24 
grows feveral years from the fame root. 
Near Farnham I obferved a field of young 
furze, or whins, which had been fown 
there laft year: Iwas at firft rather fur- 
prifed to fee that plant cultivated with 
fuch care, which we in Cumberland en- 
deavour by every means to eradicate. I 
did not, however, confider the great want 
of fuel in this country, which 1s the rea- 
fon why the farmers raife it in fuch 
quantities. It is cut at a proper age, 
and fold in faggots. Farnham isa fmall, 
but very pleafant and clean market-town, 
containing near 3000 inhabitants. Build- 
ings of brick and tile. Farms generally 
fmall. The vicinity of this town 1s very 
beautiful, although the furface is un- 
even: rifing grounds are feen at a dif- 
tance on almoft every fide, yet no high 
hills appear. ‘The fheep‘of this country 
are rather fmall, and have horns, Here 
the people complain much of the farmers 
not bringing their corn to market as 
formerly: it is now generally fold by 
fample; a practice which at prefent pre- 
vails in moft parts of the kingdom, and 
which occafions a general murmur not 
only among the poor, but very fenfible 
tradefmen. They obferve that bread, by 
that means, goes through two or three 
hands before it comes to the confumer, 
all of whom muft have a profit thereby : 
the farmer fells it to the miller, the miller 
to the baker, and the baker to the eon- 
fumer. This may be difadvantageous to 
a few individuals; but I am of opinion, 
that the partial inconvenience of felling 
grain by fample is outweighed by the 
benefits ultimately accruing to the com- 
munity im general by difcontinuing the 
‘old mode of felling it in the open market. 
In Cumberland and Weltmoreland the 
farmers generally {pend a day-or two 
every week in going to market with a 
load of corn upon the backs of their 
hhorfes: thus the labour of a man and 
horfe on every farm, for thirty to fixty, 
or eighty days in a year, is loft to the 
public. The farms are very {mall in 
thefe counties, and the farmers work al- 
moft as hard as hired labourers; confe- 
quently, fhould one, two, or three pur- 
chafers buy the whole of a farmer’s little 
ftock, he may fend it away in his carts 
when he found it moft convenient, and 
thereby fave much time, expence, and 
labour, which might be employed in 
cultivating or improving his farm. The 
country people in the north will probably 
bea little furprifed, when I tell them that 
every defcription of people, almoft with- 
eut exception, in theie fouthain counties, 
Mr. Hofman’ s Tour through England, continued. 
buy their bread of common bakers, which 
is of wheat; and the inhabitants of the 
feuth will, I fancy, think it no iets 
ftrange, when they are told that the 
people of the north almoft univerfally 
bake their own bread, particularly in 
country or farming parifhes; where, to 
buy a loaf of brown bread, would be 
thought a mark of great lazinefs and 
want of .ecanomy. And, im faét, there 
are few public bakers to be found, even 
in market towns, if we except a poof 
old woman here and there who makes 
penny loaves of white bread, which peo- 
ple in market towns, and the lex3. pros 
vident in the country, buy for their tea. 
Moft of the country people, even if they 
are mechanics, occupy a little piece of 
ground, on which they grow corn for 
bread ; and thofe who have not that op- 
portunity, purchafe their batches in corn, 
which coniift of barley, or barley and 
rye, and get them ground at the mill: 
the meal is then leavened ; arid when it has 
ftood a proper time, made up into large 
round loaves, which is baked in an oven 
in quantities of one to three or four 
bufhels (Winchefter) at a time. To- 
wards the borders of Scotland they ge- 
nerally bake their common bread in large 
cakes over the fire unleavened. Such is 
the force of habit in diet on the human 
frame, that what is by fome confidered 
as the coarfeft kind of food, and {fcarcely 
fit to be eaten but by animals, is found 
to be the moft nutritious and wholefome 
to thofe who have been accuftomed to 
feed thereon from their infancy. 
O&ober 2d. Farnham to Petersfield, 
in Harepfhire, twenty-two miles. The 
furtace of this country is very unlevel, 
but not mountainous: the foil generally 
a whitifh loamy clay, mixed with chalk 
and flint. 1 paffed tome tracts of wood- 
land, chiefly filled with beech-trees and 
hazel-bufhes: the hedges are tall, and 
almoft univerfally planted with the ha- 
zel, and fometimes in double rows: the 
quantity of nuts hanging by the fides of 
the roads is very great. Farms and 
fields are rather fmall, and pretty fertile; 
the inclofures feem old. In this diftri& 
the road croffes a large dry common, pro- 
ducing a great deal of furze, fern, &c. 
but might be turned to a good account 
by inclofure and cultivation. Buildings, 
and particularly farm-houfes, are thateh- 
ed in general. This diftri€t remmds me 
very much of fome parts of Cumberland : 
the fmall fields, old crooked hedges, tefler 
forts of fheep feeding on commons, and 
little thatched cottages flanding among 
tuits 
