of oats. Hay is given them after harvest, and during seed-time they are turned out after the clover is cut. Chaff is generally given, mixed with their corn. The black oats are by many preferred for the purpose of feeding horses."

"The keep of horses has greatly risen in expense within these few years: this proceeds partly from the actual increase in the price of food, harness, &c.; and in some degree from the greater pride which the farmer takes, in sceing his horses in good condition. The Surrey farmers reckon, that when every thing is taken into the account, each farm-horse stands them in nearly 50l. per annum." (?)

IMPLEMENTS.-The Reporter extends his chapter, bearing this title, to twenty or thirty pages: not one line of which, I conceive, would add to the value of this register. Numerous species and varieties, especially of plows, which happened to be visitant in Surrey, at the time of the survey, are not only.enumerated but described; very prudently, however, without the encumbrance of plates.

TILLAGE.-Plowing.-P. 147. "Surrey may be considered as a county which in general is well' tilled; that is, the several operations of ploughing, harrowing, rolling, &c. are performed with more care and skill than in many other counties in England. In the Weald, especially, the ploughing is done with great neatness and care.

Fallowing-Nearly a sheet's length of paper is "stained" with argumentative matter; concerning this selfevident subject.

MANURES.-Marl.-P. 496. "Towards the east and south-east parts of Surrey, there is a traditionary belief, that marl was formerly much used; and the pits and ponds found in those parts, are supposed to be evidences that such was really the case,'

Clay.-P. 503. "The only instance of the application of clay that I met with, was at Oatlands. Mr. Kendal, steward to the Duke of York, found the poor and lifeless soil on the new inclosures there, much benefited by spreading clay, or more properly brick-earth, over it: he had been able to procure but a very small quantity, but its good effect on the crop growing when I saw the field (turnips) was very evident and striking."

Chalk.-P. 496. "Chalk-pits or quarries are very abundant in Surrey; and as they are generally wrought without much expense or difficulty, the application of chalk is very general in all parts of the county, except the more immediate neighbourhood of London and the Weald. In the latter, lime is considered as more proper for the tough and cold clays of that district; and in those parts where

the

the different manures supplied by London, can be pros cured at an easy and short carriage, the chalk is at a considerable distance.

"Besides other chalk-pits of less extent and note, there are pits at Croydon, Sutton, Epsom, Leatherhead, Bookham, Effingham, Horsley, Clandon, Stoke, Guildford, and Puttenham, on the north side of the Downs; and at Godstone, Caterham, Riegate, Mestham, Buckland, and Betchworth, on the south side.

"There is some, though no very considerable difference, found in the effects produced by the chalk of several of these pits: this arises, upon examination, from the greater facility with which some kinds of chalk fall or run, compared with the degree of the same quality in others. At the same time there can be no doubt, that nearly in the proportion in which this quality exists, is the impurity of the chalk, as it evidently proceeds from the mixture of clay: but as the great object is, to get the chalk mixed intimately with the soil as speedily as possible, impure chalk which falls down readily, is properly preferred to chalk more pure, which lying in lumps unmixed with the soil for many years, is not only useless, but actually in the way of the plough.

"Formerly, the application of chalk was confined to the stronger lands; but latterly it has been applied with equal, if not greater effect, to the light loams, and even to the sandy soils."

P. 498.The crops that appear to derive the greatest benefit from the application of chalk, are pease and clover, which are generally rendered more abundant, and improved in quality at the same time. The operation, however, is commonly slow, going on evenly, and for a considerable length of time."

P. 81. "Such farmers in Surrey as lie near the chalk, are very careful to bottom their farm-yards with it; a measure which cannot be too highly commended, and which indeed would pay well, even where the chalk is at a considerable distance."

Lime.-P. 498. "This is obtained by burning either the chalk, or the limestone, that is found near Guildford: most of the lime, however, is procured from chalk; that from the Guildford limestone goes principally to the clays on the borders of Sussex.

"It has already been remarked, that lime is almost universally used in the Weald: indeed, considering the small quantity of manure made on the farms in this district, and the demand which the fallow every fourth or fifth year (according to the rotation) has for a dressing of some

Cc 2

sort,

sort, lime may justly be regarded as the main dependence of the farmers of the Weald. Hence, on almost every large farm, there is a kiln for burning the chalk or limestone; and furze or brushwood is cultivated for that purpose."

P. 501. "The quantity of lime laid on per acre, varies with the soil: a kiln of about 400 bushels will lime three acres well, where the soil is moderately strong, as in the south-east corner of the county: in the Weald, from 150 to 200 bushels per acre are found necessary: on the sandy loams, only 80 or 100 bushels are required."

These are accurate traits of management. Strong adhesive soils, I have ever found, require a greater proportion of lime, than those of a looser more friable texture: a circumstance, this, in the application of lime, which, I believe, is not generally known; certainly, is not generally attended to.

Ashes.-P. 506. "In the neighbourhood of London, great quantities of coal-ashes are used; in the Weald, the ashes of wood or Turze; and in the western parts of the county, the ashes of turf or peat. They are all principally used as top-dressings for clover or sainfoin; for the latter, coal-ashes are preferred, especially if the soil be cold and close." (?)

“Coal-ashes are laid on at the rate of from forty to sixty bushels per acre.”

Soot.-P. 507. "This cannot be obtained in such quantities or so cheap, now as formerly, owing to the increased demand for it by the different manufactures of salammoniac, &e. It is used as a top-dressing, chiefly for wheat and young clover: its effects are found to be very much influenced by the state of the subsequent weather: if it prove very dry, little benefit, and sometimes rather harm, results from the use of it: in moist weather it is most serviceable.

"The price in London is about 1s. per bushel: from thirty to forty bushels are sown as a top-dressing for wheat, and about one-third- less for clover. A chimneysweeper is commonly employed in Surrey to sow it, at the rate of one halipenny per bushel, or 1d. for two bushels."

Town Dung.-P. 509. "From London are procured inmense quantities of stable-yard dung, night-soil, and the sweepings of the streets; the first is often carried to the distance of eighteen or twenty miles, and sometimes further, where it is merely an article of back-carriage: all of them are conveyed up the Thames to the north-western parts of the county.

"The stable-yard manure procured in London, is in

general

general nothing but long dry straw," (!) "which must require a considerable time and a good deal of management before it is fit to lay upon the ground. The price is 3s. or 3s. 6d. for a cart load of perhaps two and a half cubical yards, which, however, from the state it is in, will probably not weigh 24 cwt. or 78. per waggon load."

Night Soil.-P. 510." Night-soil, though so evidently a powerful manure, and fitted for almost every soil and crop, does not appear to have been much in demand among the farmers of Surrey till very lately" (?): "the grand depository for it is St. George's-fields.""

"The price in St. George's-fields is 7s. per waggon load." Farm-yard Dung.-P. 511. "This can hardly be said to be the chief dependence of the farmers in Surrey, except of those who are too far distant from London to bring stable and other manure from thence."

P. 512. "In Surrey, the general opinion appears to be decidedly in favour of rotten dung; and in order to get it into this state, the long town and yard dung is either frequently turned, or is formed into a compost: the mode of making and managing the latter, will fall to be considered afterwards. The faults of the Surrey farmers in the management of their dung-hills, are those of most other counties: they are unnecessarily prest down by the carts while they are making; and in turning them over, the long dung is not sufficiently broken or torn to pieces, and mixed with such as is more rotten."

P. 513. In the Weald, farm-yard dung is universally applied to the summer-fallow for wheat: in the other parts of the county, it is used for turnips, wheat after clover-ley, and sometimes for winter tares, where they are meant as a preparation for wheat."

Compost.-P. 494. "The most intelligent and experienced farmers,"-" form mixens, or composts, of all their richest and strongest manures: these composts are no doubt to be met with in almost every county in the kingdom; but in Surrey they are considered much more indispensable, and are in much greater abundance, than in most other counties."

P. 495. "By far the greatest number of these composts are to be found in the more immediate neighbourhood of the metropolis; and here, it is highly probable, the idea of making them first took its rise. Many of the kinds of manure procured from London, are so very powerful, that either the desire to prevent the waste of them, or the experience of their bad effects when spread on unmixed, like common stable dung, would soon lead to the plan of forming composts."-This, I think, is probable. Cc 3

P. 514.

P. 514. "In the management of their composts, the Surrey farmers are very careful and skilful, as well as economical in the materials of which they compose them. The scrapings of the roads, the scourings of the ditches or ponds, the superabundant mould of the head-lands, are carefully collected and mixed up, either with the rich manure from London, with the farm-yard manure, or with chalk, and often with them all."

Herbaceous Manure.-P. 508. "Ploughing in green crops is not now much in use in Surrey: to feed them off on the ground is found to benefit the succeeding crop much more, and to be much less troublesome and expensive. In some parts of the county, however, tares, and occasionally buck-wheat and rape are ploughed in; and I met with one instance in the neighbourhood of Guildford, where a very strong and luxuriant crop of charlock was ploughing in on a thin light soil upon chalk, for wheat."

To those who have read, with attention, the above intelligent notices, concerning the manures in use, in the County of Surrey, it were superfluous to remark that Mr. Stevenson's report of them is mostly satisfactory.

SEMINATION.-Drilling.-P. 157. "The drill husbandry can hardly be said to be extending itself, even in that part of Surrey where it it has been practised for some years. It appears to have been introduced, or at least recommended, to the notice of the farmers on the sandy loams in the western division of the county, by the late Mr. Ducket, of Esher, who is well known to have been a strong advocate for drilling all sorts of grain, to have followed it extensively on his own farm, and to have invented many machines for drilling and hoeing the crops.

"At present, the drill husbandry is almost entirely confined to the parishes of Bagshot, Chobham, Ockham, Cobham, Esher, Send, Ripley, Bramley, and the district immediately adjoining, and is seldom practised, except on light loams, or sandy soils. It does not appear to have established itself generally in any part of Surrey to the eastward of these parishes."

ARABLE CROPS.

WHEAT. This important object of husbandry is treated of analytically, and at an irrequisite length. It is too long, I mean to say, as a report of the practice of a County, and too short as a general treatise on the culture of wheat.

Reasons for its Cultivation, in Surrey.-P. 202. "There are several circumstances, which render the cultivation of wheat in Surrey more general and extensive than it is in

many