212 AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF chap. FTI. 



ifti When a farm is brought to a proper state 

 of improvement, and under judicious manage- 

 ment, the other crops will generally be so a- 

 bundant, as to yield a sufficient quantity of fod- 

 der and manure, even though a part be applied 

 to a crop which affords none. 



2<^, The farmer is usually allowed to sell hay 

 from his farm, and it often happens that he de- 

 pends upon this for a considerable proportion 

 of his rent. Instead of selling hay, he can dis- 

 pose of his flax, and reserve as much hay as 

 will correspond to the quantity of fodder that 

 would have grown on the land appropriated to 

 the flax. In this way the farm sustains no loss 

 by a deprivation of manure. 



3///j', The whole flax raised at present in the 

 county, is scarcely sufficient for home-consump- 

 tion; and, therefore, it merits some consideration, 

 whether it be wise or proper to restrain the in- 

 habitants of any country, or district of a coun- 

 try, from supplying themselves with the neces- 

 saries of life from their own territory, when this 

 can be accomplished on easier terms than from 

 a foreign market, and, at the same time, with- 

 out any injury, either to the proprietor, or to 

 the cultivator, or to the land. 



4//>, In a county like Fife, where the linen 

 manufactures are carried on with so much spi- 

 rit, and to so great an extent, can it be good 

 policy to restrain within such narrow bounds 

 the production of the raw material from which 

 the goods are manufactured ? Suppose the cul- 

 ture were much more extensive than it is, as it 

 would be no injury to agricultural improvement, 

 so it would have the effect of lessening the im- 



