57 



and we know this vahiable root will thrive at very great 

 elevations : his demand for farinaceous produce will thus 

 be moderate, and easily supplied by the rye and oats im- 

 mediately following his potatoes, whose strongly manured, 

 and well prepared ground will yield tolerable crops, even 

 in this unfavourable donate. It will be his landlord's 

 policy to restrain his agricultural speculations, by limiting 

 his farm. 



Four, perhaps five acres, without including summer's 

 grazing for his cows, may be abundantly sufficient, in- 

 cluding his meadow. He will have no more labour to 

 perform in the field than what will be a relief to a sedentary 

 manufacturer; of course the attention of himself and family 

 be little diverted from domestic industry. 



What extensive tracts of grassy mountain and moor 

 have I passed through in Ireland, in the North of 

 England, and above all in Scotland, admirably 

 adapted to these speculations : but the incredulity of man 

 is a more formidable obstacle to improvement, than any 

 resistance thrown in our way by Nature ; and as the po- 

 sition that a natural sole of grass in ungenial soils and 

 harsh climates, can at once he thrown into a more pro- 

 ductive state, than the highest cultivation of man can 

 bring his most favourite grounds to, is both so extraordi- 

 nary and so new as to justify unbehef, I have taken 

 pains in my former Letter to estabhsh the position by 

 well-attested facts ; and now, as the success of the pro- 

 posed plan of colonization depends entirely on the truth of 

 the same position, I shall state another strong and weli- 

 attested fact. 



I had by previous correspond^yice, and afterwards in 



