Note 7 — Treatise on Agriculture.

Mr. Hume quotes with approbation an author, who complains of the decay of tillage in the reign of Elizabeth, and who ascribes it to the increase of pasturage, in consequence of the restraints imposed on the exportation of grain, while that of butter, cheese, &c. was free. The history of Europe, if read with an eye to public economy, furnishes an abundant proof, that the greatest obstructions to agriculture have arisen from the interference of government. We have here no sly allusion to our own projects of a state board of agriculture, of a chymico agricultural professorship, nor even of an agricultural college, if the treasury in its wealth, and the legislature in its wisdom, should deem such institutions useful or necessary.