pected to be afforded in provincial towns, the seats of the academies,— these sciences cannot be profitably studied.

The cost of acquiring all those subjects at the several colleges and academies is not insurmountable, even to the limited purse of a small farmer. In any of the towns mentioned as possessing an academy, the two sessions of twenty months would not exceed in board at the large allowance, in a provincial town, of a guinea a-week, and fees twelve guineas, L.105; and the short session of six months at college, at a guinea a-week, and eight guineas for fees, other L.35, making in all, in twenty-six months, L.140. This is a small sum compared with the advantages to be derived from it by the young farmer, and from it falls to be deducted the cost of keeping him at home in idleness, which, even at ploughmen's usual wages of 10s. a-week, would amount in that time to L.56, so that his education would only cost L.84; but economy, practised by frugal habits, might make a smaller sum suffice; and, on the other hand, a larger might not be grudged to make a diligent student comfortable, by those who have no cause to economize.

11. OF THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF FARMING.

"I'll teach you differences."

LEAR.

Perhaps the young farmer will be astonished to learn that there are many and various systems of farming; yet so in reality is the case, and moreover, that they all possess very distinctive characteristics. There are six kinds of farming practised in Scotland alone; and though all are pursued under some circumstances common to all, and each kind is perhaps best adapted to the particular soil and situation in which it is practised; yet it is highly probable that one of the kinds might be applicable to, and profitably followed, in all places of nearly similar soil and locality. Locality, however, determines the kind of farming fully more than the soil; the soil only entirely determining it when of a very peculiar consistence. The comparative influence of locality over soil in determining this point will be better understood after shortly considering each kind of farming.

1. One kind is wholly confined to pastoral districts, which are chiefly situated in the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland,-in the Cheviot and Cumberland hills of England,-and very generally in Wales.

In all these districts, farming is almost restricted to the breeding of cattle and sheep; and, as natural pasture forms the principal food of live-stock in a pastoral country, very little arable culture is there practised for their behoof. Cattle and sheep are not always both reared on the same farm. Cattle are reared in very large numbers in the Western Isles, and in the pastoral valleys among the mountain-ranges of England, Wales, and Scotland. Sheep are reared in still greater numbers in the upper parts of the mountain-ranges of Wales and of the Highlands of Scotland; and on the green round-backed mountains of the south of Scotland and the north of England. The cattle reared in pastoral districts are small sized, chiefly black coloured, and horned. Those in the Western Isles, called "West Highlanders," or "Kyloes," are esteemed a beautifully symmetrical and valuable breed of cattle. Those in the valleys of the Highland mountains, called "North Highlanders," are considerably inferior to them in quality, and smaller in size. The black-faced, mountain, or heath, horned sheep, are bred and reared on the upper mountain-ranges, and fattened in the low country. The round-backed green hills of the south are mostly stocked with the white-faced, hornless, Cheviot breed; though the best kind of the blackfaced breed is also reared in some localities of that district, but seldom both breeds are bred by the same farmer. Wool is a staple product of sheep pastoral farming.

Pastoral farms are chiefly appropriated to the rearing of one kind of sheep, or one kind of cattle; though both classes of stock are bred where valleys and mountain-tops are found on the same farm. The arable culture practised on them is confined to the raising of provisions for the support of the shepherds and cattle-herds; and perhaps of a few turnips, for the support of the stock during the severity of a snow-storm; but the principal artificial food of the stock in winter is hay, which in some cases is obtained by inclosing and mowing a piece of natural grass on a spot of good land, near the banks of a rivulet, the alluvial soil along the river sides being generally of fine quality. All pastoral farms are large, some containing many thousands of acres,-nay miles in extent; but from 1500 to 3000 acres is perhaps an ordinary size.* Locality determines this kind of farming.

The stocking of a pastoral farm consists of a breeding stock of sheep or cattle, and a yearly proportion of barren stock intended to be fed and sold at a proper age. A large capital is thus required to stock at first, and afterwards maintain, such a farm; for, although the quality of the

* It is to be regretted that neither the Old nor the New Statistical Account of Scotland gives the least idea of the size of the farms in any of the parishes described.

land may not be able to support many heads of stock per acre, yet, as the farms are large, the number of heads required to stock a large farm is very considerable. The rent, when consisting of a fixed sum of money, is of no great amount per acre, but sometimes it is fixed at a sum per head of the stock that the farm will maintain.

A pastoral farmer should be well acquainted with the rearing and management of cattle or sheep, whichever his farm is best suited for. A knowledge of general field culture is of little use to him, though he should know how to raise turnips and make hay.

2. Another kind of farming is practised on carse land. A carse is a district of country, consisting of deep horizontal depositions of alluvial or diluvial clay, on one or both sides of a considerable river; and may be of great or small extent, but generally comprehends a large tract of country. In almost all respects, a carse is quite the opposite to a pastoral district. Carse land implies a flat, rich, clay soil, capable of raising all sorts of grain to great perfection, and unsuited to the cultivation of pasture grasses, and, of course, to the rearing of live-stock. A pastoral district, on the other hand, is always hilly, the soil generally thin, poor, and various, and commonly of a light texture, much more suited to the growth of natural pasture grasses than of grain, and, of course, to the rearing of live-stock. Soil decides this kind of farming.

Being all arable, a carse farm is mostly stocked with animals and implements of labour; and these, with seed-corn for the large proportion of the land cultivated under the plough, require a considerable outlay of capital. Carse land always maintains a high rent per acre, whether it consists solely of money or of money and corn valued at the fiars prices. A carse farm, requiring much capital and much labour, is never of large extent, seldom exceeding 200 acres.

A carse farmer requires to be well acquainted with the cultivation of grain, and almost nothing else, as he can rear no live-stock; and all he requires of them are a few milch cows, to supply milk to his household and farm-servants, and a few cattle in the straw-yard in winter, to trample down the large quantity of straw into manure,-both of which classes of cattle are purchased when wanted.

3. A third sort of farming is that which is practised in the neighbourhood of large towns. In the immediate vicinity of London, farms are appropriated to the growth of garden vegetables for Covent-Garden market, and, of course, their method of culture can have nothing in common with either pastoral or carse farms. In the neighbourhood of most towns, garden vegetables, with the exception of potatoes, are not so much cultivated as green crops, such as turnips and grass, and dry fod

der, such as straw and hay, for the use of cowfeeders and stable-keepers. The practice of this kind of farming is to dispose of all the produce, and receive in return manure for the land. And this constitutes this kind of farming a retail trade like that in town, in which articles are bought and sold in small quantities, mostly for ready money. When there is not a sufficient demand in the town for all the disposable produce, the farmer purchases cattle and sheep to eat the turnips and trample the straw into manure, in winter. Locality decides this kind of farming.

The chief qualification of an occupant of this kind of farm, is a thorough acquaintance with the raising of green crops,-potatoes, clover, and turnips; and his particular study is the raising of those kinds and varieties that are most prolific, for the sake of having large quantities to dispose of, and which, at the same time, are most suitable to the wants of his customers.

The capital required for a farm of this kind, which is all arable, is as large as that for a carse farm. The rent is always high per acre, and the extent of land not large, seldom exceeding 300 acres.

4. A fourth kind of farming is the dairy husbandry. It specially directs its attention to the manufacture of butter and cheese, and the sale of milk. Some farms are laid out for the express purpose; but the sale of milk is frequently conjoined with the raising of green crops, in the neighbourhood of large towns, whose inhabitants are whence daily supplied with milk, though seldom from pasture, which is mostly appropriated as paddocks for stock sent to the weekly market. But a true dairyfarm requires old pasture. The chief business of a dairy-farm is the management of cows, and of their produce; and whatever arable culture is practised thereon, is made entirely subservient to the maintenance and comfort of the dairy stock. The milk, where practicable, is sold; where beyond the reach of sale, it is partly churned into butter, which is sold either fresh or salted, and partly made' into cheese, either sweet or skimmed. No stock are reared on dairy-farms, as on pastoral, except a few quey (heifer) calves, occasionally to replenish the cow stock; nor aged stock fed in winter, as on farms in the vicinity of towns. The bull calves are frequently fed for veal, but the principal kind of stock reared are pigs, which are fattened on dairy refuse. Young horses, however, are sometimes successfully reared on dairy-farms. Horse labour being comparatively little required thereon-mares can carry their young, and work with safety at the same time, while old pasture, spare milk, and whey, afford great facilities for nourishing young horses in a superior manner. Locality has decided this kind of farming on the large scale.

The purchase of cows is the principal expense of stocking a dairy-farm; and as the purchase of live stock in any state, especially breeding-stock, is always expensive, and live stock themselves, especially cows, constantly liable to many casualties, a dairy-farm requires a considerable capital. It is, however, seldom of large extent, seldom exceeding 150 acres. The arable portion of the farm supplying the green crop for winter food and litter, does not incur much outlay, as hay,—that obtained from old pasture grass,-forms the principal food of all the stock in winThe rent of dairy-farms is high.

ter.

A dairy-farmer should be well acquainted with the properties and management of milch cows, the manufacture of butter and cheese, the feeding of veal and pork, and the rearing of horses; and he should also possess as much knowledge of arable culture, as to enable him to raise those kinds of green crops and that species of hay, which are most congenial to cows for the production of milk.

5. A fifth method of farming is that which is practised in most arable districts, consisting of any kind of soil not strictly carse land. This method consists of a regular system of cultivating grains and sown grasses, with the partial rearing, and partial purchasing, or wholly purchasing, of cattle; and no sheep are reared in this system, they being purchased in autumn, to be fed on turnips in winter, and sold off fat in spring. This system may be said to combine the professions of the farmer, the cattle-dealer, and the sheep-dealer.

6. A decided improvement on this system long ago originated, and has since been practised, in Berwickshire and Roxburghshire, in Scotland; and in Northumberland in England. The farmer of this improved system combines all the qualifications required for the various kinds of farming already enumerated. Rearing cattle and sheep, and having wool to dispose of, he participates in the activity of the stockfarmer. Cultivating grains and the sown grasses, he knows the culture of land as skilfully as the carse farmer. Converting milk into butter and cheese, after the calves are weaned, and indulging in the predilection for a bit of fine old pasture, he passes the summer and autumnal months as busily as the dairy-farmer. Feeding cattle and sheep in winter on turnips, he attends the markets of fat-stock as closely as the farmer in the neighbourhood of a town. Improving on the usual system of farming pursued in arable districts, by breeding and rearing all the stock fed on his farm-thereby eschewing the precarious trade of the dealer in stock-thus combining all the kinds of farming within the limits of his farm, he has it within his power every year to suit the particular demand of each market, and thereby enlarge the sphere of his