1804.] Comparative Talent of the Artizan& Husbandman. 171

to lake up al the end of Autumn or the beginning of Winter, all the batata roots, and to preserve those that are intended for the propagation of future plants.

1 muerareh EEE ndaendenemnnn==-iuun ON THE COMPARATIVE TALENT OF THE ARTIZAN AND HUSBANDMAN. To the Editor of the Agricultural Magazine. Sr8,

Have Seen with no small“degree of vexation, the indignity ] with which the labourers in. the field have been treated. We are called a vation of Shop-Kkeepers, and true it is, that our Shop-keepers and arüßficers have assuimed 80 much import- ance on account of their own pursuits and attainments, that the industrious husbandman bas been neglected and forgotten. The fact is, that people in trade Seldom meet together even for merriment and diversion, but the converzation ends in 2 Conspiracy against the public, or Some vain and idle triumph over the peaceful inhabitants of the provinces. To Shew the absurdity of this ebullition ot Self-Conceit, 1 will entreat the attention of your readers to a comparison made by Adam Smith, who is most abundant]y complimented in various parts of your work. The passage[ allade to, occurs in the con« cluding Section of the 10h chapter of the first book, and ap- Pears in the following terns.

“< Not only the art of the farmer, the general direction of the operations of husbandry, but many inferior branches of Jabour, require much more skill and experience than'the greater part of mechanic trades. The man who works upon brass and iron, works with instruments and upon materials of which the temper 13 always the Same or very nearly the game. But the man who ploughs the ground with a team of horses or oxen, works with instruments of which the bealth, strength, and temper, are very different upon different occasions. The conditions ol the materials which he works upon too, is as va- rTiable as that of the instruments he works with, and both re- quire to be managed with much Judgment and diseretion. "The common ploughman though generally regarded as the Pattern of Stupidity and 1gnorance, Is Seldom detective in this Judgment and diseretion; he is less aceustomed, indeed, to SOcIal intercourse than the mechanic who lives in town. His voice and language are more uncouth and more difficult to be understood, by those who are not used to them. His under- Standing, however, being accustomed to consider a greater variety of objects, is generally much Superior to that of the, other, whose whole attention from mornug till night, is com- wouly occupied in performing one or two Simple operations.