IRRIGATION. 161 



This is stated as the sum which the proprietors at the west side 

 of the city would be entitled to, exclusive of those at the east, 

 were the practice abolished by government.&quot; 



These are certainly most extraordinary results. The estimate 

 of their pecuniary value may be exaggerated j arid yet this would 

 be difficult. The subject is of such immense importance, that I 

 shall presently again refer to it. I may be allowed to add, in 

 passing, that which I know will not be disdained, but the more 

 highly appreciated, by the most cultivated mind that the pro 

 cess, however humble, by which that which is offensive and 

 poisonous may be changed into that which is agreeable and 

 nutritious, and that which is loathsome be converted into the 

 highest forms of fertility and beauty, is among the most affecting 

 wonders of a beneficent and divine Providence. 



8. WILLESDEN, MIDDLESEX. The next example of irriga 

 tion, to which I shall refer, is of a different kind from those of 

 which I have spoken : but it may properly be classed under the 

 same head ; and its character is so extraordinary, and its practi 

 cal bearings so important, that I am anxious to present it to my 

 readers. Having repeatedly visited the farm, and being person 

 ally acquainted with the enterprising proprietor, I am prepared 

 to affirm the statements, however remarkable, which I shall 

 present. 



Mr. William Dickenson is the proprietor of a very large estab 

 lishment of horses in London, which are kept for what is here 

 called jobbing; that is, supplying noblemen, gentlemen, and 

 others, with horses of the best description, and at their pleasure, 

 for daily use or for journeys, by the week, or month, or year. 

 In this case, the contractor furnishes as many horses as are agreed 

 upon ; and in the event of lameness, or disease, or incompetency, 

 or at the hirer s own caprice, the latter may change his horses as 

 often as he pleases. Whether these horses shall be kept by the 

 contractor when the hirer is in the town, or by the hirer at his own 

 stables, is matter of agreement. Such an arrangement is com 

 mon, even with some of the richest men in the kingdom, whose 

 fine teams are jobbed or hired ; and who, in such case, are at 

 least saved from always a disagreeable and most commonly a 

 dangerous intercourse with those geese-pluckers, the horse-jock 

 eys a race of men pretty well known in all countries, who. when. 

 14* 



