Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 



1151 



1. Geographical Slate and Circwnstances. 



Climutt mild and temperate ; no mountains or bogs to pro- 

 duce a cold or moist atmosphere. 



Soil ; no stiff clay or sand, no chalk ; the peat bogs which 

 existed have been long since drained, and bLCome meadow soil ; 

 clayey loam, sandv loam, and meadow, compose the soil of the 

 county. Dishley farm, so well known, consists of a mild friable 

 loam, of a good depth, on a clay or marl bottom. 



Minerals; coal, lime, lead, iron, slate, and freestone; all 

 Worked. A mineral si>ring at Burton Lazars. 



2. Property. 



Estates generally large ; that of the Duke of Rutland has 

 been much improved, and always managed in the most liberal 

 and lienevolent manner. 



3. Buildings. 



Many very magnificent, as Belvoir Castle, Donnington Priory, 

 &c. Farm-houses not built since the commencement of this 

 century are of very inferior construction ; timber and plaster 

 covered with thatch. In general, the modem enclosed parishes 

 have the worst farm-houses, they being almost always cooped 

 up in the villages ; in the more ancient inclosures, farm-houses 

 have been erecte<l in the midst of the occupations, and built 

 with better materials. Dishley farm-house is of ancient con- 

 struction, and has probably been built at different times, 

 whence it wants regularity and compactness ; it has, however, 

 taken altogether, a style of pastoral simjjlicity, united with 

 neatness, and exhibits a specimen of that judgment and taste 

 which joins convenience with economy, so far as it can be at- 

 tained without regular design ; the out-buildings too seem to 

 have been put up at separate times, as wanted ; the yards and 

 pavements are remarkable for neat cleanliness, and the whole 

 farm business for being conducted with good order and system. 

 The houses of other principal breeders are comfortable and 

 substantial, and of course fitted up in a style suitable to the 

 taste and situation in life of the occupier. 



Cottages generally in villages, and formed of mud walls and 

 thatch ; a few good new ones of brick and native slate. 



4. Occupation. 



Farms of all sizes : a great many from 80 to 100 acres, on 

 which the farmers work with their own hands ; near market- 

 towns, many under 100 acres, occupied by tradesmen and ma- 

 nufacturers ; general size, 100 to 200 acres; and those of the 

 principal breeders, from 200 to 500 acres. Land chiefly in 

 pasture for sheep, the dairv feeding cattle, breeding horses, and 

 hay for winter use : dairy farms have also sufficient arable land 

 to produce straw and turnips for their own use ; the most in- 

 ferior soils in aration. The Duke of Rutland has 2000 acres 

 in hand, including the park, woods, gardens, &c. At Don- 

 nington, Lord Moira had 370 acres, under a Northumbrian 

 bailiff, besides the park of 450 acres. Dishley Farm, near 

 Loughborough, in the occupation of the family of Ihe Bakewells 

 for three generations, and now of Robert Honey bourne, nephew 

 to the last Robert Bakewell, who died a bachelor, contains 

 between 4(X) and 500 acres. 



Irrigation is judiciously practised, and the culture of the 

 arable uplands has been long conducted on so corrtct a sys- 

 tem that few weeds now come up; the most troublesome is 

 chickweed. Heifers of three or four years old draw in the tart 

 or plough; three of them form a team, and work nine hours a 

 day. farmers in general intelligent. Leases not universal. 



5. Implements. 



Plough with two wheels, and drawn by three, four, or five 

 horses, or cattle in a line walking in the furrow. Thirty vears 

 ago, wheels were first applied to t!ie fore end of the beamj and 

 it was found that by pitching the ploughs a little deeper, and 

 setting the wheels so as to prevent its drawing in too deep, the 

 wheels were a sufficient guide, and the plough rcquiied no one 

 to hold it, except in places of difficulty ; one person attending 

 was therefore sufficient to drive on the tear.*, turn tl.e plough 

 in and out at the ends, or guide it in particular hard or soft 

 places. Soon afier another furrow was added, by slipping an 

 additional beam to the off side of the former one, somewhat 

 lengthened, with foot-share and shelboard ; the same number 

 of wheels, viz. one on each side, guiding the two furrows. 

 Among the uncommon implements may be included, a rack 

 and manger for four colts on wheels, to be drawn from one 

 pasture to another. It is square in the plan, and therefore each 

 colt has a side to itself, and cannot kick or bite at the others ; 

 a break for shoeing oxen ; a fastening for ewes, to lessen the 

 fatigue of the ram during copulation ; and also several ploughs, 

 rakes, &c. the invention of Ilanlord and Co. at Ha'.hern, near 

 Leicester. 



6. Arabic Land. 



Many farms have none. Drilling com crops principally in- 

 troduced ; but not for turnips, even at Dishley ; thought to 

 lose ground ; cabbages and rape a good deal cultivated on the 

 soils too strong for turnips. 



7. Grass. 



Excellent meadows on the rivers and rills ; fertilised by in- 

 undations; upland pastures sometimes manured. Stilton 

 cheese made in most villages about Melton Mowbray. On 

 the Trent, considerable patches of reed, which pay as well as 

 the best meadow land. 



8. Gardens and Orchards. 



Gardens much wanted to cottages ; orchards rather neglect- 

 ed, though the soil is in many places weU adapted for them. 



9. Woods and Plantations. 



Few, excepting about gentlemen's seats, and in the hedge- 

 rows. Willows, as pollards, grown on Dishley and other farms, 

 to supply stuff for hurdles, rails, and gates. 



10. Improvemertts. 



Elkington was a good deal employed by the proprietors. Ir- 

 rmation more extensively practised in this county than in most 

 others. 



11. Live Stock. 



Cattle, the long-homed breed. What was the particular 

 breed of cattle in I^icestersliire before the middle of the last 

 century, about which time Bakewell began his exertions, it is 

 difhcult to determine; perhaps there was not any distinct 

 breed, with particular specific characters, whereby they might 

 be distinguished ; although there were always great numbers 

 bred, yet the produce was never equal to the supply of the 



county : there always was, and still is, an influx from Ireland, 

 Wales, Scotland, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Herefordshire, 

 Northumberland, and Lancashire ; the latter of which were 

 most probably the stock from which Bakewell began his 

 breed: His first best cows, it is believed, were artfully obtained 

 from Webster of Canley, in Warwickshire ; and his famous 

 bull. Twopenny, was bred from one of these cows, or from one 

 procured from Phillips of Garrington, and a bull from North- 

 umberland. From these beginnings, with great judgment 

 and attention, in a short time he reared some beautiful cattle ; 

 they were long and fine in the horn, had small heads, clean 

 throats, straight backs, wide quarters, and were light in their 

 bellies and oftals ; they were gentle and quiet in their tempers ; 

 they grew fat with a small proportion of food, but gave less 

 milk than some other breeds. Some years ago, Bakewell put 

 three new-milched cows in three separate stalls, a Holdemess, 

 a Scotch, and one of his own breed; the Holdemess ate most 

 food, and gave much the greatest quantity of milk ; the Scotch 

 ate less food, and gave less milk, but produced most butter ; 

 his own cow ate least food, gave the least milk, and made the 

 least butter, but laid on the most flesh : hence it will follow 

 that the Dishley cattle are most adapted for the grazier, and 

 the produce of beef. No man, perhaps, ever made more com- 

 parisons between the different breeds of cattle than Bakewell, 

 and no one that was able to tell so much has told us so little 

 about them. Many capita! herds of cattle in the county, and 

 a number of dairies, from which great quantities of cheese is 

 sent to market. 



Sheef). The present stock consists of three varieties, the old 

 and new Leicestei, and the forest she p. The old breed, which 

 is spread over Northamptonshire, Warwick, and Lincolnshire, 

 are an improvement on the ancient stock of the common fields. 

 The new breed Bakewell produced bv breeding from selected 

 sheep from his neighbours' flocks, or those of the Gibbers. A 

 ram society was formed by Bakewell and others, and still 

 exists, the object of which wasa monojioly of ram-letiing. The 

 late Bakewell bound himself, and his successor. Honey bourne, 

 binds himself, not to engage nor show his rams to any person 

 till the members of the society have seen them and are sup- 

 plied, and not to let a ram to any person within fifty miles of 

 Leicester, for a less sum than fifty guineas, for which, and 

 other privileges, the society pay a' large annual sum ; and 

 Honeyboume, and the other members of the society, con- 

 fine themselves not to sell, nor to let,' their ewes at any 

 price, nor lo show their rams at any public fair, nor at any 

 other place than their own houses, and that only at stated 

 times, from the 8th of June to the 8th of .Tuly, and again 

 from the 8th of Sejitember till the end of the season ; with 

 several other regulations of a similar tendency. 



Ram-letting alone has produced to Bake^vell 3000/. in one 

 year. The greatest prices were paid about 1"S9 ; since that 

 time they have declines ; still, about 1807, from sixty to one 

 hundred guineas have been given for the use of a ram for one 

 season. Much curious information on this subject will be 

 found in the report. 



Folding is not practised. 



Fatting is practised as usual with grass, and in winter and 

 spring with artificial food. Bakewell frequently fattened sheep 

 in stalls; in three days they were reconciled to their confine- 

 ment, and began to feed. " Further thar 

 informant, Bakewell's succ 

 to communicate." 



The forest sheep are confined to Charrwood : they are grey- 

 faced, and partially homed, but now almost extinct. 



Horses have been bred in Leicestershire from time imme- 

 morial, and the breed considered superior. Bakewell went 

 through Holland and Flanders and purchased some Friesland 

 mares, which excelled in those points wherein he thought his 

 own horses defective, from which, with great labour, expense, 

 and judgment, he produced some capital horses, and in par- 

 ticular, his famous horse Gee, the noblest, and most complete 

 and beautiful, creature of the kind that had been seen in 

 Europe. How far his elegant points were adapted for the 

 labour that horses of this sort are principally designed to per- 

 form, is a question, perhaps, undetermined ; be this as it may, 

 beyond all controversy he was strong and handsome, and corn- 

 mandcd the admiration of all who saw him ; for a time he was 

 the first subject of conversation, and almost the wonder of the 

 day ; he was taken to Tattersall's, and shown there to the 

 nobility and gentry, with great approbation ; and Bakewell 

 had the honour of showing him personally to Geo. I II. ; he 

 is said to have been very quiet and docile, and Bakewell, in de- 

 scribing his points, invited his majesty to touch him, which 

 was declined. He was killed by lightning, in his pasture. 

 The present horse-system at Dishley is this : Three or four very 

 capital black stallions are constantly kept ; these are occasion- 

 ally worked, and are always rendered docile enough for that 

 purpose, if wanted ; those kept at home cover at two guineas 

 the mare, and those let out never at less than one guinea. 

 Eight or ten brood mares, of the same stout black breed, are 

 also kept, but no geldings ; these do all the farming work of 

 between 400 and 500 acres, with occasional assistance from the 

 stallions, as well as from bullocks and heifers ; of the mares, all 

 that are fit are put to the horse, of which three are reckoned 

 upon the average to rear two foals, allowing one in three for 

 casualties. 



Asses used in many parts of the county for carrying burdens, 

 and lately introduced as farmer's stock ; esjiecially for clearing 

 green crops from clayey soils, in wet weather, their step being 

 light. The turnip panniers open at bottom, to let out the load. 

 Lord Moira had Spanish stallion asses, fourteen hands high, 

 which he let out to cover at two guineas a mare. 



Mvles have long been in use for the saddle, road-work, and 

 the plough. 



Hogs greatly improved by various breeds. Honeyboume's 

 seem to have a cross of the wild boar. Astlej's is between the 

 Chinese and Berkshire. At Donnington is a German boar, the 

 bacon from whose progeny is of extraordinary sweetness and 

 good flavour. 



Bees attended to, but not so much as they deserve. 



12. Political Economy. 



The roads in the north-west of the county, in the neighbour- 

 hood of Louphborough and Ashby, are many of them laid out 

 upon the concave system. ^ x. -^ 



Bakewell and others were advocatf>s for this system ; out it 

 does not appear that they are considered to be attended with 



