Book I 



AGRICULTURE OF SHROPSHIRE. 



1145 



approach two opposite points at the same time, they will never 

 be able to reach either. Where the soil is well calculated for 

 the dairy, every attention should he paid to obtain and improve 

 the best sorts of milking cows ; and where the ox is kept to a 

 proper age as a beast cf draught; nothing conducing to his 

 excellence ought to be neglected* A cow must, however, rive 

 milk enough to keep its calf fat, or it is disqttalined for breeding 

 a good ox ; because the calf would be spoiled before it had 

 acquired the proper age to be weaned. 



Sheep. The provincial breed, the Ryeland, named from the 

 sandy district in the neighbourhood of Koss- They lamb in 

 February and March ; but during winter, and particularly in 

 time of lambing, the store flocks are generally confined by 

 night in a covered building, provincially termed a cot, in which 

 they are sometimes fed with hay and "barley straw, but much 

 more frequently with peas-haulm. Some breeders accustom 

 them to the cot only in very severe weather, and in lambing 

 time. The practice was derived from the Flemings, and intro- 

 duced into England about the year 1660* A cross h.is been 

 made between ihe Kyelands and "the new Leicester sorts, to the 



advantage, perhaps, of the breeder who fs situated on good 

 land, but certainly to the detriment of the wool. A cross 

 between the Ryeland and real Spanish seems the most probable 

 mode of adding to its fineness and value- Dr. Parry's experi- 

 ments have been already related. (7232.) 



12. Rural Econoyny. 



" If a certain proportion between the price of labour and the 

 average price of wheat could he fixed by law, so as to render the 

 applications for parochial aid necessary only in cases of a very 

 large family, of unusual illness, of scanty seasons, or any other 

 real emergency ; the measure, it is presumed, would be honour- 

 able to the country, would stimulate industry and fidelity, 

 would check dishonesty, and endear to a numerous class their 

 native soil." 



15. Political Economy. 



Koads formerly bad ; now improving ; materials, coarse 

 limestone. Gloves, to a small extent, manufactured in Here- 

 Ford. An agricultural society established in 17L>7> which has 

 given many premiums, and done much good. 



7795. SHROPSHIRE. A surface of 890,000 acres; in general flat, but with hills of considerable height 

 on some of its margins. The soil is chiefly clay, but in part light turnip land; both are devoted to the 

 raising of corn-crops. Breeding and dairying is also practised to a moderate extent. The greatest im- 

 prover in the county is the Marquis of Stafford, whose extensive and important operations on the estate 

 of Lilleshall are described at length by Loch, in his Improvements on the Marquis of Stafford's Estates, 

 lSly. (Bishtori's Shropshire, 1794. Plymlcy's Shropshire, 1801. Marshal's Review, 1819.) 



1. Geographical State and Circumstances, 



Climate. Considerable difference according to the soil and 

 surface; more warm on the eastern side than in the middle of 

 the county. E. winds prevail in spring, and W. in autumn. 



Soil. Nearly an equal quantitv of wheat and turnip land, the 

 former rather predominant. S.W* side of the county variable; 

 thin soil upon clay or rock ; extensive tracts of hills and waste ; 

 and most sorts of soils except chalk and flint. 



Minerals. Lead in granulated quartz very productive. Cop- 

 per ore found but not worked. Coal of excellent quality on 

 the eastern side of the county; lime, building-stone, chaly- 

 beate and spa waters, at different places. At Kingly Wick a 

 spring of salt water, used for making soda at a work established 

 at Woimbridge. Extensiveiron works at Colebrook Dale, where 

 the first cast-iron bridge was erected by Mr. Telford about 1780. 



Waters. Twenty-two sorts of fish found in the Severn in 

 Shropshire. Salmon in season from Michaelmas to May. 



2. Property. 



Estates of from 10 to 25,000 acres, and an infinite number 

 of freeholders: yeomanry estates of all inferior sizes: much 

 copyhold, but the lords upon some customary manors have en- 

 franchised the copyholders upon receiving an equivalent in 

 money. 



3. Buildings. 



Some good new mansions ; altove eighty of these named 

 in old maps become farm-houses. Farm-houses generally in 

 villages. Excellent new ones on the Marquis of Stafford's 

 estates, [fg, 998.) 



998 



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Comfortable cottages with gardens much wanted. Some 

 judicious observations by Plymley ; prescribes no particular 

 forms, but suggests the impropriety of making them, or in- 

 deed any other object, bear an outward appearance, intended 

 to contradict their inward use; all castellated or gothicised 

 cottages, all churchlike barns, or fortlike pigsties, he conceives 

 to be objectionable. They are intended to deceive, and they 

 tell you that thev are intended to deceive. It is not pleasant 

 to encourage any thing like deceit, but in these instances im- 

 position effected" is rarely gained ; it amounts only to imposition 

 attempted; or, could the deceit succeed, it wouid only present 

 a prospect with fewer proprieties about it than there really 

 are. Almost every species of country building has a good 

 effect, if properly placed and neatly executed; and what are 

 the least ornamental, or indeed the most disgusting, of their 

 appendages, cea>e to shock when supported by the relative 

 situation they stand in, showing their necessity and their use. 

 A dunghill in a farm-yard creates no disagreeable idea ; but 

 con net ted with a Gothic gateway or embattled tower, it is bad. 

 Cattle protected by the side i>f a barn form a picturesque group; 

 but sheltering under a Grecian portico, the impropriety is 



glaring. Linen hanging to dry on the hedge of a cottage 

 garden may be passed without displeasure; but the clothes of 

 men, women, and children surrounding the cell of an am 01 - 

 ite, or the oratcrv of a monk, have their natural unseem iness 

 increased bv the contrast. On the other hand, a tine-dressed 

 lawn with miserable cottages may be compared to the laced 

 clothes and dirty linen some foreigners were formerly accused 

 of wearing. The whole of a gentleman's estate should be his 

 pleasure-ground : the village should be one object in the scene ; 

 not shut out from it- There may be a little mere polish about 

 the mansion, but it should not be an unnatural contrast to the 

 surrounding objects. The face of no country is bad but a-, it 

 is disfigured by artificial means; and the cheapest and I - ;1 

 improvement is merely to remove what offends, and to take 

 care that the buildings or fences thai are wanted are neat and 

 appropriate, exhibiting distinctly their real intention. Plymley 

 is a friend to single cottages, because two families under one 

 roof may have more causes of contention arise between them. 

 On the other hand, in illness poor people have frequently the 

 merit of forgetting their differences ; and then the assistance 

 they are inclined tc give each other is made more easy by near- 



