ENGLAND. (AGRICULTURE.) 



the range contains tliat remarkable series of pictur- 

 esque lakes, through which the waters of Westmore- 

 land and Cumberland descend to the Irish Sea. 4. 

 The rich vale of the Tyne, which separates the 

 counties of Durham and Northumberland. 5. The 

 vale of Carlisle in Cumberland. And 6. That of 

 the Coquet in Northumberland. 



IV. The fourth of the grand divisions of the 

 southern part of Britain, which formed the Britannia 

 Sccvnda of the Romans, forms the greater part of the 

 jirinripality of Wales. (See Walet.) The vale of 

 the Severn, its ancient boundary on the east, is now, 

 however, wholly comprehended in England. This 

 fine river, taking its rise in Plinlimmon on the 

 borders of Montgomery and Cardigan, winds in a 

 north-easterly course to the English Lorder, whence 

 it passes eastward to Shrewsbury, and soon after 

 winding round to the south, traverses Shropshire,Wor- 

 cestershire, and Gloucestershire, and being joined by 

 the Avon, after a course of 200 miles, falls into the 

 noble estuary at the head of the Bristol Channel. 



The woodland counties of England are, Kent, Sur- 

 rey, Sussex, Hampshire, Worcestershire, and Che- 

 shire, with parts of Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buck- 

 inghamshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, and 

 Yorkshire. The soil of the midland counties is 

 generally a strong loam ; sandy soils cover a large 

 space in Nottinghamshire ; calcarious earth abounds 

 in many parts of Northampton, with a species of fer- 

 ruginous soil called red land ; and Norfolk is almost 

 entirely a sandy loam, except in the eastern part 

 where clay appears. The wealds of Kent, Sussex, 

 and Surrey present the greatest surface of unbroken 

 clay-land. The grazing counties are, Leicester, 

 Lincoln, Northampton, parts of Yorkshire and Dur- 

 ham, and Somerset. The dairy counties are, Che- 

 shire, Shropshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Bucks, 

 Devon, Dorset, Essex, Suffolk, Cambridge, and 

 parts of Derby and York. The arable farms of 

 greatest extent are found in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, 

 Hertfordshire, Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Hampshire, 

 Bedfordshire, Berks, Yorkshire, Durham, and Nor- 

 thumberland. The barley counties are, Norfolk, 

 Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Leicester- 

 shire, Nottinghamshire, Berkshire, and the upper 

 parts of Herefordshire, Warwickshire, Shropshire. 

 Hops are grown chiefly in Kent, Sussex, and Surrey ; 

 also in parts of Essex, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, 

 and Nottinghamshire. The orchards of Worcester- 

 shire, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Somersetshire, 

 Devonshire, and Monmouthshire supply the manu- 

 facturers of cider and perry with fruit. Cheshire con- 

 tains the principal salt mines. Coal abounds in all 

 the counties north of the Humber, except Westmore- 

 land. Derbyshire contains valuable lead mines, 

 which were worked by the Romans, together with 

 zinc and iron. Black lead is confined to a small dis- 

 trict of Cumberland. Lead is found in abundance 

 both in the northern and southern counties, as well 

 as iron and copper ; but tin, for which the island 

 appears to have been resorted to from the earliest 

 times, is confined to the south-western promontory. 

 The principal islands off the English coast are, the 

 Isle of Wight, annexed to Hampshire ; the Isle of 

 Anglesea, which forms a county of Wales ; the Scilly 

 Isles off the coast of Cornwall ; and the Isle of Man 

 in the Irish Sea. 



Agriculture. In England, according to Cffisar, 

 agriculture was introduced by colonies from Belgium, 

 which took shelter there from the encroachments of 

 the Bel gas from Germany, about B. C. 150. These 

 colonies began to cultivate the sea coasts ; but the 

 natives of the inland parts lived on roots, berries, 

 flesh, and milk, and it appears from Dionysius that 

 they never tasted fish. Pliny mentions the use of 



marl as being known to the Britons ; and Diodonis 

 Siculus describes their method of preserving corn, by 

 laying- it up in the ear in caves or granaries. 



But the general spread of agriculture in Britain 

 was no doubt effected by the Romans. The tribute 

 of a certain quantity of corn, which they imposed on 

 every part of the country, as it fell under their domi- 

 nion, obliged the inhabitants to practise tillage ; and 

 from the example of the conquerors, and the richness 

 of the soil, they soon not only produced a sufficient 

 quantity of com for their own use and that of the 

 Roman troops, but afforded every year a very great 

 surplus for exportation. 



At the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons, this island, 

 according to Fleury, abounded in numerous flocks and 

 herds, which these conquerors seized, and pastured 

 for their own use ; and, after their settlement, they 

 still continued to follow pasturage as one of the chief 

 means of their subsistence. This is evident from 

 the great number of laws that were made hi the 

 Anglo-Saxon times, for regulating the prices of all 

 kinds of tame cattle, for directing the manner in 

 which they were to be pastured, and for preserving 

 them from thieves, robbers, and beasts of prey. 

 /Vilkina, Leges Saxon., passim. 



The Welsh hi this period, from the nature of their 

 country and other circumstances, depended still more 

 on their flocks and herds for their support ; hence 

 then* laws respecting pasturage were more numerous 

 and minute, than those of the Saxons. (Leges ffaliica 

 passim.) From these laws we learn, among many 

 other particulars which need not be mentioned, that 

 all the cattle of a village, though belonging to differ- 

 ent owners, were pastured together in one herd, under 

 the direction of one person (with proper assistants) ; 

 whose oath, in all disputes about the cattle under his 

 care, was decisive. 



By one of these laws, they were prohibited from 

 ploughing with horses, mares, or cows, and restricted 

 to oxen. (Leges WalliccR, p. 288.) Their ploughs 

 seem to have been very slight and inartificial: for it 

 was enacted that no man should undertake to guide 

 a plough, who could not make one ; and that the 

 driver should make the ropes with which it was 

 drawn of twisted willows. (Ibid., p. 283.) Hence 

 the names still hi use of ridge-withy, wanty or womb- 

 tye, whipping-trees, tail-withes, &c. But slight as 

 these ploughs were, it was usual for six or eight 

 persons to form themselves into a society for fitting 

 out one of them, and providing it with oxen, and 

 everything necessary for ploughing ; and many mi- 

 nute and curious laws were made for the regulation 

 of such societies. This is a sufficient proof both of the 

 poverty of the husbandmen, and of the imperfect 

 state of agriculture among the ancient Britons in 

 this period. 



The division of landed estates into what are called 

 inlands and outlands, originated with the Saxon 

 princes and great men, who in the division of the 

 conquered lands, obtained the largest shares, and are 

 said to have subdivided their territory into two parts, 

 which were so named. The inlands were those which 

 lay most contiguous to the mansion-house of their 

 owner, which he kept in his own immediate posses- 

 sion, and cultivated by his slaves, under the direction 

 of a bailiff, for the purpose of raising provisions for 

 his family. The outlands were those which lay at a 

 greater distance from the mansion-house, and were 

 let to the ceorls or farmers of those times at a certain 

 rent, which was very moderate and generally paid in 

 kind. (Reliquiee Spelmannianae , p. 12.) 



The rent of lands in these times was established by 

 law, and not by the owners of the land. By the laws 

 of Ina, king of the West Saxons, who flourished i n 

 the end of the seventh and beginning of the eighth 



