I !3'2 



STATISTICS or AGRICULTURE. 



IV. 



gsttcrall] kept n Hal vassals <>t leedi tome wooden t*ny*i 

 t-nned. In in'; stdnuned every twelve boors] lit 



Iii •. (-% three dines i du . areata from Rrsl two KUnmlngs k pi 

 ty Itself] the third utkamhu makes what i> i tiled after- 

 fanttta ; ■1min t f i a did).!! tin, an alar, > (boi In diameter, with 

 holea m i«. end « nefldu opon the top «•( ■ ' ; batter made twli ■ 

 ,i ireeki In i burns of the barrel kind, asnalhj turned bj i hoi ; 

 time allowed far tin- butter to come, en hoar end a halt"; butter 

 mads up mi lumps of tw.. pounds sech. uid senl t" London In 

 square Dal baskets, eleven hw besdeep] boldlne (mm ihlrtr-sts 

 t., i ojq pound ■■• J i.- • base each on three of men* rddes tmee 

 marks, the number of pounds the basket holds; ■ letterj 

 denoting the burner*! name firom « bora >t Is reed red, and the 

 name ind residence "t" the carrier. The baskets end butter 

 ure the pr op er tj of rJu i urleri ell that the ferrru r has 

 in .!.» la, t<> carrj Ens buttai to the nearest point where the c a 

 i t.» make his agreement with Ins buttet ■&< tor 

 in Londo othly, <>r otherwise) the payment. 



ijuantlt* or buto I ii- ide, is pounds pei i o« pi r week, si an 



. when In a I keep, and not nearlydry, I alvesae- 



ui klers; ■ few suckled in the county, and a tew 

 broughl 



Saacp. Culture directed to the rattening <>t lambs, and the 

 breeds pre f e rred -ire the Dorset, and next the Gloucester and 

 BsraahtW 



Horstt generally soiled ; fire or six put to a plough in many 

 places, and "■ rer less than three. A team of asses kept by 

 the Duke of Buckingham for the use of his garden; many 

 used it the potteries .it Araersham. 



//.*:*, an Important article on account of the milk from 

 the dairies j breed the Berkshire), and next, the Chinese and 

 Suffolk. 



thicks, a mati rial article at Aylesbury and places adjacent ; 

 breed Mlwte, and of an early nature. They are bred and 

 brought up by poor people, and sent to London by the weekly 

 rarriers. One poor man had before his door a small pit of 

 watt . about three yards lone: and one yard broad: at two 

 of this pit are places of shelter for the ducks, thatched 



with straw ; it night the ducks are taken into a bouse. In 

 i. ne room belonging to this man (the only room he had to live 

 bo were on the lith of January, 1808, ducks of three growths, 



fattening Ibr the London market; at one corner, about 



*7784 BEDFORDSHIRE. An irregular parallelogram of 290,000 acres, not much varied in surface, 

 and for the most part of a clayey soil The agriculture chiefly directed to the raising of wheat, barley, 

 and beans, buf of an inferior description in many respects. Little pasturage ; scarcely any market orchard's, 

 but good vegetable gardens established at Sandy, on the east of the county, from time immemorial Great 

 exertions made in every department of culture by the late and present Duke of Bedford, by whom were 

 employed many valuable men in conducting improvements, as Farey, Smith, Salmon, and Pontey. A 

 valuable set of experiments on grasses, conducted by Sinclair under the direction of the present Duke. 

 [Stone's Bedfordshire, 171*4. Batchelor's Bedfordshire, 1808. Marshal's Review, 1818. Smith's Geological 

 Map, 1820.) 



1. Geographical State and Circumstances, 



Climate, mild, genial, and favourable to the growth of ve- 

 getables; rather later than Hertfordshire; prevalent winds 

 S.W. ; coldest wind-, N.K. 



v.j/, chiefly clay, nexl sand, and lastly in the southern < \- 

 tri nut\ embracing Herts, chalk. Some of ilie sands grey silts, 

 and producing nothing but heath, others more loamy, as about 

 Bandy, Which is supposed to contain the best gardui-ground in 

 the county. 



Minimis, some ironstone; limestone abounding with cornua 

 ammonis and other shells, petrified wood, gryphites belem- 

 in is; fret stone, chiefly Lime, at Tatterahoe- 



ii nr eighteen, four weeki old; at another corner, a 

 brood a fortnight old ; and at a third corner a i.r<M«i i t 

 old. I 'in u> siv weeks old sold at that time for twelve shilling! 

 a couple. Besides the abovei there are other persons who 

 breed man) more ducks than the person now mentioned, and, 

 as far as it was possible to discover, this person sends 400 ducks 



In i ■ ir to J.tmd.ui. Allowing) thin, forty persons to send 



onlj as manyi at an average of lira shillings per due!:, the 

 return of duces from Aylesbury alone will amount to 4000/. 

 per annum. This return has been magnified into ',£0,000/. per 

 annum. 



1 3, Political Economy. 



Bye roads extreme^ bad aiul dangerous; difficult to he dis- 

 covered from mere drift ways ; turnpike-roads, not to be com- 

 mended ; canals various and useful ; ^ain sent to Ivonduii at 

 two shillings per quarter* Box clubs generalis established tor 

 the jwor ; no agricultural aoclety in Bucks* Principal manu- 

 factures paper and lace. 



14. Miscellaneous. 



In calculating the number of acres, Priest the Reporter tried 

 the mode, lirst shown by the Bishop of Ltandail", of weighing 

 the .portion of paper containing the map; he next tool an 

 exact copy of Card's map upon paper, by tracing its outline, 

 after the map was strained upon a canvass blind at a window. 

 This copy was cut out with great exactness by 8 sharp pointed 

 knife, and then divided into pieces, which were so neatly laid 

 together, as to form a right-angled parallelogram : another 

 piece of paper was cut into the form of an assumed paral eJ- 

 ogram longer than necessary, upon which the pieces of the 

 copy w ere laid, and cemented by cum- water, so as to liil all 

 parts of a right-angled parallelogram shorter than that as- 

 sumed ; the difference between the assumed parallelogram 

 and that formed by the pieces of the copy of the man, was ac- 

 curately measured and subtracted from the assumed parallel- 

 ogram, and the remainder gave 31*1,010 acres, the measure of 

 the number of acres in Ducks. Thus then we have the num- 

 ber of acres taken from Gary's man, by weight 396,013, by 

 measure, 391,010. From which, if we take an average, we 

 shall probably state it as accurately as it can be found to be, 

 393//^! statute acres ; which, for the sake of round numbers, 

 we will call 393,G00 statute acres. 



Water. Principal river the Ouse; several mineral springs. 



c 2. State of Property. 



Puke of Bedford's estates the largest, next Lord St. John's) 

 and Whi thread's : united rental estimated at 40,0002. a year, 

 Estate managers attorneys and considerable farmers. 



3. Buildings. 



Several farm-houses were formerly the seats of gentlemen 

 who farmed their own estates. Farm-houses in general badly 

 situated, seldom at the centre of the farms to which they 

 belong, and ge n erally consist of piecemeal erections. Francis, 

 Duke of Bedford, erected an octagonal farm house, on a must 

 commodious plan. {.fig. 9SG.) On the ground floor it con- 



i large kitchen (a), bake and brewhonse, and wash- 



hou«e(0), a hall <>r master's room, with a cellar under (c), a 



- i partoui I'l. a dairy (c\, besides a pantry {ft, closets, and 



beer and ale cellar under. On the first floor were five, and on 

 the second (Jfc.987.) two good bed-rooms. The expense ofthit 

 house on the octagonal plan was 671/. ; had it been built in the 



