[ "9 J 



the land is for some time unproductive, and theexpence is also so 

 enormous, that few farmers would have courage to go through so 

 costly an experiment. 



How far the plan of proceeding which I have before suggested 

 is, or is not more eligible, I shall leave to Mr. Moxham and to my 

 readers to determine. 



Mr. Moxham has planted firs and alder hedges on these bogs 

 with great success, and has made various striking improvements to 

 the great astonishment of his neighbours, who could not conceive 

 such things possible. In short, he is justly entitled to the thanks 

 not only of the laboring poor, but also to those of the community, 

 for his persevering industry and activity. 



No country can afford greater encouragement either to the gra- 

 zing, dairy, or corn farmer, than this; the salubrity and mildness 

 of the climate, and the fertility and strength of the soil, enable the 

 occupier to devote his land to either purpose with an almost cer- 

 tainty of success ; and the annual profit over and above his rent 

 cannot fail as a source of wealth and independence. The dairv 

 farms are small, seldom exceeding two hundred pounds per year; 

 the grazing farms are large and very detached. 



It is obvious, that the profits of the dairy exceed those of the 

 grazier nearly in the proportion of two to one, and as one hun- 

 dred pounds per year will afford a comfortable subsistence to a 

 family, small farms are best calculated to increase population, and 

 to rear up an industrious race of independent yeomanry. Excepting 

 the bishop of Bath and Wells, there are few proprietors who stand 

 seized of more than six or eight hundred pounds per annum, and 

 for the most part from one hundred to two hundred pounds per an- 

 num, and more than nine-tenths of the land are employed in pasture. 

 The old arable was found not to pay for ploughing, and has there- 

 fore been laid down. 



Some few farmers however have enriched themselves by giving 

 four pounds per acre for some rich dry and newly inclosed land, on 

 which they have grown fifty bushels of wheat per acre for ten years 

 successively, without fallow or manure of any kind. 



Where there is so much to approve, I am sorry there is any 

 thing to condemn, but truth compels me to state, that a shameful 

 inattention prevails as to their breed of cattle, and scarcely can an 

 instance be produced of a farmer's giving more than ten pounds for 



Q^ 2 a bull, 



