Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF NORTHUMBERLAND. 



illV 



ilinerali: coals found over a consider.iHli' ii.irtion of the coun- 

 ty, workable to the extent 

 of lOiyiOO acres ; those in 

 the northern )>*''* of tlie 

 county wrought for expor- 

 tation , in the western an<t [ 

 southern parts for land sale . 

 onlv. In various parts of - 

 the' coal districts are d\kes 

 or fractures, (,fig 79Ci, a, !>,) \ 

 and consequent derange- 

 ment of the strata, which f 

 throw the heds of coal f cc) 

 ononesldeof thedykeoflen : 

 manv feet up or down. The 

 (i'isure lietween being com-- 

 monly lilledwilh clay, stops'^ 

 the water in iU course along 

 thediftereni'bed- {il, e,) in- .; 

 terrupts the drainage, an(!Ct'-: 

 greatly damages the work- 

 ing of the coal. 



Leii'l mines numerous in 

 thewes'mdistric; i he ore 

 mostly in vertical fissures of 

 limestone and other rocks 

 like the dykes. 



Killttonea, grindstones, 

 freestones slates of tl "^ 



prey or freestone kind, silver sand, limestone, whinstone, clay- 

 stone or Mark metal stone, and yellow ochre, also found. 



Water. Salmon fishery on the Tyne ha> greatly declined, ''W- 

 ing to the building of wears", which prevent their getting up. 

 Bailey remarks, that if dams of this description were p\it 

 acrois the river Tweed, a revenue of nearly 16,000/. iier year, 

 received for rents of fishings, and fiO.OOO/. a year the value of 

 the fish taken in that river, would be reduced to a mere trifle, 

 in a few jrears. 



Salt sprint:!, from which salt is made near Britt and other 

 places. A spa or salt sulphur spring near Durham, and ano- 

 ther on J. G. Lambtnn's estate, with public baths and dressing 

 tooms. Various others of less note. 



2. Property. 



Largest estates, '-iO,000/. to 22,000/. a-vear ; several fromlOOO/. 

 to Tmmi. from which they descend by regular gradations to 

 the smallest sums. Some estates let by proposal, but the 

 general mo<le is to ask a rent, and treat with tenants six or 

 seven months before the existing leases expire, 



3. Buildings. 



Generally of stone and slate ; cottages of one story, cover- 

 ed with thatch or tiles. 



4. Occupation. 



Largest farm about 1000 acres, greatest number from 150 

 to .W acres. The larger farmers, almost only those who have 

 made improvements ; among these, Messrs. Culley and Charge 

 ^rst led the way, and have bpen followed by Messrs Ceilings, 

 Mason, Tavlor, Trotter, Nesham, Seymour, and many 

 others, by whose exertions and judicious selection of stock this 

 district will be lastingly benefited. 



Greatest number of small laboring farmers greater slaves 

 than their servants, being generally employed through the 

 summer, in some kind of work or other, from four o'clock 

 in the morning till eight at night: and in every other sea- 

 son of the year from twilight to twilight ; and may truly be 

 said, " to rise early, take rest late, and eat the bread of 

 carefulness." ,_ . 



Leases, three, five, and seven acres, exceptmg church and 

 corporation leases for 21 years, and lives. Tbo>e farms let fi)r 

 short terms remain stationarv, as no i>rudent man will lay 

 out his money in improvements, for which, when completed, 

 he will be rewarded by an stllvance of rent, proportioned to 

 the improvement he has made. 



5. Implements. 



Swing ploughs of the Rotheram kind ; of late the Smalls 



plough ; various other good implements, and In many parts 

 now (1S25) the improved forms of Northumberland and 

 Berwickshire. 



6. Enclosing. 



On dry soils hedges are frequently planted on a raised 

 mound, fortv inches broad, and the height twelve inches ; 

 a small ditch is ctit on each side to make it, and the quick* 

 are )ilanted in the middle. In this mode the land may be 

 {>loughed nearly to the mound, and when the thorns are 

 grown to a sufficient height, almost close to the hedge. 

 When they are five or six years old, every other stem is cut 

 clean off, within two or three inches of the surface, and the 

 remaining ones stripped of their principal branches ; then 

 stakes of thirty inches high are driven in at proper distancft, 

 and the splashing stems, having a slight cut on one side to 

 make them bend easier, are wound amongst the stakes at an 

 angle of about twenty-five degrees, and a single edder U 

 wound round the top to keep the stakes tight. 



7. Arable Lands. 



Ploughing generally well executed, but in some places the 

 subsoil prevents sufficient depth of furrow, i. e. six inches. 

 The turnip culture, rotations, and general management of 

 arable land, the same as in Northumberland ; that is of the 

 mast improved kind ; seventeen tons of ruia baga are equal 

 to thirtv-one tons of white turnip in feeding cattle or sheep. 



Mustard was formerly much grown in this county, and 

 Durham mustard was proverbial for its excellence. At pre- 

 sent a crop of mustard is rarely met with. It is generally 

 St)wn upon pared and burned land m A!>ril, one i>ound per 

 acre. The produce about twenty bushels per acre; and 

 price from eight to sixteen shillings i>er bushel. 



Potatoes in the village of Hamstely have been the prinol- 

 pal article of trade, and the principal employment of several 

 families for eighty years; they are very particular in having 

 good .sets, each with two eyes ; use reddish or pink sorts, 

 plant in March and April, atid both horse and h and -hoe ; no 

 curl appears among them, but sometimes they " nm wild," 

 or tend to that state, producing more flowers than usual, 

 and continuing flowering much later, sometimes till 

 Michaelmas, and producing few tul)ers and slender stems. 

 Whenever this is observed, the tubers of such potatoes are no 

 longer used for propagation. 



8. Grass. 



Not much old surface, which there is chiefly upland. 



9. Woods and Plantations. 



Scampston elm, from a place of that name in Yorkshire, 

 butsupposed originally from America, will make shoots from 

 grafts, in one year, of H or 6 feet ; introduced in young plan- 

 tations by Messrs. Falla, eminent nursery men of Gates- 

 head ; vale of Derwent well wooded; Sir J. Eden a great 

 planter. 



10. Embankments. 



Begun on the Tees in 1740, and about 1500 acres se- 

 cured between that period and 1800. 

 11. Live Stock. 



Short horned cattle. The famous Durham ox, bred by 

 Charles Colling of Kellan in 17'l6. 



Hheep. Teeswater and Leice-ter breed ; stock bred, reared 

 and ted in the most scientific inanner, especially by the 

 larger farmers mentioned above (4). 



i'J. Political Economii. 



Turnpike roads first made in 1742 ; materials, whinstone, 

 limestone, river gravel, and freestone. Roads excellent where 

 materials are broken sufficiently small : they are also in good 

 repair. Milestones on some roatU, hollow triangular prisms 

 of cast-iron, with projecting letters and figures. They are 

 two and a half feet high, and fixed on an oak jiost, four and 

 a half feet long, sunk two and a half feet in the earth. Guide 

 l>osts much wanting. No iron railways, and no public 

 roads or canals. 



Manufactures. Wrought iron foundries, glasshouses, pot- 

 teries, salt, coppera-^, sal ammoniac, coal tar, papei, woollen, 

 cotton, and linen doth. Several agricultural societies; the 

 first established at Darlington in 1785. 



7024. NORTHUMBERLAND, including; those detached parts of the county of Durham, called Norham- 

 Shire/lslandshire, am) Beddington.shire, comprehends a surface of 1,267,200 acres, chiefly mountainous or 

 breeding districts but including 450,000 acres proper for tillage. The celebrity ot this county both (or it 

 tillage and breedin- is well known. Here turnips were tirst extensively cultivated in the drill manner, 

 and the best principles of breeding practised by Culley. To this gent eman and Bailey agriculture 

 owes much : the latter wat, perhaps one of the most enlightened and accomplishe<l of modern agriculturists. 

 i^BaUeij and CuUetfs General View, 1805. MauhaVs Review, 1808. Smith's Geological Map, 1824.) 



1. Geographical State and Circumstances. -^-^A^^^- Calculated that the whole coal of.the counties of 



Climate subject to great variation of temperature ; snow to 

 8 considerable depth on the mountains, when there is none 

 In the lower districts ; weather runs in extremes ; very cold 

 in s)iring, and seldom mild before .June 



Soil and Surface. Strong fertile loam along the coast ; sanely, 

 eravellv, and dry loam on the Tvne, from Newborn to Halt- 

 whistle", on the Coquet about Rothbury ; on the Aln, from 

 Alnwick to the sea; down Tweedside, but chiefly in the 

 vales of Breamish Hill a.id Beaumont. The hills surround- 

 ing the Cheviot mountains are mostly a dry sharp gravelly 

 loam. Moist loam occupies a large portion of the county, 

 unsafe for sheep, and unfit for turnii)s, and peat earth pre- 

 vails in the mountainous districts. 



Ttie aspect of the surface is marked with great variety ; 

 along the sea coast it is nearly level ; towards the middle 

 more diversified, and thrown into large swelling ridges, 

 formed by the princi))al rivers. These parts are well enclosed ; 

 in some places enriched with wood and recent plantations, 

 hut the general appearance is destitute of those ornaments. 

 The western part (except a few intervening vales) is an 

 extensive sj^ene of open mnuntaiious district, where the hand 

 of cultivation is rarely to be traced. Of the mountainous 

 districts, those around Cheviot are the most valuable, l>eing 

 In general fine green hills, thrown into numberless variety 

 bf firms, enclosing and sheltering' many deep, narrow, and 

 sequestered glens. 



Minercds. Coal in abundance in the greatest part of the 

 eounfv ; it is like that of Durham of the caking kind, and 

 is found in the- south-east quarter of the best quality ; quan- 

 tity exported, chiefly for the London market, ;)i)6,250 London 



Newcastle and Durham will be exhausted in 550 years. Lime- 

 stone, stone-marl, clay-marl, lead-ore, and ore of zinc in 

 small quantities; freestone, whinstone, and iron are all 

 worked. 



Water. The Tyne and Tweed have been long celebrated 

 for their salmon fisheries: in the latter a rent of 800/. a-year 

 is paid for a fishing of two hundred yards in length, near the 

 mouth of the river ; and the same rent is paid for each of two 

 other fishings above the bridge, not more than two hundred 

 arid fiftv vards in length each. The fish taken here, are, the sal- 

 mon, biill-trout, whiting, and large common trout, and near- 

 ly the whole of them sent to London ; in the conveyance of 

 which, a great improvement has taken place of late years, by 

 packing them in jiounded ice; by this means they are pre- 

 sented nearly as fresh at the London market, as when taken 

 out of the river. For tha jiuriK>se of carrying them, and 

 keeping up a constant antl regular supply, vessels called 

 smacks, sail three times a week, and being iiurposely con- 

 stnicted for swift sailing, frequently make their run in forty, 

 eight hours. These vessels are firoin 70 to 120 tons burthen; 

 oil an average twelve men are employed in each vessel, and 

 make about fourteen voyages in a year ; and not less than 75 

 boats and .'iOO fishermen are employed in taking the fish la 

 the River Tweed. 



2 Property. 



One estate upwards of 40,000 acres, the rest vary from 20 

 to 20,000; small estates rare in the northern part of the 

 county. Few counties in which estates have been so rajiid- 

 Jy. improued ; several^ instances of the value trebled in forty 

 years ; principal cause letting large farnxs on twenty-one years 



