presses with such force as he finds requisite, to reguĺate the motion of the waggon.

!

In a note, the editor adds-" this mode of conveyance has been used, here, upwards of 120 years. And this, it may be remarked, without the principle, on which they are constructed, having been introduced, until lately, into public works!

The projected plan of appointing professional surveyors, to manage parochial roads, has not only been previously recommended, but has long been practised, in different parts of the kingdom. For road materials see fossils, p. 18.

Public Markets.-P. 166. "The price of grain in this county fluctuates very much: betwixt the markets of Newcastle and Hexham, and those of Alnwick, Berwick, and Wooler, there is always a considerable difference*; the prices in the northern parts being, in general, the lowest, or amongst the lowest, in the kingdom, owing to the produce being so much greater than the home consumption. This surplus affords large quantities to be yearly exported from Berwick, Alemouth†, (Alnmouth) and other places along the northern part of the coast."

Morpeth has a weekly market for fat cattle and sheep, to supply the collieries; as those of Rotherham and Wakefield supply the manufactories of West Yorkshire: P. 174.of the former, on an average, not less than 80 weekly; and of sheep and lambs 1600 † ;

which

*Wheat and barley, in Newcastle market, are mostly sixpence a bushel higher; and in Hexham ninepence."

ALFMOUTH. This may be termed corruption refined. By provincial usage, Alnmouth became Yalnmouth; and, by a natural contraction, Yalmouth. But Yal is Ale; hence, Yalmouth is Alemouth : and such has long been its English name!

"Mr. THOMAS SPOURS, who has attended this market for upwards of 40 years, says, that 30 years since there was not half this number; and he remembers, that for several weeks in the winter very few sheep or cattle, if any, were exhibited.”

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which are brought up for the consumption of Newcastle, Shields, Sunderland*, &c."

A list of Northumbrian fairs is unnecessarily inserted:-that of Stagshaw Bank on the 4th of July, and that of Newcastle, on the 29th of October, are, however, of sufficient note to be particularized with propriety in a Report to a public Board.

P. 172. 66 Stagshaw Bank (near Corbridge, near Hexham)-This is one of the largest sheep fairs in the north of England †; principally of the black-faced heath sheep, which mostly come from the south-west of Scotland. There are also great numbers of cattle, horses, and swine."

P. 173. "Newcastle-for horses, cattle, and swine. This is one of the largest fairs in the north of England. The horse fair begins nine or ten days before the 29th, and continues every day in the town, where great numbers of remarkably fine horses for the field, the road, and the carriage, are sold daily. The abundant choice of every kind, brings great numbers of dealers from London, and various other distant places: its celebrity has increased very much of late years, and we believe it may be justly classed among the first horse fairs in the kingdom. The show of cattle is also very great, not only for the breed of the country, but also for large droves of kyloes, (Scotch cattle,) which are purposely driven from the Highlands to be sold at this fair. The fair on the 29th is held on the Townmoor, and is called the Cow-hill fair."

The

"It may be proper to remark, that 30 or 40 years since, the butchers of those places were obliged to purchase a great deal of fat stock in the neighbourhood of Darlington, and other parts of the county of Durham, the produce of the north not being equal to their demands; but the scales are now turned, the northern farmers being able not only to supply the increased population of those places, but to send great numbers of both fat cattle and sheep every year to Leeds, Wakefield, Manchester, &c."

Upwards of one hundred thousand sheep are shown at this

The long talked of reform in weights and measures does not pass unnoticed. An extraordinary list of Northumbrian anomalies are shown. But I find nothing, that is new, advanced on the subject of their abolition.

Public Seminaries of Rural Knowledge. This subject, too, is touched upon; and public farms are strongly recommended. This, however, is only a scion,-ą slight intimation of what I have long been laboring to enforce; but, hitherto, without effect.

On Agricultural Societies we find the following passage.-P. 180. There never was an agricultural society in this county and if any ever had existed, it probably would have been soon dissolved, if we may judge from the experiments that have been made in some neighbouring districts, where we find that, after a few years continuance, they have been given up; but whether from a radical defect in the institutions, the non-attendance and indifference of members, or the injudicious distribution of prizes, we are not prepared to say; but think that public farms are much more likely to promote improvements in the science of agriculture."

SUBJECT THE THIRD.

RURAL ECONOMY.

DIVISION THE FIRST.

TENANTED ESTATES,

Their IMPROVEMENT and MANAGEMENT.

ESTATES.-Sizes. P. 23. "Estates vary in their annual value from 201. to upwards of 20,000 7. a year; one, in particular, is upwards of 40,000l. Small

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estates,

estates, from 201. to 2001. a year, are found in the southern and middle parts of the county, but very rarely in the northern."

P. 24. "Of the annual value of the estates in this county, no authentic information could be obtained; but a probable guess may be formed, by supposing that there are 800,000 acres of cultivatable land, and that this, on an average, is worth 14s. per acre; and that 450,000 acres of mountainous district is worth 2s. per acre.

Gives the total value of the lands, per ann. £605,000"

Tenures. P. 25. "The landed property in this county is mostly freehold. Some small parcels of copyhold are found in the southern parts of the county; and in those districts which belong to the county of Durham, some leaseholds for lives, or years, are held under the church. There are also two or three manors of customary tenure, towards the head of South Tyne."

IMPROVEMENT OF ESTATES. On this important branch of rural economics, I find some, but not many, observations; and, of these, very few that are new to me. Nevertheless, as some of them may corroborate what I have already published on the subject, and as I may have few opportunities, equal to the present, of adducing the practice and opinions of men of ability and experience, I will notice a few particulars, which, otherwise, I should have passed over, in silence.

Embankment, P. 137. In the vicinity of Wooler, a large tract of low flat ground (called haughs,) adjoining the rivers Till and Glen, being subject to be frequently overflowed, the writer of this Report first made the attempt to embank them at Yevering, in

the

the year 1787, which answered the purpose, and soon after it was adopted on the haughs of Turvilaws, Doddington, Ewart, &c.; by which the lands that could not be let for more than 15s. per acre (from the great hazard of losing the crop,) are now let for more than double the sum.'

The editor has given a section of the bank. It is not, however, necessary to its explanation. The height four feet; the base fifteen; the inner face or slope five feet; the outer, toward the water, thirteen feet: the two slopes forming an angle or sharp ridge at the top of the bank :-a frail mode of finishing, that cannot be well recommended. In this bank, I perceive nothing of excellence, except the flatness of the outer slope. And whether this be properly adapted to given circumstances, we are unable to judge; as neither the sort of resistance required, nor the natural propensity of the flooding water, is mentioned. And, unless these be particularized, any description of an embankment, or the materials with which it was formed, must be vague; because on those given circumstances the proper form and materials entirely depend.

In the instance under notice, the bank was formed with earth, taken from a ditch or excavation along the inner or land side of the bank; the inner slope being faced with sods removed, previously to breaking the ground on that side; and the outer, with turf taken off the intended base or site of the bank. But the editor, in a note, (138) says-" In some situations it is best to cut the ditch on the side next the river, leaving checks at proper intervals, to prevent the run of the water. These cavities fill up in a few years, with mud brought by the floods; and the bank is in less danger of breaking when there is no ditch at the back of it."

In one situation, and in one only, I conceive, that method can be safely practised: namely, where the weight of stagnant or very slowly moving water, alone,

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requires