family, and horses for carrying his goods to market, and bringing back raw materials. This will apply to the most part of the land adjoining to the manufacturing towns; and although much ground is not, in this case, kept under the plough, yet comparatively more corn is raised, than in the division above described.

66

3dly, The corn district, or those parts of the Riding where tillage is principally attended to, and grass only considered as the mean of bringing the corn husbandry to perfection.

"If we run an imaginary line from Ripley southward by Leeds, Wakefield, and Barnsley, to Rotherham, we may affirm, that the greatest part eastward of it, till we come to the banks of the Ouse, which separates the West from the East Riding, is principally employed in raising corn. About Boroughbridge, Wetherby, Selby, &c. there is about one half of the fields under the plough. Further south, about Pontefract, Barnsley, and Rotherham, there are twothirds; and to the eastward of Doncaster, to Thorn and Snaith, three-fourths of the land are managed in a similar way. There is not much waste in this division, but what is in that situation, is capable of great improvement. ▸

4thly, The common fields. These are scattered over the whole of the last division, but are most numerous in that part of the country to the eastward of the great north road, from Doncaster to Boroughbridge. It is impossible even to guess at the quantity of land under this management. In general, it may be said to be extensive, and from the natural good quality of the soil, and the present imperfect state of culture, great room is afforded for solid and substantial improvement being effected upon all land coming under the description of common field.

5thly, The moors. These, besides the large tracts in the first division, lie in the western part of the Riding, and perhaps contain one-eighth of the district.

Bb3

Upon

Upon them sheep are chiefly bred, and afterwards sold to the graziers in the lower parts of the country. A great part of them is common, which lays the proprietors under the same inconveniences as are already pointed out; and which might easily be remerlied, by dividing and ascertaining the proportion which belongs to the respective proprietors.'

This might be deemed a luminous--and certainly is a valuable-part of the Report. A provincialist of West Yorkshire might, no doubt, cavil at particulars; but, from my own general knowledge of the country, it is sufficiently near the truth for the information of the Board. And the following passage of the section Tillage," relating to the general state of husbandry, is full of thought and consideration.

66

P. 79." The West Riding cannot be considered as a district where the cultivation of corn is practised in the most approved way, and many circumstances concur to retard its improvement. From the flourishing state of manufactures, capitals are thrown into that line, which in other places would be employed in the cultivation of the soil; and the advantageous markets for disposing of cattle and sheep, induces (induce) the actual farmer to bestow a greater portion of his attention upon the management of his live stock, than upon his corn fields. This observation we make in justice to the farmers of the West Riding, many of whom have their farms in the most perfect condition. Where the case is different, it is but fair to infer, that the above mentioned circumstances have operated to prevent them from being so perfect as their neighbours. Again, p. 225, speaking of "Manufactures."" A considerable portion of the land is occupied by persons whose chief dependence is upon manufactures. We are not, in this case, to expect the same attention to the minutiae of farming, as from those who make it their sole occupation. Their minds and capitals are generally fixed upon

5

their

their own business, and land is solely farmed by them as a matter of convenience or amusement."

From the sum of these observations, it is evident, that much useful information, on the management of arable lands, cannot reasonably be expected, from the practice of WEST YORKSHIRE, for the instruction of other districts. It cannot, therefore, be deemed a proper subject of study, for that purpose.

WORKPEOPLE. In the Surveyors' Journal of their tour through the manufacturing district, we meet with this notice, App. p. 23,-"No want of hands in this neighbourhood to cut the crop. In the year 1792, the scarcity was great in the East Riding, but felt here no farther than rising wages."-This shows the use of village manufacturers, to agriculture, in busy seasons. In the East Riding, a corn country, with few manufacturers, the farmers, (especially of the Wolds) depend much upon West Yorkshire, for harvest laborers; and are of course liable to be disappointed of the required supply, by a brisk demand, there, for manufactures.

On Wages.-P. 203.-" The West Riding being a great manufacturing district, it may at once be inferred, that labor of all kinds is higher than in those districts where manufactures are not extensively carried on. From the result of our enquiries it appeared, that wages varied considerably, even in the district itself; but, that in most cases they were highest in the neighbourhood of the manufacturing towns, and that for these some years past, they have greatly increased.”

I insert the following extract from a paper of Mr. Payne, on the rate of wages-not as being quite convinced of the indisputability of Mr. P's arguments; but as they give a peculiar turn to the subject. P. 204. One word for the laboring peasantry.Throughout this work, and almost every other of the kind, there seems a kind of complaint of the high rate of wages, in rural labor. Now, as the landlords

Bb 4

can

can speak for themselves, as the clergy can speak for themselves, and as the farmers can either do it, or get others to do it for them, it is but reasonable that the poor laboring peasants should have something said for them. I believe the fact is, that the laboring peasantry never had greater difficulties to encounter in the rearing of families, than they have at present, notwithstanding the apparent high rate of wages; for, that it is apparent only, will be evident to every attentive observer of the case. During the course of the present century, the landlord has trebled his rent, the clergyman or lay rector, has doubled his tythe, the farmer has increased his property, and maintained his family in conveniences and comforts, at least decent; but have not the poor's rates increased enormously, incontrovertibly showing the low condition of the poor." There is certainly too much truth in those suggestions. But, I am afraid, the farm laborers of the present day do not possess the same sort of frugality and forethought, as did those of former

times.

In the Reporter's remarks on Mr. P's ideas, he says, p. 207 (what, indeed, he had said before, p. 14, on" Cottages")" The only way that we know of for making the laborer's wages proportional to the rise or fall on the value of money and provisions, is to pay him in kind; that is, with a certain quantity of corn, as parties shall agree, which insures him, at all hazards, a comfortable subsistence, and prevents him from a daily or weekly visitation of the markets. When the laborer is paid in money, it exposes the thoughtless and inattentive to many temptations; whereas, when paid in kind, he cannot raise money to gratify the whim of the moment. In those counties where this mode of payment has been long established, we believe ploughmen and laborers are on the whole better fed, live more comfortably, and rear healthier children, than in those parts, where, from being paid in money, the currency of the article facilitates the expenditure,

expenditure, and prevents him from laying by a stock of provisions for his support, when laid off work by casualties or distress."

I have, already, had occasion to speak on this subject (in p. 51, aforegoing).—In Scotland, this practice appears to be a relick of the customs of less civilized times; when the husbandman necessarily paid, not only his laborers, and his pastor, but his landlord, in kind. Even that of paying rents, in kind, is still practised in the more remote and recluse parts of Scotland.—And, in England, there was undoubtedly à time, when, through the same necessity, the same practice prevailed.

But admitting that the practice under consideration is still proper in Scotland, and still reconcileable to the habits of its cultivators, does it follow that English agricultors should return to what they have formerly found expedient to relinquish ?-In some parts of England, especially in its western extreme, a melioration (as it would seem) of that practice is now prevalent; not having, yet, been there done away: namely, that of allowing farm laborers bread corn, at a stated price; let its value, at market, be what it may.

Both these practices, viewed in a political light, during a great scarcity of corn, have an evil tendency, and ought to be forbidden. In a time of extreme scarcity, sound policy requires that as small a quantity, as possible, of the article, wanting, should be consumed: and, if it were wholely brought to the public market, or which in effect is the same thing, the whole of it paid for, by the consumers, at the market price, every individual would have an interest, or be compelled by necessity, to spare the scanty supply. But if the farm laborers of Scotland have the same quantity given out to them, and the English laborer can purchase as much for the same money, when the supply is deficient, as when it is plentiful, neither of them is compelled to spare it, in the former

case.

"Oh! but the humanity of the thing" (exclaims

the