h in England. The inquiries of the
committee might be extended much if they went to the Agricultural
Association at Berne; they would discover many things which have not yet
entered into their philosophy. I doubt very much whether the
four-course shift of Norfolk, where farming is considered the most
perfect, is not more expensive and more exhausting to the land, than the
other systems resorted to on the Continent; that is, that it is not that
which will give the greatest possible returns at the minimum of expense.
I have before observed how very seldom you see a horse out of condition
and unfit for work on the Continent; one great cause must be from their
not being racked and torn to pieces by overloading; and notwithstanding
which, the loads they draw are much heavier than those in England. I
have seen a load of many tons so exactly poised upon two wheels, that
the shaft horse neither felt his saddle nor his belly-band.

One great cause of the ill usage of horses in England is the disgraceful
neglect of the public conveyances of all kinds. If an alteration was to
be made in the regulations of hackney coaches and cabs, we should no
longer have our feelings tortured by the spectacles of horse misery
which we daily meet with. There are plenty of commissioners for hackney
coaches, and it is a pity that they had not something to do for the
money they receive, or else that they were abolished and their duty put
into the hands of the police. It may appear a singular remark to make,
but I cannot help thinking that there would be a good moral effect in
the improvement of hackney coaches. There are a certain class of people
in London, to whom these vehicles are at present of no use. I refer to
those who have a sufficient independence, but who cannot afford to keep
their carriages, and who, by the present system of social intercourse,
are almost shut out of society, or are inclined to spend more money than
prudence would dictate. In all other capitals, the hackney coaches are
clean and respectable, and in some instances as good as a private
carriage; and besides that, they have a superior kind of carriage for
evening parties, which renders the expense of a private carriage
unnecessary. There certainly may be some excuse made for those who
dislike hackney coaches pulling up at their doors, when we look at the
disgusting turn-outs of the London stands, at one time filled with
drunken men and women, at others carrying dise