THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 257 



(for he is now upwards of eighty), the Duke has unceas- 

 ingly employed the influence of his name and wealth for 

 the improvement of agriculture. Through his instru- 

 mentality the environs of the small town of Mansfield 

 have been quite regenerated ; in place of the moors which 

 once covered them, a rich cultivation now exists. The 

 most striking work of the Duke's is an extensive system 

 of irrigation close to Mansfield, effected by means of 

 a small stream, diverted so as to form a wide canal 

 which waters four hundred acres. This undertaking 

 cost 40,000, and the gross return is estimated at 10 

 or 11 per acre. These meadows yield two hay crops 

 annually, and during the rest of the year they afford 

 good pasture for southdown sheep. Nothing gives more 

 the idea of power than Clipstone farm, to which these 

 irrigated lands belong, and which contains altogether 

 not less than two thousand five hundred acres. The 

 immense paved court, where a herd of Scotch cattle of 

 the Angus breed is kept in the open air the whole year 

 amidst ricks of hay, is a magnificent and striking sight. 



The properties of the Dukes of Newcastle and Port- 

 land are also distinguished by another kind of cultiva- 

 tion namely, nurseries and plantations of all kinds of 

 trees. I have already mentioned that some noblemen 

 had set about planting regular forests in parts where the 

 attempt to improve the land had not been attended with 

 success. By this it will be ascertained how far these forests, 

 sown and planted by man, composed of selected plants, 

 freed from all parasitical vegetation, carefully thinned, 

 and, in fact, cultivated with every care, will be found 

 superior to those natural forests which have grown up 

 of themselves. 



Owing to these well-directed efforts, the inferior lands 

 of Nottinghamshire have reached an average rent of 26s. 



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