TAKING REINS IN HAND 



he can establish the owner in a conspicuous 

 position on the prize Hsts of the County or 

 State Societies, and excite the gaping won- 

 derment of old-fashioned neighbors by the 

 luxuriance of his crops, he is led to believe 

 that he has achieved the desired success. 



The end of it is, that the owner enjoys the 

 honors of official mention, without the fatigue 

 of relieving himself of ignorance ; the manager 

 is doubly sure of his stipend; and the inordi- 

 nate expense under a direction that is not 

 limited by commercial properties or propor- 

 tions, weakens the faith of all onlookers in 

 "improved farming." 



I am satisfied that a great deal of hindrance 

 is done in this way to agricultural progress, 

 by those who have only the best intentions in 

 the matter. My friend, Mr. Tallweed, for in- 

 stance, after accumulating a fortune in the 

 city, is disposed to put on the dignity of coun- 

 try pursuits, and advance the interests of agri- 

 culture. He purchases a valuable place, builds 

 his villa, plants, refits, exhausts architectural 

 resources in his outbuildings, all under the ad- 

 vice of a shrewd Scotchman recommended by 

 Thorburn, and can presently make such show 

 of dainty cattle, and of mammoth vegetables, 

 as excites the stare of the neighborhood, and 



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