OF THE SOIL, &C. 153 



CONCLUSION OF THIS CHAPTER. 



WHAT a field of reflexion presents itself, on considering 

 the various topics discussed in the preceding Sections ; and 

 what advantages would redound to the public, from their 

 being properly attended to, in every part of the united 

 kingdom ? The judicious position of the houses amj offices 

 of a farm, their construction, the proper arrangement 

 of fields, and inclosures judiciously planned, it appears, 

 from the preceding observations, would add much more to 

 the value of a farm, than on a transient view of the subject 

 could be imagined. By a judicious system of draining; by 

 good roads ; by well-constructed instruments of husbandry ; 

 by the choice of proper live stock, and a due attention to 

 their maintenance, the profit of the farmer must also be 

 considerably augmented : and by combining, with a pro- 

 per attention to all these particulars, a due regard to the 

 soil, the climate, the elevation and exposure, and the situ- 

 ation of a farm in respect of markets, the farmer is enabled, 

 to lay the foundation of a system, which will prove the 

 source of his future prosperity. 



Farmers have been too often ridiculed as a stupid and 

 ignorant race ; whilst, on the contrary, they are, in the 

 more improved districts of Scotland at Icist, so well versed 

 in the details of their profession, that there is scarcely a 

 class in the community distinguished by a greater variety of 

 knowledge. Instead of considering a real former, indeed, 

 as an ignorant clown, he ought to be accounted, wot only 

 the most valuable, but also one of the best-informed indivi- 



