118 ADVANTAGES OF POSSESSING LANDED PROPERTY

1. The general practice of granting leases, which securesthe rights of the cultivators for a determinate period, identi-fies their interest with that of the proprietors, and enablesthem to carry on plans of improvement, with the prospect ofan ample, though not perhaps an immediate return.

2. The diffusion of agricultural knowledge, and the pre-vailing taste for reading works, containing information rela-tive to the cultivation and improvement of land, by which thediscoveries of one individual are quickly communicated toanother: And,

Lastly, the enterprising spirit of both the landlords and te-nants, which has enabled them to surmount difficulties ofevery description, to realize new theories, by an improvedsystem of practice, and has inspired them with a taste for ex-periments, by which the progress of the art is greatly promo-ted. i

There are likewise some local advantages attending the pos-session of landed'property in Scotland , which it may be pro-per briefly to touch upon. -■>

1. In various parts of Scotland , there are considerable.na-tural woods; and where these do not exist, yet, from the im-mense size of the estates, in Scotland , plantations, the cheap-est and most profitable of all means of improvement, may becarried on to a very great extent; As the price of timber iscontinually increasing, it is of infinite advantage, to havelarge tracts capable of this improvement ; more especiallywhere plantations can be made at no great distance from wa-ter carriage, which is frequently the case in North Britain.

2. In various parts of Scotland , particularly in the hillydistricts, minerals abound, which, on being properly wrought,would doubtless turn out to considerable advantage. Besidesimmense quantities of coal and lime, mines of lead are work-ed with much profit; and there are, it is supposed, other