LOTHIAN FARMING 137 



could they pay the rent that would be demanded, 

 because no small holder could hope to rival the pitch 

 of productiveness to which the land has been raised on 

 the present system. Much as we had heard of the 

 excellence of the Lothian farming, what we saw of it 

 justified every encomium ; we had not imagined that 

 the management of arable land could reach such 

 perfection, even with every advantage of soil and 

 climate. Possibly it is not the most instructive lesson 

 ground, for it is only in a few places that the most 

 perfect can be also the most profitable method of 

 agriculture. 



