The Agriculture of Staffordshire. 
Amonjj the items in a long list of feeding and manuring 
substances used within the year, I find 4480 bushels of grains, 
69 tons of spent hops for litter at 3.s. 4rf. j)er ton, 11 tuns of 
pressed yeast, 6 tons of malt-dust, 5 tons of bone-dust, &c. '1 he 
rent is G33/., tithe (58/. to 78/., rates 28/. ; total '60s. IhcL. \iQV 
acre. 
Tlie average jnoducc per cow is 4J cwts. of cheese at G5s. ; 
the produce of store lambs, wool, and mutton, is 390/., that of 
pigs 150/. clear. 
Needwood Forest, now belonging almost entirely to the Duchy 
of Lancaster, was described in a survey of the first year of Queen 
Elizabeth's reign as lying in the four parishes of Tutbury, Han- 
bury, Tatenhill, and Yoxall. It was then " thinly set with old 
oaks and timber-trees, well replenished with coverts of under- 
wood and thorns." In a report drawn up for Charles II. the 
area was estimated at 10,000 acres; the trees, many of which 
were of large dimensions, were stated to number 47,150, besides 
the hollies. Cromwell's proposal, in 1G54, to sell the Forest had 
been petitioned against by tlie inhabitants of twenty-one villages 
and townships adjoining, on the ground that rights of pasture 
were enjoyed by a "great number of ancient cottagers, who do 
sustain themselves and their poor families by the relief of the 
said chase." Moreover, " the Forest of Needwood is merely 
formed by nature for pleasure, no forest in England being com- 
parable thereto." Tlie value, if improved, was estimated at bs. 
an acre, and in the subsequent report at 10s. The Forest was 
divided into four wards and ten parks. The present lodges 
were occupied by the keepers ; for instance, Thomas de Berkley, 
Baron of Berkley, in the county of Gloucester, was keeper of 
Tutbury Ward, and lived at Berkley Lodge. The best timber 
was around Eland Lodge, in Marchington Ward, where the 
famous " Swilcar Oak " now stands. Pitt estimated the value of 
the pasture as follows : — ■ 
3000 deer Is. jjcr acre. 
3000 other stock at 12s. a head for summer keep 4.s'. „ 
Total 5s. per acre. 
There were no sheep ; the hollies which grew in such abund- 
ance were encouraged for the purpose of winter provender for the 
deer. Red deer abounded in the forest until it was enclosed in 
the first year or two of this century ; they are now found in 
several neighbouring parks. Wild oxen are still preserved in a 
ill the .loiirnal. The amount of in-door work entailed on the household Tvould be 
appalling to families unaccustomed to it. It is usually performed by dairy-maids, 
wives, and daughters, as tlie case may be, and the lauer undertake a larae share 
of it. 
