Landed property is very much divided in this county ; the largest estate not exceeding L.10,000 per annum ; and very few amounting to L.5000. Property is least divided in the lower part of Berk shire. By far the greatest portion of the land is freehold. Leases on lives, and leases renewable every seven years, are not unfrequent. A few estates are held by leases of .1000 years. The farms are very various in respect to size ; but in general they are small. According to Dr Beeke, on the supposition that there are 469,500 acres in the county, they arts distributed in the following manner :- From this statement it will be seen, that a large proportion of the land in Berkshire is under the plough. Wheat and barley are very extensively cul tivated, and are produced or the very best quality. The flout which comes to the London market from Reading and its vicinity is deemed little if at all in ferior to that which is produced from the wheats of Essex and Kent; between 20,000 and 80,000 sacks. are sent annually to the metropolia. The malt of Berkshire, particularly that made at Reading, New bur•, and Wallingford, is equally celebrated for its goodness ; it is principally sent to London and Bris tol. At Wallingford alone, upwards of 120,000 bushels are made annually. On the grass lands in the vale of White-horse, are many good dairy farms, on some of which peculiarly rich cheeses are made.
The Berkshire breed of sheep are very similar in size, form, and qualities, to the breed of Dorsetshire and Wiltshire. Besides this native breed, there are kept on the sheep farms the Wiltshire, Dorset, South Down, and a few of the Bagshot-heath breed. The whole produce of wool in this county is estimated at 4150 packs. The swine of Berkshire have long been noted for the smallness of their bone and their disposition to fatten quickly. They are now com mon in most parts of the kingdom, and are generally preferred at the distilleries, being good either for pork or bacon.
. The agriculture of this county presents nothing else peculiar or deserving of notice, except the New bury peat, which, when burnt, affords an excellent manure, and is very extensively used as such, not only in this but in the neighbouring counties.
The south and east sides of Berkshire . have a large proportion of woodland ; the most common kind of wood is hazel, occasionally mixed with oak, beech, ash, and alder. The chief quantity of timber is at the eastern extremity of the county, in and about Windsor forest, in the Vale of Kennet, and by the banks of the Thames. Windsor forest was formerly of much greater extent than it is at present. Ac cording to Norden's map of it, taken in the year 1607, its circuit was 77} miles, exclusively of that part of it which extended into Buckinghamshire. The present circuit of it, according to Rocque's map, is about 56 miles ; but it will probably be soon much lessened, in consequence of the act of Parlia meat lately passed, by which commissioners are ap pointed to dispose of parts of it to the proprietors of neighbouring lands. Windsor great and little parka
are in the forest. The former is embellished with UMW rich forest scenery. In it his Majesty had two large farms, one of which was conducted on the Norfolk, and the other on the Flemish system of husbandry. On the south-east side of Windsor little park was formerly a venerable tree, immortalized by Shakespeare, and since known by the appellation of Herne's Oak.
Berkshire was formerly one of the principal seats of the clothing-manufacture, which flourished parti cularly in the towns of Abingdon, Newbury, and Reading. In the middle of the seventeenth century, this manufacture was carried on to a considerable extent ; but it declined soon afterwards, and for se vend years has been wholly discontinued. /a the vicinity of Newbury there is a large paper-mill ; and in the town itself, a small manufactory of serge. There is another paper-mill at Bagnor ; a manufac ture of sacking at Abingdon, and a few other trifling manufactures in other parts of the county. _The only one, however, which deserves particular notice, is the copper manufacture at the Temple Mills, in the parish of Bisham. In the early part of the last century, when they were employed for making brass and copper pans and kettles, they were known by the name of Bisham Abbey Battery Works. The manufactures now carried on at these mills are confined to the rolling of copper sheets, for various purposes ; the rolling of copper bolts, for the navy and merchant service, and the hammering out cop per pans and bottoms for distilleries. During full employment, from 600 to 1000 tons of copper are manufactured here. These mills are said to be the most powerful and complete in the kingdom.
There are many very great markets in Berkshire ; Abingdon, Reading, Newbury, Wallingford, and Windsor, have great corn-markets. Usley is cele brated for its sheep-market, which is supposed to be the largest county market in England; it commences on the Wednesday in the Easter week, and continues to be held every .alternate Wednesday till Midsum mer; 20,000 sheep have been sometimes sold in one day ; the annual average is upwards of 250,000, com prising lambs. Oakingham market is remarkable for its abundant supply of poultry, which is princi bought for the supply of the metropolis. At Farringdon is the principal market for bacon and hams ; 4000 swine are said to be slaughtered an nually here, between November and April, for the supply of London and Oxford. • Berkshire affords many specimens of Saxon ar chitecture, the most remarkable of which are Aving ton Church, and the Nave of Windsor Church; the churches of Uffington, Englefield, and Farringdon, and the Chapel at Little Farringdon, exhibit some striking specimens of the early Gothic. One of the most complete and splendid specimens of the later style of Gothic architecture, is St George's Chapel at Windsor.