HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. [86 



Or 125 gallons, or 15| bushels, which is enough to sow 8 acres. 



In 8 years would sow - 80 



9 years, 800 



10 years, 8,000 



1 1 years, - 80,000 



1 2 years, - 800,000 



13 years, 8,000,000 



14 years, - 80,000,000 



1 5 years, - 800,000,000 



16 years, - 8,000,000,000 



17 years, - 80,000,000,000 



1 8 years, . - 800,000,000,000 



which is more than six times the superficies of the whole earth 

 and sea. 



COMPARATIVE VIEW 



OF THE 



Present State of the Agriculture of Staffordshire. 



UPON a comparative view of the present state of the Agricul- 

 ture of this County with what it was thirty or forty years ago, it 

 may be confidently asserted that few districts of the kingdom 

 have improved more than this has done. The live stock of the 

 county, particularly in the southern part of it, has been very much 

 attended to. The long-horned cattle and the Leicester sheep have 

 been the sorts most generally selected, and the county can vie 

 with most others in stock of these valuable breeds. 



The cultivation of the Turnip, the key-stone as it were of 

 our arable agriculture, has been greatly extended, so much so, 

 that several individuals now grow upon their respective farms a 

 larger breadth of turnips than could be found fifty years ago in 

 the whole county. Draining, the foundation of all other improve- 

 ments, when from the nature of the soil it is necessary, has 

 been practised upon a very extensive scale, and executed in a 

 scientific and masterly manner. Since the introduction of that 

 incomparable article the Draining Tile, the art of laying the 

 land dry, whether it be incommoded by springs or by surface water, 

 has been brought to great perfection in this and in the neighbour- 

 ing counties of Warwick and Leicester ; an example that should 

 be followed upon all retentive sub-soils throughout the kingdom. 

 The Tile is greatly preferred to any other material. They are light 

 of carriage, the drains completed with them are less likely to be- 



