1146 



STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 



TAur IV 



ness of situation. It is possible, however, where two, or even 

 tliree houses are joined tojjeilier, to contrive the gardens in 

 such a manner that tliere may be little interference ; and some- 

 times three neighbouring families may do better together than 

 two. 



4. Occupation. 



On the borders of Wales the farms are small, many not ex- 

 ceeding twenty acres ; on the east side of the county from one 

 to 500 acres : farmers in general very industrious ; work along 

 with their servants; wives brew, bake, dairy, and at spare 

 hours spin, and get up a piece of linen cloth for sale every year. 

 Leases for lives formerly very common. Bishton of Kilsall 

 has taken great pains to prepare printed leases, which answer 

 very well. The term he recommends is seven, fourteen, or 

 twenty-one years. By being printed the farmer can read them 

 at his leisure. 



5. Implements. 



Plough with two wheels, drawn by four or five horses, or six 

 or eight oxen, in the strong lands, and two horses with a boy 

 _ J . - ...- . , .. ,r . . , . , its and 



to dnvw in the turnip s 



V^arious improved implements ; 



estates, driven by steam. 



fi. Enclosing. 



Much practised, and still going on. Plashing hediies is 

 usually very ill done in Shropshire ; it is a business which re- 

 quires great nicety and judgment, and has the most ignorant 

 oi>trators to perform it in general ; who in the first place cut 

 downwards, through mere idleness, instead of upwards, and so 

 expose the heart of the plant to the weather. Many miles of 

 hedges lately plsmted on the Stafford estates. 



7. Arable Land. 



Fallowing very badly done on the strong lands. Common 

 crops of the county wheat, barley, oats, peas, and turnips. I'cas 

 found not to boil well unless gro'wn on a sharp gravel or sand ; 

 those crown on clay given to pigs and horses. Some hemp and 

 hops cultivated. 



8. Grass. 



Some natural meadows on the Severn and other rivers ; not 

 much attention paid to them. Artificial herbage and grasses 

 grown on the turnip soils. 



9. Gardens and Orchards. 



Many farmers have small orchards, from whence they make 

 a little cider for home consumption ; and on the confines of 

 Herefordshire and Worcestershire the orchards are larger, and 

 cider is made for sale. 



10. Woods and Plantations. 



A good deal of hedge-row timber, and some fine oAk woods ; 

 also numerous young plantations. Narrow-leaved elm reckoned 

 an excellent hedge-row tree, but the broad-leaved tetter tim- 

 ber, and less difficult as to soil and situation. In this county 

 few persons will bury their relations in any but the best oak 

 timber, which contributes much to its scarcity. 



11. Improvements. 



Marl used, and some irrigation. A good deal of draining 

 done with brick, stone, and faggot wood. Some bogs drained 

 in Elkington's manner. On the Lilleshall estate of Lord Staf- 

 ford ( iig. 999.), in 1816 and 1817 there has been executed about 

 17,000 yards of embankment; '27,000 yards of water course 

 deepened and scoured ; 46,000 yairds of main ditches made or 



deepened ; ,"15,000 yards of fence-ditches deepened, scoured, 

 and straightened : 49,000 yards of old fences stocked; 30,000 

 yards of new quick fences made ; 21,000 yards of turf draining ; 

 and 462,000 yards of under-ground draining, laid with tiles 

 and filled with stones ; besides the erection of many new farm- 

 eries of the most commodious plans and substantial execution. 

 But to have an adequate idea of these and other improvements 

 effected by this munificent and patriotic nobleman, it is ne- 

 cessary to peruse the very interesting work of Loch already re- 

 ferred to. 



On the Wildmoor ettaie of Lord Stafford {,fig. 1000.) excellent 

 roads have been forme<i ; so that several parts, before inaccessi- 

 blt in winter and duringwet weather, may now be approached 

 at all times with ease. The effect, as Loch observes, has thus 

 been to add so many acres to the estate. But the most consi- 

 derable work executed upon these eistates is the drainage of the 

 extensive district alluded to, called the Wildmoors. The ex- 

 tent and nature of this improvement is such as to deserve a 

 particular and detailed description. Some adjoining properties 

 na^e benefited by this work, and contributed to the expense of 

 if, which was done under the authority of an act of parliament ; 

 1-nt ns almost the whole of the land belongs to the Marquis of 

 StaiSbrd, and the expense having been chiefly borne by hiin. 



the direction of its progress, and its preservation hereafter, is 

 entirely vested in a surveyor chosen by his lordship. 



These moors consisted of an extensive tract, amounting, with 

 the land^ similarly circumstanced, to near twelve hundred 

 acres. The soil is composed of a fine black peat, incumbent 

 on a bed of red sand, full of water. They are bounded chiefly 

 by the upland part of tliese estates, and surround the parish of 

 Kynnerslev, which also belongs to it, and which is composed 

 of some of the finest turnip and barley soil in the kingdom. 

 They had evidently formed the bottom of an extensive lake. 

 The different brooks from the surrounding country held their 

 course through them. These brooks are known in the country 

 by the name of Strines, being distinguished from each other by 

 the name of the places from which, or past which, they flow. 

 Their course to tne Team (which river drains the whole of 

 this country into the Severn) was devious and crooked in the 

 extreme, injuring to a great extent the land through which 

 they ran. 



A great proportion of these moors was occupied by the tenants 

 of the adjoinmg farms, who turned their stock in upon them 

 for a portion of the summer season only. During tlie rest of 

 the year it was impossible to use them. They affordtd l)ut a 

 small quantity of food, and were in most places so wet that it 



