum- 

 stances. Consequently the work is ill performed, its duration is still more abridged, 

 and a further loss, by injudicious saving, is incurred. 



4260. There are cases in which temporary works only are required. A lease-tenant, 

 for instance, wants to make an improvement which will last as long as his^ lease, without 

 caring about its further duration. In such a case, it may be well-judged frugality and 

 admissible " cleverness in business," to work up cheap materials in a cheap way. 

 But it seldom can be right in the proprieter of an hereditary estate, whose interest in it 

 may be said to be perpetual, to proceed in the same manner. His best policy is to take 

 favorable opportunities of laying in good materials at moderate prices, to use them when 

 duly seasoned, and to employ good workmen at fair prices, such as cannot furnish them 

 with an excuse for being guilty of bad workmanship, and such as will warrant their 

 employer to urge and enforce that which is good. 



4261. Accomplish one work before another is commenced. A work may be considered 

 as accomplished when the chief difficulties are surmounted, and cost expended ; and till 

 this is the case, it cannot be prudent to embark in another. By avoiding embarrass- 

 ments, the execution of improvements becomes a present pleasure, as well as a source of 

 future profit. No half-finished works are left as monuments of disgrace to an estate 

 and its owner. No time nor interest of money is lost. Every work is brought into 

 action and profit as it is finished ; and if, as it frequently will happen with the most 

 prudent calculators, it has exceeded the estimated sum which was set apart for it, due 

 time may be taken to let the fund of improvement accumulate, so as to enable it to dis- 

 charge the arrear, and to furnish, as they may be wanted, the estimated sums which the 

 succeeding work may require. 



BOOK IV. 



OF THK MANAGEMENT OP LANDED PROPERTY. 



4262. The management of an extensive landed estate^ like that of every other great pro- 

 perty, is a business both of talent and integrity. In former times, when every proprietor 



Yy 2 



