Hunt, Henry, 1773-1835; Social reformers -- Great Britain -- Biography
means congenial; added to this, my flock became infected with the foot
rot, having been contaminated by the few half Southdown half Merinos
which I had purchased of Mr. Dean, of Chard, of which unfortunate deal
I have before spoken. In calculating the loss which I sustained by
purchasing these sheep, which were unsound, and infected with that
incurable disorder (at least incurable upon a wet soil), I then placed
it as before, much below the mark; for I sincerely believe I
was ultimately two hundred pounds out of pocket by the bargain,
notwithstanding the infamous falsehoods of the infamous editor of the
_Taunton Courier_.
Another speculation, in which I was very unfortunate, was the making of
charcoal. I had a very fine lot of wood, which I could not dispose of,
and I was therefore advised to make it into charcoal, as other farmers
in that neighbourhood were accustomed to do. In fact, there did not
appear any other rational method of disposing of my wood, which I had
been obliged to take at a valuation when I took the estate. Well, I
hired a man to make this charcoal; so far the business succeeded, for
as it was very fine wood, so it produced a large quantity of very nice
charcoal, as good as ever was seen. But then the next thing was to
procure sacks to put it in, that it might be sent to the London market
for sale. It required _two-hundred and forty sacks_, of about two
bushels each, to make a load; these were ordered from a manufacturer
at East Grinstead. The charcoal was loaded and sent off to London,
altogether as good a set-out as ever passed over Blackfriars Bridge. A
customer was soon found, but I never touched the cash, nor ever saw
my 240 sacks again, so that the whole was a dead loss of about fifty
pounds. Thus ended my speculations in charcoal, as I was determined that
I would never cut any more wood as long as I kept the estate, but that I
would let it grow for the next person who should follow me, to try, if
he pleased, his hand at dealing in charcoal; it appeared to me to be
wise to put up with the first loss, and quit the concern.
I had, in the whole, expended six thousand pounds in the purchase of
what I took to when I entered upon this farm, and in the improvement
which I had made in cultivation, stock, &c. I sold my lease for two
thousand pounds, and the valuations were to the amount of six thousand
more; the whole sum being eight thousand pounds, which was paid me on
the nail, by Richard Crawshaw, Esq. the present proprietor; and I took
my leave of Rowfant, bearing away with me two thousand pounds more than
I carried thither. This was such an occurrence as had never been known,
in the memory of man, to have happened to any stranger that had come to
reside in the parish of Worth--that of leaving the parish richer than he
entered it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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