3. Improved fiſtem of buſbandry.—- A very reſpectable writer has obſerved, that“„˙any limited portion of land, „ctolerably good in nature, will produce, if well cultivated “ and properly ſtocked, vegetable and animal manure, ſuffi- *cient to ſuppott itſelf, in good heart for ages, without any ¹e foreign aid*.“ I am not only of the ſame opinion, but from many years experience in practical huſbandry, will go ſo far as to aſſert,““ that any ſoil whatever, capable of “¹cultivation, the ground work for improvement being ¹once laid, may, by judicious management, be made not „„ only to ſupport itſelf in heart without foreign aid, but to *¹increaſe in goodneſs; and further, that however various * our ſoils, and different in their nature, the ſame order or “courſe of cropping ought to be purfued(fen land always excepted), changing only the ſpecies of our corn and ve-
4⁴ getables, and adapting them to the nature of the ſoil we
„have to work upon.“ Why ſhould we not fall at once into a method that will infallibly aſſiſt our improvements, inſtead of checking them? That ſuch a method is founded on reaſon, let us for a moment compare the operations of huſbandry, with what we cannot but obſerve in the animal and vegetable world, to which, in this caſe, the earth bears a ſtrong analogy, ſince in either, the ſprings of improvement being once checked or reſtrained, they can only be reſtored to motion, by a ſtronger application of the means of ſuſtenance. When cattle are faſt thriving, do we not obſerve, that if by chance, their career is checked by ſhort paſtures, or by a worſe quality of food than they have been accuſtomed to, their fleſh becomes looſe and waſted, and they are hardly to be re- ſtored to their former ſtate? Plants, however ſtrong and healthy, if checked in their growth by drought or an un- timely froſt, become languid and weak, and are with diff-
culty reſtored to their former vigour.
† Jee Mr. Kent's Hints to Gentlemen of Landed Property, p. 71.
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For remarks and additional obſervations.


