CHAPTER II. 



THE TRAINING NECESSARY FOB LANDED PROPRIETORS. 



PROPRIETORS of estates, being professedly cultivators of the soil, or 

 deriving their incomes from it, should, taking a common-sense view of 

 the matter, be able, therefore, to manage their properties on the prin- 

 ciple of securing the greatest possible profits from them as interest on 

 their capital, and at the same time of producing the greatest possible 

 amount of food for the public advantage. Indeed, in these respects, the 

 welfare of both the proprietors of land and the public at large go hand 

 in hand ; for when there are large returns, both have their advantages 

 from it ; and for this reason the proprietors who do most for the im- 

 provement of their estates, are those who reap the greatest advantages 

 from them, and are deserving of the highest esteem from the public. It 

 is, therefore, in all respects the interest of every landed proprietor to 

 cultivate his estate to the highest degree possible, and in order to do 

 this he must be well acquainted with the particular conditions of the 

 land, as well as able to judge correctly as to the operations which are 

 necessaiy to be performed on it in order to increase its fertility, and 

 consequently the returns from it. 



From what has been previously stated, it is to be inferred that the 

 landed property of this country is not generally well managed ; that the 

 greater proportion of it is undrained and wet ; that nearly all of it is 

 cultivated on too shallow a principle, whereby the plants grown have 

 not depth of soil to insure full and healthy development ; that from 

 continual cropping on the shallow surface-soil it becomes foul, and unfit 

 for the rearing of healthy plants and animals ; that a large proportion of 

 the fences occupy the land unprofitably, forming nurseries for vermin, 

 which destroy the crops; that the greater part of the farm-buildings 

 are insufficient in extent and ill adapted to the health of the animals 

 kept in them ; and that from those causes the land generally produces 

 unthrifty crops, and hence a small money return to the proprietor on the 

 capital invested in the subject. 



These are facts in regard to the condition of landed property which 



