Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 



11^ 



In the reparation of the banks which secure the marsh land 

 from the sea, the frontage towns are at the expense ; hut in 

 case of such a breach as renders a new bank necessan,-, the 

 expense is assessed according to the highest tides ever known, 

 by level over all the country below such level of high water, 

 under the direction of the commissioners of sewers ; the dis- 

 tance from the sea subject to drainage will, therefore,' vary ac- 

 cording to the level of the country. 



South Holland, grossly estimated at 100,000 acres, within the 

 Old Sea-dvke bank, has long been an object of embankment. 

 Ravenbank, the origin of which is quite unknown, appears to 

 have bjen the third bank which"had been fo med for securing a 

 small part of this tract from the sea, leading from Coubit to 

 Tidd St Mary's. About six miles nearer to the sea is another 

 bank, called the Old Sea-dyke bank, which is unquestionably 

 a Romm work. 



A very curious circumstance is, that a fifth bank, called the 

 New Sea-dyke bank, two miles nearer than the Roman one, re- 

 mains, but it is utterly unknown when or by whom it ^^as 

 made. The new bank mentioned above, takes in about two 

 miles more in breadth. In staking the levels for making the 

 new drain, it was found that the surface of the country, on 

 coming to the Roman bank, suddenly rose six feet, being six 

 feet higher on the sea side than on the land side, and then con- 

 tiimeson that higher level, being the depth of warp, or silt, 

 deposited by the sea since that bank was made. 



The first navigable canal that was made in England, is, in 

 all probability, that which was made from Lincoln to Torksey : 

 It is evidently a part of the Cardike, an immense Roman work, 

 which served to prevent the living waters from running down 

 upon the fens, and, skirtin;; the whole of them, from Peterbo- 

 rough to Lincoln, afforded a navigation of the utmost conse- 

 quence to this fertile country. 



Some irrigation ; and warping, on the Humber, where, at 

 already described, (4117.), it wa invented. 



9. Live Stock. 



More attended to in this county than the culture of com. 

 The Durham short horned cattle are preferred, but any sort 

 fatten well, and there is little dairying. 



Sheep. County carries one sheep and a half per acre at an 

 average. Lincoln breed preferred, Leicester much tried, and 

 crosses tietween them frequent; upon inferior land the Leices- 

 ter preferred, as fatting easier ; since the enclosure no folding j 

 several ram societies. 



Hortet, of the heavy black kind a good deal bred both for 

 carts and coaches ; in various places saddle horses also ; some 

 farmers keen thtir horses all the winter in open sheds, with 

 littered yards for them to go out and in at ple.isure. (iround- 

 sel eaten", said to cure the grease ; oits malted in salt water 

 given for three weeks or a month, found preferable to sprung 

 physic. 



Rabbits, Several warrens on^the wolds. 



Geese formerly much kept in the fens, and plucked four or 

 five times a year. " The feathers of a dead goose worth six- 

 psnce, three giving a pound. But plucking alive does not 

 yield more than three-pence per head, per annum. Some 

 wing them only every quarter, taking ten feathers from each 

 goose, which sell at five shillings a thousand. Plucked geese 

 pay in feathers one shilling a head in Wildmoor fen. 



10. Political Economy. 



(.Roads in many places made of silt ; " dreadfully dusty and 

 heavy in dry weather : on a thaw or day's rain like mortar." A. 

 number of canals, and, as already observed (.?.'j30), the first in 

 England made fi-om Lincoln to the sea. A fabric of brushes 

 and sacking at Gainsborough ; flax spun in various places. Aa 

 agricultural society at Falkingham, established in 1796. ' 



7017. RUTLANDSHIRE. 91,000 acres, resembling in soil and surface the uplands of the adjoining 

 county of Lincolnshire. The western part of the county is under grass, and the eastern chiefly in aration. 

 The soil is almost every where loamy and rich ; and the agriculture partaking of that of Lincolnshire and 

 Leicestershire. The operative classes seem more comfortable in this county, and more humanely treated 

 by the proprietors and farmers than in many others. The Earl of Winchelsea has made great exertions 

 to this effect. {Crutchley's Report, 1794. Parkinson's General Review, 1808. Marshal's Review, 1812.) 



1. Buildings- 



Some comfortable cottages built by the Earl of Winchelsea, 

 containing a kitchen, parlor, dairy, and cow-house, &c. with 

 two bed-rooms over. 



Others for three cows, and with a calf house, piggery, dairy, 

 kitchen; living-room, and two bed-rooms over. 



A third sort for operatives without a cow, containing a 

 kitchen, j)antry, closet in the stair over, and two bed-rooms, 

 one with a fire. Several with small farms of from five to 

 twenty acres attached. (Jig. 793.) 



793 



2. Arable Lands. 



(jenerally better managed than in Lincolnshire, and very 

 productive. The barley said to be of very superior quality. 



3. Pasture. 



Chiefly upland. The custom of letting part of it to laborers, 

 and also of^ taking in laborers' cows at so much per head, pre- 

 vails, and is encouraged by the Earl of Winchelsea. 



4. Several Orchards. 



In several places the cottagers take small portions of fields 

 from the farmers to use as gardens. .4t one place, three acres 

 and a half is divided into fourteen gardens, and at Oakham a field 

 of three acres is divided into.twenty-four. gardens, and let at 

 five shillings per garden. 



5. Improvements. 



Parkinson, one of the reporters, and a man of sound judg- 

 ment, has altered his opinion on the subject of irrigation, and 

 says it is now in conformity with that of a corresjiondent who 



thus writes to him : " In my opinion watering renders the 

 quality of the herbage and the land the worse for the process- 

 Where land is tolerably productive, and in a situation where b 

 quantity of grass food "is not required, 1 should certainly not 

 advise it. I think the land may be turned to better account 

 without it. But I think there are many situations, particularly 

 on gravel, sand, or open soils, where it may be very advantage- 

 ous ; the produce, by such means, is certainly much increased, 

 and, in some instances, rendered larger when very little other 

 wise would be prodficed. Though the produce is increased, 

 yet it becomes in time, in a few years, of so coarse a nature, jmd 

 mixed with rushes and plants, that cattle frtquently refuse to 

 eat it; and when it is eaten, the apjaearance of the cattle pro- 

 claims it far from being of a nutritious nature." He adds, "I 

 was formerly an advocate for irrigation, and am still on such soib 

 as are described in the above extract ; but havinghad since op- 

 portunities of viewing several water meadows which have been of 

 long standing, which have operated to the disadvantage of both 

 the herbage and land, 1 have been obliged, in a great measure, 

 to alter my opinion." 



6. Live Stock. 



Not much breeding, but chiefly feeding. P. consider* 

 that much depends on the application to fallow, and is of opi- 

 nion, that the large Durham ox did not eat more food to raise 

 him to that enormous size, than some others would to bring 

 them to half the size or weight at the same age. Nor is it at all 

 probable, that Lambert, of Leicester, who arrived at such 

 an astonishing weight, had eaten more food than Powell, the 

 celebrated pedestrian, who was a very thin man. An animal 

 for the shambles is seldom too large if he has an apfilnde to 

 fatten ; and much depends on the constitution of an animal in 

 this respect. 



A good plan for washing sheep at Burleigh; but not so 

 simple as the Duke of Bedford's. 



Horses of a very heavy, slow, unprofitable sort are raised In 

 the county. 



Oi'bees, 1176 hives kept by the cottagers. 



7. Political Economy. 



The Leicestershire and Rutlandshire -Agricultural Society 

 established in 1S06, meet at Melton Mowbray, and Oakham, 

 alternately. Less want of knowledge in this county than in 

 most others. 



7018. NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 617,600 acres of billowy surface, rich in wood lands and pasture 

 lands, but much behind in the culture of corn. The soil is almost every where excellent ; and by the 

 introduction of good husbandry, the marketable jiroduce of the county might be amazingly increased. 

 {Donaldson's Report, 1794. Pitt's Report, 1806. Marshal's Review, 1812.) 



1. Geographical State and Circumstances. 



Climate. Favorable both to health and vegetation ; exempted 

 ftom deep falls of snow and long-continued rains ; highest point 

 in the county supposed about 8fK) feet above the level of the sea, 

 and there Is neither mountain nor bog. Donaldson found 

 that wheat harvest generally commences here about a fbrUiight 

 earlier than in Perthshire. 



Soil. Great part on a calcareous tottom, limestone, schistus, 

 or slate, and the remainder of sandstone. The surface earths 

 may bs classed as strong and deeii loam, light thin reddish soil, 

 thin light clay, and fen and meadow. 

 ^ Minerals. ' Clay, limestone, marl, freestone, and slate. 



2. Property.' 



Almost wholly in large estates ; thirty-seven of or above ,"000/. 

 a year, half of which are from 5000/. to 10,000/.; managed by 

 stewards. 



3. Buildings. 



Althorpe, Burleigh, and Castle Ashby, noble mansions. 

 Farm-houses " as badly constructed as improperly placed ;" 

 built of stone or brick, and covered with slate or straw ; farmers 

 and their farmeries crowded together in towns and villages ; 

 cottages of mud and thatch. 



4. Occupation. 



No large farms; 130 acres the average of open fields, and 

 200 the average of inland farms; few or no leases. 



.5. hnplements. 



" Plough a clumsy piece of work, with a long massy beam 

 and timber mould, being drawn by four or five horses in "a line." 

 Donaldson says, a small plough, with two horses abreast, 

 will make better work ; but Pitt (who seems to know very 

 little of the matter) joins with Smith, of Tuchmarsb, who 

 says, " I have heard and read much on the subject, and tried a 

 great variety of ploughs, hut it is ridicu'ous to assert that two 

 horses can plough abreast in almost any part of ihiscounty. I 

 have met with no ploughs which serve so well (!) or run so 

 easy as the ploughs m common uses." So much for the 

 ignorance and presumption of Farmer Smith, and' the preju- 

 diced opinions of Pitt tlie reporter. A ribbed or plated roller, 

 formed bv letting in sixteen bars of iron lengthways of the 

 roller, is found preferable either to a spiky or smooth roller for 

 breaking clods. 



6. Arable Land. 



Fallow, wheat, and beans the cominon rotation, but othei* 

 whii;h include turnips and clovers, beginning fo be introduced 



