With regard to griss lands, they- are to be best examined at several seasons, in order to ascertain their character. If they be too wet, this is shewn by walking over them in winter, and by rushes, flags, and moisture, which, in a greater or less degree, are always observable upon them. The grass is generally blue at the points, and always coarse. Drab ng may correct stiff loams, but the stiff tenacious clay is Scarcely susceptible ofcure. Grass, on gra velley soils,will inevitablyburn in hot sum mers, but will extremely abound on loams in wet ones. On. the banks of brooks and rivers, meadow of almost any soil may be considered good, but the circum stance of their liability to summer inun dations ought never to be forgotten.
The herbage on many fields is some times composed of weeds and the coar sest and worst of grasses, which are at all times discernible, and indeed glaring. Under 3. prohibition of arable, which is sometimes and not unfrequently the case, fields of this description are worth little or nothing. A river, well restrained with in its banks, running through a farm, is a circumstance decidedly favourable. The grass lands may thus be presumed to have water for the accommcKlation ofcattle.
The quantity as well as the nature of the soil,is likewise to be considered, and no larger quantity should be occupied than can conveniently be stocked. The bad management, and the perpetual em barrassment occurring in the contrary situation, are often ruinous to the health and to the fortunes of those who are in vOlvedin it.
The disjoined situation of the various fields of a farm is a circumstance at tended with great vexation and expense. Compactness of estates will always ren der them far more valuable; and oppor tunities of producing this compactness, by purchasing at a tair valuation, will never be neglected by vigilant and weal thy landlords.
To estimate the rent correctly, it has been judiciously recommended to con nectit with tithes and poor rates. What ever sum be intended to be invested iu the farm, itsinterest may be fairly calcu lated at not less than ten percent. A va. luation of the expense and the produce should, for the next step, be carefully made : and, after the former is deducted from the latter, what remains will be the sum which can be allowed for the de. /nand of rent, in the three different forms above mentioned. If the amount oftithes and rates be deducted from this, what re mains will be the sum which the occupier can afford to pay the landlord.
The nature of the covenants required, which arc sometimes only absurd, and therefore admissible without difficulty, but sometimes equally absurd and mis clievious, ought ever to be considered in connection not only with general but lo cal and peculiar circumstances. The un reasonableness of the conditions propos sed will sometimes be a valid objection to that occupancy, which rent and situa tion, and all other circumstances, might render highly eligible, and compensation in diminished rent will be necessary to indemnify for tying down the farmer from modes of cultivation uninjurious to the land, and inexpressibly the most benefi cial to the occupier.
From three to five pounds per acre was, about forty years since, considered adequate to the stocking of any farm, partly grass and partly tillage, of the average fertility. The increase °trent,: and of rates, the higher composition for tithes, the advance upon all Implements of husbandry, and upon every species of sheep and cattle, may be justly consi dered as having raised the stun necessa ry for the above purpose to seven or eight pounds. To form calculations up on this subject as accurately as possible, and ascertain that the requisite capital is possessed, for the due management of the land to be occupied, cannot be too emphatically insisted upon. The profit attending an increased expense in stock ing will, in some cases, more than double the ratio ofprofit before that increase; and if the fanner be incapable ofavalling him self of striking opportunities for itnprove ment, by the purchase of litter or of ma nitre, and indeed by a variety of circum stances which may easily be suggested, for want of capital, his situation must be highly disadvantageous.
The choice of servants is a point re quiring extreme attention. Where the assistance of a. bailiff is required, as in all alms of cry considerable extent, la should be of a somewhat superior de scription to those whom he must be au thorized to command. The making of contracts, and receiving money, which af ford agents great temptation to dishonesty and to excess, should, whenever practi cable, be performed by the principal. Of the inferior servants, the ploughmen are of most consequence, and skill and do cility are their grand reccommendations. It is desirable, that all the servants should be under the master's eye. His constant superintendance will have great effect in promoting their sobriety and regularity, and not only will their permanent happi ness be improved by this plan, a circum stance to a man of humanity of no light consideration, but their greater tractabi lity and obedience will render the prac tice of this domesticating method, in a selfish point of view, more useful to him, than that, according to which, on many extended estates, the men and boys are all committed to the boarding and ma nagement of the bailiff. It may he con sidered as in general preferable to keep many servants and few day-labourers in the present times. The certainty of com manding hands at all seasons is an object of prime importance, and the difficulty of procuring additional ones, when they are most wanted, is often upon the other plan insuperable.