[ 194 ] 



fmall e>:pet2ce in tups for improvement would 

 add fot?^e ihoufand pounds a year to their profit ? 

 Who will give me a good juftification of 

 the condudl of fuch farmers ; or even of 

 their landlords? when we fee and know 

 fuch inftances of barbarifm — acknowledg- 

 ed fuch, not only by a few fpeculative gen- 

 tlemen, but by all the hufbandmen and 

 ftock breeders that travel through thofe 

 countries — can we be furprized at feeing 

 moors unimproved, however great the 

 profit ? 



A man who has been habituated from 

 his infancy to fee thoufands of acres 

 around him in a flate of nature, and al- 

 ways reputed barren and worthlefs, comes 

 at laft to believe them actually as reputed, 

 Vvithout ever taking the trouble to examine 

 the matter. None of his anceftors, how- 

 ever fenfible, ever thought of improving 

 thefe defarts, why therefore fliould he? 



None of thofe farmer's anceftors ever 



folded fheep, or improved the breed, why 

 therefore fhould they ? Cuftom is fuffi- 

 cient to unravel many of thefe perplexi- 

 ties. 



It is not to be Vv^ondered at, that little 

 landholders who can fcarcely live, fhould 



not 



