( 475 ) 



XVI. — Farming of Waricichhire. By Henry Eveeshed, 

 Gosfield, Essex. 



Prize Essay. 



With a soil of more than average quality, an equable climate, 

 and a tolerably level surface for the plough, the farming of this 

 county derives encouragement from the large population of Bir- 

 mingham and other considerable towns, rendered easy of access 

 by numerous canals and railways which intersect its area in all 

 directions. It is also known as the most central county of Eng- 

 land, the town of Coventry being distant 91 miles from each of 

 the ports of London, Bristol, Hull, and Liverpool. 

 The following is the acreage of the Hundreds : — 



Acres. Population in 1341. 



Kuightlow 182,350 100,250 



Kineton 119,690 24,043 



Barlichway 100,310 28,961 



Hemlingford .. .. 141,440 55,764 



543,790 209,018 



The parish returns, however, give the higher aggregate acreage 

 of 567,930. The following is a Table of the increase in popu- 

 lation since 1801, including that of towns, which in the above 

 estimate is omitted : — 



The average rental of land in this county is 1^. 5^. 6^/. per 

 acre, the average of England being 19^. 2d. 



Our description will comprise four agricultural divisions : 

 first, the heavy clays lying south of a line drawn from a point a 

 little below I)unc:hurcl\, to a point three miles south of Stratford, 

 and running through Long Itchington and Friz Hill ; secondly, 

 the rich loams on the banks of the Avon; thirdly, the clays and 

 red marls at the south-western corner, beginning between Tan- 

 worth and Henley, and meeting the loams of the Avon at Snitter- 

 field ; and lastly, the whole of the remaining portion of the 

 county, consisting of various loams, sands, gravels, and clays.* 



* These belong to the new red sandstone, and, towards the south of the county, 

 to the lias formation. The Gravel forms an extensive deposit in the north-central 

 district, consisting chiefly of small boulders and sea-worn pebbles of ancient rocks 

 traceable to the parent beds in Yorkshire, Cumberland, and Scotland, and commonly 



