some of the impurities are floated on the surface, but most of them sink to the bottom; the fine part is then carefully drawn off into another vessel, and the lees afterwards filtrated in the manner of jelly, through linen bags, by which the liquor remaining in them is brought to an equal degree of fineness, and is added to the other. All further fermentation is to be avoided; and, on any appearance of it, small quantities are drawn off into open tubs, and returned to the main body in a state of flatness. The first fermentation, if the weather be cool or frosty, will generally be completed within a few days; and if the first opportunity of drawing it from the lees be neglected, a change of weather, or other circumstances, may render it again impure in a very short time: the brightness of the liquor is therefore the best criterion to decide the proper period of racking. The casks should want four or five gallons to complete their fulness, and having remained in the open air until the end of March, they should then be completely filled, and the bungs be fixed, which, until now, have only been placed loosely in their situations.

Ciders, thus manufactured from good fruits, will retain a considerable proportion of their sweetness to the end of three or four years, when it is gradually lost. At two years old it is in the best state to put into bottles, after which it will soon be come brisk and sparkling; and if it possess much richness, it will remain, with little perceptible change, during twenty or thirty years, or as long as the cork duly performs its office.

It will readily be supposed that all these precautious are not attended

to in making cider for the common use of the farm-house. The flavour of the liquor is then a secondary consideration, and the great object is to obtain a large quantity at a small expence. In this case, the ap

ples are usually ground as soon as they become moderately ripe, and the juice is either racked off at once, as soon as it becomes tolerably clear, or more frequently conveyed at once from the press to the cellar: a violent fermentation then commences, and continues until nearly the whole of the saccharine part is decomposed. The casks are filled up and stopped early in the succeeding spring, (sometimes sooner) and no further attention is given. The liquor thus managed is generally harsh and rough, and such as is usually supposed to be preferred by many of the farmers and peasants.

A still inferior kind of liquor is made by re-grinding the reduced pulp from which the cider has been pressed, in a small quantity of water. The residue of three hogsheads of cider thus yields about one hogshead of the inferior kind, which may be kept until the next autumn, but usually supplies the place of cider, for the common purposes of the farm-house, until harvest, when the superior kind is required and allowed.

The culture of the pear-tree, and the management of perry, differ so little from those of the apple and its produce, that the same rules are applicable to both. The pear-tree is, however, most successfully propagated on stacks of its own species, and lives much longer than the ap. ple. Like the latter, it grows with the greatest luxuriance in strong and deep soils; and in these the finest liquor is produced from it: but it

for the workmen to wheel their barrows upon, &c. made the whole cost of the embankment amount to very nearly 1100 l.

This wall, or bank, is entirely formed of earth, a considerable part of which I obtained by cutting a ditch, or delft, as it is usually termed, about nine feet wide, and about fifteen feet from the foot or base on the land side of the wall. This delft serves as a reservoir to take off the rain water from the newly enclosed land, which is conveyed through the wall, or bank, into the sca, by a sluice or gutter, which is open when the tide is out; and through which gutter also the salt water can be let in, when necessary, to fill the delft or the ditches cut between the different fields, or enclosures, to keep cattle apart, &c. By the end of the month of October, 1801, this undertaking was completed, and the wall, or bank, remains firm and good, and will receive considerable strength and stability by sowing the seeds of the couch grass thereon, and feeding the same closely with sheep. Before the land was thus enclosed, no use could be made of it, except that of grazing it occasionally with a few sheep, when the tide was gone off. It now begins to grow quite solid, and will already bear the weight of a large bullock. It naturally begins to produce a sort of fine grass, which sheep, in particular, are very fond of, and which is of a very wholesome quality, but not as yet very nutritious, or fattening, that property, however, it will acquire more and more every year; and it will, I doubt not, in the course of less than twenty years, be as good grazing land as any on VOL. XLVI.

this level, and may by that time be converted into tillage, if required.

In addition to the preceding statements respecting the land gained from the sea, by Mr. J. Knapping, in the island of Foulness, the following observations, by Mr. J. Wise, of Rochford, may probably be of some use for the perusal of those concerned in embankments of that nature.

In one of my first descriptions of the island in question, you will recollect that I said the greatest part thereof belongs to the earl of Winchelsea; and, among the number of farms in that place, that which Mr. J. K. now occupies, called Eastwick farm, is one of those on the property of his lordship. At the expiration of the last lease of the said farm, the old tenant refused it upon the terms offered to him; and among those who applied to rent it, was the present tenant, who voluntarily proposed to enclose, embank, and secure the sattings adjoining thereto, as they are termed, at his own cost and charge, provided that his lordship would agree to grant him a lease upon certain terms and condi tions then specified. With these proposals his lordship was wellpleased, and not only granted him a lease for twenty-one years, at a certain rent, but likewise made the like propositions to another tenant who held a farm adjoining; and to these propositions the other tenant also acceded. Had the tenants not agreed to enclose the saltings, it is probable that his lordship would have undertaken it at his own expence. But it must appear to be much more eligible, to every think ing man, for the tenant than for the landlord, in such cases, to do it; be3 I

cause

cause the tenants are more like - ly to understand the nature and the mode, as well as the expence of embauking, than their landlords; and all that the landlord has to do, when such a thing is taken in hand by his tenant, is to see that it is done substantially. Under these circumstances Mr. J. K. undertook the matter in question; and he has completed it in a very superior man. per.

His next object then was to discover and pursue some plan by which both himself and the community might be most benefited by this newenclosed land. It had been found by others, in similar cases, that to break up and convert such land into tillage too soon, would not answer; for the quantity of salts with which it is impregnated is so very great, that, when exposed to the sun, &c. they completely chrystalize the soil; and although the green corn, during the winter and spring months, may have a luxuriant and healthy appearance when sown thereon, yet, as soon as the earth begins to get dry, it is scorched and burnt up, so that scarcely any of it arrives at perfection. The plan therefore to which Mr. J. K. resorted, was that of stocking it hard with sheep, and small Welch or Scotch cattle, which will eat a sort of weed provincially termed lumb's tongue (somewhat resembling the sweet gule in appearance, but not in smell), and which sheep in particular are fond of. By feeding it closely with sheep (and of these the Welch, Norfolk, or South down sorts are to be preferred), the land becomes every year more solid, the briny particles subside, and a sort of very fine small grass naturally begins to grow within the course of eight or ten years after it

has been embanked; and, in less than fifteen years, it may be converted into tillage, and will produce wonderful crops, sometimes of mustard-seed, &c. But as these pernicious crops, are what no tenant ought to be suffered to grow, so will it be the utmost wish of the present tenant to avoid growing them; før they usually so taint the soil, that they can never afterwards be eradicated or destroyed. The best way is to pursue the grazing system above alluded to, for at leat the first fourteen years; and then, having previously laid out and divided the land into separate enclosures, it may be converted into tillage for corn, and that to advantage. An excellent mode of managing such land, if it is meant to be tilled, is to lay about eight waggon-loads of chalk upon every acre, when it has been embanked about fifteen years, and not to plough it till five or six years afterwards. It will then grow any sort of grain, and especially oats, beans, and wheat, in great abun. dance, and of the most excellent qualities. Such is the process of ma nagement which the present tenant means to pursue; and there is scarcely a doubt but it will answer his warmest expectations, should his noble landlord allow him sufficient encouragement to pursue it.

I beg leave to make another remark before I conclude this essay; and it is this. If a quantity of the seeds of the couch-grass be sown, or, what is still preferable, if the roots of that grass be planted upon the bank or mud wall when it is first formed, that, with the treading of the sheep, &c. will tend much to strengthen its texture, and to preserve it from being injured by the tide.