and of course slower, than appear necessary for that purpose. Perhaps the general construction of the ploughs, and the unwieldy weight of the waggons, together with the badness of many of the parochial roads, may be thought to render them necessary. From the number of horses kept in Worcestershire, and the quantity of food they devour, it is said that they consume two-thirds of the produce of the land."

See also the head, Cattle, ensuing.

MANURES,On this subject, we find little or nothing to be noticed; excepting what relates to "foul salt," from the "brine pits" of Droitwich, in this county.-P. 34. "The brine pits of Droitwich afford a manure, and in such quantities, as would deserve attention, were it not for the tax laid some years back on foul salt. This now acts almost as a prohibition; its usefulness has been fully ascertained, when used judiciously. There are those in the neighbourhood, who, after considerable expence, prefer it to most others, and employ it, though subject to a tax of 4d. per pound on the spot. No argument against it can be drawn, from the effect which the constant draining from the banks of the Droitwich canal (often very highly impregnated with it) has on the herbage immediately adjoining, no more than from any other injudicious excesses, which must always be detrimental.”

For opinions, respecting this matter, in Cheshire, see pages 25, and 143, aforegoing.

GRAIN CROPS. On this main object of agriculture, little, very little, information has been collected, by the Board's Reporter. The subjoined short extracts, comprize the whole of it.

P. 15. "The seed-time for wheat, varies, from the beginning of October to the end of December-for barley, from the middle of March to the beginning of May-pulse, the latter end of February and beginning of March-winter vetches, the latter end of September; those for summer, March, April, and beginning of May; the former are generally found to answer best,'

P. 33. "The average produce of the tillage, bespeaks ample room for improvement, on land equal to any the kingdom can boast, the highest seldom exceeding twenty bushels of wheat per acre, and falling frequently under fifteen the average of the county at large, cannot be placed so high as fifteen-barley twenty five bushels on the poorer lands, up to forty five, as they improve;—oats and beans about the same;-pease very uncertain. The defiBb 4 ciency

.

ciency of the crops, considering the advantages of the county, is notorious; to account for it, would be rather an invidious task; something, however, may be suggested, and it is hoped, without offence."

FLAX.-I insert the following account, as it is almost the only one (except on orchards) which the Reporter seems to speak of, from his own personal knowledge.-P. 36. "If the growth of flax was more generally introduced on the middle soils of this county, much advantage might be derived from it. The prejudice under which it labours, has been noticed, and may render the following instance of the benefit to be gained from it, not unworthy of attention.

"On part of an estate held by the life of a very infirm man, after it had been almost wholly exhausted by successive crops of corn, flax was sown as a last resort-it thrived well, the invalid lived, wheat was tried again without manuring: the crop on it proved equal to any of those formerly gained after a moderate dressing. The unexpected success of this first attempt, induced the holder of the property to make farther trial of it; and such has been the uniform advantage arising from it, that in a very considerable district of the county of Devon, flax is now very frequently adopted as a very useful and lucrative shift crop."

This district of Devonshire has, hitherto, eluded my observation.

On the CULTIVATION of HERBAGE; or on the MANAGEMENT of GRASS LANDS;-I perceive nothing, in the Worcestershire Report, that is entitled to extraction. It is on the subject of hops, orchards, and fruit liquors, we are to expect from it much useful information.

HOPS.-When I formed my register of the practice of KENT, in 1790 (see p. 283, aforegoing) I was unacquainted with that of Worcestershire, respecting this crop. But, in 1797, previously to my publishing it, I took a cursory view of the latter practice, in order to catch any variations in the outlines of management, that might there exist; and thereby enlarge my ideas concerning the general subject.

In that transient view, I perceived a wide difference between the two districts, in what I have usually termed the SOIL PROCESS; namely, in the culture and management of the soil. In Kent, the plow is rarely used; unless to break up the ground for planting. Whereas, in Worcestershire, much of the work is done with that implement. Yet, in most other respects, the two practices are not unsimilar.

To speak of Mr. Pomeroy's Report of the Worcester

shire practice, relating to the hop culture, I have to saythat it does not contradict my own minutes, made on the spot. But that-viewing it as a register or record of a practice, for the purpose of conveying useful knowledge, concerning it, to the public at large, it is extremely deficient. It is little more than a desultory account; such as we frequently meet with in the works of other travellers, -speaking of what has fallen, incidentally, under their notice. Little method, and no distinctness of arrangement is observed. Separate branches of the subject, and different operations belonging to it, being not unfre quently united in the same paragraph.

But Mr. Pomeroy had no precedent to go by, in regard to hops, as he and others of the Board's Reporters have had, with respect to orchards, fruit liquors, dairy produce, and other complex and difficult subjects in Rural Economy. For altho I formed my register of the Maidstone practice, in 1790, I did not revise and publish it, until some time after Mr. Pomeroy wrote his Report. Mr. P. is therefore the less to be censured, for the irregularity and insufficiency of his report of this practice. His instructor had no former work, to plagiarize, and pillage of HEADS, for this chapter. The CULTURE of Hops had not, then, been publicly treated of, analytically, or in a scientific manner.

My register of the MAIDSTONE practice (see the Rural Economy of the SOUTHERN COUNTIES) comprizes, I believe, every essential topic relating to the culture and management of hops; and it is of course a complete groundwork, for studying and registering those of any other district.

In the district of CANTERBURY, I registered the variations of practice, peculiar to that department of the Kentish culture.

And, in the district of FARNHAM, in Surrey, I pursued the same line of conduct; noticing the several varieties of practice pursued, in that celebrated district, for the culture of what are termed fine hops.

It is now my intention to point out, in the best manner which Mr. Pomeroy's remarks, and my own observations, will enable me, the peculiarities of practice that are carried on, in WORCESTERSHIRE: and thus endeavor to raise the cultivation and general management of hops, in England, to that state of "perfection," which the Board's editor has been talking about*.

The

*The NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, or "North-clay." practice, only, now remains to be registered. The quantity, there raised, is consider

able,

The district which produces what, in the London market, is termed "Worcester hops," is not wholly comprized within Worcestershire; but extends into Herefordshire and Shropshire; being, in the first, confined to that quarter of it which borders on the two last mentioned counties.

On the extent of the "Worcester-hop" plantations I have no accurate information. Mr. P.in his section "Commerce," p. 30, says" the number of acres in the county" (of Worcester) "planted with hops this year, is 5,988." As every grower of hops is legally obliged to enter, ou or before a certain day, in every year, the number of acres he has in cultivation, the number, in each hop-growing district of the kingdom, and the proportional extent of the growth of each, may no doubt be readily ascertained, by a reference to the proper offices, or documents, of Govern

ment.

The varieties, or sorts, of hops, cultivated in Worcestershire, Mr. P. reports as follows.-P. 46. "The different sorts of this valuable plant, cultivated here, are ranged under three general heads: the red, the green, and the white. A various cultivation, the real source probably of these first distinctions, has introduced a variety of different species, though differing little more than in name and degree, of the same colour, shape, and size. There are two, however, in more particular esteem, both with the planter and merchant; the Golding Vine, brought fror.: the neighbourhood of Canterbury," (Maidstone) and the Mathon White, the name of which denotes it to be a native of this plantation, and of the parish of that name."

Respecting the sites of hop grounds, there, I perceived no uniformity of choice. Mr. P. remarks, p. 46,-" The plantations of this county are principally to the west of the Severn, increasing as they approach the banks of the Teame, and the confines of Herefordshire. The situations preferred, are a gentle descent, with a south, south-west, or western exposure, screened at a distance to the north and east by high ground, or plantations of timber; but not so as to prevent a free ventilation."-They are, however, seen in almost all aspects; but mostly in low situations. The soil, on which Worcester hops are chiefly grown, is deep

able, when compared with that of the kingdom at large. In reviewing the Board's Reports, from the MIDLAND DEPARTMENT, Some information concerning the North-clay hop-culture may perhaps be found.

deep red loam. Nevertheless, in the bottoms of vallies, they are observable on brown, waterformed lands; and some on black moory soil, as in Nottinghamshire.

Regarding the subsoils of those lands I have had no opportunity of examination; nor have I been able to detect any thing concerning them, in Mr. Pomeroy's Report; tho much of the prosperity and duration of a hop ground depends upon it.

The methods of forming hop grounds, in Worcestershire, varies considerably from that of Kent; so much, indeed, as to make it seem that thay had not originated from the same stock; or had not been copied from, or after, each other. But, on more mature consideration, it appears probable, that the present difference, observable in the two practices, have arisen from the dissimilarity of the soils, or rather of the substrata over which they were respectively matured; and from which the established customs of the two districts severally arose.

The present practice of the district of Maidstone was doubtlessly, matured and established, on the absorbent lands of that neighbourhood;-that of Worcestershire, on the clayey loams of the hop district of that county-a species of soil which I have, in various parts of the king dom, and uniformly, found resting on a retentive base. Hence, on the lands of Kent, where no superficial drains were required, the soil was deposited flat-whereas, in Worcestershire, where the substrata are not equal to the absorption of heavy and long continued rains, it was found expedient to relieve the soil from superfluous moisture, by artificial means;-by moulding the surface into inequalities, and placing the roots of the hops somewhat above the natural level of the ground:--moreover, forming channels, at proper distances from the roots, to carry off a redundancy of rain, superficially *.

The method which the Worcestershire planters have fallen upon, to adapt their practice to the given nature of their lands, is twofold.

The one is to gather some considerable part of the soil into hillocks of nearly a semi-globular form, by hand; and to plant the hops in the centers of these hillocks. This was probably the first successful expedient hit upon, in the garden

culture

The folly of the Kentish planters, in not pursuing the same method, on lands that require it (namely those with retentive bases) has been shown in its proper place. See SOUTHERN COUNTIES, vol. I. p. 188.