Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF DEVONSHIRE. 



1169 



ornamented with extensive plantations, in tins district, and the 

 farm-houses and cottages are tor the most part commodious 

 and comfortable ; but, on all the dairy farms, a shameful inat- 

 tention prevails in respect to outhouses and sheds for their 

 stock to retire to in the winter months. Cattle are almost uni- 

 versally served with their provender in the field ; and many 

 a dairy farmer, with twenty cows, scarcely makes, in the 

 whole "winter, a quantity of dung sufficient to manure one acre 

 of land. 



Occupation. Farms seldom exceed 200/. a year ; some of the 

 dairy tarms are so small as not lo exceed C>Ql. or 70/. per year; 

 and many instances can be produced cf such little farmers 

 luinging up a large family in a very respectable wav. In such 

 instances, it is teneraNy' found that the wife undertakes the 

 whole management of the cows, and the husband goes to daily 

 labour. 



Implments. Plouuh with a foot or wheel ; spade with the 

 blade curved in its breadth, to prevent adhesion of soil ; it is 

 much narrower and longer than those used in other counties, 

 eighteen inches by six inches. 



Arable land but in small proportion, and little attended to. 

 Teazles and woad grown for the clothiers ; potatoes cultivated 

 to a very considerable extent. The reporter has known thirty- 

 two successive crops of potatoes from the same field, and the 

 produce as good at ihe latter part of the term as at the be- 

 ginning. 1 his will puzzle the theorist, with his peculiar sub- 

 stances of nutrition. A sack of potatoes is equal to a hundred 

 weight of hay. 



Grass the predominating surface. "On the rich marsh land 

 near the Bristol Channel, the grazing system prevail*. Jn the 

 vicinity of Bristol and Bath, the scythe is in constant use; and 

 at a greater distance nothing is scarcely seen but the milking 

 pail : on the stonebrash, and freestone grit soil, saintfoin takes 

 the lead: next to saintfoin, rye grass, marl grass, and white 

 Mutch clover are in deserved repute, when the land is intended 

 to remain some years in grass; but when it Is intended to be 

 ploughed again in the course of a year or two, broad clover is 

 preferred to all others. 



Hay-tea (1S07.) much in use, by which means it is consi- 

 dered as much nourishment is obtained as if the hay were 

 eaten, while after boiling the culms may be drieJ and used as 

 liiter! In some places, however, a prejudice exists against 

 ming hav for litter, on the supposition that it breeds vermin in 

 cattle. 



Market Gardens for the supply of Bristol and Bath. A clergy- 

 man has eight or ten acres of nursery ground, the labour of 

 which amounts to Vol. per acre. 



Orchmds abound throughout the whole district ; the favourite 

 apple, both as a table and cider fruit, is the court of wick pip- 

 pin, a seedling from the golden pippin. 

 Woods and Plantations not numerous. 



Live Stock. Cattle mostly short-horned ; the long-horned 

 treed of North Wiltshire have been tried, but the customary 

 1 reed preferred. Both cheese and butter made. 



Roads prettv good; some cana's; woollen manufacture ex- 

 tensive, and that of knit worsted blockings considerable. 



7822. Middle District. 



Between I and 500,000 acres of varied surface and soil. 

 and mild climate ; including a great extent of marsh and f n 

 land, great part of which has been drained and embanked. 

 Half this district occupied by the owni r>. (Jrass the chief 

 product; fanns from 40/- to 600/. per annum, partly grazed 

 with heifers, but chiefly by cows for the dairy : the cows let 

 out to dairymen, as in Dorsetshire. 



Arable Land, flax and hemp extensWely cultivated, and also 

 turnips. 



Orchards numerous and very productive ; soil particularly 

 suitable ; plantations few. 



Live Stock. Small cows, well fed, preferred for the dairy, 

 and the object chiefly cheese ; that of Cheddar much admired 

 the others in general sold in London as double Gloucester. A 

 dairy-maid can manage the milk of twenty cows. 



Roads excellent, especially from Wells to Bridgwater ; ex- 

 tensive woollen manufactures, many of hemp and flax, and 

 some of gloves. 



7823. South-west District. 



Rough mountainous hills, and rich fi rtile slopes and plains ■ 

 farms rather less than in the last district, but the husbandry 

 much the same; more land in tillage ; mountains uncultivated, 

 and pasture with sheep and young bullocks; in the vicinity of 

 these hills the principal corn crop is o-»ts. 



Fences. The beech hedges around Dulverton, Dunster, &c. 

 are not only beautiful to the eve, and excellent fences and 

 shelter, but are a source of annual profit to the proprietors. 

 The banks on which they are planted are six or seven feet high, 

 and between four and five feet wide at the top ; the moulder- 

 ing of the sides is frequently prevented by a dry stone wall, 

 four feet high. There is no ditch ; and the hedge consists of 

 three rows of beech, planted on the top of the bank, at about 

 one foot distance. Their growth is very rapid, and they seem 

 to defy the destructive qualities of the sea breezes, so fatal to the 

 white-thorn, and most other plants; when at maturity, the 

 middle row is cut to the ground, and the outside rows plashed. 

 The quantity of fuel supplied by these hedges is very consider- 

 able ; and the only objection that can be made to them is, that 

 the earth ustd in the construction of the banks is so consider- 

 able a quantity, that a large portion of the field is robbed of its 

 vegetable matter, and rendered for some years unproductive. 



Some Norfolk farmers introduced on the Barnard estate, 

 and rhubarb cultivated to great perfection by Ball, at Wil- 

 liton, near Watchet. Many orchards, and excellent cider 

 made ; not much wood, but elms attain to a large size in the 

 hedges. 



Live Stock. North Devon cattle and Dorset sheep used round 

 Taunton Dean ; oxen worked chiefly in yokes. Manufactures 

 at Taunton on the decline. A salmon and herring fishery at 

 Porlack, Minehead, and Watchet. 



7824. DEVONSHIRE. 1,595,309 acres of strongly marked hilly surface, including the vale of Exeter, 

 " the garden of the west;" the Forest of Dartmoor, a barren waste; and North, West, South, and East 

 Devonshire, each with distinct features. The county is celebrated for its breed of cattle, its dairy, and 

 its orchards, and of late years for extensive improvements undertaken in Dartmoor, where is also the im- 

 mense depot for 10,000 prisoners of war. (Jlg.lll<k) [TyrwhiWs Tracts on the Improvements at Dartmoor, 

 181*J Eraser's General View % 1794. Vancouver's View, 1807. Marshal's Review, 1817.) 



1114 



1. Geographical State and Circumstances. 

 Climate in North Devon less mild than in South Devon, but 



still myrtles are used as garden hedges ; in South Devon the 

 climate is supposed more mild and salubrious than in any other 

 pit of England. 



Suit in gTeat variety, but in general calcareous. 



Minerals. Some iron and copper worked, also freestone, 

 bmestone, and marble, &c. 



2. Property. 



Much divided, onlv a few large estates ; formerly letting for 

 ttvtt much in use. It has frequently hajq ened, that in letting 



an estate, the landlord agreed to discharge tithes and all paro- 

 Ci ial paymei.ts. About the years ISM and 1801, the rent of 

 several estate, in this county was absolutely insufficient to meet 

 such disbursements, and consequently all the estates so circum- 

 stanced brought their proprietors in debt. 



3. Buildings. 



Houses of proprietors too generally going to ruin from non- 

 residence. "We defy ingenuitv to plan and place farm-houses 

 worse than they are." " Garden-walls, farm-houses, barns, 

 stables, lime-kilns, vUlage fences, «oid cottages, are all built 



4 F 



