REVIEWS. 
J 54 
venture to say, every thing necessary to he known respecting the 
dahlia, as well as where the best sorts may be purchased, together with 
the present prices. 
A Summary of Practical Farming : with observations on the breed¬ 
ing and feeding of Sheep and Cattle ; on Rents and Tithes ; and on the 
present state oj Agriculture . By C. Hillyard, Esq., President of the 
Northamptonshire Farming and Grazing Society. Dicey, Northamp¬ 
ton ; and Ridgway, London. 
It has been said, that f ‘a great book is a great evil.” This charge 
certainly does not apply to the excellent little tract before us, as it 
contains only fifty-two small octavo pages. But small as it is, it 
embraces matters of the greatest national importance; all set forth, 
not only concisely, but in the clearest practical manner. It is not a 
book of gardening, but it is a book for all those gardeners whose duty 
it is to manage the farm, as well as the garden of their employers: 
and many have this task imposed on them, who never expected to 
have such matters to attend to ; for this reason every young gardener 
should be acquainted with the contents of this little pamphlet. 
The eminence of the author as an agriculturist, his feelings and ideas 
as a landlord, his intimate knowledge of the situation of British tenants, 
and of the claims and deserts of the British labourer, all qualified by 
the kindly feeling and patriotism of an English gentleman, stamp 
every thing he has advanced with more than ordinary value. The 
whole is a tissue of practical truths, embodying the pith and n:arrow 
of almost all that is known, or need be known, relative to the manage¬ 
ment of what is called a turnip-land farm. 
We will only make one extract of the author’s opinions, on a sub¬ 
ject which at this time is generally interesting to all - C£ Very low 
prices for agricultural produce will certainly be beneficial to some 
classes ; but the question is, will such low prices, with our high taxa¬ 
tion, be for the general good ? I think not; for the lower the value of 
the produce of the soil, the higher, in reality, it makes the amount of 
the national debt, and thus adds to the weight of taxation upon that 
class which pays so great a portion of the interest of it. If the incomes 
of landlords are to be reduced by their rents being lowered, to corre¬ 
spond with wheat at five shillings per bushel, (which would lower bread 
to five pence per four pound loaf,) and tenants are not to be able to get 
more than a bare subsistence, the manufacturers must find the demand 
for their goods very materially lessened. Whether with such low 
prices of produce, and, consequently, such a reduced circulation of 
money , a sufficient amount of taxes can be raised to continue paying, 
for any length of time, the full amount of interest of our enormous 
