IMS 



STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part IV. 



12. Live Slock. 



Cattle of mind breed] i some darning, chiefly for butter to 

 the manufacturing towns; some cheese, bnl not verj g.».d. 

 Calves raJsed a* stock, aiid sometimes sucUed for veal. - 

 in breeding ti.xks or various kinds, m... k In general neg. 



i to Unurovemanl ; all sorts ofcrosaei perm 

 that the original breeds of sbeep and hoes are no* lost. IWk 



and bacon are nun li N-. .) .11 .■ . iple, when they 



can procure tbstn; therefore the son whli ii Is to '«■ fed with 

 the lean trouble Is to be urefi rred. A mixture of the Shrop 

 shirr ,m. I Chinese basj in this respect! been found to 

 far bacon, and a croai or the wild breed for pork. 



Beast, reared on the commons, ami sold to farmers) who fat- 

 ten them nn their stubbles. 



Turkci/i, reared in large quantities by some farmers, and 



sold tohlglers, who drive them to Birmingham and other large 

 ■owns. Markets in general well supplied with fowls. It Isto 

 .ne general!) carried alive to market. 

 Death is no misfortune to an animal that lias no previous ap- 

 prehension of it. lint poultry, carried in hags or baskets to 

 market, have several hours of previous suffering, anil the bur- 

 den and trouble of carrying them thither seem much iu- 

 rreased thereby. 



IS. Political Economy. 



Koads generally bad ; various canals; trade of Shrewsbury, 

 flannel, and \\ el h webs, used for clothing tor the slaves m the 

 West Indus and South Am rica Manufactures in the 

 county numerous ; iron, pottery, porcelain, glass, dicing cloth, 

 woollens, flannels, linen, gloves, &c. An agricultural society 

 at Dravton. J 



77";. STAFFORDSHIRE. T'J ">.' >t w t acres of hill and dale, some parts rugged and others smooth, hut 

 on the whole more a minim and manufacturing than an agricultural county. The Marquis of Stafford 

 Lord Aiis. in, .uiil the Marquis of Anglesea, are the chief improvers. Excellent markets tor produce H ithiii 

 the county in consequence of the numerous manufacturing towns and villages. (Pitt's lienor! 18U8. 

 Marshal's Review, 1813. Lochs Improvements, 1819. Eclin. Gaz. 1S27.) ' 



1. Geographical Stale and Circumstances. 



CUmnie. Air sharp and cold, and inclining to wet ; annual 

 rains thirty-six inches ; those of London t\v. my or twenty-one 

 Inches; of 1 "j .minster, in Essex, nineteen inches and aquaiter ; 

 Lancashire tony-two; of Ireland forty-two to fifty. Annual 

 rain nn the west side of the kingdom double that on the east 

 side. 



'-. In the north side of the county hills arise, forming 

 the commencement of a ridge, rising gradually higher and 

 higher into Scotland, under different names : here called 

 Moorlands, then Peak, then Blackstone Edge, then Craven, 

 then stanmore; and then, parting into tuo horns, called 

 Cheviots. 



.v.i/. Wry various; about one third of the county strong 

 I. .am or clay ; one third mixed soils of almost all sorts, and the 

 remainder light, calcareous or alluvial ; no chalk. 



t/ . tit. Valuable and extensive; 5(1,000 acres or upwards 

 of coal. Iron ore and lime of unknown extent. 



M. Properly. 



Largest dates 10,000/. a year, and many of all sizes, from 

 that amount down to 40s. a year. Attorneys generally the ma- 

 nager., but ie excellent example, of 'gentlemen of from 



SOW. to .■.in 1. 1/. a year managing their estates themselves; re- 

 siding on them, and cultivating a part, and giving everv en- 

 couragement to their tenants. 



3. Buildings. 



Some noble mansions, as Trentham, Beaudesart, Ingestree, 

 &c. Excellent farm-houses constructed on some estates, as 

 Trentham, Lord Stafford's; but the majority ,as in other counties, 

 bad, and badly situated. A farm-yard has been constructed at 



the family seal of the Ansons, for a demesne farm of i 



acres. It was built by S. Hyatt, of London, and consists of the 

 farming steward's house at one end ; a range of building along 

 one side contains a brewhouse upon a large scale, a water corn- 

 mill fur the family and farm use, and in which com is ground 

 for the neighbouring poor gratis, and a malt-house : the oppo- 

 site -i-le and end are occupied bv stallsfor feeding cattle, store- 

 rooms, stable,, and other appendages ; and in the middle of the 

 yard is a i ery . n nplete hoggery, built of large stones set edge- 

 w.ivs, and covered with slate, with a boiler for heating hog- 

 food, a cold bath supplied by the mill stream, for giving an oc- 

 casional swill to the young pigs. In this building a number of 

 hogs are fatted on dairy refuse, boiled roots or vegetables, 

 pulse, ground barley or bran, supplied bv the mill near at 

 hand. At some distance above is the stack-vard and bams, 

 whiTe a powerful threshing-machine is worked by the same 

 stream that afterwards supplies the garden, and turns the corn 

 mill in the f;urm-vard. 



4. Occupation. 



Farms oral] sizes, fmm twentv-five to .WO acres; tr.anycon- 

 smidatedsince 1795. Some very good cottages with gardens, 

 and containing comfortable and commodious accommodation 

 for agricultural or ni.inuf.u luring operatives. A specimen of one 

 is given [Jig. 10O2.),which contains a living-room(.i), working 

 or lodging room ;/• , pantn , dairy , cellar,&c. (c), cow-house id), 

 with a water closet, and three bedrooms over. I-eases generally 

 granted for twenty-one years. Little made by farming unless 

 1002 



with a combination of all, or most of the following circum- 

 Btani eB— First, an easy rent ; second, a pretty good and . 

 farm ; third, economy and industry ; and fourth, length of time. 

 In the present system of finning, at a moderate rent, the writer 

 of this knows from experience, that it requires !'"' onlj the 



rnosl diligent industry, but also the most prudential economy , 



I'.kts-pi. '.theriglitsi.it. To which Mai 1 



41 1 have rat. Is fiuiid a farmer making a fortune by his profes* 



*i'"i alone, linf.-ss on fresh land, on virgin marsh, old . 



grostnd, ancient slwep- walk, or well soiled commen; a fortune, 



I mean, any way resembling that which, with the same ability 

 and industry, and with a small share of the outset capita! 

 he would have been making by trade, manufacture, or com- 

 merce." 



5. Implements'. 



Very various ; double furrow-ploughs drawn by four horses 

 a good deal in use in the light lands. Excellent threshing-ma- 

 chine, and various new implements introducing by proprietors 

 and especially by the .Marquis of Stafford. 



5. Arable Land. 



Most annual field-crops cultivated, including hemp and flax. 



7. Grass. 



Meadow on the rivers and brooks, and artificial grasses 

 sown ; feeding in general preferred to dairying. 



8. Gardens and Orchards. 



Common to many farm-houses ; hut few or no sale orchards, 

 and scarcely any fruit crashed for liquor. 



9. Timber and Woodlands. 

 Best-timberedestateBlithfieldPark. Lord Bagot ; the park 



contains many hundred trees of extraordinarv bulk, containing 

 from 20U to 400 feet of timber each ; much of it is mentioned by 

 Dr. Plott as full grown in lfiSti. Chillington and Beaudesart 

 also remarkably well timbered. The remains of N'eedwood 

 forest, chiefly remarkable for its beautiful hollies. On the 

 whole the country abundantly wooded. Sneid's coppices cut 

 once in six years to make crates and large hampers for the 

 potteries. 



10. Improvements. 



Irrigation and draining practised, the former only to a mo- 

 derate extent. Jessop, the engineer, suggests that nine parts 

 in ten of the waters of the kingdom atpresent run away in 

 waste, a great part of which might be usefully employed ; nay, 

 further (putting expense out of the question), that every stream 

 in the kingdom may be made to run equally through the whole 

 year. This position, however extraordinary, is easily demon- 

 strable ; for if, upon any given stream, one'or more reservoirs 

 be made, capable of containing its flood water, and through the 

 dam or dams be laid a pipe or pipes, whose apertures will just 

 discharge the average produce, the business is done: and 

 though there may be no probability of this business being ever 

 brought to so great a nicety, yet from hence some idea may lie 

 formed of the prodigious extent to which improvements by 

 n .iter may be carried. 



Great and radical imprmxmenls have been effected on the 

 Trentham estates. The first object was the having the lands 

 together, in farms of considerable extent, varying in size ac- 

 cording to the nature of the soil, and other circumstances. In 

 eliecting these necessary changes, wherever the old tenant was 

 removed, which was done as seldom as possible, he w as, unless 

 he took a farm elsewhere, accommodated with his house and 

 his best grass crofts for his life, at a low and inadequate rent ; 

 and in every case where it was possible to treat with the person 

 beneficially interested in the lease, and whose continuance in 

 the farm was incompatible with the new arrangement of the 

 land, his interest was purchased either for an annuity or a 

 sum of money, to enable him to look out for, and to stocka new 

 farm. The size of the farm being thus enlarged, it was neces- 

 sary to enlarge the size of the inclosures, and to lay several 

 closes into one, and, where possible, to give them a more regu- 

 lar and uniform shape. This arrangement enabled the land- 

 lord to get rid of the long useless lanes, by which a considerable 

 atldition to the number of arable acres was acquired. 



In order to frive each tenant every advantage in draining his 

 farm, the great lines of ditches were executed by the land- 

 lord; and wherever it was possible, these were' made the 

 boundaries of the farms. Thus the whole drains on the es- 

 tate were conducted according to one uniform plan, bv which 

 the system of tlrain ge was rendered much more complete, 

 and the interests of the whole, and not that of anv individual 

 tenant, were consulted, nor was anv one allowed 'to interfere 

 with the interests of bis neighbour. Such a perfect svstem will 

 have the eilect of rendering the condition oi these estates more 

 complete in this re-pect than that of anv other in England. 

 Attention has also been paid, in the execution of these works, 

 to make the water available lor the construction of water-mea- 

 dows, and for impelling the threshing-machines of the respec- 

 tive farms. r 



In eoiuejuatee of the complete state of ruin in which the 

 J.irm InnUingi ,.n these estate- were found, it was necessary to 

 incur a serious expense in constructing new ones. In this way 

 ii i. is inn necessary to erect thirty-seven new, and to repair 

 throughout eight other, extensive sets of farm otlices, besides 

 the smaller repairs which such estates necessarily require. 

 They have been executed in the most substantial mann.r. 

 Ihey are built of the best possible brickwork, covered with 

 tiles or slates; and their cost, including the expense of those 



■ mm;' 1 - ,' ,'T "'"!' maJ ' on a " average, be stated at from 

 1 ©07. t>> lfitHlf. each. 



M ehave dreads men examples of these buildings (2955. 



hicn are remarkably complete in design , and suh- 



itantial in execution ; and several of them arc furnished wiui 



