A six months tour through the north of England

London: W. Strahan, etc., 1770. FIRST EDITION. With 27 engraved plates (14 folding) and six folding printed tables. Contemporary marbled boards, rebacked at a later date with later endpapers. Perforated stamp of Hill Library Saint Paul on each title page and small stamp on verso; generally a very good copy. First edition. Young here shows his pragmatic nature and gifts of critical observation while providing realistic statistical information. One of his many outings to survey the agricultural lands of his native England, he travels over 2500 miles to the northern boundary of the country collecting statistical data from farms of all sizes. Young includes statistics regarding crop rotations, the implements used, cost of labor and provisions, size of farms, number of men and oxen and horses employed. He does not, however, provide detailed analysis, allowing farmers to use the information for their own individual situations. “The best way of learning about farming was to go out into the countryside and see how it was done by the men who were doing it. A record of the different methods used in various parts of the country and of their practical results in yields, in cash, and in profit, could not but be helpful to any working farmer who would take the trouble to read about them and compare them with his own.”

Young (1741-1820), considered the greatest of all English agricultural writers, paints a vivid picture of how the land fared in the years 1787-1809. “Young’s sketches were written in racy language that farmers could understand, and in a style that was full of happy phrases and wealth of detail.” He believed that “sufficient land should be attached to every man to enable him to keep a cow and a garden.”.