ENGLAND. 



723 





Statistics, cced any other crops, except wheat or oats, though in 

 some counties, they are sown after barley and pease. 

 It has already been mentioned, that on light soils (on 

 which they are almost exclusively grown) they are 

 substituted for naked fallow. In the north of England, 

 the common time for sowing them is June ; but in the 

 southern counties, they are seldom sown before July. 

 They are carefully hand-hoed while growing ; and if 

 drilled, they are also horse-hoed. They are used for 

 fattening sheep or cattle, but principally the former. 

 About twenty years ago, a species of turnip, called ru- 

 ta baga, or the Swedish turnip, was introduced into 

 this country. It is now cultivated in almost every dis- 

 trict where the common turnip is grown. Rape is cul- 

 tivated, either on account of its seed, to be expressed 

 for its oil, or as a green food for sheep. With the for- 

 mer view, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire are principally 

 distinguished for its growth : as food for sheep, it is 

 cultivated to a considerable extent in the southern and 

 south-western counties, as well as in Northamptonshire, 

 Leicestershire, &c. It is seldom grown, for either pur- 

 pose, to the north of Yorkshire, or in the western coun- 

 ties. Cabbages, as food for cattle and sheep, have been 



Cabbages, 

 carrots, &.C. 



and extend the cultivation of flax and hemp ; but the 

 bounties were soon withdrawn, it is said, because they 

 indirectly went to the landlords instead of the tenants, 

 the former expecting an increased rent for their lan/1, 

 in proportion to the bounties given. However this 

 may be, flax and hemp are by no means extensively 

 cultivated in England ; chiefly between Bridport and 

 Beaminster in Dorsetshire, about Frome, Crewkerne, 

 &c. in Somersetshire ; at Upwell and Chatteris in the 

 Isle of Ely, in some parts of Lincolnshire, and on the 

 strong lands of High Suffolk. 



England has long been noted for its hops. They are 

 cultivated in the neighbourhood of Canterbury and 

 Maidstone in Kent, where there is a larger extent of 

 ground under this crop, than in any other county in 

 the kingdom : about Farnham in Surry, and the ad- 

 joining parts of Hampshire, where, from superior ma- 

 nagement, or other causes, their quality is so highly 

 esteemed, that they always bring a much higher price 

 than any other hops : in Worcestershire, particularly in 

 the vale of the Severn and in the vale of the Team : in 

 the vicinity of Stow market in Suffolk, and near Ret- 

 ford in Nottinghamshire ; but in these two places 



Statistics. 



Hops. 



partially cultivated for several years ; but their cultiva-^ly to a very inconsiderable extent: in Herefordshire, 



Canary seed 

 and other 

 crops not 

 generally 



grown. 



Flax and 



tion does not seem to be extending. Suffolk, Leicester, 

 and Lincolnshire, are the counties where they are prin- 

 cipally grown. Nearly the same remark may be made 

 respecting carrots. They have been long cultivated, to 

 a considerable extent, on the sandy soils of Suffolk, 

 (where, according to Mr Young, there is a greater quan- 

 tity of them than in any other part of England,) but 

 it is only within these few years that they have been 

 applied as food for live stock. Formerly the carrots of 

 this county were exclusively sent to the London mar- 

 ket. They are cultivated, as a farm crop, scarcely in 

 any other county besides Suffolk, if we except Worces- 

 tershire, where Wolverley sands have been long fa- 

 mous for the growth of this root, as well as for carrot 

 seed. 



The following crops are in general confined to a very 

 few parts of England. Canary seed is scarcely seen 

 any where, except in the Isle of Thanet. Saffron, whicli 

 was formerly cultivated in various parts of the king- 

 dom, is now grown almost solely between Saffron- Wai- 

 den in Essex, (which takes its name from this plant,) 

 and Newmarket, in a circuit of about ten miles. Ano- 

 ther singular product of Essex is a kind of treble crop 

 of coriander, carroway, and teazle ; the two former on 

 account of their aromatic seeds, the latU-r for its prick- 

 ly heads, used for the purpose of raising the nap on 

 woollen cloths. Teazles are also grown in some parts 

 of the West Riding of Yorkshire; but neither there 

 nor in Essex to nearly their former extent, in conse- 

 quence of their use being, in a great measure, super- 

 seded by machinery in the woollen manufacture. Mad- 

 der and woad are grown, though not to any consider- 

 able extent, in the chalk hills of Surrey near Bansted, 

 and in West Kent. Mustard, in Durham, near Wis- 

 beach in the Isle of Ely, and in some parts of Essex. 

 Liquorice, principally near Pontefract, in the West Ri- 

 ding of Yorkshire. A few medicinal plants are grown 

 -in this country : Nearly 200 acres of camomile in Der- 

 byshire; and a considerable variety of them about 

 Mitcham in Surry, of which the most important are 

 peppermint, pennyroyal, savin, angelica, horehound, 

 camomile, wormwood, hyssop, poppy, lavender, and 

 roses. 



About 30 years ago, the government of this coun- 

 try endeavoured, by means of bounties, to encourage 



1 



coun " 



particularly on the confines of Worcestershire : in Es- 

 sex, about Castle Hedingham: and in some parts of 

 Sussex. This crop is so much affected by the climate, 

 and so much exposed to blights and other distempers, 

 that its produce varies more perhaps than that of any 

 other plant cultivated in the fields. This will sufficient- 

 ly appear, from the following statement of the produce 

 of hops in England during the years 1794 and 1795. 

 In the former year, it amounted only to 5,000,000 Ibs. 

 whereas in 1795, the produce was 42,528,587 Ibs. The 

 average, ascertained from the produce of a considerable 

 number of years, is found to be 20,543,070 Ibs. Hop 

 grounds let at a higher rate per acre than any other 

 kind of land not possessed of peculiar local advantages, 

 bringing from L.5 to L.10 per acre; and about Fam- 

 ham, considerably more. 



There is scarcely a farm of any extent in the southern Orchards. 

 and south-western counties, which has not an orchard 

 attached to it, containing apple trees at least sufficiently 

 numerous and productive to supply the farmer's family 

 with cider ; but it is exclusively or principally in the 

 counties of Devonshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, 

 Gloucestershire, Monmouthshire, and Somersetshire, 

 that cider and perry are made in very large quantities 

 for sale ; and where the management of the orchards 

 forms principally or exclusively^ the concern of the far- 

 mer. Perry is made chiefly in Worcestershire; and 

 the cider of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire is deem- 

 ed of a superior quality to that of Devonshire. The ac- 

 tual quantity of cider made in the cider counties has 

 not been ascertained. Mr Marshall calculates that the 

 produce of the four counties of Worcester, Gloucester, 

 Hereford, and Monmouth, on a par of years, may be 

 laid at 30,000 hogsheads ; of this quantity it is suppo- 

 sed Worcestershire supplies nearly 10,000 hogsheads, 

 besides 1000 hogsheads of perry. Exclusively of these 

 liquors, which are sent into all parts of the kingdom, 

 these counties, which may be considered the principal 

 fruit counties of England, send large quantities of fruit 

 chiefly into the northern counties. The average ton- 

 nage of fruit sent out of Worcestershire alone, by the 

 canals, into the north, for three years, amounted to 1500 

 tons; and in one year it exceeded 209* tons. The 

 county of Kent is famous for orchards of another de- 

 scription from those of the western counties. These 



