-Every one is aware that farming by a proprietor or an amateur is, for the most part, attended by loss in a pecuniary point of view, and that money would be saved by letting the lands to a professional farmer, and purchasing corn, straw, and such other farm produce as might be required for the carriage and saddle-horses of the proprietor. Farming, however, is a great source of recreation and interest to a resident in the country; and without some knowledge of the practices of the art in the district where a country gentleman resides, it will be difficult for him to keep up a proper degree of social intercourse with his neighbours. Farming and the weather, are topics which every countryman can discuss, from the humblest labourer to the most wealthy proprietor. If there are any exceptions, such persons must be out of the pale of general country society. Since, then, every person living in the country must, of necessity, take some interest in farming, it would seem worth while for those who can afford to do so, and have an opportunity, to increase that interest by farming themselves.

If we inquire into the habits of our greatest landed proprietors, while they reside in the country, we shall find that a considerable portion of the time of each individual is devoted to the inspection of his farm, and to giving directions to his bailiff, hearing a relation of his market transactions, and auditing his accounts. When a landed proprietor has left his country residence to reside in town, or is gone on a visit to some distant part of the country or abroad, the weekly receipt of his bailiff's journal (of which there are regular printed forms, on separate sheets, to be sent by post, and which, when bound at the end of the year, form a volume) constitutes no inconsiderable part of his enjoyment. During the late war, accounts of this kind, not only from bailiffs, but from head gardeners, foresters, and land-stewards, were transmitted to such of the heads of families as held commissions in the army, even while they were on the field of action; and answers and directions were regularly returned by the greatest generals.

428. Pleasures of forming.--To a citizen who has altogether retired from a commercial or manufacturing concern, the cares of a farm must form an agreeable contrast to those of the counting-house, and will amuse and recreate, without fatiguing; for no mistake can be greater, than to suppose that there is any enjoyment in retiring to the country and doing nothing there. Every retired man of business, who wishes to be as happy in the country as he was in town, must betake himself, if his residence be on a small scale, to gardening; and, if it be on a Urge scale, to farming and planting. Some of the operations of farming may be recommended to a country gentleman, as a substitute for hunting and shooting. We particularly allude to the occasional holding of the plough; an operation which calls into moderate exercise every part of the body, and which also engages the mind in keeping the furrow straight We speak from experience, when we say that we consider this the most agreeable of all farming operations, and one by which a maximum of exercise may be obtained with a minimum of fatigue. The handles of the plough, draw, as it were, the operator after it, and the necessity of keeping his eye on two points, seen through between the pair of horses, occupies his attention.

This attention, however, is only kept alive in ploughing with a plough in which the horses are yoked abreast; for in those cases in which they are yoked in a line, the straightness of the furrow does not depend on the holder of the plough, but on the driver of the horses. The holder of the plough, in this latter case, is little better than a machine, and the operation, as he performs it, can no more be compared to holding a plough and pair, as practised in Northumberland, Berwickshire, etc, than the wooden plough in Middlesex can be compared to the iron plough of Mid-Lothian. In short, the occupation of ploughing with two horses is a fit exercise for a gentleman and a philosopher; and we can readily conceive the country gentlemen of Britain, at some future time, substituting this, and other agricultural labours, for the sports of the field. We have known several gentlemen in Scotland, of independent fortunes, follow the plough a portion of every day, when they were not otherwise engaged, and the weather would permit.

There can be no doubt, also, that emigrants take pleasure in this exercise; and we can readily imagine that the sons of some of our landed proprietors, who now cultivate their own grounds in Australia or North America, are far happier in labouring in their fields with their own hands, than they would have been had they remained at home, and been compelled to seek for occupation in mere amusement