290 



CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 



Cambridge, converted into fertile water meadows, or into good 



shire. arable land, which produces from forty five to sixty 



* *v bushels of oats per acre. Wheat and cole-seed are 



also grown in considerable quantities ; and, in the 



north western part of the county, several thousand 



acres are laid out in excellent pasture. 



In the part of the county which borders on Nor- 

 folk, particularly in the neighbourhood of Elm, Up- 

 well, and Outwell, hemp and flax are produced in 

 abundance. Butter of the finest quality is made in 

 the dairy-farms of this district ; and, owing to the 

 peculiar nature of the p isturage in the neighbour- 

 hood of Cottenham, the cheese of that place is re- 

 markable for a flavour particularly delicious. Calves 

 are also suckled here for the London market. The 

 growth of corn in the north west corner of the 

 county is particularly favoured by the rich marshes ; 

 but the luxuriant crops which it produces are often 

 destroyed by the high floods which inundate the 

 county in rainy seasons. 



The south and the south western part of Cam- 

 bridgeshire, which is watered by the Cam, is the most 

 fertile and agreeable. The land is considerably ele- 

 vated, and produces wheat, barley, and oats, in great 

 quantities, while many thousands of sheep of the 

 Norfolk and west country kinds are pastured on the 

 heaths and .commons with which those districts are 

 intersected. Saffron is cultivated in some of the 

 parishes which border upon Essex ; and the valley of 

 the Cam, from Steeple Morden to Walton, is deno- 

 minated the Dairies, from being wholly appropriated 

 to dairy farms. 



The district in the south east of the county, which 

 extends from the Gogmagog hills about four miles 

 to the east of Cambridge, to the town of Newmar 

 ket, is bleak and thinly inhabited. Barley is grown 

 in some of the more fertile portions, but the rest 

 is chiefly applied to sheep-walks. This divsion 

 is connected with that immense tract of land 

 which stretches into Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, and 

 forms one of the most extensive downs in England. 



In this county there is a very considerable variety 

 of soil. Chalk, gravel, loam under clay, and clay 

 upon gualt, form the soil of the upland districts. 

 In the fens, the soil is a strong black earth, or 

 tnor, lying on a gualt of gravel, or turf moor, 

 and is very favourable to the cultivation of oats 

 and cole seed. In the neighbourhood of Wisbech, 

 the soil is a mixture of sand and clay, or self. 

 In the cultivation of these different soils, oil-cake 

 dust, pigeons dung, decayed woollen rags, soot, &c. 

 are employed as auxiliaries to the common manures. 

 The soot is generally laid on in spring, at the rate 

 of 20 bushels an acre, for the- purpose of driving 

 away . the wire worms which infest the heavy and 

 light soils. These worms, which are of a yellow co- 

 lour, and resemble the centipede, would otherwise 

 destroy the wheat. No particular attention is paid 

 to the making of dunghills. " The drill husbandry," 

 say the learned authors of the Beauties of England 

 and Wales, " till lately had been chiefly employed at 

 Wimpole, on the estate of Lord Hardwicke, but ap- 



pears to be fast spreading, and, with the introduction Cambridge- 

 of some new agricultural machines, promises to be- E hire. 

 come of essential service. The general rent of farms " ""V"" 

 is from 50 to 350 per annum; but the rental of 

 some in the neighbourhood of Wisbech are as high as 

 800, and one in the parish of Wood Ditton, is oc- 

 cupied at the rent of 1000 guineas yearly. The wood- 

 lands are extremely small, the whole quantity of tim- 

 ber throughout the county scarcely amounting to 1000 

 acres, and these principally scattered through the pa- 

 rishes of Stackworth, Wood Ditton, Liuton, Bart- 

 low, Boxworth, Wimpole, and Madingley. * The 

 greatest part of the land is open field ; but the in- 

 closures are rapidly taking place, new bills for that 

 purpose being applied for and obtained, every ses- 

 sion of parliament. Manufactures are hardly known 

 in this county; and, with the exception of those per- 

 sons who obtain subsistence by making the celebra- 

 ted white bricks, and coarse pottery with the same 

 clay, in the neighbourhood of Ely, most of the inha- 

 bitants are employed in agriculture ; others derive 

 support from spinning yarn for the Norwich wea- 

 vers." The principal breed? of sheep in this county 

 are the Norfolk, the West Country, and the Cam- 

 bridgeshire. The number of sheep amounts to about 

 152,928. The extent of highland country upon ' 

 which they pasture is about 24-3,300 acres. 



The chief rivers in Cambridgeshire are the Ouse 

 and the Cam. The Ouse rises in Northampton- 

 shire, and after watering Buckinghamshire and Bed- 

 fordshire, it enters Cambridgeshire between Ftuny 

 Drayton and Erith, from which it runs eastward 

 through the fens, till at some distance above D; nny 

 abbey it turns to the north, and passing Streatham, 

 Ely, and Littleport, it crosses the north western 

 part of Norfolk, and flows into the sea at Lynn 

 Regis. The Cam, or Granta, which probably re- 

 ceived its name from its crooked course, has three 

 branches, the t principal of which rises at Ashwell in 

 Hertfordshire, and enters Cambridgeshire to the west 

 of Gilden Morden. After flowing to the north-east 

 and receiving several rivulets, it is enlarged near 

 Grantchester by the united waters of some streams 

 which rise in the county of Essex. After this 

 junction, it takes a northerly course, flows through 

 the walks of the chief colleges in Cambridge, and 

 falls into the Ouse at Harrimere in the parish of 

 Streatham. 



Besides these rivers, there are numerous artificial 

 streams in the northern part of the county for carry, 

 ing off the surplus water of the fenny grounds. The 

 principal of these drains are the old and new Bedford 

 rivers, which are navigable for more than twenty 

 miles from Erith to Denver. It is in contemplation 

 to cut a canal from Clayhive, seven miles below Cam- 

 bridge, to Saffron -Walden and Bishops- Stopford, in 

 all a distance of 25 miles ; by this means the inland 

 navigation from Lynn and from Cambridge to the 

 metropolis would be completed. 



The Great Level of the Fens, which lies in the 

 counties of Cambridge, Huntingdon, Northampton, 

 Lincoln, Norfolk, and Suffolk, includes nearly 



* The chalky lands are well fitted for the growth of beech, and there are many places well adapted for the cultivation of 

 oak, ash, and elm. 



