29(i Of the various Modes of occupying Land. 



CHAP, IV. 



OF THE VARIOUS MODES OF OCCUPYING LAND V 



Introduction. 



THE principal articles of food, and the chief materials of 

 human industry, are obtained from the soil. In order to 

 procure them, it is necessary for man to exert both his phy- 

 sical powers, and his intellectual faculties. By means of 

 these exertions, he is enabled to raise a greater produce 

 from the soil, than is requisite for the sustenance and accom- 

 modation of those who are employed in its cultivation. Un- 

 less a surplus produce both of food, and of the materials of 

 industry be raised, society would remain stationary, and 

 every species of improvement, in the condition of man, would 

 cease. It is therefore a most important subject of inquiry, 

 "How the greatest surplus produce may be procured, by a 

 " judicious management of the surface of the earth ?" 

 There are four modes by which this can be effected : 



1. Cultivating land for arable crops. 



2. Appropriating it to herbage. 



3. Employing it as a garden or orchard ; and, 



4. Dedicating it to woods and plantations *. Each of 

 these modes shall be briefly considered. 



PART I. 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF ARABLE LAND. 



IN treating of this subject, the particulars to be discussed 

 are, 1. Those operations in husbandry which take place, 

 from the ploughing and ridging of the land, until its pro- 

 duce is ready for delivery. 



2. The rotation of crops best adapted for different soils 

 and situations, more especially those, which furnish the great- 

 est quantity of produce, without exhausting the soil. And, 



3. The extent to which spade-husbandry is advisable, in 

 the culture of arable land. 



* Gardening, and the management of orchards, woods, and plantations, 

 are essential branches of agriculture, taken in its more extensive sense ; and can- 

 not, therefore, with any degree of propriety be omitted, in a general treatise on 

 the subject, though many practical farmers are not aware of their importance and 

 connexion with their pursuits. 



