302 
On the Farming of the 
from 25s. to SOs. per acre. Much of the strong and wet lowland 
too realizes from 1 5s. to 20s. per acre, though very dear at that 
rent, in its present state. The Moorlands probably bring from 
Is. 6c?. to about 5s. per acre, according to the condition of the 
land. But even in these districts the dry and inclosed lands will 
let for from 18s. to 25s. per acre. Thus I esteem 17s. 7d. per 
acre rather an under average value. 
The improvements effected in the farming of the West Riding 
since the report of Mr. Robert Brown in the year 1799, is the next 
head of our subject. And when we reflect that since the com- 
mencement of the present century the population of this im- 
portant Riding has more than doubled, it certainly is neither an 
uninteresting or unprofitable matter for inquiry, in what propor- 
tionate ratio the cultivation of its soil has improved within the 
same period, in order to provide an adequate increase of supply 
for such an increase of consumers. Speaking of the farming of 
the West Riding at the time he wrote, Mr. Brown says, "1st. 
From Ripley to the western extremity of the Riding, nearly the 
whole of the good land is kept under the grazing system, and 
seldom or never ploughed; while corn is raised upon the inferior 
or moorish soils. During the time we were in that part of the 
country we hardly ever saw a plough, and a stack of corn was a 
great I'arity. Upon the higher ground there are immense tracts 
of waste, which are generally common amongst the contiguous 
possessors, and pastured by them with cattle and sheep. 2nd. The 
land in the vicinity of manufacturing towns. The greatest part 
of the ground is there occupied by persons who do not consider 
farming as a business, but regard it only as a matter of conve- 
nience. The manufacturer has his inclosure, wherein he keeps 
milch-cows for the use of his family, and horses for carrying his 
goods to market and bringing back raw material. 3rd. The corn 
districts, or those parts of the Riding where tillage is principally 
attended to, and grass only considered as a means of bringing the 
corn husbandry to perfection. If we run an imaginary line from 
Ripley, southward by Leeds, Wakefield, and Barnsley to Rother- 
ham, we may affirm that the greatest part eastward of it, till we 
come to the banks of the Ouse, which separates the West from 
the East Riding, is principally employed in raising corn. About 
Boroughbridge, Wetherby, Selby, &c., there is about one-half of 
the fields under the plough. Farther south, about Pontefract, 
Barnsley, and Rotherham, there are two-thirds ; and to the east- 
ward of Doncaster to Thorne and Snaith, three-fourths of the 
land are managed in a similar way. 4th. The common fields. 
These are scattered over the whole of the last division, but are 
most numerous in that part of the country to the eastward of the 
great North Road from Doncaster to Boroughbridge. It is 
