10 
SCENERY OF THE SOUTH HAMS. 
by the operations of agriculture and horticulture ; 
not indeed that these arts are pursued cleverly, or 
with much reference to science amongst us, but 
that the natural powers of the soil and climate are 
so great, that luxuriance seems the almost inevit¬ 
able result of these proceedings however conducted. 
Certain it is, that our hills derive additional beauty 
by being crowned with waving corn crops ; our 
vallies derive additional sweetness, by the vivid 
green of their pastures nourished by artificial water 
courses ; our fields have a relief afforded them by 
their tall, green, bushy hedges ; beyond all, our 
noble rivers acquire a ten-fold interest by being 
diversified in their passage through the county, by 
orchards, plantations, copses, parks, gardens and 
various- other minor proceedings of man, whose his¬ 
tory from the first ages attests a natural inclination 
to adopt residences by the sides of rivers, and pursue 
his natural peaceable occupations on the soil, in 
the neighbourhood of waters. The Dart, the Exe, 
the Tamar and the Yealm are severally famous 
for the splendour and beauty of their sceneries. The 
Dart is principally a mountain river, but it gradually 
expands in bulk, passes through the scenery just 
spoken of, and ultimately becomes navigable. The 
Exe is unsurpassed for the quietude and softness 
of its banks after leaving its parent hills. The 
Tamar is unequalled for the variety of scenery it 
embraces, and in particular for the height of its 
sides towards its weir. The Yealm, which Car¬ 
rington sings as the “ pride of our austral vales” is 
the u cedo nulli” in respect of the choiceness of the 
scenes which it visits, in the course of its meander- 
in gs through the cultivated parts. 
In 1810, it was computed that the whole county 
included 1,200,000 acres of cultivated land, and 
400,000 acres of w r aste land, waters, &c.* this 
* Vancouver’s Survey of Devon. 
