Its ancient name or names. The etymon of its modern appellation. Its public buildings and other works. Any thing curious or surprising, which it can claim as its own. Its municipal relations; if it has any. Its body corporate. The members it sends to Parliament. The qualification of the voters. Now, to many or most men of leisure and general enquiry, those topics, when duly handled, are capable of affording much entertainment; and I have the pleasure of informing that class of readers, that the work I am now speaking of is respectably done.-But it really is neither decorous, nor fair, for a professed writer on agriculture to trespass, thus openly, on the neighbouring field of topography; seeing how many industrious men there are who, at present, are working, hard perhaps, in that their own field of literature. I trust, however, the author, notwithstanding the above mitigated remarks, will accept my thanks for one portion of his ample and mostly inieresting information: namely, that which describes the Seawater Saltworks of Lymington: a subject that was entirely new to me. Formerly, it appears "saltings" were prevalent on the southern shores of this island*. SOCIETIES *Those works, being appendant to landed property, I here insert a short extract, from Mr V.'s lengthened account, to convey a general idea of the process. P. 420. The manufactures for which Lymington is most noted, are those of culinary and medicinal salts from sea water. This business is pursued much less now than formerly, but still carried on to some considerable extent, particularly by one gentleman, Mr St. Barbe, who very obligingly favoured the Surveyor with the following, as well as much other useful information. "The salt works at Lymington, formerly very extensive, are perhaps equal to any marine manufactory of that kind in the kingdom. The sea water is first admitted into feeding ponds, from whence it flows into levels, in which there are partitions, forming pans, as they are called, of from twenty to thirty square perches each: these receive the sea water from the feeding ponds to the depth of about three inches, and from which it passes from the higher to the lower pans, exposed to the action of the sun and wind, until the brine becomes of a sufficient strength to be pumped up by small wind engines into a cistern, whence it is conveyed by troughs into the respective iron pans SOCIETIES of Agriculture.-P. 398. "An Agricultural Society was established at Odiham in the year 1783; but of late years the objects of this institution appear to have been little attended to." See p. 291, aforegoing. SUBJECT THE THIRD. RURAL ECONOMY. ESTATES TENANTED ESTATES. ISTATES.-P. 51. "The largest estates, as well as the most extensive occupations, are found in the chalky parts of this county. The highest individual rental of lands lying within the county, was not understood to exceed 8000l. per annum. Much of the land in the county bas undergone a transfer of late years from its former owners, and in which have been included some very large and valuable estates. A considerable subdivision of property has also taken place." Those es TENURES.-P. 53. "Tenures are various. tates which are supposed to have formerly composed a part of the demesne lands of the see of Winchester, are granted by the Bishop as freeholds, for, or upon three lives, and generally renewed to the families in possession for many successive generations. The fine or renewal varies, from one and a half to one and three quarters, and two years improved rent, valued by competent persons in the vicinity. These estates chiefly consist of ancient manor farms and houses, and to which certain feudal rights still appertain. In some cases, the timber on these estates has been reserved to the use of the see, allowing only a sufficiency for repairs, with the bark, top, and lop, of the same; in others, the whole was originally relinquished pans for boiling. The ordinary size of these boiling pans is about 8 feet 6 inches square, and about 11 inches deep, but of which depth about 8 inches only is filled with brine, which is kept gently simmering until the last hour, when the heat is much augmented, for the purpose of drying the salt, which has been all along forming on the surface of the brine, and falling through it to the bottom of the pan, thus gradually diminishing the brine in the pan at the rate of about half an inch per hour. "The extent of ground required for evaporation, exclusive of the feeding ponds and cistern, is about three roods, or 120 perches to each pan." quished to the tenant family, who consider these estates as tenancies for life, renewable for ever on the terms above stated. "Copyhold tenures, or lands held by copy of court roll, are granted from manors vested in the church, other pious foundations held in mortmain, and the nobility, gentry, and lay proprietors of the county. They are of several kinds, such as copy holds of inheritance, with a fine small and certain on alienation or death, customary, which refers to the usage of the manor, whether the fine on such occasions is paid by heriots, or commuted for a former specific sum, or arbitrary, and which latter often involves the tenant in a situation he by no means approves of: these tenures are granted by the Bishop of Winchester, the Dean and Chapter, the Warden of Winchester College, the colleges of the respective universities, other public and private bodies, and nearly in the following manner: 66 "A valuation of the net annual rent of the estate is made, and upon that data, two years' purchase is demanded for one life, with the benefit of widowhood; eight years for two lives, with the benefit of widowhood; sixteen years for three lives, with the benefit of widowhood. "Leaseholds, or lands held on lives by lease or indenture, also derived from the preceding sources, and which upon renewal, the net annual value being previously ascertained, pay two years purchase for one life, seven years for two lives, fourteen years for three lives, with a small annual reserved rent, which varies according to circumstances, but is generally considered to apply a just equivalent to both parties. "Leases for terms of years are also granted by the aforesaid authorities; these are generally for 21 years, renewable every seven, with a fine of from one and a quarter to one and a half yearly value." P. 61. "In the Isle of Wight the great bulk of the land is freehold. The copyholds chiefly consist of small tenements; and although the College of Winchester, and New College, Oxford, have some property near the middle of the island, it does not appear that there are any church demesnes upon it. The largest individual income accruing from lands in the island, is not supposed to exceed 50007. per acre. Leases for 14 and 21 years absolute, have been very judiciously granted of some of the principal occupations in the island; and with regard to other species of tenure, they may be generally referred to what has been already stated on those subjects with regard to the county at large." DRAINING Estates.-A good deal is said on this subject; but but little of interest made out. The art would seem to have been, at the time Mr. V. took his survey, still in its novitiate; notwithstanding Mr. Elkington formerly made his appearance in the County; and performed in it, with success. SODBURNING.-This argumentative subject has engaged much of Mr. Vancouver's attention. It is twice brought forward; and in both cases joined with Manures! I perceive nothing however, in Mr. V.'s arguments, though often very ingenious, but not always conclusive, that is sufficiently scientific or new (some chemical tenets excepted) to be admitted, as they stand, into this register. I therefore leave them untouched. His practical ideas, concerning the operation, are, I think, nearly just. He is an enemy to it, as a practice, but its friend, as an expedient. What appears to have urged the Reporter to speak so largely, and so warmly, on the operation and its effects, was the Postscript (as it has been misnamed) to Messrs. Driver's Report, by the Secretary to the Board. See p. 299, aforegoing. At the head of the Chapter entitled "Means of Improvement," Mr. Vancouver suggests some valuable principles of improvement (that will be found at the close of this article) to which, it is possible, the said Postscript gave birth; as they are pointed with the following passage.-P. 451. "As these observations necessarily involve a question of the highest importance in the agricultural concerns of this county, and as a Postscript to the former Agricultural Survey of Hampshire by the Secretary of the Board, seems strongly to inculcate the practice of paring and burning, and of resorting to it as a means of improvement in all cases whatsoever, and as this point will be best considered under the head of Manures (that being the sole renovating principle upon which all agricultural produce can be expected to be procured), we shall assign to that subject the first place in our present enquiry." IRRIGATION.-Nor do I find any thing, on this operation, which requires particular notice; excepting what will appear under the head, Grass Land, ensuing. TENANCY.-In continuation of what is said on Tenures, see p. 323, aforegoing, is the following notice on tenancy.P. 54. "Leases also for 21 years, determinable every seven, by a twelvemonth's notice from either party: here the annual reserved rent is supposed to be a full equivalent for the occupation. "Leases of 14 years (absolute), sometimes occur; but here it is much to be regretted that these, as well as leases for 21 years, are getting much into disuse, there Y 3 being being several estates in the county held at will, and thus constituting an evil which the Surveyor is concerned to remark as very much increasing." The event, which I have long foreseen, has at length. come to pass, (October 1815). Leases for twentyone years, that have been entered into within the last seven, are no longer blessings to leasees. On the contrary, should leasors persist in the fulfilment of them, and the present times continue, they must, in many cases, prove their ruin. COVENANTS.-P. 55. "Upon occupations held at will, or for terms of seven, twelve, fourteen, or twentyone years, the repairs of buildings, cartage of materials, thatching and glazing excepted, are sometimes, though rarely, done by the landlord, the more general usage being for all the old established and new necessary buildings to be put in good repair for the incoming tenant, who being afterwards supplied with rough timber, including weather-boards and flooring plank, bricks and tiles at the kilns, stones at the quarry, and lime at the kiln, is bound to keep them in the same condition during the continuance of his occupation." P. 57. "The crop is generally provided to be expended on the premises, but when hay or straw is sold, a proportionate quantity of stable dung is required to replace such draughts of the essential means of preserving the occupation in heart and good condition. Three waggon loads of dung are not considered as more than equivalent for each load of hay or wheat straw" (!) "sold from off the farm." REMOVALS.-P. 56. "The tenant generally enters at Old Michaelmas." P. 60. The old tenants commonly retain possession of the barns for the convenience of thrashing out their crops, and are usually indulged with a homestead, as an outlet for their cattle whilst feeding upon the straw; but the premises are always cleared from the whole of the former establishment by the beginning of the ensuing May.", "In other cases, it has been customary for the incoming tenant to enter upon a part of the occupation in the month of January (preceding the termination of the lease that is to expire the ensuing Michaelmas), for the purpose of preparing turnip fallows." RENT. This is reported by districts, with farms, occupiers, tithes, &c. District 1.-P. 77. The highest average than can possibly be stated of land in this district, cultivated solely for the purposes of farming, is 16s. for arable and 30s. for the grass, including meadow and prime pasture land." District |