Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/245

 21+ THE HISTORY Book I. emphaticalnefs of their name to have been always the molt re* markable about the town. This manure, was peculiarly adapted to the ftrangely contra r riant nature of the Mancunian foil, which is a compact clay, ? light morafs, a ftrong gravel, or a deep fand. This manure muft have been now firft introduced into the precindts of the town, where it is ftill the one principal manure .of the lands and the one principal caufe of their great fertility. This ma- nure muft have been now firft introduced into the county, where and in the adjoining Chefhire the ufe of it is better ,un- derftood than in any other part of the kingdom, and in both which it has changed the broad extent of our barren heaths and turfy moffes into fome of the beft lands within them* There were two forts of icythes that were ufed at this period in Europe, the one called the Italic or Roman, and the other denominated the Qallic or Celtic. The former of thefe was a fhort one, like our prefent fickle, and, like it, was managed by the right hand alone. The latter was a large one, like our pre- sent lcythe, and, like it, was managed by both hands toge- ther ,8. The Britons of Mancunium preferred the Celtic to the Roman .lcythe, and firft introduced it among us at this period* There, as all over the kingdom, it has continued to the prefent moment. There, as all over the kingdom, our prefent farmers ftill continue to aft upon the model of the Celtic hufbandmen, to cut the herbage at a diftance from the ground, and to leave a confiderable remainder behind I9. Thefe are two diftinguifhing particulars which the Mancunian Britons adopted from their brethren of the fbuth. And from them they feem s*l(b to have derived the knowledge of the fwinging •flail and of the watery whetftone. The only expedients among the Romans for the fepa ration of the grain from the ftraw, in the reign of Auguftus, were either to trample the corn with cattle or to prefs it with the tribulum zo . And the ufe of the flail was firft introduced into Italy about the period of the firft Roman conqueft in the fouth of Britain ". The icolonies of the Belgje and