16 AGRTCUEFTFORAL SURVEY

A taſte for the fine arts has alſo gone forth, and a great num- ber of expenſive paintings have been purchaſed to ornament the walls, and engravings to fill their port-folios.—T here are more readers amongft the lower claſs of people, it is ſuppoſed, than in any part of the kingdom.

SECT. 2—Farm Houſes and Offices; and Repairs

SoM eE of the old built farm-houſes are ill conſtruQed; and(which may appear extraordinary, in a county where flate abounds, and ſtraw ſells at an advanced price) are fill thatched, and- the preparation of the fſtraw for thatch is but il] managed. Fern is ſaid to make the beſt covering, being naturally dry, and not apt to ferment like ſtraw.

The more modern buildings, belonging to the Earl of Derby and many others, are uſeful conſtructions; and in general ſufüciently ſpacious to contain the crops both of hay and corn.

Farms of ſixty pounds a year, in Lancaſhire, have offices frequently as large as would be thought to ſuffice, in other counties, for farms of three or four hundred per ann. where it is the cuſtom to ſtack their corn, which is not the general pradice in Lancaſhire.

Mr. Boyer, of Lathom hou, has favoured the ſurveyor with the following plan of a farm-houſe and offices, which have been lately ere&ted upon Mr. Bootle’s eſtate.