For remarks,&c.

10

The Vale of White Horse, by general acceptation, is confined to a few parishes west of Wantage, which is a rich deep soil, equal to the best parts of England. I shall not exaggerate how- ever, if Istate, that the whole of the county lying north of the Downs,(with the exception of a small district near Oxford,) is likewise of an excellent quality; and though not so rich as the Vale, is certainly a well adapted country, not only for the pro- duction of corn, but for the turnip system of fatting off cattle.

The greatest part of the southern side of the county, from Hungerford, to Windsor,(except a part of Kentbury Hundred, and some land on the south side of the Kennet, and the greatest part of Windsor Forest), consists chiefly of a gravelly loam; and though it may not admit, of so profitable a course of husbandry, as the north side of the county, may nevertheless be applied, to great advantage by the turnip system.

The hills, and downs, are chalk, with a thin soil on the surface, in some places inclined to gravel, in others to a blackish sand; the productive qualities of which have been almost exhausted by that most infamous of all practices on a shallow soil,— Burn- Baking.

This county is exceedingly irregular as to its form; being in one part nearly 30 miles broad, and in another barely 4. The greatest extent from East to West, is from Old Windsor to Hun- gerford; a distance of at least 44 miles: And if the mean breadth of the county be taken at 15 ¼ miles, I apprehend it will be as near the truth as calculations in this general way can be ex- pected to be made. The number of square miles will, according to these dimensions, be 682; and the number of acres, 436, 480: But as Mr. Rocque, in his excellent Map of Berkshire, published 1D 1761, has given the extent, and contents, of each parish, ITam enabled by this means, to deduce a more particular statement of acres in it; which, on his authority, and my inquiry, as far as I

could check it, IJ believe to be tolerably accurate; and which, for

che general advantage of the county, I here subjoin.