SIZE OF FARMS. ^7 



:5s greatly inferior to what it otherwise would be, and 

 the land is exhausted. 



The great andgeiieral anQbitiori offiirm^rs is to occu- 

 py large fvarms ; the more they possess, the greater con- 

 sequence chey think themselves of. Distracted with a 

 confused multiplicity of labour, the augmentation of acres 

 only serves to increase their perplexity, without increa- 

 sing their wealth. The fertility of an estate is always 

 in proportion to the culture bestowed, for if a man doub- 

 le his number of acres, and em^uoy only the same num- 

 ber of hands, and the same cjUcUitity of manure, as when 

 he had half the number, that estate will clear less than 

 it did before the additional purchase. Thus it is evident 

 a (firmer may have too much^rpund as well as too much 

 live stock. 



For our conviction, nothmg more is required, than tp 

 take a survey of an overgrown farm badly managed, 

 where, on lands which have all advantages of situaiion, 

 we shall see their crops of hay and corn that will not 

 produce more than a third part of what iands of the same 

 quality/ and quantitj^ afford, divided into equal allotments, 

 amongst the inhabitants of a populous village. 



Were farmers to occupy no more ground than they 

 could cultivate in a masterly manner, there would not be 

 that general compla,int of scanty crops, or of the land 

 being worn out ; for there is no land of any sort what- 

 ever; (which has a sufficient depth of mould for plough- 

 ing) but what may be rendered fertile by cuitivalion, 

 and the applicationof proper manures : and in propor- 

 tion to their different degrees of natural richness, be 

 managed in such a manner as to produce luxuriant crops: 

 for the resources of good husbandry are as infinite, as 

 the fruitfulnes of the earth is inexhaustible, when it is 

 properly cultivated. By bad conduct good soils often 

 produce but very scanty crops ; when the blame is totj 



