1796.) 
to rool.; fuch’a plan, if adopted, could 
fearcely fail to bring thofe capitals to no- 
thing, and leave the good people of Eng- 
and deftitute of bread in a great degree. 
A had, indeed, heard, that fober citizens 
when talking over rural affairs, had pro- 
pofed fuch a fcheme; but really 1ma- 
gined, that fuch ideas had blown away 
with the fumes from the pipe with which 
they afcended. How great my furprife, 
then, to find a country gentleman adopt- 
ing them! and I was led to fufpeet, that 
he muft have lately been paying a vifit to 
his friends in town, who were account- 
ing for the prefent high price of provi- 
fions, by the increafe of monopoly and 
large farms. 
But, fir, 1 with to reafon with your cor- 
refpondent, and to appeal not to conjec- 
ture and opinion, but to matters of fact. 
IT lay it down as the fair and indifputable 
daium in this cafe, that the man, who by 
his fkill and induftry, makes his land the 
moft produétive, is both the beft farmer, 
and the beft friend to his country—whe- 
ther he holds a greater or a /e/s number of 
acres. ‘To cultivate land to advantage, 
it is neceflary to have a ftrong team of 
horfes or oxen; the man who fails in this 
ref{peét, feldom if ever has his land well 
broken up and made a “#//h fit to receive 
the feed ; it is alfo of great importance 
to have land well manured, either by 
compoft to be purchafed, or made from a 
large flock of cattle kept upon the farm ; 
but thefe things are generally beyond the 
reach of the perfon who has only a flen- 
der capital, and in confequence, they are 
very frequently but partially done. ‘Cake 
a furvey of various diftriéts in the king- 
dom, where the large farmer uniting 
fkill, capital, and induftry, fpares neither 
labour nor expence to cultivate and ma- 
nure his land inthe higheft degree; and, 
in general, you will find he is rewarded 
by luxuriant crops, when the feafon does 
not prove unkind: whilft the leffer far- 
mer, in many inftances, for want of fuf- 
ficient ftrength, having done his tillage 
ina lefs perfeét manner, and, for want of 
€apital, having been {paring of his ma- 
nure, his crops do not ‘exhibit that luxu- 
Yiant appearance, nor yield fo great a 
produce, as would otherwife have been 
the cafe. I have heard of farms, that 
have been in the hands of {mall farmers, 
which were generally reputed fterile and 
bad land, and which have brought fome 
of their occupiers to poverty ; that on 
being cultivated by fuperior fkill, and fu- 
perior capital, have foon exhibited an ap- 
pearance that has made a confiderable 
| Montatry Mae. No. VI. 
Reflections on Large Farms. 
457 
alteration in the fentiments of perfons re- 
fpeéting the ftaple of theland. Inftarices 
might be produced, where the received 
opinion of the country has been, that fuch 
forts of land were unfit to produce wheat; 
nor would that opinion, probably, have 
been changed, had not an alteration in 
the management of it been adopted by a 
large farmer: who by attention and per- 
feverance, has made it produce as good 
wheat as any in the neighbourhood. I 
do not mean to affert, that there are no 
large farmers who negleé& their bufinefs, ~ 
and where this is the cafe, I readily grant 
their farms would be better in other 
hands ; but thefe are comparatively few : 
nor do I mean to fay, that there are no 
{mall farmers, who are both fkilful and 
fuccefsful in the cultivation of their farms, 
and are entitled to great commendation: 
in this refpect ; but {peaking from what 
has fallen under my obfervation, I have 
no doubt, but the large, or I would ra- 
ther fay, the moderate fized farm, pro- 
duces more corn in proportion than the 
{mall one ; and, confequently, is of more 
_ general benefit. 
It has, however, frequently been ob- 
ferved, that if it be admitted that the 
large farmer produces more corm than the 
{mall one ; yet, with refpe& to pigs and 
poultry, he is far behind him; the truth 
of this I am much inclined to fufpeét; a 
judicious pamphlet lately publithed, en- 
titled, ‘“* Thoughts on the caufe of the 
high price of provifions,*’’ has the fol- 
lowing obfervations on this fubject : “ But 
fuppofing the praétice of converting fmall 
farms into large ones was much more ge - 
neral than it is, yet am periuaded, this 
country would reap a confiderable benefit 
from it ; for farms of about 300 acres of 
arable, with a fuitable quantity of paf- 
ture land, will, in general, be occupied by 
perfons much more able to manure, cul- 
tivate, and ftock them to advantage, than 
thofe fmall ones cultivated by perfons of 
inferior rank. If, therefore, farms of the 
above defcription are more productive in 
proportion than {mall farms, there will of 
courfe bea larger quantityof offalcorn;and 
culture of clover glafs, to feed {wine ; fo, 
then, as every good farmer muft be fen- 
ible, that no one thing in hufbandry turns 
to fo good an account as hogs, he will, if 
he confults his own intereft, breed and 
fatter more in proportion than {mall far- 
mets can do; fothat, inftead of farms of 
a moderate fize having a tendency to 

* In a Letter addreffed to Sir John Sinclair, 
Bart: 
3 N leffen 
