70 Arrangement of Agricultural Labour. 



ductive extent (* 3 ), the quality of the soil, the preceding 

 crops, the cultivation given to each, and the species and 

 quantity of manure they have severally received. The fu- 

 ture treatment of each field, for a succession of years, may 

 then be resolved on, with more probability of success. 



With the assistance of such a statement, every autumn, 

 an arrangement of crops for the ensuing year ought to be 

 made out ; the fields or pieces of land being classed, according 

 to the purposes for which they are respectively intended. The 

 number of acres allotted for arable land, meadow, or pasture, 

 will thus be ascertained. It will not then be difficult to an- 

 ticipate, what number of horses and labourers will be re- 

 quired during the season for the fields in culture, nor the 

 live-stock that will be necessary for the pasture land. The 

 works of summer and harvest will likewise be foreseen, and 

 proper hands engaged in due time to perform them ( Z4 ). 



As nothing contributes more to facility and satisfaction in 

 business, than to prepare for what must be done, a farmer 

 should have constantly in view, a judicious rotation of crops, 

 according to the nature and quality of his soil, and should 

 arrange the quantity and succession of labour accordingly. 

 Team labour, when frost and bad weather do not intervene, 

 should be arranged for some months ; and hand labour, for 

 some weeks, according to the season of the year. " A ge- 

 " neral memorandum list of business to be done," is there- 

 fore essential, that nothing may escape the memory, and that 

 the most requisite work may be brought forward first, if 

 suitable to the state of the weather ( z5 ). In this way, the 

 labour will go on regularly, and without confusion, while, by 

 a proper attention, either a distribution of labour, or an oc- 

 casional consolidation of it, may be applied to every part of 

 the farm (**). 



It is, indeed, in the skilful method of setting men, cattle, 

 and implements properly to work, that the practical farmer, 

 has an advantage, which an experimental theorist never can 

 attain. Excellence in that art alone, frequently makes a dif- 

 ference equal to half the rent of arable land. The same ob- 

 servation holds good, in respect to the grazier's judgment in 

 the selection and proper management of stock. A good 

 farmer should have, it is said, a hundred eyes ; for it requires 

 constant activity, advantageously to manage, if the concern 

 is large, so diversified a business. 



The following rules, connected with the arrangement, and 

 the successful management of a farm, are particularly to be 

 recommended. 



