xii PREFACE. 



to fcrengthen herfelf ; and that the moft 

 fecure and folid way of doing this, is 

 by carrying all the arts of cultivation 

 in both iflands, to the higheft pitch of 

 perfection that is practical, no body will 

 I apprehend deny. 



That too much national attention 

 cannot be given to agriculture, never 

 appeared ib ftrong as it does in the pre- 

 fent period. The legiflature of this 

 kingdom has for a century bent all its 

 endeavours to promote the commercial 

 Jyjlem. The ilatute book is crowded 

 with laws for the encouragement of ma- 

 nufactures, commerce, and colonies, and 

 in fome inftances at the expenfe of the 

 improvement ol the national foil. Yet 

 in that period only one great agricul- 

 tural meafure was embraced, the boun- 

 ty on the export of corn, frittered down 

 to the prefent fyftem, which turns out 

 with or without, but certainly by the 

 connivance of law, to be a conftant im- 

 port Jckemcy in order to reduce the prices 

 of the earth's products, in favour of 



thofe 



