AGRICULTUEALECOXOMY. 53 



reference to the end in view. If he keeps sheep, he needs to know 

 how to select that variety which shall convert the feed consumed into 

 the greatest return, whether of wool, or mutton — if cattle for the 

 •stall, how to select such as shall convert their feed into the greatest 

 amount of muscle and tallow with the least waste, — how the feed shall 

 be prepared for the animals in order to do this ; reference is to be 

 had, also, to the temperature and ventilation of the stable where the 

 animals are kept during the days of fattening. Experience, obser- 

 vation and the fruit of right experiment, can approximate very near 

 the truth in all these matters. With reference to the breed of cattle, 

 the great inquiry is, not, necessarily, which will grow the largest, but 

 ■which will, without reference to size, convert grass and grain into gold 

 fastest — for what else is an animal in the all-comprehensive view of 

 Economy, but a machine to be employed for this very purpose ? All 

 else is mere fancy. 



In order to reach the highest perfection in the Economy of Agri- 

 culture, it is necessary that the tiller of the soil should be the pro- 

 prietor of the same. Man labors more intensely when working for 

 himself and those directly, and rightfully dependent upon him, than 

 under any other conceivable circumstances. 



The great improvement in the art of tilling and reclaiming the 

 soil in Flanders, is owing chiefly to Peasant Proprietorship. The 

 Flemish people have practiced, for centuries, rotation of crops and 

 economy of saving and making manures, that are introduced as mod- 

 ern discoveries in English ftirming, about which so much is said and 

 written at the present day. It is conceded by English writers, even, 

 that Flemish agriculture is now superior to that practiced in England. 

 The English do not hesitate to say, that the cultivation of a poor, 

 light soil, is superior in Flanders to that of the most improved farms 

 of a similar kind in Britain. We surpass the Flemish farmer, say 

 they, greatly in capital, in implements of tillage, in the choice and 

 breeding of domestic animals generally, though it is conceded that 

 the Flemish excel in cows. The British farmer is better educated 

 than the Flemish ; but in the minute attention to the qualities of the 

 soil, in the management and application of manures of different kinds, 

 in the judicious succession of crops and especially in the economy of 

 land, so that every part shall be in a constant state of production, we 

 have still something to learn from the Flemings — not from an instruc- 

 ted and enterprising peasant here and there, but from the great mass 

 of the workers of the soil. 



The most highly cultivated portions of the country, consist chiefly 



