[ 137 1 



Freeholders loss at five per cent . . . ^ , . ~ 00 



Leaseholders profit at ditto 



194 2 o 



Difference £ 694 3 o 



2V. 5. A deduction must be made from Leaseholders profit, 

 for Lords rent and Herriotts, and something from freeholders 

 loss, for increasing value of timber, but these will not invalidate 

 the general conclusions. 



The great cause why leaseholds are held in low estimation by the 

 commonalty, arises from the improvidence of the general holders, 

 who for the most part expend the whole income of their estates, 

 without laying by, a fund for the purpose of renewal ; hence it fol- 

 lows, that their estates fall into hand, and the owners are reduced 

 from a state of comparative affluence, to beggary ; at which event* 

 the general exclamation is, ttiho --would have leasehold property ? 



The declivities of the hills north, and east of Sedgmoor, are as 

 barren, as those before stated are productive. The finer particles 

 of the soil, have for ages, been washed into the moor, by heavy- 

 rains ; and the remaining mould is shallow and sterile. When the 

 moor is drained, and made productive, this lost fertility, may be 

 in some degree restored, by carrying the produce of the moor to 

 the Uplands,, either by the sheep fold, or by consuming the hay 

 thereon. 



A great part of these high lands are in tillage, but the expence 

 of ploughing is so great, and the produce so small, that it is matter 

 of astonishment to me, how the farmer can gain a livelihood,, 

 Somerton and Compton Dundon, two considerable parishes to the 

 eastward of Sedgmoor, are for the most part the property of the 

 earl of Uchester; and I know no parishes in the county so suscep- 

 tible of improvement. The arable lands in common field lie so 

 detached, and divided, and the estates, farm-houses, &c. are on 

 the whole so badly disposed, that vast improvements might be made 

 by judicious exchanges, and by a proper arrangement of the pro- 

 perty. The soil is naturally good, and around the town of So- 

 merton is a multitude of gardens, which supply the adjacent mar- 

 kets, even so far as Wells and Shepton Mallett, with early peas, 



beans, 



