482 STOCKING FARMS. [oCT* 



sheep are greatly advanced ; so that, at present, the 

 same farm which at that period would have been very 

 well stocked, and the first year's expences provided 

 for, at the rate of 5l. per acre, now demands 7!. to 

 8l. per acre. But it is to be remembered, that in all 

 such estimates it is necessary to suppose that every 

 implement bought in is new, and that the live stock 

 be good of the sort, and that the first year's ex- 

 pences be provided for, though a portion of t 

 crop may come in before the whole payment is made. 

 A man cannot be at his ease if he does not thus pro- 

 vide ; nor will he be able to make that profit by his 

 business with a small capital which will attend the 

 employment of a larger. By profit, I would be u 

 derstood to mean a per centage on his capital, whi 

 is the only satisfactory way of estimating it. If, by 

 stocking a farm with 5l. per acre, he makes 7 or 8 

 per cent, profit ; and, by stocking in the proportion 

 of 8l. per acre, he makes ten per cent, (and this dif- 

 ference will, I believe, often be found), it must be 

 sufficiently apparent that the loss by the smaller 

 stock is a serious evil. It will depend much on situa- 

 tion and local circumstances : the benefit of procuring 

 manures, or litter to make dung, may, in some 

 places, be very great, in others much less ; but not 

 to be able to profit by every favourable opportunity 

 that may attend the spot on which a fanner is fixed, 

 must be highly disadvantageous. To irrigate land is 

 an expensive operation ; but to omit or postpone it, 

 for want of money for the undertaking, is to lose 

 perhaps the capital advantage of a farm. Cases of 

 this sort might be greatly multiplied ; and there is 



not 



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