Z14 AGRICULTURAL SURVEY.

acres of level white land, in a ſtate of nature, offend the eye of every traveller, and cry aloud for improvement, the means of which it contains in immenſe quantities of lime- fone vpon its very ſurface, It is more than twenty years fince an a(t of parliament was obtained for a diviſion of this common, and that it has not been carried into execu= tion is the more to be regretted, as, in the opinion of very judicious perſons in the neighbourhood, a large portion of it might be eaßily made as valuable as the little clofes of Sh2p, which are let from 3os. to 40s. an acre.

On the ſouth of Shap lies another common called the Fells, which is, in general, incapable of cultivation by the plough, but it is not ill ſuited to the maintenance of ſheep; and the remains of the celebrated Shap-thorn, near the road to Orton, ſhow that plantations would ſucceed even on thoſe places of it which are moſt expoſed.

Near the mouth'of the river Kent there is a marſh of confiderable extent, common to Haverſham and Mill- thrope, and, like all the other commons in Weſtmoreland, greatly overſtocked. It would not be difficult to bank of the ſea from this marſh, and to convert it into corn fields; but tf this were thought not advifeable, its value might be inſtantly more than doubled by the eſtabliſhment of a moderate ſtint, or ſtill farther increaſed by a diviſion.

Part of Croſby common might be eaßfily converted into arable and good paſture land, and two clumps of trees, of a confiderable ſize, prove that its worſt parts might be planted with fuccefs.

From Croſby and Meaburn, a dry level common ex- tends to within three miles of Appleby. It is covered with heath, and is capable of various modes of improve=- ment-

The commons of Knock, Newbigging, Kirkby-Thore, and Marton, lie contiguous, and form a tract of ſeveral thoufands of acres, dry, ſaft, and improveable. A great

part

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