m told it
bears, in proportion to the land it grows on, an equality to as much land
in France, as all the sowed land in the whole kingdom of England; or take
it thus, that fifty millions of bushels of barley growing in France, would
take up as much ground as all the lands which are at any time sowed in
England with any corn, whether barley, oats, or wheat.

N. B. I do not say all the arable lands of England, because we know there
are a very great number of acres of land which every year lie fallow
(though in tillage) and unsowed, according to the usage of our husbandry;
so they cannot be reckoned to produce any corn at all, otherwise the
quantity might be much greater.

This is a testimony of the fertility of our soil; and on the other hand,
the fertility is a testimony of the diligence and application of our
people, and the success which attends that diligence.

We are told that in some parts of England, especially in the counties of
Essex, Hertford, Cambridge, Bedford, Bucks, Oxford, Northampton, Lincoln,
and Nottingham, it is very frequent to have the lands produce from seven
to ten quarters of barley upon an acre, which is a produce not heard of in
the most fruitful of all those we call corn countries abroad, much less in
France. On the contrary, if they have a great produce of corn, it is
because they have a vast extent of land for it to grow upon, and which
land they either have no other use for, or it may be is fit for no other
use; whereas our corn grounds are far from being the richest or the best
of our lands, the prime of our land being laid up, as the ploughmen call
it, to feed upon, that is, to keep dairies of cows, as in Essex, Suffolk,
and the fens; or for grazing grounds, for fatting the large mutton and
beef, for which England is so particularly famed. These grazing countries
are chiefly in Sussex, and in the marshes of Romney, and other parts in
Kent; also in the rich vales of Aylesbury, and others in Bucks and
Berkshire, the isle of Ely, the bank of Trent, the counties of Lincoln,
Leicester and Stafford, Warwick and Chester, as also in the county of
Somerset, Lancaster, north riding of Yorkshire, and bank of Tees, in the
bishoprick of Durham.

When this product of England is considered, the diligence and success of
our husbandry in England will be found to be beyond that of the most
industrious people in Europe. But I must not dwell here, my view lies
another way; nor do the people of England want