Immense Expense in blasting Rocks. 353 



is the chiefest cause of his so beastly manner of 

 life and savage condition, laying and living 

 together with his beasts in one house, in one 

 room, in one bed, that is, clean straw, or rather 

 a foul dunghill." 



Mr. William Jordan is engaged in a most 

 Herculean task. He is blasting rock, which 

 encumbers the ground, at an expense of one 

 hundred pounds an acre, for which he pays a 

 rent of five pounds per acre on a ninety years' 

 lease. To dispose of the broken stones, walls 

 are made with them to separate fields of two or 

 three acres, seven feet thick and twelve feet 

 high, so that, including this sacrifice of the 

 ground, the total amount of his yearly rent can 

 be little less than eleven pounds per acre ; to 

 which ought to be added a sum, the accumula- 

 tion of which at the end of his term would repay 

 the one hundred pounds expense per acre in 

 blasting the stones. Mr. Jordan has a house 

 near the spot, or it is not likely he would have 

 engaged in such a speculation. 



Instances are occasionally produced of some 

 of the farmers becoming wealthy. This may be 

 accounted for by long leases having been ob- 

 tained when land was of little value, the posses- 

 sors of which, by care and industry, having 



VOL. i. 2 A 



