No. 216.] 799 



Robert Peel is draining his lands, and enabled to charge his tenants, 

 without much damage to them, four per cent on the cost of the 

 operation. But labor there is probably three or four times less cost- 

 ly than it is here. We have land of all sorts in plenty. But in 

 Great Britain, I have observed, that draining is only recommended 

 on a general scale in districts of country in which the population is 

 dense, and in the vicinity of markets capable of buying all the crops 

 of the drained lands at first rate prices. In such drained lands, in 

 order to be profitable, every foot of soil must tell. Such is the 

 dense population of most of Europe, so numerous are the mouths to 

 be fed, on almost every square mile of its contracted surface, that 

 every foot ot ground must be put in requisition and made to produce 

 to its utmost capacity, with very little regard to the cost of produc- 

 tion. Every proprietor there, though, is pretty sure of being ulti- 

 mately remunerated for his outlay, great as it may be, from the con- 

 stant demand existing in his immediate neighborhood for his products. 

 The system of farming in Europe will not be adopted to any extent 

 in our country for many years yet to come, however correct and pro- 

 fitable it may be there. A few, who have the means, and as a mat- 

 ter of taste and fancy, may enter into it, and whom it would not 

 ruin or even embarass, should they fail ultimately of being remunerated. 

 Our farmers generally, must have something like a moral certainty 

 of remuneration, before they will venture experiments upon a large 

 and expensive scale, nor would it be prudent for them to do it. 

 New systems will be adopted by them partially and gradually, and 

 in a way that will not hazard their means or embarrass them to ex- 

 ecute. As to matters of taste and fancy, it would be more impru- 

 dent for them to hazard much in these, as the prospect of any return 

 from them is still more uncertain and remote. Any moderate im- 

 provement would be more likely to be adopted by them, which 

 would give them more corn and grass to the acre. This would ac- 

 cord more with their means generally, and, we are inclined to think 

 with their fancy and interest too. 



Mr. Pell, of Pellham. At the last meeting of the Farmers' Club, 

 I made a few remarks on the subject of draining, but fearing I 

 might not have made myself understood, I would with permission, 

 continue the subject for a few minutes. At the close of my remarks, 

 I understood a member to say, that he had known a piece of land on 

 the farm of a friend, which had been thoroughly drained, yet still 



