1898] 



FARMil]RS' REGISTER. 



553 



Head If. 



to make ini|)rovements, because more wcaltliy; 



but also better inclined to do so, from beiii<r nion; 



intelli<;ent. We even see, thai the population of 



a country thus occupied, is aufftnented, from the 



circumstance of his interest beini; concerned, in 



giving the |)reference to married servants, instead 



of lads and boys, and superannuated men, with \ subdivisions as in the (brmer head. 



which the smalflarnis are peopled. That he does | _ Is/, VVi;h respect to mechanics interfering with 



Of farms altof^ether in pasturk, including a 

 sm(dl proporlion of tillage, for raising corn and 

 potatoes for the residenters. 



These may also be considered under the same 



not employ the whole progeny of these hinds, is a 

 favorable circumstance to the public, as they serve 

 as an excellent nursery for the supply of the me- 

 chanical branches, which not only cannot be re- 

 cruited from a country laid out in small liirms, but 

 -jire themselves drained of their youth, to keep up 

 ihe population of that unproductive system.* 



Instead, therefore, of inquiring what ought to 

 be the size of a farm, an assize ought to be held 

 on the judgment of the farmer, and the capital he 



this system, there is harrlly an instance, though 

 it would be much more for their advantage, if they 

 converted their pitiful possessions to the mainte- 

 nance of a milch cow, or the rearing of a youn" 

 beast, than, in their present wretched system of 

 tillage, oppressing themselves, and disgracing tho 

 country. But, lor this purpose, it would be neces- 

 sary that their patches were inclosed : but that 

 would be by far too great an exertion for their 

 genius ; and so I shall leave them to their own 



is able to command; for although it may be re- ] niismanagement. 



marked, that the powers of the mind, even in the 

 same person, expand and contract, according to 

 the situation in which lie may lor some time be 

 placed, yet there can be no doubt, also, that there 

 are people whose genius far surpasses the general 

 run, in whatever circumstances ihey may be 

 placed. Thus, while it would require a man of 

 considerable abilities to manage, in the best man- 

 ner, a farm of 300 acres in tillage, I should sup- 

 pose, that were the vast abilities of a Fox, or of a 

 Pitt, to be concentred on agriculture, with an in- 

 clination to the profession, they could, with e(]ual 

 ■ease, manage a farm of ten times the extent: at 

 least, those who undertake such a charge, and 

 do justice to the subject, might be considered, in 

 agriculture, as those two great characters are in 

 politics, among the most enlightened of their com- 

 patriots. 



A farm in the vicinity of a great (own, requires 

 more abilities to manage, in proportion to its ex- 

 tent, than a farm in a more remote situation; be- 

 cause the branches of operation are more minute- 

 ly divided, and the sources, from which the reve- 

 nue is obtained, fiow in more various channels; 

 while the general economy of the whole is regu- 

 Jated by more uncertain and variable principles. 

 4. Of several farms in the possession of one farm- 

 er, lying at a distance from one another. 



In this system, the advantages are not altoge- 

 ther so great as when the farms are contiguous: 

 For, 1st, The contrast in the soil gives no advan- 

 tage in the labor; nor can the strength of the whole 

 be concentred on one object: of" course, a greater 

 expense rn labor is incurred. 2d, As the master 

 cannot oversee the whole personally, he must dele- 

 gate his authority in part to an overseer, which 

 seldom turns out so eH'ective. But, in other re- 

 spects, the advantages are nearly equal; and in 

 population it is superior; for more people are re- 

 quired to do the same work. The profit, of course, 

 will be diminished; but as the farmer will be more 

 in the practice of traversing the country, he will 

 naturally become more intelligentj and thence car- 

 ry on his plans more judiciously. 



* It is curious to observe the cant of declamation 

 (for depopulating tfie country) whicfi has, for these 

 last forty years, been kept up against the uniting of the 

 small farms, which has taken place chiefly in that pe- 

 riod, which has not only been an ara of great agricul- 

 tural improvement, but the population, from actual in- 

 vestigation, has increased, in Scotland, near 300,000 I families : even were this to produce no increase 

 soula, or about one-fifth of the whole. 1 of populatioii, it aught to be held as beneficial to 



Vol. VI.-70 * * ' ' 



2d, Of small pasture farms in the occupation of 

 tenants having 910 other occupation. 

 There cannot well be a very small farm of this 

 description, as the attention required would not be 

 sufficient employment, neither would the proht to 

 be derived be a sufficient recompense for constant 

 attention. They must necessarily, therefore, be 

 of greater extent than the small arable farm, 

 where there is always abundance of employment 

 to the little tenant ; and although there may be lit- 

 tle recompense to him as a master, yet he is gene- 

 rally understood to be sufficiently remunerated 

 lor the labor which, as a servant, he bestows 

 upon it. 



The same circumstance which promotes the 

 prosperity of a corn farmer on nn arable larm, and 

 the consequent prosperity of the country, will, I 

 am persuaded, operate in the same manner upon 

 a cattle-farmer in a pasture farm, viz. that tfie 

 larger that the concern be, if the tenant has abili- 

 ties answerable, the more enterprising will he be- 

 come, and the country will the more speedily be 

 improved in the breed of cattle, and melioration of 

 pasture lands. 



3d, Of two or more farms lying contigucnis, in the 

 occupation of one tenant. 



That the tenant in this situation will be more 

 wealthy and more intelligent, and hence, being 

 more enterprising, will be more beneficial to the 

 country, has already, in the foregoing article, been 

 noticed ; in addition to which, the following re- 

 marks occur. 



A man will be able to manage a pasture 

 farm of greater value and greater stock, on a rich 

 soil, than on a poorer one, which must be more 

 extensive to yield the same produce, and will 

 therefore require more exertion to oversee. The 

 quantity of land and quantity of stock that a 

 farmer may have abilities to manage in a paeture 

 farm, may be vastly greater, than in a farm un- 

 der tillage ; as there are fewer servants to oversee, 

 and as the process of breeding and feeding cattle 

 is much less complex than that of raising corn. 



The efliect on population, of uniting t»vo or more 

 pasture farms into one, will be much the same, as 

 formerly stated, with regard to farms in tillage; 

 for, although the tenant may be enabled to keep 

 fewer herds, yet he will naturally choose that these 

 should be married men, boarding in their own 



