94 
Rcpo7-t on the Farming of the 
speak of) situated at the foot of the hills, it is impracticable for the 
farmer to get his dung conveyed thither at any moderate expense. He 
never attempts it : all the manure this land gets is from tiie sheep-fold, 
and were he content to plough no more than he can thus well improve 
by twice folding, it would be well ; but the rage is so great, that he every 
year has been accustomed to plough up a fresh part of his sheep-walk, 
to take a crop or two, and then let it lie fifteen or twenty years, till the 
natural grass has again formed a kind of turf ; but it Avill sometimes be 
forty years before the land is completely sodded over. This ruinous 
practice is too common, and where it has long prevailed the farmer has 
seldom a threefold increase. He sows 4 bushels of oats and 3 of barley, 
and is happy if he can reap 12 bushels of the former and 5 of the 
latter. He may plough half an acre a day with 2 horses : therefore, 
his crop being worth 185., if we deduct 12*. for seed, tillage, and rent, 
his profit is 6*. ; but the value of the straw is not equivalent to the 
expense of mowing, binding, and leading home ; Is. ought to be charged 
for these articles, and thus is his profit reduced 4*. per acre. Our 
farmers stock nearly in this proportion, viz. a sheep for every acre : a 
flock of 500 sheep requires a sheep-walk of 500 acres, besides a winter 
supply of fodder. These sheep are small, and when fat weigh 12 or 
14 lbs. ])er quarter ; the fleeces weigh 3 lb. at a medium, which is scarce 
worth 2s. In this ligVit soil they seldom use more than two horses to a 
plough, and never more than one man and a boy ; indeed I think a 
driver with two horses quite unnecessary I do not doubt but 
I shall be able to demonstrate that the same individual land may, in a 
few years, and at no very great expense, maintain five times its number 
of inhabitants, six times its quantity of corn, support twice the number 
of cattle, and let for eight times the present rent.' " 
He then details with great minuteness the method by which he 
proposes to accomplish these improvements, and which are chiefly 
interesting as being the earliest attempts at improving these un- 
cultivated wilds of which we have any record ; these are — enclosure, 
the help of the sheep-fold, and a proper choice of grasses. He 
further says, — 
" ' I have enclosed 300 acres on the top of the wolds, and have laid 
down the greatest part with various kinds of grasses. The 300 acres 
were as bad as any in the lordship, and the same improvement may 
equally extend to 5000 acres ; but as so large a supply of grass and hay 
serves only for the support of cattle, and as a country should be peopled 
as well as stocked, I shall make a calculation of what corn this land may 
produce, what number of inhabitants it may support, and what herds 
and flocks it may maintain. For this purpose farmhouses must be 
built, and a proper quantity of tillage, meadow, and pasture allotted to 
each farm.' " 
Such is the relation, given nearly 80 years ago, of the state of 
wold husbandry by one of its earliest improvers, and such are the 
modes by which he proposes to increase its productiveness. It 
will be seen that the exigencies of an increasing population, and 
