General view of the agriculture of the county of Lancaster with observations on the means of its improvement, from the communications of Mr. John Holt and the additional remarks of several respectable gentlemen and farmers in the county / Drawn up for ... the Board of Agriculture.

  • Great Britain. Board of Agriculture.
Date:
1795
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: General view of the agriculture of the county of Lancaster with observations on the means of its improvement, from the communications of Mr. John Holt and the additional remarks of several respectable gentlemen and farmers in the county / Drawn up for ... the Board of Agriculture. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    PERFECTION in fuch inquiries is not in the power of any body of men to obtain at once, whatever may be the extent of their views, or the vigour of their exertions. If Lewis XIV. eager to have his kingdom known, and poffefled of boundlefs power to efFe6I it, failed fo much in the attempt, that of all the provinces in his kingdom, only one was fo defcribed as to fecure the approbation of pofterity * j it will not be thought ftrange that a Board, pofleffed of means fo extremely limited, Ihould find it difhcult to reach even that degree of perfedlion which, per- haps, might have been attainable with more extenfive powers. The candid Reader cannot expedl in thefe Reports more than a certain portion of ufeful information, fo arranged as to render them a bafis for further and mere detailed enquiries. The atten- tion of the intelligent .Cultivators of the kingdom, however, • See Voltaire’s Age of Lewis XIV. vol. ii. p. ia7> 128,'edit. 1752. The following extrafl; from that work will explain the circumftance above alluded to. « Lewis had no Colbert, nor Louvois, when about the year 1698, for “ the inftruftion of the Duke of Burgundy, he ordered each of the inten- dants to draw up a particular defeription of his province. By this ine^ans “ an exaft account of the kingdom might have been obtained, and a “ juft enumeration of, the inhabitants. It was an ufeful work, thougli all “ the intendants had not the capacity and attention of Monfieur de La- “ moignon de Baville. Had what the king direfled been as well executed “ in regard to every province, as it was by this magiftrate in the account « of Languedoc, the collection would have been one of the moft valuable “ monuments of the age. Some of them are well done ; but the plan was “ irregular and imperfeft, becaufe all the intendants were not reftrained to one and the fame. It were to be wilhed, that each onhem had given, “ in columns, the number of inhabitants in each eledlio'n ; the nobles, the “ citizens, the labourers, the artifans, the mechanic^, the cattle of every «» kind ; the good, the indifferent, and the bad lands, all tlie clergy, regu- “ lar and fecular, their revenues, thofe of the towns, and thole of the “ communities. “ All thefe heads, in moft of their accounts, are confufed and imper- “ feCl ; and it is frequently neceffitry to fearch with great care and pains “ to find what is wanted. The defign was excellent, and would h..ve been “ of the greateft ufe, had it been executed with judgment and unifor- “ mity.” will