40 TIREY. AGRICULTURE. 



present situation. It is not too strong a statement to say, 

 that discontent is the basis of all human improvement ; 

 the motive to action without which man would yet have 

 been feeding on acorns and clothing himself in skins. 

 The first step towards the improvement of the countiy is to 

 excite wants; and this must be the result of local example, 

 or of a freer communication with more enlightened coun- 

 tries and a knowledge of more accumulated comforts. 

 Little of this example exists in the remote islands, in which 

 the want of communication is also, from various circum- 

 stances, almost complete. In the vicinity of towns and of 

 the improving countries, the change is palpable and rapid. 

 It would not be difficult to point out means by which its 

 progress could be accelerated in the remote districts ; but 

 the discussion would carry me beyond the bounds pro- 

 posed in this sketch. 



It is well known that the rearing of black cattle for 

 exportation forms the basis of the pasturage of the islands. 

 These are almost invariably exported in a lean state, and 

 are generally purchased on the spot by itinerant drovers ; 

 the risk and expense of freight making, in many cases, a 

 serious deduction from the value of the animal. No 

 attempts have been made to fatten stock for salting ; a 

 plan which, with great probability, might in many of the 

 islands be adopted with advantage. Nor is there any 

 system of dairy farming, further than is required to meet 

 the current demands of the cultivator himself; since 

 neither butter nor cheese can be said to form articles of 

 export. The want of winter food is indeed, from the 

 defects of the agricultural system, an obstacle to these 

 practices ; and it is a serious detriment also to the very 

 system of exportation under which their cattle are at pre- 

 sent reared. In consequence of it many animals die in 

 winter ; and even those which survive are at the return of 

 spring so reduced as to be of far less value, even when made 

 fit for travelling and exportation, than they would be under 

 a better plan of feeding. The cultivation of artificial 



