TO THE BISHOP OF DURHAM. 



191 



cattle used for husbandry and nine-tenths of that for draught and 

 carriages being oxen. Nor is it necessary to say that]I found neither 

 breweries to use the barley, nor distilleries to destroy the wheat. 



One cannot help, I think, being struck with the different situation 

 of Great Britain in the points I have hinted at : 



1. A very great portion (Your Lordship is a much better judge what 

 that portion is than I can be) of our cultivated land consists of grass; 

 and all this, I conceive, to be nearly withdrawn from the general con- 

 sumption ; for it is appropriated either to the maintenance of horses, 

 which are wholly useless as an article of food, or to the production of 

 beef and cheese of so superior a quality, and consequently so high a price, 

 as almost to preclude the common people from purchasing them. 



2. Of the land that is in tillage, that which bears oats is almost en- 

 tirely destined for horses ; that which produces barley, for breimng. 



3. Whilst the greatest part of the animals used in the east take 

 little from human food for their support, and contribute much to in- 

 crease it when they are killed, those in England consume much of it 

 while alive, and when dead contribute nothing to add to it. 



I apprehend, my Lord, that all these evils have been advancing in 

 England, and of late years most rapidly. From the extremely small 

 sums at which hay moduses are fixed, I believe, throughout almost 

 the whole of the kingdom, we may judge that that article was not con- 

 sidered as of much consequence formerly. Indeed I have myself seen 



rentals of large estates, in which (160 or 170 years ago) there is no 

 mention made of any grass lands except a garth or two close to the 

 mansion. In those days, as we see from various household books, the 

 beeves and many of the sheep were killed at the approach of winter, 

 and pickled or dried. This practice is prevalent here, and it continues 

 to be followed in most of the northern parts of Great Britain yet, as 

 I make no doubt but Your Lordship may have heard. The seeming 

 advantages to landlords and tenants have induced a preference for 

 grazing farms, and the number of common fields which have of late 

 years been inclosed has enabled them to convert no small quantity of 

 land that was formerly arable into pasture; while the quantity of 



