Cook I. KINDS OF FARMS. 1081 



Chap. II. 



Of the different Kinds of Farms in Britain relatively to the different Classes of Society who 



are the Occupiers. 



6981. Cottagefarms form the first link in the chain of temporary terrestrial possessions. 

 They consist of one or more acres appended to a cottage, for the purpose of enabling the 

 occupier to keep a cow ; if any part of this farm is in aration, the labor is either hired of 

 some jobbing agriculturist, or done by spade : or two or more cottagers join together 

 and form a team of their cows, with which, and implements borrowed from the villatre- 

 carpenter or smith, they accomplish their labor. 



6982. Farms of working mechanics. These are larger than the former, and are rented by 

 country blacksmiths, carpenters, &c. who often keep a horse or a pair of horses. Both 

 this and the former sort are very often injurious to the occupiers, by drawing off their 

 attention from their principal source of income ; though it must be confessed at the same 

 time, that the idea of occupying land, and raising one's own corn, clover, milk, butter, 

 eggs, pulse, &c. is highly gratifying ; gives a sort of sense of property, and has an air of 

 independence and liberty, highly valued by men in general. 



6983. Farms of village tradesmen and shopkeepers. Many of these men, such as bakers, 

 butchers, grocers, &c. keep a horse at any rate ; by renting a few acres they are able to 

 keep another, and add a cow, and other minor species of live stock. The attention re- 

 quired from the master forms a healthful recreation, and agreeable variety of pursuit; 

 and if this recreation does not interfere with main pursuits, there is a gain of health and 

 respectability. 



6984. Farms occupied with a view to profit by town and city tradesmen. Tliese are on 

 a larger scale than the last, and held by stable-keepers, cow-keepers, butchers, corn-dea- 

 lers, &c. They are often of considerable size, mostly under grass, and managed by bailiffs. 

 Arable farms in such hands are rarely well managed, as every thing is made to depend on 

 manure ; but as less skill and vigilance is required in managing grass lands, hay or pas- 

 ture farms of this description are generally well manured, and consequently productive. 

 They are seldom however profitable, and it is only because the renter reaps the double 

 profit of grower and consumer, has some enjoyment in the idea of the thing, and some 

 increase of health from the requisite visits to it, that he finds it suitable to continue his 

 farming operations. 



6985. Farms occupied hy city tradesmen for recreative enjoyment. These are of various 

 descriptions, and generally managed by bailiflTs. They may be considered as affording 

 recompence by the amusement, exercise, and health which they afford, and the interest in 

 country matters which they excite. Many a worthy man thus throws away, almost at 

 random, on agriculture, what he has gained by trade with the greatest industry, and fru- 

 gality , often joined to skill and ingenuity. When the farm promises well, the tradesman 

 is sometimes tempted to sell his trade and turn farmer for good (as it is called, i. e, for 

 a principal occupation), and often ends in impoverishing, or even ruining himself. 



6986. Farms attached t7> the villas and country houses of tvca It hy citizens. On these the 

 wealthy citizen plays at agriculture, aided by a skilful manager or bailiflP. Immense sums 

 of money are thus expended in the neighborhood of large towns ; many ingenious 

 practices are displayed ; and though nothing in the way of profit is ever expected to be 

 gained ; yet on the whole an attention to agriculture is excited in the minds of wealthy 

 commercialists, who buy books on the subject, procure bailiffs, approved implements and 

 breeds of stock ; and thus give encouragement to these and other productions connected 

 with the subject. The history of farming for the last twenty years round Edinburgh, 

 Liverpool, and London, affords some curious, singular, and extravagant examples of this 

 description of farming, and some of a much more judicious description. 



6987. Demesne farms, or such as are occupied by the landed proprietors of the coun- 

 try. These are of a great many different kinds ; some regularly appended to the park ; 

 some comprising a part of the park separated by temporary fences ; and others taken into 

 occupation without regard to situation. Some proprietors take all the farms on tlieir es- 

 tate successively into their own hands, cultivate them for a few years, bring them into 

 excellent order, and then let them to farmers. Much good is often done by proprietors 

 occupying land themselves; new practices, and new kinds of vegetables and live stock, 

 exhibited and disseminated ; and the landlord himself being instructed by experience in 

 the practice of farming, is better able to judge what his land should let for ; and more 

 likely to appreciate good tenants, and sympathise with the losses of his farmers in bad 

 seasons. Add also, that a proprietor in this way procures better butcher meat of every kind 

 than he could generally purchase in the neighboring markets-; and, if he chooses, better 

 legumes and roots, and even better cabbages and other culinary vegetables than he could 

 Trow in his kitchen garden. The bailiffs on such farms are, or ought to be, well educated 

 men, brought up to farming in the best districts. They should be well paid, and have 



