388 Different Plans of impi;ov'wg the Bk. iv. 



would take place in this country, on the distri- 

 bution of small portions of land to the common 

 people, and the introduction of potatoes as their 

 general food. For a time the change might ap- 

 pear beneficial, and of course the idea of property 

 would make it, at first, highly acceptable to the 

 poor ; but, as Mr. Young in another place says, 

 " You presently arrive at the limit, beyond which 

 " the earth, cultivate it as you please, will feed 

 " no more mouths ; yet those simple manners, 

 " which instigate to marriage, still continue; what 

 " then is the consequence, but the most dreadful 

 " misery imaginable?"* 



• When the commons were all divided, and dif- 

 ficulties began to occur in procuring potatoe- 

 grounds, the habit of early marriages, which had 

 been introduced, would occasion the most com- 

 plicated distress ; and when, from the increasing 

 population, and diminishing sources of subsistence, 

 the average growth of potatoes was not more than 

 the average consumption, a scarcity of potatoes 

 would be, in every respect, as probable as a scar- 

 city of wheat at present; and, when it did arrive, 

 it would be beyond all comparison more dreadful. 



• When the common people of a country live 

 principally upon the dearest grain, as they do in 

 England on wheat, they have great resources in a 

 scarcity ; and barley, oats, rice, cheap soups and 

 potatoes, all present themselves as less expensive, 

 yet at the same time wholesome means of nourish- 



* Travels in Fiance, vol. i. c. xvii. p. 409. 



