a county of England, is bounded on the south by the river Thames, on the east by the German Ocean, on the north by the counties of Suffolk and Cambridge, and on the west by Hertfordshire and Middlesex. Its surface contains 1657 square miles, or 1,060,549 acres. The population has not increased in this county at the same rapid rate as that of some other counties of England.

In 1851 the inhabitants numbered 369,318, being an increase of 62 per cent. in fifty years. The number of inhabitants to a square mile was 222; to a house, 5. The total number of houses was 77,470; 73,530 being inhabited, 3569 uninhabited, and 381 building.

Essex may be considered as a mere agricultural county; for though, from the near approach of one part of it to the metropolis of the kingdom, there are some manufactories established, which find both their raw materials and their consumption in London; and though in one district of the county there are remains of the once extensive manufactories which were brought from Flanders to this island; the number of persons occupied in them bears but a very small proportion to that part of the population which depends on agriculture. The former manufactures of Colchester baizes for the Spanish and American markets have wholly disappeared, and those for woollen goods at Bocking, Halsted, and Coggeshall, are nearly extinct; all having removed to the northern parts of the kingdom. Crapes are manufac- tured at Braintree, Bocking, and other places; silk, principally for umbrellas, at Colchester and Coggeshall; and satin velvet at Halstead. 2227 hands were employed in the silk trade in 1847. On the eastern side of the county, in the vicinity of the metropolis, are several large distilleries, and some establishments for bleaching and printing calicoes. There are also manufactories of sal-ammoniac, of Prussian blue, of iron liquor for calico-printers, and some other chemical preparations. There is a considerable trade in corn, and much barley is malted for the great breweries and distilleries. The only other commerce is that of supplying the inhabitants with foreign and domestic articles of luxury.

Although nearly half the county is bounded by the sea, or by navigable rivers, it carries on no foreign commerce; and such vessels as belong to it are employed either in conveying to London the produce of its agriculture, or in the oyster fishery, which occupies a considerable tonnage and many seafaring persons. The oysters are bred both in the river Coln and in the Crouch: in the former they are protected by the seignorial rights of the corporation of Colchester, and in the latter by the proprietor of that river, Sir Henry Mildmay. The spawn is deposited in the months of April and May; and it is said the shell about it begins to form within twenty-four hours. The fishermen are forbidden to dredge for them at this season. In the month of July the dredgers separate the small oysters from the stones on which the spawn was deposited, and on which they have grown, and lay them down in the channels of the river till they grow of a size fit for consumption, which is determined by a gage kept for that purpose by the water-baliff of Colchester. The stones or other substances to which the young oysters had adhered are again thrown into the water whence they were taken, as it is apprehended the accumulation of the ouse at the bottom of the river would otherwise generate such an increase of mussels and cockles as would destroy the breed of oysters. The oyster trade employs about 200 boats and 500 hands. About 15,000 bushels are annually taken. The larger description of vessels are employed during part of the year on the shores of Hampshire and Dorsetshire in dredging for the native oysters, which are afterwards deposited in the beds of Essex and Kent, in order to fatten for the London market. The uncertain produce of the breeding grounds in Essex makes it necessary to have recourse to the more distant coasts to obtain the requisite supply.

From being almost wholly an agricultural county, the far greater part of the inhabitants of Essex are found in villages. The face of the county is generally very beautiful; it is well inclosed, and for the most part displays good verdant pastures; the hills, none of which rise to great heights, are cultivated to the tops; and there is abundance of trees, especially oak and chestnut, which give a rich appearance to the view. There is no county in England in which the proportion of waste land is so small. The forests and wastes can indeed scarcely be considered as utterly uncultivated, and the whole of them do not amount to more than 14,000 acres, including the two forests of Epping and Hainault. These belong to the crown, though the inhabitants of many surrounding parishes have the right of pasturing their cattle upon them. The sovereign has an unlimited right to keep deer on all the inclosed woods; and the occupiers of land in the various parishes included within the ancient boundaries of the forests have a right to feed horses and cows, but not other cattle. The numerous common rights have led to considerable devastation of the timber of these forests, and occasioned no small injury to the property of the crown; but plans have been adopted for preserving the trees, and converting a part into a nursery for growing timber for the royal navy. Their vicinity to the sea makes these forests well deserving of being appropriated to this purpose.

That part of Essex which lies on the banks of the Thames, and on the shores of the ocean, is a rich alluvial soil on a subsoil of very tenacious clay. It produces, with good cultivation, very abundant crops of wheat, beans, oats, and clover. It is found necessary to the cultivation to fallow very frequently, and repeated ploughings are very generally adopted. The swing plough is much used, and sometimes a wheel plough drawn by two, and occasionally by three horses abreast, which are guided with long reins by the ploughman. In fallowing it is common to plough the land six or seven times, and it is not unusual with the best cultivators to plough it eight or even ten times. After the summer fallow, by which the soil becomes completely pulverized, and rendered as fine as a garden, it is sometimes the practice to sow wheat in the autumn; but it is more common to let it remain throughout the winter, and then, after a spring ploughing, to sow barley or oats. The rotation of crops which usually succeed to a fallow is: 1. barley or oats; 2. clover, red or white, mostly the former; 3. wheat; 4. beans, twice hoed at least; 5. wheat. After this course the land is again fallowed. The whole produce of the course of crops is said to depend on the accuracy and skill exercised in the process of fallowing.

There is in this district some land adapted for turnips, and the rotation on such soils is usually, 1. turnips; 2. oats or barley; 3. clover; 4. wheat; 5. beans; 6. wheat. These courses are occasionally varied, tares being introduced when the clover fails, and peas being sometimes substituted for beans. The best cultivators often omit the second crop of wheat, and fallow again after the beans. A rotation which is sanctioned by some very skilful agriculturists is the following:—1. fallow; 2. barley or oats; 3. clover; 4. beans; 5. wheat; 6. tares or peas; 7. wheat. In this case the manure is laid on the clover ley for the bean crop. In the district we are describing all the farms have a portion, more or less extensive, of rich marsh land, on which oxen are fed, and which supplies hay for winter consumption, and is consequently the source whence the manure is derived. The best wheat that is brought to the market of the metropolis is raised in the part of Essex of which we are speaking, and which is usually denominated the hundreds. It has the convenience of water-carrage to London; the rent of the land, which is of extraordinary fertility, is comparatively low; but the want of good water is sometimes severely felt. Much has of late been done to improve the internal condition of the county, but its unhealthiness, from the prevalence of ague, especially in autumn, and the badness of the roads, still continue to prevent many of the gentry from residing on their estates.

The middle part of Essex rises above the level of the marshy lands, but partakes in a considerable degree of their unhealthiness. Around the town of Colchester, for a considerable distance, the soil is a dry loam, well calculated for turnips; and then the most general system adopted is the four-course husbandry of Norfolk, viz., turnip, barley, clover, and wheat. A variation is in some instances introduced by taking a crop of peas after the wheat, and occasionally tares are sown after the barley instead of clover, as that latter plant will sometimes fail if too frequently repeated. The greater part of the district is, however, of a clayey loam, on a subsoil of clay, and too tenacious for the turnip system. Much of this is good old pasture land, used solely for feeding, and to which the plough is never applied. The arable land is highly productive; the crops of wheat and beans especially are very luxuriant, and their produce of the best quality. The practice of fallowing is pursued as in the district before described, but so many ploughings are not deemed necessary. The rotation is various, but it rarely occurs that wheat is sown immediately after the fallow. Most commonly the succession is as follows:—1. fallow; 2. barley; 3. beans; 4. wheat; 5. tares; 6. barley; 7. clover. When the land is more wet, which, in spite of excellent draining, is frequently the case, the rotation is, 1. fallow; 2. oats; 3. clover; 4. wheat. When manure is abundant, the heavy soils are cropped in the following rotation with great success: 1. fallow; 2. beans; 3. wheat; 4. tares; 5. barley; 6. clover; 7. beans; 8. wheat. In this rotation the clearing of the ground from weeds depends on the use of the hoe, which is applied most carefully to the crops of beans.

The western part of the county, especially where it borders on Hertfordshire, is, in general, land of a very inferior quality, and, without very expensive cultivation, yields but light crops. In one extensive district, called the Rodings, is still practised a most singular system of husbandry, known now in Essex only, though formerly it was adopted on poor lands in some other counties. It is, 1. a year's fallow; 2. wheat; 3. fallow; 4. barley, and then a repetition of the same course; thus having one-half the arable land constantly without any crop. The soil is a tenacious clay, of a reddish colour, upon a subsoil of white clay. It is difficult to pulverize, and, with wet, potches so much as not to admit of ploughing when the atmosphere is moist. There are but small parts of this district which produce clover, peas, tares, or beans; and hay is only grown on the narrow borders of the rivulets which run in the valleys.

In the south-western part of the county the agriculture assumes that system which is adapted to the supply of the wants of the metropolis. A great portion of the land is in permanent pasture, or grows hay to furnish the markets of Smithfield and Whitechapel. The arable land is generally cultivated with a rotation of three crops, viz., potatoes, wheat, and clover; and as London supplies abundance of manure, by applying it very liberally to the young clover after the wheat is harvested, most abundant crops are the consequence, and the land is cleaned by the potato culture. In this kind of husbandry, which, indeed, can only be conducted where manure is to be obtained with great facility, the plough is only used once in the rotation after the clover; for as the potatoes are planted, the digging them up sufficiently prepares the land for wheat.

The farms vary much in size, but average from 150 to 200 acres. They are sometimes held on lease for seven or fourteen years, but more generally from year to year. Wheat averages 20 to 30 bushels to the acre; barley 40, oats 12 quarters, beans 32 bushels, and potatoes 300 bushels. Teasel, caraway, and coriander, are grown together in spring. The coriander is cropped in autumn, the caraway in July of the succeeding year, and the teasels in September of the same year. Hops, saffron, and mustard, are also grown in a few localities.

Essex feeds some sheep, but very few are bred in the county. The stock of sheep, principally Southdowns, is about 520,000, producing annually 8650 packs of wool. Calves are suckled to a great extent, and the rearing of them to furnish veal for the London market is the principal source of income to many farmers. The whiteness of the veal is produced by a great attention to cleanliness, by regular periods of suckling, and by giving the calves a small portion of barley-meal mixed with chalk. The tendency to fatten is promoted by administering narcotic drugs, which keep the young animals in a quiescent state. Though the county affords such abundance of excellent pasture, yet the fattening of calves is so much more profitable than the dairy, that it is supplied with butter from other counties. Epping has indeed been celebrated for its excellent butter; but the greater part of what is sold in London under that denomination is the produce of Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, and other counties. The Epping dairies produce 212 pounds of butter per cow annually. London is supplied with much of its beef from Essex. The bullocks, in a lean state, are brought from Scotland, from Wales, and some from Devonshire, and are fattened in this county, sometimes on the rich natural meadows, and sometimes on turnips with the addition of oil-cake.

The landed property in Essex, as in other counties near the metropolis, is very much divided; there are no overgrown estates, though some of considerable value, belonging to a few individuals; but the greater part is in moderate-sized farms, which can be easily disposed of, and which are frequently purchased from the savings of the commercial class in London.

The only good harbour in this county is Harwich, whence the packets for Holland are despatched, and where there is a royal dock-yard, in which some frigates are built and repaired. The river Coln is navigable for small vessels to Colchester, and the Blackwater river to Walden. The Cronich is navigable for the largest ships; but, passing through an unhealthy country, and having few inhabitants on its borders, it is useless for the purposes of commerce. The river Lea is navigable by barges a distance of 25 miles. There are no canals in this county, but one is projected to unite the river Lea with the Cam, and thus create internal navigation from Lynn to London.

The county is divided into two almost equal portions by the London and Eastern Counties Railway, from which are a few branches. The London and Cambridge line skirts the western boundary.

The county gives the titles Earl of Essex to the Cassel family, and Lord Colchester to the Abbots.

The members of the House of Commons elected in Essex are ten, being two for each of the boroughs of Colchester, Harwich, and Maldon, and four for the county, which, for election purposes, has been divided into the northern and southern districts. The polling places of the former are Braintree, Colchester, Saffron-Walden, and Thorpe; and of the latter, Chelmsford, Billericay, Romford, Epping, Rochford, and Maldon.

The most remarkable seats of noblemen and others are Audley-End, Lord Braybrooke; Thorndon, Lord Petre; Easton Lodge, Lord Maynard; Navestock, Earl Waldegrave; Mistley Hall, Lord Rivers; Dagenham Park, Sir Thomas Neave; the Hyde, —— Disney, Esq.; Hill Hall, Sir E. Smith, Bart.; Weald Hall, Christopher Tower, Esq.; Boreham House, Sir John Tyrell, Bart., M.P.; Coped Hall, —— Conyers, Esq.; Mark Hall, —— Honeywood, Esq.

The antiquities of the county consist of British camps at six distant places, including Ruckolt, Bartlow Hills, and Lexden Heath; Roman camps at Witham, Colchester, and other places, and a number of Saxon remains. Some remains of castles are still extant, among which the most interesting, at least historically, is Pleshy, once the seat of the "Good Duke Humphrey."

Hainault Forest was once famous as the hunting ground of Queen Elizabeth, who by her noted speech at Tilbury rendered that fort famous in history; and Colchester for its stout defence when besieged by Fairfax in 1648. Tusser the agricultural poet, Ray the naturalist, Bishop Bedell, and Quarles the poet, were natives of the county.

name of several towns in the United States, the principal of which is in the state of New York, on the W. side of lake Champlain, 108 miles N. by E. of Albany. Pop. (1850) 2351. There are also several counties in the United States of this name.