Editing Family Compact (section)

===Land and agriculture===
{{main|Agriculture in Upper Canada#Gentlemanly farming}}
The role of speculation in the vacant lands of Upper Canada ensured the development of group solidarity and cohesion of interest among the members of the Family Compact. Of the 26 largest landowners in Peel County between 1820 and 1840, 23 were absentee proprietors, of whom 17 were involved in the administration of the province; of these 17, 12 were part of the Family Compact. Society and politics in Upper Canada were dominated by interest and connection based on landed property, and only secondarily affected by ideologies and personalities.<ref>David Gagan, "Property and 'Interest'; Some Preliminary Evidence of Land Speculation by the 'Family Compact' in Upper Canada 1820–1840", ''Ontario History'', March 1978, Vol. 70 Issue 1, pp 63–70</ref>

Members of the Family Compact were interested in building up estates in which they imitated the "improved farming" methods of the English aristocracy. "Improved farming" refers to a capital-intensive form of farming introduced by the "improving landlords" of Great Britain on large estates that were beginning to be farmed as capitalist enterprises. These improved farming methods were introduced to Upper Canada by the half-pay military officers from aristocratic background who tended to become magistrates in Upper Canada and build large estates. "Mixed or improved farming was one part of a total life-style&nbsp;... As well as permitting them to practice improved farming and to develop a reasonably elegant life-style, their financial independence allowed them the leisure time necessary for them to act as 'leaders' of their community."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kelly |first=Kenneth |title=Notes on a type of mixed farming practiced in Ontario during the early nineteenth century |journal=Canadian Geographer |year=1973 |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=215 |doi=10.1111/j.1541-0064.1973.tb00088.x|bibcode=1973CGeog..17..205K }}</ref>

The city of Toronto was surrounded by the estates of the Family Compact.  One of these estates, the Grange, was owned by Boulton and was one of the chief centres of the Family Compact. Although many meetings took place at the Grange, [[John Ross Robertson]] noted the small dining room, which could not hold more than 14 people, probably meant that many of the stories about the Family Compact gatherings were probably exaggerated.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Peppiatt|first1=Liam|title=Chapter 19: A Sketch of the Grange|url=http://www.landmarksoftoronto.com/a-sketch-of-the-grange|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180927125237/http://www.landmarksoftoronto.com/a-sketch-of-the-grange|url-status=dead|archive-date=2018-09-27|website=Robertson's Landmarks of Toronto Revisited}}</ref>

<gallery>
File:TorontoMossParkEstate.jpg|"Moss Park", 1889, the estate of [[William Allan (banker)|William Allan]]
File:The Grange.JPG|The Grange, estate of D'Arcy Boulton Jr.
File:DundurnCastleSummer.JPG|Dundurn Castle, Hamilton, estate of Sir Allen McNab
</gallery>