293 AGRICULTURAL SURVEY and can truly ſay, that more experience, care, aſliduity, pa- 4 tience, and attention, are reguiſite in a farmer, than in a Ls tradeſman of any deſcription whatever. The various cauſes which have operated to retard the progreſs of improvement, have been ſo fully ſtated before,| Jl that I ſhall only add, by way of encouragement, that the tu lands of Mendip hills, incloſed and cultivated in the courſe of the laſt thirty or forty years, are now worth nearly ten d thouſand pounds per annum, which in their original ſtate is did not exceed fifteen hundred pounds; and the advan- ſe tages attending the incloſing and draining the low lands have in been füll greater. nel It was naturally expe&ed that ſo great an acceſlion of arable land would introduce ſuch a plenty of corn(particu- fi larly of oats) in the adjacent markets, as would be accom- P panied with a proportionable diminution in price; but no C: fuch conſequences have followed. The average price of d oats for the laſt twenty years has not been leſs than eighteen di ſhillings per quarter, Winchefler meaſure. From this cir- di cumítance, ſome have been fooliſh enough to queßtion the C preſumed advantage, exultingly crying,“ Is not corn dearer A < than it was before? Are not the poor’s rates equally high? ot c Where then are the happy conſequences derived from the « meafure? Corn could not have been dearer, had no inclo- « ſure taken place.’ Hold! the price of every article varies h) according to the plenty or ſcarcity in market; and if the| home ſupply be not ſufficient for the conſumption, other| markets at a diſtance muſt be reſorted to, This would have| been the caſe in the neighbourhood of Mendip hills, had no incloſure taken place. The counties of Wilts and Dorſet muſt have ſupplied the deficiency; and the carriage alone would have amounted to ten per cent. N 2dly. Â aia e——— E——— E SR i ¿