l8o©. Waste Lands in Torhh'ire. 367 



body of occupiers, while no mode exifts of compelling the 

 few refradtory ones to an improved ftyle of management and 

 culture. In ihort, the condition of thefe fields is fuch, on 

 fome of the beft turnip-foils in the ifland^ that no intelHgent 

 cultivator would give half the rent for them, that he would 

 for the fame land, if inclofed, or managed under a different 

 fyftem. Every one is convinced of the necefTity of fome re- 

 medy ; but, whether it would be expedient to compel the in- 

 clofure of the fields, along with that of the commons, in all 

 future inclofure-bills, the writer is not competent to decide. 



There is in this county, an inilance or two, where, the 

 townlhip containing four open fields of the fame fort of foil, 

 the rotations are regular, and of courfe exhibit a noble pat- 

 tern of cultivation on an extenfive fcale ; for, in thefe in- 

 ftances, a mofl fingular fpiric of emulation is excited, which 

 almoft infures complete management throughout the whole ; 

 as the mifmanagement of a fingle field never fails to call up 

 the i^itire and fneer of the neighbours, at the expence of the 

 poor flovenly holder. There is a much-admired inftance of 

 this laudable method of cultivating open fields, with this fo 

 pleafing harmony of management, at IFath upon Derne, four 

 miles north of Rotherham, which deferves a record, to the 

 credit of the place ; and better grain is no where grown. 

 At H tjleldy feven miles eaft of Doncailer, may be feen the 

 direct reverfe of the pidlure, on a gravelly foil, equally well 

 adapted to the turnip-hufbandry, and where even the turnip- 

 hoe appears almoft unknown. 



On the ftrong, or clay foils, the management of the fields 

 is generally more uniform, perhaps of neceflity ; the barren^ 

 or Summer-fallow, occurring every four years, renders un- 

 animity indifpenfable, even to the mod llupid of the pof- 

 feflbrs. I he moft approved courfe of crops is, i. Wheat, 

 after fallow. 2. Beans, or Clover. 3. Wheat. Many other, 

 and perhaps worfe rotations, obtain in different places ; and 

 as It frequently happens, that a farmer of twenty acres has 

 them fcattered about in thirty or forty different and diftant 

 places, it may eafily be conceived how troublefome and ex- 

 penfive their cultivation mull be. The great utility, nay, 

 neceffity, of inclofing thefe open tra<Sl:s of land, mud be 

 obvious to every one the lenll converfant in rural affiirs : 

 for, while they are in their prefent ftate, the open-field 

 lands in this county, amounting to not lefs than a million of 

 acres, as well as thofe throughout the illand, are certahily 

 much lefs producSlive than they would be under an improv- 

 ed mode of culture, ever confequent on an inclofure. I 



113 do 



