302 View of the Agriculture of Yorkshire. J^^^J 



free of thofe ufelefs reflriftions and covenants that notv fubfift 

 in agreements for land, whether annual, or for a greater number 

 of years. 



" Thefe thinf^s we humbly fubmit to the confideration of 

 the Board of Agriculture ; and we entertain a fanguine hope, if 

 the improvements we have fuggefted are fanftioned by their ap- 

 probation, that this fanftion will have great influence in correft- 

 ing the abufes we have defcribed, and contribute to ''mprove 

 the hufbandry of the Weft Riding of Yorkfhire j by which 

 means the intereft of the landed proprietor will be augmented, 

 the peace and happinefs of the farmer increafed, and confe- 

 quently the public good materially promoted. 



There is a copious Appendix to the volume, of which 

 No. I. contains 49 pages of extracts from the journals kept 

 during the furvey, which forms a very proper, ufeful, and 

 amufing addition to the work; and the fadls obferved during 

 the tour through the Riding, afford comments corroborative 

 of the principles laid down in the furvey. No. 7. exhibits a 

 curious, but melancholy plflure ; a ftatement of the wafte 

 lands in Yorkfliire, calculated by John Tuke, land-farveyor, 

 by which it appears they amount to 849,272 acres, of 

 ■which 405,272 acres are in the Well Riding alone ; being 

 above one- fourth of the whole furface of the diftri£l. Moit 

 of thefe lands are now exilling as nujfances ; while this 

 country has been for many years importing grain to a 

 very large amount ; while, in fome of thofe years, the com- 

 mon produdls of our foil, the abfolute neccfTaries of life, 

 have been fcarcely acquirable by the lower clafTes j and 

 ■while even feveral awful warnings of famine have been given. 

 May thefe warnings have their effect, in calling forth the 

 utmoft efforts of thofe who have tiie power to rernove eve- 

 ry obftacle to the extenfion of our agriculture, and the con- 

 fequent increafe of the ilock of the neceffaries to human 

 exiftence, before it be too late ; for by no othtr means can 

 even property itfelf remain fecure, notwithftanding the oh-' 

 jeflions of the half-learned ones in this important branch of 

 political economy. Nc. 9. is an account of the different 

 townfhips in the "Wapentake of Claro ; a fimilar account of 

 the whole Riding would have been acceptable ; it include^ 

 a Ihort fketch of the adtual management of the proprietors, 

 &c, in each place* No- 10. and laft, gives flatiltical infor- 

 mation refpe(Sting many parifhes in the Riding, which ap- 

 pear to have been gathered from the replies to the queries 

 lent fome years fince to the clergy of the different parifhes. 



We 



