44 Size of Farms. 



they are commonly bound to do so by their leases, when 

 these articles are sent to market ( l55 ). 



3. In all districts where capital is not abundant, moderate- 

 sized farms ought to be preferred. The size of a farm 

 ought always to be in proportion to the sum whieh the 

 holder can afford to lay out in stocking it. This rule ought 

 in a special manner to be observed, when the circulation of 

 a country is reduced ; when markets are consequently low ; 

 and when it is not easy to raise a considerable sum of 

 money, even on good security, should an unexpected de- 

 mand occur, and no sales have been made to meet it. 

 Where such circumstances take place, a large farmer may 

 be involved in difficulties, or reduced to ruin, which the 

 occupier of a moderate farm, whose business is conducted 

 on a smaller scale, may escape. 



3. Large Farms. Wherever agriculture is followed as a 

 distinct profession, a farm ought to be of such a size, as to 

 furnish regular employment, not only to the farmer himself, 

 but also to the servants and labourers employed by him, in 

 order that the greatest possible profit may be derived from 

 their labour, at the least possible expense. It is evident, 

 that this can only be accomplished on a farm of considerable 

 extent, where judicious rotations of crops are adopted, and 

 where the economy of the farm is so conducted, that too 

 much work does not occur at one season of the year, and 

 too little at another ; in short, where that division of labour, 

 from which manufacturers have derived such essential bene- 

 fit, is applied to husbandry ( 15<J ). 



The arguments, however, which have been adduced in sup- 

 port of large farms, and the objections which have been 

 urged against them, and in favour of small farms, are so nu- 

 merous and important, that it is proposed to state them in a 

 separate paper in the Appendix ( l57 ). 



The chief cause of the enlargement of farms was, the in- 

 troduction of those arts, by which bodily labour has been 

 so wonderfully saved, and fewer hands rendered necessary to 

 carry on cultivation. 



Formerly, the farmer was but little occupied, except in 

 seed-time and harvest ; and his whole labour, during win- 

 ter, was in threshing and preparing his crop for sale. In 

 summer, except when peat was the fuel, he was literally al- 

 most idle. But in these enlightened times, he has constant 

 occupation almost every day in the year, in ploughing, 

 sowing, reaping, and manuring his fields, or conveying 

 his crop to market ; and when the improvement of roads, 



