I O IN T R OD UC T10N. 



treasure have been spent in the acquisition of 

 foreign territory, and foreign trade ; and the 

 lives of many thousands have been hazarded and 

 lost, for their extension and defence. But the 

 cultivation and improvement of our native soil, 

 though an object undeniably of the first conse- 

 quence to the nation, has been, in a great mea- 

 sure, overlooked, and suffered to languish under 

 the pressure of numberless hardships and dis- 

 couragements. 



Public neglect, however, is not the only mis- 

 fortune which agriculture hath experienced. From 

 the indolence and inattention of the proprietors 

 themselves, it hath suffered still more severely. 

 Blind to their own private interest, as well as to 

 the general good of their country, they continu- 

 ed long to regard husbandry with an indifferent 

 eye, and have never, generally, till within these 

 few years, taken any proper measures to extri- 

 cate their estates from that wretched system of 

 management ta which, from time immemorial, 

 they had been unhappily subjected. 



In many instances, and at a period not very 

 remote, the pride of family distinction, attach- 

 ing the idea of meanness to the labours of the 

 peasant, led gentlemen of fortune to consider 

 practical farming as beneath their rank, and as 

 bringing them too much upon a level with the 

 inferior orders of society. Besides, the greater 

 part of our young noblemen and gentlemen 

 were trained up in the persuasion, that the 

 science of agriculture formed no part of the edu- 

 cation, and the knowledge of rural economy, 

 none of the accomplishments, that belong to men 

 of rank and fashion, The consequence of this 



