334 Farming of Leicestershire. 



ings of the county in 1809, and tliough many changes and im- 

 provements have since been made, yet it is as true now as then 

 that the student of farm-architecture will find little worth his 

 attention here. 



On the estates of the Duke of Rutland, Lords Howe, Berners, 

 Stamford, and others, many substantial commodious buildings 

 have been built, but, nevertheless, homesteads with arrangement 

 and appliances at all consonant to the requirements of modern 

 farming are not numerous, and there are many farms where even 

 the common accommodation is very bad and deficient, and 

 some where it is totally inadequate or altogether wanting. 

 Assuredly this building question is a great blot on the rural 

 economy of Leicestershire. 



The consequence of want of buildings is that many cattle are 

 kept in the fields the greater part of the winter, having little 

 shelter except that afforded by the hedges ; in wet weather poach- 

 ing and injuring the pastures, and at all times seriously mis- 

 appropriating food. Their hay — much of which is stacked in 

 the fields for this purpose — is daily strewn about for them to 

 pick up, and their only lair is the cold, wet, or frozen ground. 



The result of this management is a great loss to all ; for 

 though, under the circumstances, the landlord is absolved from 

 any great expense in the erection of buildings, he cannot escape 

 from the identity of interest which binds him and the tenant 

 together, and any loss sustained from insufficient accommodation 

 eventually tends to a modification of the rent. 



Yards on the covered principle would unquestionably prove a 

 great boon to Leicestershire farmers, especially on the dairy- 

 farms, with their numerous horned cattle requiring shelter, litter, 

 and warmth, yet from their small proportion of arable affording 

 an inadequate supply of straw. The comfort of the animals 

 would be increased, food would go further, and of course be 

 saved, and litter would be economized. 



An ox in a covered yard requires about 20 lbs. of straw per 

 day to keep his lair clean and dry. In the open yard more than 

 twice this c|uantity may be necessary. The manure made under 

 cover is also very superior. There is also a great economy in 

 the haulage. In open yards straw is made the vehicle for the 

 transmission of so many tons of rain-water to the fields. A rain- 

 fall of 26 inches — which is about the county average — saturates 

 the litter of 100 square feet of an open cattle-yard with about 

 6 tons weight of water. Certainly a portion of this evaporates, 

 percolates through the bottom of the yard, or, after washing out 

 of the manure some of its most valuable constituents, escapes by 

 surface-overflows. But enough remains to largely increase the 

 weight and the cost of removal, without adding to its fertilizing 



