So AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF chap. Ill, 



dental fire may not only ruin the tenant, but 

 totally disable him for paying his rent. 



SECT. I1T. COTTAGES. 



COTTAGES in this county, in point of im- 

 provement, have kept pace with the houses of 

 the farmers. They are, indeed, generally bet- 

 ter now, than many of the best farm-houses 

 were thirty or forty years ago. Such as have 

 lately been built are usually about 15 or 16 feef 

 wide, and 6 or 7 feet high in the side walls, 

 constructed of stone and lime, covered with 

 thatch, well lighted, and sufficiently large to 

 accommodate any ordinary family. On the 

 north division cottages are few. This is an in- 

 convenience that hath been felt and complained 

 of. Feuing ground in small proportions is not 

 common in that quarter, and tenants are back- 

 ward to allow the benefit of a cow's grass to a 

 cottager. And therefore, mechanics, tradesmen, 

 and labourers, are discouraged from settling 

 there. Through the rest of the county cottages 

 are more common, but sfill not so numerous, 

 it is thought, as their importance to agriculture 

 and population requires. They are of various 

 sizes, consisting of from three or four to eight 

 or ten dwelling-houses. When these cottages 

 are attached to particular farms, and at the dis- 

 posal of the tenant, as indeed they generally 

 are and ought to be, they must be of great be- 

 nefit to the farmer. He has it in his power to 

 let the houses to married .servants, to tradesmen 

 and labourers, on such terms as always to se- 



