172 



STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part IV. 



rararn bull for earth or <tones (<-) ; dimfMNMI ' T '' 

 i for dung or MonM [ and TsannJen with hookstfi 



■rn (']. are BUO In use. 

 K x h.m l-bmrrowi and grax* barrows {./Sf. 11*0.) arc alto 

 umxI un a lew farms. 



11 'JO 



7 



- f- - 



:/ 



The CofnJlh plo gh Li j un ill swing plough w Ith a straight 



f wood as i in" ild Uu trd. 

 Him ftesMCi f..r threshing on are four or five planks laid 



MM boa llll. bul aboill one third «>l" mi in< li i-ilinhi ; mi that 



the com as it b dtreahed m ij, rail through ami not be bruised] 

 la ion* li Li v paral d from tin- rtraw bj beating it 



on a bamd or Inclined plane, usu illy i-v women. Feu ■ 

 rally nude of ftton , or raised banks of" stone, slate, and earth, 

 UMiWllniiri planked. 



6 Arabic hand. 



The piles, or naked ont, cultivated on worn-out ground ; its 

 straw icn Hire, and reckoned nearij as good ai hay- A quantity 

 of potatoes exported yearly , but not enough of wheat grown for 

 home consumption. 



7. Grass 



Chief}] n.ir towns and Tillag-s °n sheltered slopes, and the 

 uncultivated lands known as moors, downs, crofts, and wastes; 

 wtne meadows watered. 



8. Gardens. 



Common to cottages and farms, and l>etter attended to than 

 In most counties ; orchards also attached to many farms. 



9. Hoods and Plantations not abundant. 



10. Improvement* 



Draining practised to a considerable extent, and one or two 

 examples of embanking. 



The maritime situation of Cornwall presents the farmer with 

 three valuable manures ; fish, sea sand, and sea-weed. In some 

 years the farmers who live in the vicinity of fishing towns have 

 an opportunity of buying the bruised and small pilchards; 

 w bicfa tieing deemed unfit for market, are rejected and called 

 " coll;" four cart-loads of twelve bushels are considered as the 



E roper quantity for an acre. The usual mode of management 

 to bury the cotf in a pile of earth, deep enough to secure it 

 from dogs ami bogs, adding to the pile a sufficient quantity of 

 sand, well mixing, and turning all together after having lain 

 tome months. Without this practice the fish would not decay 

 sufficiently for perhaps a yeir or two. The fish are sometimes 

 used alone ; then are then spread thinly OTei the ground before 

 the plough, anil turned under furrow. One pilchard cut up 

 small will amply dress one square foot of ground. 



The old salt which has been used to cure the pilchard, and 

 judged to l»e no longer fit for that purpose, is advantageously 

 applied for a barley or a turnip crop ; twenty to thirty bushels 



p/r acre* It is commonly hand-sown, in the manner of com ; 

 and n ihould remain on the land five or six days berbrsj the aeea 

 is town* It \t but adapted to light lands, particularly furze 

 crops. Twent\ bushels per acre hare been Mewed OVCT gTSSi 



i over a wheat crop, In the month of March, with 

 ei nli nt adv inl ice. 



Another »r IcTe of manure obtained from this useful fish is 

 the liquor which drains from it while under the pi f 



curing, i onsisling of blood, brine, and some oil whii h i 

 anil which is caught in pi's; the dilig'-nt farmer c.trt> this 

 awaj in casks, for the purpose of pouring on r and mixing with 

 bis piles of earth and sand, which it greatlv enrii ln>. 



11. Livestock. 



Deronahire cattle prevail ; but it is only among the move en- 

 lightened and spirited breeders thai the genuine Nortl Devon 

 are to be met with. Cows are kept in winter in sheds open to 

 the aouth ; one of which for wren oovra and a fatting ca 

 1 1 21 0t described by the surveyor, contains cribs fin* uaj 

 in winter, and lucent, retches, 6xc. in summer (a) j troughs for 

 turnips, pot itiH s, cabbages, 6ec> (o) ; beds or platforms for the 

 cows to stand and lie on (<-); gutters sunk two or three inches 

 to receive the dung [d\ \ head-war and feeding pi ce(e); dark 

 place for fatting a calf (/) ; the divis'on outside |g) for a cow 

 that b is, or is near baring, a calf. She is not tied up. 



ii t.M 



The cows are ti d to posts by means of a strong chain and 

 rape, which bj means of a ring runs on a Ions staple. 



Oxen very generally worked l»oth in plough and cart; shod 

 in brakes, and yoked in the bow- 



Sheep a mixed breed ; Cornish breed lost among crosses. 



Horses a small hardy active brt.ed, well adapted to the hilly 

 nature of the county. 



Cornish hug always white; a long-sided razor -backed animal ; 

 crossing by the Devon, Sufib'k, and Leicester breed, has taken 

 off" length and sharpness, and added breadth and depth ; a 

 mixture of Chinese and Suffolk is another variety. 

 12. Political Economy. 



Public roads tolerably good; lanes bad. Some traTeJIers 

 who met Pargan, the reporter, hoped he would notice with 

 reprehension the straw-traps that the farmers lay in some of 

 the cross roads, and which, concealing the deep ruts, endanger 

 their horses, gigs, and their own recks. 



Manufactures few ; some of woollen carpets, and paper. The 

 three gri-at staple commodities for export, are tin, fish, and 

 copper, the rnoor stone, China stone for porcelain, bailey, oats, 

 potatoes, and some wheat. 



7826". The islands of JERSEY, GUERNSEY, ALDERNEY, and SARK, which lie in the Bay of St. 

 Michel, and form the remnant of the ancient Duchy of Normandy, though naturally belonging to the con- 

 tinent of France, have yet for nine centuries been subject to the British Government. The agriculture 

 of all of them is nearly the same ; but we shall follow the Reporter to the Board of Agriculture in con- 

 sidering first that of Jersey, and next Guernsey, These islands are chiefly remarkable for their breed of 

 cattle, their parsneps, and the degree of perfection to which many plants arrive in the open air, which 

 are kept in England under glass. [Qnayle's General View, $£> Of the Norman Islands, 1812.) 



7827. Jersey, 39,580 acres of warm and rather moist climate, diversified soil, and features: the soil is 

 for the most part light, on granite or schUtus, and there is some peat and marsh. No calcareous soil or 

 rocks ; granite and gneiss quarries worked ; and granite pillars of fifteen feet in length extracted. Water 

 abounds ; and belief is still entertained in the efficacy of the divining rod for discovering springs. 



1. Propetty. 



Minutely divided, and mostly in the hands of a resident 



J'eomanry. Some lingular laws and customs as to tenures, as, 

 ip'e, the rtirait ligtuiger and retmit st-igtirurini Oujbcdol ; 

 a. S3 the legitimation of children not horn in wedlock, l>> the 



marriage of their parents, as m Scotland, and most other 

 oonntx ea of Europe except England. 



2. Buildings. 



lubstantiailj built of stone, sometimes 

 roUL'h.cast, ne.itU mud in imitation of squared stone-work. 



Farm houses Bene red with thatch or pantiles. L'ot- 



t.ices generally of atone, with a vine in front. 



J. Occupatum. 



Farm* small, and hi-UU diminutive; farmers frugal, and 

 their wives i^ood managers, and industriou>. 



4. Implements. 



Pkajaft vfehwhaeJa, resembling that of Hampshire ; some- 

 time* drawn b* two bullocks, and &ix or ei^ht horses; a sort 

 of large plough used for p ovghing deep, for parsneps, and 

 h«ld in partnership DJ several farmers j instances of this plough 



being drawn by sis oxen, and rixteen bora a. (p. 64.) 



5. Enclosing. 



Fo UK aety small and Errejnilarlj shaped, and the fences of 

 hi h • *rtheii mounihy often Ju-cjvr reel wide at hist, and six 



reel hi^h, crowned with a hedjfei <*r timber mea and \ 

 able f. a nil 



Soil deep, and deep ploughing generallv practised, hut no 

 Improvement in it rot agea{ no naked rallosra. The spelt 

 wheat (Trflicum Sp/liu), here called I It trrnuiis,frumentitm tri- 

 maafrs, hen enters into rotation; it is sown in Fehruary, pro- 

 duces short stjil'&irau, || difficult to thresh, hut never lodges. 



I'ttrsrui* are Krosrn bi ever* raitner ( and i tebor bs the spade 

 culture alone, by the plough and spide, or by the small and 

 gre d plough ; any soil in i;ood heart nnd tilth suits th* id, but 

 pectrifarll g dee^i loam; and in the nme ^i^.t generally are 

 raiaed b^ans, peas, cabbage, and occasionally potatoes. 



When the ploughing or diu'eing is Completed* the field is 

 ance harrowed.- straight lints are then drawn across, by inesxik 



of a gardener's rake, usually from north to south ; women 

 then proceed with dibbles, and set the beans in tows, at a 

 distance of four inches oi five inches from bean to bean; in 

 four, three, and sometimes in two ranks of beans, leaving 

 intervals of five or six feet between each of the sown rows. 

 In the use of tl e dibble, and in dropping the beans, the 

 women have acquired considerable dexterity. In many in- 

 stances, they an- followed by children, who drop into each hole 

 made bv the dibble, after the bean, three or four peas; the 

 parsnep seed is then sown, at the rate of one third to one sixth 

 of a bushel to the acre- 



The parsnep, not usually relished elsewhere as an article of 

 human Jood t is here consumed by all classes of people ; it is 

 eaten with meat, with milk, and with butter; but not, as is 

 the common mode of using it as human food in England, with 

 salt fish ; or, as in Ireland, together with potatoes. 



The next most valuable application of this root is hog-feed- 

 ing ; at first it is given to the animal in a raw state, afterwards 

 boiled or steamed, and finally, for a week or a fortnight with 

 bean and oat meal. A hog, treated in this way, is sufficiently 

 fatted for killing in about six weeks. Its flesh is held superior 

 to that arising from any other food, and does not waste in 

 boiling. 



liullocks arc also fatted with parsneps, in about three month? ; 

 tru ir flesh is here considered of superior flavour to any other 

 beefj and commands, on that account, an additional half- 

 penny in the pound on the price. To milch-cows they are also 

 iiMiaiu given j on this diet the cream assumes a yellow colour; 

 by the accounts here given, it appears, in proportion to the milk, 

 to be more abundant thin when the animal is kept on any 

 other food whatever. When the cow receives at the rate of 

 thirty- fire pounds per day with hay, seven quarts, ale measure, 

 of the milk produce seventeen ounces of butter. It is generally 

 allowed, that the flavour of the butter is superior to any other 

 produced in winter. 



Geese are sometimes shut up with the hogs, to fatten on 

 paranepS] which they will eat raw. The root is also given 

 boUed, and for a week before killing they are fed with oats or 

 barley only. Horses eat this root greedily ; but in this island 

 it b never given them, as it is alleged, that when on this food, 



