increase the Demand for small Farms. 353 



sion of the danger which surrounds the in- 

 dividual ? 



In these considerations may be found the 

 fundamental error and evil, the cause of the 

 principal grievances with which the country is 

 afflicted ; and, what is more to be lamented, 

 every day augments the general calamity, and 

 every night closes in without hearing the 

 suggestion of any means for its reduction. The 

 difficulty is undoubtedly great ; but let its pre- 

 sent magnitude be what it may, to-morrow it 

 will still be greater. 



; Vj Jt. Jri l.i" ; .i'ti'J > 



Were the lands to be thrown into profitably 

 large farms, independently of the capital re- 

 quisite to be in the possession of the occupier, 

 a great expenditure on the part of the pro- 

 prietor would necessarily be incurred in build- 

 ings, &c. to the manifest reduction, not aug- 

 mentation, of his income. But what would be- 

 come of the many families which, under such 

 an arrangement, must be dispossessed of their 

 homes and their holdings ? It is not easy to 

 conceive the heart-breakings that must attend 

 so great a change in their condition ; pangs 

 that could not be assuaged by any prospective 

 benefit capable of being shown to the present 

 occupiers, or future promise of advantage to 



5 



