FARMS. 37 



stated, not too many. As to what proportion of an estate should be 

 allotted to small farms, this must depend upon special circumstances, 

 chiefly of a local nature. In high-lying districts, I should say that small 

 farms would be cultivated with advantage. 



A few small farms on an estate are an advantage to many an indus- 

 trious man. We often meet with clever, intelligent, and industrious 

 men who are first-class farmers, who would do well on a small farm, 

 but, from the want of capital, cannot undertake a large one. Therefore, 

 to encourage such men, a few small farms should be kept on estates. 

 As I have already stated, much depends upon circumstances in deciding 

 upon having a few small farms on an estate. Fifty acres of good soil 

 will produce as much if not more than two hundred of poor soil. And 

 small farms have often been, and will be, the stepping-stone to the 

 steady farm-labourer, and not a few of our most extensive agriculturists 

 of the present day have themselves begun farming on small holdings. 

 What I wish to point out is, that there are many estates, in England 

 especially, which are still entirely allotted out in small holdings, and 

 that they could be very much improved by a judicious combination 

 of some of the small farms, so as to make them into larger holdings. 



SECTION 2. Size of Farms suitable for Tenants with Skill, Capital, 



and Eiwrgy. 



There are, as I have already intimated, different kinds of farming 

 pursued in this country : First, the pastoral system practised on the 

 hilly parts, where little or no grain can be grown, and where the rearing 

 of sheep and cattle is the chief object of the farmer. Next, we find a 

 system of farming the chief object of which is the growing of grain 

 crops, pursued on the deep, heavy, and rich soils often found on the sides 

 of some of our largest rivers, where grasses and roots do not succeed 

 well, nor cattle in consequence, but on which grain can be reared in 

 great abundance. There is also the system known as dairy farming, 

 in which the chief business of the farmer is the management of milch 

 cows, and the production of butter, cheese, and milk. Besides these 

 there are other modes generally pursued in the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of large towns, where vegetables are much in demand for the 

 market, and where food for horses and cows meets with a ready sale. It 

 is not to any particular one of these systems % of farming, however, that I 

 mean to advert in giving my opinion as to the least extent of land which 

 may be considered fit to make a suitable farm for a superior tenant, but 

 to the mode which, in my opinion, may be considered above all others 



