Book II. IMPROVEMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 1225 



will command both' capital and skill. From these considerations it is obvious, that the 

 improvement of agriculture depends on the profits on capital employed in it, on the taste 

 of those who purchase its products, and on the knowledge of those who are engaged in 

 agriculture as a profession. The first subject would lead us further into political 

 economy than would be of much use in a work of this kind, and therefore we shall limit 

 ourselves to a few remarks on the other topics. 



Chap I. 

 Improvement of Agriculture, by refining the Taste of the Purchasers of its Products, and 

 increasing the Knowledge of Agricultural Patrons. 

 7926. The desire of being comfortable is the first step towards improvement ; but before 

 any thing can be desired, we must know what it is. Men, when they know of nothing 

 better, rest satisfied with what they have ; and therefore one of the main sources of im- 

 proving the taste both of those who purchase agricultural produce from necessity, and of 

 those patrons of agriculture who purchase from the conjoined impulses of necessity and 

 choice, is the increase of knowledge. However paradoxical it may seem, discontent is 

 the parent of all improvement, as certainly as the acorn is the germ of the future oak, 

 or the time present that of all future times. The grand achievement of the present age, 

 an eminent writer observes {Examiner, Jan. 9. 1831.), "is the diffusion of superficial 

 knowledge ; " and on this diffusion, superficial though it may be, the progress of agri- 

 culture and of every other art depends far more than on any thing else. 



7927. In Scotland and Ireland could a taste for wheaten bread and butcher's meat be introduced 

 generally among the operative classes, the advantages to agriculture would be immense. Could the same 

 persons be taught to desire a greater degree of cleanliness, light, and warmth in their cottages; a greater 

 variety of potherbs, salads, fruits, and flowers in their gardens ; and handsome dresses for their wives and 

 daughters, how great the general benefit ! Much may be done to bring about this change, by the opulent 

 who are willing to reside on their estates and to take a little trouble. Building good and comfortable 

 cottages ; attaching proper gardens stocked with trees and plants from the demesne garden ; and offering 

 little premiums, or marks of distinction for keeping them in the nicest order, and for decently clothed 

 well-bred children, would soon have a sensible effect. Attending to that kind of education which consists 

 in teaching infants civility and politeness, with mutual respect and restraint as occasion requires ; and 

 instructing grown children how to work at almost every thing likely to come in their way, as done in the 

 improved German and Swiss schools, would, independently of reading and writing, do a great deal to soften 

 and humanise the peasant mind. Encouragement should be given to save money for unforeseen wants, 

 or against old age ; and the certain effects pointed out of early marriages, followed by a numerous 

 offspring. These and a variety of similar means would be productive of some change of taste in the 

 operative part of rural society. 



792S. The introduction of manufacturing establishments, wherever it could be properly done, would 

 contribute to the same effect : those who work at manufactures, and even common mechanics, generally 

 live better, and are better clothed and lodged, than the common country labourer ; therefore their example 

 would be of use in introducing a salutary degree of luxury. " The endeavouring to impress on the minds 

 of the lower classes the propriety of being contented with the simplest and cheapest fare, is extremely 

 pernicious to the best interests of mankind. Encomiums ought not to be bestowed on those who are con- 

 tented with mere necessaries : on the contrary, such indifference ought to be held disgraceful. A taste 

 for the comforts, the enjoyments, and even the luxuries of life, should be as widely diffused as possible, 

 and, if practicable, interwoven with the national character and prejudices. This, as it appears to us, is the 

 best mode of attempting the amelioration of the condition of the lower classes. Luxuries, and if you will 

 have it so, even wasteful habits, are incomparably better than that cold, sluggish apathy, which would 

 content itself with what can barely continue mere animal existence." Mr. Peel observed in the 

 House of Commons that " he thought it one of the first duties of the legislature, to do all in its power 

 to excite a taste in the humbler classes of society for those comforts and those enjoyments — those 

 luxuries, he might add — of civilised society, the desire for which, and the habitual possession of 

 which, would form the best guarantee for their good conduct, and the best guarantee that the higher 

 classes could have for the possession of their property and their power, as at present enjoyed." 

 (Manual of Cottage Gardening, Husbandry, a?id Architecture, S[c.) " In those countries," Ricardo 

 judiciously observes, " where the labouring classes have the fewest wants, and are contented with the 

 cheapest food, the people are exposed to the greatest vicissitudes and miseries : they have no place of 

 refuge from calamity ; they cannot seek safety in a lower station ; they are already so low that they can 

 fall no lower. On any deficiency of the chief article of their subsistence, there are few substitutes of 

 which they can avail themselves, and dearth to them is attended with almost all the evils of famine " 

 (Sup. Encyc. Brit. art. Corn Laws.) Such is the case in Ireland, where, amidst the germs of the greatest 

 riches and luxury, the inhabitants are contented to live on less than any other people in the world. 



79.'9. The taste of the superior patrons of agriculture is to be improved by visiting the best cultivated 

 districts, reading agricultural works, attending agricultural societies, and, above all, by cultivating a farm, 

 and establishing on it a systematic order and regularity in every detail. Let such observe the hedges, 

 gates, verges of fields, and the beautiful rows of turnips, of Berwickshire or Northumberland ; the cor- 

 rectly drilled beans of East Lothian ; and the live stock of Leicestershire. But few are the proprietors of 

 lands who either employ a proper bailiff or demesne steward ; and of those who do, how few who do not 

 limit and fetter them in their operations, or else neglect them and leave them to sink into that supine state 

 in which the uppermost wish is to enjoy the comforts of the situation with the least possible degree of exer- 

 tion ! Some proprietors desire to have their home farm managed with a view to profit, as the cheapest v< ay 

 of getting hay, straw, mutton, &c. ; these are sordid patrons. A home farm ought to combine an elegant 

 orderlystyle of management, high-kept horses, harness, implements, &c, well clothed servants, and eve] \ 

 thing in a superior style to what is seen on common farms. Particular attention ought to be paid to the 

 buildings, which should combine architectural design, fitness, strength, and elegance ; the roads ought to 

 be like approaches to a mansion ; the hedges like those of gardens ; the green verges round the fields kept 

 mown like lawns or grass walks, and the ditches, bridges, and gates in corresponding neatness ; the finest 

 trees ought to be encouraged in proper situations, and correctly pruned ; substantial watering places 

 formed and kept supplied ; every operation on plants, or the ground, performed in a garden-like manner ; 

 and no individual of any species of stock kept, of which a drawing might not be taken and preserved as a 

 beauty. Even the dress and deportment of the servants on such a farm ought to harmonise with the rich 

 culture, orderly display, and high keeping of the whole. 



