The southern department, which includes the chalk hills in the vicinity of the metropolis, as well as those in the more remote counties, is, by the circumstance of these hills, distinctly marked out, in its natural character, from the rest of the kingdom. That part of it which lies in the more immediate vicinity of the metropolis, is, of course, directed, in the nature and objects of its hus bandry, by the demands created by the metropolis ; and thus an artificial character is, as it were, given to its agricultural pursuits. The other part of this district is distinguished by its flocks of sheep, which are fed on its chalk hills ; the breeds, and mode of management, of which are very different from those in the midland and eastern departments.
The natural situation of the last, or south-western agricultural department, is very remarkable ; it stretches 'away from the main body of the island, in a peninsular form, into the western sea. This peninsula is nearly 200 miles long, and is bounded by that sea, except where it touches the southern and western departments. The natural characters of its area, as well as of its situation, are also singular. Slate rock hills, which are com paratively unknown in the rest of the kingdom, except in a small portion of the northern department, here abound. The surface, indeed, almost throughout the department, (its north-eastern angle excepted,) is of a singular character, consisting of bare steep-sided hills, separated by narrow vallies : the hills, in general, are productive to their very summits. In its agricultural character and pursuits, it is not less remarkable ; the husbandry that is carried on there being more nearly allied to the ancient husbandry of the Romans, than any pursued in this island. Arable, as well as pasture and dairy husbandry, are indeed pursued, but the mode of uniting them, the practices which prevail in each, and the grand features of the whole, are remarkable, and strongly distinguished.
Notwithstanding this general division of the kingdom into agriCultural departments, it may be proper to specify the counties which are principally occupied in the three great branches of agricultural industry followed in Eng land, namely, arable husbandry ; dairy husbandry ; and that husbandry which is directed to the breeding and fattening of cattle and sheep.
The following are the principal counties in which arable husbandry is pursued to a greater extent than in the other parts of the kingdom : Kent, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Hampshire, Berkshire, Bedfordshire, Surrey, Sussex, Hertfordshire, part of Yorkshire, Durham, and Northumberland. The dairy counties, either for butter
or cheese, or both, are Cheshire, Shropshire, Glouces tershire, Wiltshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Suffolk, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Cambridgeshire, Dorsetshire, and Devonshire. The counties most distinguished for breeding and fattening cattle and sheep, are Lincoln shire, Somcrsetshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Teeswater in Durham, and Cleveland and Holderness in Yorkshire. It will be evident, however, that in this arn.ngement, many counties must be specified, in which more than one of the three great agricultural pursuits are carried on ; and it may be remarked, that the arable husbandry, in some counties, is closely connected with the fattening of sheep, but seldom with the dairy hus bandry ; while the latter is often connected with the breeding and fattening of cattle and sheep.
IN giving a general sketch of the arable husbandry of England, it will be proper to consider it under two heads, namely, the instruments employed in carrying it on, and the crops cultivated. On the first head, our remarks must be brief, since it would lead us far be yond our limits to particularise or describe nearly all the agricultural implements used in England.
The ploughs employed are of various and numerous sorts, but they may be divided into three principal classes : the swing-plough, the wheel-plough, and the turn-wrest plough : the first seems to be the oldest plough in England, at least in its original construction : it is for the most part a heavy ill In its original form, it is not however now often met with ; but in its improved construction, it is general in the northern, north-western, and some of the midland coun ties : in Suffolk, a peculiar kind of swing-plough is used. Ploughs with one or two wheels are common in the southern, and south-western counties of England, as well as in some of the midland counties: a peculiar plough of this construction is almost exclusively seen in Norfolk. Turn-wrest ploughs are general over Kent, and on the chalk hills of Sussex and Hertfordshire : they are not common in other parts of the kingdom. Besides these three kinds, double moulded ploughs are used ; but their use is by no means general, nor is it likely to continue. On the whole, it may be remarked, that the ploughs, as well as most of the other agricultural im plements in England, are by no means constructed on those scientific principles, and with that skill which enables them to do their work well with the least ex pence of labour and time.