741 



DEVONSHIRE. 



DEVONSHIRE. 



742 



pastured for eight or nine years, when the same process is repeated. 

 This system has been so commonly adopted in Devonshire, that the 

 operation of paring and burning is frequently called ' Devonshiring,' 

 or as contracted, 'Denshiring.' It is now however less practised 

 than formerly, and no doubt will in time be confined to land abounding 

 in vegetable matter in that state in which it is not fertile, as in peat 

 or turf. 



The soil of Devonshire consists of the substance of the rocks of 

 which the hills are composed, which are granite, grauwacke, red- 

 sandstone and slate, and marble. The decomposed slate gives the 

 argillaceous part, which binds the siliceous and calcareous sand 

 produced from the other rocks. The waters have mixed these 

 substances in every proportion ; but the best and most fertile soils 

 are composed of a mixture in the proportions which form a good 

 sound loam very favourable to the growth of wheat and of potatoes. 

 A great part of North Devon is of more than average fertility : 

 and portions of the southern part of the county are highly productive. 

 Considerable wastes and heaths have been gradually brought into 

 cultivation ; and although many wastes and commons still remain, 

 and there are extensive moors and bogs scarcely susceptible of 

 improvement, the quantity of land which is productive in grass or 

 corn is very considerable for so hilly a country. The grass land 

 occupies more than four-fifths of the soil under cultivation. Some 

 of the lands on the hills are so steep that the crop must be brought 

 home upon horses, which carry a pack-saddle with large hooks on 

 each side, in which the sheaves are laid. A horse so loaded looks at 

 a distance like a little moving stack, being almost entirely covered 

 with sheaves. 



A considerable quantity of potatoes is raised in Devonshire and 

 sent to London, where they obtain good prices. They were formerly 

 planted in lazy-beds, as in Ireland, but the superior method of single 

 rows moulded up is now generally adopted. The rich brown loam 

 on a rocky subsoil, which gives a dry sound bottom, especially if it 

 has been for some time in grass, whether pared and burnt, or only 

 ploughed and well worked, produces an abundant crop of very good 

 potatoes. 



Grass land being far more abundant in Devonshire than arable 

 land, the chief articles of agricultural produce for exportation are 

 butter, cheese, and live stock. The finest and richest meadows 

 are situated on the alluvial borders of the principal rivers. The 

 upland meadows are less productive, and require occasional 

 manuring. 



The clouted or clotted cream of Devonshire is a well-known 

 delicacy. It is made by heating the milk on the hearth, or by 

 means of a stove, to a degree a little below the boiling point, when 

 the clouted cream rises to the top like a thick scum, and is taken off 

 when cooled. This cream being merely stirred briskly with the 

 hand or a stick, is converted into butter. The butter thus produced 

 is iufeiior to that made from cream which has risen slowly and 

 spontaneously. In the largest and best dairies in the vale of Honiton 

 the cream is never clouted, except to be eaten in that state as a 

 luxury. 



The cows used for the dairy are almost exclusively of the breed 

 of the county, and of a red colour. They are handsomely shaped, 

 and some of them give much good rich milk. In general however 

 they have too great an aptitude to become fat to be good milkers. 

 Cheese is made of skimmed milk, and is consequently inferior in 

 quality. Where porkers are in request, as in the neighbourhood of 

 great towns, they are profitably fattened on the skim-milk, or on 

 the whey, with the addition of meal. 



A great many oxen are reared and annually exported from all 

 parts of Devonshire, but chiefly the northern parts. About Barn- 

 staple and South Molton the best breeds are met with. The North 

 Devon oxen are famed for their docility and activity at work, and 

 especially for their great aptitude to fatten. The cows of the pure 

 North Devon are chiefly kept to breed ; for the dairy they are 

 improved by a cross with a short-horn. Some very fine cows of a 

 mixed breed may be seen in the vale of the Ex : they are fine in the 

 coat, horn, and bone, and short in the legs. 



The sheep fed on the hills and wastes of this county are distinguished 

 by fine wool and excellent flesh. The Exmoor sheep are extremely 

 hardy, and well adapted to cold bleak mountains. In the valleys 

 some remarkably fine sheep have been produced by crosses of the 

 native sheep with the Leicester. In consequence of the wet state of 

 the low meadows the higher pastures are resorted to for breeding 

 flocks, but it requires a hardy race to withstand the wet and cold 

 winters on the Devonshire hills ; for frost is not so hurtful to lambs 

 aa continued rains. The pasture on Dartmoor Forest is very good, 

 and the rot is almost unknown there. 



The race of pigs in Devonshire is very good generally; and in 

 gome districts, where care has been taken to select the best animals 

 and cross the breeds with judgment, as fine hogs are fatted as in any 

 part of England. 



The farm buildings in Devonshire are frequently very inconveniently 

 ituatej with respect to the farm. The object seems to have been 

 to chooie a sheltered spot, without regard to the situation of the 

 land attached to the farm. The materials of which the buildings are 

 constructed are stone or earth, made into a species of mortar, and 



formed into thick walls, which dry and harden gradually, and are 

 called by a provincial term, ' cob walls.' 



The farms are not so extensive as in the more level parts of 

 England; 150 to 200 acres, of which at least three-fourths are pasture, 

 are considered a large farm. There are also in this county many 

 more small proprietors and lessees for 99 years, which is nearly the 

 same, than in most other parts of Britain. They are mostly frugal 

 and industrious, and if they do not cultivate their laud in the most; 

 approved manner, they at least contrive to live comfortably. This 

 is chiefly owing to the rearing of cattle, which requires constant 

 attention and the eye of the master much more than the cultivation 

 of the soil, and in which small occupiers are generally more suc- 

 cessful in proportion than large farmers. 



The chief beverage of the Devonshire people is cider; the cider 

 made in this county is considered to be superior to any other in 

 England. The soil on the slopes of the hills is peculiarly adapted 

 to the growth of fruit-trees, especially on a loose rocky bottom, 

 where the roots may insinuate themselves and find moisture at all 

 times. 



The progress of cultivation has greatly diminished the timber 

 which formerly abounded in Devonshire, and except in sheltered 

 situations trees do not thrive and acquire so great a size as they 

 seem to have done when they sheltered one another. Coppice-wood 

 however is plentiful, most of the steep sides of hills towards the 

 banks of the rivers being covered with this growth, which adds 

 considerably to the beauty of the valleys. The best of the coppice- 

 wood is used for fencing, hurdles, and hop-poles. In some parts 

 there are extensive furze brakes, which are usually cut every five 

 years for fuel. The wood grown in Devonshire is chiefly oak, but 

 beech, ash, and elder are interspersed, according to the soil and 

 situation. 



Trees planted on the summit of the hills in Devonshire seldom 

 thrive owing to the violence of the winds ; but on the slopes of the 

 hills they succeed well, and as they ascend they protect each other ; 

 and thus in time the tops may be covered. Where the Scotch fir 

 and larch have been planted in sheltered situations they grow well. 



Divisions, Towns, &c. In the Exon Domesday (a description of the 

 five western counties, Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Devon, aud Cornwall, 

 which is supposed to contain an exact transcript of the returns 

 made by the Conqueror's commissioners at the time of the general 

 survey from which the great ' Domesday ' itself was compiled), which 

 is preserved among the records belonging to the Dean and Chapter 

 of Exeter, mention is made of at least 33 hundreds into which 

 Devonshire was then divided. In the hundred roll, a document of 

 the time of Edward I., 33 hundreds (including that of Lovetot, 

 incidentally mentioned as co-extensive with the mauor of Freming- 

 ton) are noticed. The present number is 33. The county is divided 

 into two parts, the northern and the southern divisions, for the 

 purpose of parliamentary representation : each division sends two 

 members. 



Devonshire contains 40 market-towns. Of the most important we 

 subjoin a list, adding the locality of each : 



ASHBUHTON, a parliamentary borough on a small feeder of the 

 Dart ; AXSIINSTER, on the Axe ; BAMPTON, on the Batheru, a feeder 

 of the Ex ; BARNSTAPLE, a parliamentary borough on the Tavv ; 

 BEER ALSTON, between the Tamer aud Tavy ; BIDEFORD, on the 

 Torridge; BRIXHAM, near Berry Head, the southern extremity of 

 Tor Bay ; South Brent, on the Auue ; Chagford, on the Teipru ; 

 CHCDLEIGU, on the Teigu; Chulmleigh, on the Dart; COLLUMPTON, 

 on the Culm; COLYTON, on the Coly, a feeder of the Axe ; CREDITON, 

 on the Greedy ; Culmstock, on the border of Somersetshire ; DART- 

 MOUTH, a parliamentary borough on the Dart ; Devouport, formerly 

 called Plymouth Dock, or colloquially Dock, on the iestuary of the 

 Tamer, near Plymouth, a parliamentary borough; EXETER, a city, 

 and the county town, on the Ex ; HatUerleigh, on the Torridge ; 

 HOLSWORTUY, on a feeder of the Tamer ; HONITON, a parliamentary 

 borough ou the Otter ; ILFRACOMBE, on the Bristol Channel ; KINGS- 

 BRIDGE, near Star Point ; Modbury, on a feeder of the Erme ; SOUTH 

 MOLTON, on the Mole ; Moreton Hampstead, on the eastern edge of 

 Dartmoor : NEWTON, on the Teign ; OKEHA.MPTON, on the Okemeut ; 

 OTTERY ST. MARY, on the Otter; PLYMOUTH, on Plymouth Sound, a 

 parliamentary borough, and one of the great naval ports of England ; 

 PLYMPTON, on the Tory, a feeder of the Plym ; SIDMOUTH, on tho 

 English Channel ; Stonehouse, between Plymouth and Devonport ; 

 TAVISTOOK, a parliamentary borough on the Tavy ; TEIQNMOUTH, at 

 the mouth of the Teign ; TIVERTON, on the Ex, a parliamentary 

 borough ; TOPSHAM, on the Ex ; TORUINGTON, on the Torridge ; 

 TOTNES, a parliamentary borough on the Dart; and Uffculme, on the 

 Culnie. The towns which have their names printed in small capitals 

 will be found described under their respective titles ; the remainder 

 we notice here, with the population of each in 1851. Devonport and 

 Stonehouse will be found described under PLYMOUTH. 



South Brent, population of the parish 1203, is a small town on the 

 road from Exeter to Plymouth, and on the river Avon or Aune, 

 26 miles S.S.W. from Exeter by road, and 36 miles by the South 

 Devon railway. The town is situated near the south-east corner of 

 Dartmoor Forest. The market is on Friday ; and there are two fairs 

 in the year. 



