36 Letters from a Scots Fanner ^ Jan* 



vcral large fields, which were formerly in a (late of common 

 wafte, now divided and enclofed, and in^provements going ra- 

 pidly forward. Paring and burning the fward, feemed to be 

 the great mean ufed for bringing thele fields into a ilate of cul- 

 tivation ; and I am inclined to think, confidering the difficulty 

 of reducing the turf, and the immenfe number of ants and 

 grubs with which the foil is (locked, that fuch a procefs is the 

 moft eife^lual that can be devifed. Theorifts have often ob- 

 jecled to this radical cure, becaufe, fay they, it waftes the foil;' 

 but pra6lical men generally laugh at their fears, from a tho- 

 rough conviftion of the beneficial confequences attending the 

 operation in the firft inllance, which, under judicious manage- 

 ment, feldom fails to procure at once fuch a flock of manure, 

 as to render the improvement folid and lading. 



Around Darlington, particularly to the fouthward of the 

 town, the foil is very fine ; and here I difcerned the firft proof 

 t>f the climate being improved fince we left the vicinity of your 

 sTietropolis. Every thing in the fields was hitherto far back in 

 growth ;^the ear of the wheat was not feen, and the hedges 

 had not, in a fingle inilance, fliewn their bloffom •, but paffing 

 this place, the wheat ears were difcovered burfting from the 

 blade, and the hawthorn appeared in full flower. As we ad- 

 vanced fouthward, I could not perceive any further alteration 

 in the groMJth, either of hedges or grain, till we arrived with- 

 in twenty miles of London. 



Darlington is a clean healthy town, and difcovers fome 

 marks of trade and manufaftures. A great number of tlie 

 people called Quakers refide here ; and, from their fober ap- 

 pearance and regular demeanour, it is to be wifhed that more 

 Tof our countrymen belonged to that fe6l. They fliew their 

 faith by their works ; and, however formal and ftifF their be- 

 haviour, in fome refpe£ls, may be viewed by ftrangers, their 

 general conduft is fuch as fully to jullify me in ranking them 

 as valuable members of the State. 



The bifhopric of Durham is, upon the whole, a valuable 

 di{lri6l: a great part of it is enclofed, and in a very produ(fi;ive 

 ilate. I was informed the enclofures were chiefly made about 

 tlie time of the Reftoration, and, agreeable to the fafhion of 

 the times, they are rather fniall. The trees in the hedge-rows, 

 though very ornamental to the country, are dangerous neigh- 

 bours to the arable farmer, by preventing a free circulation of 

 air ; and the paftures, from their age, cannot be confidered as 

 producing any thing like what the ground is capable of bearing, 

 if it was renovated with frefh feeds. This muft always be the 

 cafe where the fubfoil is not dry, and ought to influence the 

 poflelTors to break up fuch fields, which;* after being properly 



difciplined, 



