Buch 
A general history of inland navigation, foreign and domestic : containing a complete account of the canals already executed in England, with considerations on those projected, to which are added, practical observations / by J. Phillips
Entstehung
Seite
177
JPEG-Download
 

INLAND NAVIGATION.

1 77

that land carriage which these canals are sure to reduce; and what anumber of acres of land will be brought into cultivation for wheat andbarley, which is now wasted for horses. It appears, that every horseemployed on the road is allowed three pecks of corn per day; andseven quarters of oats on an average is the produce of an acre of land;whence it follows, that the four hundred and eighty-two acres of landlost by the canal on Mr. Brindley’s plan would keep only ninety-fixhorses a year, and consequently all the horses used in broad-wheelwaggons, and in land carriage, on or in the environs of these canals, aboveninety-fix, are saved to the public; and the land neceifary to providethem with provender may be employed to grow wheat for the poor forbread, or barley to make malt for beer; which will increase the revenue,and will keep at home vast sums of money that have been sent out ofthe kingdom for many years past, for the importation of oats fromabroad.

It is on all hands allowed, that it is of the utmost advantage and be-nefit to the nation, as well as to the land-owners, farmers, and manu-facturers, even to the lowest and meanest labourer and mechanic, thatthese inland navigations should be multiplied and carried to the utmostextent possible. That they have already succeeded beyond expectation isundoubted, and to this success may be attributed all the cuts that havesince been made to the different manufacturing towns, and even tovillages; the number of which is by no means inconsiderable, as maybe observed by consulting the map annexed to this work, drawn andcarefully traced by the author.

I shall now proceed, after giving the description of the plans androutes of the two canals, as I first proposed, to give the observations thathave been made for and against the canal falling into the river Weaverat Winsford, rather than into the duke of Bridgewater’s canal at Pres-ton Brook, and so proceeding to Runcorn ; and falling at the other endinto the river Trent at Wilden Ferry, rather than at Burton; and into

A a the