368 On the prefect State and Management cf OcL 



^o not here mean to exclude the exceptions which may be 

 found ; exceptions which, in feme degree, really fpeak in fa- 

 vour of open fields when properly managed, as, in I'ome fuch 

 fituations, grain of moft excellent quality is raifed. But, as 

 the general ftate of them is very little adapted to good huf- 

 bandrv, and as they cannot have the neceflary changes of 

 grafs, pafturage, &c. their prefent fituation ought to be re- 

 probated, and altered as foon as poflible •, no other mean 

 occurs than a general inclofur<. -bill for this falutary purpofe : 

 To this meafure, no objeftion can be oppof d in found po- 

 licy ; and it is really attouiftiing it has not been reforted to 

 Jong fince. 



The wafte lands cf this county, and indeed of the ifland 

 at large, are in a ftate moll difgraccful to its policy; they are 

 pofitive nuifances to every improvement around them. Their 

 furtace is covered with fuch wretched trafh, fo much occu- 

 pied by bog and marlh, and in fadl with every thing but the 

 ufeful, that the poor animals, which are turned out upon them 

 to fliift for themfeives, become, for want of food, fuch depre- 

 dators on the adjoining fields and inclofures, as no fence of 

 common height and llrength can oppofe. The lofs to the 

 community, by this wretched mode of rearing a few itarve- 

 lingb of cattle and fheep, is incalculable ; and that on the 

 very ground, which, by culture, would fupport above double 

 the number, be fides abundant crops of grain, for which it 

 would foon be in the very beft and moft fertile ftate. 



The whole amount of thefe wafte lands in Yorkfhire, is 

 calculated at 849,272 acres; of which, about 500,000 are 

 capable of cultivation ; the remainder fupp .fed to be Inca- 

 pable of any improvement, except by planting. The above 

 500,000 acres, on a moderate calculation, might be made to 

 produce at leaft i,ooo,oco quarters of grain,' of the various 

 forts, at the fame time v/lth a murfi improved ftock of cattle 

 and fheep, giving the beft employment to numbers of hands, 

 ■who are now compelled to refort to peftiferous manufactures^ 

 or to remain idle half their time. Thefe commons are, for 

 the moft part, paftured by the cattle of the inhabitants ad 

 tibitiim : fome few are more regularly and moderately flock- 

 ed, by what is called a ftint or limitation to each landholder, 

 according to a certain rate : and, in thefe cafes, the pafture 

 is lomethnes a tolerably good one ; but they are fo rare, that 

 they can never form an argument agalnll the neceflity of the 

 general improvement of the wafles ; for even thefe Hinted 

 paftures are in a fad conditiun, compared with what they 

 jnight De brought to by the plough. 



Immenfp 



