94 Ayriculturc of Durham. 



provcable parts of the county did not exceed 9.9. Much of the 

 same land, having been enclosed and brought into cultivation, is 

 now let at prices ranging from 305. to 6O5. per acre. Many 

 thousand acres of this common land, lying in the less improveable 

 parts of the county, did not average more in value, in their un- 

 improved condition, than from 4f/. to V)d. an acre. The fee- 

 simple of one allotment of 775 acres was sold for 820/., and the 

 fee-simple of another, containing 1000 acres, was valued at 750/. 

 I cannot say that this portion of the common land has been im- 

 proved in anything like the same proportion as the more improve- 

 able commons. Still, many patches by the sides of rivers, &c., 

 have been picked out, and made into good pasture land, and 

 some has been brought into tillage. But the great want has been 

 draining and extensive planting for shelter; and, if I am asked 

 why this has not been accomplished, I must refer to the remaiks 

 I shall shortly make on church leasehold property, the greatest 

 part of the moors now under consideration being of that tenure. 

 Mr. Bailey calculates that, of the commons divided previous to 

 1809, 40,000 acres would not pay for cultivation ; and that 

 74,000 had been enclosed, divided into fields, and brought under 

 a regular system of cultivation. Of those divided since, one-half 

 the quantity has been also brought into cultivation. So that we 

 have in all, by those divisions, 86,508 acres of ground, formerly 

 lying dormant or almost valueless, brought into cultivation, and 

 raised to an average value of about IS5. per acre. If we had no 

 other improvement to notice in respect to the agricultural state 

 of Durham, this alone would be sufficient to excite our attention 

 and satisfaction. Before leaving the consideration of this point, 

 I may allude to the case of a small portion of land, part of one 

 of those commons, which may serve as an illustration of the im- 

 provement effected by their enclosure. The land in question 

 was an allotment of about 8 acres, about one-half of it being 

 valued at 2^. 6f/. and the remainder at 5^. per acre. It had on it 

 little herbage, indeed none of any value, but was principally 

 heath and coarse grass interspersed with bushes of whin. The 

 first operation was the draining. This was done effectually by 

 drains 30 inches deep and 8 yards apart. I often wonder at the 

 tenacity with which drainers hold to their favourite systems of 

 deep or shallow draining, as if either system would serve as a 

 fixed rule, to be alike suitable in every locality and under every 

 circumstance. My first object of inquiry, on looking at any 

 land requiring draining, is to ascertain whether the water is an 

 outburst from the strata beneath, or merely the rain hanging in 

 the ground for want of outlet. If it is tlie first, we must of 

 course go deep to catch the springs ; if it is the latter, shallow 



