HAMPSHIRE, or, as it is sometimes called, the county of SOUTHAMPTON, Or of HANTS, a shire of Eng land on the British Channel. It is bounded on the east by Surrey and Sussex, on the north by Berk shire, on the west by Wiltshire and Dorsetshire, and on the south by the sea. Its extreme length is 55 miles, but, owing to a projection at its south-west extremity, its mean length is not more than 44 miles, and its breadth 89 miles. Its area, including the Isle of Wight, which is at the extreme points 23 miles long and 13 broad, is 1645 square miles, or 1,032,800 statute acres.
According to the returns under the population act, there were, in 1811, 44,240 houses, and 245,080 in habitants, viz. 118,855 males, and 126,225 females. The number of families was 50,916. Of these 21,401 were employed in agriculture, 18,024 in ma nufactures and trade, and 11,491 in neither. The marriages were 2312; the males baptized were 4109, the females 4020. The deaths of males were 2897, of females 2718. That portion of the inhabitants living in towns, whose population exceeded 1000 souls, was 113,954.
As a whole, few counties in England are superior to this, or have a less proportion of uncultivated land. At the western extremity, bordering on Dor setshire, a small portion of sandy heath is scarcely productive of any thing but sheep-feed, or of hooey. A considerable tract, extending from Winchester to the northern extremity of the county, is down land, principally used for sheep-pasture, but, when brought under the plough, is very fertile in barley, turnips, clover, and magas.' Another portion is forest land, including the New Fared of about 92,000 acres, but within whose boundary a great part of the land is highly cultivated, and very fertile. The abundance of timber trees of large dimensions, the open glades between, and the variety of foliage, as well of the trees as of the underwood, render the scenery of the district highly delightful. The oaks are the princi pal beauty of this forest ; they do not grow to a great height, but swell to large dimensions in the trunk, and shoot out strong crooked branches. which give them a very picturesque appearance, and add to their value as naval timber, by being well adapted to be used as knees for ships of the largest size. The beech trees also grow to a very great size, and contribute to the beauty, as well as the profits of the forest. The other forests are Alice, Hoh, cad Wool seer, extending over about 15,500 acres, of which nearly one f belongs to the Crown, and afords excellent oak timber ; and Bert forest, of 16,000 acres, whose timber has been much neglected. In these forests there are abundance of deer belonging to the Crown, some of which are annually killed, and distributed, according to ancient prescription, to the various officers of the govenmient and the royal household. The greater part of the county is inclo
sed, and even the down-lands are as in a gran sea sure.
The principal rivers are the Itches, which firms a part of the estuary of Southampton Water ; the Avon, which falls into the sea at arriatchunch Bay ; the Boldre, which empties itself at Lysiagtein. The Anton, which falls into the Tees, receives many small brooks before it reecho% Southampton, Where it is lost in that arm of the sea. The coals of the county are but two. The Basingstoke was began in 1=8, to communicate between that tows and Lan don. It is 37 miles in length, and termanaes new Guildford, in the river Weil, which Mk into the Thames. It pease: through a tammel, neer three. quarters of a mile in length, under corona Hid, near Wiliam. It was not completed mil 1794: it had then coot L 100,000 ; and the bias me at set sufficient to pay the interest. The Amasser card was begun in 1789 at that town, and terminates at Redbridge ; and is useful to convey coals and other heavy commodities to the centre of the county.
The soil of this county is very various, but, in al most every part, it rests on a calcareous subsoil. The uplands are generally appropriated to breeding sheep, and hence the culture of turnips has been much extended. After the turnips are fed on the land, barley is usually sown, and with it clover, or other artificial grass-seeds. To the clover succeeds sometimes wheat or oats, and when the land is some what heavier in texture, occasionally beans; but in few parts of England are the rotations of crops more diversified. The average produce of corn on these high lands is not more than 16 bushels of wheat, 22 of barley, and 24 of oats to the acre. The plough ing is almost universally performed by horses, which are of a very excellent race. On much of the stiffer lands four of these strong horses are thought neces sary ; but on lighter lands, and with a single wheel ed plough, sometimes two or three are used, and very rarely are harnessed abreast of each other. On the higher lands, the hay for winter consumption is generally made from sanfoin, a plant which pecu liarly flourishes when the subsoil is calcareous. It is laid down with much care in extirpating all weeds, and every other description of grasses, and will usually continue for ten years to be fit for mo)ring, and on some soils it has been found to last even twenty years, and yield abundant crops of hay. There is no part of England in which this valuable grass is so well, or so extensively cultivated.