10 AGRICULTURAL SURVEY

< Good marle has the property of ſtiffening light land, 2nd meliorating, and unbinding,(if dry) ſtiff land. Stif ſoil, it is true, for a long time, rehiſts che rain before it is ſaturated; but when made wet, it longer retains the moiſture than a dry ſoil,”

Marle has a good effe& upon theſe lands; for, beſides its uſual qualities of promoting putrefaction, it renders the ſoil ſtiffer, and enables it to reſiſt and throw of the ſurface water more effeQually.

Moor lands which are in a ſtate of nature, and produce heath, and other wild plants, are of various qualities; very extenſive indeed, and much more ſo than might have been expedted in a county ſo populous, and conſequently where lands muſt be ſo valuable. z

Theſe are diſtinctions, not neceſſary perhaps, on this occa- Ñon, to particularize more minutely, than by obſerving that the vales are in general fertile, but have leſs of that fertility as they approach nearer to the higher lands.

DECT. 5— Water.

THe great advantages which<this county poſſeſſes, both from its having ſuch a range of ſea-coaſt, and alſo from the numerous ftreams and rivers it is poſſeſſed of(not forgetting the lakes of Windermere and Coniſton-water) need hardly be dwelt upon, being ſo extremely obvious. It may be ſufffl- cient to remark, that without thoſe advantages, neither the ma- nufaures of the county, nor the ſea and inland fiſheries, a matter cf no inconſiderable moment to the inhabitants, could be carried on to the ſame extent,

Tt is believed, that the only decoy pond is at Orford, the ſeat of John Blackburne, Eſq. member for the county,

JECT.