ENGLAND. 



739 



^statistics, kinds as we Jo possess, of the fruits of more favoured and 

 V """V~ > ' wanner countries. Nor are our kitchen gardens less 

 distinguished for the variety and excellence of the ve- 

 getables which they produce. From the very great and 

 constant demand for fruit and vegetables which the me- 

 tropolis creates, the gardens in its vicinity are superior 

 to any others, in the attention and skill with which 

 they are cultivated, and in the returns that they make 

 for the money and labour expended on them. The 

 fruit gardeners near London not only stock their ground 

 with apples, pears, cherries, plums, &c. which they call 

 the upper crop ; but they have also an under crop; con- 

 sisting of raspberries, strawberries, &c. On these gar- 

 den grounds it is supposed that a population is support- 

 ed at the rate of ten persons per acre. We have parti- 

 cularly specified the gardens in the neighbourhood of 

 London, as exhibiting proofs of English skill, enter- 

 prize, and success in horticulture, beyond what the gar- 

 dens in the country exhibit. But in the vicinity of 

 most of the large towns in England, and even at the 

 distance of 1 5 or 20 miles from some of them, the ex- 

 cellence of our horticulture is apparent. 



In ornamental gardening, and the laying out of 

 grounds, England is also celebrated, being deservedly 

 regarded as the parent country of real taste in this re- 

 spect. Nowhere is so much attention, and, if the ex- 

 pression may be allowed, deference paid to nature, in 

 the laying out of grounds, as in England. 



Such is the picture of this country, with respect to 

 the result of the application of the capital, industry, and 

 skill of its inhabitants, to the cultivation of the soil. 



CHAP. VIII. 

 Of the Produce of Mines and Quarries. 



THE next branch of industry which we are to consider 

 and investigate, is that which is employed in the mines 

 and quarries of the kingdom. In the remarks which 

 we offered on the mineral geography and geology of 

 England, the produce of the mines was noticed in so 

 fer as it was connected with that branch of our sub- 

 ject : but it is now to be considered in another point of 

 view. In what we are about to offer, we shall, as far 

 as our materials enable us to do it, in the first place, 

 enumerate the principal mineral productions of this 

 country, on which the industry and capital of its in- 

 habitants are employed, (so far as regards their unma- 

 nufactured state) ; in the second place, we shall point 

 out the parts of the kingdom in which they are found ; 

 and, lastly, we shall endeavour to form an estimate of 

 the quantity produced, the value of the produce, and 

 the mimber of people employed, as well as particula- 

 rize the uses to which the various substances are respec- 

 tively applied. We must premise, however, that on 

 the last head, our information must necessarily be ei- 

 ther very loose and conjectural, or limited and partial, 

 since there are not data on which to ground results, not 

 only accurate but complete. In this alternative, we 

 shall prefer giving what we know to be correct, though 

 thus we must unavoidably pass over some part of our 

 subject, to offering vague and unfounded conjectures 

 and speculations. 



I. It has been truly and justly observed, that " it 

 mine* u seldom or never happens that countries abundant in 

 well a* Bgri- the productions of agriculture should, at the same time, 

 culture. present an opulent mineralogy : yet England is far from 

 l>eing deficient in this respect." The author of this re- 

 mark might have been justified in going farther, and 



in asserting, that England, with respect to those trea- Statistic*. 

 sures which she draws from the bowels of the earth, 'V"' 

 holds a distinguished place among European nations, 

 not so much perhaps on account of their very great 

 abundance and natural richness, as on account of the 

 industry, skill, and enterprise, with which she has 

 availed herself of these treasures, and of the capital at. 

 first produced by these qualities, and afterwards brought 

 to bear in conjunction with them, ao as to raise her, 

 in poinr of national prosperity, power, and wealth, to 

 the exalted situation in which she now stands. In ano- 

 ther point of view, also, may her mineral productions 

 be, honourably for herself, distinguished from those of 

 most other nations : with them, industry, or capital, or 

 both, are in general merely sufficient to procure the 

 minerals in their natural state, or at most, to change 

 them into their rudest and least valuable form ; but in 

 England, the various minerals which are found in the 

 bowels of the earth are, for the most part, by the skill 

 and industry of her inhabitants, either converted into 

 the most precious and exquisite, or the most useful and 

 important articles, that the taste, the luxury, the com- 

 forts, or the wants of man demand ; or they are made 

 the instruments and means of producing those articles 

 in the greatest abundance, and with the smallest ap- 

 plication of capital and labour. The truth of these ob- 

 servations will be abundantly apparent, when we enu- 

 merate the principal mineral productions of this coun- 

 try, scarcely one of which will not call up to the mind 

 of the most ignorant and careless observer, the rude 

 material of what he daily uses, or the means of pro- 

 ducing that rude material. 



In point of importance, not only on account of its Principal 

 great abundance and utility here, but also on account usrfu l ''- 

 of its comparative rarity in most other countries, coal ne - ijs> 

 most be mentioned : then perhaps tin, as another mi- 

 neral, by which England is distinguished from most 

 other nations: black lead, also, (though found here 

 only in a very few places, and only in one place in 

 abundance), claims our notice as an almost exclusive 

 mineral possessed by England. After these, may be 

 mentioned iron, lead, and copper ; of what are called 

 the inferior metals, (which are rare every where), zinc 

 and manganese may be mentioned as the most impor- 

 tant in our manufactures. Of the productions of our 

 quarries, as distinguished from the productions of our 

 mines, marbles and freestone, or calcareous sandstone, 

 of various colours and textures, are in many parts of 

 the kingdom abundant. There are also mines of rock 

 salt, pits of fuller's earth, potter's clay, &c. 



II. With respect to the counties in which the mine- p] aceR 

 ral productions just enumerated are found, to begin where 

 with coal, it may in general be remarked, (as has in- found. 

 deed already appeared from our account of the mineral 

 geography of England), that it abounds in all parts of 

 the Kingdom, except the eastern, southern, south-east- 

 ern, south-western, and a tew of the midland coun- 

 ties. In the following counties, it is found in greater 

 or less abundance: Northumberland, Durham, York- (; oa j 

 shire, Cumberland, and Lancashire, in the north of 

 England : in this northern district, Westmoreland is 

 the only county destitute of coal ; in all the rest it is 

 very abundant. To the south of these counties, coal 

 is found in Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and Shropshire : 

 it is wanting in Cheshire on the west side, and Notting- 

 hamshire and Lincolnshire on the east side of this dis- 

 trict. Of the midland counties, Leicestershire and 

 Warwickshire are the only two which possess this va- 

 luable mineral, none being found in Northamptonshire, 

 Rutlandshire, Oxfordshire, or indeed to the south or 



