THE TRAINING NECESSARY FOR LANDED PROPRIETORS. 11 



In his visits to the farms on the estate he should be accompanied 

 by the agent or factor, who, it is understood, should be as much informed 

 as himself in all matters bearing on estate management, and superior 

 to him only in having a greater amount of practical knowledge and 

 experience. 



Accompanied by the agent, he will have the advantage of his explana- 

 tions in regard to any points in management he may not understand ; 

 and with reference to all of these he should take notes, and work out 

 experiments on them afterwards, unless he may see the problems satis- 

 factorily solved otherwise. 



By a steady course of practical training in this way, and by spending 

 a day now and then in the office of the agent among the estate accounts 

 and other documents in connection with the management of the pro- 

 perty, the heir would eventually become perfectly acquainted with every 

 farmer and farm on the property, and with the system of agriculture 

 and general management pursued on the estate ; and he would also 

 have learned which of the tenants were intelligent and improving, and 

 which of them were not ; in short, he would now have made himself 

 master of his business, and would not be subject to be imposed upon in 

 matters in connection with it by any one, and hence he would at any 

 time be prepared to deal with the property satisfactorily on his own 

 account. It is, perhaps, unnecessary to add, that were all our landed 

 proprietors trained in this way, the result could not fail to be that 

 we would have the satisfaction of seeing them vastly more prosperous, 

 and their estates much more productive than they are at present. 



What has been said with regard to the importance of a practical early 

 training in rural affairs, in the case of all young men who have the 

 prospect of becoming landed proprietors at some after period in life, is 

 not affected by the fact that several gentlemen who have been famous 

 for the manner in which they conducted the business affairs of their 

 estates, and for their knowledge of practical agriculture, spent the 

 early part of their hives in other pursuits. Of this we have a notable 

 instance in the Marquis of Tweeddale, who, after a brilliant career in 

 the army, became a most energetic improver of landed property, and of 

 practical agriculture, when he exchanged the sword for the ploughshare. 

 Such cases cannot, however, be regarded as constituting a general rule ; 

 and, therefore, training is as necessary in the case of an expectant land- 

 owner as it is in any other profession or business. 



