4{)8. H U SB A 
'la riels are brought to the higheft State of fertility. The 
'(opportunity which is afforded him, of making one de¬ 
partment of his farming-economy fubfervient to another, 
is an additional advantage which the farmer on a Small 
•Scale cannot carry into effect to any great extent. Tire 
latter too mult neceffarily expend on his land a quantity 
of capital greater in proportion than is required in a farm 
of more considerable fize ; he mult have his cart and 
horles, his plough and his harrow, and every other agri¬ 
cultural implement, as well as his neighbour, though he 
lus only thirty acres, and his neighbour eighty or a hun¬ 
dred. Reverting then to the well-eftabliShed, and, indeed, 
(elf-evident axiom in political economy, that capital is 
molt advantageously employed, when, with a given quan¬ 
tity, the largelt proportion of produce is the refult; it 
teems fcarcely to admit of a doubt, that large farms are, 
in this point of view, greatly more beneficial to the na¬ 
tion at large, than thole of final! extent only. 
“The principal objections to large farms are (he fays) 
founded on the tendency, which, as already noticed, it is 
afferted, they have to diminifh the population of the 
country, and to increale the price of provifions. It is 
o.bvious, however, that both thefe objections cannot Hand 
their ground at the fame time. If the population of the 
country be dintinifhed, while the produce of the ground 
is increafed, or even while it remains the fame in point of 
quantity, it is clear that no increafe in the price of pro¬ 
vifions can take place; on the contrary, it would be na¬ 
tural to expect a very confiderable reduction in this re- 
SpeCl. As theie objections againft large farms may, how¬ 
ever, be urged individually, it is proper that a diftinCt 
anl’wer Ihould be given to each of them. With refpect 
to its influence on population, it cannot be denied that 
the confolidation of feveral fmall farms into one of larger 
extent might have the immediate effeCt of throwing a 
number of individuals out of employ; many of whom, 
from the inadequate demand for labour of other kinds in 
the country, would be neceffitated to have recourle to 
emigration. But this effect could be of only temporary 
duration. If, in confequence of the diminifhed number 
and increafed fize of farms the improvements in agricul¬ 
ture became more extended, and its general ftate more 
flourishing, it can fcarcely be doubted but that the ulti¬ 
mate effect in this change in the difpofition of the land 
tnuft be favourable to the population' as well as to the 
profperity of the country. The immediate effects of the 
adoption of improved modes of cultivation, and of the 
increafed quantity of produce from a given proportion of 
capital, mult be a diminution in the price of provifions. 
As a necelfary confequence of this, the price of labour 
muftlikewife be diininilhed; or, to fpeak in more general 
terms, an increafed value would be given to the circulat¬ 
ing medium: acircumftance highly favourable to a coun¬ 
try; as it regards its commercial and manufacturing con¬ 
nections with other nations. The equalizing nature of 
commerce would, indeed, in procefs of time, reftore this 
value to its accuttomed level; but the impulfe which had 
been given, meanwhile, to induftry of every kind, could 
not fail to inlure internal profperity, and confequently, 
an increafe of population to the country. If this reafon- 
ing be accurate, there appears, fays the writer, no grounds 
for doubting, that the enlargement of farms would be pro¬ 
ductive of effential benefit to the real interefts of the na¬ 
tion; a trifling diminution in population might, perhaps, 
indeed be the immediate refult of the meafure in queltion ; 
but that the ultimate confequences of its operations would 
be injurious in this refpect does not appear probable. 
“ The objection which has been urged againft large 
farms, as tending to enhance the prices of provifion, feems 
equally void of validity. The grounds of this objection 
are, that, by the enlargement of farms, the competition 
which exifts between fmall farmers would be in a great 
ineafure loft, and a fpirit of monopoly introduced in its 
itgad. In anfwer to this, it may be fufficient to alk the 
N D R Y. 
fimple queltion, Why may not this competition, efleemed 
lb advantageous to the country, take place among farmers 
who hold two, three, or four, hundred acres of land, as 
well as among thofe who hold thirty or forty ? That this 
is contrary to experience the writer can by no means al¬ 
low. Wherever monopoly lias been the immediate caufe 
of an unufual high price of corn, or other neceflafies cf 
life, it muft, he conceives, have been praCtiled on a much 
larger fcale than could be done by any combination of 
farmers in the country. In fact, a very flight confidera- 
tion muft prove the futility of any objections to large 
farms relied on thefe grounds. Supposing, for the lake 
of argument, that the farmers in one county or diftriCl 
Should combine to keep their flocks out of the market, 
and thus to raife the price of provifions, is it at all con¬ 
fident with probability to fuppole that the farmers in the 
neighbouring dillriCts would favour this fcheme, by re¬ 
taining their individual Stocks ; on the contrary, is it not 
more likely that they would immediately come forward 
to Supply the deficiency in the market, and thus coun¬ 
teract the designs of their more avaricious neighbours ? 
Indeed, it appears a point fo clear, that the fame compe¬ 
tition of interefts muft exift among large as well as among 
fmall farmers, that the writer apprehends no conciufion 
can be deduced from this circumftance which will not 
apply with equal force to both cafes. If then this compe¬ 
tition renders provifions cheaper where the farms are fmall, 
will it not have precisely the fame effeCl where they are 
of large extent? And does it not appear highly probable, 
that a very confiderable diminution of the price of provi¬ 
sions would be the confequence of the general enlarge¬ 
ments of farms in the kingdom ? This, as was ftated be¬ 
fore, muft, in the natural courfe of things, be the imme¬ 
diate effeCl of improved modes of cultivation, and of an 
increafed quantity of produce from a certain given ex¬ 
pence of capital.” The writer does not contend for an 
indefinite extension of the fize of farms to an unreafon- 
. able extent; but thinks they Should conSift of three or four 
hundred acres, as fuperior in point of advantage to thole 
of other Sizes. 
Of the LIVE STOCK. 
The firft objeCt of the young farmer when he com¬ 
mences the bunnefs, is to provide himfelf with a team op 
teams of horfes, in proportion to the magnitude of the 
concern iii which he is about to embark. In the choice 
of thefe he will be regulated by the nature of the foil 
they will have to be employed upon, as well as their def- 
tination to other labour. Should the -arable land confill 
of clayey, or other adhefive, deep, and heavy, foil, the 
horfes intended for the purpofe of conftantly labouring 
upon it, will require to be heavier and ftronger than luch 
as will have to work only on light, loamy, iandy, or gra¬ 
velly, foils. And again, where the arable land lies for"the 
greater part flat and level, it will not require fo much 
Strength as where it lies fideling, and is frequently inter¬ 
rupted and broken by Sharp hills and ridges. Here the 
talk is much more fevere for the horfes, which muil either 
do lefs work in a day, or poffefs Strength fuSiicient to fup- 
port without fatigue the ufual hours of labour. Oil this 
ShbjeCl, therefore, the farmer will contemplate with pre¬ 
vious deliberation, and then make his choice from one or 
other of the 1110ft efleemed breeds of draught-horfes, which 
we have pointed out under the article Hor.se, p. 384. of 
this volume.—Where the general labour of the team is 
not likely to be very fevere, nor lubjeCted frequently to 
timber-cart, or fimilar heavy draught, our experience 
would urge us, in preference to all others, to recommend 
the Cleveland bays. They are certainly a molt valu¬ 
able breed of draught-horfes; are of an excellent fize and 
Shape; never refuSe their work ; alert equally at plough 
or on the road ; Stand clean in the Stable, where due care 
and good management are ufed 5 and always make a hand- 
fome appearance. 
Of 
