that can be faid, The honeft avowal of a Scotch farmer on this fubject, (quoted in our 35th volume, p. 376), ought to make our English declaimers blush for their injuftice and intemperance*.

Examining, with these ideas, Dr. Mavor's book on the Agriculture of Berks, we have by no means found ourselves dif appointed. Every where do we find the marks of diligent inveftigation, and skilful arrangement; and though he declares, in his prefatory advertisement, that he was induced by a friend to undertake the work; and that to the kindnefs of that friend. in encouraging his endeavours, obviating his difficulties, and fatisfying his doubts tha th "Report owes whatever merit it may be found to poffefs," it is very evident, that, even with all thofe aids, a man of inferior abilities, and less skill in compofition, would have made a much less valuable publication. In the first place, the arrangement is clear and judici ous. The whole matter is digefted under the following heads. 1, Geographical State and Circumftances, p. 1. 2. State of Property, p. 49. 3. Buildings, p. 56. 4. Mode of Occupation, p. 78. 5. Implements of Husbandry, p. 116. 6. Enclofing, Fences, &c. p. 137. 7. Arable Lands, p. 154. 8. Grafs, p. 235. 9. Gardens and Or, chards, p. 299. 10. Woods and Plantations, p. 312. Waftes, p. 324, [Printed 331]. 12. Improvements, p. 349. 18. Live Stock, p. 372. 14. Rural Economy, p. 412. 15. Political Economy, as connected with or affecting Agriculture, p. 422. 16. Obftacles to Improvements, p. 489. 17. (By mistake marked xviii), Mifcellaneous Obfervations, p. 438. 18. Conclufion, on the Means of Im provement, p. 509.

11,

These general divifions, or chapters, are fubdivided into as many diftinct fections, as ferve to exhauft each fubject. The defcription and account of the principal towns, falls under the 15th chapter, and begins at p. 449, the names of the towns being placed in alphabetical order. To the whole is fubjoined an Appendix, which confifts of the following inte refting articles. .1. Obfervations by Dr. Beeke, p. 515. These are general, and are referred in order to the several chapters with which they are connected; having arrived too. late to be incorporated in their proper places. Dr. Beeke re

Whoever is difcontented at paying tithes has, without doubt, a fecret wish to feize a property which he never bought, nor rented; and would with-hold it by force from the right owner, if the law were not strong enough to over-rule his wishes.

fers alfo to the obfervations which he had communicated to Lyfon's Britannia, on the fubject of Berkshire. 2. Useful tables of distances, &c. relating to the Thames and Ifis navigation, three in number. 3. Account of the Peat-pits, near Newbury. 4. Particulars of Water meadows, on the Kennet. 5. On tranfplanting Swedish Turnips. 6. Explanation of the Map of the Strata, and of the different Lines of Inland Navigation between Brol and London. To this article is affixed the refpectable name of Frederick Page, Efq. To il luftrate thefe various fubjects, where required, the Report contains 31 plates, including Maps and Plans. The list, indeed, feems to indicate more; but the perfon who drew it up has often marked, as ftanding on feparate plates, objects, which are united on one plate.

In a work of fuch variety, it is difficult to determine what to felect; but, as we have in the opening of this article mentioned the fubject of tithes, we will here lay before the public a part of Dr. Mavor's fentiments on that kind of property.

"When it is confidered, that the title by which a tenth of the produce of agriculture is appropriated to the church, is far more an cient and better ascertained than that to the other nine parts, it will appear furprising that the dues of the clergy fhould generally be paid with reluctance, and that lay proprietors, on the contrary, fhould find little difficulty, either in obtaining a fair rent for their lands, or a reasonable compofition for their tithes *. Yet the fact is in difputable, that incumbents, however moderate in their demands, can feldom advance the compofition for their tithes in any proportion to their value, without expofing themfelves to obloquy and oppofition; or if they take their tithes up, are frequently fubject to expences and inconveniences, befides producing an unfavourable effect on agricultural improvement, to encourage which ought to be no lefs the object of private than of public policy.

"The farmer, when he takes a bargain fubject to tithes, will Endoubtedly estimate the proportion he is to pay.to the incumbent, not according to what may have been demanded twenty or thirty years ago, but what it is actually worth at the prefent moment +;

and

* It should be known, to diminish the ill effect of the common prejudice against tithes, with refpect to the clergy, that of the great tithes throughout England, one half, at the least, is paid to Jay impropriators, or corporate bodies. To change the tenure of the clergy therefore would not remove the complaint, unless all the unclerical tithes were alfo abolished. Rev.

"I have seen many good effects refulting from the proprie tors of land becoming perfonally refponfible to the clergyman,

and if, by the lenity or forbearance of the rector or vicar of his parish, he pays lefs, he ought to confider it as a facrifice that often can be ill afforded, and as laying him under an obligation which he fhould endeavour to return by every means in his power. Were

this the cafe, that harmony which the good of religion, and the intereft of the parties require, would be preferved inviolate; and none but the extortionate incumbent, of which I have not met with a fingle inftance in this county, would be the object of deferved enmity and reproach.

"In fact, the rights of the clergy are exacted with extreme moderation, fmall as many of their livings are, not only in Berkfhire, but I believe in moft parts of England-the highest compo fition for vicarial tithes in this district being only 3s. per acre in dairying farms, and the highest rectorial no more than 7s. in the moft productive and well cultivated parishes; while feveral vicars, to my knowledge, have only the very low compofition of gd. in the pound rent, and rectors 4s.: fo that, taking the average of vicarial compofitions, they do not exceed 15. 3d. in the pound, nor

*

- great tithes 5s. This must obviously be extremely reasonable;

and I can add, from a very minute investigation of the fact, that not one rector in ten takes his tithes in kind; and I heard only of one or two vicars who did fo, and who were probably driven to this measure, by the ftubborn oppofition of their parishioners. Yet notwithstanding this indulgence, I will not difguife that complaints exift of the hardship of tithes from the farmer, and of the unpleasant fituation in which the incumbent is fometimes placed, by trying to raise his humble benefice to two-thirds, or even onehalf of its real worth. Hence there must be fomething radically wrong in a fyftem, which excites prejudices in the moft liberal and enlightened minds, and which equally militates against the inte refts of religion and the interefts of agriculture." P. go.

In confequence of this latter opinion, in which we do not agree, the author proceeds, in the clofe of this fection, to ftate his own plans for a commutation. We think, however, that the

and letting their eftates, especially when there are no leafes, tithe free. The advantage is mutual; and it prevents misunderstandings, as well as an oppofition of interefts, which frequently arife, when the tenant and the incumbent are left to themselves."

"It is not however always confidered, that where there is a vicar, the impropriator fhould regulate his compofition for great tithes according to their refpective rights. Where the impropri. ate great tithes are 5s. in the pound, or by the acre, the vicar, on an average, is entitled to 1s. 6d. or a fifth and a tenth, as the cafe may be.'

Cc

BRIT. CRIT. VOL. XXXVI, OCT. 1810,

"fome→

fomething radically wrong," is chiefly the want of a right comprehenfion of the fubject, and that when the true ideas of this fpecies of property fhall be fully circulated, many of the fenfelefs prejudices, which have been unfairly and eagerly fomented by Agricultural Surveyors" in general (and not difcouraged, at leaft, by the board) will gradually die away of themfelves. Better far than to meddle with a property eftablifhed by fo long a prefcription, and involving fo many different interefts, (an experiment always full of hazard) would it be to devife fome legal method for the equitable collection of the real tithes, or a much better proportion of them than is ufually paid at prefent to the clergy, without any personal interference of the incumbents them. felves. Juftice would then be done, with that regularity which precludes all murmurs, and no odium whatever could fall upon the clergy, who would be only paffive in receiving what the law allotted them. It is too often the long cherished hope, or perhaps the practice of cheating the parfon, which produces the great irritation, on a claim of fomething approaching to what is right *.

As the management of peat is lefs generally known perhaps than many other branches of cultivation, we shall extract a few facts respecting it, as practifed in the vale of Kennet.

"Though it is probable that peat, nearly of the fame nature as that along the Kennet, is to be found in other parts of the kingdom, its general application as a top dreffing to clovers, and other artificial graffes, to turnips, to vetches, and even occafionally on wheat, is perhaps unique in this county, and therefore will require a more extended detail than other manures +.

"In the year 1745, it was firft burnt at Newbury, by a Mr. Thomas Rudd, who at the fame time fpread the afhes on clovers, for which they have ever fince been famous. An acre of peat land at that period fold for 30l.: it has fince fold, according to its quality, for 300l. and 400l., and in one inftance reached about 8ool. per acre.

"Over the ftratum of peat, which is about five or fix feet deep is a good meadow foil, and under the peat is gravel. The

* When Dr. Mavor afterwards, (at p. 489), places tithes among the obftacles to improvement, he ftates them fo only in compliance with common opinion. For his own fentiments, he refers to the paffage above quoted.

See alfo Appendix, p. 532.”

peat

peat varies in colour, but the blackeft is reckoned the beft, and is ufed for firing, the ashes of which are most efteemed, and have the reddeft colour. What is burnt for fale only, is mixed with turf and other fubftances, which gives it a pale whitish hue.

"Peat is ufually dug with a spade for that purpose, refembling thofe used in Scotland *, from the middle of May to the end of June. It is conveyed from the fpot where it is dug, in little wheel-barrows, to a fhort diftance, where it is fpread on the ground, and after lying about a week, the pieces are turned. This being three or four times repeated, a heap is made in the middle of the place where the peat is fpread, and in the centre of this heap fome very dry peat is put, which being lighted, the fire communicates flowly to the rest of the heap. When it is completely lighted, an additional quantity of peat is put upon the heap, and this operation is continued till the whole is confumed, which generally takes a month or fix weeks, as quick burning is not approved of. Rain feldom penetrates deep enough to extinguifh the fire. The heap is commonly of a circular form, and ra ther flat at top. At first it is very fmall; but at last it is fome. times two or three yards deep, and fix or feven yards in diameter. "The afhes being riddled, are conveyed away in uncovered carts, to a distance fometimes of twenty miles, and put into house, or under a fhade, to keep them from the wet, till they are wanted to be put on the ground.

"The ufual time of applying them is March and April. They are generally taken in carts, and fown on the ground before or after the feed is fown, and both are harrowed in together. When ufed only as a top dreffing they are only fown on the land. The quantity is ufually from twelve to fifteen Winchester bufhels per acre, according to foil and crop. It is fuppofed that too large a quantity would be injurious. For barley, wheat, and peas, they are not in much estimation; but for all forts of artificial grafs, more efpecially, they are preferred to all other manures. In tur nips they affift to prevent the ravages of the fly; and in grafs feeds, the farmers reckon on an acre, manured with afhes, producing nearly a ton of hay beyond what it would have yielded without them.

"One perfon with a double cart will fow feveral acres in a day. The effect is fuppofed to be of no longer duration than two years. On meadow land, from fifteen to twenty bushels may advantageoufly be put; they much improve the grafs.

"The price at Newbury wharf is from fourpence to fivepence per bufhel. At Reading, fevenpence or eightpence. With the

+ See pl. 13, at p. 129. Rev.
Cc z

distance,