Book II. CONSOLIDATING PROPERTY. 559 



will probably be to determine the demesne lands, or site of the proprietor's residence, 

 and the extent of territory he means to attach to it and retain in his own occupation. 

 Then follows the intersection of the estate with roads, and probably a canal ; the choice 

 or determination of the sites for towns, villages, manufactories, and mines, mineral 

 quarries, or fisheries, if such exist naturally. Lastly, the grounds to be planted being 

 determined on, the remaining part of the property will consist of the lands to be let out 

 for cultivation by farmers, or other tenants of the soil. In conformity with this view of 

 the subject, we shall consider, in succession, the consolidating of estates, the appropriating 

 of commonable lands, the choice of demesne, road-making, canal-making, the establish- 

 ment of villages and manufactories, the working of mines and quarries, the establish- 

 ment of fisheries, the formation of plantations, the planting of orchards, and the laying 

 out of farms and farm-lands. 



Chap. I. 

 Consolidating detached Property. 



3471. The advantages of a compact estate over one whose lands lie scattered and inter- 

 mixed with other men's properties are evident. The management, whether of detached 

 farms as parts of an estate, or scattered fields as parts of a farm, is conducted with 

 inconveniency : beside the unpleasant altercations to which intermixed lands are liable 

 to give rise. The different methods of compressing landed property into the required 

 state are by exchange, by purchase, and by sale. 



3472. Where the lands of two proprietors lie intermixed with each other, an amicable 

 exchange is the most eligible ; and were it not for the childish piques and petty 

 jealousies which so frequently take root between neighbouring proprietors (and are 

 cherished perhaps by their officious friends), lands of this description could not long 

 exist ; the evil, in almost any case, being easily removed. Each party having chosen 

 one, or, in extensive concerns, two referees ; and the two or four so chosen, having 

 named a third or fifth, the required commission is formed ; and bonds of arbitration 

 being signed, the commissioners proceed, as under an act of appropriation of common- 

 able lands, to assign each proprietor his rightful share, in the most profitable situation 

 which the given circumstances will permit. This mode of proceeding might be adopted 

 by the most distant parties, or the most inveterate enemies ; and, doubtlessly, with 

 advantage to the property and peace of mind of each. 



3473. Where an estate or a farm is disjointed by the intermediate lands of others, it is 

 not only pleasurable to be possessed of them, but profitable to purchase them, even at a 

 higher price than they are intrinsically worth ; consequently at much more than their 

 value, as detached lands, to their proprietor. Yet such is often the waywardness and 

 ill-judged policy of the holders of lands so situated, that they will rather continue to 

 hold them with disadvantage, than sell them at a fair price. An equitable way of deter- 

 mining a matter of this sort is, to ascertain the value of the lands to the holder as 

 detached lands, and likewise their value to the candidate as intermixed lands ; and to 

 let the mean between the two values be the selling price. By this method, both parties 

 become actual and equal gainers. If the possessor of such lands should lie in wait for 

 an exorbitant offer, the most efficient mode of proceeding is to offer a high number of 

 years' purchase on their fair rental value, indifferently considered, in the situation in 

 which they lie, and to propose to settle such rental value by arbitration. This is a sort 

 of offer which every honest man can readily understand ; and, if the holder has any 

 character to lose in his neighbourhood, he cannot refuse it; if he has not, a calculation 

 of the difference between the rent he is receiving and the interest of the money offered, 

 consequently of the annual loss which he is sustaining by not accepting the offer, will, 

 sooner or later, bring him to a sense, if not of his duty as a member of society, at least 

 of his own interest. 



3474. h is, in general, right management to dispose of the detached parts of an estate, 

 and to add to the main body. The whole is then more easily superintended, and ma- 

 naged at less expense ; while small properties, if suitable steps be taken, and proper 

 seasons of disposal caught, will generally fetch more than larger parcels, of equal rental 

 value, timely and judiciously purchased. 



3475. In selling, as in purchasing, estates, two methods present themselves. _ They may 

 be sold by auction or by private contract. To raise a sum of money expeditiously, the 

 former may be the most eligible, though attended w ith more expense and more notoriety 

 than the latter, which, for the purpose under view, and when expedition is not neces- 

 sary, will generally, if properly conducted, be found preferable. To conduct a sale of 

 detached lands with judgment and reputation, the first step is to have them deliberately 



