C 205 ) 



they are attentive to the cultivation of their land) they are juft the reverfe with reCpcQ. lo 

 their fences, as well as to the breed of their ftock (as was before obfcrved) and in both 

 tkefe refpeifts this rj^ighbourhood certainly ftands in need of improvement. As to flock, 

 there is indeed but little breed : but there requires fome emulation to be excited among the 

 farmers — their pride fliould be touched — in order to induce them to pay more attention to 

 the breed of what little they attempt to bring up. As to fencing, our common labourers 

 are moft of them entirely ignorant of the proper mode of planting quick: and after it is 

 planted, our farmers are quite as inattentive to its welfare: fcldom do they think of 

 weeding it, or defending it from cattle while young, fo that onr enclofures are generally dis- 

 figured by a fence full of gaps. When harveft is once over, the farmer thinks no more of his 

 fences till his fields are fown with corn again ; indeed it is not uncommon for the cattle to 

 have the range of the whole farm by means of thefe broken gaps, which the farmer fees 

 without the leaft concern whatever: and when the fences are to be mended, they indeed 

 Hop the gaps with a few dead bullies, but they never take the leaft pains to inlav a little 

 frefti quick, that the fence may in time be reHorcd. 



33. There is here (as in other counties more or lefs) one grand obftacle to all improvement ; 

 for great as is the induftry and judgment of our farmers in the cultivation of their land, Hill 

 they receive fo fevere a check to their fpirit of improvement, when they fee the tythe-owner 

 taking from them a tenth of all their produce, that it frequently puts an end to all enterprize 

 and experiment. Perhaps in no part of the kingdom (thofe excepted where hops are more par- 

 ticularly cultivated) is agriculture carried on in fo expenlive a ftile as here; for it is not 

 uncommon for a man, who takes a confiderable farm, is the two or three firft years of his 

 leafe, to expend (according to the fize of his farm) icool. or 1200I, in the improvement of 

 his land, in levelling, draining, fencing, cleanfing rough ground, and many other cxpenfivc 

 operations, and perhaps even giving the foil a new furface by carrying on a ftratum of clay ; 

 yet all this he does without regret, and indeed under the idea and expectation of being amply 

 repaid, fo long as he is able to compound for his tythe at a moderate rate: but in a parilli, 

 where the tythe is taken in kind, or (which is nearly the fame thing) where an exceffive com- 

 pofition is demanded, in confequence of improvements, which the farmer is makimr at fome 

 hazard and certain expence, he is very likely to flop ftiort and argue in this way " Would the 

 tythe-owner be content with a compofition equal to a tenth of the produce of my land in its 

 prefent ftate, I fhoukl then exert myfelf, and lay out my money with pleafure, becaufe I 

 fhould be able to confider as my own all the extra produce arifing from my land in confequence 

 of my diligence and the money I expend ; but if he is to reap the benefit of all this, and rob 

 me of a tenth part of the produce of my improvements (which perhaps after all may be the whole 

 of my net profit) I will remain quiet, run no hazard, and content myfelf with barely plough- 

 ing and fowing my land in its prefent ftate, for I never will fubmit to the tythe-owner takinty 

 from me a tenth of all the money I expend, as well as of my additionallabour." This is 



a very 



