6 INTRODUCTION. 



10. A considerable proportion of the most fertile land 

 in England, until bills of division and inclosure were in- 

 troduced, (which have in some degree alleviated the evil, 

 though not to the extent that could be wished for) was 

 actually debarred from improvement, by the common-field 

 system ; whereas in the more improved districts of Scot- 

 land, owing to a general Bill of Inclosure passed by the 

 Scotch Parliament in 1695, every farm, for many years 

 past, has been a distinct possession, or been held in seve- 

 rally. 



11. The expence of labour in Scotland, does not differ 

 materially from that of several extensive districts in Eng- 

 land ; and the day-labourers in that country, certainly 

 execute as much work, within the same period of time, as 

 those in Scotland; but the servants employed in husbandry 

 in Scotland, are in general more tractable, are satisfied 

 with homelier fare, have fewer perquisites, are less accus- 

 tomed to waste their time and their wages unprofitably, 

 are generally married, and thence steadier in their conduct, 

 are more regular and constant in their hours of labour, 

 and having commonly received a better education, are 

 thence less addicted to debauchery, or to any irregularity 

 of conduct. 



12. In Scotland, the laws are favourable to cultivation 

 and improvement, a circumstance to which the excellence 

 of the Scotch husbandly is greatly to be attributed. Re- 

 gulations exist, which facilitate the division of commons 

 and of common fields; fences erected between two dis- 

 tinct estates, are made at the joint expence of the owners ; 

 the value of the tithes of any estate, can be fixed by the de- 

 cision of the supreme court of justice, and when once fixed 

 by a legal valuation, and converted into what may be called 

 a corn rent, the amount cannot afterwards be increased : 

 The possessor of any estate can, in general, exonerate his 



