HINTS T o GENTLEMEN O F LANDED PROPERTY. To which are now firft added, SUPPLEMENTARY HINTS. By NATHANIEL KENT, OF FULHAM. A NEW EDITION. LONDON: Fjintid for J. DODSLEY, in Pall-Mail. M.DCC.XCIII. ADVERTISE ME NT ' | ^ H E Reader is cautioned JL not to expeft any thing fyftematical in the fubftance, or ftyle of the following Remarks. They are fimply fuch as have arifen in the courfe of a three years refidence, and obfervatibn in the Auftrian Netherlands, and an extenfive practice flnce in the fuperintendance, and care of fe- veral large eftates, in different parts of England. Nothing is borrowed from books, or built upon hearfay - authority ; what little they contain is, chiefly a de- A 2 fcription, fcription of fuch practical points of Hufbandry as may be adopted in many parts of England to great advantage. And as thefe Hints are publiftied from no motive of intereft whatever, but merely to enable gentlemen of landed pro- perty to be competent judges whether their eftates are properly managed, or not, it is hoped they will meet with a candid and fa- vourable reception. THI C v ] THE CONTENTS. tNTR ODUC TIO N — Page i ** Incitement to the Study of Agriculture 7 Application of Soil to its right Ufe — 10 Draining 21 Natural Grqfes confidered — • 32 Artificial Grajfes confidered — 39 Different Methods of improving Mea- dow and Pqfture-land — — 5 1 the great Advantage of a fuitable Stock of Cattle — — 59 Manures confidered — ^5 Maxims relative to ploughed Land — 76 Improvements, and their Expences — 86 Wafie Lands confidered, and their fuit- able Improvement fuggefied — 9 a Culture [ vi ] Culture of Turnips — Page tog Culture of Cole, or Rape -Seed ■ — 123 Culture of Hops — — 131 Obfervations relative to Buildings and Repairs — — — 146 The Deficiency of Timhef confidered — 158 The mojl ufeful Sorts of Timber cha- racterized — — : — 161 Different Methods of Planting fuggefied 169 Advice reflecting the Management of Timber — — — 180 Advantages refulting from fmall Farms, and thofe of the mojl pro- fitable Size defcribed — — 1 86 The great Benefit of Church and Col- lege Tenures to Population and So- ciety ■ — — — 202 Refections on the great Importance of Cottages — ■— 206 Refections on the Difirefs of the Poor, and the Increafe of the Rates for their AJfifiance — — 234 SUPPLE, [ vii ] SUPPLEMENTARY HINTS, p. 243. Declaration ■ — 245 Agriculture ■ « — 248 Commons — — — 251 Common Fields — — .., „ .,, 254 Proportionate Value of Property — 263 Important Quejlion of Leafes — 260 The Duty of a Country Gentleman — 275 A Word to the Wife — — 280 HINTS, HINTS, &c. INTRODUCTION. MO S T of the publications upon Hufbandry, which the prefs hath lately teemed with, feem to b6 read more for amufement than profit ; very few, if any, of the fchemes recom- mended have been carried into general practice ; which mews that agriculture is very little attended to as a fpence. The intelligent farmer will always know and gather more from practice, and ob- fervation, than he can acquire from books and ftudy. It is upon this principle that I have avoided all theoretical rules ; for s . if [ 2 ] if wc confult only the book of Nature, and obferve her order, and the con- fequences that refult from her prog- noses, we mail derive infinite advan- tage from her inftructions in all coun- try-bufinefs, fince no voice is fo loud, or Vhftinct as her's. Every plant, and weed, characterizes the foil it grows upon, and tells us its quality and value. A thou- fand animals and infects foretel us what weather, what feafons, we are to expect ; and are therefore highly deferving of our attention. The late ingenious Mr. Stilling- fleet, among other publications of great moment, favoured the world with a re- gifter of the times of the budding, blof- foming, and foliage of different flowers, fhrubs, and trees, in different years, un- der die title of " The Calendar of Flora,' 1 and recommended it to all gardeners,, farmers, and planters, to confult thele appearances at all times, and to be guided more by them in cropping and treating their land, than by the regular return of ~ the t 3 ] the months and years. Many people have obierved, that when ants wander carelefly -from the feat of their republic, in the fpring of the year, a drought al- moft invariably enfues ; but when they daub and plaifter the fides of their habi- tation, and confine themfelves nearer home, a very dripping, wet fummer is known to follow. Swallows flying low, occafioned by the weight of the atmo- fphere preffing down their prey, denote ipeedy rain. In a drizzly morning, when the whole village is in doubt, whether it will be a thorough wet day, or clear up before noon, the (heep will often tell them. If a continued rain be to enfue, they generally feed, notwithstanding the moifture, with great eagernefs ; knowing that they mall have no better weather for that day. If they defift from eating/herd together in detached parties, and creep un- der the hedges, it is an indication that they know the rain will be over foon enough to afford them time to fill their bellies, It is B 2 needlefs [ 4 ] needlefs to enumerate the advantages, to be derived from many more of thefe in- ftructive agents ; I mention thefe few, in order to infinuate, that the great ftudy and fuccefs of agriculture, the moft ufe- ful of all fciences, indeed the nurfe of them all, depends upon a clofe investiga- tion of nature ; that the true fecret, or myftery, of afcertaining the value of land, and knowing what plants are fuitable, and appofite, to particular foils, muft be ob- tained by confulting her * ; which re- duces all our profitable refearches upon hunVandry merely to two points : Firft, to find out, Whether our refpective lands are properly applied to the ufe for which nature defigned them ? and next, Whe- ther we pra&ife the beft methods of art * Mr. Black of Latton, in Effex, one of the befi: judges of the nature, and value, of land, who pra&ifes as a furveyor, has ftri&ly conformed himfelf to this idea ; and the deferved reputation which he has ac- quired, is the beft proof that can be given, of his having taken a fare guide, which [ 5 ] which have been hitherto adopted ? In making this enquiry, it will appear that great abfurdities are frequently pradtifed in the mifapplication of crops, or in an improper fuccefiion of them -> and it will be equally apparent, that the heft me- thods of art are far from centering all in one fpot. Every county feems to abound in excellencies, and defects : but as every farmer thinks his very worft. cuflom pre- ferable to the beft, which another county makes ufe of, there can be no hope of feeing the bed adopted, and brought into general practice, and the worft wholly exploded, but by the intervention and example of gentlemen of property; who may perhaps be able, by time, and perfe- verance, in a great meafure, to effect fo defirable an alteration. Many, and vari- ous, are the good, and bad, practices I al- lude to -j and 'tis not the talk of any one man to feparate them but many hints from different people, if they are ground- ed upon found experience, may, in time, B 3 form [ 6 J form a complete fyftem of practical hufbandry. According to this idea, I have always conceived the Miijeum Rujli- cum, to be one of the molt ufeful modern productions - y becaufe well-meaning men have thrown in their refpective mites of mftru&ion, as far as their knowledge ex- tended, without pretending to more.-— Upon this plan, I mall venture to pub- lifh a few thoughts, upon fuch matters as have particularly fallen under my own obfervatiop. INCITE- [ 7 J INCITEMENT TO THE STUDY OF AGRICULTURE. A Competent knowledge of Agricul- ture is the mo ft ufefui fcience a gentleman can attain ; it is the noblefr. amufement the mind can employ itfelf in, and tends, at . the fame time, to the increafe of private property, and public benefit. Nor is this ftudy, fo neceflary, and ferviceable to mankind, attende&with much difficulty, or labour; but is even entertaining in the acquifition : for its chief inftruclions are to be found in the pleafant and open fields, and not in the confined library. To gentlemen whofe property is realized in land, this object is more particularly important, Indeed to them it becomes a duty, which they owe not only to themfelves, but to the community ; as it behoves every man to B 4 make tnr ke the moil: of h.'s property, by every la idable means ; and as the Public is like- Wife intereftcd in the produce of the earth, which the landholder has greatly in his power to iricreafc, or diminim, by good, or bad management. Gentlemen, who turn their thoughts into this channel, will never want em- ployment ; and may be alfured of fitting down from their labour with the moft comfortable reflections j knowing that their own private fortunes are flourifhing, at the fame time that the mechanic, and labourer, receive advantage from their exertions. But it has been Very common to men of fortune, to aim at increafing their pro- perty by purchafes, which have, at beft, paid them only three per cent., while they have neglected the moft obvious im- provements, upon old branches of their eftate, which would have paid them in a tniich higher proportion. Inftead of running into this error, it would be bet- ter C 9 1 ter to ccnfider, what particular advantages their eftates derive from nature, and fi- tuation ? and whether thofe advantages are made the moft of ? whether the beft modes of art are employed in cultivating them ? and whether induflry accompanies the whole ? If there be any defect, the remedy is often eafy, and the application is all that will be wanting. AFPLI- APPLICATION . OF SOIL TO ITS RIGHT USE. O thing can be more abfurd, than to attempt railing particular crops, upon land where the foil is naturally ill calculated for their produ&ion. To find out what corn, grafs, or plants, are moil fuitable, and appofite, to the ground that is to be fown, or planted, is the niceft part of a farmer's bufinefs; and for want of proper attention to this main objecT:, ill fuccefs, and failure, is frequently the con- fequence. For where an intelligent far- mer would thrive, and grow rich, a blun- dering, inconfiderate man will quickly re- duce himfelf to ruin. There are rich loams, and mixed foils, of various complexions, which are kind, and favourable to the growth of moft branches of the vegetable kingdom. Here little Ikill is t " ] is required. The value of thefe will b« eafily found out, by growing on them what-, ever finds the readier!:, and quickelt, way to market. But there is a much greater num- ber of foils, whofe nature mull be ftudied, before any great advantage can be derived from them ; and as they are frequently blended together, and in colour, and ap- pearance, much alike, tho' very different in their quality, it is extremely difficult to defcribe them fufflciently in writing. Their temper, as I have hinted in my introduc- tion, is beft found out by their own natural produce; by the famples of graffes, and weeds, which are always to be found on the borders, and fkirts of the fields, which al- ways characterize them truly. This makes it effentially neceffary, that every man mould ftudy, at leaft, the nature of all na- tural grades, wild plants, and weeds, be- fore he can pre fume to be a general judge of the quality, and value of land. Every day's experience convinces me of the importance of this ftudy, and the ad- vantages [ 12 ] vantages which agriculture would receive, from farmers paying more attention than they do, to plants which characterize the foil. The colour, or complexion, of land, does not afford us fo much infor- mation, as it's fpontaneous produce. — 1 It has been long remarked, that black, and white, thorns, where they grow vi- goroufly, denote good land ; and that malloes, and groundfel, are feldom found, in a healthy ftate, but where land is natu- rally rich, or artificially made fo. On the contrary, birch, broom, and juniper, where they appear without invitation, in- dicate poor 1 land. — I may add, that yar- row, and the ftrong black thiftle, be- fpeak good land, but moft other thirties are dumb as to its quality. — I may ven- ture like wife to affert, that maiden hair grafs, wild carrot, horfe mint, wild thyme, birds-foot, trefoil, and fometimes bur- net, are figns of poor land. — Teafels, for- rel, and the tufted hair-grafs, generally grow on cold ftrong land, and the weed which C 13 ] which farmers call woad-wick, on neg- lected pafture. — The crefted dog-tail, and vernal grafs, are certain figns of found land. Wild tanfey, and arfe-fmart, are fymptoms of an occafionally-wet foil; for they fpring up, after the water is off, as it were to fay, that water has been there in a confined ftate, not to improve, but to injure it. — On the contrary, the meadow fox-tail, and marm-bent graJTes follow water, to denote, that the water, which had been there, did good. — Rufhes never exift but upon wet land; and where the fmall, black, fluted, rufh is moft found, the land will beft aofwer the expence of draining. — The bright, long, fmooth, pithy ru(h, ufed by chand- lers, is not fo certain a fign, that land will anfwer improvement by draining, Colts -foot feldom appears but on fpringy land. Docks are of feveral forts — The .broad-leaved dock, or bur-dock, is ra- ther a good indication— The water-dock, which is brought by occafional floods, is, [ H ] is, in general, mute as to the nature of land. — Thefe, and all iimilar appear- ances, fhould, however, be confidered in a general way, and weighed with inge- nuity ; becaufe, after the beft diftinctions that can be made, it will frequently happen, that fome of the good indica- tions will appear on bad land, and fome of the bad figns on good land ; as even the general rules of nature are not with- out their exceptions. But this may be depended upon, that in the former cafe, the good fymptoms will appear languid, and weak ; in the latter, the bad will appear grofs, and florid ; by a due ob- fervance of which difference, a pretty juft idea may be formed, of the quality of the land. — Dr. Hill takes notice, that common ragwort " is a weed too fre- " quent in our paftures; covering a great u deal of ground to ill purpofe, as no " cattle touch it." Horfes, and cows, indeed refufe it - } but I have taken notice, that meep are rather fond of it; and feldom t *5 3 feldom leave any part of it, where they are much kept. Hence I infer, that the befl, and the cheapen 1 : way to weaken, and keep this w T eed under, is to feed fuch paftures, as are apt to produce it, more with fheep, than with other forts of cattle; — at leaf! it mull be quite proper to graze fuch land occafionally with fheep. Where fheep cannot be kept, this weed fhould be drawn out of the ground, at any expence ; as it is a mere incumbrance before horfes, and cows, and has, befides, a very flovenly appear- ance. — It is thus defcribed ; " The leaves " feem cut, or rather gnawn, to rags j— " the ftalk is two feet high, firm, up- " right, and of a coarfe green, often " flained with brown, or red; the " leaves of a dark, coarfe green, and ** fmooth, and of an unpleafant fmell " the flowers numerous, and yellow, and " blow in June, July, and Auguft." The convolvulus, or bind-weed, which is very deftrudtive to corn, by twifting itfelf [ i6 ] Ufelf round the ftems, taking from it's nourimmenf, and pulling it down after rain, is feldom got rid of by ploughing ; tecaufe it flrikes it's roots fo deep (fome &y ten, or twelve, feet) that there is nothing can reach it fo as to extirpate it. — Th.s is a very pernicious weed, as it often caufes a deduction in the crop, equal to the value of its tythe. Hoeing, and the bite of fheep, are the beft remedies againfl this grievance, as both tend to Weaken, and check it. Upon fandy, and fome other light, land, there is a fmall, weak weed, with little round pods at the points, which Contain the feed, which is about the fize of a vetch : — it runs in knots, about an inch apart; the ftem, at bottom, is not bigger than a fmall ftraw, and, from al- mofr. every joint, it acquires an additional branch; grows about a foot high, and has a yellowifh-green carl:. — I do not know the Botanical name for this weed, but it fa called by farmers pick-purfe ~- it is m , t '7 1 to exnaufting weed, and very common* Where this fort of land has not been chalked* or marled ; but when this im- provement is made, it feldom troubles the farmer afterwards. If all the comrribn plants were exa- mined in this manner, as far as they are defcriptive of the quality, and condition, of land, much real advantage might be derived to fociety $ and I /Kail think myfelf par- ticularly happy, if this hint mould encou- rage any ingenious perfon, to carry it far- ther than my time, or ability, will enable hie. — Thefe few obfervations, are meant only to mew the nature of the plan, I wifh to fee adopted and they (with a very few ex- ceptions) maybe depended upon, or I mould have been cautious of offering them to the Public. Some foils are, however, fo diftincl: in their nature, as to be eafily defcribed. I fhall firft mention blue clays, and co~ hefive loams, which are by nature evidently defigned for grafs ; and if well laid down, C . and t 18 ] and properly managed, are generally found to be fome of our moft valuable paftures. The red, and black, clays, if they be not too tenacious, are in general well calcu- lated for wheat, oats, and beans j but re- quire good culture. If their depth be con- fiderable, oak likewife flourishes well upon them, which is alfo found to be of the beft quality. Sands, of all kinds, and light foils, of every degree, are calculated for the turnip- hufbandry, barley, and artificial graffes. Thin-fkinned, chalky, land is clearly adapted to the growth of beech ; which thrives prodigioufly, when nothing elfe will grow upon it. But tho' this be a fact be- yond contradiction, many extenfive tracts of high land remain naked, and unprofitable, which, by proper planting, would become ufeful, and highly ornamental. Chalk, of greater depth, is good for St. Foin j as well as fome forts of gravelly- land. Woodcock-foil generally confifts of yel* low. t *9 ) low, or white, clay, with a mixture of gravel; is feldom fruitful, and, -betides it's ftanding in need of draining, is very un- kind, and difficult to work - 3 and therefore better devoted to pauVare. All land, of every kind, which is fo di£* pofed, in fituation, as to admit cf flooding, either by rivers, brooks* roads, or yards, Ihould be turned into meadow -ground* Boggy lands, which lie low* and cannot' be drained efFeclually, without being fcari- fied, mould be planted with black poplar* alder, and withe. Little angles, and odd hooks, near running rivers, ihould be turned into ozier-beds* or planted with white pop* lan Barren, heathy-lands may be profitably planted with Scotch firs, and wild cherry* trees. Am, one of our moll ufeful, and profita* ole trees, which has every farmer for its fenemy, becaufe it obftrudts his plough, and is noxious to other woods, as well as corn, Should be planted in angles, and by*places. C 2 Elm* [ 2° ] Elm, as it grows erect, and oak, as it re- ceives its principal nourifhment from a tap- root, will do beft in hedge-rows. But more of this under the article of Timber. BRAINING* [ 21 ] PRAINING. D Raining is the firfl: improvement which wet lands can receive; for till the land be laid dry, 'tis in vain to beftow any kind of manure upon it ; be- caufe it foon wafhes away, and the rufh takes poffeffion of it entirely. In ploughed land, where the foil is naturally wet, dif- ferent remedies have been attempted. In the famous vale of Eve/ham, in Worcef- terjhire, the land is thrown into ridges, from ten to thirty yards wide, and raifed in the middle, to an elevation of, at leaft, a yard above the level, which is attended with great lofs, and inconvenience. The furrows very often contain water three yards wide. The headlands are thrown up in the fame manner, which dams up the water in the furrows, fo that it can- not get off, but rots the feed, and deftroys C 3 the r * i the crop. When the feafon is remarkably dry, another difad vantage refults from this awkward method. The tops of the ridges* if the foil partake at all of gravel, are fure to burn. Both which difad vantages arc brought on, by the extreme the occupiers of thofe lands have run into, of increafing the convexity of the ridge from time to time. Befides the real lofs they fuftain, it muft be a great inconvenience, to occupy land in this manner, which nothing but ufe can reconcile. This, of all methods of draining, may fafely be called the worftj and it is to be lamented that no other can now be fuggefted, in this, or any fimilar cafe, fmce it would not anfwer, by any means, to throw the ground into any other form, as the labour would be immenfe ; and the manure, which has been laid upon it for centuries back, muft in that cafe be buried, and a poorer foil brought upon the furface. It is therefore to be wilhed, that no fimilar practice may be introduced, upon a like foil, in any part of England. Another f 23 J Another mode of draining ploughed land is, by throwing it into very fmall ridges of two, fometimes four, or fix furrows only; and provided the ground be ploughed in fuch a manner, as to give the furrows a free difcharge, this is by no means a bad prac- tice ; becaufe it takes off all furface water, and the land is not more difficult to occupy, and may be thrown again into any other form at pleafure. But the moft effectual way of draining ploughed ground, is that pra&ifed in Ef- fex; where the farmers have the merit of laying land, which is naturally full of fprings, entirely dry; and of obtaining great crops where no corn would other- wife vegetate. The common way is, to have a principal drain, fix or feven inches deeper than the ordinary drains, for the latter to empty themfelves into. There is no general rule, with refpedfc to the proportion of ground which thefe mafter- drains will ferve. Sometimes one is Ef- ficient for ten acres ; but in this cafe the C 4 land i: h i land muft lay all one way, and the foil muft be tenacious in its nature. When the de- fcent iies different ways, there muft be a principal drain to every flope. But where there is a good difcharge into a ditch, which has likewife a good outfall, many people prefer it to a matter- drain, becaufe any obftrudtions which may happen, are more eafily remedied ; for when a fingle drain is choaked up, the place is eafily found out ; but when many drains are connected together, it is often difficult to find out the defect. And fometimes the burrowing of a mole will occafion a ftoppage. The method of opening the principal drains is, to plough four furrows, throw- ing two each way j the two in fide furrows being ploughed deeper than the ethers. After the plough, the earth is funk a fpit deep with a common fpade, and afterwards another fpit with a land-ditching- fpade, called a griping- fpade. Laft of all a fcoop js made ufe of, to rake out all the loofe earth. This drain when completed is about two feet I 25 ] feet deep. The common drains are begun, and.finimed, like the principal drains; but the fpit with the common fpade is omit- ted j and therefore they are not above eighteen inches deep, two and a half wide at bottom, and three and a half at the top pf the grip. In this proportion, the nar- rower they are, the better. The drain is filled up as high as the top of the fpade- work, with brum-wood at the bottom, and a piece of wood, as big as a man's, leg, on the top ; a little ftraw is fhaken over that, and the remainder of the drain is filled up with earth. The greater the proportion of wood, and the harder the earth is prefTed in, the longer will be the duration of the work. The wood mufl be fuch as runs pretty free in its branches. Elm, alder, and fallows are as good as any. It is rather difficult, to make an exacl: eflimate of the expence, becaufe the price varies, in the county of Eflex itfelf, from one penny to three pence per pole, in the * workmanfhip only ; and fome land requires the [ 46 ] the drains to be nearer together than others; "but fuppoiing the drains to be a pole in width from each other, which is the com- mon diftance, the following calculation, upon an average, will be pretty exacl for an acre : /. s. J. Sinking the ditch to obtain an outfall -076 Drawing the furrows - - -026 160 poles of digging and filling up, at zd. x 6 8 Wood, efcimated at a faggot of twelve -\ feet long to a pole, carriage included, > 2 13 4 at 4 d. per faggot - - -J Half a load of Araw, and carriage - -070 Extra-digging, in the ends, where the j plough will not reach - - J 0 1 ^ . £- 4 18 6 This improvement varies according to the foil. Upon an abfolute fand it will indeed barely anfwer. Upon a gravel, which is the foil where fprings moft abound, or upon a mixture of loam and gravel, it will laft from five to twelve years. Upon a clay, or ftlff coheftve foil, it will laft twenty. 1 But E 27 } But even irrthe former cafe, it is apparent that it will anfwer the expence, as it is done in general by the rack-tenants in that county* and very frequently by tenants at will. This kind of draining, where it can be pradtifed, is the neateft and beft; but it would be certainly an improvement, if the depth of the drains were varied, according to the bed of the fprings. One univerfal principle, in this mode of draining, mull be attended to ; which is, to get a good outfall, or difcharge, and to draw all the drains ob^- Jiquely, acrofs the defcent of the ground, not right down with, nor right acrofs the fall. The advantage is obvious ; for if a fpring rifes in any part of the ground, it cannot, in this cafe, have far to run, before it finds the means of getting off ; but if the drains were drawn right down with the de- fcent, it might ooze down, parallel with the drain, for a furlong in length before it would get into it, though it were only at the diftance of ten yards from it. And, on the [ 28 ] the other hand, if the drains were drawn acrofs the defcent, upon right angles, and a dead level, they would of courfe remain full, for want of a free difcharge, and not have their proper effect. A little fall mud: be allowed 3 but the lefs the fall, the greater will be the duration; as the drains will not fo foon choak up, by the warning in of the foil. This method of draining feems to be the moil excellent upon fpringy land. I fubjoin a fketch of the ufual way of opening thefe drains, marked N°. i. There is a method of covered-drain- ing, with ftones, practifed in fome parts of Somerfetjhire, and Wiltjhire, which is very expenfive compared with that in Ef- fex, but then its duration is much longer - y for when it is well executed, the farmers think it completed for ever. Lord Wey- mouth's extenfive park, at Longleat, has been drained in this manner, at an im- menfe expence, ftones being very fcarce near him. The expence of thefe drains, in workmanfhip, is from nx pence to feven pence o r*al» . \n fidjot \t frarce bears half fr - . ■ p t ije 28 ' . mi. A F/^/tl 2) ftwuxC A F/Ce4d> D rained A T/M Drained /Oy o?u> of itsDUc/iej, /Oy a/MaJUr D raUt/, inf M'o outeis/s IfaJPr m*ftead efa/vri?icyial ln> tJi^MiddU. /seiny Drains, ferny /u#A&r Drat yi . louse^r lavx/iat-futrJ/ inthssMidaXz/iian on< than a£t/ie SMoj . tfi& Sufaf . Notes, Tiie Main ZtetteaHt vft/w Lan^/,i^ ^afifuwd/t& /ram tjt& luj/urt j l./o 2 . Back of Foldout Not Imaged [ 29 ] pence a pole ; in EfTex it fcarce bears half that price. I mould prefer either of thefe methods according to the eafe with which the materials are obtained. There is {till another fort of covered draining, which may be adopted in a very ftiff, tenacious foil. It is called turf- draining; and, befides that it is the cheapen: of all, I believe it to be as lafting as any, if the land be fufficiently cohefive : But upon a loofe, crumbling foil it is im- practicable. This draining is of two kinds ; in the one, the inverted turf is put upon a moulder, as defcribed N°. 2, leaving a hollow part under it, and the remain- der of the drain is filled up, merely with the earth that came out of it. The other method is, to cut out a wedge, in the form of a Roman figure of Five, de- fcribed N°. 3 ; and, when it is taken out, to cut off about fix, or eight, inches of the bottom part of the wedge, and to put the remainder into the fame place again. I believe, if a few rufhes were put round t 3° ) rotmd the bottom of this wedge, fo as id keep the lower part from dropping, and the ends of the rufhes were drawn up- wards, between the fides of the drain and the wedge, it would be an improvement to this laft method. Where either of thefe methods are made ufe of, care mutt be taken, to keep off all cattle till the drains have had time to fettle* But open drains are to be preferred to the EiTex, or any other mode of covered draining, in all marm and boggy land, and in fandy foils, where the hollow drains are more liable to be choaked ; and in mea- dows, where they ferve for fences, as well as laying the land dry : but here the fame rule mould be obferved, to fink them, as much as pomble* in the before-mentioned oblique directions* In flat countries^ fuch as Norfolk, and Suffolk, there is a fort of bad meadow- land, which fkirts the river, in a narrow form, and generally lies extremely wet, from the fpringa which ifTue out upon it, from Back of Foldout Not Imaged [ 3* ] from the higher ground, on each fide. In this cafe, open drains mould be funk, pa- rallel with the river, on each fide, between the up, and the low-land, juft at the top of the places where rufhes frequently mew themfelves. Thefe drains mould be funk fufficiently deep, to catch all the fprings, which the high grounds produce ; and may be deeper, or fhallower, as the fprings lie. When thefe drains are charged to a certain height, they mould be eafed by a fmaller drain; which may be cut, occafionally, right down with the defcent ; and communicate, as an outfall, with the river, according to the iketch annexed, N°. 4. But it rnufl be obferved, that this laft method of draining is merely contrived to guard the mea- dow land from the dripping of the higher ground, as it is feldom wet in itfelf - 3 and this practice is by much the .cheaper!, and moft effqfhial. NATURAX. [ 32 3 NATURAL GRASSES CONSIDERED* MR. StiiBigfleet, in his ObfervationS upon GrafTes, has defcribed a few* of the bell forts fo clearly, that any perforr, who directs his attention to this ufeful ftudy, may eafily diftinguifh them. Annual meadow -grafs is one of the moffc valuable : for though it does not run fo long in the ftem, as fome other graffes, it produces a vaft deal of blade of a fweet and nourifhing quality ; and is moft to be de- fired, of all graffes, upon land that is chiefly ufed for pafture. Indeed upon this fort of land it moftly fhews itfelf. Mr. Stilling- feet took notice, that a great deal of this grafs appeared, on a much frequented walk, on Malvern-Hill, tho' he could not find any of it, upon any other parts of the hill. This remark of his led me to jftudy the par- ticular nature of this grafs, more than I mould otherwife have done. And I am of opinion, [ 33 1 6pInion, that almoft all land is irnpreg* nated with it's feed, and will of courfe pro- duce it, though not in equal quantities. So that it does not feem neceffary to fow it, but merely to encourage it's growth. When the furface lies hollow, other grafles, of a coarfer nature, and pouelfed of deeper roots, get the better of it; and are apt to Hifle it. But when the fame land becomes trodden, this grafs immediately mews itfelf - 9 and, if the preflure be frequently repeated, it very foon gets the advantage over moft others, as may be feen at the entrance* and outfides, of moft fields, where the feet of cattle give it* as it were, a new birth. So that as pref- fure alone does the bufinefs, it feems a great argument in favour of feafonable rolling, which is indifputably a very fine improve- ment upon all meadow, and pafture, parti- cularly upon light dry land. By this im- provement the moifture is more preferved, and .-the earth, being preffed clofe to the roots of the grafs, preferves it from burn- ing. Thofe who are againft rolling aflert, D that E 34 ] that the quantity is leflened. In hay, I be- lieve, it may fometimes be the cafe ; be- caufe rolling, which fines the furface, and thickens the fet of annual meadow-grafs, checks, and weakens, the long fpungy grafTes, which frequently compofe the bulk of the crop. But then the quality of the hay, after rolling, will be fo fuperior to what if would be without it, that two tons will be as good as three; and if the land be grazed afterwards, the advantage will be ftill greater. Some of the next befl grafTes are, thg crefied dog-tail, the vernal, the peep's fefcque, and the fine bent ; which are all in- dications of found land. And the obferva- tion which is frequently made, that raoft common things are the befl:, is particularly verified in thefe grafTes ; for they vifit us, in greater proportion than mod others, and are equally excellent in hay, as in the green blade, which is of a fine nature. They are particularly wholefome for all kinds of cattle; and, provided we attend to them ' . t 35 3 them properly, are much to be improved* Nothing is better for thefe graffes than the fediment of ponds ; or, next to this, a ge- nerous compofr. made of three parts of good, frefh, maiden earth, or the fcouring of ditches, and (if the foil be a clay, or ftifr* in its nature) the fourth part chalk, or lime. But if it be a fmdy, or a light foil, two parts of maiden earth, one other part clay, and a fourth part rotten dung, will be beft. This compoft, well mixed, mould be laid on before Lady- Day, be well worked Into the ground with bum-harrows, and repeated at leaft every fifth year; which will not only be a very high improvement to thefe graffes, but be the means of pro* ducing a great deal of white clover. The jlote fefcque> or marfh bent, another rnoft valuable grafs, is found in moift lands; is to be improved beyond all others, and at a lefs expence, merely by flooding ; which 1 fhall endeavour to mew hereafter. Mr. Stillingfleet was very earnefr, in ad* Wfing hufbandmen to gather, and fow> feme Da of [ 36 ] of the beft of thefe feeds in their ground, iriftead of filling it with the ftale rubbifh which they generally make ufe of. Great advantage might certainly be made of this hint, particularly when land is laid down for meadow, or pafture. In this cafe, the beft graffes cannot be collected at too great an expence ; for I have feen a fmall fpot of land, in the middle of a large piece, which was laid down, twelve or fourteen years fmce, by Mr. Stiffingfeet, upon the eftate of Mr. Price, of Foxley in Hereford/hire, with fome choice feeds, at the fame time when the remainder of the field was laid down with common feeds ; and this fpot is confiderably better than the reft. It not only appeared fo to my judgement, but was allowed to be fo by Mr. Price's bai- liff, who was well acquainted with its pro- duce. From Mr. S tiffing feet's experiment, and my own obfervations, I am clearly of opi- nion* that any perfon who has land, cal- culated for grafs, may improve it, by this method [ 37 1 method of laying it down, to a much greatef degree than he can in the ufual way. But as he may be at a lofs fometimes, to dif- tinguifh the graffes, and may not, at firft, know which fuit his foil beft, I advife him to proceed in the following manner, viz. Let him clean a piece of land effectually, and fow different natural graffes, upon dif- ferent ridges of the fame piece, Let others, mixed, be fown upon other ridges. Give every fort the fame attention, but, at the fame time, let each have variety of ma- nagement ; which may eafily be done, by fetting two or three lines of hurdles acrofs the ridges. One part of the whole may be fed, another part may be mowed, another part may be manured with different forts of manure. By this means, in two or three years, the nature of every grafs will be found out and an intelligent farmer will foon know which to prefer for mea- dow, which for pafture, and which to re- ject, I> 3 TL* C 38 3 The next befl method of getting clcaa feed is, to hurdle off clean fpots of fheep- downs, which have been fed quite bare. This, tho' feldom pradtifed, is a good way of coming at clean natural feeds. ARTIFICIAL t 39 ] ARTIFICIAL GRASSES CONSIDERED.. St* Fom, THOUGH St. Foin be not fo gene- rally underftood, nor fo univerfally cultivated, as fome other artificial graffes, I fhall venture to give it the preference to all others, not only for its hay, which ex- ceeds in goodnefs every other fort, but for the advantage of the after-grafs ; which is particularly good, between Michaelmas and Chriftmas, when the natural graffes begin to decline. Nor is it lefs valuable on ac- count of its. duration, by which it fupplies, in a great meafure, the place of meadow, and pafture, in hilly countries, where there is a deficiency of fuch herbage, or on foil where it cannot be obtained. It is truly a moft ufeful and valuable grafs, and cannot be too highly efleemed. In fome parts of D 4 Hampjhire^ [ 40 3 Hampjhire, Wiltjhire, and Berkjhire, there are considerable tracts of land, fown with St. Foin, which now let from twenty to thirty millings an acre, which would not "be worth above half that rent, in corn, or In any other mode of bufbandry. * The land proper for this grafs is, chalk, gravel, or almoft any mixed mould, pro- vided it be not wet, and that it has a rocky, or hard, bottom, to check the root, at about a foot, or fifteen inches, depth; otherwife it will fpeud itfelf below the furface. This therefore may be confidered as a general rule — that St. Foin mould never be planted where there is a great depth of foil. The ground cannot be made too clean, before it be fown ; fo that it generally fucceeds befl after turnips 5 and, as well as rpoft other grafles, is better fown with about half the quantity of barley, which is ufually fown for a full crop, than by itfelf. For the barley will made, and keep it moift, during the firfl fummer ; and, at the fame time, not injure it, as the crop will bq lighter [ 4i 3 lighter than ordinary. About four bufhels of St. Foin-feed is enough to an acre and as the feed is large and coarfe, it ought to be completely buried and therefore 'tis beft to plough it in with a very mallow furrow. The firft autumn it ought not to be fed at all. Every fucceeding fummer it may be mowed for a crop ; and the fecond autumn it may be fed, with any cattle, except meep, till Chriftmas, but not clofe. Every autumn afterwards it may be fed with (heep, as well as other cattle, and may be fed as clofe as they can bite, pro- vided it be laid up by the middle of Ja- nuary. The fecond winter after fowing, it mould be manured with peat-afhes, if they can be had at any reafonable rate ; otherwife, with any other ames, which are the beft manure for tjiis grafs. And if this dreffing can be repeated every third year, the St. Foin, if it happen to take good root, will la ft fixteen, or eighteen, years ; and when the land is broken up again, it will be confiderably improved [ 42 ] Improved by the roots, which the ground will be full of. It does not attain its per- fe&ion till about the third year 3 and about the tenth it will begin to decline, unlefa greatly affifted by manure. Clover. Clover may be efteemed, from its excel- lent quality, great produce, and meliorating root, which is a great improver of land, the fecond artificial grafs in point of value. It is now in fuch general ufe, that it feems almoft needlefs to defcribe the manner of cultivating it ; therefore it will be fufficient to obferve, that the beft way is to fow it on clean land, with a full crop of barley, after turnips, at the rate of twelve pounds to an acre. The duration of this grafs is, however, very fhort, except on freih land; which points out the neceffity of keeping off its fucceffion, longer than the common cuftom, by intermixing with it as great a variety of other crops, as may be fuitable. If [ 43 3 |f it had not been for this defect, I mould have been inclined to have given it the preference, even to St. Foin. But on land where it has been often repeated, it feldom will continue above two years and, very often, not above one ; and though manure will increafe its crop, it will not prolong its (lay. This grafs evidently grows kinder! after turnips; and any foil which will bear them, is fuitable for it. The ufual way is, to mow it in June, and make it into hay. Two tons upon an acre may be reckoned a medium-crop. As its quality is nourifh- ing, it is particularly good for all draft horfes, oxen, fatting, and milch cattle ; but not fo much refpected for faddle-horfes. Sometimes it is mowed a fecond time, late in the month of Auguft ; but the hay of this fecond crop is lefs in quantity, and of an inferior quality to the former ; and therefore, if the farmer be not in any great want of hay, he will do well to feed it, in- ftead of mowing it a fecond time. When it is faved for feed, the cuftom is, to [ 44 ] to feed it down clofe until the latter end of May, and no longer ; which early feed is a vaft adv: ntage for ewes, lambs, and other cattle, as, it comes in before the natural graffes. Thefe are the common advantages de- rived from this grafs j but a much greater benefit may be obtained, by cutting it green, as often as it attains a fufficient growth, and carrying it into ftables, and yards, to be eaten, by different cattle, out of racks and cribs. In this manner, it will certainly fupport more than twice the flock It would do if fed off upon the ground, where it grew ; befides the additional quan- tity of manure that will, by this method, be made in the faid ftables, and yards, if the fame are kept littered with any fort of ftraw, or even rufhes, or fern ; which in- creafe of manure will fully compenfate the farmer for his expence, in cutting, and bringing the clover into the yards. I have known this method ufed, in many parts of England, to very great advantage ; and I apprehend t 45 1 apprehend the great difference may be ao counted for as follows* The quick growth of this grafs, after mowing, ihades the ground, and prevents the fun from exhal- ing the moifture of the land, fo much as it would if fed bare confequently it conti- nues to fpring with more vigor ; and the moment one crop is off, another begins to moot up. Whereas when cattle feed it, they frequently deftroy almoft as much as they eat; and, befides, bruife the necks of the roots with their feet, which prevents the clover from fpringing, fo freely as it does after a clean cut by the fcythe. In hot weather, which is the common feafon for feeding clover, the flies too are generally fo troublefome to the cattle, that they are continually running from hedge to hedge, to brum them off ; by which it is incon- ceivable what injury they do to the crop. But when they are fed in ftables, and yards, they are more in the made they thrive better ; and, at the fame time, confume the whole of what is given them without wafte. As [ 46 ] As it is almoft a general practice, to fow wheat after clover, and efTentialiy neceflary to manure for it, unlefs the clover has been manured the preceding year, it is greatly for the farmer's intereft, and by much the befl hufbandry, to manure the clover ; for^ by this means, he greatly augments his pre- fent crop, and the land will be in fine con- dition for a crop of wheat, without any farther afhrtance. Th ere is a fpecies of clover called cow- graft, which has been lately cultivated, irk fome parts of Hampftire, with great fuccefs; The ground relimes it extremely well, and it is by many farmers preferred to the common clover. It grows more floridly, and thrives better upon poor land. At firi't fight they are not ealily diftinguimed j but, on a clofe infpectibn, the cow^grafs will be found of a darker green, and more pointed at the ends of the leaves \ the ftalk is of a cldfer tex- ture, and not fo porous as the common fclover. Some people imagine this to be a l native C 47 ] native of this country j if fo, it may b« highly worth our attention. Darnel, or Perennial Rye-Grajs, Sometimes is ufed as an artificial-grafs, and is then fown with clover, at the rate of a quarter of a peck to an acre. Sometimes it is fown by itfelf, at the rate of two pecks to an acre ; and, at other times, in the proportion of a gallon to an acre, with eight pounds of clean trefoil (exempt from the hulk). It comes earlier than moll other graffes, and all cattle are particularly fond of it in the fpring of the year ; but towards . Midfummer the flalks become dry, and ' cattle then refufe them y therefore, in all paftures, this grafs mould be kept down, by being conftantly fed. When mixed with clover, and mowed for hay, it may be fpring-fed notwithstanding, and is even the better for it ; becaufe it would otherwife be ripe before the clover. When fown with clover, its greater!: advantage is experienced in [ 4§ ] in the fecond and third years • for as the clover declines, this increafes in propor- tion. When mixed with trefoil, it is a very good grafs upon light land, defigned to continue feveral years in meep-paftures* t u c e r . JLucern is a valuable grafs, but requires fo much weeding, and attention, that it is not by any means calculated for large farms 3 but if cultivated upon a fmall fcale, it would prove highly ferviceable in dairy-farms, or to any perfon who is obliged to keep horfes, and cows, and has but little land* This grafs, like St, Foin, ought to be checked at a certain depth, or it will fpend itfelf too much under ground but inftead of a foot, or fifteen inches ftaple, it will re- quire from eighteen inches to two feet, and the land ought to be tolerably good in quality. The beft way is, to fow this feed in drills, at about two feet apart. The ground muft be [ 49 ] be firft made very clean, and the feed muft not be buried above two inches deep. The fifft year it will require an infinite deal of labour in weeding, for it has an utter ab- horrence of every other neighbour ; but, when once it has got good root, two weed- ings in a feafon will be fuflicient which may be done by women, and children. But every time it is cut, it ought to be hoed; and thus treated (with a light coat of rot- ten muck every fpring) it will lafl ten or twelve years, and bear cutting four times in the courfe of the fummer. The beft way is, to foil cattle with it green. It is very nourishing to horfes, and caufes cows to give a great deal of milk. TREFOIL. Trefoil is a very ufeful grafs on poor land j for the clofer it is fed, the more it will fpread ; and therefore it is highly ufe- ful in laying down land for meep-paftures > but is not held in any efteem for dairies, as E it [ 5° 1 it gives the butter a rank flavour. Nor is it calculated for mowing fbr it produces but little after-grafs, and the hay is of a very- critical nature ; for, if it receives the lean: injury by wet, the leaves mat together, and it becomes mouldy, and of very little value. WHITE DUTCH CLOVER. The White Dutch Clover, though laft mentioned, is of the firft confequence. Nothing is fo good for laying down lands for pafture, as this, mixed with other graf- fes; nothing more fweet, and nourifhing for all kinds of cattle ; and, when ufed as an artificial grafs, it is the beft fubftitute- for the common clover which can be made ufe of. But its good qualities are fo well known, that it muft be needlefs to add any thing more in its favour. I purpofely omit Burnet, as it does not feem to have had fufficient trial, to difcover what may be expected from it. * DIFFERENT C 51 3 DIFFERENT METHODS OF IMPROVING MEADOW AND PASTURE-LAND. MEADOW, and pafture-land, is oftener neglected than ploughed ground, notwithstanding it generally ad- mits of a much greater proportion of im- provement. The firft, the moft eafy, and the greater! of all improvements is made by flooding. In Dorfetjhire and Hampjhire, there are meadows which are increafed, from ten millings, to three pounds an acre, by bring- ing the water of the common river over them ; which is eafily effected by means of little trenches, or grips, which moot the water on, and draw it off at pleafure. Thefe meadows are particularly ufeful for the nourifhment of ewes, and lambs, in the fpring ; and after they are eaten quite bare, fo late as the latter end of April, will often produce, in ten weeks time, three tons of E 2 hay [ 52 ] hay to an acre, without ever receiving any kind of manure, or any other attention, than the throwing them under water at proper feafons ; which deftroys all weeds, and enriches the land to a very high degree. There are thoufands of acres, in many other counties, which might be equally im- proved. The temptation is certainly great enough, to put any one upon his mettle, to find where the thing is practicable, and to encourage him to adopt it. If the great difference between ioj-. and 3/. an acre, in yearly value, flrike us, the difference be- tween 15/. and 90/. in the fee fimple of an acre of this land, will 1H11 more ftrongly affect us, though the proportion be the fame. There is another fort of flooding, which is likewife very beneficial, and which may be eafily adopted in all hilly countries ; I mean that of throwing the fcouring of hills, and roads, and the dripping of yards, over land. This is fometimes done, and as much in Hereford/hire as in any other county ; but [ S3 1 hut though the improvement be immenfe, the practice is by no means general. The advantage is often feen by the tenant, but unlefs he has a leafe, he feldom avails himfelf of it ; and fometimes it is neglected through indolence. But whatever motives may keep the tenants, from availing them- felves of fuch advantages, owners of land, and gentlemen's ltewards, are unpardon- able, in waving fuch beneficial improve- ments. Flooding is truly the beft of all im- provements, where it can be effected; and there ought not to be a fingle acre of land neglected, which is capable of it. As rol- ling, and preflure, bring the annual meadow- grajs y fo flooding immediately begets the flote fefcque, or marfi bent, the richer! of all grafles; being equally bulky in quantity, and nouriming in quality. This is the grafs, that fwims upon the tops of ponds ; fprings up where water has flood; and which cattle frequently plunge up to their bellies to reach. Horfes, and cows, are ra- E 3 venouily [ 54 1 venoufly fond of it ; and, according to Mi% Stillingfleet's account, the blade is not only fweet, but the feed, which it produces, is gathered, and eaten, by the common people in Sweden, as we eat millet. There is a fort of pafture, to be found in mod counties, where land lies to a cold afped, which is very much inclined to mofs ; which chokes up the grafs, and impoverishes the land. Penning fheep upon it is one way of killing the mofs, and im- proving the pafture ; and another good me- thod is, to harrow it well with fharp-tined harrows, in the fpring of the year, and to manure it afterwards with any comport of a warm nature. After fuch harrowing, it is a good' practice to fow Dutch clover. There is another fort of pafture, which produces little more than a lharp, coarfe- bladed grafs, which the farmers call pink, or carnation-grafs 3 from the refemblance the blade of this grafs bears, to the blades of thefe flowers. This is the fame grafs, which grows in great tufts, or bunches, in coppicesj C 55 1 coppices, and has but little nourifhment in it. This land wants draining ; and, when drained, fhould have a great deal of flock kept upon it, by ftrewing turnips before them, or foddering them with hay, to invite the annual meadow-grafs to fpring. Another fort of pafture, in many parts of England, is overfpread with alders, and other fcrubby wood, and bufhes which, befides carrying a very flovenly appearance, harbours wet ; and the made renders the turf four. This rubbifh mould always be extirpated. Wood and grafs never do well together. If it be neceifary to have wood of this fort, it mould be raifed in feparate plantations, in the manner I mall hereafter point out. Another fort of pafture ftill is over-run with ant, and mole -hills ; owing, at fir ft, to neglect, in the occupier of the land. Such turf as this is generally old ; fometimes it is too bad to recover ; but oftentimes, when the hills are laid, proves good land. There are two ways of curing this ground the E 4 one; t 56 ] one is by croffing. and hollowing up the turf, fcooping out the middle part, fpread- ing it about, and laying the turf down again in the fame place. This way is to be preferred, where the piece of land may be in view of an habitation, or under any fimilar circumftances. But the moft ef- fectual improvement is, doubtlefs, to pare them entirely off, to lay them in heaps to rot, which mould be mixed afterwards with a moderate quantity of lime, and then fpread over the fame piece of land from whence they came, As thefe ant-hills originated for want of rolling, it is almofl: needlefs to recommend rolling, as a com- plete finifh to this improvement. When meadows are very coarfe, whe- ther naturally fo, or occafioned by rumes which grew on them, before they were properly drained, there is no better im- provement for them, than flrewing twenty, or thirty, load of fand to an acre over them. It tends greatly towards fining the furface, and generally begets a fet of white clover. [ 57 1 The earth is fo generous a parent, that we find all land repay us for our labour, and fkill ; but it will appear, on the flighteft inveftigation, that no land pays fo well as meadow, and pafture. Where improve- ments upon ploughed land pay a crown, the other generally pay a guinea. Therefore when land is newly laid down in pail are, it ought to be well manured the third or fourth year, let the expence be ever fo con- liderable, becaufe it will bring a good fet of gralfes much fooner than they would other- wife come ; and double the land in value, for feven, or eight, years afterwards. I mall clofe this fubjecl: with advifing all farmers to be careful, not to overftock their pafture land j for when they do, they are great lofers by it. Land, when fed too bare, is apt to burn in fummer, and to be chilled in winter. Befides, the necks of the roots are fo injured by very clofe biting, that they do not afford fo quick, or free a fprjng to the fucceffion of blade, as there Would otherwife be. But, on the other hand, [ 58 ] hand, I do not advife the leaving a long fet of grafs on the ground. The medium will agree beft with all land ; and be attended with moft advantage to the occupier. And the more forts of cattle feed upon land, at different intervals, the better. Alternate mowing, and feeding, is like wife good. The one fines the turf, and the other en- riches it, 4 THfi C 59 ] THE GREAT ADVANTAGE OF A SUIT- ABLE STOCK OF CATTLE, NEXT to the judgment required, in adapting each foil, to the purpofe for which nature intended it, the flocking of land with proper cattle, is one of the piceft parts of the fcience of farming. Where nature is left to herfelf, lhe always produces animals fuitable to her vegeta- tion, from the fmallelt Iheep on the Welch mountains, to the largeft fort in the Lin- colnfhire marines ; from the little hardy bullock in the northern highlands, to the noble ox in the richeft paftures of Somer- fetmire. But good hufbandry admits of our increafing the value of the one, in propor- tion to that of the other. Land improved enables us to keep a better fort of ftock ; which mews the double return the earth makes for any judicious attention, or labour, we t 60 3 we bellow upon it. The true wifdom of the occupier is beft fhewn, in preferving a due equilibrium between this improvement of Tiis land, and flock. They go hand in hand; and if he neglect the one, he cannot avail himfelf of the other. We mould firft confider, what kind of cattle will anfwer our purpofe beft, in the cultivation of our ground ; and next, what forts pay beft in the confumption of our produce. Upon a light foil, where two horfes are fufficient to manage a plough, or where, if more be employed, a quick motion is re- quired, horfes will always be found moft ufeful, and profitable ; becaufe four horfes, on fuch land, will cultivate as much ground as eight oxen. But where the foil confifts of a clay, or any heavy, ftrong ground, fuch as requires four horfes, and admits only of a flow motion, oxen will there have the advantage and be in the proportion of twelve oxen only to eight horfes. In the former cafe, the oxen would be double in number* [ 6i ] number, in the latter, they are only as three to two. When this diftin&ion is clearly made, each animal will be found to have his ex- cellence ; and every intelligent occupier of land will know which to prefer. The horfe is fo delightful, fo fpirited, and pleafant a fervant, that one would wi£h to make choice of him upon every occafion ; but, when intereft is thrown into the oppofite fcale, the ox will often deferve the pre- ference. For the great expence of fupport- ing the horfe, his natural decreafe in value, and pronenefs to accident, by which that value is totally loft, are great drawbacks in his account ; efpecially when we confider the more moderate charge of fupporting the ox, and the profit which is made of him, even when he is pa ft his labour. This is obvious of thefe therefore I mail fay no more ; they are equally advantageous upon different foils, and neither fpecies is wholly to be preferred, or wholly excluded. Sheep may, next, be confidered as one of [ 6 2 ] of our moll profitable animals. Three great advantages refult from them to their matter ; their annual coats, their increafe in value, or number, and the excellent manure which they beftow on land. Indeed, upon all light foils, I might mention a fourth advantage reaped from them ; fince their treading is almofl as great a benefit as their manure. Many farmers have found great advan- tage, in buying fheep from the poorer! fpots, as they generally thrive moft when they come into a richer pafture like trees, which endure tranfplanting, the better for coming from a poor nurfery. They like- wife think, that they endure folding, and penning, better than fheep which are bred on a more luxuriant foil. They are cer- tainly right in thefe obfervations. And therefore this reafon mould induce the oc- cupiers of poor land, to let their artificial graffes continue longer, before they are broken up, that they may be able to breed the more fheep : in which they would alfo find [ 63 ] find their profit, and, at all times, a ready market for them. With refpecT: to the notion which farm- ers are apt to entertain, that all kinds of fheep will not endure penning; I think they labour under an error. I rather believe that all lean, or ftore-fheep are the better for being folded. They are generally more healthy, as they take their fuftenance at re- gular intervals, and are kept from eating the wet grafs too early in the morning, which is generally allowed to be unwholefome to them. In the moft famous fheep coun- ties, Dorfet/hire, and Wiltjhire, penning, or folding is univerfal. And, above all other advantages, this one is certainly obtained by it ; when fuch fheep are put to fatten, they thrive much better, and falter ; as oxen do, that have been moderately worked. Upon moid lands fheep are not proper ftock. The dairy will here turn to greatefl account; and women and half-grown chil- dren will from hence find fufficient, and be- coming employment. Where this is the cafe, [ H J Cafe, pigs mould be bred, of all animals the moft profitable. Potatoes, and carrots boiled in the fkimmed milk, and whey, make an excellent food for young pigs ; and every one knows how far an acre of thefe ufeful roots will go, and how profitable a farrow of pigs is to the breeder. But great farm- ers, whofe fole object is to grow corn, look upon hogs as troublefome animals, and af- fect to defpife thefe profits ; tho' even to them they would not be inconfiderable. Befides that hog-dung is the beft. of all ma- nure. Upon flrong, florid paflure, the large ox feems the moft fuitable flock. Upon turnips, the Welch, or Scotch, bul- lock is moft profitable. Thus different land, and different pro- duce feem, in point of profit, to require dif- ferent animals, to cultivate the one, and confume the other ; and it is worth our while, to be at fome pains, to make the beft application. MANURES i 65 ] MANURES CONSIDERED. THE manuring of land is fo necefTary a part of hufbandry, that no object is more effential, in the practice of farm- ing, than that of procuring a fuitable, and fufficient quantity of this ufeful improve- ment. We find, that the richeft land will not yield a long fucceffion of crops, with- out help ; at the fame time that the pooreft foil will make a confiderable return, when we take pains to affift it. We mould therefore firft endeavour, to raife as much vegetable, and animal, manure as poffible ; and, next, contrive to multiply it, by adding fuch other ufeful, component, parts as in^ duftry may find, in different fituations; Nothing tends fo much to the increafe of vegetable, or animal, manure, as a judi- cious choice in our fyftem of cropping. I am inclined to believe, that any limited F portion t 66 ] • portion of land, tolerably good in nature'^ will produce, if well cultivated, and pro- perly ftocked, vegetable, and animal, ma- nure enough to fupport itfelf, in good heart, for ages, without any foreign aid. But no exacl: rules can be given in writing, what the courfe of cropping mould be, fince foils vary fo much. But it may be afferted with confidence, that the moft advantageous one does not confift, in the old mode of fowing three crops of grain, in fuccefhon, and then letting the ground remain two, or three years more without yielding any thing, under the notion of recovering it by refb This fyftem mould be wholly exploded. The hulbandry of the Aujirian Netherlands is, undoubtedly, the mo ft ufeful that is prac- tifed. There the land, like our gardens, yields a crop every year without diminifh- ine the lean: in its own value. The whole contrivance lies, in interweaving, as much as poffible, the crops which are particularly ufeful to man, fuch as wheat, barley, pota- toes, beans, and peafe, with the crops mofl i ufeful [ 6 7 ] nfeful to beafta, fuch as turnips, carrots, vetches, cole-feed, and artificial grafl'es. The more we plant, or fow, to the mutual bene- fit of man, and beaffc, the nearer we are to the befi: fyftem - y and confequently to that which will produce the greater!: proportion of vegetable, arid animal manure. The turnip -fyftem, in Norfolk, comes as near to the practice of the Netherlands, as any made ufe of in England ; one of their beft. courfes is divided into fix divifions, as follows : I. Wheat, after clover, or artificial graf- fes. 2\ Barley* 3. Turnips. 4. Barley, with clover, or other artificial graffes* 5. Clover, or artificial graffes, of the firft year's lay, generally mowed. 6 The fame of the fecond year's lay, ge* tierally grazed. F 2 To t 68 ] To fupport this courfe of cropping, they manure invariably for wheat, and turnips, but not for any other crops. They fupport a great deal of flock by this means, and keep their ground in good heart, and very clean ; but find an inconvenience, in their clover's coming round in too quick a fuc- ceflion ; by which means the land is tired of it. This fyftem might be improved upon, by a clofer imitation of the Flemijh-Huf- bandry, by dividing the land into eight divi- fions, cropped fomewhat in the following order : 1 i Year, wheat after clover of one year's lay. 2. Ditto, turnips. 3. Ditto, barley. 4. Ditto, peafe, beans, potatoes, vetches 3 or cole-feed, 5. Ditto, wheat. 6. Ditto, turnips. 7. Ditto, barley, with clover feed. t. Ditto, clover. By I 69 ] By this method the ground will, almofl: regularly, produce an alternate crop, for man, and Dealt; and the land will never loath the clover, becaufe it will only Hand one year out of eight, inftead of two out of fix. Every other crop will like wife be me- liorating. The ground will be kept per- fectly clean, and the produce will occafion manure enough, to keep it in good condi- tion. I would not however inlinuate this to be practicable, except upon pretty good land. Where it is naturally poor, this fyf- tem cannot be adopted. Here Iheep will be found the moft profitable ftock ; becaufe the manure obtained by penning will be the cheapelt, and belt, improvement to be had* and therefore fuch grafs-feeds mould be fown, as are molt, durable; which mould be continued in the ground at leaft four years, taking care to manure them well, the firft year after they are lowed. Any intelligent farmer will, I am per- fuaded, fee the force of this argument ; and confider a good courfe of cropping/ as the F 3 £rft [ 70 ] firft ftep neceflary to be taken, towards en- riching his land. I would next recommend an advantage, to be derived from the quantities of maiden- earth which are to be met with, at the fides of many of our roads. Thefe, mixed with muck, or lime, make excellent manure for our corn, and turnips. In Efex t they are particularly induftrious in this practice; and as the outfides, or fkirts, of inclofures, though enriched by rotten leaves, feldorri produce any corn, on account of the made, and dripping, of the hedges, and what it does produce is of little value, becaufe the birds prey upon it; they generally fink thefe borders, at leaft a foot deep, and mix them into compoft, for the benefit of the reft of the land, which is more expofed to the fun, and lefs liable to be preyed upon by the birds. Moft eftates afford a great treafure in this refpec> ; and no farmer is excufable, in fleeping over fuch advantages. If it be alledged, in anfwer, that this is only a tem- porary advantage, it cannot however be de- nied, [ 7* 1 fried, but that it muft increafe the ftaple j and though it may only improve it for the prefent, this is no inconfiderable point gained. For land, like animals, when once brought into good heart, may, with a little care, be eafily kept fo ; but when much out of condition, it is very difficult to be brought into a vigorous ftate. Next to the banks in roads, and the borders of inclofures, the fcouring of old ditches, the mud of ponds, and fediment of all ftagnate waters, are particularly excel- lent upon grafs land; and a fmall mixture of lime is well beftowed among it. If thefe better forts cannot be met with, then any common maiden- earth, with one feventh part of lime, and one other feventh of rot-, ten muck, will be very proper manure for moft kinds of pafture, as I have before ob- ferved in treating of Natural GrafTes. Clays, of every kind, are highly fuitable to all fandy, or light foils ; becaufe they brace the loofe particles together, give them ftrength, and keep them moift. F 4 By [ 7* 3 By parity of reafoning, fand is equally be- neficial upon all clays, and other tenacious, ftiff land; becaufe it feparates the parts, and deftroys their cohefive quality; by which means the fun, air, and froft pene- trate them the better. This muft be very obvious to every one yet very little of this has been done, in proportion to the vaft improvement it may effect, and the variety of fituations where it will be found to an- fwer: Upon this laft principle, clofe land, inclined to {tones, ought not to have then} picked out. Sand is likewife of great ufe upon rough, coarfe, meadows ; nothing fines the furface more, or produces a thicker fet of Dutch clover. Chalk, if it be of an un&uous, foft, qua- lity, eafy to diffolve, is a moft valuable mar nure upon moft land ; but upon four land, or any clay, it has a furprizing good effedt ; it loofens, and meliorates it, renders it highly fruitful, and fweetens the produce, when it is jn grafs, exceedingly; and, if ufed. '-5|t ; 73 1 ' ? PJtff^ ufed in compoft, may be repeated for ages. il^zr/ differs greatly in quality ; that which is moft weighty, and foapy, when moiftened, is the beft. If it be right good, and laid on in liberal quantities, it throws the land into a fermentation, and frequently changes its very nature ; rendering it highly fruitful ; though it feldom has any great effect, before the third year. Biit it makes ample amends, when it does operate ; for it will be felt, without a repetition, at lean: twenty years. No manure, in fhort, is fo lafting. Some people have imagined, that marl will not. anfwer a fecond time but I am of opinion, that if a fmall quantity be ufed, in a comport, it may be repeated, with very good fuccefs, every tenth, or twelfth year. All afhes are indifputablygood; but peat- afhes are the nobleff. manure we have, for all jkinds of artificial grafles. Thofe who live in the neighbourhood of Newbury, in Berk- shire, are fenfible of their ineftimable value. There [ 74 ] There are undoubtedly a vaft number of meadows and commons, in may other coun- ties, where peat may be found 5 but, though its afhes are one of the moil valuable forts of manure the kingdom produces, it is very little fought after, and very far from being generally known. Soot is excellent on moil land, but beft beftowed on artificial graffes. Maritime counties have many advan- tages over others, not only in the opportu- nities they have of, fometimes, importing manure, but in being able, frequently, to colled: great quantities of fea-weed an4 ufeful fea-fand. Salt is known, and univerfally allowed, to be a great Simulator of vegetation; and gentlemen in parliament cannot ferve the Public, or themfelves, better, than by get- ting the duty lowered upon fo much of it as might be ufed for manure, But this arti* cle, in my opinion, would anfwer beft, when mixed with other coarfer manures ; and thus applied, a little would go a great way, f 75 1 way, and bear repetition, which it would not other wife do. I mall pafs over a va- riety of other manures, which are excellent in their nature, becaufe they cannot be had in fuflicient quantities, to effect any im- provement upon a large fcale. Some of them are bones, rags, and the dung of poultry. Where they can be met with, it is to be fuppofed, that no perfon will be fo blind, as not to avail himfelf of their ufe. maxims [ 76 ] MAXIMS RELATIVE TO PLOUGHED LAND, EXPERIENCE fhews, that the Ion. ger we keep off the fucceffion of any grain, the better the crop will prove. Land delights in a variety of feeds 5 and loaths a too frequent repetition of the fame grain. Clover, in particular, may be fown, till the ground will be fo thoroughly weary of it, as to reject it entirely. This has induced many farmers, to attempt the growth of ieveral fpecies of grain, and graffes, wholly incompatible with their foil ; thereby run- ning at once into the oppofite extreme. True judgment wjll introduce as much confident variety as poffible, and equally avoid the folly of courting objects wholly inappofite. If the foil be ftiff, cold, and fuitable only to wheat, beans, and oats, it will be abfurd, to [ 77 1 to aim at feparating thefe crops with turnips, and barley. The better way will be, to interweave fome meliorating crops, fuch as buck-wheat, which is an excel- lent exchange for this fort of land. The great weft- country cabbage would fome- times be a valuable crop here. On the other hand, upon a very light, fandy foil, wholly calculated for rye, barley, turnips, and artificial graffes, it would be equally ridiculous to lay much ftrefs upon wheat, beans, and oats. Here potatoes, carrots, and vetches, will keep the ground cool, and prove valuable crops. Upon a loam, the advantage of both forts of grain may be united ; and as almoft all the articles before enumerated may be fown upon it, there will be no difficulty in varying the different fpecies of grain. Another material thing to be attended to is, the ploughing at proper feafons. In general, land receives injury from being ploughed in wet weather j at leaft it often tends to promote the growth of weeds, in- flead [ 7» ] ftead of deftroying them. Land that is defigned for winter -fallow, mould be ploughed before the end of November • fd that it may receive the full benefit of the froft. Provided it be ploughed clean, it cannot lie too rough; Land, for fummer- fallows, fhould be broken up early iii May; and every fubfequent ftirring mould be a crofs ploughing; and if it be ploughed fhallower, and deeper, alternately, during the fummer, it will, in general, help to clean it the better. There is a method of hufbandry prac- tifed in fome counties, which feems to me highly pernicious. It is called burn-bak- ing, or breaft-ploughing. It mull have taken its rife from lazinefs. Where land is covered with a coarfe, rough, fward, or is become very foul, the indolent farmer, to avoid the pains of making it clean, fo'licits his landlord (or, in fome places, the cuftom is fo prevalent, that he does not even a(k him) to grant him leave to pare and burn the turf; by which, if he has a dry k^on, he t 79 1 he gets rid of all his trouble at once - 3 and generally procures three, or four, florid crops, by means of the afhes. But this is obtained at a heavy expence to the land- lord whofe property, in the fee-fimple of fuch land, is, by this means, diminifhed at leaft one fifth. The injury is fo obvious, that no unprejudiced perfon can well doubt of it. The fward, or fkin, is generally pared off, by this method, to the thicknefs of about two inches ; and as it is of a hol- low fubftance, it may be admitted, that if the earth were well lhaken out, and fepa- rated from the roots of the grafs, thefe two inches might be reduced to one. But when this two-inch-turf is burnt to afhes, thofe a flies will not cover the ground to the thicknefs of a half-crown-piece fo that, upon any foil, this diminution muft be fe- verely felt for half a century afterwards 5 and upon a mallow foil it is next to de- itrudtion. Farmers will afTert, by way of reply, that they only burn the roots of the rough grafs, E 80 ] grafs, and that the fire does not reduce the earth, or foil. But it is well known, that the furface of all land, to a considerable depth, is nothing but the relics of putrified vegetables, and plants ; and therefore will admit of a diminution. And though the crops will flourifh for a few years, the greatv and lafting, nourifhment to vegetation is by this practice deftroyed. Ground will fome times be rough-fkin- ned, and exceedingly difficult to be cleaned; which, I apprehend, induced fome ingeni- ous perfon, a few years fince, to invent, and Gonftruct, a plough, which remedies the inconvenience at once. This plough has two feparate fhears, and coulters; but both are contrived to operate in the fame line, or direction. They are each of them fet to any depth, and lay the ground the fame way; The firft pares off the turf, or fkin $ the next ploughs up a clean body of earth, and throws it directly oter the former* fo as to bury it effectually. By which iimple means, the land is at pnce effectually cleaned. [ « ] cleaned. Whatever further working the ground may require, it may be done by fhallower ploughing, to which particular Crops may be fuited. And there is no heceffi ty for bringing the rough, or foul, part up again, till it be entirely rotten. Sometimes two crops may firft be taken. This method is practifed much among the gardeners arid farmers, in the neigh- bourhood of London j and might be every- where adopted, except where the land is ftony, or remarkably mallow* Nor is this plough at all difficult to manage, or mucK harder to draw than one of an ordinary conftruc~tion. The inventor, whoever he was, may juftly pride himfelf upon his difcovery *. Deep ploughing has been greatly re- commended, by fome modern writers. Upon particular land, where the bottom and top are of two oppofite qualities, and * Since the firft edition of this book, I have been in- formed, that the Public is obliged to. Mr, Duckett, of Pcterfham, in Surry, for this ufefu) plough. G neither [ 82 1 neither of them right good, a mixture 'is fometimes very beneficial ; and here this experiment, of going below the common depth, may fometimes anfwer. But where the top and bottom, for eighteen or twenty inches depth, confifls of the fame foil, I do not believe it is ever worth while, to exchange the upper part, which has been enriched for centuries back, for a part lefs rich, merely becaufe it is more frem. I have indeed obferved, that deep ploughing (except for fome particular grain and plants) is by no means nece£- fary. The vegetation of ordinary corn, and grafs, does not require any great depth. In many parts of Cornwall, the land is exceedingly fruitful, though the foil is extremely fhallow; and, in many other counties, they find, by experience, that they ruin their land by ploughing below the ufual depth. Befides, when land is ploughed very deep, the roots of the weeds are only turned over, and re- moved, and hardly ever thrown upon the i furface r s 3 1 furface to wither 5 but clean, mallow, ploughing diflodges, and deftroys them much more effectually. Nay hand-hoeing is allowed by every body, to do more to- wards cleaning land than a ploughing. And even the pernicious practice of burn- baking, which I have juft fpoken of, ef- fectually cleans land, though it only goes two inches deep. This feems to mew, that very deep ploughing is by no means neceffary, towards cleaning land; and it mull be univerfally allowed, that the longer we keep our manure within three, or four, inches of the furface, the better ; efpecially upon a light foil, from which it is apt to fink, and efcape top foon *. With * Upon all light foils, it is neceffary to preferve, at fix, or eight, inches below the furface, what farmers call a Pan ; that is, the ftaple, at that depth, fhould be kept unbroken ; by which means, manure will be kept longer on the tpp j and in dry feafons, the lefs depth the pan has, the lefs liable the corn will be to burn j provided the pan confifts of earth, and not of C 2 rock: [ 84 } With rcfpedt to the fort of plough which merits preference, theite is none which can, perhaps, be univerfally re- commended. But upon all fandy, or loamy, land, the Norfolk wheel-plough, with one handle, which is extremely light in its conftru&ion, clears its furrow remark- ably well, and is effe dually worked with two horfes, feems the beft j and is moft like what they ufe in Flanders, where they frequently plough their land with one horfe. Next to this plough, there has been an iron fwing-plough lately in- vented, in Suffolk, which is very light, rock : becaufe the roots of the corn will find more rhoifture, by ftriking againfl: a body of clofe earth, than they will in a greater depth of hollow earth ; as, it is evident* the former preferves more moifture in dry feafons.— Another advantage which is obtained from this pan, is the having & lefs quantity of mould to work, and keep in heart. Where very deep ploughing is pra£fcifed, this bottom, or pah, muft be deftr«yed j and much more manure will be required, in that cafe, to keep the ground in good condition. and t 8 S ] and ufeful ; and many give it the prefe- rence to the former. I mention thefe two only, becaufe they are a horfe's draft ealier than moft other ploughs, and do their work as well as it can be done. For the bufinefs of clean, mallow ploughing, the Norfolk plough is, perhaps, better than any other. G 3 improve- [ W ] IMPROVEMENTS, AND T^EIR $X* FENCES. THE beft advice which can be given to a man of fortune is, to perfuade him to carry on all improvements, which are out of the common way, at his own expence. There are but few tenants ca- pable of linking any confiderable fum of money, even when the profpect of a return is ever fo promifing they can much better afford, to pay an increafe of rent, equal to ten per cent, for fuch mo- ney as the landlord may lay out upon ju- dicious improvements, than they can, to fink a lefs adequate fum in ready money. But the gentleman's purfe, and the far- mer's labour, will do great things, when the contract between them is fo contrived as to yield them mutual benefit. A vaft deal of land might be more than doubled in [ 87 ] in value by draining; but the improve- ment, though obvious to every obferver, is generally negle&ed, either becaufe the tenant's term in the premifes is not long enough, to reimburfe him the expence, or elfe for want of ready money to dis- charge it t The landlord, in this cafe, is much to blame; for, let the caufe be which it will, he may apply the proper remedy. If he choofe to lengthen the term, the tenant will generally do the work ; but if he does not choofe to grant a farther term, he mould at leafh pay the expence of the improvement, taking pro- per intereft for his money, during the remainder of the exifting demife, and then he would have the benefit of its re- verfionary value, after its expiration. If money be wanting to the landlord, as well as the tenant, it may be worth while to fell a part of his eftate, to im- prove the reft. Next to draining, clay- ing, marling, and chalking deferve liberal encouragement y and where a tenant has G 4 fpirit [ 83 ] fpirit to fet his hand to thefe capital ob- jects, leafes, of twenty-one years at leaft, ihould never be with-held; for, where they are, the owner of the eftate is guilty of a prefent injury to the public, and a future one to his own pofterity. Eftates, undoubtedly, ought to be let for their fair yalue. The bad effects are equal, whether they be under- let, or over-let ; in the one cafe, the tenant is frequently negligent, in the other, he is difcouraged ; but, when the true value of an eftate is known, and a good tenant offers, it is unreafonable to expect him to rifk his property, without putting him upon a footing of fome cer- tainty. And therefore land-owners who refufe leafes, in fuch cafes as this, merely becaufe they will keep their tenants in a ilate of fubmiffion, and dependence, are inexcufable in fuch conduct j becaufe they prefer a fim pie gratification to their real intereft, and to the more enlarged notions of contributing, all they can, to the ad- yantage, and profperity, of tneir country. Even [ 8 9 ] Even in the fingle bufinefs of collecting different forts of manure together, it cannot be expected, that a tenant at will jfhould look forward, beyond the imme- diate crop which he is preparing to put jnto the ground. There is an infinite field for improve- ment, in numfcerlefs other points, which almoft every large eftate admits of; and of which every owner may avail himfelf, by a fpirited application of a little ready money. The mode is certainly pracli- cable, and promifing in its effects ; and thofe who adopt it, will find their advan- tage in it* WASTE t 90 J WASTE LANDS CONSIDERED, AND, THEIR SUITABLE IMPROVEMENT SUGGESTED. THOSE who have made obferva- tions upon the wealth of this country, have ccnfidered our extenfive forefts, chafes, and commons, as one of the greateft refources remaining to us; and have lamented, that fuch noble tracts of land mould be fufFered to lie in a ne- glected, unprofitable ftate, while lands, pf a worfe quality, are cultivated, in many unhealthy parts of America. The fo- refts, and chafes alone, would be a trea- fure, under proper regulations ; they are naturally the fineft, fpots, the beft nurferies this country affords, for the produce of Timber ; and, if judicioufiy planted, and well protected, would hereafter furnifh almoft a v fufficient quantity for all the purpofes of the navy; but at prefent, there [ f* ] there are fo many different interefls fub- fifting upon them, that in point of real value, they are little more than blanks in the kingdom. Time, it is to be hoped, may correct this defect, and render them of advantage to fociety. Since the firft edition of this book, a rumour prevails, that there is a fcheme in agitation, for inclofing a considerable part of thefe valuable diftricts, under the fane- {ion of Parliament. If fuch mould be the event, may fuccefs attend the project ! may the crown derive that great advantage from it, which it is entitled to, and private happinefs, and profperity, go hand in hand with it ! which it will certainly do, provided the bufinefs be conducted upon a liberal plan. As this fubject is of conliderable im- portance, I hope it may not appear pre- fumptuous in me, if I make a few more remarks upon it ; which I offer with great deference, being inftigated merely by mo- tives [ 92 ] tives of public zeal. — The forefts may be confidered, as a rough jewel, of great va- lue but which will require much labour and fkill to polifh it, before it can appear with proper luftre. Under the idea of their being to be inclofed, and difpofed of to individuals, they are no longer to be confidered in the light of nurferies for timber, or refourccs for the ufe of the navy. They are now to be viewed, as a fort of new creation, aufpicioufly opening itfelf upon us, and inviting induftrious hands to cultivate and raife from them corn, grafs, and various other comforts of life j and I am flrongly, and I hppe not erroneoufly, of opinion, that the improve- jnent of thefe lands, provided they are all comprized in this plan, will contribute as much to the produce, and population, ©f this country, as would the addition of an- other county, equal to thofe of moderate* fize. The tenure, in the grant of thefe lands, is one material thing to be confidered, and the [ 93 3 the portions they are to be granted in, another. — As I am wholly ignorant of the view of government, I cannot pretend to fay, what fort of tenure, would, at prefent, beft anfwer its purpofe ; but I humbly conceive, that the tenure which gives the greater!; encouragement to the adventu- rers, will in the end be moil beneficial to the crown — and where the object in view, is the increafe of produce to the public, and population, and riches, to the ftate ; good policy will fuggeft the mofl liberal conditions. — A judicious regulation of this bulinefs, will convey a bleffing to this country ; an improper one, will have the mofl: pernicious erTed:. If men of the firft. fortune, and great command, are fuffered to monopolize large portions of this land, it will pro- bably be fold for lefs than its value $ be laid out in large farms ; be badly, and flowly, improved ; and population will receive no benefit from the inclo- fure, but rather a hurt. But if this land [ 94 ] land be divided, into a great number of fmall lots, and difpofed of by public fale, without favour to any particular perfonsj it will bring a much greater fum to the crown* be better* and fooner, cultivated \ and fupport, and employ* many more peo- ple, than it will, if difpofed of in the grofs. — If it mould be alledgedj that even thefe fmall portions will, by degrees, be re-foldj and get into a few hands* like other eftates ; this, I own, is a grievance which cannot well be guarded againfh But though this might, in part, happen, it would never be general ; and it would take fome time to effect fo confiderable a change. In the mean while* the land would be better drained* and cultivated, and much more timber would be planted, by having it laid out in fmall inclofures ; all which are very confiderable objects. If any other argument be wanting, to induce the perfons, who may be concerned in this bufmefs, to prefer the plan of fmall, to great, allotments j humanity will add her C 95 1 her entreaties for the adoption of it, and popularity will applaud the ad. Many other wafte lands are at the dif- pofal of individuals, and thofe I mall principally confider ; but it will not be amifs to examine, firft, the objections, which are often made againft inclofures of this fort. It is obferved by the advocates for commons, that they are of great ufe to the poor ; that a greater number of peo- ple are fupported, by means of them, than would be without them ; and that a vaft number of young cattle are likewife bred upon them. Thefe obfervations are ge- nerally made by well-meaning people ; and there is fomething very humane, and fpecious in their conclunon. But on ex- amination, it will appear,- that cottagers who live at the fides of commons, generally neglect the advantage they have before them. There is not, perhaps, one out of fix, upon an average, that keeps even a cow; and, being generally tenants, and feldom C 96 3 feldom owners, they rent thefe miferable habitations proportionably h%h, on ac- count of their fituation 0 ' It is the owner, therefore, and not the occupier of thefe cottages, who, in fact, gets what advan- tage there is to be had. The cottagers themfelves are not, in any fhape, more comfortable than thofe who live in pa- rities, where there are no commons ; becaufe if there be any advantage to be derived from their fituation, they do not enjoy it without paying for it. But I am inclined to believe, that the precarious profits of a common fometimes 1 difappoint them ; and that conftant, regular, labour is a better fupport -> at lean: it would be; provided gentlemen of fortune would take the laborious poor more under their pro- tection ; for which I fhall venture, in an- other place, to fuggeft a plan. As to the advantage which population is faid to receive, it bears no proportion, to what it would do, if thefe commons were cultivated, and difpofed into proper allotments* t 97 ] allotments. It may be afTerted, that, within thirty miles of the capital, there are not lefs than 200,000 acres of wafte land. Thefe lands, in a proper flate of cultivation, allowing fifty acres to a fa- mily, one with another, would find em- ployment for, at leaft, foiir thou find fa- milies. It never can be faid, with truth, that thefe wafles fupport, in themfelves, without other help, half that number of people in their prefent flate. Befides, thefe lands, when cultivated, would not only fupport the people employed upon them, but would be exceedingly ufeful in the fupport of others, who follow different employments The argument made ufe of, relative to the advantage of raifing young flock, has much lefs foundation to fland upon; Every one knows, that all commons are wholly neglected. No draining, or any improvement upon them, is ever under-* taken j fo that the produce is very trifling, compared to what might be expe&ed from H the E 98 ] the fame foil, if it were properly ma- naged. Their being fed at all feafons, is another difadvantage which commons lie under; and js neither furface water, or fprings, are ever led off, they frequently occafion the rot, and other diftempers in cattle ; and often deftroy as many as they fupport. Many parifhes poffefs a right of com- mon upon a thoufand acres ; which, if cultivated, would be worth from 500/. to 1000/. a year. In thefe, the poor- rates are, generally, higher, than where there is no common at all. To account for this, it is replied, that there is a greater number of inhabitants, than there is in a parifh, of equal fiae, where there is no common. Very true; there may be more inhabitants, in proportion to the cultivated parts of the land, in the one parfth, than in the other ; but if the whole of the parifh which has the com- mon, was brought into the fame ftate of cultivation as the other parim which has no £ 99 1 no common, the poor would find fuller employment ; and as the proportion of profitable land would be greater,- the rates* of courfe, would be eafed ; for admitting that there would be as much paid as be- fore, there Would be a greater quantity of land to furnifh the fupply ; and, in this Jtoint of view, landed property mull: be better enabled to fupport its poor, where commons are inclofed, than where thofe commons remain unimproved. It may be fuppofed* that two- thirds of all the commons in England will admit of improvement. Many parts, by judici- ous draining, would make good paflure- land, and dairy farms, which would be Very ufefui, and profitable^ and are every- where wanted.- Other parts, whkh now produce furze, would bear good corn» Even a great deal of heath-ground would produce turnips, light grain,- and artificial graffes ; efpecially where clay, marl, or chalk can be obtained. In Norfolk van: tracts of this land have been improved, H % to [ ioo ] to the mutual advantage of landlord, and tenant, and to the great benefit of the country. To fuch gentlemen as have objects of this fort before them, the following hints may, perhaps, be acceptable. Where inclofures are made, which are defigned for pafture, the fences mould be contrived, to anfwer, as much as poffible, the ufe of drains and it will be advife- able, to fink the ditches to a good depth at once. Having this double advantage in view, fuch new inclofures mould be made more in parallelograms, than fquares; the longer! fides lying acrofs the defcent, as much as the ground will admit of. And as it is very material, to raife the fences as foon, and as cheap as poflible, it is a good way to fow furze-feed, on the top, and at the back-fide of the ditches. It has a quick growth, keeps the layer warm, and flickered, makes a fence in a few years, a,nd, in fome particular parts, where people keep a watchful eye upon their C ioi ] their cattle, will render the expence of pofts and rails unnecefTary. Parts defigned for tillage, in the fummer preceding their being broken up, mould have the furze, gofs, fern, or whatever is upon it, effectually cleared away, and the roots flubbed up. Early in the enfuing winter, the ground mould be ploughed up, with a ftrong plough, and left in rough furrows, till a month after Candlemas, that the frofi may penetrate, and chaften it. Then it mould have a brifk crpfs-plough- ing, and afterwards an harrowing. In the fpring of the year, and all the enfuing fummer, it fhould be fined, cteaned, and fweetened by frequent ploughings. The remaining roots, and nnpbiih, may be fhaken out, and burnt. The next winter it fhould be laid up again in ridges, as high £>s the plough can lay them. In May following, two bufhels of buck, or French wheat, may be fown upon an aerej; or, if the ground be pretty good in, quality* or ftrong in nature, it may anfwer better H 3 tq [ 1 02 3 to fow it with cole-feed in July, or Auguft following. The buck-wheat mould be ploughed under for manure, when the fap, or milk, is in the ftem, and the flower in full bloom, juft before the feed begins to fet; and this mould remain under furrow, without difturbance, till a fort- night before Chriftmas. Buck - wheat generally thrives better than any thing elfe ? on this fort of ground, as a firft crop, and very often trie crop is not con- temptible. The cole-feed, if it produce ever fo light a crop, will be of vaft advantage, as it will invite the fheep upon the land} and their treading, and manure, will be of great benefit. They may be kept on fuch parts, from the latter end of No- vember, to the middle of April, in feed, ing off this crop. The next fummer turnips mould follow, according to the mode of cultivation I have defcribed in another place. Upon this fort of land, the whole crop of turnips mould be fed x P#a [ I0 3 ] off, where they grow, contrary to the practice which I recommend upon an im- proved farm. Two forts of ftock will be proper for the confumption of the crop. The turnips mould be hurdled off in fmall lots. The firft parcel x>f cattle ihould be ftock, defigned for the butcher, * and mould have a frefh bait every day. The other parcel may be lean, or ftore- cattle, which will thrive well on the re- fufe. After thefe turnips, barley, with grafs feeds, may be fown ; and thefe grafs feeds ihould be continued at leaft two years. When the land is broke up again, it will be fit for a regular courfe of hufbandry. And about this time, it will be proper to begin calling the clay, marl, or chalk, which-ever may be eafiefl come at. The land will want fome fuch affiftance, to finim its improvement ; and it will be improper to lay it on before, as the ground ought to be firft fettled. In the courfe of my practice, I have been inftrumental in the improvement of H 4 conlider- [ 104 3 confiderable tracts of land, of this fort; and have generally found it anfwer ex- tremely well $ for if the foil be tolerably good, and the method of improving it prudently conlidered, it is very often an eftate created, at a moderate expence. The befr. method of improving wafte lands is, that which tends to the mutual advantage of landlord, and tenant. This may be eafily done, by accommodating the latter with a leafe of thirty years, and allowing him all the furze, fern, or whatever may. be upon the land, at the time the improve- ment is begun, together with all he can grow upon it, during the firft three years of the term, without requiring any ad- vance of rent. In the mean while, the landlord mould be at the expence, of creeling all necefTary, new fences, gates, and buildings ; and, at the end of the firft three years, be at the farther expence of half the charge of marling, chalking, or claying ; which half of the expence will f)e, from thirty millings to three pounds ar\ [ io 5 J an acre, according to the diftance, an4 difficulty, in getting the manure. Here the landlord's whole expence ends. For the next three years, the tenant mould pay five millings an acre, yearly ; for the next feven years, feven and fix pence art acre ; and for the remaining feventeen years of the demife, ten millings an acre ; which may be fuppofed to be the medium value of this fort of land when the culti- vation is completed. Some, of courfe, will be of Mm ' « ^ , ti Si ^ ■> 5j s-. H C J? J? -3 O O OJ rt '« ] fenfible of its great importance, fpares no pains, or expence, in the cultivation* He confiders it as his fheet-anchor, or the great object on which his chief de- pendance is built. Wheat, barley, or oat-flubble is gene- rally chofen, for the bringing on turnips. The ground mould be ploughed very fhallow, fome time before Chriftmas, fa as to fkim off the rough furface only> and in the month of March following, it mould be well harrowed; and, after har- rowing, have a crofs-ploughing to its full depth. If any weeds mew themfelves, it mould be harrowed again, about a week, or ten days, after this fecond ploughing but, if the land be in a clean ftate, -it is better without this harrowing; for, the rougher it lies, the better. In this ftate y it may remain till the middle of May,, when the Lent feed-time will be finimed, and the farmer at leifure to work, and attend, his fummer-lays. At this time,, it mould have another ploughing, of equal depth t »* ] depth to the laft ; and, if the weather be dry, and the foil ftiff, be immediately har- rowed after the plough. If the foil be light, it may fuffice to do it at any time, within a week. By the beginning of June, the ground ought to be perfectly clean ; and if the ploughings here recom- mended, be not fufficient for that purpof% more fhould be be flowed. About this time, upon a fuppofition that the ground be clean, ten good cart-loads of manure ihould be laid on to an acre, regularly fpread, and ploughed in quite freih, about half the depth of the two former plough- ings ; unlefs the - land has been manured for the preceding crop;, in which cafe ? the manure may be fpared for turnips, as it fometimes is, though always well beftowed, if it can be had in fufficient quantities. In this ftate it may remain, till about the twenty- firft of June, when it muft be well harrowed, to blend the foil and manure together. Thus harrow- ed, it muft be ploughed to its full depth ; and [ m J and the harrows drawn over the ground only once, the fame way it is ploughed; The feed is then immediately fown, upon the frefh earth ; not even waiting for the ploughing of a fecond ridge. A. .quart of feed is the quantity generally fown upon an acre. The feed is to be well har- rowed in, only twice, the fame way as the ground was ploughed. The bell, and neater!, finilh is, to walk the horfes* which draw the harrows, the firfl: time* and trot them the laft. The harrows mould be fhort-tined, and, the lighter they are, the better. The width of the ridges may be varied, from four to ten yards, according to the natural wetnefs* or drynefs, of the foil. The manure may pon'fift of one-fifth maiden-earth* marl, old cement from walls, or almoft any rubbifh, and four-fifths muck ; which lliould be laid together, fome time in the winter, the muck on the top - } and mould be turned over, and well-mixed together* at leafl a fortnight before it is made ufe of* £ ^3 1 bf. If the foil be light, the muck cannot be too fhort, nor too rotten ; but if the foil be ftifF, and cohefive, the longer the muck is, the better ; becaufe it will keep the ground open; and land for turnips cannot lie too light. There is another manure, which anfwers extremely well for turnips, viz. malt- dull, or combs, about twenty fades to an acre ; each fack containing as much as can be heaped upon three bufhels. The price, at this time, in Norfolk is, one milling and nine pence a fack; which is not very dear, When the eafe of the carriage is confider- ed ; for a Waggon will carry enough for three acres. This fometimes is only har- rowed in, inftead of being ploughed in j for it ought not to be buried above two inches at molt. Some fort of manure is elfentially neceffary for turnips ; and the liberal ufe of it is, perhaps, one of the principal caufes, why the fly does not de- ftroy the plant in Norfolk, fo often as in many other counties. The ground, by I this, C "4 ] this treatment, being in good heart, and the fowing of the feed fo timed, as to* make it ftrike root, juft as the manure begins to operate upon the land, the plant is generally pufhed on with fuch vigour* that the rough leaves form the fooner,. and put it out of danger much earlier,, than in thofe counties where they do not manure, and take thefe precautions. For there the plants come up fo weak, and languid, that they are often deitroyed in. their infancy, which has always been a great difcouragement to- the cultivator. The niceft part of the turnip-hufbandry yet remains to be treated of, viz. Hoeing, without which all the former labour is thrown away. Ground prepared, and treated in the manner before-defcribed, will, in about a month from the time o£ fowing, if the feafon be kind, produce plants large enough for hoeing. If they cover a fpace of three inches in diameter,, they will be of a proper iize ; and mould then be hoed with a ten-inch hoe, and fet at [ Jlj j at fifteen inches apart, without paying any regard to the apparent health, in the choice of thofe which are left. The ex- pence of the firft hoeing is four millings an acre* About ten days after the firft hoeing, or a fortnight at fartheft, the ground mull be hoed a fecond time, fo as to ftir the mould effectually between the plants, and to check any rifmg weeds. This fecond hoeing is as beneficial as the firfti The expence is from two mil- lings to half- a -crown an acre. About a fortnight or three weeks after Michaelmas, the turnips will be fit for confumption ; and may be ufed from that time to April, unlefs the froft mould injure them. The almoft invariable practice in Norfolk is, to draw the whole of the crop from wet land, and give them to cattle in cribs in the yard, or ftrew them before their cattle, on fome dry pafture, 'or clean ftubble* land* The advantage derived from this is very great. In the firft place they avail themfelves of every turnip, and the I 2 cattle C *# I ' cattle have the comfort to eat them off & dry place, where they go' twice as far, and do them more lervice than they would trodden into, and picked out of the. dirt where they grew. Even upon light land they draw half the crop, that is, every other ridge, or every other half-ridge, according to the fize of it, and hurdle off the other half, to be confumed by bullocks and fheep in freih portions, as they re- quire them ; letting the fatting ilock in firft, and the more-cattle afterwards to eat up the offal parts. If the latter are neat cattle, another great advantage is derived by putting them into the ftraw- yards at night, where the extra quantity of urine, occasioned by feeding on the turnips in the day-time, contributes to- wards their making more, and better, manure than they otherwife would. This method of drawing one half, and confuming the other where it grows, Ihould be the univerfal rule ; but wet ground will not admit of it. By this prac- tice. [ "7 3 tice it is clear, that a Norfolk farmer ma- nures twice at one expence ; for, half the turnips confumed where they grow, be- fides the manure laid on when the crop was fown, will leave the ground in an excellent flate fox barley, and artificial grafles ; and the other half ftrewed before cattle, on clean paflure or ftubble, will improve it as much as a moderate coat of dung : and this very ftubble-land in Nor* folk, is often fown with turnips the fuc- ceeding year, without any other manure, and does very well ; but, when this is the cafe, the ftubble cannot receive the firfl: ploughing till March. There is fome- thing fo rational in this mode of cultivat- ing turnips, and the benefit refulting from it is fo obvious, and considerable, that it is a matter of wonder how any farmer can hefitate in adopting the practice : yet I have never found that perfaafion alone will prevail with men, accuftomed to a different method of culture ; and am in- clined to believe, that nothing will be a 1 3 fufficient C u« ] fufEcient inducement but example, which, mould be fet by gentlemen of landed pro- perty, as well for their own advantage, as that of the public. If this method of railing turnips fhouk} be thought too expenfiye^ to anfwer in general practice, it mould be confidered, that when the crop is good, twenty acres will fatten at leaffc fifteen bullocks, and fupport ten followers, or ftore-cattle, for twenty-five weeks j or llieep, in the pro- portion of eight to one bullock ; befides the infinite advantage which this ryftem, of agriculture is of to the land, by clean- ing, meliorating, and preparing it for other fucceeding crops, which is an object very much beyond the former in point of real profit. For it is evident beyond contra- diction, that almofl all the Norfolk eftates have been improved, in the proportion of forty per cent, at leaft, merely by marling, and this method of raifing turnips and many thoufands of acres which, before, grew nothing but furze, ling, broom, [ "9 1 and fern, now produce fine crops of corn, and turnips, and fupport a prodigious number of fheep, and other cattle. The white -loaf, or cream-coloured, turnips, are generally efteemed the beft fort, and next to them the purple. For the information of fuch perfons as may not underftand the manner of treating turnips for feed, it may not be amifs to remark, that if the feed be gathered from turnips which are fown for three or four years fucceffively, the roots will be nu- merous and long ; and the necks, or part between the turnips and the leaves, will be very coarfe and big j and if they be tranf- planted every year, thefe parts will be too fine, and the tap-roots will diminifti too much. The bell: way is, to gather the feed from the turnips which are tranf- planted one year, and fown the other ; or, if they be tranfplanted once in three years, it will keep the flock in very good condi- tion. The method of tranfplanting is, to take up the turnips chofen for feed about I 4 Chriftmas, [ 120 ] Chriftmas, to cut off their tops, and to plant them as near the houfe as poffible, that the birds may be kept off the better ; which is a material con fi deration, for they are very fond of the feed, which will be fit to gather in July. In many parts of England, the reafon affigned by farmers for not growing tur- nips is, that the ground is too wet to admit of their being fed off. They will often allow that they can grow turnips, but think them of no value, unlefs they can confume them on the fpot. This, to a Norfolk farmer, would be no reafon at all ; for there are vaft tracts of land with them in the fame fituation ; and when they cannot eat their turnips where they grow, they draw them without hefi- tation, and almofb to the fame advantage. - This objection therefore falls to the ground j and it may be afferted with con- fidence, that if other counties would copy this practice of growing, and drawing their turnips, there might be five times the quantity raifed that there now is. I cannot t *** 3 I cannot clofe this fubjecl:, without venturing to give even the Norfolk farmer one piece of advice, which I flatter myfelf will be of fervice to him, if he will attend to it. In very hard frofts, it is a difficulty to pick the turnips out of the ground; and the poor cattle are obliged to thaw them in their mouths, before they are able to eat them. The froft, when it fucceeds a wet ieafon, and then breaks into a fudden thaw, is very apt to rot the turnips ; and in the latter part of the winter thofe which are ftill left in the ground, are apt to draw, and exhauft it very much, without doing themfelves any good, but rather injury, by running into Item. To remedy thefe in- conveniences, I think it would anfwer extremely well, to fink feme few beds in the ground where the turnips grow, about two feet deep, of a confiderable width, and to lay five or fix layers of turnips into them one upon another, with a little frefh parth between each layer, and to cover the t 122 ] the top over with ftraw, to keep out the froft or elfe to carry them home, or into fome clean field where they are meant to be con fumed, and to pile them up in fmall flacks with the greens outward, a Jittle clean ftraw between each layer, and at la ft to cover, or fkreen them with wattles or hurdles lined with ftraw. If this were done in fmall proportions, (I do not mean generally) it would certainly afford the cattle great comfort in frofty weather j would preferve many turnips from the rot, which are now deftroyed ; and would difpofe of them better than by fuffering them to remain till the middle of April, exhaufting and impoverishing the land. CULtURE £<7I,TyRE OF COLE, OR RAPE-SEE9. 4 AS this plant is valuable in itielf, and may be often interwoven with dif- ferent forts of grain to very great advan- tage, by changing the fucceflion, where the courfe of hufbandry is but little varied; I fhall ? for the benefit of fuch gentlemen as may be unacquainted with its nature, defcribe the foil which fuits it, the beft mode of cultivating it, and its different ufes. Cole-feed requires good land; and, if it has been long in tillage, a loamy, or mixt, foil does beft. Very fthf clay is not fuitable to it, and thin-fkinned, poor, land is wholly inappofite; but fen-land, marfh-land, and almoft any old pafture, generally produces great crops of it ; and ft often fucceeds well upon fuch newly cultivated f *24 ] cultivated commons as, in their natural ftate, produce thorns and furze. The ground is to be prepared exactly in the fame manner as for turnips, which I have particularly defcribed in treating of that plant. If the ground it is fowed upon be frefh broken up, it mould be firft made perfectly clean; but if it be fown upon land, which has been before in a -oourfe of tillage ; wheat, barley, or oat-ftubble is the heft to make choice of y and the firft ploughing mould be early in the autumn. If it follow wheat, then barley, or oats, with grafs feeds, fhould follow the cole-feed ; but if it follow oats or bailey, then wheat mould fucceed it ; which delights to grow after it better than after any other crop, and is always of the beft quality ; and as the cole-feed will be reaped fo early as July, the ground will admit, if neceffary, of two, and fometimes three ploughings before the wheat feed-time. The feed is to be fown the laft week in July, or the firft week in [ 1 in Auguft. If the land be not frefh, or in good heart, it mould be manured in the fame proportion, with the fame fort of manure, and in the fame manner as I have recommended for the turnip-crop. Two quarts of feed are, in general, enough for an acre unlefs the cultivator mould prefer ploughing, inftead of harrowing, it into the ground ; in which cafe three quarts will be neceffary ; and the furrows mull be very narrow, and mallow. If the foil be rather light, I believe the laft method is the beil. As foon as the plants are as big as the top of a radifh, when drawn for the table, they are to be hoed, with a fmaller hoe than that which is ufed for turnips. The rule is, to fet them from fix to nine inches apart, according to their apparent vigour, or the goodnefs of the land. One hoeing is enough ; the ex- pence fix millings an acre. Thus far at- tended to, the crop will remain, without requiring any other trouble, than protect- ing it from cattle, till the latter end of June, or £ i26 j or the beginning of July following, wheri it will be ripe. The crop is then to be reaped, (the nearer the ground the better) and laid over the fame ground where if grew, in very thin grips, or gavels. In about ten days, or a fortnight, according to the weather, having been once turned in that time, it will be fit to thrafh $ which is done in the field, upon cloths laid upon a fmooth part of the ground, or elfe upon wattles, or hurdles, laid over ftools or pieces of wood , one end being elevated more than the other to moot off the ftraw, with cloths underneath to catch the feed. The laft method is the beft, though not the moft common. It is brought to the thrashing - place upon fledges, drawn by one horfe, the bottom and fides of the fledge being lined with cloth, to catch the feed, which fheds in the removal. The feed mould likewife be winnowed, or cleaned, in the field ; and being put into facks, is then fit for market. This is often a very profitable crop; [ I2 7 ] crop for if the foil be proper for it, forty or fifty bumels may be expected upon an acre : there have been inftances when the produce has amounted to eighty bumels. The price indeed varies, from four mil-* lings to feven millings and fix pence a bufhel, according to the quantity grown, and the kindnefs or unkindnefs of the feafon ; it being much fubje& to blight, and mildew, and its value, in fome mea- fure, is governed by the good or ill fuccefs of the whale -filhery. The expence of reaping, turning, thrafhing, dreffing, and putting it into the bags, is from one pound to one pound five millings an acre. I mail follow the feed no farther, as I am not acquainted with the manner of ex- tracting the oil, and preparing the cakes, which is a feparate branch of bufinefs ; but the ufe thofe cakes are of in fatting cattle, and manuring land, is not inconfi- derable, being worth at this time four pounds a ton. The flraw (preferved from wet) may be ufed [ 148 ] ufed for lighting fires, heating oven's, ctfjjU „ pers, and burning in brick-kilns j but is mot of much value for manure. The chaff and colder is generally burnt on the ipot, and the allies fpread about the ground. The ftubble, if the foil be clofe, is ufeful to the next crop ; but if the foil be light, I do not apprehend it to be of any fervice. As I wifh the cultivator to- be ac- quainted with all the difad vantages, as well as profits, of this crop, I would have him take notice, that when it is cultivated for feed it cofts as much, in putting into the ground, as a crop of turnips : and, ftanding a whole year, takes up the fame time as a turnip and barley crop together ; but as the ground will be fitted to receive a better fucceed- ing crop, than that of barley after turnips, it will be frequently found as profitable as both the other ; and in that, cafe, for the benefit of change and variety, it will fometimes be prudent to give it the pre- ference. [ 129 1 ference. I may add, that this crop is exceedingly ufeful in cleaning land, and is of a meliorating nature* There are many people, who cultivate this plant merely for feeding cattle, and an exceeding good practice it is. The ground is prepared, and fown in the fame manner, as for the crop I have juft de« fcribed; but in this cafe thepe is no ne- ceffity for hoeing. It is fed off, as occa- lion may require, from the beginning of November to the middle of April ; and when this is the cafe* barley, and grafs- feeds are fown the fame year upon it, almofr. always with good fuccefs. Before Chriftmas, nothing is better for fatting dry ewes, and old fheep of all kinds and after Chriftmas it is better than any thing for ewes and lambs. When fed early in the winter, if the froft. be not fo fevere as fo rot the ftalk, or ftem, it will fpring again the beginning of April. K It [ *3° ] It is generally fuppofed, that this feed is a great exhaufter of land ; and fo it is, if it be too frequently repeated ; but it may be fown, without prejudice, every fourteenth year for a crop, or every* feventh for feeding cattle, but not of- tener. CULTURE t 131 1 CULTURE OF HOP Si TH £ foil For hops mould neither be fandy, porous, or gravelly $ cohe- five clay, or moor ; but a generous, rich* loamy mould, of at leaft eighteen inches depth, of equal /quality $ the deeper the better. It muft not be liable to injury from floods, or iprings. The fituation mould be open to the fouth, and fouth- eaft, but well fheltered on the other parts, particularly on the weft$ becaufe the winds, from that quarter, are often violent, and bonterous, and do more in- jury to the crop, than even the northern winds. Old pafture-land of the before- mentioned quality generally does befl. It mould be broken up in the autumn ; fometimes it is ploughed, and fometimes dug, but the latter practice is beft. In K 2 the [ J 32 I the beginning of March the holes cfe- figned to receive the plants, mould be made, at the diftance of fix feet and a half a part ; and 1 300 of thefe holes may be contained in an acre. They mould be fo ranged, or difpofed, as to form ftraight lines every way. Each hole is to be a foot deep, and eighteen inches diameter, and to be filled quite full, of fome good comport, made of rotten muck, and frefh maiden-earth well mix- ed, and incorporated together* at leaft nine months before it is appropriated to this ufe. After the holes are thus filled* and the plants introduced* the compoft mould be a little trodden by men's feet, efpecially round the plant, fo that it may be preffed down, about two inches be- low the common furface of the ground. The original price cf the plants is fix pence a hundred, which is reckoned at fix fcore. Seven roots or plants are fet in one hole, one in the center, and the other fix, forming a circle round it, at equal I *33 3 equal diftance, and at about four inches from the outride of \^ the hole, as defcri- bed in the margin ; the feven dots, con- tained in the cir^ cle, reprefenting the plants. The roots ^ are fet two inches deep in the compor% with only the top of the italk juft out j and after they are fo fet, the whole of the plants are covered over about two inches deep, with fome of the native foil made fine, and drawn lightly oyer the comport, which will fill the hole even with the common level of the ground.. It is not prudent to fow any thing, the firft year, with the young plants, except onions ; which may be done in the month of March, when the hops are fet; and this generally proves a very valuable crop. They are much better than any thing elfe, £>ecaufe they admit a more free circulation K 3 of I m ] of air through the plantation. In each of thefe holes (which, in future, mull be diftinguimed, on account of their increas- ing bulk, by the appellation of hills) there mould be fet, pretty early in the fpring of the firft year, two fmall fticks of about two or three yards long, to teach the young binds to climb ; and three in num- ber mould be led up each Hick, and tied with meadow-rum, fedge, or fomething of a fimilar quality, two or three times, as occafion may require, in the courfe of the fummer. The ground mould be kept particularly clean from weeds, and rub'bifh of all kinds ; and the hills mould be moulded twice in the courfe of the firft year; the firfl: time, in the middle of May, and the next, in the beginning of Auguft. Here ends the firfl: year's ex- pence, and trouble. In the courfe of the enfuing winter it will be necefiary, to provide poles. If the hops be luxuriant, and ilrong, two poles will be lufficient for each hill, or * two t '35 1 two thoufand fix hundred to an acre. But if the plantation be languid, and weak, every other hill mould have three poles; which will require 3250 to an acre. But, though the weaker! plants will require the greater!: number of poles j yet, as they will not require them fo long, or fubftantial, the expence of the poles will be nearly equal, in both cafes. The price of poles varies, of courfe, in different neighbourhoods, very confiderably ; but the medium price may be confidered from fifteen to twenty millings a hun~ dred, at the ftub, without reckoning their carriage. When the poles are brought to the ground, they mould be unloaded at the outfides of the plantation, and carried upon men's moulders to the places of poling. No muck, or compoft, is necefTary for the lecond year ; but the ground mull be dug in the autumn, in the fame manner as it was the firft year. In the month of K 4 March [ ] March every year, after the firft year's planting, the hills mull: be opened, and the plants dreffed, by cutting off the old, laft year's bearing-ftalks within two joints pf the root ; and if any of the plants have failed, or are found in a fickiy ftate, others muft be fubftituted in their Head. In doing of which care muft be taken, to dig the earth fufficiently deep about each ftock, or root, that all defects may be dif- covered, and that there may be room to cut off all the old ftalks. When the plants are thus vifited, and dreffed, the earth mould be raked back upon them. The beft of the prunings will ferve for frem plantations. The general rule for poling is, when the binds have fhot about two or three inches out of the ground. Three or four binds mould be conducted up each pole, and confined, by being tied with meadow- rumes, or fedge, as before-defcribed ; [ which muff be repeated three or four times, as occafion may require. Some- times, [ 137 ] times, when the poles are long, and the plants vigorous, it is neceffary to have a ladder to tie them on the top. This bufinefs requires particular atten- tion at the beginning of the fummen When fhort and (lender poles are fet to a hill, where binds may happen to be ex- ceedingly florid, and ftrong, it will be worth while to. remove them to another hill, where they are weaker, and to bring other poles which are ftronger in their room. The expence is a mere trifle 5 and the advantage derived from this at- tention is often very confiderable. All fuperfluous binds mould be taken away, feveral times, in the courfeof the fummer; except two only upon each hill, which fhould be referved, to fupply the place of fuch as may happen to be injured, in being firft led up the poles. Such injuries frequently happen, either by the buds be- ing bruifed, or their heads beaten off by wind, or other accidents, to which they gre very liable in their tender infant ftate. Three [ '38 ] Three hoeings, in a feafon, are efTentially neceffary s in the beginning of May, June, and July and at each hoeing fome mould Should be drawn upon the hills, to keep the roots of the plants moift. Theymuft likewife be once moulded, pretty early in the month of Auguil j and if this be done foon after rain, it is the better ; and there- fore it may fometjmes be done, on this account, a little fooner or later than the cuftomary time. This is the whole which will be requiiite, till the crop be ga- thered. As foon as the hops are ripe, and fit to pick, the poles are drawn with an inflru- ment in moft places, called a pulling- hook y Four fkeps will be necefTary for every acre , and four women, or children, may conveniently make ufe of one ikep. If the weather be tolerably fine, they will be able to pick an acre in ten days, or a fortnight. From ten to fourteen hundred, to an acre, is efteemed a good crop j but there are inftances of twenty hundred be- ing E 139 ] jug grown upon an acre ; which, at fiv$ pounds a hundred, amounts to an hun- dred pounds an acre, But this feldom happens. As foon as the hops are picked, they are carried to , the kilns to be dried ; and about five or fix days after they are dried, it will be a very good time to bag them. The befr. way of bagging is, to have a hole cut in a chamber-floor, or loft, to the juft fize of the bag; the mouth of which mull: be fixed to a frame, laid upon the floor, with the bottom part hanging fufpended below. A man then gets into the bag, with a heavy weight ; which he keeps removing, to the place where he is not immediately treading. The clofer they are prefled into the bag, the better ; becaufe they preferve their colour, fmell, and tafte, the more. A few hops are tied apart, in the four corners of the bag, for the convenience of removing them, as it were, with handles. There are fome necefiary rules, to be obferved [ J 4° ] obferved in refpecl to the duty; but as every cultivator of hops ought to be par- ticularly inftructed upon this head, it will be advifeable for him, to have a real copy of the excife-law for his guidance. Soon after the hops are picked, the poles fhould be cleared of the binds, and fet up in fquare flacks, or piles. About th irty or forty poles fhould be fet to each corner, and each corner props its oppolite. The four corners fhould ftand twelve feet apart, every way, at the bottom and the tops of the piles mould unite, and be in- terwoven together, as clofe as poflible. Between the four corners below, there will be an open free pafTage, which, admit- ting a free circulation of air, will con- tribute greatly to the prefervation of the poles. The binds, if got up perfectly dry, and laid under cover, will make tolerable fuel for coppers, ovens, and brick-kilns. Although muck is to be omitted the fecond year, it is abfolutely neceflary, every [ Hi ] every year afterwards, in the proportion of twelve good cart-loads to an acre, well mixed, and incorporated together with fifteen loads of frefh, virgin-earth, for near twelve months before it is ufed. This is one thing which makes the cul- ture of hops exceedingly expenfive ; but the quantity here defcribed is abfolutely neceffary. Indeed it is the mod material part. This compoft mould be carried on the ground with fmall carts (thofe of three wheels drawn by one horfe are heft) before the ground be dug in the autumn, and laid in fmall heaps ; and mould after- wards be incorporated with the mould furrounding each hill, at about the dis- tance of a foot from it. The old ftock ought to be flubbed up, and renewed, every tenth or twelfth yearj and it is moft prudent, to break up a due proportion of the old, and to plant an . equal quantity of new every year, or every other year, to keep up a regular fuccef- fion ; and to do it by gradual expence, and And labour* Another advantage arifes from this method, mz. The ol deft of the poles which, by long ufe, are rendered unfit for the old plantations, will never- theiefs be exceedingly ufeful in the new ones, during the firft and fecond years. As to the duration of the poles, the beft will not laft above fix, or eight years. The whole expence attending this crop may be eftimated as follows : £- S, d„ Medium price of an acre of land i 10 fuitable for hops ■ j i o Digging the ground — — o !3 o Drefling and pruning — 0 8 o Poling — — . . .. 0 15 0 Three hoeings — — 0 9 0 Once moulding — • — ■ . o 3 6 Tying the binds to the poles — o 12 o Stripping the binds off the poles — 0 3 0 Stacking the poles — — 0 4 0 Sharpening the poles «— — 0 10 10 Manuring — » . ■ 2 0 o Carried over — 7 8 4 Brought C H3 ] Brought over — Picking, drying, and duty, at 1 1. 10 s. a hundred, the crop being eftimated at twelve hun- dred to an acre — • — Bagging, and the occafional ex- 1 pence of bags, about — * Afli-poles eftimated at 3250 to an acre, fuppofed to laft eight years, medium price iSs. a hundred, at ^ the ftubb : the eighth part of which is, as nearly as need be calculated — -— — Carriage of poles eftimated at — 7 8 4 18 o © o 16 o 3 13 & 5 o 3i 2 4 Suppofing twelve hundred to be ** grown upon an acre, and that the medium price is 4/. a hun- 0 O dred, the produce will amount to - And the expences deducted cut of") the produce, will leave a medium > 16 17 8 profit of — . — - J Sometimes, as I have before obferved, a hundred pounds have been made of an acre of hop-ground; which accidental profit [ 1 44 ] profit is apt to miflead young planters* who very often promife themfelves more than they ought. It is likewife apt to induce fome people to plant hops, upon foil ill calculated for their growth. When the ground is perfectly fuitable for the crop, and fo fituated as to com- mand a fufficiency of poles, hands for picking, and manure at a moderate ex- pence ; hops are certainly an objecl: of great profit; and land being enriched, and at the fame time perfectly cleaned, by their Culture, is left in the beft of all con- ditions for being laid down with grafs- But, as they require an infinite deal of at- tention, and fo great a quantity of manure; when farmers cultivate them* except it be in the neighbourhood of towns, they do it to the ruin of all the reft of the farms. This is very evident in the counties of JVorcefter, and Hereford ; where it is very common, for a farmer who occupies two- hundred acres of land, to apply the greater!: part of his muck to the nourishment, and fupport, [ tiS 3 fupport, of about ten or a dozen acres of hops, and to neglect every improvement upon thirty or forty acres of pafture-land, merely for the fake of its producing him alder poles for his plantation ; which paf- ture-land might often be doubled in value, if the alder- ftools were extirpated, and the land properly drained. Farmers mould therefore be checked* when they aim at railing too great a proportion of hops, not only for the reafons beforementioned, but becaufe the article is precarious in its na- ture ; and when a failure happens, they are unable to difcharge their rent. The regular produce of a farm brings more certain profits. In fhort, the bulinefs of cultivating hops, and farming, is incompa- tible ; each requiring conftant attention, L OBSER* [ 146 J OBSERVATIONS RELATIVE TO BUILDw INGS AND REPAIRS. THE firft object in the management of an eftate is, to difcover and adopt all practicable modes of improve- ment upon the land. The fecond relates to fkill, and frugality, in the conftruction of fuch neceflary buildings as the eftate may require, and care, and contrivance, in their occalional reparation. The following general rules refpecting new erections may be worth obferving. " Not to build any thing but what will " be really ufeful. To build upon a fmall " compact fcale, and as much as poffible " upon fquares, or parallelograms, not in " angles, or notches. To build at all u times fubftantially, and with good ma- *' terials. Not to lay any timber into " frefh mortar, becaufe the lime eats up, " and t ] and waftes, the ends of it long before " the other parts decay ; but to lay the ends into loam, or clay. Not to put " any window-frames or door-cafes into " new brick -work at the time the walls are carried up ; but to introduce a dif- " charging -piece, or lintel, over fuch door " and window-'fpaces." The reafon of the laft caution is obvious ; for as brick- Work fettles, foon after it is up, the window-frames and door-cafes, on account of their flrength, will not yield with it, but occafion cracks and flaws ; but when a lintel is made ufe of, the whole work fettles regularly together, and door-cafes and window-f ames may be then intro- duced, with more propriety than before. With refpedt to materials, tiles or flate are the bell covering for houfesj but barns and flables mould be thatched, be- cauie workmen are always carelefs, in lay- ing corn and hay into them, and generally pufh the tiles off with their prongs ; and befides, thefe buildings, when empty, col- L 2 led: [ H* ] led a great deal of wind, which is apt to diflodge them, unlefs they are pointed in the infide, which encreafes the expence confiderably, and is never lafting. Reed is the beft of all covering for barns, itables, cart-houfes, &c. There is a fort of reed which grows in fens, marfhes, and wet-lands, fo excellent for this ufe, that a moderate coat, if it be well laid on, will endure at leaft half a century, with very little expence of reparation : and it is a fa£t beyond contradiction, that the timber ufed in roofing will laft thirty years longer, when covered with reed, than it will when covered with tiles. The next beft covering to this is the Somerfetjhire-reed ; which is nothing more than the ftrongeft wheat - ftraw which can be met with, combed clean from weeds, having the ears of the corn cut off, inftead of being thrafhed, and fo laid on upon the building in whole pipes, unbruifed by the flail. This latter reed may be had in any other county, as well as Somerfetjhire, in fuffi- cient [ 149 ] cient quantity - } and it is abfurd, in the laft degree, to make ufe of ftraw for thatching in any other way, becaufe the difference of expence in the preparation is a mere trifle, compared with the difference of duration between the Svmerfetjhire- thatch and that of other counties. The common, injudicious, flovenly practice of beating the ftraw to pieces with the flail, and then laying it on with fome of the feeds and many weeds in it, caufes it very often to grow quite green, after it is laid upon the building ; and, being bruifed in all parts, to collect and retain the wet, much more than it would if the ftraw were whole, and confequently to become quite rotten in a few years. When ftraw is defigned for thatching, it is a good way to cut the corn rather earlier than or- dinary. With refpect to the timber moft proper for building, I know of none that is to be preferred to Spanifh-chefnut, where it can be had, becaufe it is very pleafant to work, L 3 and [ 15® ] and as durable as oak, though It feldor*^ bears the price of it. In maritime coun* ties, where oak fells well, and deals are tolerably cheap, it is bell: to dilpofe of the one> and buy the other - 3 becaufe oak is generally cut to wafte in molt, repairs, and deals may be bought, of any fcantling that may be required. Jn all paling, battoning, and other fences ab.ut the homeftall, nothing is more ufeful than pollards ; and they mould always be made ufe of on fuch occafions, becaufe they are generally the produce of the farm, of little value, and fave better timber. Sometimes they are ufeful in fheds, and fmall buildings, for cattle. Bricks are a very confiderabje object, and great care mould be taken in getting them of a good quality. Upon moil eftates, of any confiderable fize, brick-earth, or clay, may be met with ; and, where this is the cafe, they may be always made, and burnt in clamps, for one third lefs than they can be bought at the kilns, and equally good ir* f 151 ] m quality. I have had a great number burnt in this manner, from eleven to fourteen millings a thoufand, in Norfolk, Hertfordshire, Gloucefterjhire, and Worcef- terjhire, The medium price is twelve millings a thoufand where fuel is reafon- able,. Betides the difference in price, there is generally a great faving in carriage, when gentlemen burn their own bricks. No material in building requires greater infpecliion than mortar, in which mafons are apt to be deficient. Two things are to be attended to j the quality of the dif- ferent articles, and the manner of mixing them. When new buildings are to be er e fometimes called fweet chefnut, may be claffed among the moft ufeful trees. In all purpofes of building it is nearly equal to oak, and generally reckoned as durable. It is likewife plea- fant to work, and, where it relifhes the foil, is quick in its growth. No timber deferves our attention, and encouragement, more than this ; it may be looked upon, with great propriety, as the oak's befl fub- ftitute ; iince it anfwers many purpofes where no other wood, except oak, would do. Sycamore is ufeful for turners, and is befides very profitable in ftem-wood. Beech is ufed for fellies of wheels, and by cabinet-makers, for making handles to a great many tools, and for firkins to hold foap ; is a moft elegant tree for pleafure, and ornament, and pays extremely well upon [ i6j ] upon dry chalky hills, which are little calculated for any thing elfe. Abele, and white poplar, which are ex- ceedingly quick in their growth, particu- larly when planted near a running ftream, make good boards for ordinary repairs ; and ferve for the purpofes of wheel- barrows, and the fides of waggons and carts, and may be considered as an ufeful fubftitute to the am, in thofe, and many other purpofes. Black poplar, alders, and feveral forts of withe, make ufeful rafters, poles, and rails 5 and planted in the manner hereinafter de- Icribed, make a very quick return. The latter is likewife ufed by patten-makers, and fometimes by turner* ; and where elm is fcarce, it is often ufed for water- pipes. Having, in a curfory way, run over the different qualities, and ufes, of the moft neceflary kinds of timber, and wood, I mall proceed to treat of them more par- ticularly. M 3 The [ * 66 ] The firil maxim in planting is, to make a judicious choice of fuch trees as our foil will .bear which is beft difcovered by the trees themfelves, where any happen to grow upon it, otherwife the obfervation muft be made upon fome other foil, of a limilar nature, where they do grow. The next maxim is, not to plant the fort of tree which the neighbourhood is already ftocked with, but ( 'vice verjaj thofe of which there is the greateft fcarcity. This is a confideration of great confequence, though feldom much attended to. If the foil be appofite, and the country not over-ftocked, or fo fituated as to ad- mit of carriage out of it, give the preference to oak, afh, elm, or Spanijh chefnut. In maritime counties, and others, where there is water-carriage, there cannot be too much oak 9 or elm planted, let the neighbourhood be ever fo much Hocked , becaule thefe forts, being ufeful in /hip- ping, will always find a good market elfe- where, if not at home. With other tim- ber, t l6 7 1 ber, in fome particular instances, a country may be over- planted, and injured by that means. If all forts of timber be equally fcarce, and dear, plant the quicken: growers ; and among thefe abele, white poplar, and Dutch withe, if the foil be moift, fhould have the preference. If coal be very dear, it may fometimes anfwer, to plant merely for fuel ; in which cafe ajh, beech, fycamore, maple, and hazel, make excellent ftem-wood upon found land j and alder, black-poplars, and withes of all forts, do well near brooks, rivers, or even upon boggy land. When furze is fcarce, it is not an un- profitable thing to plant even that, as it is very ufeful for ovens, and kilns. I know inftances of fix pounds an acre being made every third year, by this crop, upon land, for other purpofes, not worth above five millings an acre yearly. In the neighbourhood of bafket-makers plant oziers ; which are very profitable, and quick in their return. M 4 In [ 168 ] In hop-countries plant ajh, and the km* leaved withe for poles. The judicious planter will weigh all tbefe different circumftances, and make his own application j but, befides all that I have obferved, the price of each fort of timber, as well as the quicknefs, or flow-, nefs of its growth mull be confidered, be- fore a juft difcovery can be made, which fa moil profitable. DIFFERENT DIFFERENT METHODS OF PLANTINQ SUGGESTED, EXPERIENCE mews, that thorns, and buihes, are the natural nurfes of all foreft trees, particularly of oak | and as thefe neyer grow high, we learn hence too, that oaks do not like any neigh- bour to over-top them, longer than is ne- ceffary to protect, and keep them warm in their infancy, till they get good root, and are able to expofe their heads to the open air. Obfervation will next difcover, that trees, when they arrive at any confiderable fize, do befl in plantations of their own kind only ; oak, for inftance, diflikes the afhy and feldom thrives well in its com- pany. This teaches us, to make fome in- ferior wood fubfervient to that, which we jfct the greateft value upon j fo that it may anfwer [ *7° ] anfwer the fame end, to the better fort, as thorns, and bufhes, do in a foreft. When large plantations are defigned to be raifed, the firft bufinefs is, to clean a piece of land for a nurfery, fumciently large for the purpofe required; which ihould be fecurely fenced round, and tole- rably well fheltered; but mould be of a poorer kind than is intended for the trees, when they are tranfplanted. When the plantation is made, it is clearly the beft way to plant the oaks, or whatever trees are defigned for timber, at nearly the diltance they are defigned to ft'and forty years afterwards ; and when any fail, to fupply them occafionally. This beft fort, defigned for timber, mould be. planted at the growth of about feven or eight feet high; and all the intermediate fpaces mould be planted, at the fame time, with more ordinary plants, fuch as Jyca- more, and horfe-chefnut , at the diftance of about two yards fquare, and about half the fize of the better fort; which will be when [ I7 1 1 when they are about two or three years old, Part of thefe, as they advance in growth, mould be chopped down, to thicken the bottom, to keep the better trees moift, and warm, As they ftill grow on, the remainder mould be chopped down, by degrees; which will makd a very fine, and profitable under-wood, about the time that the better fort of trees will want to fpread their branches, and be clear above. This method of raifmg timber in plantations, muft be allowed to be a nearer imitation of nature, than the common way of planting a variety of forts together, of equal age, fuch as oak, ajh, elm, beech, chefnut, and many others ; and experience, the bed of all evidence, has always proved it. The common method of planting has this great difadvantage at- tending it — the planter has not the heart to cut down valuable trees, when the plan- tation wants thinning, though they ftand too thick ; and if he fpare them at fuch a. crifis, he fpoils the whole plantation ; but t 172 ] but he would feel no remorfe at cutting down a horfe-chefnut> or a fycamore y to promote the growth of a better tree. Round the borders of fuch plantations it is highly proper to plant thorns, or furze, the width of twenty or thirty feet, to keep out all cattle, to interrupt difor- derjy people from getting in, and to fur- nifh ufeful fluff, of this kind, for mending hedges, and other purpofes which every farm jflands in need of. In the middle, pr at one corner of every large plantation, it is very proper to have a fmall nurfery, that any dead, or fickly trees may be re- placed with greater expedition, and lefs expence, than they can be, when the nur- fery is at a djflance. Thefe Jarge plantations may frequently be made, upon land which lies wafte, and upon land lying at a diftance from home. And lefs plantations, of a fimilar kind, may be made upon almoft every farm, in angles, nooks, pits, and corners, which are of very little advantage in any other way* f 173 ] way; becaufe, when fuch parts are in tillage, they are difficult to plough, and when they are grazed, cattle are very apt to gore, and kick each other. AJh, in particular, mould be confined to fmaH fpots of this kind. In the middle of every large grazing- ground a clump ihould be planted, to afford made and melter for cattle; and to prevent their lying too much under the hedges, in hot weather, which da- mages the fences, and tempts them to break out. Befides, cattle are more trou- bled with flies under a clofe hedge, and have lefs benefit of the air than in an open grove. If the piece be very large, two or three clumps will be ufeful. Hedge-row timber generally grows to the greateft fize ; is of the beft and found- eft quality ; and moft calculated for the ufe of the navy. Elm is there to be pre- ferred, becaufe it grows erecT:, and does leaft damage to the land by its under- branches, and next to that, oak ; becaufe it draws f *74 ] draws its principal nourifhment from a tap- root, and therefore does not exhauft the furface of the ground, like afh, and fome other trees, nor interrupt the plough by horizontal roots. Some inconvenience in- deed will be fuftained, by fhading the ground, but it will bear no proportion, to the profit which will accrue, from the increafe in the growth, and value, of the timber. Hedge-rows, properly managed, afford a large field for planting j but, where this method of raifing timber is practifed, pollards fhculd be totally extir- pated. They take up a deal of room, as much as the largeft trees, utterly deftroy all fences, and produce very little more wood, than would grow in the fame fpace from itubbs, or quickfet-ftools. If there was only one tree planted, in the room of every pollard through the kingdom, it would very foon be fufficiently flocked ; and the difference in beauty and profit would be aftonifhing. If the cutting down of pollards mould be thought to * leffer* [ '75 ] leffen the quantity of fuel, the under- wood in the nooks, angles, pits, and corners, which I have recommended to be planted, will be more than adequate to the defi- ciency. Before I take leave of hedge-row tim- ber, I fhall communicate a mode of plant- ing it, which Sir Charles Cocks, at my recommendation, has lately adopted upon his eftates in Gloucejlerjhire, and JVorcef- terjhire. A claufe is inferted in every leafe, to oblige each tenant, or occupier of a farm, yearly to plant, and properly pro- tect, one tree to every ten pounds a year rent, or ten to a hundred a year rent, and fo in proportion, on fuch parts of their refpective farms as are pointed out to them for that purpofe. The expence to the tenants is a mere trifle, as the trees are provided for them in an adjoining nurferyj and, where leafes are granted, they very cheerfully confent to it. By. this eafy method, upon a large eftate like his, the quantity of timber, thus imperceptibly railed, i 1 faifed, will be very confiderable, even in tn£ courfe of a twenty-one years leafej Upon every thoufand pounds a year there will be two thoufand one hundred trees in num- ber, at the end of the leafej becaufe, if any fail, the tenants plant, the next year, a greater number. And if we fuppofe thefe trees to pay only three pence a year each, during the demife, which is a mo- derate calculation, they will be worth, at the expiration of the leafe, 288/. 15^ and from that period will begin to pay at leaft fix pence a tree yearly. This fcheme of planting is certainly practicable, upon every eftate, if a landlord will give his tenants a reafonable bargain in their land* and leafes for their encouragement* I mail mention one other method of planting, which is productive of much improvement, viz. to appropriate wet, and boggy, lands to this ufe, inftead of devoting them to paflure ; in which cafe they frequently give cattle the rot, and are pften dear at a crown an acre. But, planted t w 3 planted with fuitable aquatic woods, they yield an immediate profit of fifteen, or twenty millings an acre yearly, and carry on an increafing gift to pofterity, which will be of as much value* in fifty years jime, as the fee firnple of the land, before this improvement was made. The beft way of planting this fort of land is, by digging the whole of it a foot deep, inverting the turf, and* afterwards opening trenches, which mould have a free difcharge, at one end, into fome more capital drain, or outfalL Thefe trenches mould be eighteen feet apart, three feet deep, two feet and an half wide on the top* and one foot wide at the bottom $ and all the fluff, which comes out of thefe trenches, fhould be thrown upon the tops of the beds, which will help to raife them. At the fame time, a row of holes mould be opened in each bed, at about eighteen feet apart, eighteen inches deep, and three feet diameter on the tops. This mould be done early in the winter, that the frofl N may f 173 ] may get into the ground, and chaflen it- Early in February, the furface of the beds mould be chopped with fpades, and made as* fine as poffible. And about the latter end of the fame month, white poplar, or foms other fuitable trees, mould be plant- ed in the before-mentioned holes, and all the intermediate fpaces upon the beds mould be filled up, with withe, or ozier- fets. If with the former, they mould fland at four feet fquare, if with the latter, at only thirty inches. The firft will make hop-poles, and may be cut every nxth, or feventh year ; the other may be cut every year, for the ufe of bafket-makers. The fets, when planted, mould be about the fize of a man's thumb ; and mould be cut with a doping point at both ends, jttffc above, and juft below a knot, or bud. They mould be about two feet long ; one half mould be pumed into the ground, and the other fland out. Some people plant beds of ajh in this way; and if the beds be laid tolerably dry, [ iff ] dry, it generally flourimes in flems exceed- ingly well, and makes the beil of hop- poles, and cooper's fluff. I have feen fome, which were planted a few years fince near Sudbury, in Suffolk, upon a common horfe-moor, which flourim fur- prizinglyj and I was told, by a proper Judge in the neighbourhood, that land ib planted was honeftly worth thirty millings an acre yearly. On a dry bank of land planted at the fame time, in the fame piece of ground, I obferved that the ajh was not by above a third fo good as that on the b °ggy part- ADVICE [ 180 } ADVICE RESPECTING THE MANAGE- MENT OF TIMBER. l^TO trees ought to be difmembered of X^i their branches, without abfolute. neceffity fuch treatment is very preju- dicial to all forts of timber. But where trees hang over roads, and buildings, it cannot fometimes be difpenfed with. Where this happens, the limbs mould be taken off clofe to the tree, and the place where it grew planed quite fmooth, that the wet may not hang upon the part. If the tree be young, and thrifty, the wound will quickly heal, and the blemim be covered /but when trees are hacked in the branches, and left jagged, the wetr hangs upon them, and, by degrees, rots them quite into the heart. Thinning timber is a very eflential part, of the care it requires. Grove-timber, and [ i'8l ] and thick plantations generally ftand in need of fome attention of this fort. The firft rule is, to thin it early % the fecond, to do it by degrees ; and the third and principal rule of all is, to take Nature for our guide, and clear away fuch trees only as fhe points out; namely, the unhealthy trees without paying any great regard to regular diftances. When thefe rules are not obferved, the bad confequences are obvious. Trees, in thick plantations, when left any confider- able time before they are thinned, get too long in their bodies., for the fize of then- beads ; .and when a frefri current of air is let in upon them, the fap is immediately chilled, and the trees checked in their growth. But if they are thinned early, and at different times, they are hardened by degrees, and their branches expand re- gularly, andpreferve a due proportion with their bodies. If trees be taken promifcu- oufly, or fo as to leave the remainder at ^(jual diftances, nearly the fame inconve- N 3 nience t i8a 3 niencc arifes as in the former cafe; for there will be a variety of tender parts, which cannot be perceived at the time of doing it, left unguarded - y but if the lickly trees be taken, the others will immediately receive great benefit. The obvious figns of health in timber are thefe : — The bark will be fmooth, look clean, and grey in colour, and the frefh (hoots will be long, and ftraight, and free at the points. The colour of the green will be much deeper, than that of thofe trees, of the fame fort, which are not healthy ; and the trees will retain their leaves longer in the autumn. The marks of unhealthy timber are nearly the contraft.of the former. The tree will be hide-bound, the bark rough, clofe, and thick, and often covered with mofs ; the frefh lhoots will be very fhort, and crook- ed at the ends. The green will be of a paler colour, and the leaves will drop fooner. An unhealthy tree mould never be fuffcred to remain in any plantation, but; [ i«3 1 but ihould be taken down, as foon as it has done growing, let its fize be what it will ; and a young plant fet in the va- cancy. Some gentlemen, who have not ready money, are difcouraged from planting, be- caufe the expence is immediate, and the profit at a diftance. At the fame tim% perhaps, they have a great deal of timber ftanding on their eflates, which gets worfe every day, and lerTens in value, which they do not choofe to cut, for fear the world fhouid think them needy. Other gentle- men let their timber fland, till it rots on the ground j thinking it highly reputable to have a large quantity of old timber on their eflates. Both thefe overlook their own interefl. The public, and private good requires, that all timber lhould be taken down as foon as it gets to perfec- tion ; and a regular fucceffion kept up by young plantations. The man who acts upon this plan, acts rationally ; and if he be young, or even middle-aged, he may N 4 live [ *»4 ] live to cut down the greateft part of the old timber, which he finds upon his eftate, put money in his pocket, and leave his eftate better flocked with timber than he found it. And what is more material, perhaps, with many a young gentleman, he will avoid the difgrace of cutting down, which is apt to imply want, when the world perceives that his fchemes, upon the whele, are more calculated for the growth, and increafe of timber, than its destruction, or diminution. In fhort, the true way of managing a timbered eftate is, to make ufe of what Nature has brought to perfection, and to Jceep up a regular, uniform fuccefiion fo that at the time we take one egg from the neft, for our own ufe, we may leave another, as a neft-egg, for the benefit of pofterity. Seniibie of the importance of this plan, Mr. Win 'bam, oiFelbrigg in Norfolk, has done me the honour of approving, and adopting it in its full extent and has im- powerec} [ ««5 1 powered me to carry it oh upon fuch a vigorous fcale, as will gradually fwell th®. quantity, and value of his timber, notwith- standing his falls will be confiderable every year. I am perfuadeci, that any other gentleman who follows the example, will find his account in it. For thefe, and many other ufefu] hints upon planting, and the management of timber, I am particularly indebted to Mr. Wittesy of AJlrof in Northampton/hire, Mr. Qilbert, of Cotton in Staff ordfiire, and Mr. Marpam, of Strattpn in Norfolk, who have made noble improvements upon their re- fpe&ive eftates, and pofTefs more know- ledge, and (kill, in the cultivation of tim- ber, and other wood, than any gentlemen I have ever converfed with upon this im«* portant fubjecl. ADVAN- [ 1 86 ] ADVANTAGES RESULTING FROM SMALL FARMS, AND THOSE OF THE MOST PIOFIT ABLE SIZE DESCRIBED. T^VERY fpecula'tive Englifnman who J—/ travels through the Aufirian Ne- therlands, is aftonifhed at the great popu- lation of that country, and at the fight of the markets, which are plentiful beyond defcription. Upon enquiring into the in- ternal jftate, and regulation of the country, he finds that there are no large farms, no clafs of men who pafs under the character of gentlemen-farmers, acquiring large for- tunes merely by fuperintending the bufinefs of farming ; but that the whole country is divided, into much fmaller portions than land is with us, and occupied by a fet of laborious people, who, in general, work for themfelves, and live very much upon a footing of equality. This This feems a prefumptive proof, that agriculture, when it is thrown into a num- ber of hands, becomes the life of induftry, the fouree of plenty, and the fountain of riches to a country ; but that monopo- lized, and grafped into few hands, it muft difhearten the bulk of mankind, who are reduced to labour for others inftead of themfelves ; muft leffen the produce, and greatly tend to general poverty. I mail not attempt wholly to account for the amazing, irucreafed, price of pro- yifions with us. There are, undoubtedly, many caufes which contribute to it ; but it is very evident that no fingle caufe af- fects it, fo much as the deftructive practice which has prevailed, for near half a cen- ' tury back, of demolifhing fmall farms. This abfurd cuftom, which is not without its advocates, draws its birth from ill— digefted calculations ; is attended with great cruelty to individuals and ends in confiderable private lofs, and public ca- lamity. The [ i88 ] The fpecious inducements are, to avoid trouble, to fave expences in repairs, and to fecure the rent by having more capita! tenants. Granting thefe arguments the utmoft weight they deferve, they will appear very inconclunve, and unfatisfaclory. With refpecl to trouble, thofe who manage their own property, have their own reward, and fatisfaclion in all they do. And a fteward, or agent, ought to think nothing a trouble, which is con- ducive to the good of his principal's eftate. The faving in repairs feems, on the firft view, to carry greater plaufibility ; but, when all fubfequent confequences are duly jnveftigated, it will be found very inade- quate to the lofs, which will be fuflained in the end. There is no poffibility of forming an exac~£ eftimate, of the expence of keeping an eftate in repair. It varies greatly in the different price of labour, and mate^ rials j [ 1*9 J rials, and ftill more in the different fkill, and attention, which is beftowed by the perfon, who has the care, and direction of the work. But from great experience, and attention, I have obferved, that large farms being once put in good repair, may be kept fo, upon an average one with another, at about feven, and fmall farms at about ten per cent, (fire and tempefts excepted) and if we extend it to eleven, upon fmall farms, for their greater propor- tion of accident, the buildings being more numerous, we mall be fure to make a cal- culation that will not deceive us. Admitting this, there appears to be a faving, by large farms, of forty pounds a year, upon an eftate of one thoufand pounds a year. But, on the other hand, it muft be allowed by every candid perfon, that fmall farms let every-where for, at leaft, fifteen per cent. . more than large farms ; and that induftrious tenants upon thefe fmall farms are enabled to give this .difference, by doing the chiefefl part of tha, t *9° ] the work themfelves ; by their greater frugality in living ; and by availing them-* felves of a variety of little advantages, which the great farmer will not ftoop to pick up. Therefore after deducting the four per cent, faved upon repairs, from the fifteen per cent, difference in the fcalc of rent, it appears that there is an actual lofs of eleven per cent, or one hundred and ten pounds a year upon every thoufand pounds a year, and fo in proportion for a greater, or lefs eftate. As to the better payment of the rent, there are always in- dustrious, and fafe, tenants enough to be gotten, if care be taken, and proper en- couragement given. The landlord indeed is fometimes in a (ltuation, from which he cannot eafily extricate himfelf. His buildings, by de- grees, being diminimed, for want of a little timely care, and charge, he finds himfelf, in a manner, obliged to let his property in large lots, fometimes perhaps contrary to his inclination and is there- by [ I9i ] by deprived of the advantage, he would otherwife have had, in a greater choice of tenants. But, whether this inconvenience defcended to him, or has been created by him, it is his duty, and intereft, to remedy it as foon as pofiible. For, if his farms be fmall, he will have many more offers, becaufe fmaller capitals will be required to flock them j but, if his farms be large, the number of good tenants, poffeffed of money enough to flock them, will be very few, comparatively fpeaking and thefe few will have it more in their power, to effect combinations, and keep down the real value of land, which is often the cafe in many parts of England. Upon thefe accounts, not to mention others, the calculation feems totally erro- neous, which fuppofes the balance of in- tereft to the landlord, to be in favour of large farms. And motives of a different kind are not wanting to jdifcountenance their extenfion, Thofe who contribute towards the de- * * ftruction [ *92 ] fh-u&ion of fmall farms, can have vcrf little reflection. If they have, their feel* ings are not to be envied. Where this has been the practice, we fee a vaft number of families reduced to poverty, and mifery, the poor rates much increafed, the fmall articles of provifion greatly diminifhed in quantity, and number, and confequently augmented in price. A poor widow, left with a young fa- mily, will ftruggle very hard to keep her children from the parifh, when me is in poffeffion of a fmall farm, or a dairy, and will teach them the way to be induftrioug betimes j but if fhe be deprived of the means of fupport, her fpirits are broken, and fhe and her children link at once into poverty, and become burthenfome to themfelves, and the public. This is too commonly the cafe ; for as foon as the little fchools of induftry are grafped, into the hands of an over-grown, rapacious farmer, the former occupiers are, at once, all reduced to the flate of day-labourers; and t Hi ] and when their health, or flrength fails, there is but one refoUrce ; they, and their children, are thrown upon the parifh. This has undoubtedly fwelled the rates, to their prefent enormous height, more than any caufe whatever. The mechanic, and manufacturer, next feel the blow. The market wears a dif- ferent face. The vaft number of poultry, the quantity of pork, and a Variety of other fmall articles of provision, are no longer fupplied in their former abundance. The great farmer raifes no more of thefe, than are neceifary for his own confump- tion ; becaufe his wife, and children, will not take the trouble, and care of them, or cbndefcend to attend the market, like the wives, and children, of little farmers. His views are formed upon a large fcale, and every thing flows from him in a wholefale channel. And as no man can execute any very extenfive bufinefs, fo well as that Which lies in a more contracted fpace, he muft, when he has a great deal upon his O hands. [ 194 ] hands, negled many fmall obje&s, partly for want of time, and partly becaufe they appear trivial in their nature : and many trifles added together, make a large defi- ciency upon the whole* The cafe is different upon the fmall farm. Here the tenant's great dependance refts upon trifles merely ; and therefore it behoves him to make the moft of every thing. As he has no great fpace to fu- perintend, it lies under his eye at all times, and feafons ; he feizes all minute advan- tages ; cultivates every obfcure corner j generally accumulates more manure in pro- portion to his land; and confidering his animal as well as vegetable produce, has like wife in that a greater proportion. He does great part of his work with his own hands ; and every man works more chearfully, zealoufly, and diligently for himfelf, than for another. His wife and children are like wife of great fervice to him, efpeciaHy if his gains depend much upon a dairy. And, in general, the children t 195 i children of* thefe little farmers prove the moft ufeful people the country produces. The girls make the beft dairy-maids ; the boys the beft gentlemen's bailiffs ; the beft head-men in larger farms $ the beft perfons to fuperintend, and manage cattle ; and, in a word, the moft regular fervants, in moft capacities. Having faid thus much of large and fmall farms, I mall venture to defcribe the fizes, which I think would be moft conducive to public, and private, benefit. And in doing this, I wifh to^void an ex- treme ; for though a reduction be effenti- ally necelfary, it ought not to be made upon too low a fcale ; becaufe I am con- vinced, that the nature of our foil will not admit of that univerfal plan, of farms fo low as twenty, and thirty, acres, which fubfifts in Flanders. For though it be our intereft to imitate them, I wifh not to copy them exactly. It is undoubtedly proper, and beneficial to a country, that farms fhould vary in their fize, as much O 2 as [ 196 ] as poffible ; but; in my opinion, which I deliver with deference, the higher!: ought not to exceed a hundred and fixty pounds a year. But though there mould be fomc of thefe, to promote emulation, to reward particularly-induftrious men, and to em- ploy a middling capital ; yet their number mould be inconfiderable, in proportion to the number of fmaller ones. As I have mentioned an hundred and fixty pounds as the yearly value of the higheft farms, I think it right that none mould be under thirty pounds ; and that from thirty to fourfcore, the number ought to be much greater, than of the larger! fort; to en- able induftrious fervants, who have laved their wages, or whofe good conduct en- titles them to credit, to eftablifh them- felves, oftener than they do, in bufinefs j and likewife to afford fettlements, for the children of greater farmers to begin the world with. Farms, varied in their fize, between thefe lines, would have an ex- cellent efFecT:, as they would affift, and tally [ 197 ] tally with each other, more than they now do; for they would have, almoil: every one, fomewhat of a different object jn view. Many of the fmalleft farms would breed cattle to more advantage, than they could fat them ; and others would fat them with more convenience, than they could breed them. Upon an eftate of one thoufand pounds a year, I wifh to fee fomething like the following proportion : One farm of 160/, one of 120/. one of ico/. two of 80/, two of 60/. two of 50/. three of 40/. and four of 30/. each, Here would be fixteen farms, upon a thoufand pounds a year, which would be a profitable divifion to an owner, and to the public. But, inftead of this, the generality of eftates of 1000/. a year ? do not fupport a third part of fixteen families. And I will venture to aflert, that the poor rates will be much higher in the latter, than in the former mode of allotment ; becaufe a great many families, which would get a decent live- O 3 lihood t 198 ] lihood upon the farms of 30/. 40/. and 50 /. a year, come to the parifh, as I have before obferved, when they are deprived, of this method of fupporting themfelves. If large eftates were divided, in a man- ner fomewhat fimilar to the preceding plan, it would be a means of crufhing another real grievance, which at prefent fubiifts, viz, the exorbitant price put upon land, by the owners of fmall eftates, A great farmer often lets a fmall bargain, which he has picked up, in the fame parifh where he rents a large eftate him- felf, at the proportion of one third more than what he gives his own landlord. If thefe little places were in greater plenty, and let by gentlemen of fortune at only fifteen, or even twenty per cent, more than their large farms, the more inconfi- derable owners of eftates would not be able to obtain their prefent exorbitant terms j but, while thofe places are fo few in number, people who are in abfolute want of them, muft give whatever is afked x for [ i99 ] for them ; and the rent is often fo high, that induftry itfelf cannot get a livelihood upon them. The better regulation of this important concern, affords an extenfive field, in which gentlemen of fortune may laudably exercife their talents, of every kind ; and,- upon refledion, they muft be convinced, that it is the number of ufeful inhabitants, that ftamps a high value on land, which has no intrinfjc value in itfelf ; and that when thefe inhabitants decreafe, the land muft proportionably fink in value. Their intereft therefore is infeparably connected with the comfort, and profperity, of the people, where their eftates are fituate; and when they lend an hand to the de- population of a country, they fink, at the fame time, the value of their ovyn pro- perty. There are, however, two very material points to be attended to, by every perfon, whofe humanity, and liberal mind may O 4 induce [ 200 ] induce him to adopt this plan, for the re- gulation of his property. The one is, to make choice of induf- tricus tenants; fuch as have been bred up in farm-houfes, or country-bufinefs from their infancy- whofe hands have been accuftomed to labour. There are always enough of thefe to be founc[. But great care muft be taken, not to accept of idle fellows, who have been bred to little trades. Such people are very de- fircus of getting into fmall farms, and wanting the judgment, and induftry which the others have, generally ruin them- felves, and bring thefe little places into difrepute. The other point is, to contract old buildings, in proportion to the fize of the farm ; and when new erections are made, to build upon a fmall, fuitable fcale •> for too much building augments the expence of repairs confiderably, and does the tenant no reaj kindnefs. I mall [ 2QI ] I mall quit this fubjecT:, with an anxious wifh, that the deftructive practice of en- groffing farms, may be carried no farther ; and as the ftab already given to plenty, and population, has greatly afFedted the profperity of this country, I hope fome reparation will be made for the injury fuf? tained. r THt [ 202 ] THE GREAT BENEFIT OF CHURCH AND COLLEGE TENURES TO POPULATION ANP SOCIETY. TFT* STATES held under ecclefiafllcal Jt j lords, collegiate, and corporate bo- dies, are at this time one of the greater!: fupports this country has for its popula- tion. Notwithftanding little farms are engroiTed, and cottages demolifhed upon other eftates, theirs, from the nature of the tenure, frill remain nearly the fame ; and continue to yield their proportion of that advantage^ which this country formerly derived from fmaller farms than now fubfift. Upon manors where any of the before- mentioned bodies prefide, a life no fooner drops, in an eflate held under them, than they are ready to fill up the vacancy, in favour of the heirs of its former poffeffor ; for [ 203 ] for having only a life-intereft in it, or per- ha OS not fo much, as preferment often, removes them, they are glad to feize all immediate benefits which accrue, and never look forward, like a lay-lord, to the future advantage which his family may acquire, by waiting for the reverfion after the exifting lives. For thefe reafons, upon manors of this fort, population muft, and does wear a better face, than in other ftiftricts. When a man is a copyhold, or a life- leafehoid tenant, it gives a ftronger fpur to his induftry, than when he is tenant at will, or on a fhort term of years, to the fame quantity of land. He will be en- couraged to undertake improvements, and will obtain a much greater produce. He will ajfo be better enabled to marry, and much encouraged to do it - y becaufe he has the means to fupport a family, and to make fome proviilon for them, in cafe any accident fhould happen to him- felf. When [ 204 ] When young women are left with little eftates of this fort, they are the better cnabled to provide themfelvcs fuitable hulbands. Thefe eftates, preferving their original form more than any other, and being, in. general, of a fmall fize, produce more, poultry, pigs, and dairy -articles, than larger eftates ; and are much more beneficial to the community. Many gentlemen of land- ed property are fo fond of freehold, that they affect to defpife every other tenure ; and I have heard fome lament, that there was fuch a thing exifting as copyhold, or leafehold. Such perfons are generally the greateft advocates for large farms : but if thefe were to prevail univerfally, we mould foon feel the dreadful confequence; for then every fource of plenty would be checked, and population receive an irre- coverable blow. Since little farms have been {wallowed up in greater, there are thoufands of pa- rimes which do not fupport fo many cows as [ 20 5 1 as they did, by fifty or fixty in a parilh ; and the inhabitants have decreafed in pro- portion. If church and college -tenures were fet afide, this devaftation would Ipread the wider. Thefe tenures, and all copyholds under lay-lords which are not liable to revert, have another advantage. They are pur- chafed at a fmaller price, compared with freehold, which makes it eafier for a man of a fmall capital, to procure an inheri- tance ; and as the title is always clear, this is another great recommendation of them. The good effects I have enumerated, which flow from copyhold, and leafehold tenures, mew the benefits refulting from fmall farms, in a very itrong light ; and thofe who peril ft in the ruinous practice of throwing too much land into one man's hands, are blind to their own interefl, and deaf to the cries of humanity. REFLEC- I 206 i REFLECTIONS ON THE GREAT IMPORT TANCE OF COTTAGES. i| S STATES being of no value with* JL. 4 out hands to cultivate them, the labourer is one of the moil valuable mem- bers of fociety : without him, the richeft foil is not worth owning; his iituation then mould be conndered, and made at kail comfortable, if it were merely out of good policy. There is certainly no objecl: fo highly defeating the country gentle- man's attention; his intereft, and his duty equally prompt him to do all he can, to place him upon a better footing than he is at prefent. The firfl point to be taken under con- sideration is, the ftate of the cottages, which thele ufeful people inhabit; and next, how far their condition can be im* proved, by better regulation. The t 207 ] The (hattered hovels which half the poor of this kingdom are obliged to put up with, is truly affe&ing to a heart fraught with humanity* Thofe who condefcend to vifit thefe miferable tenements, can teftify, that neither health nor decency can be preferred in them. The weather frequently penetrates all parts of them: which mull occafion illnefs of various kinds, particularly agues ; which more frequently vifit the children of cottagers than any others, and early make their conftitutions. And it is (hocking, that a man, his wife, and half a dozen children mould be obliged to lie all in one room together 5 and more fo, that the wife mould have no more private place to be brought to bed in. This defcription is not exaggerated, offenfive as it may appear. We are all careful of our horfes, nay of our dogs, which are lefs valuable animals : we bellow confiderable attention upon our ftables and kennels ; but we are apt to look upon cottages as incumbrances, and clogs [ 2 °8 ] dogs to our property ; when, in fad/ thofe who occupy them are the very nerves and finews of agriculture. Nay, I will be bold to aver, that more real advantages flow from cottages, than from any other fource ; for, befides their great utility to landed property, they are the greatefr, fup-> port to the ftate, as being the moll: prolific cradles of population. Cottagers are indifputably the moft be- neficial race of people we have : they are bred up in greater fimplicityj live more primitive lives, more free from vice and debauchery, than any other fet of men of the lower elafs ; and are beft formed, and enabled to fuftain the hardships of war, and other laborious fer vices. Great towns are deftrudive both to morals, and healthy and the greater!: drains we have ; for where many of the lower fort of people crowd together, as in London, Norwich, Binning-* ham, and other manufacturing towns, they are obliged to put up with bad accommo- dation, and an unwholefome, confined air, which [ 209 ] which breeds contagious diftempers, debi- litates their bodies, and fhortens their lives. Since therefore it is apparent, that all fuch towns muft caufe a diminution, or wafte of people, we cannot be at a lofs to trace the fpring, which feeds thefe channels. The country muft be the place ; and cot- tages, and fmall farms, the chief nurferies which fupport population. I am far from wifhing to fee the cottage improved, or augmented fo as to make it fine, or expenfive ; no matter how plain it is, provided it be tight and convenient. All that is requifite, is a warm, comfort- able, plain room, for the poor inhabitants to eat their morfel in ; an oven to bake their bread a little receptacle for their fmall beer, and pro virion ; and two whole - fome lodging apartments, one for the man and his wife, and another for his children. It would perhaps be more decent, if the boys and girls could be feparated ; but this would make the building too expenfive, and befides, is not fo materially neeeffary ; P for [ 2lO ] for the boy$ find employment in farm- houfes at an early age. For the better/ explanation of what I mean, I fubjoin plans, elevations, and eftimates of two forts of cottages ; and as elm, and oak- pollards are of little value in many coun- tries, and may often be converted into fcantlings, fuitable to, at leaft, half the purpofes of fmall buildings of this fize, I have likewife mewed the difference in the expence, between erecting them with brick, and wood : confidering pollard- timber at fix pence a foot, and deal (of which the greater quantity will be re- quired) at fifteen pence, which are fair prices for them in molt counties. Thefe eftimates which I exhibit, will, of courfe, vary a little in every neighbourhood ; but as it cannot be any thing confiderable, I fhall calculate upon them as at a medium price. The fmalleft of thefe cottages, built of brick and covered with tile, amounts to fixty-fix pounds ; the other, of the fame fize in wood, covered with tile x likewife, [ 211 ] iikewife, to fifty-eight pounds. As the buildings will be quite new, built of good materials, and likely to lafl a great many years, and the eftate where they are built, will be very confiderably benefited, by having good labourers planted upon it; the landlord ought to be fatisfied with four per cent, intereft for his money; which will be, 2 /. 1 2 J". gd, rent for the brick cottage, and 2/. 6 s. $d. for the wooden cottage, To each of thefe comfortable habitations, mould be added half an acre of land, at the fame rate which the far- mers give; we will fuppofe this to be eighteen /hillings an acre. This wou!4 bring the whole rent to 3/. is. yd. for the former, and zl. i$s. $d, for the latter cottage. This quantity of land would be of great ufe to a poor family, in the pro- duce of a little fruit, and vegetables of different forts , and would affile, them Iikewife in keeping a pig ; as they might, find would raife more potatoes, and carrots, P 2 upon [ 212 ] upon fuch a fpot, than would be fufEcient for their own confumption. The larger fort of cottage, which may fometimes be preferred, will coft, when built of brick and tiles, 70/. and when with wood, 66/. ioj. Thefe might be appropriated to the ufe of labourers of the moft induftrious difpofition. And as it would have an excellent effect, to make fome gradation among cottages, as well as farms - y it would be highly proper, and ufeful, to lay (befides the half acre of garden-ground) a fmall portion of pafture- land, of about three acres, to each of thefe laft cottages, to enable the occupiers of them to fupport a cow ; which would be a real comfort to their families, as milk is the natural food of children. If we, value thefe three acres and an half of land at a guinea an acre, upon an average, and add it to the rent of the houfe, it will bring the rent of the former to 61. gs. 6d. and the rent of the latter to 61. 6 s. gd. The valus Value of the cow, if her produce were even fent to market, would at leaft amount to four pounds ; but being ufed in the fa- mily, would, with the affiftance of the garden, enable them to keep a fow, or two ftore-pigs, which would, at leaft, double the market-price. As one acre or more of this ground might be mowed every year, for hay, the cow might be kept in good order with this quantity; and it would be better Worth a cottager's while, to give this rent for fuch a lot of land, than to truft to the precarious advantaee of a common, which always ftarves his cow in the winter. If it mould be alledg- ed, that there is not one cottager out of twenty who can afford to buy a cow ; this difficulty may be eafily obviated, by the landlord's letting him a cow, as well as the land, in the manner that dairies are gene- rally let. This would be dealing with the poor as we would wifh to be dealt with ourfelves, in a fimilar fituation : but inftead of this, P 3 cottagers [ 2I 4 ] cottagers are chiefly left by gentlemen to the farmer's difpofal ; and when they are accommodated with a fmall quantity of land, are obliged to pay, at leaft, a double proportion of rent for it, to what the farmers pay themfelves. Warm cottages, of this fort, would re- quire much lefs fuel, than thofe in the prefent flyle, which is a very considerable article to a cottager. The next confideration is, to ehoofe & convenient fituation for cottages. Great farmers are very unwilling to admit them clofe to their farms ; and nothing is more common, than for a poor labourer to be obliged to come a mile, and fometimes- more, to his labour, and return home again at night, in all kinds of weather, after he has done a hard day's work. Cottages mould therefore be erected, if poffible, on fome meltered fpot, near the farm where the labour lies; and true policy points out, that every farm ought to have a fuffi- cient number of fuch ufeful appendages, in t 2I 5 ] in proportion to its fize. Such cottages, lander fome fuch regulations as thefe, would be of great ufe and ornament to a fcountry, and a real credit to every gentle- man's refidence 5 as, on the contrary, no- thing can reflect greater difgrace upon him, than a mattered, miferable hovel at his gate, unfit for human creatures to in- habit. Upon encouragement like this, good tenants Would never be wanting. Induftry would meet with a reward, the poor rates would neceflarily be lightened, and population increafed* A farm thus provided, with fuch a fufficient number of labourers as might, at all times, and fea- fons, be depended upon, would be of more value on that account. The tenant of fuch farm would not be fubject, to pay exorbitant wages, as he otherwife rauft, on particular occasions. He would not be obliged to court the vagrant, or to lend him a precarious affiftance, to have re- courfe to towns, to pick up diibrderly people* In fummer, befides the ufual P 4 bufinefs r ] bufinefs of hay-making, he might employ even the women, and children, in weeding, and other ufeful bufinefs. Almoft every parifh is, in a great mea- fure, fubject to fome particular gentleman, who has fufficient power and influence over it, to correct the prefent grievance, and to fet a better example. Such gentle- men mould confider themfelves as guar- dians of the poor, and attend to their ac- commodation, and happinefs : it is their particular bufinefs, becaufe they, and their families, have a lafting mtereft in the prof- perity of the parifh the farmers only a temporary one. If a gentleman's fortune be fo large, that he cannot attend to ob- jects of this fort, he mould, at leafl re- commend the cottagers to the attention ^of his agent ; and give him ftrict inftructions, to aft as their friend, and protector ; for unlefs fome fuch check be put upon great farmers, they are very apt to contribute to the demolition, inflead of the protection of cottages; and when the neft is de- flroyed, [ 217 ] ftroyted, the bird muft emigrate into Comd other parifh. A cottager, in this cafe, has no other choice, unlefs it be to make ap- plication to the neighbouring juftice of the peace, for his order to the parifti- officers to find him fome other place, to lay his head in. If it were not for this excellent law, which obliges parifh-officers to find habitations for their poor, I am forry to remark, that in many parifhes, they would be literally driven into the oper* fields. There is another plan relative to cot- tages, which generally anfwers extremely Well, and that is, to leafe them off to in- duftrious labourers, for the term of three lives, at their nomination ; taking a very moderate fine, not exceeding ten or twelve pounds, upon a cottage worth about forty millings a year; referring a fmall quit- rent, not exceeding half-a-crown a year, and making it a point to renew any life which drops off, upon one year's value only. This fcheme is beneficial for land- lord r 218 j lord and tenant; for though the formed does not let his cottages for fo much as he might at rack-rent, yet what he does get, is all clear money ; and by this means he preferves the value of all other parts of his eftate, by keeping up a proper number of inhabitants. The latter finds his account in it, becaufe he makes a fettlement for his family j and can repair, and improve his cottage at leifure hours with his own hands ; and if he be an induftrious man, he can generally find a friend to lend him his firft fine, on fuch an occafion, if he cannot raife it himfelf. Sir Charles Cocks has lately put all his cottages upon this footing, on his eftates, under my care, in Gloucefierfhire, and WorcejlerjJoire ; and as he was chiefly influenced by a hnmane difpofition, to make the poor, in his fe- veral diftricts, as comfortable, in their re- fpe&ive fituations, as pofiible, the object of fines was made fo eafy to them, as to be exemplary. I mall fuggeft a few hints to the builder* and [ 219 1 ind conclude this fubjed with the plans* elevations, and eftimates before alluded to. Firft, I recommend that the cottages mould be built double ; becaufe it will be a confiderable faving in the expence of their erection. Where pollards are plenty, and bricks fcarce, it will fometimes be proper to pre- fer the wooden-lath and rough-can: cot- tages, becaufe half the quantity of timber may be pollards j but, where they are built with brick, the following particulars mould be attended to. . The walls mould be fourteen inches thick to the bottom of the chamber-floor, except in the window -fpaces, and the upper part of the walls nine inches. In thefe brick buildings no framed timber mould be ufed ; but the lintel of the win- dows is to be laid the whole length of the * building, nine inches fcantling by two and a half ; and then the fame piece will ferve to lay joifts upon, which mould be pinned with [ 220 J With oaken pegs, which will prove a great tie to the Walls. The joifts mould be cut,- eight inches by two and an half, and laid edge-ways. The length of the fpaf to be ten feet, being a proper pitch for tiling* and to be cut two inches and a half thick, five at bottom, and three and a half at the top. The lower rooms to be feven feet high, in the clear, under the joifts. In the largeft-fized brick -cottages, the roof to be hipped in at the ends, which Will fave the two peaks of brick- work, and will not re- quire more tiling, than would be made ufe of without it. One great advantage de- rived from hipping, is, in the building's being better braced together, and more fecure from the eftecl: of tempefts ; for where the gable-ends are carried up in peaks, to any considerable height, Without chimnies to ftrengthen them, they are not fo well fitted to refill an end-wind. The ceiling mould be between the joifts,' nailing firft: a few laths at about a foot apart, crofs - ways, and the other laths length-* [ 221 ] length - ways over them ; otherwife the mortar has nothing to get hold of. This makes lefs expence than ceiling over the joifts, and is befides better calculated to retain the mortar, and will afford more fpace ; for the joifts being left naked, will be very ufeful to hang many things to. The ceiling joifts, upon the top of the chamber, need be only five inches by one and a quarter, and may be nailed to the fpars-feet, and not pinned. The other fcantlings are as follow. The partition ftuds, three inches by two. The lower cills, fix inches by five. The window- frames, three inches by three. Lower door-cafes five inches by four. Crofs mantle - pieces, for the chimnies, eight inches by eight. In the wooden cottages, the frame-ftuds are to be fix inches by five. The interme- diate, or fmaller, ftuds five inches by three. The girt-pieces, fix inches by five, and the ppper cill, five inches fquare. An [ 222 ] "8 U PQ o o CO r— < g « O tJ Q O oo O M >0 r> O O 1> if CO 0 [ 223 ] D o © © vO o O M o CO vO !>• o oo $ o o o O O •a O O vO o o o o -<)■ h ^ « «n M (p| I 1 ! i I I i 1 i 2 ^ 00 § CS 4) O -a 4-1 l> Z t C/5 - n . 03 t/> o •So ^ o a- ~0 I O i- S o o o **- o 1 5 OJ ri o oo 1 1 1 1 1 1 a. | C3 C .g tin fcm 3 ■sr c c c or 'J o o -qj b o i .s a. ^3 -t-> C3 O -o a ,3 x 2 r.O CO h H w O I u 0 6 a t 2 H ] M 0 ' 0 o o 0 o o o oo Mm o >-< S ttiJdj, /n t/iAie Cottage*. a/r& ru/y^ quite M/vfo /Ac' T/a&,it [ 2*5 J •jaA o I CO o •5 O *a «-> • >-» • "-i CO w ^ si 3 O o o <3 H CO W o bJO C4 -*— ■ 4-1 o s o p o vO Q o o o Q Q o CO CO rj- 00 o o .;• as _ ^2 al O W .Q, "CJ O O «1 2 9 3 O a o 'a c« is as as 1 O T3 G a. .5 .2 A* C/3 «J§ 1-4 o Si .S o 03 O ^ s> > i— . i — i 4-> H h w VO vO "2 2 3 •a [ 226 ] c o o o o o o o o o o o o o S0 cs w o CO M CO so M o 00 M c o o M o o o o « o ON o o «* cs I I I i I I I I I I I r I I to o PQ / -G c o O °3 \0 5 o 4- C o "EL o '5 o cu o G *G ""3 no n3 O O fa fa G nj qj C3 ^ rt ■ — o o *o "O (J -H w h- fa 4-« -X O Cu Cu I flj bO C as O "w C (A fa h 4J C/J 2 o i-i r- -• CU vO lab <2 o ' g P _C o ^ CO W CD >' § c a ON o -a as o *S to c!) G e '5 x j3 o CO fa 4* fcfi G > o o g G G ^ G Ofl o o S3 £ £ -a fa fa ^4 o o > o G o Cu e [ 229 ] S oo • o OOOOnOOvOvOnOOOOOO ON CO oo O vb to M N O N t)- M oo oo M oo I I I I I I I I II I I .3 to 3 o s OJ 3 - S3 C4 ON ■NO 1 J-. vO pe .3 o - 3 .a- o oo Oh - ^5 „ !? « -o w _. » s * I bo .ti C ,3 O o o M © h 4-> l-t QJ C3 £ •« -3 c: * ° 3. t - 3 Pi & 3: a> .3 I bo a .fa 1 a. w 3 o O O "3 ~ 4> u, . 6 J o on .3 to O ri O 0/ 4> °* ,> *o O "o £ £ £ £-i i ! ©N s c ■a. >-> o CL3 [ 239 ^ 00 o o o o O o o p o N M d 00 o o H ^* M M O ct o 9 o T3 § 3 • O a 1 I ! Mill 1 I vO v^ 2 a '3 O J? O •£ « JLJ O *o S2 ^ .S -S o JS CO O o 3 ^3 'o J2 o o si o a a > rS O <0 12 a u 3 ? ?i o > H H 3 fcJ3 S i « o C s to o ta -a 6 i O O f o o ! o fc-Q iJ o CJ o « c •2 < An i Back of Foldout Not Imaged * p aye> 'JJe T/atu oflrwBru/xrd Cottagej, oft/it tatfp&rt; Stze t ?irit/vH/fifwd-- -Encij- Crrotvud, Floor. J Back of Foldout Not Imaged page 'J3i . C/uvml/c/r 13 p . 13 (nf 10 . 13 ln/±o 13 t'yg . 6 //if 6. Cellar. 6 Inf&i 23 /Otf 13 ■ CeMw 6 Itf 6 % Back of Foldout Not Imaged Back of Foldout Not Imaged t 2 3 l 1 i «-» CO o S3. o 43 43 C3 On W > ■M H CO o o NO o *» O o CO CO •si ro M ON **. 1 |M I ! vo p o o c 00 t(- x ^ <|. Ifl M « O I 1 I 1 1 o -o T3 T3 Q^4 t 234 1 tECTJONS ON THE DISTRESS Op THE POOR, AND THE INCREASE 0¥ THE RATES FOR THEIR ASSIST- ANCE. U CT'HOU jtfw// >z and occupiers, of land would confent, to raife the price of labour, in proportion to the increafe of their profits, a great part of the diftrefs among the poor would be removed. At prefent they can- not live by their labour y — let us examine their condition. We will firft fuppofe' that the rent of the cottage is paid, by the extra-earnings ' of the family^ in time of harveft 5 and then we may allow fourteen pence a day, as a medium of wages for the man* which is nearly the prefent rate of wages, taking One place with another. The wife we will fuppofe to earn three pence a day, befides attending upon her children. This will be eight (hillings and fix pence a week between them. If they happen to have five fmall children, which is no uncommon number, how are they to fupport themfelves ? If we allow the man [ 2 37 1 man a pound and an half of bread every day, and the wife and children three quarters of a pound, one with another, which is about the quantity they will re- quire, this will be forty-two poijnds a week and the price of it cannot be efti-* mated, at lefs than three halfpence a pound, This brings the article of bread alone to five millings and three pence a week - 3 and there remains only three fhillings and three pence, for all the other necefTaries of life, which muft be greatly infufficjent, While the prefent high price of provifions continues, it is impoffible that fuch a fa, mily can eat any thing except bread, which is a very cruel cafe upon a poor man, whofe whole life is devoted to hard labour, On the contrary, were he allowed eighteen pence a day, which would be nearly the fame proportion as the increafe in the va- lue of land, and price of provisions, their income would be together ten millings and fix pence a week ; which, under pro-, per management, would enable them to cloath [ 2 3 8 ] dfoath themfelves decently, and add about eight or ten pounds of coarfe meat to their bread, which they are furely entitled to by the laws of nature, and the ties of hu- manity. There is ftill another caufe, which greatly heightens this dhlrefs, and that is the difadvantage thefe poor objects labour under, in carrying their dear-earned penny to market. Formerly they could buy milk ? butter, and many "other fmall articles in every parifh, in whatever quantity they are wanted. But fince fmall farms have decreafed in number, no fuch articles are to be had ; for the great farmers have no idea of retailing fuch fmall commodities, and thofe'who do retail them, carry them all to towns. A farmer is even unwilling to fell the labourer who works for him a bufhel of wheat, which he might get ground for three or four pence a bufhel. For want of this advantage he is driven to the meal-man, or baker, who in the ordi- nary courfe of their profit, get at leaft ten per [ 239 ] per cent, of them, upon this principal ar* tide of their confumption; which they might fave, if their employers would fup-» ply them with corn, at the common market-price. In fhort they labour under every difcouragement. For the very per^ fons who have, the advantage of their la^ bour, and whofe duty it is to make their, fituation comfortable, are often their greaN eft opprerTors j and as the principal far* mers of every parifb are generally the overfeers of the poor, their complaints are frequently made to a deaf ear. It will doubtlefs be afked, how fhall we, obviate all thefe evils, and where is the re- medy for them ? To thefe queftions every one has a different anfwer, according tq the difference of his ideas. My anfwer is, Let gentlemen of fortune take upon them the fuperintendance, and regulation, of country-bufinefs more than they do. Let them act as guardians to the poor, by eon<* fidering their eftates as in good, or ba4 condition, only in proportion to the com^ I fortable. [ 240 ] fortable, or miferable condition of the la- bourers who cultivate them. Let them reduce the fize of their farms, in order to increafe the fmaller articles of provifions, and to throw them into more channels. Let them increafe the price of labour, in proportion to the rife upon land, and the price of provifions. By fuch encourage- ment, the induftrious poor will find a com- fortable fupport, I fay the induftrious ; becaufe I do not know any fcheme, or any law that can alter the difpofition, and force people to be induftrious, whether they will or no. And from hence, I conceive, it has, in part, happened, that much wifer heads than mine have been puzzled, how to make any effectual amendment to our Poor-Laws. The late Earl of Hardwkke> and Sir Richard Lloyd, it is well known, had this point long under confjderation ; and the remit was, that with all their large experience, and confeffed abilities, they Were obliged to leave the matter juft as they found it. The loud cries of the poor have [ 241 ] have now afrefli excited the attention of the legiflature. Houfes of induftry, as they are called, feem now to be the fa« vourite object ; and they have lately been recommended with a fpirit of ingenuity, and humanity, that will ever do honour to the able author of " Obfervations on the " Poor-Laws, &c." *. I wifh fuccefs to every fcheme that tends to fpread general happinefs ; and if houfes of induftry mould be adopted by Parliament, may no unto- ward accident prevent the good defign of the projectors ! May the diligence and zeal of future overfeers ever keep an even pace ; and a good intention not fail, as it has fometimes done, with the novelty of it ! In the mean while, as fuch a capital change rauft be the work of time, let it be endeavoured, to make the poor, as com- fortable as may be, in their own parifhes. From the general demolition that has hap- pened, other houfes will be wanting for * Written by the Reverend R. Potter. & their [ *4* ] their accommodation, betides houfes of in- duftry and the poor are not lefs attached to domeflic endearments than the rich. Let mine* or any ether plan be adopted for this purpofe. It matters not who is the proje&or, provided the induftrious man receive due encouragement, to continue his labour. But I am perfuaded that every gentleman will find his account, in pur- fuing the humane, and juft, meafures, I have ventured to recommend. His efhate, by being fo materially eafed in the article of the poor's tax, will not pay him a far- thing lefs than it does at prefent ; and he will be honoured, and diftinguifhed in his neighbourhood, by the nobleft appellation, fuperior to all titles, that of being the poor man's friend. SUPPLE- HEAPS, Declaration. Agriculture, Commons. Common Fields. Proportionate Value of Property. Important ^uejlion of Leq/es. The Duty of a Country Gentleman* A Word to the Wife* DECLARA- t *45 ] DECLARATION. THE handfome manner, in wnich the two editions of my former pub- lication have been received by the Public* and the benefits which I truft have in many inflances been derived from my fuggeftions, have been felt by me, with the higheft fatisfaction and gratitude; And having had feventeen years fubfequent ex- perience, in the moft extenfive manage- ment and improvement of eftates, I am, from thefe confiderations, induced to offer a few additional obfervations, which have ftruck me fince my firfl publication. Though I will frankly allow, that like other profeffional men, I have had my pe- R 3 cuniary [ *46 ] cuniary reward, for the fervices I have rendered my refpective friends ; yet I can arlert, with the utmoft regard to truth, that in eftimating the value of eftates, between landlord and tenant, I have always con- fidered rnyfelf as the common friend of both; and endeavoured to act the part of an honeft evidence between them: and where I have entertained doubt, I have never failed to let the fcale preponderate in favour of the latter. In addition to this, it has been my great aim, to qualify gentlemen of landed property, to be judges of the value of their own eftates and by exciting in them an attention to rural concerns, to learn them to diftinguifh the real wants of the oppreffed, from the un- reafonable demands of the idle and pro- fligate > and to act as guardians to the lower claries of mankind, whofe comfort it is greatly in their power to augment, without [ 247 ] Without any injury to themfelves. I mall pcrfevere in my former plan ; and where I fee prejudices, which operate againft the good of fociety, mall endeavour to remove them. R 4 AGRICUL [ *4» J AGRICULTURE, TT7HICH I formerly remarked, had * V been very little attended to as a fcience ; has however of late years been much more the object pf men of fortune than formerly; and has received great encouragement from different focieties, as well as individuals, who have given the moil liberal affiftance to it, by premiums and honorary commendation, to thofe, who have rendered themfelves ufeful in its promotion; and thefe proceedings have been followed with the moft bene- ficial confequences, to trade and com- merce, the great branches of national profperity. The Society of Arts, Manu- factures, and Commerce, of which I have now t 249 ] now the honour to be a member, has Ihewn the moft laudable zeal for its pro- fperity ; and I am perfuaded, the public will derive great advantage, from their tak- ing it up on a more extenfive field, than any other fimilar fociety has been able to do; the account of every rational experiment, that is communicated to them, being con- fpicuoufly regiftered, and urgently recom- mended, as an example of imitation. A fenfible appropriation of foil to its Tight ufe, and of the moft profitable ftock of cattle to the foil moft fuitable to it, has been lately thought worth the atten- tion of thoufands, who were before fupine and indifferent as to the vaft importance of this confideration. — But there is yet much to do, and nothing mould be neg- lected, which promotes general good ; for agriculture, though improved, is very far from [ 2 5° ] from having reached its zenith in Eng^ land. Moft other improvements carry only local advantages, but improvements in agriculture are difFufive of univerfal goodi and therefore every individual, or fociety of men, who promotes their extenlion, de- ferves the approbation and thanks of man- kind. COMMONS. t 251 1 COMMONS. TN addition to the various remarks, I JL have before made upon thefe large neglected trads of land*, I truft I mall not be thought prolix, if I fay a word or two more. Mr. King, in his calculations of the quantity of wafte land in England and Wales, reckons three millions of acres. Since his time the quantity is confiderably diminiihed ; but there can be no doubt, but there are at this time, full two mil- lions, exclufive of roads and mountains; at lean: two thirds of which, will anfwer cultivation. * See chapter on Wafte Lands, page 90. From f 2 52 ] Prom obfervation and enquiry, I find, that in the moft fertile parts of England, the people employed in agriculture, and the rural trades connected with it, are in about the proportion of one to fix acres ; and if a proportionate number be added for the towns, and people employed in other trades not connected with hufcandry, the number will be perhaps, as one to four acres of land. But, as the more or- dinary parts will not carry fo high a po- pulation, the fafer average may be to fet the fcale generally, as one perfon to five acres ; and as thefe lands do not fupport a third of the number of people which they would do, if they were well cultivated, here is a vifible lofs of an hundred thou- find inhabitants, which this country might fopport more than it does : and the ad- vantages which might be derived from fuch an increafe of population, in a trading country, I mall leave to the pen of the financier to eftimate. And [ 2 53 ] And why mould not the greater part of jhefe rude trafts of land, be cultivated ? Why ihould this rough jewel ftill remain unpolimed ? The arguments for their continuance in their prefent ftate, as 1 have before ob- ferved, are in general grounded on mis- taken principles of humanity; and though often fpecious, cannot be fupported by found reafoning. There are however fome Commons, which from complicated interefts cannot be inclofed ; in which cafe I recommend my readers, to adopt a particular mode for improving them, which was publifhed by me in the Annual Regifter, for the year 1780; by which means, they may be made at leaft, pleafant to the eye, and comfort- able to the foot, and confiderably more produ&iye than they now are. Commo^ I 2 54 ] COMMON FIELDS, IT has long been a fubject of infinite conjecture, how the land of different eftates, became originally, fo fcattered and divided in Common Fields. Many rea- fons are affigned for it : but, waving all ufelefs investigation of this fort, I mail briefly confider the difadvantages, that land of this defcription is at prefent fub- je& to $ and endeavour to {hew the ad- vantages that refult from laying it more together, and inclofing it. Land, when very much divided, is the occafion of great lofs of time to the occu- pier, in going over a great deal of ufelefs fpace, in keeping up a communication with the different pieces. As it lies gene- rally in long narrow flips, it is but feldom * it [ 2 55 3 it can receive any benefit from crofs ploughing and harrowing, therefore it cannot be kept fo clean ; but what is frill worfe, there can be but little variety ob- ferved in the fyftem of cropping ; becaufe the right which every parimioner has of commonage over the field, a great part of the year, prevents the fowing of turnips, clover, or other grafs feeds, and confe- quently cramps a farmer in the flock which he would otherwife keep. On the contrary, when land is inclofed, fo as to admit of fowing turnips and feeds, which have an improving and meliorating tendency - y the fame foil will, in the courfe of a few years, make nearly double the return it did before, to fay nothing of the wonderful improvements, which fome- times refult from a loam or clay, which when well laid down, will fometimes be- come of twice the permanent value in pafture, that it ever would as ploughed ground. r ] ground, Moll ftriking effe&s of this fort, are to be feen in Leicefterfhire and Nor- thamptonshire, and other of the midland counties. This indeed has been urged by fome as an argument againft inclofing, as they would infer, that it leffens the quantity of arable land too much, and tends to make corn dear. But the ex- ceffes of grazing and ploughing, will correct themfeives, If arable land be laid down, there is a great deal of coarfe old pafture land, which may be broken up; the turf of which wants renewing, and this old grafs land, which could not fo well have been fpared before, is of all land that which is bed adapted to the growth of potatoes, hops, hemp, and flax. The markets will ever regulate the due pro- portion of arable and grafs land, better than any fixed plan that can be fug- gefted. If we properly confider the benefits refulting [ 2 5 7 ] refulting to population, from inclofing (though that as well as the benefits which might be derived from commons, has been fuperncially quefUoned) it will ftrike us with aftonimment. Let the population of England be compared with what it was fifty years fince, and I prefumc it will be found increafed nearly a third : if I were afked the caufe, I mould fay, that I believe it is chiefly from, inclofing j and my rea- fons for it are, that in all places where my obfervation has come, it carries full proof. I have feen the effects in many parts of England, but I mail fubjoin one finking inftance. The parifh of Felbrigg in Nor- folk, confifting of 1,300 acres of land, which, till the year 1771, remained time out of mind in the following ftate : 400 acres inclofed, 100 wood land, 400 acres common field, and 400 in common or heath. By authentic regifters at dif- ferent periods, it appeared that the num- ber of fouls had never been known to S exceed [ 253 ] exceed 124, which was the number in 1745 ; in 1777, tne y were on ty 121 : and at this time, they amount to 174. This rapid increafe, I attribute to the recent improvements made in the parifh, by in- clofing the common field land, and by converting mod: of the common into arable land and plantations. The pari ill has no particular connection with any other, and therefore its own increafe of labour, and produce, muil be the caufe of this finking alteration. If then inclofmg be found fo beneficial, every obftruclion to it ought to be re- moved. In the firft place, there ought to be one general ad of parliament formed, under which any parifh that could agree initfelf, mould be able to take fhelter; or even any two or more perfons agreeing upon any exchange of land, or the fepa- ration of a mixed intereft, whereby the inclofing of fuch land was the remit, fhould C 259 J mould, upon payment of fome fmall con- fi deration, receive the fanction of a lhort fummary law to bind their agreement; this would infenfibly lead to a vafh field of improvement. Something of this fort was attempted fome time flnce ; but the gentleman who broughi it forward, was not fufficiently popular to carry the bufinefs through, and perhaps there might have been fomething exceptionable in his plan : it is however to be wifhed, that fome refpectable and well informed perfon in the Houfe of Commons, would confider the magnitude and importance of the object, and bring it forward again. If fuch an attempt be made, upon found and rational principles, I flatter myfelf the prefent adminiftration would not be againft its introduction ; nor, I truft, at a lofs, to find the means of re- moving, one of the principal obftrudtions to the prefent mode of inclofing, namely, S 2 the •4 [ 26o ] the very high fees that' are at prefeftt taken when a Bill is Tolicited, which al- ways operates as a powerful difcourage- meiit to undertakings of this kind, and fome times fets it wholly afide, efpecially as they are double, if another parifh has the fmalleft. mare in the emolument, though the trouble to thofe who pafs the adt, is not perhaps the leaft increafed by it. But this is not all the difcourage- ment, for in the courfe of obtaining a bill, the evidence mult, all go up to town ; firft, to be fwern at the bar of the Houfe of Lords ; afterwards to attend the Judges, who are often fo much engaged, in other bufinefs of great national confequenee, that they are perhaps unable to take the examination for fome time. The expence is therefore confiderably increafed by their continuance in town after this, a Com- mittee of the Lords and Commons mull be attended ; and as thefe attendances are often ati ntcrvals confiderably diftant from each [ z6l ] each other, the evidence muft all this time either be fupported in town at a great expence, or make three or four journies. And as this .fort of evidence is generally given by profemonal men, whofe time is valuable j thefe delays are very inconve- nient, and frequently operate fo powerfully upon the minds of people, that many an inclofure is paffed over, which would otherwife have been effected. And this, in a great meafure, will account for fo many of our commons and common fields hav- ing fo long remained in their prefent ftate. In making thefe remarks, my meaning is not to caft any reflection upon any quarter, but to awaken the attention of the Legiflature to the importance of the fubject, that all poffible encouragement may be given to the enterpize of the in- dividual, for all improvements in agricul- ture, which carry grand weight, and in the end become national objects, mufl be S 3 effected [ 262 ] effected by the individual ; becaufe it mufl be the multitude that cultivate the hidden corners of the earth, and out of a little make a mickle. Any thing which govern- ment could do in a pecuniary way, by encouraging a few perfons in a local fitu- ation, will never operate fo extenfively as the natural exertions of the public ; but it is incumbent on government, to give the individual all the affiftance it can, to remove all vexatious obflructions, and fmooth the road to all honeft undertakings which individuals may wim to bring for- ward. It is likewife prefumed, that it would be found policy in government, as it will ever derive a proportionate advan- tage, from the induftry of the people. J truft therefore, that the legiflature will fee the neceffity of contriving a more fum- mary mode of fancTtioning inclofures in ge- neral, for the good of mankind, as well as its own emolument. REMARKS [ 26 3 ] REMARKS ON THE PkOPORTIONATE VALUE OF REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY. E A L and perfonal property, have A.V ever been purchafed and fold at different rates of intereft, but have alwavs preferved a fort of proportionate fcale. The difference in point . of fecurity will of courfe bias their value fomething ; but there are other caufes to be confidered, which affect them more. The general value of property in a com- mercial country, is principally governed by the great fpring of human induffry. Its particular value by the difference of te- nures, cuftoms, and various other local con- fiderations. The [ 2«4 ] The permanency of landed property, and the command it gives, are ftrong in- ducements to prefer it to every other kind of fecurity - y on which account, we no fooner fee a fortune acquired, than we 'per- ceive the pofTefTor of it anxious to fecure it on this bafis. On the other hand, there are fo many charges, incumbrances, and drawbacks, in- cident to landed eftates, that women in general, and many other perfons, will often prefer government, or even private fecurity to it, efpecially as they get a higher intereft. From thefe confiderations, and the changes which death is continually mak- ing in property, there mult be always a great fluctuation of it in this opulent country: " So much the better," fays the fpirit of law ; which is faid to abhor long poifefTion. But [ *6 5 ] But to come more to the point I have in view : It would undoubtedly be a moft beneficial thing to the public, if the trans- fer of eftates could be made with the fame eafe as a transfer of perfonal pro- perty is made in the funds that is, that a clear, neat, unequivocal return from a landed eftate, mould find a purchafer with lefs difficulty than it does now. This however can never be the cafe in a general way ; as particular fituations, and various other confiderations, will always affect the landed intereft. But there are certain points to be cleared up, and obftructions that may be removed, which would give a great fpring to its fale and circulation. It is a nice point to diftinguifh properly, the proportionate value which one tenure bears to another. But, this is not all that is required, for |he feparating of combined interefts. The afcertainirig [ 266 J afcertaining the value of reverfions after lives in poffeffion, or terms of years, and the proper allowance to be made for ne- ceflary busings, are all connected toge- ther, and attended with difficulty ; in fo- much, that when thefe calculations come before perfons who are not expert at them, they are very puzzling, and frequently done upon loofe, vague principles, and con- fequently with inaccuracy. Nineteen times out of twenty, eftates are bought and fold upon round num- bers. If there is a mixture of inferior te- nure, perhaps too much or too little may be allowed for it. The want of a true criterion creates doubt ; and doubt im- pedes the transfer: any thing therefore that can aid the purpofe of paffing eftates from one perfon to another, with the greater facility, may be properly introduced here. Suppofe [ 26 7 ] Suppofe then that the gradual fcale, by way of an outline, be taken up thus. When the funds Hand pretty fteady at four per cent, the ftandard of mortgages U may be confidered at four and an half. The fee fimple on the neat return of land, 3 ought then to be current at three ; copy- holds of inheritance upon a fine certain, at three and an half; copyholds with a fine at the will of the lord, at four. This general rule is fliort, and may be regiftered in the mind of every man of bufinefs, who is concerned in buying and felling eftates ; and on many occafions, it is prefumed, may be of ufe to him. But where circum- ftances are particularly complicated, it is fometimes neceffary to go into a deeper calculation : in fuch cafes, there are many perfons in London to whom recourfe may be had. And I truft it will not be thought improper to obferve in this place, for the information of my friends, and any other perfons wanting affiftance of this fort, that I have [ 268 ] I have eftablifhed an Office for Landed Property in Craig's Court; where Eftates for purchafe and fale are eftimated, and calculations of every denomination thai- can affecl: them, are made upon terms of moderation j and thofe terms always ftated before the bufinefs is undertaken. THI [ *6 9 ] THE IMPORTANT QUESTION OF LEASES CONSIDERED. THE ancient feudal tenures had, undoubtedly, a ftrong tendency to enflave mankind, by fubjec~ting them to the controul and power of an arbitrary lord i but, like moft other things, there were fome advantages to be found in the fy flem. Every man who held land, had a certainty in it, as the tenant generally held his poffeffion for life. When thefe tenures were difcountenanced by the more liberal fpirit of modern law, fome new compact became neceffary, and terms of years were fubftituted in lieu of the for- mer; for as land properly managed re- quires great expence, and feldom anfwers that expence in one year, it was but rea- fonable, f 2 7° ] fonable, that the man, who applied his judgment, devoted his labour, and ventured his capital, mould have fome reafonable time allowed him to reimburfe himfelf, and derive feme proportionate reward for what he had done. In the courfe of time, this term began to be reduced into a certain number of years ; and as moll of the land was for- merly under the regulation of two crops and a fallow, the time allowed was from three to twenty-one years. And the latter in the end became the moft general limi- tation, and is the moft prevalent term for leafes at this time. That leafes are the firft, the greateft, and moft rational encouragement that can be given to agriculture, admits not in my opinion of a doubt; but of late years, there are very ftrong prejudices entertained againft them. x Let [ 271 ] Let any impartial man take a view of two diftricts, where it is the cuftom to grant leafes, and where it is not : in the former, he will generally find a refpectable yeomanry, and a well cultivated country; in the other, an indigent fpiritlefs race, fol- lowing a contracted lyftem of hufbandry, calculated to anfwer no permanent pur- pofe of advantage to themfelves or land- lords. Yet, there are many gentlemen, who to have fuch people at immediate command, prefer the continuance of a flovenly, unproductive ftile of hu&andry, to neatnefs and fertility. In fome parts of England, the prejudice againft leafes is fo ftrong, that fome land- lords will be tempted almoft as foon to alienate the fee fimple of their eftates, as to grant a tenant a reafonable term in them. It is very unfortunate for a country where this abhorrence of leafes prevails, as it keeps back an immenfe fcene of im- provement, [ 272 ] provement, which otherwife would take place, and robs the induftrious occupier of a deal of comfort which might be be- ftowed upon him ; and this can produce no other confolation to the owner, than that of his having the country more at command, and forcing a certain degree of refpecl: from it ; which is abfurd to the laft degree ; for a landlord may enfure as much real refped from a tenant on leafe, as from a tenant at his immediate will and pleafure, and at the fame time, fecure his property better, and ftipulate for im- provements to the extent of his inclina- tion. In the eaftern counties, where it is more the cuftom to grant leafes, thin in the midland part of England, agriculture is upon the mod refpectable footing; and within half a century, there are many eftates more than doubled in their value ; which, without leafes, where the means of [ 273 ] ©f improvement was heavy, could not have carried a third of the advance that has been put upon them; In fhort, it feems unreafonable to expect a man to employ the whole of his capital, and to devote the beft part of his life, upon an eftate, which, upon the death or mere caprice of his landlord, he is liable to be turned out of, at fix months notice. I do not, however, mean to imply, that leafes ought not in any cafe to be withheld; there are certainly fome exceptions againft the practice, I would wifh to fee eftablifh- ed : For inflance, if lands are fituated very near a gentleman's haufe, part of which it may perhaps be an object, on fome fu- ture occafion, to take into hand, or where a minor is very near coming of age, or where there is any immediate view of fale; in fuch cafes, it would be imprudent to grant leafes. ' But where none of thefe T contin- [ 274 ] contingencies ftand in the way; and where eftates are under an entail, or in a family, that has no idea of parting with them ; leafing is unqueftionably the moft effectual means of railing the value of an eftate ; as it enables the owner to ftipulate for improvements in what way and proportion he pleafes, which he cannot do fo well by any other means. THB [ *75 1 THE DUTY OF A COUNTRY GENTLEMAN. THE duty of a country gentleman may be divided into two parts j public, and private. His public duty confifis principally in his office as magiftrate ; in which {ration he has it in his power to render real fer- vice to his country, in a juft adminiftration of the power the law has entrufted him with. This branch of duty, embraces every thing relative to peace and order, regulations relative to the public roads, and various other particulars ; in which capacity, he is a rncft ufeful member of fociety, when he attends to his great office with fleadinefs and impartiality. His [ S7« ] His private duty is of another kind. In fome inftances it is common with all man- kind, as far as relates to ties of relation- ship. But, as a eountry gentleman, I con- lider him, as an agent moving in a wider field. As the nature of his property creates dependants, whofe happinefs and pro- fperity he has often the power of increas- ing ; and where he can do it without in- jury to himfelf, it clearly becomes a moral duty at leaft, though he is not compelled to do it by law. His firfl object is to guard againft pre- judice and improper bias ; for if he once fuffers that to take pofleffion of his mind, all his decifions between one man and an- other, will create dirTatisfadtion, inflead of reverence and efleem. But if he can efta- blifh a character for impartiality, he may, like an equitable Chancellor, decide an hundred little controverfies between his inferior neighbours and tenants, which will [ 277 ] will often fupercede vexatious appeals to the law. He mould, alfo in fome degree, conlider himfelf a truftee for the public and where it does not affedt his own intereft, he fhould make fuch a difpofition of his pro- perty, that it may difFufe as much good to fociety as poffible. He mould call forth and encourage in- duftry ; and where he exercifes feverity, it mould be directed againft indolence. I do not however mean to imply, that it is incumbent on him to give away his eftate ; but to be ftudious to put it under fuch a courfe of management, that it may tend to ferve others as well as himfelf. It is therefore a mo ft laudable thing, when the lord of a great diftrict adopts princi- ples of this fort, and looks out for proper objects of encouragement. T 3 As [ 2 7 8 ] As a negative good quality, he will do well for his own peace of mind, not to be too tenacious of his game, and where he is obliged to inflict punifhment for its pro- tection, to do it with lenity and mildnefs, which will fecure the object better than great feverity. Farmers are undoubtedly the natural guardians of the game ; and where they are treated by their landlords with confi- dence, they will always protect it much better than a game- keeper. I have taken the liberty to give this laft hint, as highly deferving attention; for when a gentleman lofes himfelf upon this ground, he is confidered as a man who loves power, and he feldom recovers the full confidence of the country, and therefore on that account cannot carry the weight in other meafures which he would otherwife do, which is a great pity, be- caufe [ 279 ] caufe he naturally ftands in a great ftation, as he is one of the ftrongef! links in fo- ciety, between government and the^lower orders of mankind ; and he is a real bleffing to the diftricl: where he lives, when he unites the three great characte- riftics of, a country gentleman, a good neighbour, and a good magiftrate. A WORD [ 280 ] K A WORD TO THE WISE, *' I ^ H E great bugbears to Landed Prq-s X perty, are, Repairs, and Poor Rates. In many parts of England, they a- mount to more than half the value of an eftate. Repairs are in a great meafure governed by cuflom. An occupier of land, is en- titled to necerTary conveniences ; but a landlord not only furTers himfelf to be impofed upon, when he yields to improper indulgences, but fets an example, that in other places operates againft -the good of his neighbour. In fome particular coun- ties, tenants are very unreafonable in their demands of this fort, therefore it behoves their landlords to be very Heady in what they grant and it mould be fo contrived, that [ a8 1 3 that the tenant has fome intereft in the fupport of his buildings, by being made to feel fome proportion of their expence, which will make him the more careful to look after them. The charge for the relief of the Poor is a more ferious matter as it is not only- very heavy at prefent, but an increafing burthen. Many fenfible well-difpofed men, have exercifed their pens upon this fubjecl:, and the legiflature has endeavour- ed in vain to apply a remedy equal to the difeafe. I have not the prefumption to aim at laying down any fixed rules, for the eftablimment of any new, or the amend- ment of any old law, for the better regu- lation of the poor ; but fimply advife the imitation and practice of a few private rules, which I natter myfelf, in many local diftrids, may be attended with advantage to the giver, and comfort to the receiver. There t 282 ] There are two principles, which fhould be kept alive as much as poffible, in the minds of the poor ; pride, and fhame : the former will lead them to the attainment of comfort, by honeft means, and the latter will keep them from being burthenfome to their neighbours. But many of the modern plans for making provifipn for them, have tended to denroy thefe prin- ciples. A man born to no inheritance, who affiduoufly devotes his whole life to la- bour, when nature declines, ought to be diftinguifhed from the lazy and profligate wretch, who has feldom worked but by force ; one ought not to be crouded into the fame habitation with the other. But in houfes of induftry, there can be no dis- tinction. The focial clubs for mutual relief, which are prevalent in many parts of the Welt of 1 [ 283 3 of England, are highly commendable, and well worth the attention of the landed jntereft. If a little encouragement could be given to thefe laudable focieties, fince they are ; no\v fanctioned by law, it would tend very much to encourage the poor to ftrup-ale with their difficulties ; and. it DO . \ '■ would be confident with found policy, as well as humanity, in the rich and opulent, to add little donations to the poor man's neft egg on thefe occafions. Earl Har- court's example at Nuneham, in Oxford- shire, is highly deferving imitation ; if a poor man puts a penny into the focial box, he puts in another; if a farmer or tradefman contributes a milling, he adds another >, and by this means the poor rates are kept low, and the fpirit of the pea- fantry unbroken. It is evident that the labourer who can keep a cow or a pig, is always a faithful fervant to the farmer who employs him. * He [ 284 ] He has a flake in the common intereft of the country, and is never prompt to riot in times of fedition, like the man who has nothing to lofe - y on the contrary, he is a ftrong link in the chain of national fecurity. There are but few. great farmers inclined to accommodate cottagers in the indul- gence of a little land, and when they do let them any, it is generally at double the rent they give for it ; but I am perfuaded, if there were a certain number of cottages, in proportion to the fize of the eftates, and they were accommodated with a couple of acres of land, to enable them to keep a cow, and rear two or three pigs, and thefe places were be ft owed as a reward to labourers of particular good conduct, it would do wonders towards the reduction of the rates, and the prefervation of order. I have been witnefs to feveral ftriking proofs of this, in many labourers who have been thus favoured; who have fhewn an attachment t 285 ] attachment to their matters truly exem- plary. There cannot well be too many of thefe places attached to great farms. There is another thing, which it is certainly incumbent on the occupiers of land to do; which is, to fupply their own labourers with wheat at a moderate price, when the price in the market is high and oppreffive to them. It is but reafonable that the human fervant mould fare as v/ell as the animal fervant ; a farmer does not give his horfe a lefs quantity of oats becaufe they are dear, nor is it reafonable that the ploughman or the threfher in the barn, mould have lefs for his penny, be- caufe his matter gets a great price. But I do not mean to fay, this mould be extend- ed to manufacturers, becaufe they are in general better paid than labourers in agri- culture ; and have not fo immediate a claim upon the land, as the workmen in the vineyard. If { 286 ] If one other thing, in aid pf what I havd taken the liberty to fuggefl, could be efla- blifhed, it would perhaps go near to re- medy all grievances, and h a great mea- fure fet afide the neceffity of the poor laws ; and this would be, the adoption of fomething like Mr. Ackland's fcheme of taxing labour for its own fupport, by levying from the young and lu%, a penny to be put out upon accumulated intereft, for the advantage of the old and decrepid. Age and infirmity would then dip its hand into the purfe it had helped to fill ; honeft pride would be preferved ; induftry en- couraged ; and the latter part of a poor man's life would terminate in comfort* FINIS. SPECIAL 8*j 15