H4 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



rNo. 3 



the required heifrht, is attained) raisino; the wall 

 at each layer about ihreP. feet. Some little expe- 

 rience will be required, to teach the proper degree 

 of stiffness to be given to the ndud to prevent its 

 slipping v^hen first put upon the wall, and that it 

 raay be cut easily by the spade. 



Mv quarters are, [ think, of a good size, and of 

 •an economical form — each roof covering two tene 

 iTi6nts; these last having each an interior space of 

 16 by 13 feet ; a brick cliimney in the middle 

 giving a fire-place to each room. The houses are 

 generally placed with their gables to the east and 

 west, with a door to the south, and windows in the 

 north side, the better to exclude the sun and let in 

 the air in summer. They are placed on a street 

 100 feet wide, and the houses upon the same side 

 of the street 69 or 70 feet apart, as a security 

 against the progress of fire. They have all plaidt 

 floors, which certainly contribute to health when 

 a marl floor cannot be had. AH my houses are 

 plastered on the outside, but I am perfectly satis- 

 fied that this is unnecessary except (or appearance 

 sake; and perhaps whitewash occasionally applied 

 would be all that is necessary even to secure a 

 good appearance. In putting the roof upon a piud 

 wall, a plate of timber 5 by 20 inches should be 

 first placed upon the wall, properly framed at the 

 corners, upon which the joists are to be placed, 

 and then the roof constructed as usual, taking care 

 ro have an eave of about 1 fbct projection. The 

 do v and window frames are made of three mch 

 plankj havinii the width of the wall; and framed to 

 the proper size. These are placed on as the wall 

 progresses, and the mud built up to them. 



PHILIP ST. GEO. COCKE. 



Sarry, Va., May 3 Is/, 1836. 



Extract from the Ediiiburgli Review, of Jan. 1836. 

 PROGRESS AND PRESENT STATE OF AGRICUL- 

 TURE IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



» # # * * 



It results from the previous statements — 1st, 

 That the population of Great Britain has been 

 considerably more than doubled — that the prodi 

 gious number of nine millions of individuals have 

 been added to it, in the interval between 1755, or 

 1760 and 1831. 2J, That the supplies of corn, 

 and other raw produce obtained from Ireland, are 

 quite insufficient to provide for the increased num- 

 ber of horses kept in the country at present, over 

 and above those that Vv^erekcpt in 1760. 3d, That 

 the population is now, and has been for some 

 years past, incomparably bettor fed, consuming a 

 much greater quantity of whcaten bread and of 

 butchers' meat, in proportion to its amount, than 

 in 1760, or at any other period of our history. 

 And 4ili, That the ports have been shut during 

 the last four years: and that consequently, the vast 

 additions made to the populution, and the signally 

 improved mode of living, have both been provided 

 for by the extension and improvement of British 

 agriculture. There is not one of these propositions 

 liable to either cavil or dispute — they are all bot- 

 tomed upon unquestionable evidence. And, having 

 established them, we shall now briefly inquire into 

 the nature and infiuence of the more prominent 

 of those agricultural improvements, the result 

 of which is, in the aggregate, so astonishingly 

 great. 



1. Enclosures are, probably, entitled to rank 



amongst the first of these. The extent of land 

 occupied by wastes, commons, and common fields, 

 about the middle of last'century, was surprisingly 

 great, and was, indeed, a standing reproach to the 

 country. So late as 1770, fully three-fourths of 

 the surface of Bedfordshire consisted of common 

 fields, and of common or waste land, and yet it 

 was not, in this respect, at all in a worse condition 

 than many other counties. Wastes and commons 

 are not cultivated; fields are, it is true, subjected 

 to the plough, but property in them is so much 

 subdivided and intermixed, that it is altogether im- 

 possible to cultivate them to any good purpose. 

 But since the conclusion of the treaty of Paris in 

 1763, awonderiiil prosiress has been made in wi- 

 ping of}' the stain on the rural economy of the coun- 

 try; and in nothing, indeed, has the progress of 

 improvement been more remarkable than in this 

 particular. The first enclosure act was passed in 

 the reign of Charles II. Fmm the revolution to 

 1797, the progress was as follows: 



Acts passed. Acres enclosed. 



Queen Anne's reign, 2 1.439 



George I., - . - 16 17,660 



George II., - - - 226 318,778 



George III. to 1797. 1,532 2,804,197 



It appears from this statement, which is taken 

 from the Report of the 'Commons' Committee of 

 179S, on Waste Lands,' that each enclosure act 

 that passed during that period of the reign of 

 George III., which terminated with 1797, en- 

 closed at an average, 1830 acres. Now, the offi- 

 cial returns show that from 1798 to 1832, both in- 

 clusive, 2103 enclosure acts were passed; and sup- 

 posing each to have enclosed, as before, 1830 

 acres, the total would amount to 3,848,460 acres; 

 making when added to the quantity enclosed pre- 

 viously to 1798, an aggregate of no less than 

 6,652,687 acres enclosed since the accession of 

 George III. in 1760. But as it seems probable 

 that the earlier acts apjilied to a larger extent of 

 land than the later ones, we may, perhaps, esti- 

 mate the total extent of land enclosed and subdi- 

 vided by act of Parliament, from 1760 to 1832, at 

 6,000,000 acres. And it may be safely affirmed, 

 that, in consequence of its enclosure, the produce 

 of this immense extent of land has been increased 

 at least from eight to tenfold. 



2. The instoduction of falllows between succes- 

 sive corn crops, was a very great improvement on 

 the previous practice; but the substitution of green 

 crops for fallow, on -all but stitl' clay lands, has 

 been the greatest of all improvements ever made 

 in agriculture: and has effected as great and ben- 

 eficial a revolution in it as the introduction of the 

 steam-engine and of the spinnintr-fi'ame hai5 done 

 in manuliictures. There is abundant evidence to 

 show, that the culture of turnip, as a field crop, 

 was carried on to some extent in several English 

 counties, in the latter part of the 17ih century. 

 But the practice spread only by very slow degrees; 

 and it was not till its introduction into the county 

 of Norfolk, in the reigns of George I. and George 

 II., when it was prosecuted on a large scale by 

 Lord Viscount Towiishend aiid others, that its 

 siirnal importance became obvious. At the period 

 refi?rred to, the whole northwestern part of that 

 county, which has long been one of the best cul- 

 tivated districts of the empire, consisted of mere 

 sandy wastes, sheep-walks and warrens, worth 



