OF SOMERSETSHIRE- IQ

At the mouth of theſe rivers are fluices, ſuch as before de- ſcribed, which prevent inundation from the ſea; but being ot made deep enough at their outlet, and the rivers, by which the waters are conveyed, not being properly bottomed, the country is ſubject to frequent /and-floods. This level 1s ſuſceptible of the ſame improvement, by a complete drain- age, as the former. At the ſouth-weſt of this diviſion lie

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the pariſhes of Churchill, Hutton, Banwell, Locking, Weſ- ton-ſuper-Mare, and Uphill. Theſe lands are for the moſt part occupied by dairy or grazing farmers, and are ſubje&t to frequent overflowings of the river, which runs through a dam or fluice at Uphill. Tt is preſumed, that if the bed of the river at Uphill, and the fluice through which the water is diſcharged, were deepened three feet, the evil would in a

preat degree be removed. Procceding northward from hence you aſcend Leigh- down. This is a trat of elevated land, extending from eveden to the Hot-Wells, near Briſtol. Tt is principally fed with ſheep, and conſiſts of nearly three thouſand acres. A large portion of this down will not admit of cultivation, the lime-ſtone rock being within two or three inches of the ſurface. It is probable that this land will pay more as paſ- ture than any other way. But the chief inconvenience ariſes from the unlimited right of ſtocking, by which it is bur- thened with double the number it ought to have; the breed of neat cattle is greatly injured; and, in reſpect to ſheep, the quantity of wool leſſened. To illuſtrate this obſervation, reſpeéting over-ſtocking, I ſhall ſtate a caſe in point. A far- mer of this diſtrict, ſome years ſince, put twenty-five head of ſteers and heifers into a piece of commonable land: the ſpring being unfavourable to the purchaſe of cattle, and a conſiderable fatality having prevailed the preceding winter, the common was moderately ſtocked; in conſeguence of Cc-2 which