to tillage, and produce all sorts of grain. Some of the wolds, however, are not yet divided, but are devoted to sheep and rabbits. The lower lands, that have been drained and enclosed, produce abundant crops of oats, hemp, flax, &c.

Lincolnshire has long been famous for a fine breed of horses; but the adjoining county of York has now the credit for rearing many that are really bred in this county. In some districts there are numerous mares kept for the sole purpose of breeding. In Holland division, almost every farmer keeps some; and the number of colts reared is very great. These are chiefly of the black cart kind; and are generally sold off from the mares when quite young, and sent into the adjacent counties to be reared, At Long Sutton, and in the vicinity, according to Stone, there is a breed of horses for the saddle, remarkable for bone and activity; with the accustomed riding weight, they will trot sixteen miles an hour, and are allowed, by competent judges, to be the best saddle horses in the kingdom. "About Normanby and Burton many are bred both for saddle and coach; sell at two or three and four years old; get from eighty guineas, at four years old for a hunter, down to 7 or 81.; a good coach horse, at four years old, 30 to 401.*"

Many occupiers of grass lands purchase three years old colts at the Yorkshire fairs, keep them a year, and, after trimming, nicking, &c. sell them to the London dealers at the customary prices of, from 35 to 401. each.

Mr. Stone describes the neat cattle of this county as being, for the greatest part, of a large sort, having great heads and short horns; are stout in the bone, and deep in the belly; with short necks and fleshy quarters, narrow hips and chines, high in their rumps and bare on the shoulders. The cows, he remarks, when fat, weigh from eight to nine hundred, and the oxen from ten to twelve hundred each. But though this be the general breed, yet many experimental farmers, by purchase, crossing,

&c.

Young's Agri. Surv.

&c. are possessed of cattle of finer symmetry, and superior qualities.

Lincolnshire is not only a breeding, but a grazing county; and many farmers occupy themselves entirely in buying up full grown beasts, letting them run on rich pastures for a certain period, and then finish their feeding by oil-cake; when they are driven to Smithfield market. The dairy here is not regarded, further than for the use of the family; the rearing of calves, where cows are kept, is the principal object of care. These are kept till three or four years old, and then usually sold to the feeders when in a lean state. Few farms are found in the county where farmers keep cows professedly for the profit arising from butter and cheese. "It is evident, upon the whole, that the Lincoln breed of cattle, upon Lincoln pastures, are profitable; and it appears evident, from the general colour of the comparisons made with the long-horned Leicester, their own shorthorned are superior *."

Perhaps the most profitable stock of the county is sheep. Numbers are bred and fattened in this part of the kingdom. Large quantities of wool are thence obtained, to supply the demands of the manufacturing districts. It is a curious fact, that while so much has been said in commendation of the Leicestershire breed, as though it was a singular species, the Lincolnshire, which is the same, should have been passed over in silence. Mr. Stone says, these sheep are not even varieties. "It is well known, that the late Mr. Bakewell, who was the original breeder of the pretended variety of sheep, called the new Leicester, laid his foundation upon the old Lincoln breed, selecting sheep that possessed the most perfect symmetry for his purpose, and afterwards crossing them with others, or breeding into the whole blood+."

The sheep of Lincolnshire is a large, horned animal, adapted

Young's Agri. Surv.

+ Review of the Agriculture.

for

for the rich grazing, and marsh land of the county; and generally weighs well when fat, and bears a heavy fleece of coarse, but long stapled wool; the weight per fleece is 8lb. and upwards. Mr. Young mentions a sheep sold at Smithfield, which clipped, the first year, 23lb. of wool, in the second year 221⁄2lb.!

Few manufactures are established in the county; but twó objects of considerable merchandize must be specified: dealing in rabbit's fur, and goose feathers. These were formerly of great consequence, and furnished articles of extensive trade, between the sellers, buyers, and merchants. From the system of enclosing, now so extensively adopted, both rabbits and geese are much abridged in this county.

The rabbit warrens of this county were formerly much more extensive than at present, and were preserved on a principle of improvement; some being broken up for tillage, and others, which had been under tilth, being again laid down for this purpose. The soil of old warrens, by the urine and dung of rabbits, and their continually stirring and ventilating the earth in bur rowing, has been found incomparably better than lands of a like nature left in their original state. Rabbits are highly prolific; and when in season, and of a proper age, their flesh is esteemed both wholesome and delicate. This, though in a degree an object of profit, does not render them so valuable as their skins; these it was that recommended them to the notice of manorial proprietors; and though now, from various causes, much reduced in price, they still continue to be of no inconsiderable value. The occupier finds, that the investment of a small capital, yields an interest that nothing else will, and a larger profit, with less labour, than any other kind of tenure.

Their fecundity was a circumstance of no small consequence, when the skins of large, well chosen rabbits would produce 2s. 6d. or 3s. each. At that time they were used in making muffs, tippets, lining robes, &c. the down was also employed in the hat manufactories.

As rabbit skins constitute the principal profit of the proprietor,

it becomes a primary object with him to attend to the time of breeding, killing, &c. Skins that are free from black spots on the inside, are said to be in season, and the fur is then more valuable than at any other time. Those rabbits that are bred at the beginning of May, are esteemed the best. In June and November the skin is also generally white. The silver grey rabbits are of the best sort, excepting those of a clear white colour. Skins from the latter have sold from ninepence to sixteenpence each. The carcases have not netted of late, to the keepers of these warrens, more than fourpence each, owing to the obligation they are under of sending them far to a market, and to kill from eight to ten parts of the annual produce from the beginning of November to the end of December. This trade is not only on the decline, from the diminution in the value of the skins, but also from the means of conducting it becoming daily more circumscribed. Since many methods have been discovered to ameliorate such lands, and render them more productive, it has been thought a point of good husbandry to destroy the warrens, and convert the land to other uses; and the sooner the whole of such nuisances were removed the better. The voracity of rabbits is equal to their fecundity; and as they eat all kinds of herbs, roots, grain, fruit, bark, and branches of young trees, they are very destructive to plantations, corn, and other crops, especially quickset hedges. Though the number of warrens in Lincolnshire has been greatly reduced within a few years past, yet many thousand acres are still devoted to this kind of stock. Mr. Young counted ten between Louth and Castor, a distance of eighteen miles*.

Many of what are called the Fens, are in a state of waste, and serve for little other purpose than the breeding and rearing of Geese, which are considered the Fenman's treasure. Indeed they are a highly valuable stock, and live where, in the present

state

For a more particular account of such lands, and their comparative profits, see Young's Agricultural Survey.

State of those lands, nothing else will. They breed numerous young, which quickly become saleable; or if thought more desirable, speedily contribute to increase the stock. Their feathers are highly valuable; and however trifling it may appear in detail,' the sale of quills alone amount, on a large flock, to a very considerable sum. Of feathers the use is well known; and of all kinds, for the stuffing of beds, those of geese are considered the best. Whether from increasing luxury, the diminution in the quan→ tity produced, or both these causes co-operating, the present de mand in England is obliged to be supplied by importations from abroad; and the article is greatly advanced, and advancing, in price. From the cheap mode which persons in this county possess of keeping these aquatic fowls, Lincolnshire still furnishes the markets with large quantities of goose-feathers and goosequills.

"During the breeding season, these birds are lodged in the same houses with the inhabitants, and even in their very bed-chambers; in every apartment are three rows of coarse wicker pens, placed one above another; each bird has its separate lodge, divided from the other, which it keeps possession of during the time of sitting. A gozzard, or gooseherd, attends the flock, and twice a day drives the whole to water, then brings them back to their habitation, helping those that live in the upper stories to their nests, without ever misplacing a single bird*."

The geese are usually plucked five times a year, though some persons pluck them only three times, and others four. The first plucking is at Lady-day, for quills and feathers, and again at Midsummer, Lammas, Michaelmas, and Martinmas. Goslings are not spared; for it is thought, that early plucking tends to increase their succeeding feathers. "The feathers of a dead goose are worth sixpence, three giving a pound; but plucking alive does not yield more than threepence a head, per annum. Some wing them only every quarter, taking ten feathers from each goo., VOL. IX.

Nn

which

* Gough's additions to Camden, Vol. II. p. 235. Edition of 1789.