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SURREY.

SURREY has not an entire District within its out

lines. Its Northern Vale Lands form part of the VALE of LONDON. Its Heathlands, on its western confine, unite with those of Berkshire, Hampshire, and Sussex. Its Chalk Hills are a portion of the EASTERN CHALK HILLS of the SOUTHERN COUNTIES. And its Southern Vale Lands were evidently cast, by Nature, in the same mold with similar lands in Sussex ;-together forming one of the most extensive vales in the kingdom; bearing the popular name of the WEALD or "WILD" of SUSSEX,

For details, concerning those several component parts of the County of Surrey, see my SoUTHERN COUNTIES.

"GENERAL VIEW

OF THE

AGRICULTURE

OF THE

COUNTY OF SURREY,

WITH

OBSERVATIONS ON THE MEANS OF ITS IMPROVEMENT.

BY MR. WILLIAM JAMES, AND MR. JACOB MALCOLM,
OF STOCKWELL, NEAR CLAPHAM.

1794."

THE QUALIFICATIONS of those Gentlemen, for the task

of reporting the rural practices of a County, are not difficult to appreciate; tho they are not, by themselves, immediately expressed; otherwise than by the title page. They were, I believe, at the time they wrote, nurserymen, on an extensive scale, and of good repute.

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Their

tion, which I do not conceive to be altogether tenable, Mr. V. draws this spirited inference.-P. 451. “Any practice therefore that does not ultimately tend to preserve the natural fertility of the national territory, is politically and morally wrong; and the advocates for such practices, be they who they may, are acting under a blind invincible prejudice, and to all intents and purposes becoming the most dangerous of all enemies to the permanent improvement, internal strength, and external importance of the country." Hear! hear!

SURREY.

SURREY.

SURREY

Its

URREY has not an entire District within its outlines. Its Northern Vale Lands form part of the VALE of LONDON. Its Heathlands, on its western confine, unite with those of Berkshire, Hampshire, and Sussex. Chalk Hills are a portion of the EASTERN CHALK HILLS of the SOUTHERN COUNTIES. And its Southern Vale Lands were evidently cast, by Nature, in the same mold with similar lands in Sussex;-together forming one of the most extensive vales in the kingdom; bearing the popular name of the WEALD or " WILD" of SUSSEX,

For details, concerning those several component parts of the County of Surrey, see my SOUTHERN COUNTIES.

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BY MR. WILLIAM JAMES, AND MR. JACOB MALCOLM, OF STOCKWELL, NEAR CLAPHAM.

1794."

THE QUALIFICATIONS of those Gentlemen, for the task

of reporting the rural practices of a County, are not difficult to appreciate; tho they are not, by themselves, immediately expressed; otherwise than by the title page. They were, I believe, at the time they wrote, nurserymen, on an extensive scale, and of good repute.

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Their

Their performance evinces them to be, or to have been (for I know not which, at this time is strictly proper) men of mind, and not wanting in exertion. On the few subjects which they may be said to have handled, they are satisfactorily intelligent.-These subjects are Woodlands and Planting; the Appropriation of uncivilized Lands; and the forming and keeping of Roads. On most other branches and subdivisions of natural, political, and rural economy, as they are connected with Agriculture, their work is very defective.

Insufficient, however, as this Report certainly is, as a picture of the rural practices of Surrey, it would betray a want of knowledge of the human mind to image that men (or a man, for the pronoun singular is once at least used) of business, and good natural abilities, should sit down to write a book, without eliciting some useful or interesting ideas; and it will be seen that, in the work now under consideration, I have been able to select a few passages that may be acceptable to my readers.

The number of pages-ninetyfive.

Two sketch engravings:-one of them of a horse hoe, the other of the form of a road,

No map.

NATURAL ECONOMY.

EXTENT.

XTENT.-P. 8. "The county is computed to be thirty-nine miles in length, from east to west; and twentyfive miles in breadth, from north to south; and 146 miles in circumference; and, taken as a plane, contains about 481,947 statute acres."

WATERS.-The "rivers" of Surrey are the Wandle (a calcareous "bourn," or brooklet) which rises out of the northern margin of the Chalk Hills. The Mole, a larger stream, a brook, which originates in the Weald, or Southern Vale Lands, and passes, a short distance, partially beneath a skirt of the Chalk Hills, in its course to the Thames. And the Wey, which has its rise in the Heathlands; and which, by a circuitous course, descends leisurely into the same capacious receptacle. This is a minor river; and is navigable for some miles from the Thames.

SOILS.-P. 8. "The upper soil is very various, consisting of black mould, clay, sand, chalk, and loams, of different depths. The under soil is of different strata, but principally composed of chalk and gravel, thereby rendering it dry, healthy, and pleasant.

This does not well apply to the southern vale landsthe Weald or "Wild" of Surrey; which is a claybottomed, wet, unpleasant passage of country.

POLITICAL ECONOMY.

APPROP

PPROPRIATION.—Common Pastures. Much of the Reporters' time has been occupied, in surveying, and estimating the extents, of the unappropriated lands of Surrey; descending to small commons and greens, down to fifty or even twenty acres in extent ;-noting the soil or soils and circumstances of each; with a view toward their inclosure and cultivation,-or planting. They have set down the whole quantity at 96,000 acres; and, on that quantity, have made some political calculations.-For instance:p. 24,-" Waste, 4 of 96,000 acres 24,000 acres at 3 qrs." (of grain, as wheat, barley, oats, &c.) =72,000 qrs. at 27s. £97,200."

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On counting the several estimated quantities, I find that instead of 96,000, there are not 75,000 acres of unappropriated pasture grounds :-namely, of heathland 50,720 acres (of the very worst lands in the island), and of grassy commons, 23,750 acres; comprizing much very bad land. Nevertheless, in the first page of the body of the Report is the following passage.

After mentioning the favourable locality of the County, with respect to the metropolis, and water carriage, the Reporters say (p. 7.)-"Will it not then be matter of surprise, that at the close of the seventeenth century, there shall be found, in a county like this, commons and wastes of the magnitude of 96,000 acres; the much greater part of which, if not the whole, capable of being made subservient to the purposes of agriculture," (!)" and thereby enabling us to supply those foreign markets, which stand in need of it, with that superabundance which, to our shame be it spoken, we draw at this time from Flanders, Holland, and America?"

I have thought it right to mention those mis-statements, lest POLITICAL ARITHMATICIANS, who, I fear, are not always scrupulously inquisitive about their data, should quote them, implicitly, as coming from the "high authority" of a Report to the Board of Agriculture.

Common Meadows.-This partially appropriated species of "property" is still prevalent in the County of Surrey. Messrs. James and Malcolm enumerate sundry instances, and, among the rest, the celebrated RUNNEY MEAD; which,

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