50 Tenure, whether in Property or on Lease. 



suits, many respectable proprietors of land ( l68 ) have culti- 

 vated extensive tracts of country, with the view of trying 

 useful experiments, and disseminating a knowledge of agri-* 

 culture in their respective neighbourhoods. Nothing can 

 be more laudable than such pursuits. The spirit of im- 

 provement which they have thus excited, and the important 

 facts which they have established, must be in the highest 

 degree gratifying to themselves, and useful to their coun- 



try(" 9 ). 



5. Some landlords, in remote and unimproved districts, 

 convinced that example, and not precept, can alone dispel 

 ignorance, and remove prejudice in rural arts and prac- 

 tices ( 17 ), have resolved to take a farm into their own hands, 

 with a view of showing an example of correct husbandry to 

 their tenantry ; and they look for profit, not from the pro- 

 duce of the farm they occupy, but from the general improve- 

 ment of their estate ( I?I ). In other cases, improvements 

 have been carried on by proprietors on a still greater scale. 

 When their estates have been in bad order, the farms ill ar- 

 ranged in regard to extent, figure and boundaries, and the 

 farmers dispirited, poor, and unskilled in agriculture, they 

 have taken a considerable tract of country into their own 

 hands, and, after improving it, have let it to enterprising and 

 skilful farmers. They have then removed their servants, 

 cattle, and implements of husbandry, to another part of the 

 estate, and after treating this in the same manner, they have 

 proceeded to others, as far as circumstances rendered it ex- 

 pedient ( I72 ). 



It is well known, however, that proprietors have in gene- 

 ral derived the greatest profit from farms, which they have 

 only partially improved. Indeed it seldom happens, that a 

 landed proprietor can thoroughly improve a farm, without 

 incurring much unnecessary expense ; whereas, when a 

 foundation has once been laid, a judicious farmer, with more 

 attention and economy, can accomplish the same, or nearly 

 as much improvement, on far more moderate terms ( l73 ). 

 Nor, in economical agriculture, is any practice worthy of at- 

 tention, in which the expense incurred, will not be repaid with 

 a fair profit ( 174 ). 



On this subject it has been justly remarked, that landlords, 

 have in general full scope for the exercise of their abilities, 

 in the improvement and management of their estates, and 

 must derive the greatest pleasure from the faithful discharge 

 of that trust, which Providence has reposed in them ; but 

 should high rank, or superior abilities, impose public duties 



