lOG Agriculture of Durliam. 



efforts in draining have hitherto been expended on the tillage 

 lands, and a large extent of grass land remains in a cold wet 

 condition, producing the very rankest kinds of grass, and fre- 

 quently choked up with moss. It is the opinion of many ex- 

 perienced agriculturists that great benefit would accrue to the 

 county generally, if this land was drained and broken up, other 

 lands, which may have become tired of cropping, being laid 

 away in lieu thereof. A great deal of this wet grass land is not 

 worth above 9^. an acre, and yet much of it is situate in such 

 places as would lead us to expect that it might be made turnip 

 soil, and in a few years be trebled in value. 



Live Stock. — Great attention has long been given in this 

 county to the breeding and rearing of all kinds of stock. We 

 are not so famous for our sheep as for our catde and horses. 

 The cattle, known by the name of the Durham short horns, or 

 Teeswater breed, are famed all over the kingdom. Mr. Colling, 

 a celebrated agriculturist in this county, has the merit of first 

 discovering the peculiar merits of the breed, and he, with others 

 in the county, bestowed great pains in improving the breed and 

 rearing various specimens of it, some of which were the wonder 

 of their day. Mr. Bailey, in his ' View of Durham Agriculture,' 

 gives a great deal of information as to the animals of wonderful 

 size, which were reared in the county from about 1780 to 1810 ; 

 as to the weights to which they attained, and as to the immense 

 sums of money which were sometimes given for them. It is 

 unnecessary for me to dwell on these points, any further than 

 may be necessary in order to draw a contrast with Avhat is 

 desired and accomplished in the present day. The breeders of 

 cattle in 1780, and for some years afterwards, looked too much 

 to the fattening of animals which should be esteemed curiosities 

 from their enormous size ; and those of the present day look 

 inore to practical utility and the rearing of animals, which shall 

 be the most profitable stock upon a farm, and supply to the, 

 market, at the most remunerative prices, the largest amount of 

 good wholesome beef for our increasing population. We seem to 

 think that we* have got that desideratum in the " Teeswater " 

 stock, for that breed is all but universal throughout the county. 

 I have just fallen in with a curious little book, published by 

 John Day in 1807, containing an account of " the late celebrated 

 Durham Ox." Mr. Day was the owner of it ; he bought it for 

 250/., and two months afterwards refused an offer of 2,000/. ! 

 for his bargain, its weight, when he first got it, was '27 cwt., 

 and in five years it increased to 34 cwt. Mr. Day in his book 

 gives the following particulars, which he thinks essential in the 

 form and shape of a perfect ox — particulars which he thought his 

 own possessed in the highest degree. " Head rather long, and 



