For all sound reasoners must concur in this, that the first duty of an owner of land is not to the occupiers to whom he leases it, but to the nation at large.

It is his duty to see that the land yields to the community the utmost it can yield.

In order to effect this object, a landlord should put up his farms to competition, exacting the highest rent he can possibly get from responsible competitors.

Competitive examination is the enlightened order of the day, even in professions in which the best men would have qualities that defy examination.

In agriculture, happily, the principle of competitive examination is not so hostile to the choice of the best man as it must be, for instance, in diplomacy, where a Talleyrand would be excluded for knowing no language but his own; and still more in the army, where promotion would be denied to an officer who, like Marlborough, could not spell.