Book II. MILLS, VILLAGES, &c. 557 



with little benefit ; but where the natural and political circumstances are favorable, the 

 improvement is of the greatest consequence, by retaining on the same estate, as it were, 

 the profits of tlie grower, manufacturer, and to a certain extent of the consumer. 



3561. The establishment of 7m7/s and manufactories to be impelled by water, neces- 

 sarily depends on the abundance and situation of that material, and it should be well 

 considered before hand, whether the water might not be as well employed in irrigation ; 

 or how far irrigation will be hindered by the establishment of a mill. In the state of 

 society in which water corn-mills were first erected, they were doubtlessly considered as 

 a blessing to the country. There were, then, no flour manufactories : and it was more 

 convenient for the inhabitants to carry their corn to a neighboring mill, than to grind 

 it less effectually, by hand, at home. Hence, the privileges and immunities of manorial 

 mills. To secure so great a comfort, every tenant of a manor would willingly agree to 

 send his corn to be ground at the lord's mill : and, perhaps, was further obliged to 

 stipulate to pay toll for the whole of his growth ; though it were sent out of the manor, 

 unground. 



3562. In Scotland, this impolitic, and now absurd custom, was only lately given up : 

 till when no farmer dared to send his corn to market, until he had delivered a propor- 

 tional quantity to the proprietor, or the occupier, of the mill to which he was thirled ; or 

 had previously stipulated to pay him thirlage, for what he might send away ; this 

 arbitrary regulation operating like tithes, to decrease the growth of corn. 



3563. In England and Ireland, however, no restriction of this sort at present exists. 

 But, in the remote parts of the north of England, there are mills which claim (or lately 

 claimed) the exclusive right of grinding the whole of the corn which the inhabitants of 

 the respective parishes or manors required to be ground, for their own use : suffering 

 none to be sent out of the parish, for the purpose of grinding. And in the more 

 western counties, where grist mills are still the schools of parochial scandal, something 

 of this sort remains, and is piously preserved in modern leases. But, in the kingdom 

 at large, grist mills are now going fast into disuse. Even working people purchase 

 flour, instead of corn ; and, whether in a private or a public light, this is an eligible 

 practice. They can purchase a sort which is suited to their circumstances ; and they 

 know the quality and the quantity of what they carry home. Whereas, in the proverbial 

 rascality of grist millers, they have no certainty as to either. Beside, in a flour mill 

 there is no waste. Every particle may be said to be converted to its proper use. 



3564. A valuable property belonging to modern Jtour manufactories is their not re- 

 quiring every brook and rivulet of the kingdom to work them. In Norfolk, a great 

 share of the wheat grown in that corn county, is manufactured into flour by the 

 means of windmills. And such are modern inventions, that neither wind, nor water, is 

 any longer necessary to the due manufacture of flour ; the steam engine affording, if 

 not the most eligible, the most constant and equable power. 



3565. The most eligible species of water-mill, are the tide-mill, and the current-mill : 

 the former placed in creeks, inlets, bays, estuaries, or tide rivers ; and the latter in the 

 current of a river. .There are many situations, Marshal observes, in which these species 

 of mills may be erected with profit to proprietors, and the community; and without an 

 injury to the landed property, or the agricultural produce of the country. He is of 

 opinion, that the numerous river mills existing in diiTerent parts of the country, are 

 unnecessary to the present state of society. 



3566. Grist mills in some remote situations, may be still required : but seeing the 

 number of flour mills which are now dispersed over almost every part of the kingdom, 

 seeing also the present facility of carriage, by land and water, and seeing, at the same 

 time, , the serious injuries which river mills entail on agriculture. Marshal recom- 

 mends land proprietors to reduce their number, as fast as local circumstances will 

 allow. 



3567. The inducement to establish mamfactories depends on a variety of circum- 

 stances, as well as on a supply of water. Among these may be mentioned the price of 

 labor, convenience for carriage, export or import, existence of the raw material at or near 

 the spot, as in the case of iron works, potteries, &c. In England, while the poor laws 

 exist, the establishment of any concern that brings together a large mass of population 

 will always be attended with a considerable risk to land owners; though it is a certain mode, 

 in the first instance, of raising the price of land, and giving a general stimulus to every 

 description of industry. 



3568. A populous manufactory, even while it florishes, according to Marshal, operates 

 mischievously in an agricultural district: by propagating habits of extravagance and im- 

 morality among the lower order of tenantry, as well as by rendering farm laborers and 

 servants dissatisfied with their condition in life ; and the more it florishes, and the higher 

 wages it pays, the more mischievous it becomes in this respect. Lands bear a rental value 

 in proportion to the rate of living, in the district in which they lie ; so that while a tern- 



