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Middlesex, appears to be, in regard to price, the same as regulated by the city magistrates, in proportion to the price of wheat. In the vicinity of London, all kinds of butchers meat are equally as dear as in the London markets. In the more remote part of the county, and in the market towns of Uxbridge and Brentford, pork, poultry, eggs, and vegetables, as well as milk, are to be had something under the London-market prices; but beef, mutton, veal, and lamb, are seldom to be had at a cheaper rate; and, I much question, if the coarse pieces of beef, &c. are not sold cheaper to the poor in London, than in any part of the country."

CANALS.-P. 8. "There is a navigable canal leading from Hertfordshire along the banks of the river Lea, with which it forms a junction in the neighbourhood of Bow, from whence the united streams run to Limehouse, and incorporate themselves with the waters of the Thames.

"The Branston canal also, which is now nearly finished, enters Middlesex near Uxbridge, passes by Drayton, runs near to Cranford, at a little distance from Osterley-Park, and forms a junction with the river Thames at Brentford."

RURAL ECONOMY.

TENANTED ESTATES.

N passing through this Report, the work of a "Landsurveyor," I have not discovered a sentence, on the management of landed property, that requires particular notice, here.

WOODLAND S.

NOR on this interesting object of examination, to a

landsurveyor, have I been more successful. it is true, is not now a woodland County.

AGRICULTURE.

Middlesex,

PLAN OF MANAGEMENT.-Mr. Foot reports the "System

of Husbandry," in different districts of the County; very properly declaring the nature of the land, in each.

I

perceive

perceive nothing, however, in any of the Middlesex systems, that he has reported, which requires to be registered.

WORKING ANIMALS.-See Horses, ensuing.

IMPLEMENTS.-P. 75. "The Rev. Mr. James Cooke, of Red Lion-square, London, has greatly simplified and improved his patent drill-machine, as well as its attendant cultivator, &c.

"In my correspondence with this gentleman he furnished me with the following account of these implements."-This clerical, mechanist's account occupies the principal part of Mr. Foot's section, "Implements of Husbandry," in the County of Middlesex.

The subjoined account of the prevailing wheel carriage, used in husbandry, in the County under report, is entitled to a place, here;-as it records a usage in English husbandry which now belongs, almost exclusively, to the more immediate environs of the Metropolis;-most particularly to the hay farms;-rather than, generally, to the County at large.

P. 75. "There are but few waggons used; and the carts mostly in use are the six-inch wheeled shooting-carts, with iron arms of various sizes for their axis. These carts, with the addition of movable head and tail ladders, carry hay, corn, &c. and, when thus enlarged, are found more convenient in the farming business than waggons, they being less expensive, and standing in less space when

out of use."

ARABLE CROPS.-Concerning this subject, I have found nothing of importance, in the Report under view.

GRASS LAND.-Common Meadows-P. 70. "From Fulham to Chiswick, and almost all along the margin of the river Thames, as far as Staines, are meadows, to a great extent, which are frequently flowed both by the tides and by the floods. These inundations produce great quantities of rush, and other coarse grasses, and render it extremely difficult to make the produce into hay; and, indeed, when this is accomplished in the best possible manner, it is but little worth. Most of these meadows have open ditches dug in the lowest part of them to take off the water which remains after the tides and floods have retired; but, the surface being in general nearly a dead level, the water drains very slowly off; and in the winter season the soil is so very tender that it will hardly bare the weight of stock upon it."

P. 71. "Extensive and fertile meadows also adorn the banks of the river Coln, from Staines to Harefield.--Those at Harefield are known by the name of 'The Moor,' and contain about 300 acres, which are watered by the

river Coln. Parts of these meadows are mowed twice a year, and other parts grazed. A more strict attention is paid to the keeping of the drains and ditches in these meadows in proper order, than in any of those before mentioned, adjacent to the rivers Lea and Thames."

Haymaking.-P. 55. "Hay-making in Middlesex is carried on by a process peculiar to the county, and which, if the weather be favourable, has, by a long course of practice and experience, been attended with almost invariable success. To state this process clearly to the Board, I shall particularly describe the operations of each day, from the first employment of the scythe, until the hay is stacked in the yard, or field."-And so, in truth, the Reporter has described the operation of each day;without any regard being paid to the state in which the grass to be made into hay was cut; namely, as to whether it had been cut while in a growing state, in a moist time, and of course full of sap; or overgrown, in a dry season, and of course nearly made as it stood; or to the size of the crop, whether heavy or light; and but little as to the weather after the cutting,-whether it shall happen to be rainy or fair, cloudy or clear, hot or cold, calm or windy! Circumstances, these, which jointly and severally accelerate or retard the progress of making hay. They may fit the crop for the stack, in a few days, or may detain it as many weeks, in the field.

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Neverthelss, Mr. Foot's account of the method of haymaking, which has, I believe been practised, time immemorial, by the hay farmers, in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, by men who live by haymaking-being the fullest and the most correct that I have seen in print,-in regard to the various operations there in use,-I will here insert it, entire.-Practical men, in almost every district of the kingdom, may gather something from it, to improve their own practices.

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P. 56. On the first day, all the grass mowed before nine o'clock in the morning is tedded, broke as much as possible, and well turned. This is performed before twelve o'clock, and, if hands are plenty, it will be of great advantage to turn it a second time. It is then raked into wind-rows; and afterwards made into small cocks.

"The business of the second day is, to ted all the grass which was mowed the preceding day, after nine o'clock, and to ted, and treat as above, all that was mowed on this day before nine o'clock. But before the grass of this day's work is turned, the small cocks of the preceding day, should be well shaken out into straddles, or separate plats, of five or six yards square. If the crop is so thin as to leave the spaces

between

between the plats, or straddles, ipretty large, the spaces must be raked clean. The next business is to turn the plats or straddles, then to turn the grass of the second day's mowing, as before directed. This should always be done, if there are hands sufficient, before one o'clock, that the people may, as the custom is, take one hour for dinner, whilst all the grass mowed is drying. After dinner the straddles are raked into double wind-rows; the grass into single windrows; and the hay cocked into middling sized-cocks, called bastard cocks: The grass is then cocked as before on the preceding day.

"On the third day the grass mowed on the preceding day, and on the morning of this day, is to be managed as before directed. The grass made the preceding day, and now in grass-cocks, is to be managed in the same manner as on the first and second days. The hay now in bastard cocks, is spread again into straddles, and the whole is turned before the people go to dinner, that is, the hay, though last spread, is first turned, next that which was in grass-cocks, and then the grass. If the weather should have been sunny, and fine, the hay that was last night in bastard cocks, will on the afternoon of the third day be fit to be carried; but if the weather should have been cool and cloudy, no part of it probably will be fit to carry; and, in that case, the first thing done after dinner is to rake the second day's hay into double wind-rows; the grass into single wind-rows; to make the first day's hay into cocks with a fork, putting only one cock in a straddle; to rake the ground clean; and put the rakings on the top of each cock. The hay raked into ' double wind-rows is now put into bastard cocks; and the grass which is in single wind-rows is made into cocks as before. Provided there be no rain, even though the weather should have been cloudy, the hay now in great cocks ought to be carried; the hay in bastard cocks put into great cocks; the grass-cocks made into bastard cocks; and that tedded this morning into grass-cocks.

"In the course of hay-making the grass cannot be too much protected from the night dews or rain by cocking. Care also should be taken to proportion the number of haymakers to the mowers, so that there should be no more hay or grass in hand at one time than can be managed according to the above direction.

"The hay thus made becomes the object of the fourth day's consideration in order to get it into stacks. The hay-farmer pays great attention to have the stack well tucked and thatched, and I may venture to assert, that, from what I have seen in other counties, there are no hay-stacks, when finished, that are so well secured, and nicely formed, as those in Middlesex.

"In the neighbourhood of Harrow, Hendon, and Finchley, there are many hay-barns capable of holding from 50 to 100 loads of hay. They are found very convenient in a catching time in hay-making, and also at other times, when the weather will not admit the hay to be cut and trussed out of doors."

HORSES.-P. 59. "Few horses of any excellency are bred in the county of Middlesex. The farmers in general supply themselves with their cart-horses, which are compact and boney, at the different fairs in the neighbouring counties, and at the repositories and stables of the several dealers in and around the metropolis."

CATTLE.-London Cows.-P. 80. The "number of cows, kept by the London cow-keepers in the county of Middlesex, amounts to nearly 7,200; and in the counties of Kent and Surrey to 1,300. I have taken great pains to ascertain these numbers with as much precision as the nature of the subject is capable of."

Breed and Management.-P. 82. "The cows kept for the purpose of furnishing the metropolis with milk, are, in general, bred in Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Staffordshire.* The London dealers buy them of the country breeders when they are three years old, and in calf. The prices given for them are from eight guineas to fourteen pounds a cow. The different fairs and markets, which are held at Barnet, Islington, and other places around the metropolis, furnish the London Cow-keepers with the means of keeping up their several stocks. Many cows likewise are bought in Yorkshire in small lots, from ten to twenty, by private commission, and forwarded to the cow-keepers in and about London.

"During the night the cows are confined in pens or stalls. About three o'clock in the morning each cow has a halfbushel basket of grains. From four o'clock to half past six, they are milked by the milk-dealers, who contract with the cow-keepers for the milk of a certain number of cows, at the price of fourteen or fifteen pence for eight quarts. When the milking is finished, a bushel-basket of turnips is given to each cow; and very soon afterwards they have an allotment, in the proportion of one truss to ten cows, of the softest meadow-hay of the first cut that can be procured. These

This is a palpable error. The established breed of Lancashire and Staffordshire is the longhorned: whereas the "cows kept for the purpose of furnishing the Metropolis with milk," may be said to be invariably of the shorthorned breed. The suckling farmers, in the neighbourhood of London, have their cows chiefly out of Staffordshire. Hence, probably, the mistake.

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