24] A TOPOGRAPHICAL 



idea was, that for the sake of economy three dwellings should be 

 put together, with a room to serve them all for washing, baking, 

 &c. and an oven large enough to bake for all three at once, the 

 occupiers heating the oven in rotation, and giving notice of it to 

 their neighbours : if by the side of a common the better, as the 

 furze will supply the oven with fuel, and a few sheep, or geese, 

 may be kept. Every labourer (he said) should have keep for one 

 cow, with meadow-ground for winter-keep, and a garden of one- 

 third of an acre for vegetables, fruit-trees, and hemp ; and where 

 it can be done, it will be desirable to have them near a pool of water. 



Size of Farms. The farms of this county are of all sizes, from 

 twenty acres to five hundred and upwards ; yet it must be acknow- 

 ledged that, within the last fifty years, the consolidation of small 

 farms has been prevalent, it having been found expensive to keep 

 the buildings in repair : indeed, small arable farms are unprofitable, 

 as a team of horses will eat up their produce. They should there- 

 fore be composed of grass-land, and occupied by a dairy of cows, 

 well managed, and the cultivation should be with the spade, in the 

 garden style. Farms of larger size are best adapted for raising 

 grain for the public supply, as there is room for strength of team, 

 and the greatest surplus of produce will thence be brought to 

 market. But the true system is to have farms of all sizes ; to em- 

 ploy the industry of the working farmer, and the capital of the 

 more opulent. 



Rents are in this county always paid in money, but something 

 like personal services are in a small degree kept up, as a day's 

 team-work annually for the landlord, or to keep him a dog. Rents 

 have been considerably advanced since the year 1800, land near 

 populous towns being let at five pounds per acre, in some instances 

 at six or seven guineas, and garden-land near towns at 3s. per 

 rod of 64 square yards, which is about !!. 7s. per acre. Many 

 farms in the country have been raised from <\. per acre, to o2. or 

 ,2. 10s. The general rent of the county has, perhaps, been raised 

 one-third, and is now from 30s. to ,%. and <3. per acre for 

 whole farms. 



Tithes. A considerable proportion of the land of the county re- 

 mains titheable, though some has been exonerated. Tithes are 

 considered by most people as operating unfavourably upon agricul- 

 ture, but they must be admitted to be a property equally sacred with 

 any other : no friend to justice can expect an abolition of tithes 

 without an equivalent. Such an equivalent may be found in land, 



