66 



one acre — for a florin meadow, which, if managed as I have 

 directed, will produce an abundant crop the first year ; 

 and if properl\ attended to, will continue its luxuriance I 

 know not how long — perhaps for ever, but I can only answer 

 for eleven years. 



The tenant is now arrived, and things proceed very dif- 

 ferently. The landlord, no doubt, fosters him a little, 

 until the powers of his small farm are brought into action, 

 and its produce able to maintain the family. 



The first winter, his well-fed cow (perhaps two) gives 

 him milk, and manure follows, with which in May he plants 

 PoTATOS as far as it goes : this is followed the ensuing 

 year by a small crop of Rye, or Oats. New ground is 

 broken up for potatoes the next year ; his tillage field of 

 course is extended, until it reaches the limit his landlord is 

 pleased to set to it. Black Oats will probably be the va- 

 riety he will select, — as more hardy, as of quicker growth, of 

 course ripening sooner, so as to escape the blighting early 

 frosts of the ungenial climate. Black oats too, less dis- 

 posed to lodge than the white, will agree with his potato 

 ground, which he probably can enrich further, by burning 

 some ashes on contiguous peaty soil. The facility of 

 raising potatos by the manure of their cattle and ashes, 

 will enable the colonists to rear pigs ; a source of food, 

 and perhaps profit. 



To speculate on our mountains, as a new field for cul- 

 tivation, will no doubt be deemed wild ; but in these 

 alpine tracts, I look upon agriculture rather as a secondary 

 consideration, subsidiary to the maintenance of the inhabi- 

 tants ; Milk, as with his pastoral ancestors, an impor- 

 tant part of his food ; potatoes also a serious addition ; 



