554 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No.0 



the country ; for the great farmers' herds have a 

 better chance of getting full employment, tlian in 

 a small farm tending a small Hock, 

 " The herd diminutive, of many hues; " Thomson. 

 where they are little better than half idle : for a 

 population of idle people ouizht to be exploded; 

 as not only are the faculties of these people them- 

 selves locked up for want of exertion, but the 

 money which their maintenance requires, is thus 

 diverted from the channels of enterprise and im- 

 provement into which it might otherwise have 

 flowed. 



4th, Of several pasture flirms, at a distance from 

 each other, in one tenant's occupation. 



The effects in this case are almost the same as 

 if the farms lay contiguous, provided each sepa- 

 rate farm has all the varieties of pasture, and pro- 

 per shelter for the cattle ; but if this is not the case, 

 it were better for the farmer (and for the public) 

 that they lay conterminous to one another, as they 

 thereby could aflbrd accommodation, to the mutu- 

 al advantage of the whole. So far, also, as loss 

 may arise from the master not being able to su- 

 perintend the whole, so far will there be a disad- 

 vantage in having distant farms in pasture, as 

 well as distant farms in tillase ; but. on the other 

 hand, as was before observed, the farmer himself 

 will become more intelligent, in proportion as he 

 has to traverse a greater range of country, from 

 which he will the more readily introduce or make 

 improvements in the breed or management of his 

 flock. 



Head III. 

 Of arable and pasture united. 



Whatever has been said respecting the size of 

 farms, in the two Ibrmer heads, is equally applica- 

 ble to this; the larger that the farms are, the more 

 intelligent and enterprising will the farmer him- 

 self be; and hence, from his more spirited and ju- 

 dicious exertions, the community at large will de- 

 rive a greater advantage. 



This mode, or system of farming, is the most 

 judicious of the whole, as it promotes the interest 

 of all parties concerned, the proprietor, the tenant, 

 and the public at large, more than either of the 

 two modes separately. It promotes the interest of 

 the proprietor, by affording him a greater rent: it 

 promotes the interest of the tenant; because he 

 will be able to manage a greater extent of land, 

 than in a farm wholly in tillage; and he will have 

 more intercourse with the world, than in a farm 

 wholly in pasture; and hence, performiuir more 

 business, and being more enlightened, he will be- 

 come more wealthy. Finally, it promotes the in- 

 terest of the public; because a greater proportion 

 of the produce will be brought to market, and 

 even a greater crop produced. This arises li-om 

 two causes: Isf, there will be fewer unproductive 

 cattle to eat up the produce at home: 2d, The 

 lands being alternately in tillage and in grass, 

 they will be kept in better condition; and the crops 

 of corn, and of hay or pasture, will be more luxu- 

 riant, and of a better quality. 



With respect to population, this system is unfa- 

 vorable in one case, and favorable in another. It 

 is unfavorable in the case of converting a farm, 

 that had been wholly in tillage, into part tillage, 

 and part pasture; for pasture land always requires 

 fewer people to manage it, than lands in tillage 

 tout for the same reason, it is favorable to, or in-' 



creasive of population, when pasture lands are 

 converted to the production of grain. In a great 

 proportion of the best lands of England, it would 

 be highly for the advantage of all parties, that 

 this system were adopted, instead of the grazing 

 system, which prevails without variation. In 

 Scotland, however, the case is different; there, the 

 greater part of the arable lands, which formerly 

 were kept wholly under the plough, have been 

 most judiciously improved, from the introduction 

 of this alternate svstem, and which has, to a cer- 

 tain extent, diminished the number of people em- 

 ployed in agriculture, greatly to the mortification 

 of the gloomy-minded declaimers against the pre- 

 sent times, who, in the blindness of their rage, de- 

 nounce the uniting of small fiirms as the cause of 

 this mistaken national calamity. But, even were 

 this notion to be well founded, (and it would not 

 be difficult to show that it is not,) yet surely it ia 

 not solely the numbers of people employed in any 

 profession, that ought to render them respectable 

 in the stale : regard must also be had to the inge- 

 nuity with which they are actuated, and the in- 

 dustry with which they carry on their operations. 

 People, not judiciously employed, are little better 

 to the state than if they were not employed at all. 



H. 



For tlie Fanners' Register, 

 ROUGH FIELD NOTES. 



No. I. 



Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. 



This canal is one of the most interesting, and, in 

 point of construction, one of the greatest works in 

 our country. It was commenced ten years ago ; 

 and packet boats can now ascend to AVilliams- 

 porl, rather more than 100 miles above Washing- 

 ton. It leaves the liead of tide-water at George- 

 town, and will terminate somewhere on the Ohio 

 near Pittsburg. The whole length, when com- 

 pleted, will not be less than 340 miles. This route 

 may be divided into three sections : first, the 

 eastern, from Georgetown to near Cumberland, 

 187 miles ; second, the section on which is the 

 summit level, from Cumberland to the north of 

 Casselman's River, 71 miles ; and third, from the 

 last named place to the Ohio, 85 miles. 



The rise on the first division is 635 feet ; the 

 whole lockage on the second, 1961 feet; and the 

 fall on the third, 619 feet; making the lockage of 

 the whole canal 3215 feet. On the second divi- 

 sion, there will be a tunnel, of rather more than 4 

 miles long, under a ridge of the Alleghany, 860 

 feet in elevation. What a stupendous undertak- 

 ing! If ever completed, to see it will be worth 

 a trip across the Atlantic. 



From Georgetown the canal rises, by a rapid 

 succession of 5 locks, 35 feet. At Harper's Ferry 

 it attains an elevation of 255 feet above tide, by 

 means of 32 locks. The locks are all built of 

 stone, hewn on the face, 100 feet long and 15 

 feet wide in the clear, and are from 6 to 8 feet lift. 

 The canal itself is 60 feet wide at water-surface 

 and 6 feet deep. For a few miles above George- 

 town, the dimensions are even greater. The tow- 

 path is 10 leet wide at fop. The embankments of 

 the part now in use have become solid and firm. 

 The canal slope of the embankments is covered, 



