ENGLAND. 



719 







Statistics, branch of the profession is highly cultivated, it has 

 s " > ~V^^ been long popularly known. Here not only the spirit 

 of improvement, but of enterprize, may be said to inha- 

 bit The art, science, and mystery of breeding has here 

 been carried to a height, which in any other country 

 probably it has never attained ; the same enterprising 

 spirit, which led to this pre-eminence, still continuing, 

 with little or any abatement." 



Eastern. The eastern department is not more strongly mark- 



ed in its natural, than in its agricultural character ; in 

 the former, its fens and marshes, as well as the light 

 sandy quality of its uplands, features that are united 

 in no other district of the kingdom, mark it out ; in 

 the latter, the turnip husbandry is the most distinguish- 

 ing feature. The agricultural pursuits of the eastern 

 department, are directed, in a principal manner, to gra- 

 zing, not only in the marshes and lower grounds, but 

 on the uplands. Sheep, as well as cattle, are grazed 

 here ; and it may also be remarked, that in a very con- 

 siderable portion of this agricultural district, arable hus- 

 bandry is very extensively and intimately connected 

 with the fattening of sheep and cattle. Its boundaries 

 are distinctly marked, including the fen lands of Lin- 

 colnshire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Hunt- 

 ingdonshire, and Norfolk, as well as the rest of Nor- 

 folk, and the counties of Suffolk in Essex, with those 

 parts of the adjoining counties which lie close to them. 

 Southern. The southern department, which includes the chalk 

 hills in the vicinity of the metropolis, as well as those 

 in the more remote counties, is, by the circumstance of 

 these hills, distinctly marked out, in its natural charac- 

 ter, from the rest of the kingdom. That part of it 

 which lies in the more immediate vicinity of the metro- 

 polis, is, of course, directed, in the nature and objects 

 of its husbandry, by the demands created by the me- 

 tropolis ; and thus an artificial character is, as it were, 

 given to its agricultural pursuits. The other part of 

 this district is distinguished by its flocks of sheep, 

 which are fed on its chalk hills ; the breeds, and mode 

 of management, of which are very different from those 

 in the midland and eastern departments. 



South-west- The natural situation of the last, or south-western 

 W"- agricultural department, is very remarkable ; it stretches 



away from the main body of the island, in a peninsular 

 form, into the western sea. This peninsula is nearly 

 200 miles long, and is bounded by that sea, except 

 where it touches the southern and western departments. 

 The natural characters of its area, as well as of its situ- 

 ation, are also singular. Slate rock hills, which are 

 comparatively unknown in the rest of the kingdom, 

 except in a small portion of the northern department, 

 here abound. The surface, indeed, almost throughout 

 the department, (its north-eastern angle excepted,) is of 

 a singular character, consisting of bare steep-sided hills, 

 Mti-il by narrow vallies : the hills, in general, are 

 productive to their very summits. In its agricultural 

 chancier and pursuits, it is not less remarkable ; the 

 husbandry that is carried on tiiere being more nearly 

 allied to the ancient husbandry of the Romans, than 

 any pursued in this island. Arable, as well as pasture 

 aixl dairy husbandry, are indeed pursued, but the mode 

 of uniting them, the practices which prevail in each, 

 and the grand features of the whole, are remarkable, 

 and strongly distinguished. 



Notwithstanding this general division of the king- 

 dom into agricultural departments, it may be proper to 

 specify the counties which are principally occupied in 

 the three great branches of agricultural industry, fol- 

 lowed in England, namely, arable husbandry; dairy 



husbandry ; and that husbandry which is directed to Statistic.-. 

 the breeding and fattening of cattle and sheep. s< " "Y"""" 



The following are the principal counties in which Principal 

 arable husbandry is pursued to a greater extent than in arable coun- 

 the other parts of the kingdom : Kent, Essex, Suffolk, ties- 

 Norfolk, Hampshire, Berkshire, Bedfordshire, Surrey, 

 Sussex, Hertfordshire, part of Yorkshire, Durham, and 

 Northumberland. The dairy counties, either for but- Dairy coun- 

 ter or cheese, or both, are Cheshire, Shropshire, Glou- &es. 

 cestershire, Wiltshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Suffolk, 

 Yorkshire, Derby shire, Cambridgeshire, Dorsetshire, and 

 Devonshire. The counties most distinguished for breed- Breeding 

 ing and fattening cattle and sheep, are Lincolnshire, So- C0lmt ie s - 

 mersetshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Teeswa- 

 ter in Durham, and Cleveland and Holderness in York- 

 shire. It will be evident, however, that in this ar- 

 rangement, many counties must be specified, in which 

 more than one of the three great agricultural pursuits 

 are carried on ; and it may be remarked, that the arable 

 husbandry, in some counties, is closely connected with 

 the fattening of sheep, but seldom with the dairy hus- 

 bandry; while the latter is often connected with the 

 breeding and fattening of cattle and sheep. 



SECT. III. Arable Husbandry. 



IN giving a general sketch of the arable husbandry Arable hu.-- 

 of England, it will be proper to consider it under two bam " : ) r< 

 heads, namely, the instruments employed in carrying 

 it on, and the crops cultivated. On the first head, our 

 remarks must be brief, since it would lead us far be- 

 yond our limits to particularise or describe nearly all 

 the agricultural implements used in England. 



The ploughs employed are of various and numerous Ploughs, 

 sorts, but they may be divided into three principal &c- 

 classes : the swing-plough, the wheel-plough, and the 

 turn-wrest plough: the first seems to be the oldest 

 plough in England, at least in its original construction: 

 it is for the most part a heavy ill made implement. In 

 its original form, it is not however now often met with ; 

 but in its improved construction, it is general in the 

 northern, north-western, and some of the midland 

 counties : in Suffolk, a peculiar kind of swing-plough 

 is used. Ploughs with one or two wheels are common 

 in the southern, and south-western counties of Eng- 

 land, as well as in some of the midland counties : a pe- 

 culiar plough of this construction is almost exclusive- 

 ly seen in Norfolk. Turn-wrest ploughs are general 

 over Kent, and on the chalk hills of Sussex and Hert- 

 fordshire : they are not common in other parts of the 

 kingdom. Besides these three kinds, double moulded 

 ploughs are used ; but their use is by no means gene- 

 ral, nor is it likely to continue. On the whole, it may 

 be remarked, that the ploughs, as well as most of the 

 other agricultural implements in England, are by no 

 means constructed on those scientific principles, and 

 with that skill which enables them to do their work 

 well with the least expence of labour and time. 



Perhaps the imperfect construction of the ploughs Number 

 may be one cause why in England a greater number of of h Is ^ 

 horses than necessary are employed in them. If we a ' 

 except the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, in 

 the south of England, and those of Northumberland, 

 Durham, Cumberland, and Westmoreland, in the north, 

 there is perhaps no other county in which more than 

 two horses will not be seen in a plough. In some coun- 

 ties, the practice of ploughing with two horses is ne- 

 ver followed, even on the lightest soils ; and it may in 

 general be remarked of the south, south-eastern and 



