of nearly 200lb. neat; coals 36s. per chaldron of thirtysix bushels; a half peck loaf of best wheaten bread, 2s.”

FUEL.-P. 167. "Coals are brought from Newcastle and Sunderland to all the maritime ports of Kent, and from thence are distributed to the interior parts, seldom exceeding 30s. per chaldron in time of peace.

"Faggots of wood are found in plenty in the western and middle parts of Kent."

MANUFACTURES.-P. 173. "The manufactures of this county are very trifling; probably owing to the successful attention generally paid to agriculture and grazing. It has been observed by sensible writers on agriculture, that where manufactures most flourish, the land is most neglected; and this county is an instance of the truth of the observation. There is hardly any county to be named where agriculture is arrived at such perfection, or where there are so few manufactures as in this. There are some, however. At Canterbury, silk has been manufactured to a considerable extent; but it is now giving way to cotton."

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At Dover and Maidstone are manufactories of paper, of all sorts. At Stoner, near Sandwich, and the Isle of Grain, are salt-works. At Whitstable and Deptford are large copperas works; and in the Weald of Kent, bordering on Sussex, are furnaces for casting iron.

"Gunpowder is made at Deptford and Faversham; and at Crayford there are large works for printing of callicoes, and the whitening of linens."

POOR RATES.-P. 39. "The expences of the poor vary so exceedingly in the different parishes throughout this county, that it will be impossible for me to make any exact report on this subject. Some parishes expend no more than 6d. in the pound on their rents, while many others exceed even 5 or 6s. It is a general complaint, that these expences are annually on the increase."

TITHE.-P. 34. "In the Isle of Thanet, the whole of the rectorial tithes are collected, but the vicarial are chiefly compounded for; part is neither collected nor compounded at present, nor has been for some years, owing to a litigation about the right to the tithe of turnips, &c. In the eastern part of the county, the rectorial are almost invariably paid in kind, and the vicarial mostly compounded for, excepting in some instances, where there are disagreements between the vicars and their parishioners.

"The rich lands about the towns of Faversham, Sandwich, and Deal, have their tithes chiefly collected. In the Isle of Shepey, the same."

Nevertheless, in a note p. 37, a clergyman asserts, somewhat sophistically, "There are very few instances of

the

the clergy taking tithe in kind in this county."To which the Reporter tartly replies" But they let them to others that do, which is the same thing to the cultivators."-

P. 36. "If a fair commutation for tithe could be devised, so as to satisfy all parties, there can be no doubt but that the product of this island, great as it already is, would be much increased by the additional stock of productions from that circumstance.

"There would be another very considerable advantage to the public, in the saving of labour in harvest, by the corn being carried into the occupier's barns in much less time than it is carried into those of the parsonage: the latter being frequently at a great distance from some part of the parish, much time is spent in getting the corn home. The value of the difference of the labourer, bes tween carrying the tithe-corn into the parsonage and farmer's barn, is just so much loss to the public; and if rightly calculated for the whole kingdom, would amount to an immense sum. Among the disadvantages to the public in the collection of tithe in kind, the quarrels between neighbours, who perhaps would otherwise be very good friends, is a very material one; and more particularly where the tithe gatherer happens to be the clergyman; but this is seldom the case in the Isle of Thanet, the tithe there being mostly in lay-hands."

From the adverse notes that stand at the feet of the pages on tithes, as well as from the text itself, it is evident that a degree of animosity existed, at the time of reporting, between the cultivators and the tithe gatherers of Kent: an unfortunate circumstance which I found to be corroborated, about that time, by the low estimation in which the clergy were held, at market meeting, by the higher class of occupiers, in that County;comparatively, I mean, with what I have observed, in the rest of the kingdom.

WATER CARRIAGE.-P. 24. This county possesses advantages superior to any other in point of navigation, from its extensive range of sea-coast, and the two great navigable rivers, the Thames and Medway, besides those of less note, the Stour and the Rother. The two former are na vigable for the largest ships to Woolwich and Chatham, and for small craft to a very great distance."

MARKETS.-P. 178. "The chief part of the agricultural commerce of this county, is that of exporting g corn to the London markets; very little is sent to foreign ports directly from Kent, though much of the Kentish corn goes abroad, when corn is exported, from the grand receptacle, Marklane market!

"At the towns of Maidstone and Chatham, and all

others

others or the coast, there are several hoys, carrying from three to five hundred quarters of corn each, which are continually going to London with the produce of the land, and returning with grocery, &c. for the supply of the country.

The soil and climate of this county being better adapted to the growth of corn than of grass, no cheese or butter is made for exportation, nor a sufficient quantity for the consumption of the inhabitants; the deficiency, therefore, commerce supplies from other parts of the kingdom."

SOCIETIES.-P. 178. In January 1798, a Society for the encouragement of Agriculture and Industry, was established at Canterbury, under the patronage of Sir Edward Knatchbull, Bart. and Filmer Honeywood, Esq. the members for the county."

-P. 481. Some years since, a society was established at Maidstone, called the Kentish Society, for promoting every branch of useful knowledge through the county of Kent. This was begun under the patronage and support of the late Lord Romney, the Earl of Stanhope, and the present Lord Romney, then the Honourable Charles Marsham. Whether it was by aiming at too much, or from a want of support in subscriptions, that it fell to the ground, I am not competent to say.

"About a year ago, an attempt was made to establish another society at Maidstone, upon less general principles; but joining some other sciences with agriculture. There was a great number of the names of the first of the nobility, gentry, and yeomanry, who, by public advertisement, called meetings at Maidstone, in order to settle the business; but either from want of a full attendance, or of subscrip tions, their efforts were not attended with the desired

success

"

SUBJECT THE THIRD.

RURAL ECONOMY.

ESTATE

TENANTED ESTATES.

STATES.-P. 25. "The property in land in this county is very much divided, there being few extensive possessions but what are intersected by other persons property."

26 The number of yeomanry of this county seems

annually

annually on the increase, by the estates which are divided and sold to the occupiers. There is no description of persons who can afford to give so much money for the purchase of an estate as those who buy for their own occupation. Many in the eastern part of this county have been so sold, within these few years, for forty, and some for fifty years purchase, and upwards." (?) 2547 19 TENURE.-P. 41. "There are many estates in Kent held by lessees, under the churches of Canterbury and Rochester; and some under the crown; others under the colleges of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Many are held on three lives, under fines of renewal as they drops others under twenty-one years, renewable every seven, on paying a fine as may be agreed upon by the parties, and subject to a small annual rent.

"The value of these leases varies much, according to local circumstances; but it is generally estimated at about fourteen years purchase."

DRAINING Estates.-P. 129. "This a subject of infinite importance to the prosperity of this kingdom. Bogs exist in most of the counties, more or less, and in some to a wonderful extent; the whole of which is convertible to the very best land, by proper management.

"In Kent we have a great many small patches of boggy and spungy lands, formed by means which will hereafter be mentioned. We have also several extensive parcels of marsh-lands, which in the winter months are frequently rendered totally useless, and of much less value in summer. The quantity of these two kinds of wet lands amounts to some thousand acres, the whole of which, at a very small expence, might be improved, in its annual value, at least 11. per acre.

"Besides these, there is much land of considerable value that might be greatly improved, by a proper attention to the general principles of drainage."

The Reporter, accordingly enters on a didactic discourse of some length, concerning "different kinds of drainage? which might in the infancy of the art, notwithstanding its defects, and a few principles erroneously adopted-have had its use; though out of place, in a provincial Report. 503 SODBURNING. In the section, "Paring and Burning,' we find the following remarks on "Downsharing *."

P. 136.

་་་

*This provincialism might be deemed, corruption worse corrupt ed:Devonshiring-Denshiring-Downshiring.

A man of Kent, however, might turn the table, and read Downsharing-Denshiring-Devonshiring.

Let the radical, and simplex, and therefore truly technical, term

SODBURNING

Py 136,"Of all the improvements in the cultivation of land that have been hitherto made in Kent, this stands foremost; some of the very worst land having been made to produce excellent crops; and poor chalky downs, of scarcely any value in their original state, are by paring and burning made to produce good turnips" (?) “and clover, and crops of corn, often equal in value to double the fee-simple of the land."-Profitable plunder to a tenant! Again, ip

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3

P. 138. A hundred cart-loads of dung, purchased from neighbouring towns and villages, at the distance of three miles from the land, would cost, carriage home included, ten times the price of downsharing, and yet would not improve the land more." ()

These are but a few instances of superlative praise bestowed on downsharing, by the author of the Kentish Report in different parts of his book. And from tenants "who know what they are about," he has doubtlessly had many thanks *...

IRRIGATION.-P. 144. "The practice of irrigating meadows, is an improvement of infinite importance; by which, many poor grass-lands are made to produce abundant crops, and good lands are made much more valuable; but I am sorry to say, the practice has yet very few friends in this county."

TENANCY.-P. 41. The leases granted to the occupying tenants are always for years; from seven to eleven, fourteen, and twenty-one: fourteen is the most usual term.".

RENT.-P. 34. "There are many farms which let as low as 5s. per acre; and others, at every other price between that sum and 30s.; while some particular fields of rich land, in the vicinity of great towns, as pasture, garden, hop-ground, &c. may let as high as 3, 4, or 5l. per acre." "Perhaps I may not be very wide of the truth, if I

སྙ

state

SODBURNING settle the point. Turf-burning would be equally technical; but not quite so euphonious.

Several other provincial terms, in use for this powerful process, afe observable in this volume:-as paring and burning-the northcountry phrase for it; burnbaking or beaking-the Wiltshire dialect; burning beat, or beat burning,—also skirting, velling and skirwinkingare in use in Devonshire. What a confusion of tongues. What intechnical jargon.

Some thirty years ago, I was the first (I believe) to advocate, publicly, the USES of that operation; and to soothe the alarms of its opponents. Since that time, however, such has been the burning rage, that, during the last ten years, I have deemed it right, as proper occasions presented themselves, to do my best endeavors to moderate

its ABUSES.

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