6oo 



DECEMBER. 



the clearest truth and correctness are necessarily 

 the result. 



I ought to obser\e, that this accuracy is very 

 desirable for ascertaining various circumstances. 

 The comparative profit of grass and arable land de- 

 pends much on it. Some persons, from too lightly 

 estimating the expence of teams, think arable the 

 most profitable; and others, whose calculation of 

 those charges runs perhaps too high, give too much 

 Into the counter opinion. I can easily conceive, 

 that many strerfuous advocates for fallows might 

 lose a little of their warmth, if they knew what 

 the expence of ploughing an acre of land really 

 was on their farms. Such instances might be mul- 

 tiplied : they are indeed obvious to every man ca- 

 pable of uniting the theory with the practice of a 

 business. 



The article of manure is much more complex, 

 and, upon the whole, the most difficult accompt 

 there is for a farmer to keep. It must be arranged 

 under the title Farm-yard; and it connects with so 

 many objects, that no little care is necessary to 

 keep it ; and with the greatest attention some 

 doubts will still remain. 



Suppose the system to be that of carting a stra- 

 tum of marl over the yard before foddering be- 

 gins: that expence is to be ascertained at once 

 without any difficulty; but how is the straw to be 

 charged ? Cattle may be Rut out to straw in this 

 country at Is. or Is. Od. per week. At these prices 



a ton 



