A similar remark applies to the lakes of England : nothing can exceed the beauty of Winandermere, Keswick, and Ulleswater, while the unvaried and uninteresting collections of water, such as Whittle. seameer, and others in the fen district, are to be compared only to those in North Holland or Fries. land. In regard to wood, England is very well provided, without having matiy of those extensive forests which are met with on the Continent on great mountain ranges ; such as on the Jura ridge between France and Switzerland, and the Suabian Alps on the Upper Rhine. It is in private plantations of limited extent, but of very frequent occurrence, and sometimes. of great beauty, that the chief stock of English timber is to be found. Several extensive tracks, such as the New forest in Hampshire, the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, and Sherwood in Nottinghamshire, belong to the Crown.
The soil of England is suited to a great variety of products ; but it has not the exuberant ferti lity of southern climates; much labour and vigi. lance being tequisite to obtain from it a grateful return. The quantity of moisture makes it ad mirably adapted to pasture ; a characteristic which does not particularly strike those whose travels have never extended beyond their own country; but is of the highest importance in the view of those who have visited the Continent, and have witnessed the parched and arid state of the richest plains in the months of autumn. In-regard to husbandry, it happens, by a singular coincidence that, in England as in Seotland, the best is practised in the east part The quantity of corn raised per acre is, of course very various, according to the soil; 26 quarters for wheat, four fbr barley, and 4i for oats, may be stated as a fair average return ; though any calculation from such data must be very vague, as on some spots the produce of wheat amounts to six quarters, in others to only I quarter per acre. The average weight of a bushel of good English wheat is about 58 lbs.; in bad seasons, it does not exceed 56 or 57, but in good years, and in the best wheat districts, it is found to weigh from 60 to 62, and in some parti cular spots 64 lbs. It yields 48 lbs. flour for standard wheaten bread, or 46 lbs. for household. The cul ture of rye in England is now much restrictetl, com what it was in former times ; also that of -ewheat, which, under the name of Sarrazin, is so common on the opposite coast of France. The cause of this decrease lies in the preference given by our peasantry to wheaten bread, and in the cultivation of more valuable grain on the land formerly appropriat ed to the inferior sorts. Of hops, the quantity raised throughout the kingdom is necessarily very fluctuat ing, but it may be computed at an annual average of twenty millions of lbs.
The climate of England is that of an insular coun. try of limited extent, subject, in consequence, to rain, and exempt from intensity of either heat or cold. Compared with the adjacent countries, it is less humid than Ireland, which, like Portugal, in a different latitude, is the first land to intercept the vapours of the Atlantic; on the other hand, the climate of England is less dry than the opposite shores of Holland and Germany, to which every wind but the west arrives across a track of continent. The climate of the south of England resembles much that of the opposite coast of Brittany, Nor mandy, and Flanders ; while that of the north is very similar to the temperature of Denmark, which, like the north of England, is a narrow country en closed on either side by the sea. In regard to the
relative degrees of heat or cold, if England has not so much summer warmth as continental countries on the same parallel, she generally escapes in winter that intensity of frost, which in less than 48 hours of easterly wind so frequently seals up their harbours. On the other hand, our weather is much more vari able than in the inland part of the continent, and oar sky less clear; still it by no means follows that the balance of disadvantage is on our side. The mo derate heat and frequent returns of rain throughout the year that verdant pasture which, autumn, the continent enjoys only in its maritime districts ; while those droug:!ts in spring, which are so noxious in the south of France and similar lati tudes of the continent, are hardly known among us. In point of salubrity also, we may fairly stand a com parison with our neighbours, for, variable as is our atmosphere, perhaps no country exhibits a larger pro portion of examples of longevity.
There exists, however, a considerable difference in the climate of different parts of England. The west, exposed to the Atlantic, and containing hills and mountains which intercept the clouds, is much more rainy than the east, where the aspect of the country is level, and the expanse of adjacent water much less considerable. Another, and equally remarkable dif ference, arises from latitude, the season being a fort night or three weeks later in the north than in the south of England. Notwithstanding all the skill of the Northumbrian farmers, the traveller who leaves the harvest finished in the south of England in the first week of September, and who sees the corn cut, if not carried, in the midland counties, will gener. ally find it, in the middle of that month, untouched of the island ;,particularly in Norfolk and Northam. berland. As to mineral treasures, the eastern half of England, at least of England to the south of York shire, is remarkable for containing no mines either of coal or of metal ; these valuable deposits are to be sought in the more uneven districts of the north and west, viz. in Durham, Westmoreland, Lancs. shire, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Devon, and Corn wall. In the east, particularly in Lincoln and Cam bridgeshire, vast improvements have been made in the present age by draining, but there is still the means of making farther and valuable acquisitions. Much also remains to be done in bringing into culture ex tensive heaths and moorlands in almost every county in the kingdom ; the soil of these is in general poor, but the tillage required would seldom be obstructed, as in many parts of Scotland, by the ruggedness of the surface. Comparing the soil of England with that of the adjacent countries, we find it greatly su perior to that of Scotland, except along our eastern coast; it is perhaps better also than that of Ireland, fertile as the latter naturally is; nor needs it, on the whole, dread a comparison with the soil of France, where, amidst districts of great beauty and luxuri ance, the eye of the traveller is often struck with ex tensive tracks of heath or marsh.