servations, or of the invention of any novel implements, that appear to merit attention, will be faithfully recorded. It will thus consist of a plain and comprehensive, though brief, view of the real practical agriculture of the United Kingdom, divested of all theory, and of those dissertations which, however plausible and ingenious, more frequently perplex than instruct the unlettered reader.

The degree of credit to be attached to a publication of this nature, must be estimated by the reputation of those by whom the great body of information from which it is compiled has been collected. Its utility may be judged by the indisputable fact, that no man, whatever his experience or ability, can boast that he is master of every branch of husbandry; and, even in those to which his experience may extend, there is no one who has not yet something to learn. There is no class who place more entire reliance on their own skill than farmers, yet they who know them best will be the most ready to admit, that the greater number are far from having acquired a correct knowledge of their business; and no one, who is acquainted with the general agriculture of the country will assert, that it has yet reached the degree of perfection of which it is susceptible. Regarded nationally, the intent of cultivation is to obtain the greatest possible amount of produce from the soil; the farmer's object is to raise it by such means as will afford him the largest profit, and there can be no doubt, that the more scientifically he proceeds, the more effectually will both objects be gained. Capital and labour form the basis of agriculture; both abound in this country, to an extent unknown in any other, and unequalled at any former period; our climate, if not equal to some, is superior to most, for the production of all articles of common necessity; and the progress we have made within the last century, instead of satisfying our exertions, should only stimulate us to still further improvement.

The protection which the legislature may, in its wisdom, deem it right to afford to agriculture, is a question of political economy that does not fall within the scope of this publication; neither is it meant to advocate any peculiar species of cultivation; but, as a general observation, it will, perhaps, be found that the interest of both landlord and tenant, with a view as well to immediate profit as to the future productiveness of the soil, will be best consulted by an extension of the present alternate system, to a still further repetition of the green-crops on light soils; by the return of much of the land now under the plough to a state of permanent grass; and, as arising out of that, by an increase of the dairy husbandry, for which the greatest encouragement is obvious in the constant demand of our markets, notwithstanding large importations from Holland and the Netherlands * while it is also one of the most certain as well as one of the most lucrative branches of farming,—one of the most ameliorating to the land, and offers, to the extent to which it may be substituted for the production of grain, the surest means of counteracting any ill consequence to agriculture that may be apprehended from the importation of foreign corn.

*The amount of foreign dairy produce, exclusive of Ireland, imported into the port of London alone, in the years 1830 and 1831, was

Butter
Cheese

1830.

Cwt.

106,574

61,414

1831.

Cwt. 123,669.

134,461.

MEMORANDA.

As all the measures referred to in the County Surveys, and other books, to which reference must be frequently made in the course of this work, are of the old standard, and their reduction into imperial measure would occasion much unnecessary trouble and some confusion, the calculations will be retained in the former Winchester gallon, bushel, and quarter.

The weights of cattle will be per stone of 14 lbs. live

ditto 3 lbs. deadweight.

or per score of 20 lbs.

of wool per lb., or per tod of 28 lbs.

The measurement of land will be computed by the English statute acre of 160 perches or poles, of 16 feet each, or 4840 square yards; bearing the proportion, in nearly round numbers, of 4 to 5 to the Scotch, and 3 to 5 to the Irish acres, which severally consist of 6150 square yards to the former, and of 7840 to the latter.

Dung, when not otherwise estimated, will be calculated by the ton of 1 cubic yard, or 27 cubic feet to the one-horse cart, or of 50 cubic feet to the common waggonload.

The technical terms must necessarily be those used in the counties of which any particular practice may be detailed; but a Glossary of common provincial husbandry phrases will be given in the Appendix, which will also contain the botanical names of the plants mentioned in the work, together with some useful tables and forms for common purposes.

ON HIRING AND STOCKING A FARM-SIZE-CAPITAL-EXPENSES AND PROFITS.

FEW agricultural subjects have occasioned more controversy than that of the proper SIZE OF FARMS. There can be no doubt that large farms admit of the most economical and scientific arrangement, and afford the greatest scope for improvement: it is also obvious that men of property and education will not be satisfied with inconsiderable holdings, and that it is materially the interest of landlords to accommodate a wealthy and improving tenantry. It is not therefore to be wondered at, that many small farms were laid into one during the late war, when large capital was invested in agriculture; nor can it be denied, that both the means and the views of those who rented them were generally narrowed, and that they were more remarkable for industry than for intelligence. But although it be granted that extensive farms are proportionately the most productive, and therefore-in the opinion of those economists who view husbandry only as it is the means of procuring food-more nationally useful than those upon a small scale, there are yet other considerations of equal, if not of superior importance, which those who also regard the moral welfare of society, and who in their search after abstract truths do not lose sight of existing realities, will not leave wholly out of mind. These, however, have more claim upon the attention of philosophers and statesmen, than of farmers, and are rather questions of speculation than of fact; for neither landlords nor tenants are influenced by any other motive than their own interest, and no one either leases or rents a farm merely to benefit the public. It may be assumed, as an axiom of political economy, that the mode of occupation which enables the tenant to pay the highest rent must be the most beneficial to the community; yet, as every man has a right to employ his capital as he pleases, and as, on this point, as well as on every other, each will naturally endeavour to suit his own convenience, the discussion is useless to any practical purpose. We shall therefore only observe that no arable farm-in the proper acceptation of the term, being worked by the plough, and unconnected with any other business from which assistance may be derived in its cultivation-can be carried on with due profit to either the occupier, the proprietor, or the public, unless it be of such extent as to afford constant employment to a team of cattle of sufficient strength for its effectual tillage. Dairy farms are differently circumstanced although most profitable when combined with tillage, they are not necessarily connected with it, nor are they required to consist of any definite portion of ground; they possess the advantage of supplying occupation to females, and in some pastoral districts, many families subsist in decency and comfort upon the produce of a few acres.

Any attempt to limit the size of farms would be not only vain, but injurious. The interests of society demand that the fullest scope should be afforded to the industry of every man, be his means what they may, and

whether equal to the cultivation of a hundred acres, or of a thousand, room should be allowed to his exertions. It is, however, generally found, that from three hundred to five hundred acres of tillage, with a fair proportion of meadow, and of a medium soil, are sufficient to occupy the most experienced husbandman; besides that the quantity of land which, in larger holdings, must necessarily lie at an inconvenient distance from the homestead, occasions a proportionate waste of labour. Much, no doubt, depends upon the nature of the land; more on the ability and attention of the man; but, in any case, if he take more land than he can himself superintend, without any other assistance than that of a working bailiff, he is rather to be considered as an agricultural speculator, than as a farmer, and it might be often advantageously borne in mind, that if fifty acres make many a pauper, a farm of a thousand makes many a bankrupt."

Tillage Farms are the most profitable to the community, because they give employment to the greatest number of persons, and are the most productive of human sustenance; for although the quantity of fodder used for the support of the cattle employed in cultivating them must be deducted from their produce, and the remainder is all that is available to man, yet that will exceed the largest amount of human food that can be obtained from an equal number of acres of the same soil, under pasture. In a private point of view, however, grass-land, when of good quality, is of the greatest value, because it produces an abundant crop without the expense of cultivation. It is, also, for that reason, a more secure investment to landlords; and, therefore, unless when seduced by an extraordinary high price of corn, they rarely allow such land to be broken up. But in point of convenience, of general profit, and of pleasure, a farm composed of both arable and pasture is to be preferred to one consisting of either alone.

་

It is still an undecided question whether farms of a mixed soil are preferable to those of one equal quality. The advocates of the latter urge the advantages attendant on a uniform system, fewer implements, and the consequent greater ease and economy of management; while the supporters of the former insist on their superiority in affording a wider range for experiment, a greater variety of crops and seasons, and a better division of labour and hazard; remarks which apply with peculiar force to stiff clays, on which the teams must remain idle during many days on which they might be employed on land of more various quality. A kind soil,' it has been justly observed, is an exhaustless source of amusement to the rational possessor; an untoward one, the plague of his autumns-the pest of his winters-and the never-failing curse of spring t:' to which it may be added, that bad land is dear at any price. By bad land, however, is not meant poor land, from much of which, when of a kindly nature, money is to be made under proper management; but cold and wet clay and gravelly soils should be carefully avoided; for although subject to heavy and constant expense for drainage, and of a difficult tillage, they are uncertain in their returns, and only fit to be laid down to grass. Rich soils are scarce, and not easily obtained, but a sound hazel loam, though not of the first quality, yet if deep enough not to be easily affected by drought, and both dry and friable enough to work kindly in the early part of spring, will seldom disappoint an active and intelligent farmer.

The choice of a farm is an object of the deepest importance to the man who depends on it for subsistence; but it is only rarely that he can

* Rowland Hunt: Communications to the Board of Agriculture, vol. i. p. 59. Marshall: Minutes of Agric. Digest, p. 19.

select such a one as would prove in all respects desirable. Yet, although in most instances the competition for land may compel him to take what he can get, rather than what he would choose, there are still considerations which no one of common prudence can overlook. The nature of the

soil, and its actual condition; the situation, with respect to roads and markets; the compactness of the inclosures; the state of the buildings and fences; the tenure, both as it regards the duration and the covenants of the lease; the rent and assessments; the cost of essential improvements, and the price of labour, are each deserving of serious reflection in the aggregate they determine the requisite amount of that which demands the most especial attention, namely

CAPITAL.

Most farmers are anxious for large occupations, and many are thus betrayed into the error of renting a greater quantity of ground than they have the means of managing to advantage: some, in the delusive hope of acquiring those means by future savings; others, from the vanity of holding more land than their neighbours. Hence arises deficiency of stock, imperfect tillage, and scanty crops, with all the consequent train of rent in arrear, wages ill-paid, and debts unsatisfied-distress, duns, and final ruin. Whereas he who is prudently content to commence with only such a number of acres as he has the power of cultivating with proper effect, is certain of obtaining the full return from the soil; while, not being burdened with more land than he can profitably employ, his engagements are within his means, and thus, while enjoying present ease of mind, he lays the surest foundation for his future prosperity.

There is no mistake more common, nor more injurious, than that of supposing that the more land a man holds the greater must be his profits; for the profit does not arise from the land itself, but from the manner of using it: the best soil may be made unproductive by bad management, while the worst may be rendered profitable by the opposite course; but without sufficient capital no land can be properly cultivated. There is nothing to which capital can be applied with greater certainty of a fair return for its liberal expenditure, when correctly employed, than land; but, on the other hand, there is nothing more ruinous, when the capital is either insufficient, or injudiciously laid out. In fact-assuming always that the expenditure be directed with judgment-it will be found that the profit upon the outlay increases in more than a proportionate degree to its amount: thus, supposing five pounds to be the lowest, and ten the highest sum that can be employed in the common culture of the same acre of land, it is more than probable that, if the five pounds return at the rate of ten per cent., the ten will yield twenty, or any intermediate sum, at the same progressive ratio. Now, admitting that to be true-and it is presumed that no experienced agriculturist will doubt it-it follows, that 1000l. expended in the cultivation of 200 acres will only yield a profit of 100l., while, if applied to no more than 100 acres, it would produce 2001.; wherefore, although a farmer of limited capital may not be driven to the extremity we have already supposed, and although he may be able to carry on his business with a certain degree of advantage, it is yet evident that his profit would be increased by diminishing the quantity of his land. Many à one has been ruined by a large farm who might have acquired a competency with one of half the size. It therefore behoves a man to weigh well the charges with his means, and not allow himself to be seduced by any ideal prospect of gain, into the imprudence of entering upon a larger