810 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



ihey are composed, the laying of 

 the rafters, and the tliatcliing, are 

 all executed by himself, though he 

 was only bred to husbandry. 



His industry is surprising, as, in- 

 dependent of his great labour in 

 procuring manure from a distance, 

 which has required his travelling two 

 hundred miles, he brings coals for 

 difl'erent persons, of whom 1 am 

 one. The distance from me is ele- 

 ven miles. He has brought coals so 

 far, on my account, eight times 

 since last July, which add 176 milts 

 more. 



The ground he is improving is 

 the property of sir Christopher liaw- 

 kins, and, though labouring under 

 a natural infirmity in the hand, 

 vhich obliges him to conduct the 

 plough with one hand only, yet 

 he continues indefatigable in his ex- 

 ertions. 



I am, sir, 

 Your most obedient servant, 

 Thos. Humphries, 

 Lieut. Royal Navy. 

 Lizard signal station, near 



Helston, in Cornwall, 



Feb.22d, 1804. 

 Charles Taylor, esq. 



Sir, 



1 beg to lay before the society fbr 

 the encouragement of arts, &c. the 

 following narration, hoping that 

 though the extent jf my improve- 

 mcnts is not great, yet they will not 

 be considered undeserving their no- 

 tice, as it has been to me a most ar- 

 duous undertaking, and has required 

 my unceasing and indefatigable la- 

 bour, and which it still requires. 

 For a part of my manure, which 

 consists of sea sand, 1 have to go 

 two miles; and my average annual 

 ((uantity being 50 load, for this one 

 article I must, of oourse, travel 



200 miles, independent of my labouf 

 in loading and procuring it. What 

 other labour is unavoidably necessa- 

 ry, needs no comment from mc to 

 your society. I chiefly rest on my 

 labour, for now upwards of eighteen 

 years, in this particular branch of 

 agriculture, to recomntend mc to 

 your society, and as having added 

 my mite towards the improvement 

 of waste grounds. The manner of 

 my proceeding I shall endeavour to 

 make as plain as possible, for the 

 information of others. I was in- 

 duced .to this undertaking, from a 

 great love of husbandry, a wish to 

 serve my family, and a desire to em- 

 ploy myself in that part of agricul- 

 ture, which 1 thought the most use- 

 ful to my country, and beneficial to 

 mankind. 



I still find the same strong pro- 

 pensity in my mind : but my cor- 

 poreal abilities fail me, being in my 

 sixty-eighth year. If I could have 

 kept a man all this time, I suppose 

 I should have been able to have made 

 four times the improvement I have, 

 as the odds of an additional hand to 

 one, need not be mentioned to your 

 society. But, on the contrary, when 

 I began, and for some years after, 

 this, to me, arduous undertaking, I 

 was obliged to work for others, five 

 days out of the week, to obtain food 

 for myself, a wife, and seven chil- 

 dren, viz. six sons and one daugh- 

 ter, the former of which, as soon as 

 able, went into the service of their 

 country, in which two are now em- 

 ployed, and two lost their lives last 

 war. 



As to property, Avhen I first be- 

 gan this undertaking, I had none, 

 except one mare, and the shilling 

 per day I earned by my labour, 

 at which I used to work hard, ia 

 order to finish it as soon as possible; 



not 



