tute acre; but abstracted from the pasture and meadow, the average price of all the arable land in the county, is probably not more than ten shillings."

Receiving Rents.-P. 36. "When a person becomes tenant of an estate at Candlemas, he is required to discharge half a year's rent at the Candlemas following, and to make a similar payment at the expiration of every six months afterwards."

DIVISION THE SECOND.

WOODLAND S.

WOODS.-P. 94. "Almost every part of Hereford

shire abounds in woods, and old plantations of timber, or rather perhaps with fine trees of oak and elm, for which the proprietors are more indebted to nature, than to art. At a distant period a large proportion of the province must have been altogether woodland and coppice: the clearing naturally began in the most fertile spots, particularly near streams and rivers. Reference is made to the 'assart' or cleared lands near Aconbury, in grants to a religious house there, in the fourteenth century. But even at present, an eminence one mile east from the church and village of Mordiford, affords at once striking specimens of Herefordshire in its original state, and in that to which it has been brought by cultivation and refinement. Looking from this point towards the east, an immense expanse of woodland is seen, as far as the eye can reach, with a white cottage and a cultivated acre occasionally intervening. Deep and winding roads intersect the whole with a narrow track, and a bleak and barren common which appears far from the busy haunts of man,' completes the cheerless

scene."

GROVE and HEDGE TIMBER.-To the westward, however, trees only serve to ornament the face of the country. On the demesne lands of men of fortune, and in various parts of the county, we are told, much valuable timber is found.

COPPICES.-P. 96. "Some of the most extensive coppices are situated in the parishes of Fownhope, Woolhope, and Little Birch; and in the vicinity of Ledbury. They consist principally of ash, oak, and willow, are generally

cut

cut down once in thirteen years, and bring at a public sale from 187. to 357. per wood-acre, the size of which bears a proportion to the statute acre as eight to five. In falling a coppice, a certain number of store trees are left as standards on every acre: and these would furnish an adequate supply of timber from the spot, but they are too. often cut down at the second fallage, and replaced perpetually after, with younger stores. The ash is converted into hoops, for which the county itself has of course a large demand; the oak and willow furnish poles for hops, and materials for laths; whilst what are termed black poles, which are those of larger size, and confined to oak, are applied in rafters and other purposes in building."

PLANTATIONS.-In a county so well stocked with fortuitous timber and coppice woods, it is no wonder that the propagation of woodlands should be neglected, or avoided. For a novel suggestion on Planting Hedges, see Farm Fences, below.

DIVISION THE THIRD.

AGRICULTURE.

FARMS.-In the chapter, "Estates," we meet with

some account of the sizes of Farms.-P. 22. "These estates" (the larger ones enumerated aforegoing)" are divided into farms comprising on an average, from two hundred to four hundred acres each."

In the legitimate section, "Size of Farms," the Reporter, disdaining the ground on which he stood,-the district about which he was professing to write,-launched, adventurously, into the sea of speculation, concerning the sizes of farms politically considered! And, after flounsing some time, reached a firm landing place (erected by mine own hand) and spake as follows:-P. 35. "On the whole, it is submitted to the consideration of land-owners, whether they will not most essentially contribute to that public good and prosperity, (of which their own constitutes an individual part,) when they arrange their pro

1

* See TREATISE on LANDED PROPERTY, p. 144.

perty

Y

perty in divisions ef various extent, from five to five humdred acres, and thus afford to every class, the means of improving their condition by habits of industry, and of promoting the general welfare by individual exertion."

Fences. After being informed that "New enclosures are ditched, with posts and rails on the bank; but quickset or hawthorn plants should invariably be used on these occasions; and the agricultural society of the province has endeavoured to excite more attention to this excellent mode of fencing, by offering premiums for the greatest quantity of hawthorn quick properly planted for fencing ati estate, or fairly sold by a nurseryman for that pur pose'" (p. 49); and learning how fences may be raised, with such plants kept clean for two or three years, (how backward must Herefordshire be in this art, to require a premium to raise a hedge in the most ordinary manner!) we are led to the following valuable suggestion.

P. 50. "But perhaps it would be a material improvement in this very useful practice, if the plants were permitted to remain in the nursery in rows distant one yard from each other, until they become of a size which would make an immediate fence, and require no protection.-The enormous expense of posts and rails would thus be saved."

This suggestion, however, rises inaptly out of the subject of "New Inclosures." For how, under the proposed management, could the parcels of newly appropriated lauds be said to be inclosed, during the years which the plants would require, to raise them to sufficient maturity, for the intended purpose? The lands must of course continue to lie open, during that period.

Nevertheless, the plan of raising hedge plants, in a nursery, to a stature fit, or nearly fit, to form a fence, without guarding, is not altogether vague. On large estates, a nursery of that description would frequently be found highly useful: not only in parting large fields, but in filling up gaps, and unnecessary gateways.

Three feet intervals, however, would not be wide enough, for the purpose. A quarter of a statute rod would be found to be a more eligible width:—the middles of the intervals being dug deep, and a spade-width wide, from time to time, to cut off the straying roots (thus preventing those of adjacent rows from interweaving with each other) and keep the feeding fibers near the stems. By this treatment the plants would differ widely from those raised in hedges; which seldom, thrive well when transplanted; by reason of the smaller roots and feeding

fibrils

fibrils being cut off, and left in the ground, while the stems and larger naked roots, only, are removed.

Homesteads.-P. 29. "The old farm-houses of Herefordshire, as well as of other counties, are inconvenient, and the offices ill adapted to the purposes for which they were designed. Water and shelter appear to have been principally consulted in selecting a spot for building; these are confessedly objects of no trifling importance, but there are other objects also, which equally require and deserve attention. In the new ones (of which there are many), the defects of the old are generally supplied, to the great advantage and comfort of the farmer. The Governors of Guy's Hospital are in this, and I believe in every respect, particularly attentive to the interest and convenience of the tenants. Under the management of their present steward, James Woodhouse, Esq. several of the old houses have been taken down, and others substituted on better sites, and on the most approved plans, When practicable, a gentle declivity towards the south, which implies some eminence, is generally preferred: the building is adapted to the size of the farm to be occupied with it; the walls are constructed with stone, and the covering is of slate."

Prefixed to this Report is a "ground plot of Arrendall farm house, yard, and buildings, at Lide in the county of Hereford;"-belonging to the Governors of Guy's Hospital; but I perceive nothing in it of superior excellence. The long-square form is much inferior to that of an elongated octagon.-See TREATISE On LANDED PROPERTY.

Cottages.-P. 30. "The cottages in Herefordshire are generally of very humble and inferior construction: many are built on waste ground by their proprietor, whose means are far from adequate to the attainment of comfort and convenience."

The following information may serve as a hint, in situations that will admit of the practice.-P. 31. "Of late years a valuable addition has been made to the minor objects of agriculture, by the introduction of strawberries in cottagers' gardens. On light soils, when proper care is taken to keep the roots free from weeds, and the plants well watered at the season of blossoming, very cousiderable profits are derived from this practice. Parts of the waste lands on Aconbury and Shucknell Hills, have been particularly applied to those purposes, with great success and little trouble. The red Carolina, or Bath scarlet, are generally preferred; and their fruit sold readily

in July at ten-pence per full quart in the Hereford market."

OCCUPIERS.-P. 35. "The old-fashioned farmer of Herefordshire receives any new experiment in agriculture with great hesitation, if not reluctance. When its utility is confirmed by repeated trials, he slowly and gradually falls into the practice; but he wisely leaves the experiment and the risque to those who recommend or suggest it; and happily the county at this moment is well provided with agriculturists, who possess the means and the spirit, to undertake the patriotic task."

PLAN of MANAGEMENT of Farms.-The succeeding account of the rural management of Herefordshire exhibits a forbidding view of the state of its agriculture; and shows how much the " means and the spirit" of improvement are there wanted.

P. 51. "Wheat is the grand dependence of the farmer, who is situated on the stiff clays, with which this county abounds; but it is conceived, that the following course, which formed the old routine of crops on that description of land, is liable, with this management, to serious objection. A good fallow on a clover-ley, well worked, limed, and manured, produces on an average about twenty bushels of wheat per statute acre. In the following spring it is sown with peas, sometimes beans, after one ploughing, and without measure; the produce is from twelve to fourteen bushels per acre. After two ploughings and a partial dressing, or much more frequently with no dressing whatever, it is again sown with wheat in October; and if this brush crop, as it is termed, produces somewhat more than half the quantity yielded by the fallow, the grower is satisfied. In the following spring it is sown with barley and clover seeds after two ploughings, but still without manure, and as may be expected from the exhausted state of the land, it generally affords a very inconsiderable crop.

Sheep are turned on the young clover as soon as the barley is removed. Sometimes oats or turnips precede the barley on a small part of the land, and a few winter vetches are occasionally introduced, but still without manure, or any preparation, than one or two ploughings.

"After mowing one crop of clover, it is fed with cattle in the following spring, and afterwards a part remains for seed. The fallowing then recommences, and nearly the same system is repeated. In this manner almost one