we adopt those plans which recommend us to send our own farmers to the poor-house, in order to make way for a set of strangers?

Long as this chapter is, we find it extended by addenda: but though the subjects specified are of importance, we are forced, to pass them in silence, in order to find room for some notice of Part II., containing Dissertations on questions connected with the agricultural improvement of a country in general, but more especially as applicable to the state of Scotland.

Much attention and careful research have been employed by Sir John with respect to the proper size of farms, and the various modes of occupying allotments of land, for farming and other purposes of a similar nature. To arrive at accurate conclusions on any subject of inquiry, it is requisite nicely to arrange and discriminate; and, in this first dissertation, the author, by attending to these points, has produced something which approaches demonstration. He disapproves the Cow and Field system which some persons have recommended in favour of servants employed in agricultural districts; observing that daylabourers ought to hold occupations immediately of the farmer, and that the land they possess ought to be restricted to portions capable of being cultivated by the spade.' In Scotland, however, the cottager is not left merely to the produce of his garden; to help out his resources, he is allowed a cow: but this cow, instead of having a separate field allotted to it, is kept by the master and accompanies his own cows. It is admitted that dairy-farms, and those which are near towns, may be of a moderate size: but the Right Hon. Baronet offers numerous arguments to prove that large farms are most favourable to population, and afford the largest surplus-produce *; yet he wishes not to carry this matter to an extreme, observing that, though an active and attentive farmer, with a large capital, and with other advantages, may be able to manage a clay farm of 600 Scotch or 672 English acres, yet on the whole, 300 Scotch, or 381 English acres, is in general sufficient; and it has been remarked, that those who grasp at having farms of a greater extent, where servants are not immediately under the master's eye, oftener lose than gain by extending their concerns.'

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Experimental farms are mentioned as desiderata of great moment towards the improvement of the country. • The estab

* It is remarked that it is only by means of large farms, that great towns, or populous districts, can be supplied in sufficient quantities with such articles of primary necessity, as grain, butchermeat, &c.; in regard to butcher-meat in particular, it is generally sold by the large farmer in a fattened state, which is seldom done by the small farmer.'

lishment,'

lishment,' the author adds, of even one farm of this description, on a proper scale, would be more valuable to this country than the conquest of many provinces.' Though we cannot enter into all the details which are presented to us in this luminous dissertation, we shall present our readers with the general. result :

On the whole, there seems to be a regular progress in the size of farms. At first, when the art of agriculture is in its infancy, farms must be small, because there is neither capital to cultivate, nor skill to manage, large occupations. As capital increases, and skill improves, farms become larger, and indeed attain a size which appears calculated, (unless where it is the practice to have married servants,) materially to diminish the population of the country. But if that were to be the case, we must not seek for a criterion of the strength of the country in the number of people inhabiting any particular insulated portion of it. Some have rashly concluded, that because in some districts population has diminished, the whole strength of the country has also been reduced; but whoever will give himself the trouble to consider, that enlarged means of subsistence must give rise to a multiplication of numbers, and that this multiplication, and the efforts employed to provide for its maintenance, are in a manner reciprocal, will soon discover, that partial depopulation, by the enlargement of farms, is only the consequence of a demand for a greater quantity of surplus produce in another quarter, where an increasing population is more usefully and profitably employed. It appears, too, that in the vicinity of towns, in which a variety of articles are required from the farmer, he has so many profitable minutia to attend to, that a large farm becomes unsuitable. In such a situation, the farms are consequently smaller, than those at a greater distance, where articles of a wholesale description are the proper objects of

attention.'

Dissertation II. treats of the circumstances connected with the establishment of a liberal system of connection between the landlord and tenant.' In feudal times, this connection was very different from that which at present subsists between them. Then the chief duty of the tenant to the proprietor of an estate was that of military service: but now their bond of union is of a mercenary nature, and its cement is mutual profit. As, moreover, the interests of both parties are interwoven, the subsequent particulars are intitled to consideration as the basis of their future connection:

1. The extent of Capital which the farmer may require to carry on his operations; 2. The Expence and Profit of Farming; 3. The Proportion of that Profit to which the landlord is entitled under the name of rent; and, 4. The Duration of Leases, and the Covenants which they ought to contain.'

Without adequate capital, and due attention to the expence, hazards, and profit of farming, the business of husbandry will

not be prosecuted to its full advantage; because a tenant, whatever be his skill and good intentions, cannot make the most of his farm if he wants capital: while the landlord, on the other hand, if he be seduced by the spirit of speculation to look for a higher rent than the fair profits of agriculture will justify, must ultimately hurt himself. Data sufficient to direct the conduct of both parties are presented in this paper. On the question respecting the proportion of produce which may be fairly exacted as rent, Sir John offers these hints:

Poor land cannot possibly pay the same proportion of rent, according to its usual produce, as the rich and fertile. The expence of cultivation is nearly the same, and indeed in some cases may be higher, and yet the produce is greatly inferior, not only in quantity, but in quality. Some land may yield, on an average, at the rate of 151. per acre per annum and upwards; some at the rate of 10l. per annum ; and some at the rate of 51., and even less. The expence of cultivating each will not be materially different. The rent, therefore, ought not to be in the ratio of the produce. Perhaps a fair proportion might be two-fifths of the produce in the first instance; one-third in the second; and one-fourth in the third.

per acre, at one-fourth,

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O 19 8

For inferior produce, perhaps one-fifth might be sufficient. It is to be observed, that these calculations are intended for land in an arable state.'

On the mode of payment, he observes;

I have no hesitation in stating, that a part of the rent ought to depend on the price of grain, not at the moment, but at the average of ten, or of twenty-one years, striking off the first, and adding a new one every year. Without some such arrangement, the tenant, on the one hand, cannot make a fair offer of rent, lest the price of grain should fall too low; nor, on the other, can the landlord grant a lease of considerable duration, lest the price of grain should, in the progress of time, rise much higher. It is for the interest of both parties, therefore, that whilst one-half of the rent should be payable in money, the other half should be converted into corn, not payable in kind, but in money, according to the average value of a number of years.'

So well convinced is this intelligent writer respecting the advantages of granting leases, in promoting the spirited cultivation of the soil, that he remarks, if it were not on the whole impolitic for the legislature to interfere with the management of private property, I should think it a measure intitled to consideration, the propriety of imposing a heavier land-tax, where farms are

not

not under lease, than where they are, as a penalty on the proprietor, for not promoting the improvement of the country, and the comfort, the happiness, and the independent spirit of those who live under him.' Such a measure he cannot wish to see adopted: but the hint is abundantly expressive of his sentiments, which are certainly well founded.—The remainder of this dissertation is employed in discussing the covenants which ought to be inserted in leases: but into these details we must not descend, though they form a very necessary branch of inquiry; since, without the insertion of proper covenants, the joint interest of landlord and tenant cannot be secured. They should contain no unnecessary restrictions on the latter, while they should secure the property of the former from injury.—It is here suggested that to authorize the sub-letting of land would prove beneficial; and Sir John concludes with remarking that, perhaps a system might be established for promoting the improvement of the country, at least in its more remote provinces, in the same manner as the wilds of America are brought into cultivation. No sooner does the cultivator finish his task, than he disposes of his farm to another, and commences a new undertaking of a similar nature. In the same manner persons possessed of capital, ardent minds, and a turn for agricultural improvement, with a power of sub-letting, under reasonable restrictions, might go from one farm to another, and thus be the means of bringing extensive tracts of country into a productive state.'

In the last Dissertation, we are introduced to the various descriptions of persons employed in agricultural labour, in the more improved districts of Scotland, who are arranged in four classes, viz. Farmers, - Farm-Servants, - Apprentices in husbandry, and Day-labourers. Of the first, the most gratifying account is offered. Educated above the ordinary farmers of other countries, those of Scotland, by a turn for reading books and periodical publications on husbandry, by excursions in pursuit of agricultural improvements, by a characteristic attention to business, daily setting all the wheels of the machine in motion, by their personal directions, and by economy, simplicity, and arrangement, are intitled to rank high among their brethren, and form an example which will probably in vain be sought in other countries. Under such masters, the industry, moral habits, and comforts of servants will no doubt be promoted; and hence the state of servitude, in the improved districts of Scotland, is worthy of the minute examination which it here receives but we must again apologize for abstaining from the enumeration of particulars. We shall, however, transcribe the general reflections with which the work concludes:

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On the whole, what spectacle can be more delightful, than to see a large estate, under the direction of an intelligent landlord, or of one competent to the task of managing it to advantage, where the farms are of a proper size, where they are occupied by industrious and skilful tenants, anxious to promote, in consequence of the leases they enjoy, the improvement of the land in their possession, and where the cultivation is carried on, by a number of married servants, enjoying a fair competence, and rearing large families, sufficient, not only to replace themselves, but also, from their surplus population, to supply the demand, and even the waste, of the other labouring classes of the community? Such a system is, I believe, carried to a higher degree of perfection, and to a greater extent, in the more improved districts of Scotland, than in any other country in the universe.'

Such a report must afford pleasure to Sir John Sinclair: his countrymen will not have their nationality diminished by its perusal; and, if Scotland feels proud of her improved system of husbandry, it is to be hoped that England will not long suffer herself to be outdone.

To this second part, a long Appendix is subjoined, containing eleven papers; of which, excepting one instance, we can give only the titles. 1. Of the various circumstances which have indirectly contributed to the excellence of Scotch husbandry. 2. Hints regarding the improvement of waste lands, 3. Letter from George Frederick Stratton, Esq. to Sir John Sinclair, Bart., explaining the origin and progress of the introduction of the Scotch system of husbandry, on his estates in Oxfordshire.

This letter, dated Great Tew Park, March 12, 1810, is of some length, and affords a description, accompanied by two illustrative maps, of the new arrangements which have been effected on Mr. Stratton's large estate, under the direction of Mr. Loudon. The result of the adoption of the proposed plan, and of the Scotch system of husbandry, is thus summed up by Sir John Sinclair :

1. An estate of 3,700 acres, in the short period of about two years, has been increased in rent, from 4,070l. to 10,730l., making an additional income of 6,660l. per annum.

2. This increased rent would have been obtained at an expence of only 6,5col., or about one year's additional rent, had it not been for an unexpected rise in the price of labour and materials.

3. From the sum actually laid out, namely, 13,600l., there ought to be deducted 3,5041., being payments to the old tenants for renouncing their leases, or bounties to tenants at will, for some improvements executed by them, leaving a balance of 10,000l. as the amount of actual expenditure: but that sum having been laid out in permanent and substantial improvements, as in the making of roads, and in draining, inclosing, building, erecting threshing machines, &c. the income to be derived from the estate, as well as its real value, must be very considerably augmented when the present leases terminate.