On the Size of Farms. 7 



otherwise be, would be driven off the field, and reduced to the condi- 

 tion of hinds and labourers. There is much diversity in the taste and 

 genius, as well as in the wealth of farmers. Some are poor and others 

 rich ; some timid and others enterprising ; some have capacities for 

 conducting great and important concerns, while others have neither 

 abilities nor inclination for such undertakings. And since men are 

 naturally, or from education or other circumstances, so different in re- 

 spect to abilities and inclination, it would be wrong to fix either a 

 minimum or maximum in the dimension of farms. There is indeed 

 an advantage, in having various sizes in the same district, so that en- 

 terprising individuals, may have an opportunity of increasing their oc- 

 cupations, in proportion to their increased means of cultivating them. 



Result. 



The size of farms to be recommended, ought, in a great degree 

 to depend, upon the circumstances of a country. What is a proper 

 size in one district, is not so in another ; and what is a proper size at 

 ofie time, is not so at another, even iu the same district. On the 

 whole, however, that size, whether small, or moderate, or large, is 

 to be preferred, for which there is, in any particular district, the great- 

 est demand at the time. This demand insures, from competition, an 

 adequate rent ; and while the proprietor thus obtains the value of hi* 

 land, the public are also benefited, the greatest possible produce be- 

 ing procured from the soil, owing to the superior industry and exer- 

 tion required on the part of the farmer. 



No. II. 



HINTS ON VEGETATION, THE AGENTS NECESSARY FOR THE PRO- 

 DUCTION OF PLANTS, AND THOSE WHICH ARE INJURIOUS OR 



DESTRUCTIVE TO THEM. 



By Sir Juhn Sinclair. 



THE object of any inquiry into the nature and principles of vegeta- 

 tion, Jar practical purposed, must b, to ascertain in what manner 

 those plants, which are necessary for the use of man, or contribute to 

 his comfort, can be cultivated to the greatest perfection. For that 

 purpose it is essential to know, what agents are necessary or useful to 

 vegetation, on the one hand, or, on the other, injurious and even de- 

 structive. The former may be considered under the following general 

 heads, namely, Earth or Soil, Air, Water, Light and Heat, Manures 

 or dead organized Matter, and Cultivation. The latter may be re- 

 stricted to two points, Mineral or noxious substances in the soil, and 

 vermin. 



It may be proper to add some remarks, on the means of raising 

 new varieties of plants, which, though hitherto considered as a philoso- 



