OF CORNWALL. 8 9 
the melilot trefoil ’ in each acre. Thefe trefoils thicken the ever- 
grafs, and both together confiderably add to the pafcure, efpe- 
cially in poor lands and narrow limits, in the former of which the 
hufbandman cannot expeCt natural-grafs under two or three years, 
and in the latter he cannot flay a year for the natural-grafs to come 
without difir effing his cattle. Saintfoin, or everlafling-grafs has of 
late been introduced, and in dry, coarfe, fhallow grounds, it is thought 
may promote pafture. Of late, the turnip hufbandry has begun to 
obtain, and feveral gentlemen have experienced the benefit of this ufe- 
ful root, in feeding ffieep and other cattle, and mellowing the land for 
corn. The potatoe is flill a more ufeful root, now every where culti- 
vated, and in fhallow, poor lands, feafonably tilled thrives beft ; 
grateful to the rich, the fupport of the poor, and mofl falutary to 
both. There are two forts ; the flat, or kidney potatoe, which may 
be planted early in the winter, and will be fit to draw about the 
midfummer following, and lafls in perfection till Chnftmas. The other 
which is a round potatoe, and ought to be planted in the fpring 
months of April or May, will be fit to draw at Chnftmas, and 
will laft in perfection till the Autumn after. Of this latter fort 
(which grow very large in an airy, funny fpot ) I had one 
brought me in January 1756, which was thirteen inches and 
L in girt, and feven inches long, and weighed when taken out 
of the ground, thirty-two ounces ; after it had been drawn fome 
days, I found it to weigh twenty-nine ounces and a half; I 
placed it in a funny corner, and found that it produced potatoes, 
great and finall, to the number of twenty-one. 
Mr. Camden r tells us, that u all manner of grain, in his time, 
“ was produced in fuch plenty in Cornwall, that it did not only 
<C fupply the neceflary ufes of the inhabitants, but Spain alfo, 
“ with vaft quantities of corn;” but we muft now make a 
different eftimate. The inhabitants fince Camden s time are 
more advanced in number than the tillage has encreafed in 
proportion, and though the low lands in Cornwall, efpecially 
along the Tamar and Alan may yield more corn than the inha- 
bitants of thofe parts, and the lefs fruitful hundreds of Stratton 
and Lyfnewyth can difpenfe with, yet the hundreds of Poudre, 
Kerrier, and Penwith, and the weftern parts of Pydre (far the 
mofl populous tracts of our county ) do not yield corn near fuf- 
ficient to fupply the inhabitants. Upon the whole, if thofe parts 
entirely addicted to hufbandry, will yield a fufficiency of grain 
to make up, in a moderate year, what is wanting in the parts 
lefs cultivated, and more addicted to mining, this is full as 
'i Trifolium agrarium Dodonaei. r Engl.„pag. fi. 
A a much 
