Farming of Warwickshire. 493 



outside first. Among their good qualities, their milk is ac- 

 knowledged to yield more than an average proportion of cream, 

 and the dairies which are held in highest repute for butter and 

 cheese, are of the long-horned breed. Many farmers would 

 gladly be in possession of these cattle again, could they obtain 

 animals of pure breed. 



A change needed, on farms depending chiefly on the dairy, is 

 to alter the course of cropping, taking fewer corn and more root 

 crops. Cabbages are neglected, whereas on dairy-farms they 

 would be very useful ; mangold — generally a sign of active culti- 

 vation — is very little grown in Warwickshire. 



Leases are quite uncommon. Altliough no great spirit of im- 

 provement can as a rule be anticipated without a lease or a com- 

 pensatory provision for permanent improvements, it must be 

 admitted that theory on this subject is often put to flight by 

 experience. Nor is this a matter to complain of. We may, on the 

 contrary, feel thankful that, in a matter of personal interest, men 

 can be amicably united by the ties of mutual confidence and 

 good faith, of which this county furnishes an instance in the 

 cordial understanding between landlords and their tenants usually 

 subsisting. 



Mr. Murray says the farmers of Warwickshire are a " sly, 

 jealous set ; " we are happy to say that these qualities, together 

 with many usual concomitants of bad husbandry, are rapidly dis- 

 appearing ; and instead of being opposed, as he sometimes Avas 

 in his inquiries, we were received during our survey witli hospi- 

 tality and cordial assistance. The business of farming is singu- 

 larly free from what in other occupations are called trade secrets ; 

 and where the husbandry itself is good, there is generally a 

 perfect Avillingness to explain matters to all who are concerned. 

 The shyness with which the inferior class of cultivators answer 

 all inquiries is a suiHcient proof that, if their prejudices keep 

 them in the old beaten track, they are yet aware of the error. 

 There are still, in clay districts, a considerable number of small 

 occupiers, holding farms of 100 to 150 acres, which are un- 

 drained, ill cultivated, producing couch instead of corn, sup- 

 porting little labour, and thus rohlung the community of one 

 of the host employments of its capital, viz., in the wages of the 

 Industrious Labourer. 



VOL. XVI I. 2 L 



