l3o4. Letter from a Fen Agnculturlji, 28^ 



the other ; and you will find thofe taken out with the fcooplng 

 inftrument go much nearer the centre, than it is poflible to do 

 by means of the common knife. If fo, 1 Iiope my argument is 

 fjully proved. I am, &c. 



Netherplace, l^th Jav, 1 804. R. H. 



P. 5. — It occurs to me, that confiderable improvement might 

 ftili be made in the mode of (Iraightin^ ridges. I fh.dl, how- 

 ever, defer faying any thing on that or any other fubjec^, till 

 I fee if you look upon what is already written as common fenfe : 

 befides, I am afraid I have already intruded upon your time. 



R. H. 



TO THE CONDUCTOR OF THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



ObfervatiofJS on the Fen Hiijhandry of Cambridgefiire. 



Sir, 



I HAVE taken in your Magazine from its commencement, and 

 think it an obje<St of national utility, and well deferving of all 

 the encouragement which it has obtained. I thought to have 

 been your firlt correfpondcnt from thefe parts, and had in fomc 

 degree prepared materials for that purpofe ; but bufincfs of more 

 immediate importance delayed the forwarding of them, until a 

 perfon, at Chatteris, I find, has got the dart of me. 



This correfpondent has fent you a flatement of the annual 

 rotation of fen lands, and average produce thereof, fo far 

 calculated to miflead, that I think it an objefl of ferious 

 confequence it fliould not pafs unnoticed and uncontradi6ted. 

 In the firji place, in ftating the value of colefecdy * it is cer- 

 tainly very improper to fet down the highcll price that could 

 be obtained for a particularly good crop, in tlie deared year 

 that ever was known. It is true, that the crops of lall year 

 were not on an average ; but, on the contrary, very much 

 below it. It is no new do6\rine, that fcarcity begets high 

 prices : however, the dire£l caufe of the dearnefs of colefeed, 

 the lall feafon, was the exceifivc drought and fhortnefs of the 

 pallures, at fo late a period of the year, that there was no prof- 

 pect of keeping Iheep in a tolerably good condition in the tens 



T 4 without 



* The rape plant, provincially called culcjccd, when a green crop, 

 though improperly, is fometi tries curtailed, and called Qcjh\ • 



