

A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



acres of arable land, and 169,827 acres were 

 permanent pasture. 



The live stock consisted of : 



Pigs 

 3,026 



Horses Cattle Sheep 



20,348 77,6l9 258,120 



One thousand seven hundred and twenty 

 acres of the arable or grass land were also planted 

 with orchards, 515 acres were devoted to market 

 gardens, and 25,998 were in woods and planta- 

 tions. 



The number of the various holdings in the 

 county according to acreage was : 



50 acres From 50 to Fromiooto From 300 to From 500 to 

 & under 100 acres 300 acres 500 acres 1,000 acres 



6,101 



731 



I,IOS 



205 



74 



and there were 7 holdings of over 1,000 acres. 



When we come still nearer to our own day, 

 about 1888, the breed of cattle prevailing gener- 

 ally in the county was the Shorthorn ; where 

 they were reared good bulls were used, and the 

 produce naturally improved. The large winter 

 graziers, however, bought great numbers of Irish 

 bullocks at York. The sheep were principally 

 Leicesters, or Lincolns crossed with Leicester 



portion of the county they found much distress 

 and depreciation, although the greater part of the 

 permanent grass is in this district. Hedges all 

 through the county were very good and well 

 kept, but it was doubtful if the drainage of the 

 wetter soils was continuing to be improved at the 

 rate that had prevailed during the century. The 

 Nottinghamshire farmer has a well-founded faith 

 in the feeding value of oats for almost all kinds of 

 stock, and for long grew crops of skegs, that is very 

 thin and light oats, on the worst lands, though 

 they are now perhaps going out of fashion. 



By 1888 rents generally speaking had been 

 reduced, owing to the depression of the preceding 

 ten years, about 25 or 30 per cent. In the farm 

 prize competition of that year the first prize farm 

 occupied by Mr. S. C. Machin, at Papplewick, 

 Nottinghamshire, of 522 acres, of which 61 were 

 grass, was stated to return a net profit of ^3 is. 

 per acre, and the following are some particulars 

 of its management : 



Cattle, including calves in hand in February . 72 

 ,, ,, July ... 6 



Sheep in hand in February 9 



including lambs in July . . .41 



Number of draught horses at work 10 



rams, but pure Shropshires were being increas- 

 ingly bred, as well as a cross between them and 

 the white faces. The Shire breed of cart-horses 

 was in good favour, owing to the revival of 

 trade in them, and the farmers of the vale of 

 Belvoir were, as they had long been, famous for 

 their success with them. 



The western division of the county, including 

 the whole of the light and sandy forest district, 

 was then, and is to-day, let for the most part in 

 large holdings as compared with the rest of the 

 county, the worst land in the larger occupations, 

 but well farmed in spite of bad times. The 

 chief feature of the farming on these light soils is 

 the great expenditure of skill, capital, and labour 

 on the cultivation of the root crop, and its well- 

 deserved success. The judges of the farm prize 

 competition in 1888 expressed their surprise at 

 the root crops ' clear in skin, superb in quality, 

 marvellously level in size, growing in some cases 

 on land looking dear at i os. per acre rent.' 28 

 On the clays and stiff loams of the south-east 



However, on another farm of 570 acres, about 

 half arable and half grass, the net profit per acre 

 was 18*. 6d., and on another of 433 acres, 155 

 in grass, I2s. t and yet another returned no profit 

 at all. The labour bill for the Machins' farm 

 was extremely low, 1 5*. an acre, yet this was 

 owing to good management and not to bad 

 pay, as the labourers were receiving 165. and 

 ijs. a week, a price above the average of the 

 district. 



In 1905, owing to bad times, the acreage 

 under crops and grass had diminished since 

 1880 to a total of 445,383 acres, made up as 

 follows : 



Corn crops, 117,217 acres, consisting of: 



Wheat 

 acres 



Barley 

 acres 



Oats 

 acres 



Rye 

 acres 



Beans 

 acres 



Peas 

 acres 



38,291 30,106 37,427 2,723 3,813 4,857 



Green crops, 49,031 acres divided into : 



Cabbage, 



Turnips & Kohl-rabi Vetches Other 



Potatoes Swedes Mangolds & rape or Tares crops 



acres acres acres acres acres acres 



* Roy. Agric. Soc. Engl. Journ. (znd Ser.), xxiv, 532. 7,946 



380 



28,625 6,457 1,809 2 9S 2 99 



