are annually brought from thence. An immense sum of money might be saved, by introducing that or some other good breed, and rearing their own horses. There is, however, little prospect of such an event taking place, since the whole of the farmer's ambition is confined to the selec tion of the best sort of the inestimable breed of oxen, in which this county abounds. The worthy inhabitants, howeyer, have not committed any great blunder in making the oxen their favourite hobby-horse. Any attempt to change the present breed of neat cattle, would exhibit the most glaring instance of folly and profligacy."

IMPLEMENTS.-P. 24. "The plough in general use is the long heavy one of the district. It contributes to the ease of the ploughman and the burthen of the cattle, by its great length."-A just remark on the Herefordshire plow! I have measured it more than thirteen feet in length." Some of the best farmers," we are told, “have introduced a lighter implement."

MANURES.-P. 23. "Abstracting from the vicinity of large towns, the principal manure is lime, and the production of the land, to which the bottom of ponds, and scrapings of lanes, are added by good farmers; the makings of mirens, however, is not properly attended to in general. "The price of lime at the kilns varies according to the distance from coal, from seven to fourteen shillings a load, of fifty-four Winchester bushels, with three or four gallons of drink for the quarry men. The quantity laid on an acre is from one load to one and a half; but nearer the kilns, where the frequent application of that stimulus has exhausted the land, a greater quantity is used."

The practice described, in the subjoined passage, is too. extraordinary to be lost to the public.-P. 24. "If the land be foul, the lime is watered immediately when it is brought from the kiln. Next day it is spread on the land, and harrowed into the ground as fast as possible. The following day the wheat is sowed and ploughed down under a thin furrow. This practice, however, is not general.'

TILLAGE.A practice equally as extraordinary as the. above, is likewise found in this Report.-P. 18. In some quarters of the kingdom, the Writer would expect his veracity to be called in question, when he mentions a circumstance' so improbable as a whole summer's fallow after turnips. It is, indeed, with much reluctance that he reJates a circumstance so disgracefel to the agriculture of so very respectable a county."The particulars of this practice it is not necessary to register, here,

3

In

In the Appendix to this Report we find the Herefordshire method of making summer fallows. It resembles that of Glocestershire; where they are considered as profitable sheep walks. Part of the Reporter's remarks however are very much to the purpose.-P. 79. « The intention of the husbandman ought to be, in making a fallow, to destroy the native weeds of the soil, that he may plant more profitable crops in their place. Yet here they are left so green as to feed sheep for a considerable part of the summer. Strange infatuation, that for the paltry consideration of a few shillings worth of grass, the weeds should be suffered to exist in the ground, to injure the succeeding crops, and, in some degree, to frustrate the very intention of a summer's fallow."

SEMINATION-What we have on this subject is a sort of hearsay report, about "changing all kind of seeds" (p. 65.) What is related, however, only serves to convey, to my mind, that the writer is a fresh farmer, The changing of seed corn is a subject apparently new to him. Something, is said about seed time. (p. 24.) But it only relates oppo-. site opinions, that are of no weight, on either side.

REARING CROPS.-The following personific strictures, on the destruction of weeds, may serve to rouse the sloven from his slumber, with better effect, than plain prosaic injunctions.

P. 22. "There does not appear to be any thing in the practice of the agriculture of this county so very reprehensible as the little attention that is paid to the destruction of weeds. There seems to be a degree of liberality interwoven along, with the other desirable qualities of the good inhabitants of this county; for they consider that there is enough of food for the grain, and enough for the weeds: their benevolence would be, however, still more laudable, if in place of the weeds, they would direct their attention a little more to the practice of hoeing and weeding, by which women and children might subsist comfortably upon that part of the earth's production, which has long been appropriated to the nourishment of weeds.

"Weeds are the ancient natives of the soil; they are. nature's children, and by no means useless; for she inade nothing in vain. Yet, in respect to the farmer's purpose, they are not only useless, but highly hurtful, because they avail themselves of his industry in manuring and cultivating the soil, and appropriate to their own use that nourishment, which he had intended for more profitable. crops. The farmer ought, therefore, to consider them as not only intruders, but enemies; and their destruction.

and

and extirpation should claim his most serious and unremitting attention.”

GRAIN CROPS.-Under the head, "Produce, of the different Grains," is comprized all that is related of their cultivation; excepting the above remarks, on tillage, semination, and weeding.

P. 20. "Wheat on the skirts of the county; the quantity is 160, and on the richer lands 200 gallons per acre*. When the strength of the soil and the mildness of the climate are duly considered, this quantity will appear very small. The land of this county has been long noticed as being uncommonly congenial to the growth of wheat, the quality of which is admitted to be superior to that produced by the surrounding districts. Hence it would seem, that the smallness of the quantity ought to be attributed to some other cause than either the soil or the climate. If so, it must follow as a consequence that the defect is occasioned by a quick repetition of exhausting crops, without the requisite application of proper manures; or what is more likely, by a deficiency of tillage," and suffering the weeds to appropriate to themselves a part of that food which ought to be wholly reserved for the support of the wheat.

"Barley.-The major part of this county being composed of a clayey soil, the cultivation of barley is not very general. On the south side of the county, where the soil is inclined to be sandy, barley, however, is a principal article. The produce may be 300 gallons an acre, but in the Ross quarter much more.

"Pulse-whether pease or beans, are sown broad-cast. The strong clayey soil is well adapted for this species of crop; yet from the quantity produced, the fact would seem to be otherwise, since the average produce cannot be estimated at more than 200 gallons per statute acre. This is not to be wondered at, considering that they are sown broad-cast in the spring, and left to share the land with flourishing crops of luxuriant weeds, who, being the ancient natives of the soil, come in for more than their share.

"Beans-are sometimes set, but not in regular rows, with an intention to keep the land clean by hoeing. The principal advantage therefore seems to be, that the birds cannot pick up the seed, and that the saving in the quantity of the seed sown will pay the women's wages for setting, and something more." TURNIPS. “✦ This alludes to the general run of the county; for 300 gallons is not uncommon on WYE SIDE."

TURNIPS.-P. 19. "The cultivation of turnips has bee but recently introduced into this district. It was found that a good crop of turnips could be had without hoeing, The eye thus fixed on the present gain seems to have lost sight of the future prospect. When barley was sown after unhoed turnips, the crop, choaked up by the weeds, was found to be unproductive. Hence the practice was given up, and the fault was assigned to some defect in the soil, and not to the real cause, the superabundance of the weeds.

"There is a principle inherent in the human mind, which proves rather an obstacle to any rapid improvement in agriculture; I mean that species of pride that prompts a man to support his own practice like his own argument, be it right or wrong."-A truth well conveyed.

With the view to supple this stubborn pride, Mr. Clark suggests, in a note, p. 19, that-"A fund, raised by a subscription among the land-owners in the county, to be distributed annually among the tenants of the subscribers for the best crop of hoed turnips, would be attended with consequences beneficial to themselves and the public.

The farms might be divided into ten classes, from 5001. and upwards, down to 501. a year; and one or more premiums to be given to cach class: this would give the little farmer a chance, by contending with rivals of equal strength to his own."

And, in a note p. 59, we are informed that the Governors of Guy's Hospital gave a premium of a piece of plate, with the same view. "The Governors of Guy's Hospital gave a premium of a piece of place, value twenty pounds, annually, for the best crop of hoed turnips that could be produced upon their own estate in this county. This produced every visible good effect on the estate of the Hospital. Persons accustomed to the hoeing of turnips were sent for, from a distance, to some quarters where the operation had never been performed before. So far the Governors deserved much praise; but it is unpleasant to add, that at the end of three years only, this enterprising spirit, just then opening its tender buds, received a sudden check, by the premium's being discontinued."

HOPS.-The culture of this valuable crop, as it is practised in the SOUTHERN COUNTIES;--in the neighbourhoods. of Canterbury, Maidstone, and Farnham; -1 have studied and registered with peculiar care; and in such a manter, I believe, as to enable any practical and sensible bus

bandman,

bandman, or gardener, to raise it in perfection, without other instructions.

But, in the WESTERN DEPARTMENT,-in Worcestershire and Herefordshire,-I have had less opportunity of examining the various processes of its culture, and the man agement, necessary to prepare the produce for market* I therefore gladly embrace any probable mean of furnish+ ing my readers; especially those of the midland and northern provinces (whose climature better accords with that of Herefordshire, than with that of Kent or Surrey);-with the required information.-What I find in the Herefordshire Report, however,-even admitting it to be sufficiently authentic,-will go but a little way toward conveying to them a competent knowledge of the subject. On the interesting business of harvesting the crop, the difficult process of curing it, or the proper method of preserving it, and rendering it saleable, at market,not a word! I insert all I find-on the authority of the Reporter.

P. 46. "Hops-form a very considerable article in the rural economy of the county of Hereford, and seems to be of all others the farmer's peculiar favourite. Time was, however, when the case was otherwise. Upon the first introduction of hop into this latitude, it met with a most unwelcome reception; for a petition was presented against it to parliament, in the year 1528, in which it is stigmatised as a most pernicious and wicked weed; and the national vengeance was requested to be hurled at the heads of those who should propagate it on their lands. The wicked weed, however, did not remain, long in disgrace; for in 1552 it is mentioned with some respect, and in 1603 was finally taken under the protection of the legis lature. A penalty is inflicted on those who shall be found to adulterate hops, with a view to add to the weight; so rapidly had the wicked weed ingratiated itself into the good graces of our ancestors.

"It is generally, I believe, admitted, that the best aspect for a hop-yard is a south-east one. Men of long experience wish to have a border of some plantation or other to the west; and when that cannot be had, they suffer the hedges in that point to grow as thick and high as they can get them. The time of picking hops is, in general,

*

about

My own knowledge of the practice of WORCESTERSHIRE, which may be considered as the prototype of that of Herefordshire, will be shown in reviewing the Report, from the former county.