Book V. EXTENT OF FARMING LANDl^. 713 



4411. In regard to facility of conveyance, the state of public roads, bridges, iron rail- 

 ways, canals, rivers rendered navigable, and harbors, deserves the consideration of the 

 farmer, and will most materially influence the value of produce. 



4412. The situation of the farm in regard to manures, for an easy access to lime, chalk, 

 marl, sea-weed, &c. is of essential advantage to cultivation. The price at which these 

 articles can be purchased, their quality, their distance, and expense of conveyance;, 

 are likewise of importance. Farms, for example, possessing the advantage of sea- weed 

 contiguous, and in abundance, can pay from fifteen to twenty per cent, more rent per 

 acre than otherwise could be afforded. 



4413. Vicinity to fuel in the cold and moist regions of Europe, are important consi- 

 derations to the farmer. In the same county, even in England, the difference of ex- 

 pense is often material. In the Hebrides, from the moistness of the climate, the 

 expense of fuel is reckoned equal to a third part of the rent of the land ; and farmers who 

 pay, in some cases, 150/. per annum, would give 200/. if the landlord would supply them 

 and their servants with fuel. 



4414. Where a farmer is under the necessity of using peat, from the labor attending thq 

 cutting, spreading, drying, and conveying it fiiom a distance, several weeks of his horses 

 and servants are devoted to that sole purpose; and much valuable time is lost, which 

 ought to have been employed in the cultivation of his farm. It has been well remarked, 

 that many farmers, to save five guineas on coal, often expend twenty, in thus misapply- 

 ing the labor of their horses. 



441 5. Where wood is used, it occupies a great deal of ground, that might often be cul- 

 tivated to advantage : and it is not of a lasting quality. Coal is preferable, for general 

 purposes, to every other species of fuel ; and besides its domestic application, its superi- 

 ority for burning lime, that important source of fertility, or calcareous clay, also of much 

 value to the farmer, is an object of great moment. The tenant, therefore, who resides in 

 the neighborhood of coal, more especially if limestone or calcareous substances are at 

 jio great distance, farms at less expense, can afford to pay a higher rent, and may derive 

 more profit from the land he cultivates, than if in these respects he were differently 

 circumstanced. 



Sect. VIII. Of the Extent of Land suitable for a Farm. 



4416. The extent of ground which a farmer proposes to occupy, demands due consideration. 

 If it be beyond his capital to cultivate or improve, he can derive no profit by taking it. 

 On the other hand, a small occupation may not be worthy of his attention. 



4417. Farms as to size may be divided into three sorts: small farms under 100 acres; 

 moderate-sized farms, from 100 to 200 acres ; large farms, from 200 to 1000 acres, and 

 upwards, of land fit for cultivation. The expense of labor is now so great, and the rent 

 of land so high, that the profits of a small farm are not sufficient, with the utmost 

 frugality, or even parsimony, to maintain a family with comfort. 



4418. Moderate-sized farms are well calculated for the dairy system, for the neigh- 

 borhood of large towns, and where capital is not abundant. There are few trades, in 

 which a small capital can be employed to a greater advantage than in a dairy farm, yet 

 there is no branch of agriculture where such constant and unremitting attention is 

 required. That is not to be expected from hired servants ; but it is in the power of the 

 wives and daughters of the farmer to perform, or at any rate to superintend, the whole 

 concern^ without whose aid it cannot be rendered productive. 



4419. Moderate -sized farms are generalia the neighborhood of towns. This neces- 

 sarily results from the high rents paid in such situations ; the shortness of the leases 

 usually granted of land near towns ; and the necessity the farmer is under, of selling, in 

 small quantities, the articles produced on his farm. On this subject it has been 

 remarked, that farmers in the vicinity of large towns resemble retail shopkeepers, 

 whose attention must be directed to small objects, by which a great deal of money is got, 

 the greater part of which would be lost, without the most unremitting attention. The 

 farmer at a distance from markets, who cultivates on a great scale, may be compared, 

 on the other hand, to a wholesale trader, who, as his profits are less, requires a greater 

 extent of land, for the purpose both of engaging his attention, and of enabling him to 

 support that station of life in which he is placed. There is this difference also between 

 farmers in the neighborhood of towns, and those who reside at a distance from them, 

 that the former find it more profitable to sell their produce, even such bulky articles as 

 turnips, potatoes, clover, hay, and straw, than to fatten cattle for the butcher; and they 

 are enabled to do so, without injury to their farms, as they can procure dung in return. 



4420. Farms of the largest size differ in respect to the capital required. A mountain 

 breeding farm of 5000 acres will not require more to stock it than an arable farm of 500 

 acres, and much less expense of labor to carry it on. In all cases the safe side for 

 the farmer to lean to, is to prefer a farm rather under than exceeding his capital : and 

 let him consider well beforehand whether he is going to commence a retail farmer for 



