Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF CORNWALL 



1171 



consequent . perseverance ; and thus habituates them to receive 

 instructions. 



Where Vancouver is at present we do not know ; we hope he 

 mav long live to witness the extension of education which is 

 now taking place, not only in this, but in almost every country 



in the world ; and we hope all those whom he desii.Tiates pea- 

 santry, who may ever happen to read the abovi' extracts, v, ill 

 see the necessity of fortitying themselves, by knowledge and 

 good conduct, against the degradation attendant upon ignor- 

 ance and vice. 



7825. CORNWALL. A peninsular hilly surface, of 75S,484 acres, remarkable for its mines, and of 

 late greatly improved in its agriculture, the object of which is chiefly corn. It is the country of Sir 

 H. Davy, who may be considered as having eminently contributed to agricultural science by his agricul- 

 tural chemistry. The inhabitants have been remarkable from the time of the Romans fur their mildness 

 and complacency of temper, urbanity, hospitality, courteousness, and liberality. {Fraxer's Cornwall, 17!4 

 lVor<*an'sCornwall, 1810. Marshal's licview, 1817. Edin. Oaz. abridged, 1829.) 



1. Geographical State and Circumstances. 



Climate, like that of other peninsular situations lying far to 

 the south and west, inconstant as to wind and rain, and mild 

 as to heat and cold. Plants, shrubs, and even the most hardy 

 trees on the sea-coast, sustain much injurs- from the violence of 

 the westerlv wind, and the salt spray of the sei, which it drives 

 with great force before it; hence crops of wheat and turnips 

 have been totalis- destroved. After a storm, the plants have 

 their roots much" torn, and their leaves co.roded and shrivelled 

 as if scorched, and taste of a pungent saltness. Trees and 

 shrubs shrink and lean awav to the eastward, and appear as if 

 clipped by the gardener's shears. The only shrub which seems 

 to bear the sea air is the tamarisk. 



Xutjiia remarkably unequal; ascents and descents follow in 

 rapid succession; some hills very steep. 



Suii generally slatv and loamy, mixed in a manner that ren- 

 ders it almost iiniKissible to designate the boundaries and extent 

 of each. _ _ ... 



Minerals chieflv tin and copper; for the former Cornwall has 

 been famous fiom the remotest antiquity, as some think, from 

 the days of the Phoenicians. 



2. Property. . 



Verv much divided, subdivided, and vexatiouslv intermixed. 

 Estaes from twenty a Tes to 500 acres, very few exceeding 

 4001. per annum. " Many gentlemen and clergymen in this 

 countv occupy their own estates and glebes, and keep their 

 grounds in a very superior state of cultivation. The manage- 

 ment of great estates is generally given to attorneys. 



Entailed estates. " I was in hopes that I had been a singular 

 sufferer in Cornwall, from this kind of deceptive tenure ; it 

 would then not have been worthy of notice ; but in my excursions 

 through the county I have met with fellow-sufferers, and with 

 others who are likely to become so. As such cases have oc- 

 curred, and may occur again, it behoves every man who is 

 about to occupy a f.rm for a term by leise, to make enqu ry 

 whether it be an entailed estate or not ; because the possessor 

 having the power of letting for his own life only, in case of his 

 death, ihe occupier is left entirely at the mercy of his suc- 

 cessor.' - (rror!,'<i/r* Suney, 22.) 



3. Buddings. , . 



Old farm-houses of mud and thatch ; the lower divisions con- 

 sist of a kitchen, and an apartment dignified with the name of 

 parlour, but called (provincially) the higher side, a cellar, and 

 dairv-room ; but these latter are frequently under a lean-to 

 roof"; the rooms very low, not ceiled, and two bed-chambers 

 over; the floors of the chambers are of oak plank ; the ground- 

 floor e trth, lime-ash, or flag-stone. . . 



The farm-offices, built of the same materials, consisting of a 

 barn, cow and ox sheds, and hog-sties, stand in confusion about 

 the dwelling. The intervening and ci cumjacent ground is 

 called the farmer's town-place ; for as to that essential append- 

 age, a regular farm-yard, it is a convenience not often met with 

 in any part of the countv. 



Some good new farmeries erected centrically on newly en- 

 closed lands. One for fbrtv-six acres has a very neat elevation 

 ( fig- 11 16.), and the plan [.fig. 1117.) contains a feeding place 

 into which the lumips are carried (the cart being backed into 

 it), aid from whence the sheep and oxen are fed (o) ; place for a 

 yoke of oxen (6), either for soiling or winter -feeding : the oxen 

 are tied to posts (cc) ; there are troughs for turnips di) ; cribs, 

 or racks for has or straw (c) ; lean-to, for store sheep (J ) ; lean- 

 to, in which half a score sheep are kept to fatten, the number 



being completed again soon as any are sold (g) ; fodder house, 

 used as a barn {h) ; open shed for tools B ; hanging doors with 



lllr, 



bolt inside, and through which the fodder is handed to suppl, 

 1117 



/ 



e 



D=C E== 



the cattle, and is thus kept always dry ik) ; door and staircase 

 leading up to the wool chamber {I). The stairs rise quick, so 

 as to be quite out of the way of the ox feeding in that side of the 

 house. 



Cottages. " I had occasion often, in my dreary walks during 

 mv survey, to take shelter in some of these miserable dwellings, 

 and found the poor inhabitants busy in placing their, bowls, 

 crocks, and pans, to catch the water pouring in at the roof. 

 However, the meanest cottage generally has that great source 

 of comfort, a garden, attached to it."" Some very comfortable 

 plans of cottages, by Captain l'enson of Ethy, are described by 

 the surveyor. 



4. Occupation. 



Farms from three or four to three or four hundred acres, 

 mostlv from 50/. to 501. a year. I-eases on rack-rented farm* 

 generally from fourteen to twenty-one years. 



5. Implements. 



No county affords a greater variety of wheel and other car- 

 riages. The harvest waggon ifig. 111S.) has a lade before and 



111R 



behind, and is open in the middle , it carries about ol>0 sheave 

 of corn. When drawn bv horses, shafts are applied ; when by- 

 oxen, a pole. An arch of Iwards over the hind wheels prevents 

 the corn from litaring on them- 

 The ii niii is another light useful carriage for carrying corn | 



and hav. It consislsof alight, open, longbody, borne upon two 

 wheels ;' a railed arch over the wheels prevents the load rrom 

 bearing upon them ; it will carry from 200 to 250 sheave* 

 which are secured bt ropes, it having no sides or lades. 

 A tledgc for corn, hay, or faggots ( Jig. 1119. a) ; slide butt ['■); 



111! 



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