By putting three of these letters together, and adding their separate values, the value per acre per annum, may be set down as high as sixty shillings; and, by adding more letters, it may be carried to any height required. By the use of these letters the confusion, arising from a multiplicity of figures, is avoided.

The land being valued, you must then proceed to find the quantity contained under each number on the plan; and also its value.

In doing this, it is unnecessary to bring the decimals into roods and perches, or to retain more of them than the three next the acres ; as the operation is thus considerably simplified.

If the fourth figure in the decimals be 5, or greater, add 1 to the third that is, if the content be 3.54585, set down 3.546.

When the content does not amount to an acre, and the number of figures is under five, add as many ciphers to the left, as will complete that number: that is, if the content be .8626, set down .086. Then, multiply the acres and decimals, contained in each number, by the valuation per acre, put upon the respective numbers, and the product will be the value in shillings and decimals. (See the Note on the 54th page.)

MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS ON VALUING LAND.

1. Proprietors ought to be very judicious in appointing commissioners, to value for an inclosure. They should not only be well acquainted with the quality of the soil; but should also be able to judge how far every part of the Common is capable of being improved, after it has been inclosed, or they will not be able to put a just valuation upon it.

2. In valuing, not only the quality of the land, but also its situation, must be attended to; for, if one part of the land to be divided, lies in a valley, (not subject to be flooded,) near a proprietor's messuage, and another part upon a hill, at the distance of two or three miles; it is evident, allowing the land to be all of the same quality, that the former situation is much more desirable than the latter; because it is nearer the housestead, and consequently better situated for receiving agricultural improvements.

3. The manner in which the climate and seasons may operate upon the produce of the ground, in consequence of its local situation, should always be taken into consideration. If one field lies towards the south, and another towards the north, and both be of the same quality; the field that faces the south is more valuable than the other, as the crops on the former will not only be brought to a

greater degree of perfection by the benign influence of the sun, but will also be ready for the sithe or sickle much sooner; and consequently may be brought to an earlier, and frequently to a better market.

4. In valuing a Common for an inclosure, the improvements that may be made by fencing, draining, and cultivation, should never be overlooked. If one person should have an allotment awarded to him in the best part of the Common, but where no improvement can be made; and another person's allotment, of equal value, be laid out in the worst part of the Common, but where much improvement may easily be made by cultivation, it is manifest that the latter allotment will, in a few years, be more valuable than the former. Besides, as quantity is always given to compensate for any deficiency in quality, the proprietor who has his common-right laid out in the worst part of the ground, will not only receive more land than the other; but will soon be able, by a trifling expense in cultivation, to make it worth more per acre.

5. In valuing either old inclosed lands or commons, the distance of the ground from good springs of water should be regarded. In many parts of England, and particularly upon the Wolds in Yorkshire, the occupiers of land frequently suffer great inconvenience in driving their cattle a considerable distance to watering-places; and the cattle themselves are sometimes much injured, in droughty summers, for want of a regular supply of wholesome water. Hence a farm that is well watered is worth more to rent, than another farm of equal quantity and quality, but destitute of water.

6. The distance of farms, common-rights, &c. from market-towns is also of considerable importance; because land always increases in value as it approaches the vicinity of large towns. Besides, as tillage abounds in such places, the means of improvement may be obtained at a much less expense, for ground situated in the environs of towns, than for that which lies at the distance of several miles. It may also be remarked, that the occupiers of the former can always find a ready market for the produce of their land, while the occupiers of the latter are under the necessity of being at a considerable expense in transporting their goods to market; and in procuring the various articles that are indispensably necessary for the use of their families.

NOTE.

- Here it may not be improper to explain to the Young Surveyor, a few of those terms by which commons and uninclosed lands are usually denominated.

Appellations given to Commons.

1. MOORS are large, uncultivated tracts of ground, generally overgrown with furze, broom, heath, and other small shrubs, as Rumbles

moor in Yorkshire, and Blackstone-edge, partly in Yorkshire, and partly in Lancashire.

2. A FELL is a large, open portion of land, generally less overrun with shrubs than a moor, as Gateshead Fell in the county of Durham.

3. A HEATH is any open ground, abounding with the plant called heath, or any other shrubs, as Hounslow Heath in Middlesex.

4. WOLDS are high, open grounds, as the Wolds in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

5. Downs are fine, open, pasture grounds, as the Downs in Kent, Sussex, and Surrey.

6. FENS are low, wet, tracts of ground, as the Fens in Lincolnshire.

7. MARSHES are low, swampy grounds; and when adjoining the sea, or the sides of rivers, they are mostly excellent pastures; as the Marshes in the counties of Durham and York, contiguous to the river Tees those in the counties of York and Lincoln, contiguous to the river Humber; and the rich marsh of Romney, in the county of Kent, adjoining the straits of Dover.

8. MOSSES are black, turfy, boggy moors, as Ashton Moss, and many others in Lancashire.

9. FORESTS are wild, uncultivated tracts of ground, generally abounding with trees, as Sherwood Forest, in Nottinghamshire, and the New Forest, and that of East Bere, in Hampshire.

10. INGS are large open meadows, generally situated on low, level grounds. Fields and tracts of land known by the local name of "The Ings," abound in almost every county of England.

11. HOLMES are hilly, fenny, or level grounds, adjoining to, or encompassed by rivulets or brooks. Many rich and fertile pasture grounds, in this country, are known under the local appellation of "The Holmes."

12. OPEN-FIELDS are uninclosed lands, generally divided into furlongs, by mereforms; and occupied by different tenants.

Some furlongs are usually in corn, some in meadow, and others in pasture; and the cattle and sheep which depasture, are tended by shepherds. Large tracts of land upon the Wolds, in Yorkshire, are cultivated in this manner.

13. A FURLONG of land is used, in some old books, to express the eighth part of an acre; hence 20 perches, or 605 square yards, make a furlong.

The term is also used to denote any number of lands adjoining each other, in open fields, and running in the same direction from

one head-land to another; and known by some particular name, in order to distinguish the different parts of the field from each other. 14. MEREFORMS are narrow pieces of swarth, dividing lands, or furlongs, in open fields, from each other.

15. AN OX-GANG or Ax-gate of land is usually taken for 15 acres; being as much land as it is supposed one ox can plough in a year.

In Scotland, 13 acres are denominated an Ox-gang; and in some places, the term is used to denote as much land as will summer

one ox.

This word is corruptly called Osken in Lincolnshire, and some other counties.

16. A HIDE of land, sometimes met with in old books, was such a quantity as might be cultivated, in the compass of a year, with one plough; having meadow and pasture sufficient to feed the cattle belonging thereto. The term was also frequently used to denote as much land as would maintain a family.

Some writers make the hide to contain 60, some 80, some 100, and others 120 acres.

Sir William Dugdale, the antiquarian, says that a Barony, in former ages, was a certain portion of land held immediately of the king, and contained not less than 40 hides, or 3840 acres; a statement that gives 96 acres to a hide.

Directions for setting out new Roads, Sand-Pits, Quarries, Watering-Places, &c. &c.; and for dividing Commons and Waste Lands into Allotments.

1. BEFORE Commons and waste lands are divided and allotted, new roads must be set out upon them, in the most convenient and advantageous manner. They should, whenever it is practicable, be set out in such directions as to form right-angles, or as nearly rightangles as possible, as the places where they meet or intersect each other, or come in contact with ancient highways. They should not be less than thirty feet in breadth; and set out in right-lines; because straight roads not only look better than crooked ones, but also occupy less ground.

2. All old roads leading over commons or waste lands about to be inclosed, may be stopped or diverted, at the discretion of the commissioners; and such old roads must be surveyed and allotted as part of the commons or waste lands.

3. Certain portions of commons should always be set out for sand or gravel-pits, and for quarries; if the commons contain either sand, gravel, or stone. The portions of ground thus set out are con

sidered as public property, from which every person who receives a common-right, may take materials for building houses, making fences, and repairing roads.

4. If there be any good springs of water on commons, they must either be left uninclosed, for public watering-places; or the water must be conveyed to more convenient situations, by means of drains or channels; and troughs or reservoirs made for its reception.

5. In some places the lord of the manor claims one-twelfth, in some one-sixteenth, in others only one-twentieth, of all commons and waste-lands; whatever be his claim, however, it must be set out before any other allotment, after its value has been ascertained from the quantity and value of the whole common. Besides this allotment, the lord of the manor will, of course, be entitled to his proportional share of the remainder of the waste lands, in the same manner as any other proprietor.

6. When it can be done, it is very desirable to ascertain the value of all the tythes, and to set out, for the proprietor of the tythes, an allotment of equivalent value; thus will the whole place become tythe-free; and the occupiers of lands be exempt from what they generally deem an unpleasant tax upon their industry; but which is, nevertheless, as justly due to the proprietor of the tythes, as the rent of a farm is to the landlord.

7. If the clerk's salary arise from the lands, which is the case in some places, a common-right may also be set out in lieu of it; and if another can be obtained as a small endowment for a town's school, the inhabitants will not have cause to repent, if they be judicious in the choice of a master.

8. After the roads, sand-pits, quarries, watering-places, manorial rights, &c. &c. have been set out, the remainder of the common or waste lands must be equitably divided, (quantity, quality, and situation of place being regarded,) among the owners and proprietors of messuages, cottages, lands, tenements, and hereditaments situated in the township or place where the inclosure is to be made and executed.

NOTE 1. - The first step towards inclosing wet, marshy grounds, is to have them well drained; for without this be done, every attempt at improvement will be vain. Mr. Elkington's method of draining land, drawn up by Mr. Johnstone, (price twelve shillings in boards,) and published under the direction of the Board of Agriculture, has eclipsed every other work on this subject.

See my Treatise on Practical Mensuration, Part VI., for a particular account of Mr. Elkington's manner of draining; for the great agricultural improvements lately made in the counties of York and Lincoln, by means of extensive drainages; and for the method of measuring hay-stacks, drains, canals, marl-pits, ponds, mill-dams, embankments, quarries, and coal-heaps.