On the Means of Improving a Country. 50T 



a great revenue ; where, with above 800 millions of na- 

 tional debt, we still have above twenty millions of acres, 

 lying in a state comparatively waste and unproductive ; 

 where the population is rapidly increasing, and where it has 

 been found necessary, for some years past, to import no in- 

 considerable portion of the means of our subsistence ( IZ ). 



It is certainly better to let agriculture alone, than to esta- 

 blish injudicious regulations respecting it. But if a govern- 

 ment will make such inquiries, as may enable it to judge of 

 what can be done with safety and advantage ; and will pro- 

 mote agricultural industry, not only by removing every ob- 

 stacle to improvement, but by granting positive encourage- 

 ment, agriculture will advance with a rapidity, and will be 

 carried on to an extent, which is hardly to be credited ; 

 and in a much superior degree, than by the " let alone sys- 

 " tern," under the torpor of which, ages might pass away, 

 without accomplishing, what might be effected in the course 

 of a few years, under a judicious system of encouraging re- 

 gulations. 



The principal encouragements, which a wise and liberal 

 government will be anxious to bestow upon agriculture, 

 may be classed under the following heads : 1. Removing 

 obstacles to improvement; 2. Relieving agriculture from 

 any burdens peculiarly affecting it ; 3. Promoting the col- 

 lection and diffusion of useful information ; 4. Giving a pre- 

 ference to domestic productions in the home market; 5. En- 

 couraging the exportation of any surplus produce that may 

 remain on hand, after the demands at home are supplied ; 

 6. Extending, by every prudent means, the cultivation of 

 waste lands, in order that the productive territory of the 

 country may be constantly on the increase ; 7. Granting 

 public aid to substantial improvements, such as roads, 

 bridges, canals, &c. on which the agricultural and general 

 prosperity of a country so essentially depend ; and, 8. Coun- 

 tenancing the establishment of public bodies, or corpora- 

 tions, to furnish the means of carrying on such improve- 

 ments, as are beyond the power of individual wealth or en- 

 terprise. 



SECT. I. On removing Obstacles to Improvement, 



THERE is no duty more incumbent on the government of 

 a country, or from which more advantage might be derived, 

 than that of ascertaining those obstacles to improvement, 



