150 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 3 



gentle general rise for twelve miles, to an altitutle 

 of aliout five or six hundred feet. The district is 

 not subject to any epidemical disease. The peo- 

 ])le are temperate in ihcir habits, and often attain 

 a great age : pulmonary consumption, however, 

 frequently makes its appearance, particularly in 

 the vales descending towards this open country; 

 and numbers of the youth of both sexes are cut off 

 by this fatal malady. 



PLANTING. 



The management of plantations is probably fo- 

 reign to the common operations of the farmer, but 

 the shelter which they aflord, render them at all 

 times, and especially in an open district, objects of 

 great moment even to him. Hundreds of acres 

 have been planted on this estate, and the general 

 success has been cheering. Trenching by the 

 spade has never been done here preparatory to 

 planting timber, the scale on which planting has 

 been conducted being far loo large to be managed 

 in this way, but the lands have in every case been 

 laid dry by open drains, and in some cases (par- 

 ticularly in planting land covered with short ling) 

 the ground has been ploughed before planting by 

 a plough drawn by lour horses. For the first 

 thi-ee years, the young trees have not grown so 

 luxuriantly as might be desired, but in the fourth 

 yrrir, and afterwards, ihey push out vigorously. 

 in every case care has been taken to plant hard- 

 wood trees of oak and ash, &c., and at such spaces 

 that they may ultimately become the standard 

 trees ; and larch and Scotch fir are, in the mean- 

 time, planted as nurses, to be removed according 

 to the necessity of the case. Every variety of tree 

 thrives well on this property, but more particular- 

 ly on the loamy soils. 



CAPITAL AND ACCOUNTS. 



Without an adequate capital, good farming 

 cannot be followed. This, however, though a 

 point of first consequence, we fear is often too little 

 considered by the young farmer, and probably by 

 the proprietor in letting his lands. Before letting 

 lands, the proprietor or his agent should, if possi- 

 ble, be thoroughly acquainted with the farmer's 

 means and capital, as well as his general habits 

 and disposition ; and if this is insisted on, it will 

 prevent, in many cases, tenants of inadequate 

 capital and bad character from obtaining leases. 



Few, or almost no farmers, keep regular ac- 

 counts, and the consequence is they are often in 

 the dark as to the true state of their afl'airs. A 

 system sufliciently simple and concise might be 

 easily contrived to answer all the ends in view; 

 but, from prejudice or want of habit, it is to be 

 feared the general run of farmers dispense with 

 the keeping regular accounts. 



Laborers. — Laborers are easily obtained here, 

 either for piece-work or by the day. Their wa- 

 ges by the day are generally Is. 4d. to Is. 6d. in 

 summer, and Is. 2d. to Is. 4d. in winter. These 

 men are bred from infancy to all kinds of agricul- 

 tural labor, and are generally expert in the use of 

 the spade, scythe, &c. Tlie real good farming 

 laborer here cannot, with justice, be said to be in 

 distress, for he always finds employment; and in 

 this district the laborer has advantages unusual in 

 some other parts of the country. For instance, 

 his fuel costs only his own labor in cutting and 



preparing the peat ; he, in every case, keeps a 

 pig, and sometimes two; and the manure, ashes, 

 &c. his pigs and cottage produce, are readily laid 

 on by the farmers on their fiillows for the cottager, 

 who receives one crop of potatoes fi-om his own 

 manure. The great evil is early marriages : 

 young men generally marry belbre they are twen- 

 ty, and the females much sooner, and the alarm- 

 ing extent to which bastardy has increased in the 

 country is a most serious evil. No laborers iq 

 these parishes possess any little property, such as 

 a cottage and garden of their own. The poor- 

 rates have not increased here for eleven years 

 r)ast, and the count}' rates are rather less now 

 than at that period. The farm laborers are gene- 

 lalljr well behaved, cheerllil, and obliging; and it 

 is very rare indeed that any of that class ever ap- 

 pear to solicit aid from the parish vestries. 



POOR-LAWS. 



The lands described are situated in two parish- 

 es. The management of the poor-rates is con- 

 ducted in each parish by a select vestry, under 

 Mr. Sturges Eourne's Act, therectorof the parish 

 acting as chairman. The poor, (chiefly the aged 

 and infirm, and the hand-loom weavers of Long- 

 town, and some small villages in the neighbor- 

 hood,) have their various cases heard and reliev- 

 ed, and if ever there is an appeal from these ves- 

 tries to the local magistracy, the case of the ap- 

 plicant is iiiirly and properly inquired into, and 

 suitable relief afforded. Indeed, there is an evi- 

 dent wish among all parties to do what is fair and 

 just to the poor. The presence of the clergyman 

 in these vestries, however, has no doubt had a 

 great influence in checking any thing improper on 

 the part of the members of vestries. 



/Iss'istani Overseer. — Each parish has an as- 

 sistant overseer, who, besides a regular salary, re- 

 ceives ten per cent, on all moneys he meiy recover 

 from the fathers of ilk^iritimatc children. This is 

 apoiiit of much consequence, for, from the local 

 situation of the district, divided from Scotland by 

 an ideal line, the fathers of such children, from 

 either side of the border, easily escape from the 

 maintenance of their progeny if they are so dis- 

 posed. These overseers are thoroughly acquainted 

 with their profession, are respectable in their way, 

 have a perfect knowledge of the paupers, and are 

 exceedingly useful in keeping down the poor-rates 

 and seeing the funds properly applied. 



CHARACTER OF THE PEASANTRY. 



As already remarked, the peasantry are gene- 

 rally civil and obliging in their dispositions, and 

 grateful for the good treatment and kind words 

 they may receive from their masters. It is a truth 

 which constantly strikes the reporter's observation, 

 that however illiterate they may be themselves, 

 the peasants strain every nerve, and often deny 

 themselves many little comforts, in order that 

 their scanty funds may be saved to get their chil- 

 dren decent education at the parish schools. It is 

 no uncommon thino; for laborers to continue in one 

 master's employment many years, and on this 

 flirm of Netherby all the servants have been in 

 their present service for a long period, although 

 their engagements are only fi-om Week to week. 



Parish schools. — In these two parishes, there 

 are eight endowed schools, at which all the use- 



