hitherto, the different crops that have been enume rated, are grown in other counties as well as in Essex ; but the following productions arc peculiar to Essex : they form a treble crop, consisting of coriander, teasel, and caraway. The seeds of these plants are sown to gether ; the farmer generally takes a partner in this concern, who sows the land, keeps it clean, and cuts, thrashes, and prepares for market the crops, while the farmer provides and ploughs the ground. The connec tion lasts three years : in the first the coriander is ripe, and generally produces from 10 to 14 cwt. per acre : in the second year the teasel is ready, which generally yields a load or six score staffs, of fifty heads each staff : the caraway. also this year yields from three to six cwt. of seed. It is not, however, till the third year, that this last conies to perfection, at which period it will yield from 10 to 14 cwt. per acre, while the teasel declines, only those plants coming to a head which were not suf ficiently forward the preceding year. The heads of the teasel arc bought by the woollen manufacturers for the purpose of dressing their cloth, but they are not nearly so much used for this purpose as formerly. In some parts of Essex there are gardening farmers, who travel about and take grass land, for the purpose of breaking it up and sowing it with caraway seed : they enter into partnership with the farmers, on the same terms as have been already specified. Mustard is cultivated in sonic of the islands of Essex, and in the embanked marshes. Saffron is not cultivated now in Essex to such an extent as formerly ; it is principally grown between Saffron 'Walden and Cambridge, in a circuit of about 10 miles. One or the best proofs of good husbandry in a district, is the general use and judicious management of turnips where the soil is suitable, and of tares where the soil is too heavy and wet for turnips. In Essex there is not much turnip soil, but tares are extensively and judiciously cultivated. On the lands of this county which have a chalk bottom, sainfoin is grown; but the crops are not very heavy. This valuable plant has also been cultivated on a sandy bottom, with more success than might have been anticipated. Though Essex is decid edly an arable county, and stands very high among the English counties for the goodness of this species of husbandry, yet the extent and value of its marshes, as well as the grazing qualities of the district of Epping, give it celebrity as a grazing county also. The propor tion of grass land to arable, is supposed to be as one to seven or eight. Near London, considerable quantities of hay are grown ; it is managed much in the same man ner as in Middlesex ; the produce is often very great, as not unfrequenrly three loads of 1800 cwt. each load, is got, at two cuttings, from an acre. All the marshes possess very rich and valuable grazing land ; but those on the banks of the Thames are greatly superior to those On the ocean or Blackwatcr ; the rent varies from W. to 101. per acre ; the latter are principally taken by the London butchers. The marshes in Dengey Hundred are singular, from the circumstance that they rise in elevation as they approach the sea. The great rise in the price of corn has induced several of the proprietors latterly to let their marsh land to be ploughed. Be tween the Blackwater and the Crouch, there are salt marshes, which are very valuable. The dairies of Ep ping and its vicinity are famous for the richness of their cream and butter : the cows used are principally the Holderness, Leicester, and Derby, though other breeds are often mixed. In making Epping butter, the milk is suffered to stand 24 hours, when the cream is skim med off, and the milk is drawn into other vessels, where it remains for about 20 hours, when the cream is again taken off: this is called doubling. It is afterwards put into deeper vessels, when all the remaining cream is separated from it : this is called trebling. The butter made from the two last skimmings is of inferior quality. There is one thing peculiar to the dairy-women, which is, that there must be a certain proportion of sour in the cream ; otherwise they cannot ensure good butter. The butter made by the smaller filmier is either carried to Epping market, or sold to Nigglers; but the large far mers generally agree with some Clare-market butter man for the wi.ole produce of the dairy.
Essex has long been noted for its calves. Formerly it was supposed that more were bred and fattened here than in any other English county ; but the practice is on the decline. Besides the calves that are bred in Es sex, great numbers are brought from other parts of the kingdom, and fattened here, especially by the farmers in the Burnham and Southminster marshes. To promote their fattening, they are frequently given a small ball composed of the powder of fenugreek, wheat meal, and a small quantity of powdered chalk, mixed up with mild ale. Essex is not famous for its live stock, though in some parts the Devon breed of cattle are gaining a foot ing. Where early lambs are in demand, the Dorset sheep are kept: besides these, there are in the county a mixture of Norfolk, Welsh, and Wiltshire. Consider able attention has been paid to the breed of hogs : there is one kind very valuable, called the Essex half black ; the Berkshire is the favourite breed in the southern parts of the county. The Suffolk breed of horses are gene rally employed for agricultural purposes. Oxen are seldom wrought.
There are several decoys among the islands and marshes ; the most considerable is in Mersey island: when any person approaches the decoy, he takes a piece of lighted turf in his hand, as the wild ducks, it is said, would otherwise smell the person, and immediately quit the pond.
Essex is a well-wooded county ; for, besides the tim ber in the hedge-rows, it is calculated that there are up wards of 50,000 acres of woods and woodlands, which, connected with the hedge-row timber, are reckoned worth nearly three millions. There arc some very large trees in the county ; a cedar at Faulkhurne Hall is sup posed to be the largest in the kingdom ; its girth, at six inches from the ground, being 18 feet ; at 10 feet from the ground, 14 feet ; and its height to the first branch, nine feet. In the church-yard at Woodford, is a re markable yew tree ; the spread of the boughs forms a circumference of 180 feet ; its girth, at four feet from the ground, is 14 feet. But the most remarkable tree in Essex is the Fairlop oak in Hainault Forest ; the tra dition of the country traces it half way up the Christian era. It has lately been much injured by fire, it having been customary, on the first Friday in July, to hold a fair under its branches : on one of these occasions, it accidentally took fire. Before this accident, its branches overspread an area nearly 300 feet in circumference. , In the reign of James IL the forest of Essex, as it was called, extended almost over the whole county. The forests of Epping and Hainault still retain the name, and support a few deer ; the extent of forest land is sup posed to be about 10,000 acres. In the marsh districts, ozier plantations are much attended to, and are found to be very profitable. There are no extensive orchards of apple or pear trees, hut many cherry ones at Burnham, Southminster, 8:c. The wastelands, including the forests, are estimated at 15,000 acres.
The agricultural improvements of the county are many and numerous ; of these by far the mest import ant and the best understood is under draining. From the moist nature of a great part of the soil, this improve ment was much wanted, and it has, in general, been carried on, on the most scientific principles, and with great care and skill of execution. Almost all the known kinds of manure are employed in Essex, but chalk is not so commonly used as formerly. From the nature of the sea coast, as well as the south boundary of Essex, embankments are absolutely necessary ; indeed, the whole shores of Essex arc embanked, except at Pur Aleet, Southend, and Harwich : most of the embankments are old.
We have dwelt thus long and fully on the agricul ture of Essex, because it is in general excellent, and be cause it is this which principally distinguishes the county. In no other respect is it of much note, and therefore our remaining account will not detain us long. As inter mediate between its agriculture and manufactures, its fisheries shall he first considered.