.■^.

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES

/

HINTS

T O

GENTLEMEN

O F

LANDED PROPERTY*

E Y

NATHANIEL KENT,

OF FULHAM,

LONDON:
PuiNTED FOR J. DODSLEY IN Pall-Mall.

M.DCC.LXXV,

ADVERTISEMENT.

1

■^ H E Reader is cautioned
not to expedl: any thing
fyftematical in the fubftance, or
ftile of the following Remarks.
They are fimply fuch as have
arifen in the courfe of a three
years refidenee, and obfervation
in the Auftrian Netherlands, and
an extenfive pradice fiince in the
fuperintendance, and care of fe-
veral large eftates, in different
parts of England. Nothing is
borrowed from books, or built

upon

818553

( iv ) .

upon hearfay-authority ; what
little they contain is, chiefly a
defcription of fuch practical points
of Hufbandry as may be adopted
in many parts of England to great
advantage, And as thefe Hints
are publifhed from no motive of
intereft whatever, but merely to
enable gentlem.en 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 acceptance,

THE

THE

CONTENTS.

Page
NTRODUCriON - •. i

I

Incttement to the Jludy of Agri'
culture

Application of Soil to its right ufe -^ i j
Draining ■ * 17

Natural Grajfes confdered - •— 30
Artificial Grajfes confdered — - — 38
Different methods of improving mea- 1

dow and pafture-land • J

7'he great Advantage of a fuitabk 7

Stock of Cattle ^ TT'T^ ^

Manures

■ \ ^

( vi )

Page
Manures confidered ^ 'jo

Maxims relative to Ploughed Land - 83

Improvements, and their expences - 93

TVaJie Lands confidered, and fait able!

Improvements faggejied -— i
Culture of Turnips — —115

Culture of Cole, or Kape-S^eed » 132

Culture of Hops — 14!

Obfervations relative to Buildingsl

and Repairs — — J ^

^he deficiency of 'Timber confidered - i'ii
The mofi ifeful forts of Timber eh a- 1

raBerized — s — J '^

Different methods ofPlantijigfaggefied 1 84;
Advice refpeSling the rnanagement of)

Timber — -^ > ^^7

Advantages refultihg from fnalh

Farmsi and thofe of the mofiK 204

prqfitable fize defcribed • — . J
The great benefit of Church and Col-1

lege-Tenufes to population and> 223

fociety, — . - J

Reflec-

( vii )

Page

Reflexions on the great importance qf'k
Cottages — 3

Jiefleciions on the Dijirefs of the'
Poor, and the increafe of the\ 259
"Rates for their ajjijiancs r-^

HINTS

H I N T S, ^r.

INTRODUCTION.

MO S T of the publications upon
Hulbandry, which the prefs hath
lately teemed with, feem to be
read more for amufement than profit;
very few, if any, of the fchemes recom-
mended have been carried into general
pradiccj which fhews that agriculture
is very little attended to as a fcience.
The intelligent farmer will always know
B and

[ 2 ]

and gather more from pradtice and ob-
fervation, than he can acquu-c from books
and ftudy. It is upon this principle that
I have avoided all theoretical rules ; for
if we confult only the book of Nature,
and obferve her order, and the con-
fequences that refult from her prog-
nofticks, we fliall derive infinite ad-
vantage from her inflrudtions in all coun-
try-bufinefs, fince no voice is fo loud or
diftind as hers. Every plant,- and weed
characterizes the foil it grows upon, and
tells us its quality and value. A thou-
fand animals, and infcd:s foretel us what
weather, what feafons we are to expedl ;
and are therefore well worthy of our at-
tention. 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,

^ flirubs.

[ 3']

fiirubs, and trees, in different years, un-
der the title of " The Calendar of Flora ^*
and recommended it to all gardeners,
farmers, and planters, to confult thefe
appearances at all times, and to be guided
more by them in cropping and treating
their land, than by the regular return of
the months and years. Many people
have obferved, that when ants wander
carelefly from the feat of their republic,
in the fpring of the year, a drought al-
mofl invariably enfues -, but when they
daub, and plaifler 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 prefling down their prey, denote
fpeedy rain. In a drizzly morning, when
the vv-holc village is in doubt, whether it
will be a thorough wet day, or clear up
B 2 before

[ 4 ]

before noon, the flieep will often tell
them. If a continued rain be to enfue,
they generally feed, notwithftanding the
moifture, with great eagernefs -, knowing
that they {hall have no better weather for
that day. If they defifl from eating, herd
together in detached parties, and creep
under the hedges, they know the rain
will be over foon enough to afford them
time to fill their bellies. It is needlefs
to enumerate the advantages to be de-
rived from many more of thefe inftrudtive
agents ; I have mentioned 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 due inveftiga-
tion of nature j 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

[ s ]

tained by confulting her"*; which re-
duces all our profitable refearches upon
hufbandry, merely to two points : Firft,
to find out. Whether our refpedtive lands
are properly applied to the ufe for which
nature defigned them ? and next. Whe-
ther we pradlfe the beft methods of art
which have been hitherto adopted ? In
making this enquiry, it will appear that
great abfurditles are frequently pradlfed
in the mifapplicatlon of crops, or in an
improper fucceffion of them ; and it will
be equally apparent, that the beft me-
thods of art are far from centering all in
one fpot. Every county feems to abound
in excellencies and defers : but as every

* Mr. Black of Lutton, in Eflex, one of the beft
judges of the nature and value of land, who praftifes
as a furveyor, has llridly 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 furc guide.

B 3 farmer

[ 6 ]

farmer thinks his very worft cuilom pre-
ferable to the beft which another county
makes ufe of, there can be no hope of
feeing the beft adopted and brought into
general pra(ftice, and the v/orft 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 effcd: fo
defirable an alteration. Many and vari«
ous are the good and bad practices I al-
lude to ; and 'tis not the tafk of any one
man to feparate them 3 but many hints
from different people, if they are ground-
ed upon found experience, may in time
form a complete fyftem of pradicable
hufbandry. According to this idea, I
have always conceived the Miifeiim Rujli-
cum, to be one of the moft ufeful modern
produ6lions j becaufe well-meaning men
have thrown in their refpedive mites of

inftrudion.

[ 7 1

inftrudllon, as far as their knowledge ex-
tended, without pretending to more.—
Upon this plan, I fhall venture to pub-
lifh a few thoughts upon fuch parts as
have particularly fallen under my own
obfervation.

B 4 INCITE-

[ 8 ]

incitement to the study op
Agriculture.

A Competent knowledge of Agricul-
ture is the moft ufeful fcience a
gentleman can obtain ; it is the nobleft
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, attended with
much difficulty, or labour j but is even
entertaining In the acquifition : for its
chief injftructions are to be found in the
pieafant and open fields, and not in the
confined library. To gentlemen whofe
property is realized in land, this is one of
the mofl important objeds they have be-
fore them. Indeed to them it becomes a
duty, which they owe not only to them-

felves.

[ 9 ]

felves, but to the community -, as it be-
hoves every man to make the moll of his
property, by every laudable means ; and
as the public is likewife interefled in the
produce of the earth, which the land-
holder has greatly in his power to in-
creafe or diminifh, by good or bad ma-
nagement.

When gentlemen turn their thoughts
into this channel, they will never want
employment; and may be afTured of fit-
ting down from their labour with the
mofl comfortable refledions -, knowing
that their own private fortunes are flou-
rifhing at the fame time that the mecha-
nic 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 beit
paid them only three per cent, while
9 they

[ 10 ]

they have n^gle6:ed the mofl obvious
improvements upon old branches of their
eftats, which would have paid them at
leafl: four times as much. Inflead of
running into this error, it would be bet-!'
ter to confider what particular advantages
their eftates derive from nature and fi-
tuation, and whether thofe advantages
are made the moft of? whether the befl
modes of art are employed in cultivating
them ? and whether induflry accompanies
the whole ? If there be any defedl, the
remedy is eafy, and the application is all
that will be wanting.

APPLI-

[ II ]

APPLICATION OF SOIL TO ITS RIGHT
USE.

TOthing can be more abfurd than to
attempt railing particular crops
upon land where the foil is naturally ill
calculated for their produdiion. To find
out what corn, grafs, or plants are mofl
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 objed, 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 arc rich loams, and mixed foils,
of various complexions, which are kind

and

[ '2 ]

and favourable to the growth of moil
branches of the vegetable kingdom. The
value of thefe will be eafily found out,
by grov^ing on them whatever finds the
readieft and quickeft way to market. But
there is a much greater number of foils,
whofe nature muft be ftudied before any
great advantage can be derived from them j
and as they are frequently blended to-
gether, and in colour and appearance
much alike, tho' very different in their
quality, it is extremely difficult to de-
fcribe them fufficiently in writing. Their
temper, as I have hinted in my intro-
dud:ion, is beft found out by their own
natural produce; by the famples of
gralTes, and weeds, which are always to
be found on the borders and fkirts of the
fields, which always characterize them
truly. This makes it elTentially necef-
fary that every man fliould ftudy at leaft

the

[ 13 ]

the nature of all natural grafTes, wild
plants, and weeds, before he can prefume
to be a general judge of the quality, and
value of land.

Some foils are however fo diftind in
their nature as to be eafily defcribed.

I {hall firft mention blue clays and
cohefive loams, which are by nature evi-
dently defigned for grafs ; and if well
laid down, and properly managed, are
generally found to be fome of our mofl
valuable paflurcs.

The red and black clays, if they be not
too tenacious, are in general well calcu-
lated for wheat, oats, and beans ; but
require good culture. If their depth be
confiderable, oak likewife flouri£hes well
upon them, which is alfo found to be
of the beft quality.

Sands of all kinds, and light foils
gf every degree, arc calculated for the

turnip-

t H ]

furnip-hulbandry, barley, and artificial
grafles,

Thin-fldnned, 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
fadl beyond con tradition, many extenfive
tradts of high land remain naked and un-
profitable, which, by proper planting,
would become ufeful, and highly orna-
mental.

Chalk, of greater depth, is good for
St. Foin ; as well as fome forts of gra-
velly-land.

Woodcock-foil generally confifis of
yellow, or white clay, with a mixture of
gravel ; is feldom fruitful, and, befides
its ftanding in need of draining, is very
unkind, and difficult to work ; and there-
fore better devoted to paflure.

10 All

[ 15 I

All land, of every kind, which is fo
difpofed in fituation as to admit of flood-
ing, either by rivers, brooks, roads, or
yards, ihould be turned into meadow-
ground.

Boggy lands which lie low, and cannot
be drained effedlually without being fca-
rified, (hould be planted with black pop-
lar and withe. Little angles and odd
nooks, near running rivers, fhould be
turned into ozier-beds, or planted with
white poplar.

Barren heathy-lands may be profitably
planted with Scotch firs, and wild cherry-
trees.

Afh, one of our moft ufeful and pro-
fitable trees, which has every farmer for
its enemy, becaufe it obflrudls his plough,
and is noxious to other woods, as well as
corn ; fhould be planted in angles and
by-places.

Elm,

[ i6 ]

Elm, as it grows ereft, and oak, as it
receives its principal nourifliment from a
tap-root, will do beft in hedge-rows.
But more of this under the article of
Timber.

DRAINING.

[ 17 ]

DRAINING.

jRaining 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 rufti
takes polTeflion of it entirely. In plough-
ed land, where the foil is naturally wet,
different remedies have been attempted.
In the famous vale of EveJJjam, in ^or-
cefterfloirCi 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 the

I jS ]

the crop. When the feafon is remarkably
^dry, another difadvantage 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 are brought on by the extreme
the occupiers of thofe lands have run
into, by increafmg the convexity of the
ridge from time to time. Befides the real
lofs they fuftain, it muft be a great in-
convenience to occupy land in this man-
ner, which nothing but ufe can reconcile.
This, of all methods of draining, may
fafely be called the worfl; and it is to be
lamented that no other can now be fug-
gefted, 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, mult in that cafe be bu-
ried.

[ 19 J

ried, and a poorer foil brought upon the
furface. It is therefore to be wiflied, that
no fimilar pradtice may be introduced,
upon a lilie foil, in any part of England.

Another mode of draining ploughed
land is, by throwing it into very fmall
ridges of two, fometimes four, or fix fur-
rows 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 practice ; 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 effecftual way of draining
ploughed ground is that pradifed 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 othcr-
C 2 wife

[ 20 ]

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 refpe6t to the
proportion of ground which thefe mafter-
drains will ferve. Sometimes one is fuf-
ficient for ten acres ; but in this cafe the
land muft lay all one way, and the foil
muft be tenacious in its nature. When
the defcent lies different ways, there muft
be a principal drain to every Hope. But
where there is a good difcharge into a
ditch, which has likewife a good outfall,
many people prefer it to a mafler-drain,
becaufe any obftru6lions which may hap-
pen, are eaiier remedied -, for when a An-
gle drain is choaked up, the place is eafily
found out; but when many drains are
conne^fted together, it is often difficult to
find out the defeft. And fometimes the

burrowing

[ 21 ]

burrowing of a mole will occafion a
lloppage.

The method of opening the principal
drains is, to plough four furrows, throw-
ing two each way ; the two infide fur-
rows being ploughed deeper than the o-
thers. After the plough, the earth is
funk a fpit deep with a common fpadc,
and afterwards another fpit with a land-
ditching-fpade, called a griping-fpade.
Laft of all a fcoop is made ufe of, to rake
out all the loofe earth. This drain when
compleated is about two feet deep. The
common drains are begun, and finifhed,
like the principal drains ; but the fpit
with the common fpade is omitted j and
therefore they are not above eighteen
inches deep, two and a half wide at bot*
tom, and three and a half at the top of
the grip. Iri this proportion, the nar-
rower they are, the better. The drain is
C 3 filled

[ 22 ]

filled up as high as the top of the fpade-
work, with brufh-wood at the bottom,
and a piece of wood, as big as a man's
kg, on the top ; a little ftraw is fliaken
over that, and the remainder of the draia
is filled up with earth. The greater the
proportion of wood, and the harder the
earth is prefied in, the longer will be the
duration of the work. The wood muft
be fuch as runs pretty free in its bran-
ches. Elm, alder, and fallows are as
good as any.

It is rather difficult to make an exad
eliimate of the expence, becaufe the price
varies, in the county of EfTex itfelf, from
one penny to three pence per pole, in the
workmanfliip onlyj and fome land re-
quires the drains to be nearer together
than others 5 but fuppoiing the drains to
be a pole in width from each other,
which is the common diflance, the fol-
lowing

[ 23 ]

lowing calculation, upon an average, will

be pretty exadt for an acre ;

/. s.d.
Sinking the ditch to obtain an outfall 076
Drawing the furrows - - -026

160 poks of digging and filling up, at 2^:^. I 6 8
Wood, eftimated at a faggot of twelve")

feet long to a pole, carriage in- > 2 13 4
eluded, at 4^. per faggot - J
Half a load of ftraw, and carriage -070
Extra-digging in the ends where the?
plough will not reach - 3 ^

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 fliff cohelive foil,
it will laft twenty. But even in the for-
mer cafe, it is apparent that it will an-
fwer the expence, as it is done in ge-
neral by the rack-tenants in that county,
C 4 and

t H ]

and very frequently by tenants at will.
This kind of draining, where it can be
praftifed, is the neatefl and beft ; but it
would be certainly an improvement, if
the depth of the drains were varied accor-
ding to the bed of the fprings. One
univerfal principle in this mode of drain-
ing mufl be attended to, which is, to get
a good outfall, or difcharge, and to draw
all the drains obliquely, acrofs the defcent
of the ground, not right down with, nor
right acrofs the fall. The advantage is ob-
vious ; for if a fpring rifes in any part of
the ground, it cannof, in this cafe, have
far to run, before it finds the means of
getting oif s but if the drains were drawn
right down with the defcent, it might
coze down, parallel with the drain, for
a furlong in length before it would get
into it, tho' it were only at the diftance of
ten yards from it. And, on the other

hand.

w

7\f?l.

A Field 1) ftwruri, A I'ieU Drot'Kc<i. A Ft'e/d Dym'nM

(•If one otitjDitc/iej. ,hf a Majtcr D rain ; lif ttvty ouaiWr ifi.<tir

i'iu/mJ (<r'<i/i>i'na}M/ in t/u- MM/e.e>eht<r Dmi'/ui.itin^Aiff/ier

i/M-n at-fA,: S/'A' . f/u- Sui-^ .

/Ti'tn r/i-' Fitfui'eJ J. to 2 .

t./.,:< ../////,<./, v/A7/v-

O

m<

f -5 3

iiand, if the drains were drawn acrofs the
defcent upon right angles, and a dead le-
vel, they would of courfe remain full for
want of a free difcharge, and not have
their proper efFedl. A little fall mufl be
allowed ; but, the lefs the fall, the greater
will be the duration, as the drains will
not fo foon choak up, by the wafhing in
of the foil. This method of draining
feems to be the moft 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-draining
with ftones pradifed in fome parts of
Somerfetjhire, and TViltJhire, which is very
expenfive compared with that in Effex,
but then its duration is much longer; for
when it is well executed, the farmers
think it completed for ever. Lord JVey"
months extcnfive park, at Longleat, has

been

[ 26 J

been drained in this manner, at an im-
menfe expence, ftones being very fcarce
near him. Tiic expence of thefe drains,
in workmanfhip, is from fix pence to fe-
ven pence a pole ; in EiTex it fcarce bears
half that price. I Ihould prefer either of
thefe methods according to the eafe with
which the materials are obtained.

There is ftill another fort of covered
draining, which may be adopted in a very
flirt, tenacious foil. It is called turf-
drainingj and, befides that it is the cheap-
eft of all, I believe it to be as lafting as
any, if the land be fufficiently cohelive :
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 fhoulder, as defcribed N°. 2,
leaving a hollow part under it, and the
remainder of the drain is filled up merely
with the earth that came out of it.

The

J'H/tdufl

N?3.

Sketch NU-

.tchdu S/in,z^^

■■=^^

[ 27 ]

The other method is, to cut out a
wedge, in the form of a Roman fi-
gure of Five, defcribed N°. 3 5 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 the bottom of this
w^edge, fo as to keep the lower part from
dropping, and the ends ofthe rufhes were
drawn upwards, between the fides of the
drain and the wedge, it would be an im-
provement to this lafl method. Where
either of thefe methods are made ufe of,
care mufl be taken, to keep oif all cattle
till the drains have had time to fettle.

But open drains are to be preferred to
the EfiTex, or any other mode of covered
draining, in all marfh and boggy land,
and in fandy foils, where the hollow
drains arc more liable to be choaked;
XO and

t 28 ]

and in meadows, where they ferve for
fences, as Vvrell as laying the land dry : but
here the fame rule fhould be obferved, to
fmk them, as much as poflible, in the
before-mentioned oblique diredlions.

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 tjie fprings which iiTue out upon it,
from the higher ground, on each fide. In
this cafe, open drains fliould be funk,
parallel with the river, on each fide, be-
tween the up, and the low-land, juil at
the top of the places where rufhes fre-
quently fhew themfelves. Thefe drains
fhould be funk fufficiently deep, to
catch all the fprings, which the high
grounds produce ; and may be deeper, or
fliallower, as the fprings lie. When thefe
drains are charged to a certain height,
9 they

[ 29 ]

they {hould be eafed by a fmaller drain ;
which may be cut, occafionally, right
down with the defcent; and communi-
cate, as an outfail, with the river; accord-
ing to the Iketch annexed, N°. 4. But it
mufl; be obferved, that this lad method of
draining is merely contrived to guard the
meadow land from the dripping of the
higher ground, as it is feldom wet in
itfelf ; and this practice is by much the
cheapefl and moft efFed:ual.

^i^

NATURAL

[ 30 ]

NATURAL GRASSES CONSIDERED,

MR. Stilling feety in his Obfervations
upon GrafTes, has defcribed a few
of the befl forts fo clearly, that any per-
fon, who direcSts his attention to this ufe-
ful iludy, may eafily diftinguifh them.

Annual meado%v-grafs is one of the
moil valuable; for though it does not
run fo long in the flem, as fome other
graifes, it produces a vail deal of blade of
a fweet and nouri/liing quality; and is
moft to be deiired, of all graiTes, upon
land that is chiefly ufed for pafture. In-
deed upon this fort of land it moftly fliews
itfelf. Mr. Stillingfeet took notice, that
a great deal of this grafs appeared, on a
m.uch frequented walk, on Malvern-Hill,
tho' he could not find any of it, upon any
other parts of the hill. This remark of

his

[ 31 1

his led me to ftudy the particular nature
of this grafs, more than I fliould other-
wife have done. And I am of opinion,
that almoft all land is impregnated with
its feed, and will of courfe produce it,
though not in equal quantities. So that
it does not feem necefTary to fow it, but
merely to encourage its growth. When
the furface lies hollow, other grafles, of a
coarfer nature, and poiTefTed of deeper
roots, get the better of it, and are apt to
ftifle it. But when the fame land be-
comes trodden, this grafs immediately
{hews itfelf ; and if the prefTure be fre-
quently repeated, it very foon gets the ad-
vantage over mofl: others, as may be {ecn
at the entrance, and outfides, of moil
fields, where the feet of cattle give it, as
it were, a new birth. So that as prefTure
alone docs the bufmefs, it feems a great
argument in favour of feafonable rolling,

which

[ 32 ]

which is indilputably a very fine im-
provement upon all meadow, and palture,
particularly upon light dry land. By this
improvement the moifture is more pre-
ferved, and the earth, being prefTed clofe
to the roots of the grafs, preferves it from
burning. Thofe w^ho are againft rolling
aflert, that the quantity is lefTened. In
hay, I believe, it may fometimes be the
cafe ; becaufe rolling, which fines the
furface, and thickens the {et of annual
meadow^-grafs, checks and weakens the
long fpungy grafies, which frequently
compofe the bulk of the crop. But then
the quality of the hay, after rolling, will
be fo fuperior to what it would be with-
out it, that two tons will be as good as
three ; and if the land be grazed after-
wards, the advantage will be flill greater.

Some of the next beft grafi^es are, the
crejied dog-tail, the vernal, the Jheefs

fefcqiie.

[ 33 ]

fefcque, and \\\^ fine bent', which are all
indications of found land. And the ob-
fervation which is frequently made, that
moft common things are the beft, is par-
ticularly verified in thefe graffes 5 for
they vifit us, in greater proportion than
moft others, and are equally excellent in
hay, as in the green blade, which is of a
fine nature. They are particularly whole-
fome for all kinds of cattle; and, pro-
vided we attend to them properly, are
much to be improved. Nothing is bet-
ter for thefe grafiTes than the fediment of
ponds i or, next to this, a generous com-
poft made of three parts of good, frefh,
maiden earth, or the fcouring of ditches,
and (if the foil be a clay, or ftiff in its
nature) the fourth part chalk, or lime.
But if it be fandy, or a light foil, two
parts of maiden earth, one other part
clay, and a fourth part rotten dung, will
D be

[ 34 ]

be heft. This compoft, well mixeciy
fhould be laid on before Lady-Day, be
well worked into the ground with bufli-
harrows, and repeated at leafl every fifth
year; which will not only be a very high
improvement to thefe grafles, but be the
means of producing a great deal of white
clover.

TliQfotefefcqiiey or marp be?ji, another
mofl valuable grafs, is found in moifl
lands y is to be improved beyond all
others, and at a lefs expence, merely by
flooding ; which I fhall endeavour to fhew
hereafter.

Mr. StilH72gfieef was very earnefl, in
advifing hufbandmen to gather, and fow,
fome of the befl of thefe feeds in their
ground, inftead of filling it with the ftale
rubbiih which they generally make ufe
of. Great advantage might certainly be
made of this hint, particularly when

land

[ 35 ]

land is laid down for meadow, or paflure.
In this cafe, the befl graffes cannot be
colleded at too great an expence ; for I
have {cen a fmall fpot of land, in the
middle of a large piece, which was laid
down, twelve or fourteen years fince, by-
Mr. Stillmgfleet, upon the eftate of Mr.
Price, of Fox ley 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 Ipot
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
produce.

From Mr. Stillingfleet\ experiment,
and my own obfervations, I am clearly of
opinion, that any perfon who has land,
calculated for grafs, may improve it, by
this method of laying it down, to a much
D 2 greater

[ 36 ]

greater degree than he can in the ufual
way. But as he may be at a lofs fome-
times to diflinguifh the gralTes, and may
not, at iirft, know which fuit his foil
beft, I advife him to proceed in the fol-
lowing manner, viz. Let him clean a
piece of land eifedtually, and fow dif-
ferent natural graffes upon different
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 dif-
ferent forts of manure. By this means,
in two or three years, the nature of every
grafs will be found out -, and an intelli-
gent farmer will foon know which to

prefer

[ 37 ]
prefer for meadow, which for paflure»
and which to rejedt.

The next heft method of getting clean
feed is, to hurdle oif clean fpots of flieep-
downs, which have been fed quite bare.
This, tho' feldom practifed, is a good
way of coming at clean natural feeds.

)3( ^ M

D 3 ARTIFICIAL

[ 38 ]

ARTIFICIAL GRASSES CONSIDERED,

(S/. Foin,

THOUGH St. Foin be not fo gene-
rally underflood, nor fo univer-
fally cultivated, as fome other artificial
grafles, I fhall venture to give it the pre-
ference to all others, not only for its hay,
which exceeds in goodnefs every other
fort, but for the advantage of the after-
grafs ; which is particularly good, be-
tween Michaelmas and Chriftmas, when
the natural gralTes begin to decline. Nor
is it lefs valuable on account of its dura-
tion, by which it fupplies, in a great
meafure, the place of meadow and paf-
ture in hilly countries, where there is a
(leficiency of fuch herbage, or on foil
where it canot be obtained. It is truly a
moft ufeful and valuable grafsj and cannot

be

[ 39 ]

?5e'too highly efteemed. In fome parts of
Hampfiifey Wiltfiire, and Berkfiire, "there
are confiderable trad:s of land, fov/n with
^/. Foifiy which now let from twenty to
thirty fliillings an acre, which would not
be worth above half that rent, in corn,
or in any other mode of husbandry.

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 fpend itfelf be-
low the furface. This therefore may be
confidered as a general rule — that St. Foi?z
fhould 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 beft after turnips -, and, as well

^s moft other graffes, is better fown with

D 4 about

[ 4° ]

about half the quantity of barley, which
is ufually fown for a full crop, than by
itfelf. For the barley will fhade, and
keep it moift, during the iirfl: fumrner ;
and, at the fame time, not injure it, as
the crop will be lighter than ordinary.
About four bufliels of St. Fpin-feed is
enough to an acre; and as the feed is
large and coarfe, it ought to be com-
pletely buried ; and therefore 'tis befl to
plough it in with a very fh allow 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 fheeps till Chriftmas, but not
clofe. Every autumn afterwards it may
be fed with fheep, as well as other cat-
tle, and may be fed as clofe as they can
bite, provided it be laid up by the middle
of January.

The

t 41 1

The fecond winter after fowing, ife
ihould be manured with peat-aflies, if
they can be had at any reafonable rate ;
otherwife, with any other aflies, which
are the beft manure for this grafs. And
if this drefling can be repeated every third
year, the St. Fom, if it happen to take
good root, will lafl fixteen, or eighteen,
years ; and when the land is broken up
again, it will be conliderably improved
by the roots, which the ground will be
full of. It does not attain its perfedion
till about the third year j and about the
tenth it will begin to decline, unlefs
greatly affifted by manure.

Clover.

Clover may be efteemed, from its ex-
cellent quality, great produce, and me-
liorating root, which is a great improver
gf land, the fecond artificial grafs in point

of

[ 42 ]

of value. It is now in fuch general ufe,
that it feems almofi: 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, veith
a full crop of barley, after turnips, at the
rate of twelve pounds to an acre. The
duration of this grafs is, however, very
il:iort, except on frefti land) which points
out the neceiTity of keeping off its fuccef-
iion, longer than the common cuflom, by
intermixing with it as great a variety of
other crops, as may be fuitable. If it
had not been for this defed, I fliould
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 ilay. This grafs

evidently

[ 43 ]

jBvidently grows kin deft 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 nourifliing, it is
particularly good for all draft horfes,
oxen, fatting, and milch cattle j but not
fo much refpedled for faddle-horfes.
Sometimes it is mowed a fecond time,
late in the month of Augufh; 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, inilead of mowing it a fecond
time.

When it is faved for feed, the cuftom
is, to feed it down clofe until the latter
end of May, and no longer ; which early
feed is a vaft advantage for ewes, lambs,

and

[ 44 ]

and other cattle, as it comes In before
the natural gralTes.

Thefe arc the common advantages de-
rived from this grafs; but a much greater
benefit may be obtained by cutting it
green, as often as it attains a fufEcient
grovv^th, 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 tv^^ice
the ftock it would do if fed off upon
the ground, where it grew; befides the
additional quantity of manure that will,
by this method, be made in the faid fta-
bles, and yards, if the fame are kept lit-
tered with any fort of ftraw, or even
rufhes, or fern ; which increafe of ma-
nure 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

[ 45 ]

to very great advantage ; and I appre-
hend the great difference may be ac-
counted for as follows. The quick
growth of this grafs, after mowing, (hades
the ground, and prevents the fun from
exhaling the moifturc of the land, fo
much as it would if fed bare; confe-
quently it continues to fpring with more
vigor ; and the moment one crop is off,
another begins to flioot up. Whereas
when cattle feed it, they frequently de-
flroy almoU as much as they eat 3 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 wea-
ther, 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 brufh them off; by which it is
9 incon-

[ 46 ]

inconceivable what injury they do to the
crop. But when they are fed in flableSj
and yards, they are more in the fliade;
they thrive better ; and, at the fame time,
confume the whole of what is given them
without wafte.

As it is almofl a general pradice, to
fow wheat after clover, and effentially
neceffary 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 beft hufbandry, to
manure the clover ; for, by this means,
he greatly augments his prefent crop, and
the land will be in *fine condition for a
crop of wheat, without any farther af-
fiftance.

There is a fpecies of clover called conv^
grafst which has been lately cultivated,
in fome parts of Hafnpjhire, with great
fuccefs. The ground reliflies it extremely ,

well.

[ 47 ]

well, and It is by many farmers preferred
to the common clover. It grows more
floridly, and thrives better upon poor
land. At firfl fight they are riot eafily
diflinguifhed -, but, on a clofe infped:ion,
the cow-grafs will be found of a darker
green, and more pointed at the ends of
the leaves ; the ftalk is of a clofer texture,
and not fo porous as the common clover.
Some people imagine this to be a native
of this country, if fo, it may be highly
worth our attention.

Darnel, or Peren7ual Rye-Grafs,

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. Some-
times 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,
10 with

[ 48 ]

with eight pounds of clean trefoil (ex-
empt from the hdfk). It comes earlier
than moft other gralTes, and all cattle arc
particularly fond of it in the fpring of
the year ; but towards Midfummer the
flalks become dry, and cattle then refufe
them ; therefore, in all paftures, this
grafs fhould be kept down, by being
conftantly fed. When mixed with clo-
ver and mowed for hay, it may be fpring-
fed notwithftanding, and is even the
better for it ,• becaufe it would otherwife
be ripe before the clover. When fown
with clover its greateft advantage is ex-
perienced in the fecond and third years,
for as the clover declines, this increafes
in proportion. When mixed with tre-
foil, it is a very good grafs upon light
land, defigned to continue feveral years
in (heep -paftures.

Lucern.

[ 49 ]•

LUCERNi

Lucern is a valuable grafs, but requires
fo much weeding, and attention, that it
is not by any means calculated for large
farms; 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, Foiuy 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 require from eighteen inches to
two feet, and the land ought to be tole-
rably good in quality.

The bcfl way is, to fow this i^^di in

drills, at about two feet apart. The

ground muft be firfl made very clean, and

E the

[ 5° ]

the feed mufl not be burled above two
inches deep. The firft year it will re-
quire an infinite deal of labour in weed-
ing, for it has an utter abhorrence of
every other neighbour ; but, when once it
has got good root, two weedings in afeafon
will be fufficient ; which may be done by
women, and children. But every time it
is cut, it ought to be hoed y and thus
treated (with a light coat ©f rotten muck
every fpring) it will laft ten or twelve
years, and bear cutting four times in the
courfe of the fummer. The heft way
is, to foil cattle with it green. It is
very nourifliing to horfes, and caufes
cows to give a great deal of milk.

TREFOIL.

'Trefoil is a very ufeful grafs on poor
land ; for the clofer it is fed, the more

it

[ 51 ]

it will fpread ; and therefore it is highly
uleful in laying down land for fheep-
paftures; but is not held in any efteem
for dairies, as it gives the butter a rank
flavour. Nor is it calculated for mow-
ing ; for it produces but little after-grafs^
and the hay is of a very critical nature ;
for, if it receives the leaft injury by wet,
the leaves mat together, and it becomes
mouldy, and of very little value.

WHITE DUTCH CLOVER. '

The Tfh'te Dutch Clover, though laft
mentioned, is of the firfl: ccnfequence.
Nothing is fo good for laying down lands
for pailure, as this, mixed with other
graffes; nothing more fwcet, and nou-
rifhing for all kinds of cattle; and, when
ufed as an artificial grafs, it is the befl
fubflitute for the common clover which
E 2 can

[ 52 ]

can be made ufe of. But its good qua-
lities are fo well known, that it mufh 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 expeded from it.

DIFFERENT

[ 53 ]

DIFFERENT METHODS OF IMPROVING
MEADOW AND PASTURE-LAND.

MEADOW, and pafture-land is
oftener negledled than ploughed
ground, notwithflanding it generally ad-
mits of a much greater proportion of
improvement.

The firft, the mofi: eafy, and the great-
eft of all improvements is made by flood-
ing. In Dorfetfiire, and Hampjkire, there
are meadows which are increafed, from
ten {hillings to three pounds an acre,
by bringing the water of the common
river over them ; which is eafily effe(5ted
by means of little trenches, or grips,
which fhoot the water on, and draw it off
at pleafure. Thefe meadows are particu-
larly ufeful for the nourishment of ewes,
and lambs, in the fpring -, and after they
E 3 are

[ 54 ]

are eaten quite bare, (o late as the latter
end of April, will often produce, in ten
weeks time, three tons of hay to an acre,
without ever receiving any kind of ma-
nure, or any other attention, than, the
throwing them under water at proper
feafons ; which deflroys all weeds, and
enriches the land to a very high degree.
There are thoufands of acres, in many
other counties, which might be equally
improved. The temptation is certainly
great enough, to put any one upon his
mettle, to find where the thing is pradi-
cable, and to encourage him to adopt it.
Jf the great difference between loj-. and
3 /. an acre, in yearly value, llrike us, the
difference between 15/. and 90/. in the
fee fimple of an acre of this land, will
ilill more ffrongly affed: us^ though the
proportion be the fame,

There is another fort of flooding,
5 which

[ 55 ]

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 drip-
ping of yards, over land. This is fome-
times done, and as much in Herefordjhire
as in any other county -, but though the
improvement be immenfe, the pradlice 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 i and fometimcs it is negleded through
indolence. But whatever motives may
beep the tenants from availing themfelves
of fuch advantages, owners of land, and
gentlemen's ftewards, are unpardonable,
in waving fuch beneficial improvements.

Flooding is truly the befi: of all im-
provements, where it can be effedled ;
and there ought no|: to be a fingle acre of
land negledled, which is capable of it.
E 4 As

[ 56 ]

As rolling, and preffure, bring the annual
meadow-grajsy fo flooding immediately
begets th^jiotefcfcque, or marjh bent, the
richeft of all graffes; being equally bulky
in quantity, and nourifhing 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 ravenoufly fond of
it; and, according to Mr. Stillingjieet' ^
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 paflure, to be found
in moft counties, where land lies to a
cold afped;, which is very much inclined
to mofs 3 which chokes up the grafs, and
impoverifhes the land. Penning fheep
upon it is one way of killing the mofs,

and

[ S7 1

and improving the pafture ; and another
good method is, to harrow it well with
fharp-tined harrows, in the fpring of the
year, and to manure it afterwards with
any compoft of a warm nature. After fuch
harrowing it is a good prad;ice to fow
T) lit ch clover.

There is another fort of paflure, which
produces little more than a fharp, coarfe-
bladed grafs, which the farmers call
Pink, or Carnation-grafs ; from the re-
femblance the blade of this grafs bears to
the blades of thefe flowers. This is the
fame grafs, which grows in great tuft's, or
bunches, in coppices, and has but little
nourilliment in it. This land wants
draining ; and, when drained, fliould
have a great deal of flock kept upon it,
by ftrewing turnips before them, or fod-
dering them with hay, to invite the an-
nual meadow-grafs to fpring,

Another

[ 58 ]

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 (hade
renders the turf four. This rubbiili
fliould always be extirpated. Wood and
grafs never do v/ell together. If it be
neceflary to have wood of this fort, it
Ihould be raifed in feparate plantations, in
the manner I (liall hereafter point out.

Another fort of pafture ftill is over-
run with ant and mole-hills ; owing, at
firft, to negled:, 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 cu-
ring this ground ; the one is by crofTmg
and hollowing up the turf, fcooping out
the middle part, fpreading it about, and

laying

[ 59 ]

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
circumstances. But the moft effedlual
improvement is, doubtlefs, to pare them
entirely oif, to lay them in heaps to rot,
which fhould be mixed afterwards with
a moderate quantity of lime, and then
fpread over the fam.e piece of land from
whence they came. As thefe ant hills
originated for want of rolling, it is almoft
needlefs to recommend rolling as a com-
plete finifli to this improvement.

When meadows are very coarfe, whe-
ther naturally fo, or occafioned by ruihes
which grew on them, before they v/cre
properly drained, there is no better im-
provement for them, than ilrewing twen-
ty, or thirty, load of fand to an acre over
(iiem. It tends greatly towards fining

the

[ 6o ]

the furface, and generally begets a fet of
white clover.

The earth is fo generous a parent, that
we jfind all land repay us for our labour,
and fl^ill > hut it will appear, on the
flighteft inveftigation, that no land pays
fo well as meadow, and pafture. Where
improvements upon ploughed land pay a
crown, the other generally pays a guinea.
Therefore when land is newly laid down
in paflure, it ought to be well manured
the third or fourth year, let the expence
be ever fo confiderable, becaufe it will
bring a good fet of graffes much fooner
than they would otherwife come; and
double the land in value for feven or
eight years afterwards.

I fhall clofe this fubjedt with adviiing
all farmers to be careful, not to over-
flock their paflure land ; for when they
do, they are great lofers by it. Land,

when

[ 6i ]

when fed too bare, is apt to burn In
fummer, and to be chilled in winter.
Befides, the necks of the roots are fo in-
jured by very clofe biting, that they do
not afford fo quick, or free a fpring to the
fucceflion of blade, as would otherwife
be. But, on the other 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
moll: advantage to the occupier. And
the more forts of cattle feed upon land,
at different intervals, the better. Alter-
nate mowing, and feeding, is likewife
good. The one fines the turf, and the
other enriches it.

THE

[ 62 ]

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 flock-
ing of land with proper cattle is one of
the nicefl parts of the fcience of farming.
Where nature is left to herfelf, (he always
produces animals fuitable to her vegeta-
tion, from the fmalleft (lieep on the
Welch mountains, to the largeft fort in
the Lincolnfhire marfhes ; from the little
hardy bullock in the northern highlands,
to the noble ox in the richeft paftures of
Somerfetfhire. But good hufbandry ad-
mits of our increafmg the value of the
one, in proportion to that of the other.
Land improved enables us to keep a bet-
ter fort of ftock i which Ihews the dou-
ble

[ 63 ]

ble return the earth makes for any judi-
cious attention, or labour, we beftow
upon it. The true wifdom of the occu-
pier is beft fnewn, in prcferving a due
equilibrium between this improvement
of his land, and flock. They go hand in
hand -, and if he negled the one, he can-
not avail himfelf of the other.

We fhould firft confider, what kind of
cattle will anfvver our purpofe beft, in the
cultivation of our ground ; and next,
what forts pay beft in the confumptlon
of our produce.

Upon a light foil, where two horfcs
are fufficient to manage a plough, or
where, if more be employed, a quick
motion is required, horfes will always be
found moft ufeful, and profitable -, be-
caufe four horfes on fuch land will culti-
vate as much ground as eight oxen. But
where the foil confifts of a clay, or any

heavv.

[ 64 ]

heavy, ilrong ground, fuch as requires
four horfes, and admits only of a flow
motion, oxen will there have the advan-
tage ; and be in the proportion of twelve
oxen only to eight horfes. In the former
cafe, the oxen would be double in num-
ber, in the latter, they are only as three
to two.

When this diflindion is clearly made>
each animal will be found to have his
excellence -, and every intelligent occu*
pier of land will know which to prefer.
The horfe is fo delightful, fo fpirited* .
and pleafant a fervant, that one would
wiih to make choice of him upon every
occafion ^ but when interefl: is thrown
into the oppofite fcale, the ox will often
deferve the preference. For the great
expence of fupporting the horfe, his na-
tural decreafe in value, and pronenefs to
accident, by which that value is totally

loft,

[ 65 ]

loft, are great drawbacks in his account j
efpecially when we confider the more
moderate charge of fupporting the ox, and
the profit which is made of him, even
when he is paft his labour. This is ob-
vious j of thefe therefore I fhall fay no
more ; they are equally advantageous
upon different foils, and neither fpecies is
wholly to be preferred, or wholly ex*
eluded.

Sheep may, next, be confidered as one
of our moft profitable animals. Three
great advantages refult from them to their
mafter. Their annual coats, their in-
creafe in value, or number, and the ex-
cellent manure which they beflov.' on
land. Indeed, upon all light foils, I
might mention a fourth advantage reaped
from them j fince their treading is almoil:
as great a benefit as their manure.

Many farmers have found great advan-
F tagc.

[ 66 ]

tage, in buying ftieep from the poorefl
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 likewife think, that they endure
folding, and penning, better than fheep
which are bred on a more luxuriant foil.
They are certainly right in thefe obferva-
tions. And therefore this reafon fhould
induce the occupiers of poor land to let
their artificial gralTes continue longer be-
fore they are broken up, that they may be
able to breed the more fheep : in which
they would alfo find their profit, and at
all times a ready market for them.

With refpedl to the notion which far*
mers are too apt to entertain, that all
kinds of fheep will not endure penning ;
I am apt to think they labour under an
error. I rather believe that all lean, or

ilore-

[ 6? ]

ftore-fheep ^re the better for being fold-
ed. They are generally more healthy,
as they take their fuftenance at regular
intervals, and are kept from eating the
wet grafs too early in t-he morning,
which is generally allowed to be un-
wholefome to them. In the mbft famous
flieep counties, Dorfet/fjirCy and TViltJhire,
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 fafter -, as oxen do, that have
been moderately worked.

Upon moifl lands fheep are not pro-
per flock. The dairy will here turn to
greateft account ; and women and half-
PTown children will from hence find fuf-

o

ficient, and becoming employment. Where

this is the cafe, pigs fhould be bred, of

F 2 all

[ 68 ]

all animals the mofl profitable. Potatoes,
and carrots boiled in the ikimmed 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 farmers, whofe
fole object is to grow corn, look upon
hogs as troublefome animals, and affedl
to defpife thefe profits -, tho' even to them
they would not be inconfiderable. Be-
fides that hog-dung is the beft of all
manure.

Upon flrong, florid paflure, the large
ox feems the mofl fuitable flock.

Upon turnips the Welch or Scotch
bullock is mofl: profitable.

Thus difi^erent land, and different pro-
duce feem, in point of profit, to require
different animals to cultivate the one,
6 and

[ 69 ]

and confume the other -, and it Is worth
our while to be at fome pains to make
the befl application.

F 3 MANURES

7

i 7^ 1

MANURES CONSIDERED.

THE manuring of land is fo ne^
celTary a part of hufbandry, that
no objedl is more elTential, in the prac-
tice of farming, than that of procuring a
fuitable, and fufficient quantity of this
ufeful improvement. We find, that the
richeil land will not yield a long fiicceA
fion of crops without help : at the fame
time that the pooreA foil will make a
confiderable return, when we take pains
to affifl it/ We ihould therefore firft en-^
deavour, to raife as much vegetable, and
animal, manure as poffible; and, next,
contrive to multiply it, by adding fuch
other ufefuj, ^component parts as induflry
may find, in different fituations.

Nothing tecds fo much to the increafe
of vegetable^ or animal manure, as a ju-
dicious

[ 7« ]

dicious choice in our fyflem of cropping.
I am inclined to believe, that any limited
portion of land, tolerably good in nature,
will produce, if well cultivated, and pro-
perly flocked, vegetable and animal ma-
nure enough to fupport itfelf, in good
heart, for ages, without any foreign aid.
But no exa(fl: rules can be given in writ-
ing, what the courfe of cropping fhould
be, lince foils vary fo much. But it may
be afTerted with confidence, that the moil
advantageous one does not confift, in the
old mode of fowing three crops of grain,
in fucceflion, and then letting the ground
remain two, or three years more without
yielding any thing, under the notion of
recovering it by reft. This fyftem fhould
be wholly exploded. The hufbandry of
the Aujirian Netherlands is, undoubted-
ly, the moft ufeful that is pradiifed.
There the land, like our gardens, yields
Y ^ ^ crop

[ 72 ]

a crop every year without diminlilimg the
leaft in its own value. The whole contri-
vance lies, in interweaving, as much as
poflible, the crops which are particularly
ufeful to man, fuch a? wheat, barley,
potatoes, beans, and peafe, with the
cxops moft ufeful to bcafts, fuch as tur^
nips, carrots, vetches, cole-feed, and ar-
tificial graffes. The more we plant, or
few, to the fnutual benefit of man, and
beafl, the nearer we are to the beft fyf^
tern J and confequently to that which
will produce the greatefl proportion of
vegetable, and animal manure.

The turnip- fyflem, in Norfolk y comes
as near to the pradice of the Netherlands,
as any made ufe of in England 3 one of
their befl courfes is divided into fix divi-'
lions, as follows :

I, Wheat after clover, or artificial

graffes.

2. Bai"-

[ 73 ]

2. Barley.

3. Turnips.

4. Barley, with clover, or other arti-

ficial grafles.

5. Clover, or artificial grafi^es, of the

firll year's lay, generally mowed.

6. The fame of the fecond year's. lay,

generally grazed.

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 comlno-
round in too quick a fucceflion j by which
means the land is tired of it. This
fyftem might be improved upon, by a
clofer imitation of the Flemifi-Hujhandry,
by dividing the land into eight divi-

fions,

t 74 ]

fions, cropped fomewhat in the following
order :

J. Year, wheat after clover of one
year's lay.

2. Ditto, turnips.

3. Ditto, barley.

4. Ditto, peafe, beans, potatoes, retch-

es, or cole-feed.

5. Ditto, wheat.

6. Ditto, turnips.

7. Ditto, barley, with clover feed,

8. Ditto, clover.

By this method the ground will, almofl
regularly, produce an alternate crop, for
man, and beaft ; and the land will never
loath the clover, becaufe it will only
ftand one year out of eight, inftead of
two out of iix. Every other crop will
likewife be meliorating. The ground
will be kept perfedly clean, and the pro-
duce will occafion manure enough, to

keep

[ 75 ]

keep it in good condition. I would not
however inlinuate this to be pradicable,
except upon pretty good land. Where
it is naturally poor, this fyflem cannot
be adopted. Here flieep will be found
the moft profitable ilock^ becaufe the
manure obtained by penning will be the
cheapefl and befl improvement to be
had ', and therefore fuch grafs-fecds
ihould be fown, as are mofl durable ^
which ihould be continued in the ground
at leafl; four years, taking care to manure
them well, the firfl year after they are
fowed.

Any intelligent farmer will, I am per-
fuaded, fee the force of this argument;
and confider a good courfe of cropping,
as the firft ftep necelTary to be taken to-
wards enriching his land.

I would next recommend an advantage,
to be derived from the quantities of mai-
den-earth

[ 76 ]

den- earth which are to be met with, at
the fides of many of our roads. Thefe,
mixed with muck, or lime, make excel-
lent manure for our corn, and turnips.
In EJfex, they are particularly induftrious
in this practice ; and as the outfides, or
ikirts, of inclofures, though enriched by
rotten leaves, feldom produce any corn,
on account of the fliade, and dripping,
of the hedges, and what it does produce
is of little value, becaufe the birds prey
upon it ; they generally fink thefe bor-
ders, at lead a foot deep, and mix them
Into compofl, 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 refped:; and no
farmer is excufable, in fleeping over fuch
advantages. If it be alledged, in an-
fwer, that this is only a temporary ad-
vantage.

[ n ]

vantage, It cannot however be denied,
but that it mufl increafe the flaple j and
though it may only improve it for the
prefent, this is no inconfiderable point
gained. For land, like animals, when
once it is 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
flate.

Next to the banks in roads, and the
borders of inclofures, the fcouring of
old ditches, the mud of ponds, and fedi-
ment of all fbagnate waters, are particu-
larly excellent 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 rotten muck, will
be very proper manure for moft kinds of

pafture.

[ 78 ]

pafture, as I have before obferved in
treating of Natural Grafles.

Clays, of every kind, are highly fuit-^
able to all fandy, or light foils ; becaufe
they brace the loofe particles together,
give them ftrength, and keep them moifl:.

By parity of reafoning, fand is equally
beneficial upon all clays, and other tena-
cious, iliff land -, becaufe it feparates the
parts, and deftroys their cohefive quality;
by which means the fun, air, and froft
penetrate them the better. This muft
be very obvious to every one; yet very
little of this has been done, in propor-
tion to the vaft improvement it may ef-
fect, and the variety of fituations v^rhere
it will be found to anfwer. Upon this
lafl principle, clofe land, inclined to
ilones,. ought not to have them picked
out.

Sand is 4ikewife of great ufe upon

rough.

t 79 ]

rough, coarfe, meadows ; nothing fines
the furface more, or produces a thicker
fet of Dutch clover.

Chalk, if it be of an un(fluous, foft,
quality, eafy t© dillblve, is a moft valua-
ble manure upon mofl land; but upon
four land, or any clay, it has a furprizing
good effed: ; it loofens, and meliorates it,
renders it highly fruitful, and fweetens
the produce, when it is in grafs, exceed-
ingly ', and, if ufed in compoft, may
be repeated for ages.

Marl differs greatly in quality; that
which is moil weighty, and foapy, when
moiften'd, 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 ; ren-
dering it highly fruitful ; though it fcl-
dom has any great cfFed:, before the third
year. But it makes ample amends, when
9 it

[ 8o ]

it does operate ; for it will be felt, with-*
out a repetition, at leaft twenty years.
No manure, in fliort, is fo lafting. Some
people have imagined, that mar/ will not
anfwer a fecond time -, but I am of opi-
nion, that if a fmall quantity be ufed in
a comport, it may be repeated, with very
good fuccefs, every tenth, or twelfth
year.

All aflies are indifputably good ; but
peat-afhes are the nobleft manure we
have, for all kinds of artificial gralTes.
Thofe who live in the neighbourhood
of Newbury, in Berkfiire, are fenfible of
their ineilimable value. There are un-
doubtedly a vaft number of meadows,
and commons, in many other counties,
where peat may be found ; but, though
its afhes are one of the moil valuable
forts of manure the kingdom produces,

it

[ 8i ]

it Is very little fought after, and very far
from being generally known.

Soot is excellent on mofl land, but
beft beftowed on artificial graffes.

Maritime counties have many advan-
tages over others, not only in the oppor-
tunities they have of, fometimes, import-
ing manure, but in being able^j frequent-
ly, to colledl great quantities of fea-weed
and ufeful fea-fand.

Salt is known, and univerfally allowed,
to be a great ftimulator of vegetation ; and
gentlemen in parliament cannot ferve
the public, or themfelves, better, than
by getting the duty lowered upon fo
much of it as might be ufed for manure.
But this article, in my opinion, would
anfwer beft, when mixed with other
coarfer manures ; and thus applied, a
little would go a great way, and bear
repetition, which it would not other-
G wife

[ 82 ]

Wife do. I fliall pafs over a variety of
other manures, which are excellent in
their nature, becaufe they cannot be had
in fufficient quantities, to eifed: 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 himiclf of
their ufe.

MAXIMS

[ 83 ]

MAXIMS RELATIVE TO PLOUGHED
LAND.

E

XPERIENCE fliews, that the
-/ longer we keep ofF the fucceilion
of anv grain, the better the crop will
prove. Land delights in a variety of
feeds J and loaths a too frequent repeti-
tion of the fame grain. Clover, in parti-
cular, may be fown till the ground will
be fo thoroughly weary of it, as to rejedt
it entirely. This has induced many far-
mers, to attempt the growth of feveral
fpecies of grain, and grafles, wholly in-
compatible with their foil 3 thereby run-
ning at once into the oppolite extreme.
True judgment will introduce as much
confident variety as poffible, and equally
avoid the folly of courting objedis wholly
jnappofite.

G 2 If

[ 84 ]

If the foil be flifF, cold, and fuitable
only to wheat, beans, and oats, it will
be abfurd, to aim at feparating thefe
crops with turnips, and barley. The
better way will be to interweave fome
meliorating crops, fuch as buck-v/heat,
which is an excellent exchange for this
fort of land. The great wefl-country
cabbage would fometimes be a valuable
crop here. On the other hand, upon a
very light, fandyfoil, wholly calculated
for rye, barley, turnips, and artificial
gralTes, 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 al-
mofl all the articles before enumerated
may be fown upon it, there will te no

difficulty

[ 85 ]

dlfticulty 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 ; at leaft
it often tends to promote the growth of
weeds, inftead of deflroying them. Land
that is defigned for winter-fallow^ fhould
be ploughed befor6 the end of Novem-
ber ; fo that it may receive the full bene-
fit of the froft. Provided it be ploughed
clean, it cannot lie too rough. Land,
for fummer-fallows, Ihould be broken
up early in May ; and every fubfequent
ftirring {hould be a crofs ploughing j 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 counftes, which fecms to

G 3 roc

[ 86 ]

me highly pernicious. It is called burn-
baking, or breafl-plcughing. It mufl
have taken its rife from lazinefs. Where
land is covered with a coarfe, rough,
fward, or is become very foul, the indo-
lent farmer, to avoid the pains of making
it clean, folicits his landlord (or, in fome
places, .the cuftcm is fo prevalent, that he
does not even afk him) to grant him leave
to pare and burn the turf; by which, if
he has a dry feafon, he gets rid of all his
trouble at once ; and generally procures
three, or four, florid crops, by means of
the alhes. But this is obtained at a heavy
expence to the landlord ; whofe proper-
ty, in the fee-fimple of fuch land, is, by
this means, diminiilied at leafl one fifth.
The injury is fo obvious, that no unpre-
judiced perfon can well doubt of it, The
fward, or fkin, is generally pared off, by
this method, to the thicknefs of about

two

f 87 ]

two inches -, and as it is of a hollow Tub-*
fiance, it may be admitted, that if the
earth were well (haken 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 allies will not cover the
ground to the thicknefs of a half-crown-
piece j fo that, upon any foil, this dimi-
nution mufl be feverely felt for half a
century afterwards -, and upon a fhallow
foil it is next to defl:ru(5lion.

Farmers will aiTert, by way of reply^
that they only burn the roots of the
rough grafs, and that the fire does not
reduce the earth, or foil. But it is well
knov/n, that the furface of all land, to a
confiderable depth, is nothing but the
relics of putrified vegetables, and plants j
and therefore will admit of a diminution.
And though the crops will flourifli for a
G 4 fen'

[ 88 1

few years, the great, and lafllng, nourifh-
ment to vegetation is by this pradice de»
ftroyed.

Ground will fometimes be rough-^
fkinned, and exceedingly difficult to be
cleaned ; which, I apprehend, induced
fome ingenious perfon, a few years fince,
to invent, and conftrud:, a plough, which
remedies the inconvenience at once. This
plough has two feparate (hears, and coul-
ters ', 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 firfl
pares off the turf, or fkin ; the next
ploughs up a clean body of earth, and
throws it dire(Slly over the former, fo as
to bury it effedually. By which limple
means, the land is at once effedlually
cleaned. Whatever further working the
ground may require, it may be done by
9 fhallower

. [ 89 ]

fhallower ploughing, to which particular
crops may be fuited. And there is no
neceflity for bringing the rough, or foul,
part up again, till it be entirely rotten.
Sometimes two crops may firft be taken.
This method is prad:ifed much among
the gardeners and farmers, in the neigh-
bourhood of London ; and might be
every-where adopted, except where the
land is flony, or remarkably {hallow.
Nor is this plough at all difficult to
manage, or much harder to draw than,
one of an ordinary conilrudion. The
inventor, whoever he Vv-as, may juflly
pride himfelf upon his difcovcry.

Deep ploughing has been greatly re-
commended, by fome modern writers.
Upon particular land, where the bottom
and top are of two oppolite qualities, and
neither of them right good, a mixture is
fometimes very beneficial ; and here this

experiment.

[ go ]

experiment, of going below the commoii
depth, may fometimes anfwer. But where
the top and bottom, for eighteen or
twenty indies depth, confiils of the fame
foil, I do not believe it is ever worth
while, to exchange the upper part, which
Jias been enriched for centuries back, for
a part lefs rich, merely becaufe it is more
frefh. I have indeed obferved, that deep
ploughing (except for fome particular
grain and plants) is by no means necef-
lary. The vegetation of ordinary corn,
and grafs, does not require any great
depth. In many parts of Comwa//, 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.

[ 91 ]

moved, and hardly ever thrown upon the
fiirface to wither; but clean, {hallow,
ploughing diflodges, and deftroys them
much more efFedlually. Nay hand-hoeing
is allowed by every body, to do more tO"
wards cleaning land than a ploughing.
And even the pernicious pra6tice of burn^
baking, which I have juft fpoken of, ef-
fectually cleans land, though it only goes
two inches deep. This feems to {hew,
that very deep ploughing is by no means
neceifary, towards cleaning land; and it
muft 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
jt js apt to fink, and efcapc too foon.

With refpcd: to the fort of plough
which merits preference, there is none
which can, perhaps, be univcrfally re-
commended. 3ut upon all fandy, or

Joamv-

[ 9a J

loamy-land, the "Norfolk nvhed-plough^
with one handle, which is extremely
light in its conftrudion, clears its furrow
remarkably well, and is efFecftually worked
with two horfes, feems the beft -, 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 invented, in Suffolk, which is very
light, and ufeful ; and many give it the
preference to the former. I mention
thefe two only, becaufe they are a horfe's
draft eafier than moft other ploughs, and
do their work as well as it can be done.
For the bufinefs of clean, fhallow plough-
ing, the Norfolk plough is, perhaps, better
than any other.

IMPROVE-

£ 93 3

IMPROVEMENTS, AND THEIR EX-
PENCES.

THE beft advice v^rhich can be given
to a man of fortune is, to perfuade
him to carry on all improvements, which
are out of the common w^y, at his own
expence. There are but few tenants
capable of finking any confiderable fum
of money, even when the profped: 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 vafl

deal

[ 94 ]

deal of land might be more than doubled
an value by draining ; but the improve-
ment, though obvious to every obferver,
is generally negled;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 dif-
charge it. The landlord, in this cafe, is
much to blame; for, let the caufe be
which it will, he may apply the proper
jremedy. 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 fhould at leafl pay the
expence of the improvement, take 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
lo while

[ 95 ]

while to fell a part of his eilate, to inie

prove the refr. Next to draining, clay-
ing, marling, and chalking deferve libe-
ral encouragement ; and where a tenant
has fpirit to fet his hand to thefe capital
cbjeifts, leafes, of tv/enty-one years at
Icaft, (hould never be with-held ; for,
where they are, the owner of the eftate
is guilty of a prefent injury to the pub-
lic, and a future one to his own pofte-
rity. Eftates, undoubtedly, ought to be
let for their fair value. The bad effects
are equal, whether they be under-let, or
over-let; in the one cafe, the tenant is
frequently negligent, in the ether, he is
difcouraged ; but, when the true value
of an eftate is known, and a good tenant
oiFers, it is unreafonable to exped: him
to rifk his property, without putting him
upon a footing of fome certainty. And

therefore

r 96 ]

therefore land-owners who refufe Icafes,
in fuch cafes as this, merely becaufe
they will keep their tenants in a ftate of
fubmiffion, and dependence, are inex-
cufable in fuch condud 5 becaufe they
prefer a fimple gratification to their real
intereft, and to the more enlarged no-
tions of contributing, all they can, to the
advantage and profperity of their country.
Even in the fingle bufinefs of coUediing
different forts of manure together, it
cannot be expeded, that a tenant at will
fliould look forward, beyond the im-
mediate crop which he is preparing to
put into the ground.

There is an infinite field for improve-
ment, in numberlefs other points, which
almoft every large eftate admits of 5 and
of which every owner may avail himfelf,
by a fpirited application of a little ready

money.

[ 97 ]

money. The mode is certainly practi-
cable, and promifing in its effect ^ and
thofe who adopt it, will find their advan-

tage in it,

V/ Vi? Vi?

fii )^ M

H WASTi

[ 98 ]

WASTE LANDS CONSIDERED, AND
THEIR SUITABLE IMPROVEMENT
SUGGESTED.

THOSE who have made obferva-
tions upon the wealth of this
country, have confidered our extenfive
forefls, chafes, and commons, as one of
the greateil refources remaining to us ;
and have lamented, that fuch noble tradts
of land fhould be fufFered to lie in a ne-
gledted, unprofitable ftate, while lands of
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 heft nurfe-
ries this country affords for the produce
oi timber 'y and if judicioufly planted, and
well proteded, would hereafter furnifh

almoft

[ 99 ]

almoft a fufficient quantity for all the
purpofes of the navy ; but at prefent,
there are fo many different interefts 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 corredt this defedl, and render them
of advantage to fociety.

Many other wafte lands are at the dif-
pofal of individuals, and thofe I fhall
principally conlider; but it will not be
amifs to examine, firft, the objedions,
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
people 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
H 2 generally

[ ICO ]

generally made by well-meaning people j
and there is fomething very humane, and
fpecious in their conclufion. But on ex-
amination, it will appear, that cottagers
who live at the fides oicom}?ions, generally
negled 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 owners, they rent thefe miferable
habitations proportionably high, on ac-
count of their fituation. It is the owner,
therefore, and not the occupier of thefe
cottages, who, in fadt, gets what advan-
tage there is to be had. The cottagers
themfelves are not, in any fliape, more
comfortable than thofe who live in pa-
rifhes, where there are no commons ; be-
caufe if there be any advantage to be de-
rived from their fituation, they do not
enjoy it without paying for it. But I am

inclined

[ lOI ]

inclined to believe, that the precarious
profits of a common fometimes difap-
point them j and that conftant, regular,
labour is a better fupport ; at leafl: it
would be, provided gentlemen of fortune
would take the laborious poor more un-
der their protedion ; for which I fhall
venture, in another 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. It may be afferted, that,
within thirty miles of the capital, there
is not lefs than 200,000 acres of wafte
land. Thefe lands, in a proper ftate of
cultivation, allowing fifty acres to a fa-
mily, one with another, would find em-
ployment for, at leaft, four thoufand
families. It never can be faid, with
H 3 truth,

[ 102 ]

truth, that thefe wafles fupport, In them-
felves, without other help, half that
number of people in their prefent flate.
Belidep, thefe lands, when cultivated,
would not only fupport the people em-
ployed upon them, but w^ould be ex-
ceedingly ufeful in the fupport of others,
who follow different employments.

The argument made ufe of, relative to
the advantage of raifing young ftock, has
much lefs foundation to fl:and upon.
Every one knows, that all commons are
wholly negle<5ted. No draining, or any
improvement upon them, is ever under-
taken ; fo that the produce is very tri-
fling, compared to what might be ex-
pe6ted from the fame foil, if it were pro-
perly managed. Their being fed at all
feafons, is another difadvantage which
commons lie under , and as neither fur-
face water, or fprings, i^re ever Ipd off,

9 ^^^y

[ i03 ]

they frequently occafion the rot, and
other diftempers in cattle; and often de-
ftroy as many as they fupport.

Many pariflies pofiefs a right of com-
mon upon a thoufand acres ; which, if
cultivated, would be v/orth from 500/.
to 1000/. a year. In thcfe, 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 iize, where there
is no common. Very true; there may
be more inhabitants, in proportion to the
cultivated parts of the land, in the one
parifh, than in the other ; but if the pa-
rifh which has the common, were all
cultivated, as well as the other, the poor
would find fuller employment; and as
the proportion of profitable land would
be greater, the rates, ©f courfe, would be
H 4 eafed ;

[ 104 ]

cafed; for admitting that there would
be as much paid as before, there would
be a greater quantity of land to furnifh
the fupply-j and, in this point of view,
landed property would be better ena-
bled to fupport its poor,- where commons
are inclofed, than where thofe com-
mons remain unimproved.

It may be fuppofed, that two-thirds of
all the commons in England will admit
of improvement. Many parts, by judi-
cious draining, would make good pafture-
land, and dairy farms, which would be
very ufeful, and profitable, and are every-
where wanted. Other parts, which now
produce furze, would bear good corn.
Even a great deal of heath-ground would
produce turnips, light grain, and artificial
grafles ; efpecially where clay, marl, or
chalk can be obtained. In Norfolk vaft
trajfts of this land have been improved,

to

[ i°S ]

to the mutual advantage of landlord, and
tenant, and to the great benefit of the
country.

To fuch gentlemen as have objeds of
this fort before them, the following
hints may, perhaps, be acceptable.

Where inclofures are made, which are
defigned for pafture, the fences fhould be
contrived, to anfwer, as much as poflible,
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 inclofijres fhould
be made more in parallelograms, than
fquares ; the longeft 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
ipoflible, 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
10 the

[ i°6 ]

the layer warm, and iheltered, makes a
fence in a few years, and, in fome parti-
cular parts, where people keep a watch-
ful eye upon their cattle, will render the
cxpence of pcfts and rails unneceliary.

Parts defigned for tillage, in the fum-
mer preceding their being broken up,
fhould have the furze, gofs, fern, or what-
ever is upon it, effedtually cleared away,
and the roots ftubbed up. Early in the
enfuing winter the ground fliould be
ploughed up, with a flrong plough, and
left in rough furrows, till a month after
Candlemas, that the froft may penetrate,
and chaflen it. Then it fliould have a
brifk crofs-ploughing, and afterwards an
harrowing. In the fpring of the year,
and all the enfuing fummer, it fhould be
fined, cleaned, and fweetened by frequent
ploughings. The remaining roots, and
rubbifli, may be fliaken out, and burqt.

The

[ 1^7 ]
The next winter it fhould be laid up
again in ridges, as high as the plough
can lay them. In May following, two
bufliels of buck, or French wheat, may
be fown upon an acre ; or, if the ground
be pretty good in quality, or ftrong in
nature, it may anfwer better to fow it
with cole-feed in July, or Auguft follow-
ing. The buck-wheat fliould be plough-
ed under for manure, when the fap, or
milk, is in the flem, and the flower in
full bloom, jufl before the feed begins to
fet; and this fhould remain under fur-
row, without diflurbance, till a fortnight
before Chriftmas. Buck- wheat generally
thrives better than any thing elfe, on this
fort of ground^ as a firft crop, and verv
often the crop is not contemptible.

The cole-feed, if it produce ever i'o
light a crop, will be of vaft advantage, as
it will invite the flieep qppn the land ^

and

[ io8 ]

arid 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 fhould follow, according to the
mode of cultivation I have defcribed in
another place. Upon this fort of land,
the whole crop of turnips fhould be fed
off where they grow, contrary to the
practice which I recommend upon an
improved farm. Two forts of flock will
be proper for the confumption of the
crop. The turnips fliould be hurdled
oifin fmall lots. The firft parcel of cat-
tle fhould be flock, defigned for the
butcher, and fhould have a frefh bait
every day. The other parcel may be lean,
or flore-cattle, which will thrive well on
the refufe* After thefe turnips, barley,
with grafs feeds, may be fown 5 and thefe

grafs

[ 109 ]

grafs feeds fhould 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 cafting the clay,
marl, or chalk, whichever may be eafi--
ell corrte at. The land will want fome
fuch affiftance, to finish its improvement;
and it will be improper to lay it on be^
fore, as the ground ou^ht to be firft
fettled.

In the courfe of my pradlice, I have
been inflrumental in the improvement of
confiderable trads of land of this fort j
and have generally found it anfwer ex».
tremely well ; for if the foil be tolerably
good, and the method of improving it
prudently confidered, it is very often an
eftate created at a moderate expence.
The beft method of improving wafle
Unds is, that which tends to the mutual

advantage

[ no ]

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 improvement is begun, toge-
ther with all he can grow upon it, du-
ring the firft three years of the term,
without requiring any advance of rent.
In the mean while, the landlord fliould
be at the expence, of erecting all necef-
fary, nev/ 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 be, from
thirty (hillings to three pounds an acre,
according to the diflance, and difficulty,
in getting the manpre. Here the land-
lord's whole expence ends. For the next
three years, the tenant fhould pay five

ihillings

[ III ]

lliillings an acre, yearly 5 for the next
feven years, feven and fix pence an acre ;
and for the remaining feventeen years of
the demife, ten fliillings an acre ; which
may be fuppofed to be the medium value
of this fort of land when the cultivation
is completed. Some, of courfe, will be
of more, and fome of lefs value. This
method I have known to anfwer; but,
where a gentleman has feveral farms, in
the neighbourhood of any large wafte,
which he wants to improve, it will be
befl to divide the objed: among feveral
tenants, as lefs expence will be required
in buildings. Befides, where a man takes
a large trad:, fufficient for a farm of it-
felf, he will be feven years in clearing,
and breaking the whole of it up -, and it
is not reafonable, to exped that his
leafe of thirty years fhould commence,
before the time of his clearing the

lafl

[ '12 ]

laft part. Upon thefe terms, there are
induftrious men enough to undertake
fuch improvements. A few words, and
fip-ures, will fhew the landlord's advan-
tao-e in it. I will calculate upon 500
acres, under every difadvantage ; lup-
pofing it worth two ihillings an acre in
its natural ftate, and ten fhillings an acre
when improved.

This

[ 114 ]

This eilimate is drawn, as though the
whole of the 500 acres were broken up
in the firfl year, and brought into condi-
tion, to receive the chalk, marl, or clay,
the fourth year, as it fhews the advan-
tage of this improvement in a clearer
manner, than it could otherwife have
been done. The fame fcale of calcula-
tion may be applied, to a greater, or lefs,
proportion of ground.

CULTURE

[ I'S ]

CULTURE OF TURNIPS.

TH E culture of turnips being one
of the mofl capital branches in
agriculture, and the beft method by no
means generally underftood, I fhall give
an exaft defcription of the Norfolk prac-
tkey originally brought into that country
from Flanders \ and annex fuch remarks
upon the ufe, and advantage, of this
excellent root as may recommend the
fame mode in other parts of the king-
dom, Vv'here this part of hu{bandry is not
fo well underflood.

In Norfolk^ this crop anfwers three
material purpofes : it cleans the ground,
which has been fouled by other crops ;
fupports a vaft deal of flock ; and is an
excellent preparative for almoft every
Succeeding crop, particularly ioi barley,
1 2 and

[ 1-6 ]

&nd grafs-fecds. The Norfolk farmer^
fenfible of its great importance, fpares
no pains, or expence, in the cultivation.
He confiders it as his fheet-anchor, or
the great objecil on which his chief de-
pendance is built.

Wheat, barley, or oat-ftubble is gene-
rally chofen, for the bringing on turnips.
The ground (hould be ploughed very
fhallow, fome time before Chriflmas, fo
as to ilcim off the rough furface only %
and in the month of March following, it
Should be well harrowed ; and, after har-
rowing, have a crofs-ploughing to its full
depth. If any weeds fhew themfclves,
it fhould be harrcTwed again, about a
week, or ten days, after this fecond
ploughing; but, if the land be m a
clean flate, it is better without this har-
rowing \ for, the rougher it lies, the
better. In this ftate, it may remain till

the

[ i'7 ]

the middle of May, when the Lent feed-
time will be finiflied, and the farmer at
kifure to work, and attend, his fummer-
lays. At this time, it fliould have an-
other ploughing, of equal depth to the
laft ; and, if the weather be dry, and the
foil ftiff, be immediately harrowed after
the ploughs 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 recommended, be
not fuiiicient for that purpofe, more
fliould be beftowed. About this time,
upon a fuppofition that the ground be
clean, ten good cart-loads of manure
fliould be laid on to an acre, regularly
fpread, and ploughed in quite frefli,
about half the depth of the two former
ploughings ; unlefs the land has been
manured for the preceding crop; in which
I 3 caic.

r "8 ]

cafe, the manure may be fpared for tur-
nips, as it fometimes is, though always
well beftowed, if it can be had in fufii-
cient 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 harrowed, it mult be ploughed to
its full depth -, 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 harrowed in,
only twice, the fame way as the ground
was ploughed. The beft, and ncateft,
finifli is, to walk the horfes, which draw
the harrows, the firft time, and trot
them the lafl. The harrovt^s fliould be

fhort-

[ "9 ]

fhort-tined, and, the lighter they are,
the better. The width of the ridges may
be varied, from four to ten yards, accor-
ding to the natural wetnefs, or drynefs,
of the foil. The manure may confift of
one fifth maiden-earth, marl, old ce-
nient from walls, or almoft any rubbifh,
and four-fifths muck ; which (hould be
laid together, fome time in the winter,
the muck on the top j and fhould be
turned over, and well-mixed together, at
leaft a fortnight before it is made ufe of.
If the foil be light, the muck cannot be
too (hort, 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-dufi: or combs,
about twenty facks to an acre ; each
I 4 fack

[ 120 ]

fack containing as much as can be
heaped upon three bufliels. The price,
at this time, in Norfolk is, one iliilUng
and nine pence a fack ; which is not
very dear, when the eafe of the carriage
is coniidered; for a waggon will carry
enough for three acres. This fometimes
is only harrowed in, inflead of being
ploughed in j for it ought not to be bu-
ried above two inches at mofc. Some
fort of manure is eifentially neceifary for
turnips 3 and the Hberal ufe of it is, per-
haps, one of the principal caufes, why
the fly does not dellroy the plant in Nor-
folki fo often as in many other counties.
The ground, by 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
puflied on with fuch vigour, that the

rough

[ 121 ]

rough leaves form the fooner, and put it
out of danger much earher, 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 deilroyed in their
infancy, which has always been a great
difcouragement to the cultivator.

The nicefl; part of the turnip-huf-
bandry yet remains to be treated of, viz.
Hoeing, without which all the former
labour is thrown away. Ground pre-
pared, and treated in the manner before-
defcribed, will, in about a month from
the time of fowing, if the feafon be kind,
produce plants large enough for hoeing.
If they cover a fpace of three inches in
diameter, they vj'iW be of a proper lize ;
and fliould then be hoed with a ten-inch
hoe, and fet at fifteen inches apart, with-
out paying any regard to the apparent

health.

[ 122 ]

health, in the choice of thofe which are
left. The expence of the firfl hoeing is
four fliillings an acre. About ten days
after the firll hoeing, or a fortnight at
fartheft, the ground mufl be hoed a fe-
cond time, fo as to ftir the mould effec-
tually between the plants, and to check
any riling weeds. This fecond hoeing is
as beneficial as the firft. The expence
is from two fhillings 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
fhould injure them. The almoft inva-
riable pradiice in Norfolk is, to draw the
whole of the crop from wet land, and
give them to cattle in cribs in the yard,
or flrew them before their cattle on fome
dry pafture or clean flubble-land. The
advantage derived from this is very great.

In

[ J23 ]

In the firfl place they avail tliemfelves of
every turnip, and the cattle have the
comfort to eat them off a dry place,
where they go twice as far, and do them
more fervice 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, accor-
ding to the fize of it, and hurdle off the
other half, to be confumed by bullocks
and fheep in frefh portions, as they re-
quire them ; letting the fatting flock in
firfl, and the flore-cattle afterwards to
eat up the offal parts. If the latter are
neat cattle, another great advantage is
derived by putting them into the flraw-
yards at night, where the extra quantity
of urine, occafioned by feeding on the
turnips in the day-time, contributes to-
9 wards

[ 1-4 1

wards their making morCj 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 practice it is clear, that a Norfolk
farmer manures twice at one expence^
for, half the turnips confumed where
they grow, beiides the manure laid on
when the crop was fown, v/ill leave the
ground in an excellent ll:ate for barley,
and artificial graiTes ; and the other half
ftrewed before cattle, on clean pafture or
flubble, will improve it as much as a
moderate coat of dung : and this very
ftubble-land in Norfolk^ is often fown
with turnips the fucceeding year, without
any other manure, and does very well ;
but, when this is the cafe, the flubble
cannot receive the firfl plougliing till

March.

[ I2S ]

March. There is fomething fo rational
in this mode of cultivating turnips, and
the benefit refulting from it is fo obvi-
ous, and confiderable, that it is a matter
of wonder hov^^ any farmer can hefitate
in adopting the pradlice : yet I have ne-
ver found that perfualion alone will pre-
vail with men, accuftomed to a different
method of culture j and am inclined to
believe, that nothing will be a fufficient
inducement but example, which fhould
be fet by gentlemen of landed property,
as well for their own advantage, as that
of the public.

If this method of raifing turnips fliould
be thought too expenfive, to anfwer in
general pradlice, it fhould be confidered,
that when the crop is good, twenty acres
vvill fatten at leafl fifteen bullocks, and
fupport ten followers, or flore-cattle,
for twenty-five weeks ; or fheep, in the

proportion

[ 126 ]

proportion of eight to one bullock -, be*
fides the infinite advantage which this
fyftem of agriculture is of to the land,
by cleaning, meliorating, and preparing
it for other fucceeding crops, which is
an objecfl very much beyond the former
in point of real profit. For it is evident
beyond contradidlion, that almoft 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, and fern, now pro-
duce fine crops of corn, and turnips, and
fupport a prodigious number of fheep,
and other cattle.

The white-rloaf, or cream-coloured,
turnips, are generally efteemed the befl
fort, and next to them the purple.

For the information of fuch perfons

as

[ 127 ]

as may not underftand the manner of
treating turnips for feed, it may not be
amifs to remark, that if the feed be ga-
thered from turnips which are fown for
three or four years fuccellively, the roots
will be numerous and long; and the
necks, or part between the turnips and
the leaves, wdll be very coarfe and big;
and if they be tranfplanted every year,
thefe parts will be too fine, and the tap-
roots will diminifh too much. The belt
way is, to gather the feed from the tur-
nips which are tranfplanted one year,
and fown the other ; or, if they be tranf-
planted once in three years, it will
keep the ftock in very good condition.
The method of tranfplanting is, to
take up the turnips chofen for feed
about Chriftmas, to cut off their tops,
and to plant them as near the houie
as poflible, that the birds may be kept

oiF

[ 128 ]

off the better ; which is a material confl-
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 vail tracfts of
land with them in the fame fituation;
and when they cannot eat their turnips
where they grow, they draw them with-
out hefitation, and almoil to the fame
advantage. This objedion therefore falls
to the ground; and it may be affcrted
with confidence, that if other counties
w^ould copy this pracftice of growing, and
drawing their turnips, there might be

3 five

f 129 ]

£ve times the quantity raifed that there
now is.

I cannot clofe this fubjed, without
venturing to give even the Norfolk far ??jer
one piece of advice, which I flatter my-
felf will be of fervice to him, if he will
attend to it.

In very hard frofls 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 feafon, 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 exhaufl. it
very much, without doing themfelves
any good, but rather injury, by running
into ilem. To remedy thefe inconveni-
K ences,

[ 130 1

cnces, 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 lit-
tle frefli earth between each layer, and to
cover 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 confumed, and to
pile them up in fmall ftacks with the
greens outward, a little clean ftraw be-
tween each layer, and at laft to cover, or
ikreen them with wattles or hurdles
lined with ftraw. If this were done in
fmall proportions, (I do not mean gene-
rally) it would certainly afford the cattle
great comfort in frofty weather 5 would
preferve many turnips from the rot,
^ which

[ 131 ]

which are now deftroyed^ arid would
difpofe of them better than by fufFer-
ing them to remain till the middle
of April, exhauftmg and impoverifhing
the land.

^i

K 2 CULTURJD

I 12

CULTURE OF COLE, OR RAPE-SEED.

/\ S this plant is valuable in itfelf,
^ -^ and may be often interwoven with
different forts of grain to very great ad-
vantage, 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 ftiff clay is
not fuitable to it, and thin-fkinned poor
land is wholly inappofite ; but fen-land,
marfh-land, and almofl any old pafture,
generally produces great crops of it -, and
it often fucceeds well upon fuch newly

cultivated

[ '33 ]

cultivated commons as, in their natu-
ral ftate, produce thorns and furze.

The ground is to be prepared exadly
in the lame manner as for turnips, which
I have particularly defcribed in treating
of that plant. If the ground it is fowed
upon be frefli broken up, it fliould be
iirft made perfedlly clean; but if it be
fown upon land which has been before
in a courfe of tillage ; wheat, barley, or
oat-ftubble is the befl to make choice
of; and the firfl ploughing fhould be
early in the autumn. If it follow wheat,
then barley, or oats, with grafs feeds,
Hiould follow the cole-feed; but if it
follow oats, or barley, then wheat
fhould fucceed it; which delights to
grow after it better than after any
other crop, and is always of the befl
quality ; and as the cole-feed will be
reaped fo early as July, the ground will
K 3 admit.

[ ^34 ]

admit, if necelTary, of two, and fome-
times three ploughings before the wheat
feed-time. The feed is to be fown the
laft week in July, or the firft week in
Auguft. If the land be not frefli, or in
good heart, it fhould be manured in the
fame proportion, with the fame fort of
manure, and in the fam.e manner as I
have recomrnended for the turnip-crop.
Two quarts of feed are in general enough
for an acre, unlefs the cultivator ihould
prefer ploughing, inflead of harrowmg,
it into the ground j, in which cafe three
quarts will be necefTary ; and the fur-
rows muft be very narrow and fhallow.
If the foil be rather light, I believe the
laft method is the heft. 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
lA^hich is ufed for turnips. The rule is,

to

[ 135 ]

to fet them from fix to nine inches
apart, according to their apparent vi-
gour, or the goodnefs of the land. One
hoeing is enough -, the expence fix fhil-
lings an acre. Thus far attended to the
crop will remain, without requiring any
other trouble than proteding it from
cattle, till the latter end of June, or the
beginning of July following, when it
will be ripe. The crop is then to be
reaped, (the nearer the ground the bet-
ter) and laid over the fame ground where
it grew, in very thin grips, or gavels.
In about ten days, or a fortnight, accor-
ding to the weather j having been once
turned in that time, it will be fit to
thraih ; which is done in the field, upon
cloths laid upon a fmooth part of the
ground, or elfe upon wattles, or hurdles,
laid over flools or pieces of wood ; one
end being elevated more than the other
K4 to

t 136 ]

to flioot off the flraw, with cloths under-
neath to catch the feed. The lafl me-
thod is the beft, though not the moil
common. It is brought to the thrafli-
ing-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
fhould 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 ; for if the foil
be proper for it, forty or fifty bufliels
may be expedled upon an acre : there
have been inflances when the produce
has amounted to eighty bufhels. The
price indeed varies, from four fhillings
to feven fhillings and fix pence a bufhel,
according to the quantity grown, and
the kindnefs or unkindnefs of the fea-
fon^ it being much fubjed: to blight,

and

[ ^37 ]

and mildew, and its value, in fome
meafure, is governed by the good or ill
fuccefs of the whale-fifhery. The ex-
pence of reaping, turning, thrafhing,
drefling, nd putting it into the bags, is,
from one pound to one pound five Ihil-
lino-s an acre. I fliall follow the feed
no farther, as I am not acquainted with
the manner of extracting the oil, and
preparing the cakes, which is a feparate
branch of bufinefs ; but the ufe thofe
cakes are of in fatting cattle, and ma-
nuring land, is not inconfiderable, being
worth at this time four pounds a ton.

The flraw (preferved from wet) may
be ufed for lighting fires, heating ovens,
coppers, and burning in brick-kilns ; but
is not of much value for manure. The
chaff and colder is generally burnt on
the fpot, and the adies fpread about the
ground. The flubble, if the foil be

clofe,

[ 138 ]

clofe, is ufeful to the next crop ; but
if the foil be light, I do not apprehend
it is of any fervice.

As I wifli the cultivator to be ac-
quainted with all the difadvantages, as
well as profits, of this crop, I would
have him take notice, that when it is
cultivated for feed it coils as much, in
putting into the ground, as a crop of
turnips : and, {landing a whole year,
takes up the fame time as a turnip and
barley crop together; but as it will be
better fitted to receive a fucceeding crop,
than barley after turnips, it will not-
withflanding be frequently found as pro-
fitable as both the other; and in that
cafe, for the benefit of change and va-
riety, it will fometimes be prudent to
give it the preference. I may add, that
this crop is exceedingly ufeful in clean-
ing land, and is of a meliorating nature.

There

[ 139 ]

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
defcribed -, but in this cafe there is no
neceffity for hoeing. It is fed ofF, as oc-
cafion 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, almoft always with good fuccefs. Be-
fore Chriftmas, nothing is better for fat-
ting dry ewes, and old flieep 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 to rot the ilalk, or ftem,
it will fpring again the beginning of
April.

It is generally fuppofcd, that this feed

is

[ HO ]
is a great exhaufter of land ; and Co it is,
if it be too frequently repeated 3 but it
may be fown, without prejudice, every
fourteenth year for a crop, or every fe-
venth for feeding cattle, but not of-
tener.

CULTURE

[ HI ]

CULTURE OF HOPS.

^y~^HE foil for hops fhould neither be
J- fandy, porous, or gravelly ; cohefive
clay, or moor -, but a generous rich
loamy mould, of at leafl: eighteen inches
depth of equal quality, the deeper the
better. It muft not be liable to injury
from floods, or fprings. The iituatlon
fliould be open to the fouth, and fouth-
eafl:, but well fheltered on the other
parts, particularly on the weft; becaufe
the winds from that quarter are often
violent and boiflerous, 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
fliould be broken up in the autumn ;
fometimes it is ploughed, and fometimes
dug, but the latter pracflice is befl. In

the

[ 142 ]

the beginning of March the holes de**
figned to receive the plants, fhould be
made, at the diftance of fix feet and a
half apart ; and 1 300 of thefe holes may-
be contained in an .acre. They fhould
be fo ranged, or difpofed, as to form
flreight lines every way. Fach hole is
to be a foot deep, and eighteen inches
diameter, and to be filled quite full of
fomc good compoft, made of rotten
muck, and frefh maiden earth well mix-
ed, and incorporated together, at leaffc
nine months before it is appropriated to
this ufe. After the holes are thus filled^
and the plants introduced, the compofl
fhould be a little trodden by men's feet,
efpecially round the plant, fo that it may-
be prelTed down, about two inches be-
low the common furface of the ground*
The original price of the plants is fi^
pence a hundred, which is reckoned at

fix

[ H3 ]

{ix 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 diftance, and

at about four inches . . ^ -^^-^

from the outfide of xV
the hole, as defcri-

bed in the margin 3 ^
the feven dots, con- '^
tained in the cir-
cle, reprefenting the ^ '^ '^'^'^'
plants. The roots

are fet two inches deep in the compof!:,
with only the top of the ftalk jufl out ;
and after, they are fo fet, the whole of
the plants ai*e covered over about two
inches deep, with fome of the native foil
made fine, and drawn lightly over the
compofi:, which will fill the hole even
with the common level of the ground.
It is not prudent to fow any thing,

the

[ 144 ]

the iirft year, with the young plants,
except onions ; which may be done in
the month of March, when the hops are
fet j and this generally proves a very
valuable crop. They are much better
than any thing clfe, becaufe they admit
a more free circulation of air through
the plantation. In each of thefe holes
(which, in future, mufl be diflinguillied,
on account of their increaling bulk, by
the appellation of hills) there iliould be
fet, pretty early in the fpring of the
Br{{ year, two fmall ilicks of about two
or three yards long, to teach the young
binds to climb ; and three in number
fliould be led up each flick, and tied
with meadow-rufli, fedge, or fomething
of a fnnilar quality, two or three times,
as occafion may require, in the courfe of
the fummer. The f^round fhould be
kept particularly clean from weeds, and
I o rubbi/h

[ 145 ]

rubbifh of all kinds ; and the hills fliould
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 Augufl. Here ends the firfl year's
expence, and trouble.

In the courfe of the enfuing winter
it will be neceffary, to provide poles. If
the hops be luxuriant, and ftrong, two
poles will be fufhcient for each hill, or
two thoufand fix hundred to an acre.
But if the plantation be languid, and
weak, every other hill fhould have three
poles; which will require 3250 to an
acre. But, though the weakefh plants
will require the greatefl number of poles;
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
L con fid cr-

[ 146 ]

confiderably ; but the medium price may
be confidered from fifteen to twenty
fhillings a hundred, at the flub, without
reckoning their carriage.

When the poles are brought to the
ground, they fliould be unloaded at the
outfides of the plantation, and carried
upon men's fhoulders to the places of
poling.

No muck, or compofl, is neceiTary
for the fecond year ; but the ground
muft be dug in the autumn, in the fame
manner as it was the firil y; ar. In the
month of March every year, after the
firft year's planting, the hills mufl be
opened, and the plants dreffed, by cut-
ting oft the old, lafl year's bearing- ftalks
within two joints of the root ; and if
any of the plants have failed, or are
found in a fickly flate, others muil be
fubftituted in their ftead. In doing of

which

[ H- ]

which care muft be taken, to dig the
earth fufficiently deep about each ftock,
or root, that all defedis may be difco-
vered, and that there may be room to
cut off all the old ilalks. When the
plants are thus vifited, and drefTed, the
earth fhouJd be raked back upon them.
The beft of the prunings will ferve for
frelh 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 fhould be condu(5ted up each pole,
and confined, by being tied with mea-
dow-rufhes, or fedge, as before-de-
fcribedi which muft be repeated three
or four times, as occalion may require.
Sometimes, when the poles are long, and
the plants vigorous, it is neceflary to
have a ladder to tie them on the top.

This bufmefs requires particular atten-
L 2 tion

[ 148 ]

tlon at the beginning of the fummer."
When fliort and flender poles are fet to
a hill, where binds may happen to be
exceedingly florid, and flrong, 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 ;
and the advantage derived from this at-
tention is often very coniiderable. All
fuperfluous binds fhould be taken away,
feveral times, in the courfe of the fum-
mer ; except two only upon each hill,
which fhould be referved, to fupply the
place of fuch as 'may happen to be in-
jured, in being firil led up the poles.
Such injuries frequently happen, either
by the buds being bruifed, or their heads
beaten off by wind, or other accidents,
to which they are very . liable in their
tender infant ilate. Three hoeings, in a

feafon.

[ H9 ]

feafon, are eflentially neceiTary ; in the
beginning of May, June, and July ; and
at each hoeing fome mould fliould be
drawn upon the hills, to keep the roots
of the plants moifl. They muft likewife
be once moulded, pretty early in the
month of Auguft ; and if this be done
foon after rain, it is the better ; and
therefore it may fometimes be done, on
this account, a little fooner or later than
the cuftomary time. This is the whole
which will be requifite, till the crop be
gathered.

As foon as the hops are ripe, and fit to
pick, the poles are drawn with an injiru-
me7it in moft places, called a pidimg-ho&k.
Four fkeps will be neceflary for cvt-y
acre ; and four women, or children, may
conveniently make ufe of one fkep. If
the weather be tolerably fine, they will
be able to pick an acre in ten days, or a
L 3 fortnight.

[ 15° ]

fortnight. From t^n to fourteen hun-
dred, to an acre, is efteemed a good
crop ', but there are inftances of twenty
hundred being grown upon an acre ;
which, at five pounds a hundred, a-
mounts to an hundred pounds an acre.
But this feldom happens.

As foon as the hops are picked, they
are carried to the kihis to be dried ; and
about five or fix days after they are
dried, it will be a very good time to
bag them.

The befi: way of bagging is, to have
a hole cut in a chamber-floor, or loft, to
the jufl fize of the bag; the mouth of
which muft 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 weights
which he keeps removing, to the place
where he is not immediately treading.
9 The

[ tSi 1

The clofer they are prefTed into the bag,
the better ; becaufc 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 neceffary rules, to be
obferved in refpedl to the duty ; but as
every cultivator of hops ought to be par-
ticularly inftruded upon this head, it
will be advifable 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
thirty or forty poles fhould be fet to each
corner, and each corner props its oppo-
fite. The four corners fhould fland
twelve feet apart, every way, at the bot-
tom; and the tops of the piles fhould
L 4 unite.

[ H^ ]

unite, and be interwoven together, as
clofe as poffible. Betv/een the four cor^
ners below, there will be an open free
paffage, which, admitting a free circu-
lation of air, will contribute greatly to
(he prcfervation of the poles.
' The binds, if got up perfedly dry,
and laid under cover, will make tole-
rable fuel for coppers, ovens, and brick-
kilns.

Although muck is to be omitted the
fecond year, it is abfolutely neceffary
every year afterwards, in the proportion
of twelve good cart-loads to an acre,
well mixed, and incorporated together
with fifteen loads of frefli, virgin-earth,
for near twelve months before it is ufed.
This is one thing which makes the cul-
ture of hops exceedingly expeniive ; but
the quantity here defcribed is abfolutely
neceffary. Indeed it is the moil mate-?
8 rial

[ 153 ]

rial part. This compofl fliould be car-
ried on the ground with fmall carts
(thofe of three wheels drawn by one
horfe are beft) before the ground be dug
in the autumn, and laid in fmall heaps ;
and fliould afterwards be incorporated
with the mould furrounding each hill,
at about the diftance of a foot from It.

The old ftock ought to be flubbed up,
and renewed, every tenth or twelfth
year / and it is mofl: 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 fucceffion -, and to do it by gra-
dual expense, and labour. Another ad-
vantage arifes from this method, viz.
The oldeft of the poles which, by long
ufe, are rendered unfit for the old plan-
tations, will neverthelefs be exceedingly

ufcful

[ 154 J

ufeful in the new ones, during the firll
and fecond years. As to the duration
of the poles, the beil 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 )

fuitable for hops ■ J i lo O

Digging the ground — — o 13 0

Drelling and pruning — ■■ 080

Poling '1 - 0 15 o

Three hoeings • ■ " ■ ■ - 090

Once moulding — — — q ^ 5

Tying the binds to the poles — - j ^2 0

Stripping the binds olT the poles — 030

Stacking the poles '•< ••' - 040

Sharpening the poles O 10 10

Manuring ■ ■ '■ — — .. 200
Picking, drying, and duty, at'
il. los. a hundred, the cropi
being eftimated at twelve hun-
dred to an acre

Bagging, and the occafional ex- 7 ^^ ^ -,
pence of bags, about • 3

Carried over 26 4 4

t ^55 1

/. s. d.

Brought over 26 4 4

Afli-poles eftlmated at 3250 to an->

acre, fuppofed to lafl: eight years, I

medium price 18 J. a hundred, at [

V ? IQ 0
the ftubb : the eighth part of j "•

which is, as nearly as need be j

calculated • • J

Carriage of poles eftimated at - 150

31 2 4

Suppofing twelve hundred to be^
srov/n upon an acre, and thatL „
the medium price is 4/. a hun- '
d;ed, the produce will amount to

I

And the expences deducted out of -j
the produce, will leave a medium > 16 17 8
profit of ■ — — J

Sometimes, as I have before obferved,
a hundred pounds has been made of an
acre of hop-ground 3 which accidental
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

[ IS6 ]

When the ground is perfedly 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 5 hops are certainly an obie<5l of
great profit -, and land being enriched,
and at the fame time perfectly cleaned,
by their culture, is left in the beft of
all conditions for being laid down with
grafs. But, as they require an infinite
deal of attention, 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 farm. This is very evident in
the counties of Worcejler, and Hereford;
where it is very common, for a farmer
who occupies two hundred acres of land,
to apply the greateil part of his muck to
the nourishment, and fupport, of about
ten or a do?en acres of hops, and to ne-

gledl

[ m ]

gle(fl every improvement upon thirty or
forty acres of pafture-land, merely for
the fake of its producing him alder poles
for his plantation : which pafture-land
might often be doubled in value, if the
alder-ftools w^ere extirpated, and the
land properly drained. Farmers fhould
therefore be checked, when they aim at
raifing too great a proportion of hops,
not only for the reafons beforemen-
tioned, but becaufe the article is preca-
rious in its nature 5 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 bufinefs of cultivating hops and
farming is incompatible, each requiring
conftant attention.

OBSER-

[ 158 ]

OBSERVATIONS RELATIVE TO BUILD-
INGS AND REPAIRS.

THE firft objed in the management
of an eftate is, to diicover and
adopt all pra(5licable modes of improve-
ment upon the land. The fecond relates
to fkill, and frugality, in the conflrud:ion
of fuch neceilary buildings as the eftate
may require, and care and contrivance
in their occafional reparation.

The following general rules refped:ing
new eredtions may be worth obferving.
*' Not to build any thing but what will
*' be really ufeful. To build upon a
'' fmall compadl fcale, and as much as
*' poffible upon fquares, or parallelo-
** grams, not in angles or notches. To
** build at all times fubflantially, and
** with good materials. Not to lay any

** timber

[ IS9 ]

** timber Into frefli mortar, becaufe the
** lime eats up, and waftes, the ends of
** it long before the other parts decays
** 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 difcharging-piece, or lin-
** tel, over fuch door and wlndow-
" fpaces." The reafon of the laft cau-
tion is obvious 5 for as brick-work fet-
tles, foon after it is up, the window-
frames and door-cafes, on account of
their ftrength, Vv^ill not yield with it,
but ^.ccafion cracks and flaws ; but when
a lintel is made ufe of, the whole work
fettles regularly together, and door-cafes
and window-frames may be then intro-
duced, with more propriety than before.

With refpedt to materials, tiles or flate
are the beft covering for houfes i but

barns

[ i6o ]

barns and ftables fliould be thatched,
becaufe workmen are always carelefs, in
laying corn and hay into them, and ge-
nerally pufh the tiles off with their
prongs ; and beiides, thefe buildings,
when empty, colled: a great deal of
wind, which is apt to diflodge them,
unlefs they are pointed in the infide,
which encreafes the expence confider-
ably, and is never lafting. Reed is the
beft of all covering for barns, flables,
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
fad beyond contradidion, that the tim-
ber ufed in roofing will laft thirty years
longer, when covered with reed, than it
will when covered with tiles. The next

beil

[ i6i ]

beft covering to this is the Somerfetjhire'
reed'y which is nothing more than the
ftrongefl wheat- ft raw 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 Somerfet-
JJjirey in fufficient quantity i 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 SomerfetJJjire-t hatch and that of other
counties. The comm.on, injudicious,
flovenly pradice 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
M quite

[ l62 ]

quite green, after it is laid upon the
building -, and, being bruifed in all parts,
to colled 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 flraw is defigned
f(;^/4hatching, it is a good way to cut
the corn rather earlier than ordinary.
^r With refpecl to the timber moH: proper
for building, I know of none that is to
be preferred to SpaniHi-chefnut, where it
jcan, be had, becaufe it is very pleafant to
work, and, as durable as oak, though it
feldom bears the price of it. In mari-
time counties where oak fells well, and
deals are tolerably cheap, it is ]]beit to
difpofe of the one, and buy the other ;
becaufe oak is generally cut to waile in
moft repairs, and deals may be bought,
©f any fcantling that may be required.
In all paling, battoning, and other

fences

t 163 3

fences about the homeftall j nothing is
more ufeful than pollards -, and they,
fhould always be made ule of en 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 confiderable
objed:, and great care iLould be taken in
getting them of a good quality. Upon
moft 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 in quality.
I have had a great number burnt in this
manner, from eleven to fourteen {hillings
a thoufand, in Norfolk y Hertfordfiire,
Gloucejierjhire, and Worcejlerfiire. The
medium price is twelve (hillings a thou-
M ^ fand

[ i64 ]

fand where fuel is reafonable. Befides
the difference in price, there is generally
a gseat faving in carriage, when gentle-
men burn their own bricks.

No material in building requires great-
er infpedtion than mortar, in which ma-
fons are apt to be deficient. Two things
are to be attended to 3 the quality of the
different articles, and the manner of
mixing them.

When new buildings are to be eredled,
it is elTential to choofe the moft Sheltered
fpot which can be pitched upon, con-
fident with the fituation of the land;
becaufe it is prudent, to guard againfl
tempeils as much as poffible, and becaufe
young flock thrive much better in v/arm
yards.

Farmers are never fatisfied, with the
number of buildings which are afiigned
them ; they are particularly craving for

a great

[ i65 ]

a great deal of barn-room, which makes
the expence of repairs extremely heavy.
Owners of eftates fhould therefore be
governed by what is really necefTary,
and not led into fuperfluous expence,
merely by liftening to a man who pleads
his own caufe only.

The mofl neceilary buildings to a
farm, beiides a convenient comfortable
houfe, are good accommodations for
cattle; fuch as flable, cow-fheds, calves-
pens, and pigs-cots. Thefe may fre-
quently be fupplied by lean-to's, or
otherwife built at a moderate expence;
but barns, which are very expenfive,
may often be contracted, and much un-
neceffiry chargje faved. What fliould be
moft recommended is, flacking; wbich
ought to be done much more than it is.
Wheat is certainly better preferved in
ricks, than barns; the air keeps it fv.cct-
M 3 er.

[ i66 ]

cr, and It is more fecured from vermin.
Every barn ihould be fo contrived as to
have a rick-iladdle at each end, and a
hole in each gable to pitch the corn into
it. Upon fmall farms, the barn need
not confiil of more than a thraihing-
fioor in the middle, and an equal fpace
at each end, juil to receive the quantity
contained in a fmall rick.

When bricks can be burnt upon an
eftate, upon the terms I have before men-
tioned, nothing is to be preferred to them
for barn, and ftable-walls ; but where
they come dear, and timber is tolerably
cheap, feather-edged boards, between
the cills and wall-plates, are next to be
chofen, and if tarred are very durable.
As for ftud-work, with brick-work be-
tween, or daubing, it is fo much fubjett
to accident, that it feldom lafls long.

All Vvork, whether old or nev/, Hiould

be

[ ^6; ]

be fet as much as poiTible by the jobb,
for a fixed fum ; always fubjecft how-
ever to infpedion and approbation when
finiflied.

No new coat of thatch, or covering
of tiles, fhould be put upon an old roof,
not likely to carry it till it is worn out ;
nor any new roof upon old decayed
walls.

In reparations two points fliould be
attended to, in preference to every other
confideration. The one is, to keep all
the ground-cills or foundations con-
ftantly tight, to prevent the wall or up*
per part of the building from warping,
or getting out of its perpendicular ; the
other is, to keep the thatch or covering
at all times whole, to prevent wet from
getting in to damage the timber.

When buildings are very old, and in

bad condition, it is better to pull them

M 4 quite

[ 168 ]

quite down, than to be at much expence
in patching them.

Tenants ought to find ftraw for thatch-
ing, becaufe it is the growth of the
farm, and to carry all materials for re-
pairs gratis, becaufe their teams and
carriages are ready on the fpot, and they
can often do it at leifure intervals, with-
out much inconvenience.

When farms are leafed, the landlord
generally engages to put them in repair,
and the tenant to keep and leave them fo.
But eftates, under this regulation, are
very often negledled ; for when the land-
lord is not called upon, it is very natural
for him to be carelefs -, and at the ex-
piration of the demife, there is often a
heavy unexpedted charge brought on,
for want of a little timely attention ;
and It feldom happens that a landlord
can prevail on the departing tenant, to

be

[ i69 ]

be at much expence in making good
defedis, and it is very unplealing to be
obliged to compel him to do a thing by
force. Conflant attention not only re-
duces the expence of repairs, but brings
them to a more regular and even charge.
But as no exertion or affiduity whatever,
in an ov^ner, or fteward, can be fuffi-
cient to attend to every accident, that
happens upon a large eftate, it feems ef-
fentially necellary, that the tenant ought
fomehow to be interefled in the prefer-
vation of the buildings, as well as the
landlord -, becaufe as he is always on
the fpot, he can remedy a breach at the
expence of a iliilling, by taking it In
time, which will coft the landlord a
guinea by being neglected. He too, by
being on the fpot, can better attend to
the workmen, to fee that they do not
idle away their time, v/hen they work

bv

[ 170 ]

by the day. This obvious inconveni-
ence has been cffedlually remedied by
Mr. Aiifon, upon his eflate under my
care in Norfilky by agreeing with his.
tenants to allow them all reafonable ac-
commodation?", and all necefTary mate-
rials for repairs, but that they fhall fuf-
tain the moiety of all expences for work-
men's wages, unlefs tempefts or accidents
fliall bring the expence of fuch work-
manfliip, in any particular year, to n^ore
than fix per cent, upon the rent; in
which cafe the landlord pays the furpluf-
age. The faving has already been con-
fiderable -, and as no tenants have a bet-
ter landlord, nor any landlord a better
fet of tenants, they find mutual con-
venience, and fatisfa6tion, in this regu-
Icitlon ; as others may do, if they will
imitate it.

7 THE

t '71 ]

THE DEFICIENCY OF TIMBER CON-
SIDERED.

TH E decreafe of timber in this
illand has been much complained
of, and not without reafon, A few years
fince, the government took this impor-
tant objedt under coniideration. The
Commiflioners of the Navy, and many
other perfons, were examined before a
Committee of the late Houfe of Com-
mons, as to the quantity, and condition,
of the timber in general throughout the
kingdom. The deficiency was clearly
proved, but the remedy applied was no
cure to the difeafe. Inflead of planting
and protecting the King's foreils, and
encouraging private perfons to promote
the growth of timber, in order to keep
up a proper fucccflion, a reflraint was

laid

[ ^72 1

laid upon the Eafl India Company from
building fhips of fo large a fize as for-
merly. This meafure, inftead of being
of ufe, was a manifeft difcouragcment to
the growth of timber, becaufe it pre-
cluded the grower from carrying his com-
modity to any other market than the
Navy ', and as Government fixes its own
price, no man, in future, can be expected
to fuffer his timber to ftand beyond the
fize, which he has a right to difpofe of in
what manner he pleafes. Government
undoubtedly fecured all the timber then
ftanding, but effedlually cut itfclf off
from all farther fupply^ which it muft
feverely feel in the long run.

It would perhaps have been better,
though I fpeak it with deference, that
nothing had been done in this matter,
than that a prohibition of this kind
fhould have been eflablifhed. A vaft

deal

t 173 ]

deal of growing timber will now be cut,
at a fmaller fize than formerly ; befides
that all reftridions which affedt trade, or
private property in any fhapc, are impo-
litical, and odious.

I have taken the liberty, to preface my
obfervations upon timber with this re-
mark, merely to fhew, that no regulation
of Government is fo likely to provide a
remedy againft the deficiency of timber,
as the private attention of individuals;
and therefore, great as the objedl before
us is, nothing feems wanting but to
convince men of landed property of the
great profits which refult from planting.

That there is a deficiency of timber
in this kingdom, particularly in oak,
evidently appears from the proceedings
of the faid Committee; and every man
who has lately travelled much into the
internal parts of the country, muft be

fully

[ m ]

fully fenflble of it from his own bbfefva-*
tion. It will therefore be needlefs, to
add more to prove it, but effentially ne-
celTary to adopt fome eligible plan, for
the future increafe and prefervation of
this ufeful commodity 5 whkh I fhall
endeavour to iuggeft in the following
hints*

^
n K

THE

[ t7S ]

THE MOST USEFUL SORTS OF TIMBER
CHARACTERIZED.

O I N C E the modern fafhion of orna*
^^ meriting country-feats, and villa's,
has prevailed, almoil every gentleman's
attention has been taken up in that mode
of planting ; and many of them are apt
to confider themfelves as great planters,
merely becaufe their habitations are fur-
rounded with a thick margin ; hz]f the
trees of which will never be of any
national ufe. I do not however mean
to infmuate, that this method of planting
has no merit, but that it is not the ftyle
of planting which this country requires ;
and that, while gentlemen attend to the
embelliihment of a few acres, they fre-
quently neglect larger objeds, upon fuch
parts of their eflate as lie farther from

home.

[ 176 ]

home, and are more calculated for grow-
ing better forts of timber.

When real ufe only is confidered, we
iliall find that a very few trees, in fpe-
eies, will be fufficient to anfwer all our
purpofes.

The oak claims our firft regard: its
ufe is general, and eifential ; and though
neceffity might teach us to ihift without
other timber, this alone, when we con-
iider the importance of our navy, is what
we cannot difpenfe with, without feeling
the greatell: inconvenience.

Ajh is perhaps the fecond timber, in
point of utility, though it be far from
being held in univerfal efteem. It has
many enemies, becaufe the wet, which
drips from it, is very noxious to mofl
other plants. And as it ilioots its roots
horizontally, and pretty near the furface,
farmers have a particular diflike to it,
n becaufe

t ^77 1

becaule it interrupts the plough ; but
when its extenlive ufe is confidered for
coopers, wheelwrights^ corch-makers,
carpenters, fieve- makers, and fbme other
trades ; for hop-poles, hurdles, and
many other purpofes, no wood, except
oak, could lefs be fpared ; and as its
growth is quick, I do not know a more
profitable one.

Elm is another noble fort of timber,
being ufeful for {hipping, pipes for con-
veyance of water, millwrights, and car-
penters ufes. There are many forts of
it ; but the moft valuable are '' the fmall-
<* leaved Englifi elm, and thefmQQtb narr
<< row-leaved elnty by foQie called the
*' upright narrow-leaved elm." This tree
once planted, is planted for ever, as it
fpreads itfelf aflonifliingly. It is the beft
of all trees in hedge-rows, becaufe it
generally grows ere<5t, does leaft damage
N to

[ 178 ]

to fences, and will ftand much clofer to-
gether than any other. Some people are
fond of it, merely becaufe it will bear
lopping better than any other tree : but
the common cuftom of pruning is very
dellruclive to the health of the tree, and
injurious to the quality of the timber j
and, where this praftice prevails, is a
great blemifh to the appearance of a
country.

SpaniJJj chefnuty fome times called fweet
chefnut, may be clalTed 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 encourage-
ment more than this; it may be looked
upon, with great propriety, as the oak's
befl fubftitute; fince it anfwers many

purpofes

[ m ]

purpofes where no other wood, e.icept
oak, would do.

Sycamore is ufeful for turners, and is
befides very profitable in item- wood.

Beec& is ufed for felloes of wheels, and
by cabinet-makers, for making handles
to a great many tools, and for firkins to
hold foap; is a mofl elegant tree for
pleafure, and ornament, and pays ex-
tremely well upon dry chalky hills,
which are little calculated for any thing
elfc.

Abeki and white poplar, which are
exceedingly quick in their growth, par-
ticularly when planted near a running
flream, make good boards for ordinary
repairs ; and ferve for the purpofes of
whcel-barrows, and the fides of waggons
and carts, and may be confidercd as an
ufeful fubflitute to the a(h, in thoie, and
many other purpofes.

N 2 Black

[ iSo ]

Black poplar, alders, and feveral forts
of withe, make ufeful rafters, poles, and
rails, and planted in the manner herein-
after defcribed, make a very quick re-
turn. The latter is likewife ufed by
batten-makers, and fometimes by tur-
ners ; and where elrn is fcarce, it is of-
ten ufed for water-pipes.

Having, in a curfory way, run over
thie different qualities, and ufes, of the
inbft neceffary kinds of tirnber, and
wood, I ihall proceed to treat of them
more particularly.

The firll maxim in planting is, to
make a judicious choice of fuch trees as
our foil will bear j which is beft difco-
ve^e'd by the trefes tbemfelves, where
any happen to grow upon it, otherwife
t!he obfervation mufl be made upon fome
other foil, of a limilar nature, where
they do grow.

% The

[ iSi ]

The next maxim is, not to plant the
fort of tree which the neighbourhood is
already flocked with, but (vice verja)
thofe of which there is the greatefh fear-
city. This is a confideration of great
confequence, though feldom much at-
tended to.

If the foil be appofite, and the country
not over-flocked, or fo fituated as to ad^
mit of carriage out of it, give the prefer-
ence to oak, apy elm, or Spajjijl:) chejnut.

In maritime counties, and others,
where there is water-carriage, there can-
not be too much oak, or ehn planted, let
the neighbourhood be ever fo much
{locked ; becaufe thefe forts, being ufe-
ful in {hipping, will always find a good
market elkwhere, if not at home. With
other timber, in fome particular inflances,
a country may be over-planted, and in-
jured by that means,

N3 If

[ i82 ]

If all forts of timber be equally fcarce,
and dear, plant the quickeft growers;
and among thefe abele, white poplar^ and
Dutch withe J if the foil be moift, fhould
have the preference.

If coal be very dear, it may fometimes
anfvver, to plant merely for fuel ; in
which cafe afi^ beech, fycamore, maple,
and hazel, make excellent ftem-wood
• upon found land -, and alder j black-
foplars, and withes of all forts, do well
near brooks, rivers, or even upon boggy
land.

Wh^n 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 ihillings an acre yearly.
In the neighbourhood of balket-

makers

[ 1-83 ]

makers plant ozieTS ; which arc very
profitable, and quick in their return.

In hop-countries plant afi, and the
long-leaved withe for poles.

The judicious planter will weigh all
thefe different circumflances, and make
his own application ; but, befides .all
that I have obferved, the price of each
fort of timber, as well as the quicknefs,
or llownefs of its growth muft be con-
fidered, before a jufl difcovery can be
made, which is moil profitable.

N4 DIFFERENT

[ i84 ]

i)JFFERENt METHODS OF PLANTING
SlJQGESTEP.

EXPERIENCE fhews, that thorns
and bufhes are the natural nurfes
for iall foreft trees, particularly for oak 5
and as thefe neVer grow high, Vv^e learn
hence too, that oaks do not like any
neighbour to ovcir-top them, longer than
is necefTary t6 prote(3:, 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 confider-
able lize, do beft in plantations of their
own kind only; oak, for inftance, dif-
likcs the ajh, and feldom thrives well
in its company. This teaches us, to
make fome inferior wood fubfervient to

that,

[ 18S 1

that, which we fet the greatefl: value
upon; fo that it may anfwer the fame
fefid, to the better fort, as tliorns and
buflies do in a foreft.

When large plantations are defigned
to be faifed, the firft burinefs is, to clean
a piece of land for a nurfery, fufficiently
large for the purpofe required ; which
(hould be fecurely fenced round, and
tolerably well fheltered ; but fhould 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 v/ay to plant the oaks,
or whatever trees are deligned for tim-
ber, at nearly the difhance they are de-
figned to ftand forty years afterwards;
and when any fail, to fupply^them occa-
fionally. This beft fort, defigned for
timber, fhould be planted at the growth
of about feven or eight feet high ; and

all

[ i86 ]

ail the intermediate fpaces fhould be
planted, at the fame time, with more
ordinary plants, fuch as fycamorcy and
horfe-chefnuty at the diftance of about
two yards fquare, and about half the fize
of the better fort ; which will be when
they are about two or three years old.
Part of thefe, as they advance in growth,
Ihould be chopped down, to thicken
the bottom, to keep the better trees
moill, and warm. As they flill grow on,
the remainder fhould be chopped down,
by degrees s which will make a very fine,
and profitable under-wood, about the time
that the better fort of trees will want to
Spread their branches, and be clear above.
This method of raifing timber in plan-
tations, mufl be allowed to be a nearer
imitation of nature, than the common
way of planting a variety of forts toge-
ther, of equal age, fuch as oak, ajh, elm,
7 beecbs

[ >87 ]

beech, chcfnut, and many others ; and
experience, the befl of all evidence, has
always proved it. The common me-
thod of planting has this great difadvan-
tage attending it — the planter has not
the heart to cut down valuable trees,
when the plantation wants thinning,
though they ftand too thick ; and if
he fpare them at fuch a crifis, he ipoils
the whole plantation ; but he would
feel no remorfe at cutting down a horfc-
chefnut, or a fycamore, 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
diforderly people from getting in, and
to furnifh ufeful fluff, of this kind, for
mending hedges, and other purpofes
which every farm ftands in need of. In

the

t i88 ]

iht middle, or at one corner of every
large plantation, it is very proper to have
ft fmall nurfery, that any dead, or fickly
trees may be replaced with greater ex-
pedition, and lefs expence than " they can
be, when the nurfery is at a diftance.

Thefe large plantations may frequently
be made, upon land which lies wafle,
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 cor-
ners, which are of very little advantage
in any other way 5 becaufe, when fuch
parts are in tillage, they are difficult to
plough, and when they are grazed, cat-
tle are very apt to gore, and kick each
other, jijh, in particular, fhould be
confined to fmall fpots of this kind.

In "die middle of every large grazing-
|rround a clump fhould be planted, to

afford

[ i89 ]

afford fhade and Ihelter 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- rov/ timber generally grows to
the greateft fize ; is of the beft and foun-
ded quality -, and mofb calculated for
the ufe of the navy. E/m is there to be
preferred, becaufe it grows ered:, and
does leaft damage to the land by its
under-branches, and next to that oak ;
becaufe it draws its principal nourifh-
ment from a tap-root, and .therefore does
not exhaufl the furface of the ground,
like aih, and fome other trees, nor in-
terrupt the plough by horizontal roots.

Some

[ I90 I

Some inconvenience indeed will be fuf-
tained, 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 5 but, where this me-
thod of raifing timber is pracflifed, pol-
lards fhould be totally extirpated. They
take up a deal of room, as much as the
largefl trees, utterly deftroy all fences,
and produce very little more wood, than
would grow in the fame fpace from
flubbs, or quickfet^liools. If there was
only one tree planted, in the room of
every pollard through the kingdom, it
would very foon be fufficiently flocked j
and the difference in beauty, and profit,
would be aftonifliing. If the cutting
down of pollards fhould be thought to
leiTen the quantity of fuel, the under-
wood

. [ 191 ]

wood in the nooks, angles, pits, and
corners which I have recommended to
be planted, will be more than adequate
to the deficiency.

Before I take leave of hedge-row tim-
ber, I fhall communicate a mode of
planting it, which Sir Charles Cocks, at
my recommendation, has lately adopted
upon bis eftates in Ghucejicrjhire, and
Worcefierjlnre. A claufe is inferted in
every leafe, to oblige each tenant or oc-
cupier of a farm, yearly to plant, and
properly protedl one tree to every ten
pounds a year rent, or ten to a hundred
a year rent, and fo in proportion, on fuch
part of their refpedlive 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 nurfcry ; and, where
leafes are granted, they very cheerfully

confent

[ 19^ ]

confcnt to it. By this eafy method, upon
a large eftate like his, the quantity of
timber, thus imperceptibly raifed, will
be very confiderable, even in the courfe
of a twenty-one years leafe. Upon every
thoufand pounds a year there will be
two thoufand one hundred trees in num-
ber, at the end of the leafe ; becaufe, if
any fail, the tenants plant the next year
a greater number. And if we fuppofc
thefe trees to pay only three pence a year
each during the demife, which is a mode-
rate calculation, they will be worth, at
the expiration of the leafe, 288/. i^s*
and from that period will begin to pay
at leafl: fix pence a tree yeariy. This
fcheme of planting is certainly pra<fti*
cable upon every eilate, if a landlord
will give his tenants a reafonable bargain
in their land, and leafes for their en-

couraoiement.

o

Ifhall

[ 193 ]

I fhall mention one other method of
planting, which is produdlive of much
improvement, 'viz. to appropriate wet
and boggy lands to tliis ufe, inflead of
devoting them to pafture -, in which
cafe they frequently give cattle the rot,
and are often dear at a crown an acre.
But, planted v/ith fuitable aquatic
woods, they yield an immediate profit
of fifteen, or twenty fliillings an acre
yearly, and carry on an increaling gift to
poflerit}^, which will be of as much va-
lue, in fifty years time, as the fee fim.ple
of the land before this improvement was
made.

The befl way of planting this fort of
land is, by digging the vvhole of It a foot
deep, inverting the turf, and afterwards .
opening trenches, which fliould have a
free difcharge, at one end, into fome
more capital drain, or outfall. Thefe
O trenches

[ 194 3

trenches /liould be eighteen feet apart,
three feet deep, two feet and an half
wide on the top, and one foot wide at
the bottom j 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 rov/ of holes fliould be opened in
each bed, at about eighteen feet apart,
eighteen inches deep, and three feet dia-
meter on the tops. This fhould be
done early in the winter, that the frof| ,
may get into the ground, and chailen it.
Early in February, the furface of the
beds fhould be chopped with fpades,
and made as fine as pofTible. And about
the latter end of the fame month, ijohite
poplar, or fome other fuitable trees,
ihould be planted in the before-men-
tioned holes, and all the intermediate
fpaces upon the beds fhould be filled

up*

[ 195 ]

up, with withe, or ozier-fets. If with
the former, they (hould ftand at four feet
fquare, if with the latter, at only thirty
inches. The firft will make hop-poles,
and may be cut every fixth, or feventh
year; the other may be cut every year,
for the ufe of balket- makers. The fets,
when planted, fliould be about the fize
of a man's thumb ; and fhould be cut
with a floping point at both ends, jufl
above, and juft below^ a knot, or bud.
They fhould be about two feet long;
one half fliould be p allied into the
ground, and the other iland out.

Some people plant beds of afi in this
way; and if the beds be laid tolerably
dry, it generally flouriflies in Hems ex-
ceedingly well, and makes the befh of
hop-poles, and cooper's-Rufl. I have
ittvi fome, which were planted a few
years fmce near Sudbury in Suffolk upon
O 2 a com-

[ 196 ]

a common horfe-moor, which flourifli
furprizingly 3 and I was told, by a pro^
per judge in the neighbourhood, that it
was honeftly worth thirty fhillings an
acre yearly. On a dry bank of land
planted at the fam^ time, in the fame
piece of ground, I obferved that the ajli
was not by above a third fo good as that
on the boggy part.

ADVICi;

[ 197 ]

ADVICE RESPECTING THE MANAGE-
MENT OF TIMBER.

NO trees ought to be difmembered
of their branches without abfolute
neceffity; fuch treatment is very prejudi-
cial to all forts of timber. But where
trees hang over roads, and buildings, it
cannot fometimes be difpenfed with.
Where this happens, the limbs fliould
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
blemi(h be covered 5 but when trees arc
hacked in the branches, and left jagged,
the wet hangs upon them, and by de-
grees rots them quite into the heart.
Thinning timber is a very elTcntial
O 3 part.

[ 198 ]

part, of the care it requires. Grove-
timber, and thick plantations generally
iland in need of feme attention of this
fort. The iirft rule is, to thin it early j
the fccond, to d.z 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 flie points out ;
namely, the unhealthy trees ; without
paying any great regard to regular dif-
tances.

When thefe rules arc not obferved,
the bad confequences are obvious. Trees
in thick plantations, when left any con-
ilderable time before they are thinned,
get too long in their bodies, for the lize
of their heads ; and when a frefh current
of air is let in upon them, the fap is im-
mediately chilled, and the trees checked
in their growth. But if they are thinned
early, and at different times, they arc

hardened

[ ^99 ]

nardened by degrees, and their branches
expand regularly, and preferve a due
proportion with their bodies. If trees
be taken promifcuoufly, or fo as to leave
the rernainder at equal diflances, nearly
the fame inconvenience arifes as in the
former cafe ; for there v/ill be a variety
of tender parts, which cannot be per-
ceived at the time of doing it, left un-
guarded ; but if the lickly trees be taken,
the others will immediately receive great
benefit.

The obvious figns of health In tim-
ber are thefe — The bark will be fmooth,
look clean, and grey in colour, and tho
frefh fhoots will be long, and flralght,
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 re-
tain their leaves longer in the autumn.
O 4 The

[ 200 ]

The marks of unhealthy timber are
nearly the con trail of the former. The
tree will be hide bound, the bark rough,
clofe, and thick, and often covered with
mofs i the frefli flioots will be very fhort,
and crooked at the ends. The green
will be of a paler colour, and the leaves
will drop fooner. An unhealthy tree
ihould never be fuffered to remain in
any plantation, but fhould be taken down,
•as foon as it has done growing, let its
fize be what it will ; and a young plant
fet in the vacancy.

Some gentlemen, who have not ready
money, are difcouraged from planting,
becaufe the expence is immediate, and
the profit at a diftance. At the fame
time, perhaps, they have a great deal
of timber landing on their eftates,
which gets Worfe every day, and lefTens
in value, v/hich they do not choofe to

cut.

[ 201 ]

cut, for fear the world lliould think
them needy. Other gentlemen let their
timber ftand, till it rots on the ground ;
thinking it highly reputable to have a
large quantity of old timber on their
eftates. Both thefe overlook their own
interefl:. The public, and private good
requires, that all timber (hould be taken
down as foon as it gets to perfedion ;
and a regular fucceffion kept up by
young plantations. The man who ads
upon this plan, ads rationally; and if
he be young, or even middle-aged; he
may live to cut down the greatefl part of
the old timber, which he finds upon his
eftate, put money in his pocket, and
leave his eftate better flocked with tim-
ber 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.

[ 202 ]

want, when the world perceives that his
fchemes, upon the whole, are more cal-
culated for the growth, and increafe of
timber, than its dellrudlion or diminu-
tion.

In fhort, the true way of managing a
timbered eftate is, to make ufe of what
Nature has brought to perfed:ion, and to
keep up a regular uniform fucceffion ; fo
that at the time we take one egg from
the neft for our own ufe, we may leave
another, as a nefl-egg, for the benefit of
pofterity.

Senfible of the importance of this
plan, Mr. Windha?}i o^ Felbrigg in Nor-
folk, has done me the honour of approv-
ing, and adopting it in its full extent ;
and has impowered me to carry it on
upon fuch a vigorous fcale, as will gra-
dually fwell the quantit}^, and value of
his timber, notwithilanding his falls will

be

[ 203 ]

be confiderable every year. I am per-
fuaded, that any other gentleman who
follows the example, will find his ac-
count in it.

• For thefe, and many other ufeful hints
upon planting, and the management of
timber, I am particularly indebted to
Mr. Wilies of AJh-op in Norlhamptonfiire,
Mr. Gilbert of Cotton in Staffordfitre, and
Mr, Marfiam of St rat ton in Norfolk,
who have made noble improvements
upon their refpedive eftates, and poflefs
more knowledge and Ikill in the cultiva-
tion of timber, and other wood, than
any gentlemen I have ever converfed
with upgn this important fubjed:.

ADVAN-

[ 204 ]

ADVANTAGES RESULTING FROM
SMALL FARMS, AND THOSE OF
THE MOST PROFITABLE SIZE DE-
SCRIBED.

VERY fpccuktlve Englidiman
who travels through the Aujirian
NetherlaJidsy is aflonifhed at the great
population of that country, and at the
fight of the markets, which are plen-
tiful beyond defcription. Upon en-
quiring into the internal ftate, and re-
o-ulatlon of the countrv, he finds that
there are no large farms, no clafs of men
who pafs under the charadter of gentle-
men-farmers, acquiring large fortunes
merely by fuperintending the bulinefs of
farming, but that the whole country is
divided, into much fmaller portions than
land is v/ith us, and occupied by a (ct
of laborious people, who in general work

for

[ 205 ]

for themfdves, and live very much upon
a footing of equality.

This feems a prefumptive proof, that
agriculture, when it is thrown into a
number of hands, becomes the life of
induftry, the fource of plenty, and the
fountain of riches to a country ; but
that monopolized, and grafped into few
hands, it mufl difliearten the bulk of
mankind, who are reduced to labour
for others inflead of themfelvesj muffc
lefTen the produce, and greatly tend to
general poverty,

I fhall not attempt wholly to account
for the amazing increafed price of provi-
iions with us. There are, undoubtedly,
many caufes which contribute to it; but
it is very evident that no fingle caufc
affeds it, fo much as the deflrudlivc
pradice which has prevailed, for near
half a century backj of demolishing

fjnall

[ 206 ]

fmall farms. This abfurd cuftom, which
is not without its advocates, draws its
birth from ill-digefled calculations ; is
attended with great cruelty to indivi-
duals j and ends in confiderable private
lofs, and public calamity.

The fpecious inducements are, to avoid
trouble, to fave expences in repairs, and
to fecure the rent by having more capi-
tal tenants.

Granting thefe arguments their utmofl
weight, they may be eafily confuted.

With refpedt to trouble, thofe who
manage their own property, have their
own reward, and fatisfadion in all they
do. And a fleward, 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
firfl viev/, to carry greater plaufibilityi

but.

[ 207 ]

but, when all fubfequent confequences
are duly invefti gated, it will be found
very inadequate to the lofs, which will
be fuftained in the end.

There is no pofhbility of forming an'
exadt eftimate of the expence of keeping
an eftate in repair. It varies greatly in
the different price of labour, and materia
als, and ftill more in the different l"kill,
and attention, which is bellowed by the
perfon, who has the care and diredion
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 leven, and fmall farms
at about ten per cent, (fire and tempers
excepted) and if we extend it to eleven
upon fmall farms, for their greater pro-
portion of accident, the buildings being
8 more

[ 208 ]

more numerous, we fhall be fure to make
a calculation 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 mufl be allowed by .every candid per-
fon, that fmall farms let every- where for,
at lead, fifteen per cent, more than large
farms ; and that indiiftrious tenants upon
thefe fmall farms are enabled to give this
difference, by doing the chiefeil part of
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 deducing the
four per cent, faved upon repairs, from
the fifteen per cent, difference in the
fcale of rent, it appears that there is an

adual

[ 2C9 ]

adual 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 eflate.
As to the better payment of the rent,
there are always induftrious and fafe te-
nants enough to be gotten, if care 'be
taken, and proper encouragement given.

The landlord indeed is fometimes in
a fituation, from which he cannot eafily
extricate himfelf. His buildings, by de-
grees, being diminifhed, for want of a
little timely care, and charge, he finds
himfelf, in a manner, obliged to let his
property in large lots, fometimes per-
haps contrary to his inclination, and is
thereby 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
P interefl.

[ 210 ]

Intereft, to remedy it as foon as pofliblc.
For, if his farms be fmall, he will have
many more offers, becaufe fmaller capi-
tals will be required to flock them; but,
if his farms be large, the number of good
tenants, pofTelTed of money enough to
ftock them, wdll be very few, compara-
tively fpeaking -, and thefe few will have
it more in their power to efFedt combi-
nations, 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 ballance of
intereft to the landlord, to be in favour
of large farms. And motives of a dif-
ferent kind are not wanting to difcoun-
tenance their extenfion.
I Thofe who contribute towards the de-
iWudion of fmall farms, can have very

littla

[ 211 ]

little refleaion. If they have, their feel-
ings are not to be envied. Where this
has been the pra6tice, we fee a vaft num-
ber of families reduced to povert)^, and
mifer)% the poor rates much increafed,
the fmall articles of provifion greatlv di-
minifhed 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 flie
is in pofTeflion of a fmall farm, or a
dairy, and will teach them the way to
be induilrious betimes; but if fhe be
deprived of the means of fupport, her
fpirits are broken, and fhe and her chil-
dren fmk at once into poverty, and be-
come burthenfome to themfelves, and
the public. Nor is this the worfl: of the
matter. The increafe of large farms has
a generally bad tendency. For as foon
P 2 as

[ 212 ]

as the little fchools of induflry are grafp-
ed, into the hands of an over-grown,
rapacious farmer, the former occupiers
are, at once, all reduced to the ftate of
day-labourers ; and when their health,,
or flrength fails, there is but one re-
fource ; they, and their children, are
thrown upon the parilh. This has un=
doubtedly fwelled the rates, to their pre-
lent enormous height, more than any
caufe whatever.

The mechanic and manufacturer next
feel the blow. The market wears a dif-
ferent face. The vail number of poultry,
the quantity of pork, and a variety of
other fmall articles of provifion, are no
longer fupplied in their former abun-
dance. The great farmer raifes no more
of thefe, than are neceflary for his own
confumptionj becaufe his wife, and
children, will not take the trouble, and

care

[ 213 ]

care of them, or condefcend 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 extenlive
bufmefs, fo well as that which lies in a
more contraded fpace, he muft, when he
has a great deal upon his hands, negled
many fmall objedls, partly for want of
time, and partly becaufe they appear tri-
vial in their nature : and many trifles
added together, make a large deficiency
upon the wjiole.

The cafe is different upon the fmall
farm. Here the tenant's great depen-
dance refts upon trifles merely; and
therefore it behoves him to make the
mofl of every thing. As he has no great
fpace to fuperintend, it lies under his
P 3 eye

[ 214 1

eye at all times, and feafons ; he feizes
all minute advantages ; cultivates every
obfcure corner; generally accumulates
more manure in proportion to his land -,
and conlidering his animal as wd\ as
vegetable produce, has likew^ife 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 likewife of great
fervice to him, efpecially if his gains
depend much upon a dairy. And, in
general, the children of thefe little far-
mers prove, the moft ufeful people, the
country produces. The girls make the
beft dairy-maids ; the boys the befl gen-
tlemen's bailiffs 'j the beft head-men in
larger farms ; the beft perfons to fuper-
l o intend.

f 215 ]

intend, and manage cattle ^ and, In. a
word, the mofl regular fervants, in mofl
capacities.

Having faid thus much of large and
fmall farms, I lliall venture to defcribe
the fizes, which I think would be mofl
conducive to public and private benefit.
And in doing this, I wifh to avoid an
extreme ; for though a redudtion be ef-
fentially neceilary, it ought not to be
made upon too low a fcale ; becaufe I
am convinced, that the nature of our
foil will not admit of that univ erf al 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 exadly.
It is undoubtedly proper, and beneficial
to a country, that farms fhould vary in
their fize, as much as pofliblci but, in
my opinion, which I deliver with defer-
P 4 ence,

[ 2i6 ]

cnce, the hlghefl ought not to exceed a
hundred and fixty pounds a year. But
though there fhould be fome of thefe, to
promote ^emulation, to reward particu-
larly-induflrlous men, and to employ a
middling capital ; yet their number
fhould be inconiiderable, in proportion
to the number of fmaller ones. As I
have mentioned an hundred and fixty
pounds as the yearly value of the highefl
farms, I think it right that none fhould
be under thirty pounds ; and that from
thirty to fourfcore, the number ought to
be much greater than of the largeft fort ;
to enable induflrious fervants, who have
faved their wages, or whofe good conduit
entitles them to credit, to eftabhlh them-
felves, oftener than they do, in bulinefs y
and likewife to afford fettlements, for
the children of greater farmers to begin
the world with. Farms, varied in their

fize.

[ 217 ]
Hze, betvverri thefe lines, would have an
excellent el", it, as they would play into
each other's hands, more than they now
do ; for they would have, almoil: every
one, fcmewhat of a different obje6l in
view. Many of the fmallefl 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 i6o/.
one of 120/. one of 100/. two of 80/.
two of 60/. two of 50/. three of 40/.
and four of 30/. each. This would be
lixteen farms, upon a thojfand pounds
a year, and would be a profitable divifion
to an owner, and to the public. But,
inflead of this, the generality of large
eftates do not fupport above a third part

of

[ 2i8 ]

of thefe families. And I will venture
to alTert, that the poor rates will be
much higher in the latter, than in the
former mode of allotment ; becaufe a
great rnany families, which would get a
decent livelihood upon the farms of 30/.
40/. and 50/. a year, come to the parifli,
as I have before obferved, when they are
deprived of this method of fupporting
themfelves.

If large edates were divided, in a
manner fomewhat fimilar to the preced-
ing plan, it would be a means of crufh-
ing another real grievance which at pre-
fent fubfiils, viz. the exorbitant price
put upon land, by the owners of fmall
eflates. A great farmer often lets a
fmall bargain, which he has picked up,
in the fame parifh where he rents a large
cftate himfelf, at the proportion of one

third

[ 219 ]

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 twenty per
cent, more than their large farms, the
more inconliderable owners of eftates
would not be able, to obtain their pre-
fent exorbitant terms 5 but, while thofe
places are fo few in number, people who
are in abfolute want of them, muft give
whatever is afked for them ; and the rent
is often fo high, that induftry itfelf cannot
get a livelihood upon them.

The better regulation of this impor-
tant concern, affords an extenfive field,
in which gentlemen of fortune may laud-
ably exercife their talents, of every kind ;
and, upon refled:ion, they mufh.be con-
vinced, that it is the number of ufeful
inhabitants, that flamps a high value on

l^nd.

[ 220 ]

knd, which has no intrlnfic value in it-
felf ; and that when thefe inhabitants
decreafe, the land muft proportionably
fink in value. Their intereft therefore
is infeparably conneded with the com-
fort and profperity of the people where
their ellates are lituate j and when they
lend an hand to the depopulation of a
country, they fuik, at the fame time, the
value of their own property.

There are, hov/ever, two very material
points to be attended to, by every per-
fon, whofe humanity, and liberal mind
liiay induce him to adopt this plan, for
the regulation of his property.

The one is, to make choice of induf-
trious tenants j 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

[ 221 ]

always enough of thefe to be found. But
great care muft be taken, not to accept
of idle fellows, who have been bred to
little trades. Such people are very de-
firous of getting into fmall farms, and
wanting the judgment, and induftry
which the others have, generally ruin
themfelves, and bring thefe little places
into difrepute.

The other point is, to contrad: old
buildings, in proportion to the fize of
the farm ; and when new eredions are
made, to build upon a fmall, fuitable
fcale ; for too much building augments
the expence of repairs confiderably, and
does the tenant no real kindnefs.

I ihall quit this fubjed, with an
anxious wifh that the deftrudlive prac-
tice of engroffing farms may be carried
no farther ; and as the ftab already given

to

r 222 ]

to plenty, and population, has greatly
afFeded the proiperity of this country, I
hope fome reparation will be made for
the injury fuftained.

THE

[ 223 ]

THE GREAT BENEFIT OF CHURCH
AND COLLEGE TENURES TO POPU-
LATION AND SOCIETY.

ESTATES held under ecclefiaflical
lords, collegiate, and corporate
bodies, are at this time one of the great-
eft fupports this country has for its
population. Notwithftanding little farms
are engrofled, and cottages demolifhed
upon other eftates, theirs, from the
nature of the tenure, ftill remain nearly
the fames ^^^ 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 prelide, a life no fooner
drops, in an eftate held under them, than
they are ready to fill up the vacancy, in

favour

[ 224 ]

favour of the heirs of its former pofTef-
for ; for having only a life-intereft in it,
or perhaps not fo much, as preferment
often removes them, they are glad to
feize all immediate benefits which ac-
crue, 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 mufl, and does wear a better
face, than in other diftridis.

When a man is a copyhold, or a life-
feafehold tenant, it gives a ilronger fpur
to his induflry, than when he is tenant
at will, or on a fliort term of years, to
the fame quantity of land. He Vi-^ill be
encouraged to undertake improvements,
and will obtain a much greater produce.
He will alfo be better enabled to marry,
and much encouraged to do it; becaufe

he

[ 225 ]

he has the means to fupport a family,
and to make fome provifion for them, in
cafe any accident fhould happen to
himfelf.

When young women arc left with
little eftates of this fort, they are the
better enabled to provide themfelves fuit-
able hufbands.

Thefe eftates, preferving their original
form more than any other, and being, in
general, of a fmall fize, produce more
poultry, pigSj and dairy-articles, than
larger eftates ; and are much more be-
neficial to the community. Many gen-
tlemen of landed property are fo fond
of freehold, that they affedl to defpife
every other tenure; and I have heard
fome lament, that there was fuch a
thing exifting as copyhold, or leafehold.
Thefe are generally the greateft advo-
cates for large farms ; but if thefe were
Q_ to

[ 226 ]

to prevail univerfally, we fhould foon
feel the dreadful confequence ; for then
every fource of plenty would be checked,
and population receive an irrecoverable
blow.

Since little farms have been fwallowed
up in greater, there are thoufands of
parishes which do not fupport fo many
cows as they did, by fifty or fixty in a
parifh -, and the inhabitants have de-
creafed in proportion. If church and
college-tenures were fet afide, this de-
vaftation would fpread 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 v/ith
freehold, which makes it eafier for a
man of a fmall capital, to procure an
inheritance; and as the title is always

clear.

[ 227 ]

clear, this is another great recommenda-
tion of them.

The good efFecfts I have enumerated,
which flow from copyhold, and leafe-
hold tenures, fhew the benefits refulting
from fmall farms, in a very ftrong light;
and thofe who perfift in the ruinous prac-
tice of throwing too much land into
one man's hands, are blind to their own
intereft, and deaf to the cries of hu-
manity.

•^c^
-^^

0^2 REFLEC-

[ 228 ]

REFLECTIONS ON THE GREAT IMPOR-
TANCE OF COTTAGES.

ESTATES being of no value with-
out hands to cultivate them, the
labourer is one of the mofl: valuable
members of fociety; without him the
richeft foil is not worth owning. His
fituation then fhould be confidered, and
made at leaft comfortable, if it were
merely out of good policy. There is
certainly no objed: fo highly deferving
the country gentleman'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 firft point to be taken under
confideration is, the flate of the cotta-
ges, which thefe ufeful people inhabit ^

and

[ 229 ]

and next, how far their condition can
be improved, by better regulation.

The fhattered hovels which half the
poor of this kingdom are obliged to
put up with, is truly aifeding to a heart
fraught with humanity. Thofe who
condefcend to viiit thefe miferable te-
nements, can teflify, that neither health
or decency, can be preferved in them.
The weather frequently penetrates all
parts of them ; which muft occafion ill-
nefs of various kinds, particularly agues -,
which more frequently vifit the children
of cottagers than any others, and early
fliake their conftitutions. And it is
shocking, that a rnan, his wife, and half
a dozen children fhould be obliged to lie
all in one room together ; and more fo,
that the wife fhould have no more pri-
vate place to be brought to bed in. This
defcription is not exaggerated, ofFenfivc
0.3 ^s

[230]

as it may appear. We are all careful of
our horfes, nay of our dogs, which are lefs
valuable animals; we bellow confider-
able attention upon our ftables and ken-
nels, but we are apt to look upon cot-
tages as incumbrances, and clogs to our
property ; when, in fadl, thofe who oc-
cupy them are the very nerves and fi-
news 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 greatefl
fupport to the flate, as being the mofl
prolific cradles of population.

Cottagers are indifputably the mofl
beneficial race of people we have ; they
are bred up in greater fimplicity, live
more primitive lives, more free from
vice and debauchery, than any other fet
of men of the lower clafs ; and are befl

formed.

[ 231 ]

formed, and enabled to fuftain the hard-
fhips of war, and other laborious fer-
vices. Great towns are deftrudive both
to morals, and health, and the greateft
drains we have ; for where many of the
lower fort of people crowd together, as
in London^ Norwich, Birmingham, and
other manufacturing towns, they are
obliged to put up with bad accommoda-
tion, and an unwholefome, confined air,
which breeds contagious diftempers, de-
bilitates their bodies, and fhortens their
lives. Since therefore it is apparent,
that all fuch towns muft caufe a dimi-
nution, 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 cottages, and fmall farms
the chief nurferies, which fupport popu-
lation.

I am far from wifliing to fee the cot-
0^4 tage

[ 232 ]

tage 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 comfortable plain room, for the
poor inhabitants to eat their morfel in,
an oven to bake their bread, a little re-
ceptacle for their fmall beer and provi-
fion, and two wholefome lodging apart-
ments, 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 belides, is not fo materially necef-
fary ; for the boys find employment in
farm-houfes at an early age. For the
better explanation of what I mean, I fub-
join plans, elevations, and eftimates of
two forts of cottages; and as elm and
pak-poilards are of little value in m.any

countries.

[ 233 ]

countries, and may often be converted
into fcantlings, fuitable to, at leaft, half
the purpofes of fmall buildings of this
fize, I have likev;rife ihewed the dif-
ference in the expence, between ereifling
them with brick, and wood : conlider-
ing pollard-timber at fix pence a foot,
and deal (of which the greater quan-
tity will be required) at fifteen pence,
which are fair prices for them in mofl
counties. Thefe eftimates which I ex-
hibit, will of courfe vary a little in
every neighbourhood ; but as it cannot
be any thing confiderable, I fhall calcu-
late upon them as at a medium price.
The fmalleft of thefe cottages, built of
brick and covered with tile, amounts to
(ixty-fix pounds, the other, of the fame
fize in wood, covered with tile likewife,
to fifty-eight pounds. As the buildings
will be quite new, built of good mate-
rials.

[ 234 ]

rials, and likely to laft a great many
years, and the eftate where they are
built, will be very confiderably benefit-
ted, by having good labourers planted
upon it 3 the landlord ought to be fatif-
fied with four per cent, intereft for his
money; which will be, 2/. 12s. gd.
rent for the brick-cottage, and 2/. 6j-. 5^.
for the wooden cottage. To each of
tliefe comfortable habitations ihould be
added half an acre of land, at the fame
rate which the farmers give -, we will
fuppofe this to be eighteen /hillings an
acre. This would bring the whole rent
to 3/. IS. 9^. for the former, and
2.1. 1 5 J". 5^. for the latter cottage. This
quantity of land would be of great ufe to
a poor family, in the produce of a little
fruit, and vegetables of different forts;
and would aflift them likewife in keeping
a pig ; as they might, and would raife

more

[ ^35 ]
more potatoes and carrots upon fuch a
fpot, than would be fufficient for their
own confumption.

The larger fort of cottage, which
may fometimes be preferred, will cofl,
when built of brick and tiles, 70/. and
when with wood, 66/. loj. Thefe
might be appropriated to the ufe of la-
bourers of the moft induftrious difpofi-
tion. And as it would have an excellent
efFed, to make fome gradation among
cottages, as well as farms ; it would be
highly proper, and ufeful, to lay (befides
the half acre of garden-ground) a fmall
portion of paflure-land, of about three
acres, to each of thefe laft cottages, to
enable the occupiers of them to fupport
a cow j 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 gui-
nea

[ 236 ]

nca an acre, upon an average, and add it
to the rent of the houfe, it will bring
the rent of the former to 6/. gs. 6d. and
the rent of the latter to 6 /. 6 s. 9 d. The
value of the cow, if her produce were
even fent to market, would at leail:
amount to four pounds 3 but being ufed
in the family, would, with the afliftance
of the garden, enable them to keep a
fow, or two flore-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 5 and it would be better worth
a cottager's while, to give this rent for
this lot of land, than to trufl to the pre^
carious advantage of a common, which
always flarves his cow in the winter. If
it fhould be alledged, that there is not
one cottager out of twenty who can afford

to

[ 237 ]

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 generally let.

This would be dealing with the poor
as we would wifh to be dealt with our-
felves, in a iimilar fituation ; but inftead
of this, cottagers are chiefly left by gen-
tlemen to the farmer's difpofal ; and
when they are accommodated with a
fmall quantity of land, are obliged to
pay, at leaf!:, 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 ftile, which is a very confiderable
article to a cottager.

The next conflderation is, to choofe a
convenient lituation for cottages. Great
farmers are very unwilling to admit them

clofc

[ 238 ]

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 fhould therefore be eredled, if
poffible, on fome fheltered fpot, near the
farm where the labour lies; and true
policy points out, that every farm ought
to have a fufficient number of fuch ufeful
appendages, in proportion to its fize.
Such cottages, under fome fuch regula-
tions as thefe, would be of great ufe and
ornament to a country, and a real credit
to every gentleman's refidence ; as, on
the contrary, nothing can refled greater
difgrace upon him, than a fhattered mi-
ferable hovel at his gate, unfit for human
creatures to inhabit. Upon encourage-
ment like this good tenants would never

be

[ 239 ]

be wanting. Induftiy would meet with
a reward, the poor rates would necefTarily
be lightened, and population increafed,
A farm thus provided, Vvith fuch a fuf-
ficient number of labourers as might, at
all times and feafons, be depended upon,
would be of more value on that account.
The tenant of fuch farm would not be
fubjecft to pay exorbitant wages, as he
other wife muft, on particular occafions.
He would not be obliged to court the
vagrant, to lend him a precarious afTiil-
ance, or to have recourfe to towns, to
pick up diforderly people. In fummer,
befides the ufual bufinefs of hay-making,
he might employ even the women, and
children, in weeding, and other ufeful
bufmefs.

Almofl: every parifli is. In a great mea-
fure, fubjecft to fome particular gentle-
man, who has fufficient power and in-
5 fluencc

[ 24C? ]

fliience over it, to correal the prefertt'
grievance, and to fet a better example.
Such gentlemen £hould confider them-
felves as guardians of the poor, and attend
to their accommodation^ and happinefs :
It is their particular buiinefs, becaufe
they, and their families, have a lading
intereft in the profperity of the pariih j
the farmers only a temporary one. If a
gentleman's fortune be fo large, that he
cannot attend to objeifls of this fort, he
jChould, at leaft, recommend the cottagers
to the attention of his agent ; and give
him ftrid inflrudions, to ad: as their
friend and protestor ; for unlefs fome
fuch check be put upon great farmers,
they are very apt to contribute to the
demolition, inftead of the protedion of
cottages, and when the neft is deflroyed,
the bird muft emigrate into fome other
parifh. A cottager, in this cafe, has no
6 other

[ HI ]
other choice, unlefs it be to make appli-
cation to the neighbouring juflice of the
peace, for his order to the parifh-officera
to find him fome other place to lay his
head in. If it were not for this excel-
lent law, which obliges parifli-officers
to find habitations for their poor, I am
forry to remark, that in many parifhes,
they would be literally driven into the
open fields.

There is another plan relative to cot-
tages, which generally anfwers extremely
well, and that is, to leafc them off
to induftrious labourers, for the term of
three lives, at their nomination ; taking
a very moderate fine, not exceeding
ten or twelve pounds, upon a cot-
tage worth about forty fhillings a year;
refervlng a fmall quit-rent, not exceeding
half-a-crown a year, and making it a
point to renew any life which drops off,
R upon

[ 242 ]

upon one year's value only. This fcheme
is beneficial for landlord and tenant ; for
though the former does not let his cot-
tages 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 efiiate,
by keeping up a proper number of inha-
bitants. The latter finds his account in
it, becaufe he makes a fettlement for his
family ; and can repair, and improve his
cottage at leifure hours with his own
hands ^ and if he be an induflrious 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 eilates under my care in
Gloucejierfiire, and PForceJierfiire ; and as
he was chiefiy influenced by a humane
difpofition, to make the poor, in his fe-
5 veral

[ 243 ]

veral dlflricls, as comfortable, in their
refpedlive fituations, as poflible, the ob-
jed: of fines was made fo eafy to them,
as to be exemplary.

I fhall fu^^eft a few hints to the
builder, and conclude this fubjedl with
the plans, elevations, and eflimates be-
fore alluded to.

Firft, I recommend that the cottages
(hould 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
prefer the wooden-lath and rough-caft
cottages, becaufe half the quantity cf
timber may be pollards ; but, where they
are built with brick, the following par-
ticulars (hould be attended to.

The walls fhould be fourteen inches

thick to the bottom of the chamber-floor,

R 2 except

[ 244 ]

except in the window-fpaces, and the
upper part of the walls nine inches. In
thefe brick buildings no framed timber
lliould be ufed ; but the lintel of the
windows 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
fhould be pinned with oaken pegs, which
will prove a great tie to the walls. The
joifls fhould be cut, eight inches by two
and an half, and laid edge-ways. The
length of the fpar to be ten feet, being a
proper pitch for tiling; and to be cut
two inches and a half thick, five at bot-
tom, and three and a half at the top.
The lower rooms to be feven feet high,
in the clear, under thejoifts. In the
largeft-fized brick-cottages, the roof to
be hipped in at the ends, which v/ill
fave the two peaks of brick-work, and
S will

[ H5 ]

will not require more tiling, than would
be made ufe of without it. One great
advantage derived from hipping, is, in
the building's being better braced to-
gether, and more fecure from the effect
of tempeils; for where the gable-ends
are carried up in peaks, to any con-
fiderable height, without chimnies to
ftrengthen them, they are not fo well
fitted to refift an end- wind.

The ceiling fhould be between the
joifls, nailing firft a few laths at about
a foot apart, crofs-ways, and the other
laths length-ways over them ; otherwife
the mortar has nothing to get hold of.
This makes lefs cxpence than ceiling
over the joifts, and is bcfides better cal-
culated to retain the mortar, and will
afford more fpace ; for the joills being
left naked, will be very ufcful to hang
many things to. The ceiling joifls upon
R 7 the

t 246 ]

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 win-
dow-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 cottage?, the frame-
fluds are to be fix inches by five. The
intermediate, or fmaller fi:uds five inches
by three. The girt-pieces fix inches by
five, and the upper ciil five inches
fquare.

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[ 247 ]

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REFLEC-

[ 259 ]

REFLECTION'S ON THE DISTRESS OF
THE POOR, AND THE INCREASE OF
THE RATES FOR THEIR ASSIST-
ANCE.

^c n^HO U fialf not muzzle the ox when
he treadetb out the corn" is a di-
vine law, figuratively fignifying, that the
poorer race of people, who are the in-
flruments by which the earth is culti-
vated, ought to enjoy a reafonable portion
of its produce.

The landlord, tenant, and labourer
are intimately connedled together, and
have their reciprocal intereH:, though in
different proportions -, and when the juft
ej:^uilibriurri' between them is interrupt-
ed, the one or the other mufl receive
injury. At prefent the balance is con*
fiderably againft the labourer; and yet,
tfiough it feems a paradox, the other
S 2 parties

[ 26o J

parties ultimately derive no advantage
from it.

The great increafe in the Poor-rates
may be accounted for in a few words.
The rife upon land and its produce to-
gether is at leaft fixty per cent, the rife
upon labour not above 'twenty. The
difference is, of courfe, againft the
working hands ; and when their earn*
ings are infufficient for the abfolute ne-
celfaries of life, they mull inevitably
fall upon the parKh -, which is bound,
in that cafe, to make up the deficiency*
So that if we confider this matter pro-
perly, we muft difcover a great want of
policy in beating down the value of la-
bour, not to mention the inhumanity of
fuch an adion. For it is much better
for a farmer to give an induflrious man,
who has a large family, half-a-crown a
week more than is generally given, being,
only 6/. 10 J. a year, than to load a farm

with

[ 26i ]

with that additional incumbrance in the
rates ; becaufe when once a poor man is
obliged to have recourfe to the parlfh, he
thinks it no greater difgrace to be behol-
den to it for a crow^n, than a fhillingj
and therefore, when he cannot wholly
fupport his family by labour, he will not
care how little he contributes towards it.

If owners and occupiers of land w^ould
confent to raife the price of labour, in
proportion to the increafe of their pro-
fits, a great part of the diftrefs among
the poor would be removed. At pre-
fent they cannot live by their labour ; let
us examine their condition. We wdll
firft fuppofe that the rent of the cottage
is paid, by the extra-earnings of the fa-
mily, in time of harvefl ; and then we
may allow fourteen pence a day, as a
medium of wages for the man, which is
nearly the prefcnt rate of wages, taking
one place w^ith another. The wife we

will

[ 262 ]

will luppofe to earn three pence a day
beiides attending upon her children.
This will be eight fliillings 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 allov/ the
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
require, this will be forty-two pounds a
week ; and the price of it cannot be
eilimated at lefs than three halfjpence a
pound. This brings the article of bread
alone to five fliillings and three pence a
week i and there remains only three (hil-
lings and three pence for all the other
necelTarles of life, Vv^hich muft be greatly
infufHcient. While the prefent high
price of provifions continues, it is im-
pofTible that fuch a family can eat any
10 thin?

t 263 ]

thing except bread, which is a very cruel
cafe upon a poor man, whofe whole life
is devoted to hard labour. On the con-
trary, were he allowed eighteen pence a
day, which would be nearly the fame
proportion as the increafe in the value of
land, and price of provifions, their in-
come would be together ten fliillings and
fix pence a week^ which, under proper
management, would enable them to
cloath themfelves decently, and add about
eight or ttn pounds of coarfe meat to
their bread, which they are furely en-
titled to by the laws of nature, and the
ties of humanity.

There is ftill another caufe which
greatly heightens this diftrefs, and that
15, the difadvantage thefe poor objedts
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 what-
ever

[ 264 ]

ever quantity they wanted. But fincc
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 buihel. 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 lead:
ten per cent, of them, upon this princi-
pal article of their confumption ; which
they might fave, if their employers would
fupply them with corn at the common
market-price. In fhort, they labour
under every difcouragement. For the
very perfons who have the advantage of
their labour, and whofe duty it is to make
tbeif iituation comfortable, are often their

greateft

[ 265 ]

greateft opprefTors j and as the principal
farmers of every parifh 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 remedy for them ? To thefe quef-
tions every one has a different anfwer,
according to the difference of his ideas.
My anfwer is, Let gentlemen of fortune
take upon them the fuperintendance, and
regulation, of country-bufinefsmore than
they do. Let them ad: as guardians to
the poor, by confidering their eftates as
in good, or bad condition, only in pro-
portion to the comfortable, or miferable
condition of the labourers who cultivate
them. Let them reduce the fize of their
farms, in order to increafe the fmaller
articles of provilions, and to throw them
into more channels. Let them increafe
the price of labour, in proportion to the
T rife

[ 266 ]

rife upon land, and the price of provi-
fions. By fuch encouragement, the in-
duftrious poor will find a comfortable
fupport. I fay the induflrious ; becaufe
I do not know any fcheme, or any law
that can alter the difpofition, and force
people to be induflrious, whether they
will or no. And from hence, I con-
ceive, it has, in part, happened, that
much wifer heads than mine have been
puzzled how to make any effedual
amendment to our Poor-Laws. The late
'Edivlof Hardwicke» and S'l^ Richard Lloyd,
it is well known, had this point long
under confideration ; and the, refult was,
that with all their large experience, and
confefled abilities, they were obliged to
leave the matter juft as they found it.
The loud cries of the poor have now a-
frerti excited the attention of the legifla-
ture. Houfes of induftry, as they are
called, feem now to be the favourite ob-
9 jea:;

t 267 ]

jed: ; and they have lately been recom-
mended with a fpirit of ingenuity, and
humanity, that will ever do honour to
the able author of " Obfervations on
the Poor-Laws, &c f . I wifh fuccefs to
every fcheme that tends to fpread general
happinefs ; and if houfes of induflry
fliould be adopted by Parliament, may
no untoward accident prevent the good
defign of the projedlors ! May the dili-
gence and zeal of future overfeers ever
keep an even pace; and a good inten-
tion not fail, as it has fometimes done,
with the novelty of it ! In the mean
while, a fuch as capital change muft be
a work of time, let it be endeavoured,
to make the poor, as comfortable as
may be, in their own pariflies. From
the general demolition that has hap-
pened, other houfes will be wanting for

f Written by the Reverend R. Potter.

their

«"

[ 268 ]

their accommodation, befides hoiifes of
induftry ; and the poor are not lefs at-
tached to domeftic endearments than
the rich. Let mine, or any other plan
be adopted for this purpofe. It mat-
ters not who is the projector, provided
the induflrious man receive due en-
couragement to continue his labour.
But 1 am perfuaded that every gentle-?
man will find his account, in purfuing
the humane and jufi: meafures I have
ventured to recommend. His eilate,
by being fo materially eafed in the ar-
ticle of the poor's tax, will not pay
him a farthing lefs than it does at prcr
fent ', and he will be honoured, and
diftinguiilied in his neighbourhood, by
the nobleft appellation, fuperior to all
titles, that of being the poor man's

FRIEND.

F I N I S.

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