724 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 12 



sons are immediately sent, to examine whether | 

 the complaint be just. The assembly then ap- I 

 point the same five as before, or others if they 

 please, to go and inspect again, with the utmost 

 care, the fields which they had marked, and to 

 judge which two of them, one of wheat, and the 

 other of rye, best deserve the premiums. On the 

 next Sunday or holiday they declare their opinions 

 to a general assembly of the parishioners, as be- 

 fore; and if no objection be made by any of those 

 whose corn has been marked, this assembly ad- 

 judges the premiums accordingly: but if any one 

 of them appeals, other proper judges are imme- 

 diately chosen, and directed to inspect the spot. 

 On the next Sunday or holiday, till which the de- 

 cision of the premium is, in this case, of course 

 put off; these last examiners make their report, 

 and the matter is then determined. All the peo- 

 ple thus sent by the assembly, are paid at my ex- 

 pense. In consequence of the decision of the in- 

 habitants, the premiums are delivered publicly on 

 the least of the assumption, after the service at 

 church is over. Those who win them, wear the 

 medal, for a year only, fastened with a green rib- 

 bon to a button-hole of their coat, and have, like- 

 wise lor that time, a distinguished seat in the par- 

 ish church. These marks of distinctioa cease at 

 the end of the year, when others succeed to them; 

 but the medal remains the property of the person 

 to whom it was adjudged. He may dispose of it 

 as he pleases: yet, though he is no longer allowed 

 to wear it on the outside of his clothes, there has 

 not been a single instance of any one's selling his 

 medal. They all keep it as a badge of honor. 



"These rewards have been productive of so 

 much good, and have raised so extraordinary an 

 emulation among my tenants, that I cannot but 

 advise every gentleman to practise the same 

 method upon his estate. I intend to institute some 

 others, tor different productions; and as I am tar 

 from having a sufficient number of people to ma- 

 nage all my lands, if the whole of them was un- 

 der culture, I have long thought of giving gratui- 

 ties to such as shall have a child within the first 

 year of their marriage, to continue this allowance 

 to them so long as they shall have a child from 

 year to year, and to allot a pretty considerable sum 

 for the family which shall have most children. 

 Some may, perhaps, think these encouragements 

 lor propagating the human species odd, and even 

 superfluous: but they will be of a different opinion 

 when informed, as they may be by the ministers 

 of most country parishes, that many peasants are 

 unwilling to get children, or at least do not choose 

 to have more than a very small number, when 

 they might have a numerous offspring.* If my 



* This is the only statement which has yet met our 

 observation of such a practical operation of the "pre- 

 ventive check" to population — and the authority on 

 which this stands, however respectable, does not re- 

 move our doubts of its truth. But difficnlt or impossi- 

 ble as it may be thus to check the increase of popula- 

 tion, the contrary effect of increasing population can 

 be easily produced, and has been produced with the 

 most disastrous consequences, by acts of government: 

 and if Turbilli's mistaken but benevolent scheme of 

 premiums for births could have been extended through- 

 out France, it would have worked to produce such 



abilities were equal to my will, I should already 

 have lormed all these uselul estublishments. It is 

 generally allowed, and experience has particularly 

 demonstrated it upon my estate, that an increase 

 of culture produces an increase of inhabitants; 

 and that wherever there is room for two, with the 

 means of subsisting them, a marriage will ensue: 

 but at the same time that this means of increasing 

 population is encouraged by a more extensive cul- 

 ture of the. earth, I see no reason why proper 

 methods should not be used to induce men like- 

 wise to concur in the same laudable end. 



"Ever since the year 1756, 1 have continued all 

 my undertakings, and with the same success as 

 belbre. Those who saw the condition of my 

 estate when I first came to it, in the year 1737, 

 now scarcely know again a single spot of it; so 

 much is the face of the country changed. My 

 mansion-house, which was formerly surrounded 

 with dreary wastes, vast commons, and unbound- 

 ed heaths, now stands in the middle of well culti- 

 vated fields; my improvements are become consi- 

 derable both ibr extent and value; producing all 

 sorts of grain, and natural as well as artificial 

 grasses. I have dispersed in them all kinds of 

 Iruit-trees, and divided them into fields of proper 

 sizes, separated by good ditches planted with 

 quick hedges. Alleys of limes, poplars, white 

 mulberries, chestnuts, and various other trees, be- 

 sides being a considerable embellishment to the 

 whole, afford convenient passes from one field to 

 another, yield food to cattle, and are sown from 

 time to time. I turn every thing to profit; even 

 my driest soils. Many of my marshes are drain- 

 ed, and yield good crops. All my meadows by 

 reason of their great extent, are not yet brought 

 to the state in which I wish to see them; though 

 a great part of them now produces excellent hay. 

 I have mowed some of them twice a year, and 

 hope by and by to do the same to others; for I 

 intend to water them all, by making dams and 

 sluices in the brooks and rivulet which pass through 

 them. 



"My vineyards are in good order; and my 

 woods, which are now in regular cuttings, thrive 

 perfectly. Some of these, which I have raised 

 from the seed, have grown so prodigiously, that a 

 stranger would think them much older than they 

 really are. 1 have made some large reservoirs of 

 water, and several ponds, entirely new, besides 

 repairing the old ones. All these have succeeded, 

 and yield good fish. A quarry of mill-stones, 

 formerly abandoned, now turns to good account, 

 and I have discovered several quarries of free- 

 stone. 



"I have been obliged to make several bridges 

 over the brooks and rivulet which divide my mea- 

 dows and marshy grounds, and have carried my 

 roads as far as my improvements extend. Some 

 of these roads lie over hills, which could not be 

 avoided; though others have been cut through, at 

 a great expense. Most of my out-houses, which 

 are pretty spacious for all my cattle and all the 

 produce of my land, with proper buildings for 

 poultry, barns, granaries, &c. are finished; and I 

 have built farm-houses with the stones which it 

 was necessary to take off the lands, in different 



horrors as the poor law system has done in England, 

 and will hereafter do in this country. — Ed. Farm. 

 Reg. 



