On the strong rich soils onions are frequently grown, from the extent of a rood to that of one or two acres. When persons hire land for this purpose, they give, for taking one crop, from eight to twelve pounds per acre, according to the condition and fertility of the land. The owner of the soil prepares it for the seed: and in order to do this most effectually, and consequently to obtain the highest price, this preparation must commence the autumn before. One thousand pecks of onions per acre would be a very good crop,-five hundred pecks would be reckoned a bad one,-from seven to eight hundred an average. The expence is as follows.

This calculation allows nothing for tithe, for if the land was liable to tithe

in

Several reasons,-"trusting to others" says his Lordship, in his obliging communication to the author of this work, "and the large manufactories setting their faces against spinning it; my own professional pursuits, and the death of my head man, caused me to relinquish. After the second year from the commencement of my undertaking, I removed my operations nearer London, for the sake of the market. Here I was disappointed of water to work my rollers, and was obliged to erect a steam engine, which, from the price of coal and labour, I found was in the wrong place. For this and many other reasons I sold off what I could, and gave the public the advantage, if any, of what I had accomplished. I am convinced of this, as I lost nothing by it, much advantage is to be derived; but a capital is required to start the concern." Devonport, Sept. 22, 1836. In consequence the noble Lord discontinued his operations: and this improved method of preparing flax for the weaver, it is much to be regretted, has never been brought into general use. One of these mills was erected at Althorpe, in the Isle of Axholme.

in kind, less rent would be given. The parish taxes are paid by the owner. When a man grows onions on his own land, or on land which he rents from year to year at forty shillings per acre, of course the profits are greater, but we must bear in mind that the land which is sufficiently rich and good for this purpose is only found to the extent of a few acres here and there.

Sometimes by what is usually termed a lucky hit, such as a man having a very good crop of onions when the crop in general is a failure, and the price rising to half a crown per peck, a person may make even more of a single crop than the fee simple of the land is worth*.

Land is frequently taken in the same manner for the growth of turnips, intended to stand until they ripen their seeds. This crop was introduced into the Isle of Axholme by Mr. Joseph Barnard, late of Kelfield, in the parish of Owston. The most approved method is to transplant the turnip in November: and in order to furnish plants sufficient for an acre of ground, another acre ought to have been sown with seed about the beginning of August. The expence of the plants, if they have to be purchased, depends entirely on the season. When transplanted there should be one plant to every square foot of ground. The seed ripens about midsummer. A good average crop would be twenty strikes, which is worth from sixteen to eighteen shillings per strike. This crop is much more certain than the onions, and is very useful to a small farmer, as the seed is generally turned into money as soon as it is ready for sale, which furnishes him with a little cash wherewith to get in his harvest. The seed comes off as soon as it is ripe, the land therefore

* A small farmer who has grown this and other such crops to a considerable extent, and has now retired from business, to live on the fruits of his industry, favoured the author of this work with the following observations about onion growers. "Supposing," said he "that ten persons took each an acre of land at the rate of ten pounds per acre, in order to have a crop of onions, you will find that three of them have been gainers, one perhaps having gained twenty pounds, another ten pounds, and another five pounds, but the other seven have been losers from ten to seven pounds each; and that, if the amount of the gains of the three were thirty-five pounds, the amount of the loss of the seven would be fifty pounds. The success may in some measure be owing to good management in weeding; but before we condemn the losers, as suffering altogether from their own fault, we must make allowance for unavoidable accidents, such as the grub, bad seed, and dry weather immediately after sowing. The onion growers generally attribute their success to what they term luck; but I have always observed that these very lucky people are very industrious people."

therefore may be summer-fallowed, and a better crop of wheat obtained on the following year than if no turnips had been planted.

average one.

Carrots are grown in the same way. The land is prepared by deep ploughing, and the seed drilled in. Carrots require to be well weeded, and sixteen tons per acre is a very good crop; about twelve tons per acre is perhaps an The value of this crop is extremely uncertain, as it varies in price from five and twenty shillings per ton to three guineas, accordingly as turnips and other fodder are plentiful or scarce. A genial spring might ensure a good crop of carrots, when dry weather in July and August might almost destroy the turnips, and then the carrot grower must look for his harvest. The value of them depends also, in some measure, on the situation in which they are grown; for, as they are a very heavy and bulky produce, if they have to be delivered at any distance the expence is considerable. The following may be considered as a tolerably correct statement of the value and expence of an acre of carrots when a good crop has been obtained.

These descriptions of agricultural produce, carrots and onions, as well as potatoes, are generally delivered at the Trent side, put on board vessels, and taken to the great markets in the west of Yorkshire. Large quantities of potatoes are also shipped for the London market; and those grown upon the warp land are generally disposed of for seed to the market gardeners and

others.

The

The lands in the Isle of Axholme are divided among a greater number of owners than in any other part of the kingdom. There are many small freeholders, holding from twenty acres of land to one single rood; and the number entitled to vote at the election of Members for the County, before the Reform Bill was passed, was upwards of one thousand, out of a population of about twelve thousand.

The inhabitants are collected in villages and hamlets; and most of the houses are inhabited by the owners, who are also the proprietors of these little farms which lie scattered about in the open fields, or consist of single inclosures in different parts of the parish. Notwithstanding the great numbers of freeholders there is a considerable portion of copyhold land in Haxey, Owston, Epworth, Belton, and Althorpe, held by fine certain of the Lord of the Manor of Epworth and Westwood, and Haxey-Hall Garth. Most of the land in the parish of Crowle is also copyhold, held of the Lord of the Manor of Crowle; and the fine on surrender is at the will of the Lord.

Some of the small freeholders live decently and respectably; but the greater part are very poor, and far worse than the generality of day labourers, certainly much worse than those who are constantly employed by agriculturists of the first and second class. The reason of this is, so much money has been borrowed at various times, to pay off legacies and other incumbrances, that now, agricultural produce being greatly reduced in value, the interest is a very high rent. But though they may fare hard and work hard, all is made amends by possessing a bit of land: and when, in consequence of the open fields being subdivided amongst such a number of owners, there is an opportunity of making a small purchase, a spirit of emulation arises even amongst the day labourers, who have laid by sufficient to pay in part for one or two roods of land, while the remainder of the purchase money is borrowed; what with the expence of the mortgage, and the sum given, it is often a very dear purchase. Still, however, such little plots of ground, being very prolific, and being cultivated at extra hours, or when the owner has little else to do, will, if he continues to work for hire, and does not depend entirely on his bit of land for support, produce him excellent crops of potatoes, wheat, and other things, and add very much to his comfort.

The best lands in the Isle of Axholme, when purchased in small quantities, sell from eighty to one hundred pounds per acre; and if conveniently situated near the villages, a much higher price has been given. The Trent side land, some of the best upland pasture, and land in the open fields, lets now readily for a rent of from 30s. to £3. per acre.

In the open fields there is a right by custom of inclosure which is very singular. Every proprietor who pleases may inclose his own lands, notwithstanding the rights of common upon it while open: and accordingly many have done so, whenever by purchase or exchange they have got five or six acres together.

AFTER the litigation and rioting between the Participants and the Isle Commoners had ceased, at the close of the seventeenth century, a state of things which is without any parallel in these or any other times, the country remained stationary for nearly a hundred years. The first step towards improvement was the passing of an act for the Inclosure of the township of Amcoats in in the year 1779; and in 1795 an act was obtained for the Inclosure of the Commons in the four Parishes of Owston, Haxey, Epworth, and Belton, and certain lands belonging to the Manor of Crowle within the said parishes, containing no less than 12,000 acres of land. By this bill it was proposed that one-twentieth part of the commons should be allotted to the Lords of the several Manors of Epworth and Westwood, Haxey-Hall Garth, and Crowle, for and in lieu of their respective claims of right to the soil thereof.

After

* A gang of gypsies, generally called Boswell's, from one Charles Boswell, of Rossington, a native of that place, who lived with them as a sort of Bamfylde Moore Carew, and whom Prymne calls a “mad spark, mighty fine and brisk," have frequented the lanes and commons of the Isle of Axholme, and other parts of Manley, from time immemorial. A few years ago, one of their number, an old woman, died at the advanced age of a hundred years and upwards. She said that the villages had undergone very little alteration during the time she could remember until the late inclosures. Charles Boswell was buried at Rossington in the year 1708 or 1709. He is still remembered in the traditions of the villagers, as having established a species of sovereignty over that singular people, and to have effectually restrained them from pilfering, &c. No member of this wandering race, for many years, passed near Rossington without going to pay their respect to Boswell's grave.