The art of husbandry, three centuries ago, appears to have been little practised in this county; the grounds, says _Carew_, “lay all in common, or only divided by stiche meale, and their bread corn very little; their labour horses were only shod before, and the people devoting themselves entirely to tin, their neighbours in Devonshire and Somersetshire hired their pastures at a rent, and stored them with the cattle they brought from their own homes, and made their profit of the Cornish by cattle fed at their own doors. The same persons also supplied them at their markets, with many hundred quarters of corn and horse loads of bread.” But he also observes, “that the people increasing, and the mines sometimes failing, the Cornish felt the necessity of applying themselves to husbandry, and their improvements answered their expectations; for in the latter end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, they found themselves not only in a capacity to support themselves, but also to export a great quantity of corn to Spain and other foreign parts.” Within the last 50 years, a considerable quantity of the waste lands has been enclosed and cultivated; but after the growth of two or three crops of corn, much of these lands have again been neglected on account of the great expense of manuring them. A very considerable quantity of waste land has, within these few years, been enclosed by Charles Rashleigh, Esq., of Deeporth, near St. Blazey, and which is likely to prove a considerable benefit; E. I. Glynn, Esq., of Glynn, near Bodmin, has also had a large quantity of waste land enclosed, for permanent cultivation. In making enclosures, the fences generally consist of a _stone hedge_, or layers of turf, planted with thorns, nut hazles, and furze. In many parts of the county on the coast, where there is an opportunity of procuring _sea sand_ for manuring the land, great quantities of corn have been grown, particularly in the western and eastern districts. It is usual after a crop of wheat, to sow the ground with barley, after which, turnips or potatoes; but the general course of crops in Cornwall, is considered extremely reprehensible by the author of the Agricultural Survey of the county, owing to the wretched, exhausted, and foul appearance of the grounds laid down with grass seeds. This may, however, be partly accounted for, by Cornwall not being a _dairy county_, and milch cows being generally kept for rearing the young stock.