PllfiPARING THE GROUND, 



will exclaim : why, tliat is more than the land is worth if it 

 were to be sold ! And, what of that? The question is no- 

 thing at all about the worth of the land ; but about the profit 

 that you may make by planting it in a proper manner. The 

 small worth of the land is rather an argument against you, 

 unless you take it for granted, that your produce will not 

 pay you ; and, if you do that, it would be better not to plant 

 at all. I shall, hereafter, show, that there is hardly any land 

 that it will not answer to trench, and that, too, in the very 

 best manner. 



31. In order to have the trenching well and truly done, 

 the best way is for the men to work bi/ the day, and not by 

 the rod. Reaping, mowing, hedging, ditching, and many 

 other sorts of work, is, perhaps, best done by measure, or 

 by tale, or by the job. But, when the thing is not above 

 board, the temptation to slight tbe work is too strong. 

 " Dead men tell no tales;" and a trench is a grave. The 

 colour of the ground, and poking a slick down here and 

 there, will tell a pretty good judge, whether justice have 

 been done you. But, these are not effectual; and, at last, 

 there come accusations on one side and protestations on the 

 other, neither of which make the matter much better. The 

 best way is to pay the men by the day, to pay them at a 

 rate that will enable them to eat two pounds of bread and 

 a pound of bacon a day, and to drink two quarts of beer IS 

 gallons to the bushel of malt. All these will now cost 

 1.?. 5f7. a day; and, if you give 2.9. 6d. a day, the man will 

 have \s. Id. left for other purposes, of which, whether he 

 he married or single, there will be enough present them- 

 selves to him. It is useless to set a parcel of half-starved, 

 reeling creatures at work like this. They cannot move 

 nimbly in laying out the lifts and the trenches. You cannot 

 call up a man to run and jump, when you see hirn hardly 



