vantage 18," till jn sequently they con. incur.

for the t farms which Wn up andry;

the fol-

that the | Tepairs broken that no Ww; that e quan- ‘aw, OF r taken share of 1¢ use of oken or

ffect the

ighbout- renerally ‘thereof sumulate op-yitd

+ accruing ; without he least his farm

OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, 16!

and totally neglect every thing else; this 1 judge to bea principal bar against improvement, however the favourers of hop-planting may deny it. For the hop is known to require much and constant support, without repaying any thing to the dunghill; and without considerable assistance there can be no expectation of a crop—lucrative if ob- tained—and ruinous if otherwise(to some small farmers or cottagers). The tenant(if such) exerts his utmost abilities to contribute all he can to that vegetable lottery, which, if the expression may be permitted, may turn out a sorry blank, or a prize of much greater magnitude than all the profits of the other part of his farm, even in its greatest state of improvement. Iam ready to allow that some hop-planters have their other lands duly attended to; that they purchase an additional portion of manure for their plantation, leaving for the farm what it produced. This granted does not destroy the proposition; for either his ground, who sells the manure, or that of some one else, who probably might purchase it for corn or grass land, is thereby deprived of its use; and as the hop-planter can afford to give more per load for it than any other

‘person, it becomes of more than twice the value in such

a situation, contiguous to hop plantations, it would else- where. This intelligence I do not impart with any view to detract from the value of the science, if such it may be called, or to hinder the growth of the hop, being a very- useful article in life; but as 1 am convinced the’observation is founded on fact, I cannot help submitting it to your con- sideration, having much lamented any deprivation of ma- nure which grass or corn land may suffer; the bare men- tion thereof leads me involuntarily into a descant upon the use of straw, in thatching houses, barns,&c. as another bar to improvement. For, was the thatch thus expended, applied to the purpose of. littering cattle, instead of re- maining perhaps twenty or thirty years a dangerous, ill- Jooking, vermin-harbouring, dusty, and unprofitable cover- M