Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF YORKSHIRE. 



1157 



being watered. 



FoT, 



I graze, once in two or three years as bare is 



ng WawrxCTj, la ^ , 



isible, and finish with store sheep ; shut it up at Christmas 

 mowing ; this is as good as a top-dressing." Feeding sheep 



dairying and breedmg horses 



8. Gardens and Orchards. 



Good market gardens and orchards about Northampton : all 

 common articles grown there well, but melons, grapes, peaches, 

 and pine-apples to be had from London cheaper than they can 

 be grown in the county. 



9. Woods and Plantations. 



Very extensive; there are forests, chases, purlieu woods, and 

 woods and plantations being freehold property. Rockingham 

 forest the most considerable, nearly twenty miles in length, 

 and covering 8 or 10,000 acres. Whittlewood eleven miles, 

 and 7000 acres, with Salcey forest, making in all 20,000 acres : 

 the chases and other classes are supposed to amount to 20,000 

 acres more, making in all 40,000 acres of woodland in the 

 county. The forest lands are in general very unprofitably 

 managed ; the Crown has a right to the timber, the Duke of 

 Grafton and others to the underwood, and the township to the 

 pasturage, &c. ; woods which are private and entire property 

 are better managed. 



10. Live Stock. 



Cattle of the county, the long-homed breed : but variou* 

 others introduced for fatting and the djiiry. 



Sheep of various breeds ; a good many new Leicesters. 



Horses of the strong black breed, bred for the coach, the 

 army, or large v.aggons. lilood horses formerly bred, but left 

 off, as the least blemish renders them unsaleable. 



Hogs, a breed between the Berkshire and the Tonquin. 



11. Political Economy. 



Bad roads, but mam- handsome bridges ; some canals. Ma- 

 nufactures ; shoes for the army and navy, and exportation ; 

 bone lace, woollen stuffs, as tammies, callimancoes, and" ever- 

 lastings. Several small friendly societies for the promotion of 

 agriculture, consisting chiefly of farmers. The Lamport So- 

 ciety is one of those which was founded in 1797, meets at 

 Lamport ; it has a fund for purchasing books on agriculture 

 and domestic economy, and seems to be a description of asso- 

 ciation very commendable. A great source of improvement 

 would be the breaking up of the inferior grass lands, and the 

 temporary laying down of the continually cropped tillage lands. 

 Donaldson has drawn an able comparison between the manage- 

 ment of lands in the Carse of Gowrie, in Perthshire, and those 

 of Northamptonshire, which shows how very far behind the 

 latter county is in arable culture. 



7804. YORKSHIRE, 3,698,380 acres divided into three Ridings, each of which is as extensive as the 

 generality of other counties. 



7805. West Riding of Yorkshire. 1,568,000 acres of irregular country, hilly and mountainous 

 towards the north, and more level on the east. It contains a great extent of surface well adapted for 

 husbandry, and is the seat of large and extensive manufactures. A survey of this Riding, of singular 

 ability and interest, was made by three Scotch farmers ; and the reprinted copy, as it contains the notes of 

 several gentlemen of the county, will in future times be considered as a curious document ; displaying as 

 it does local opinions so difFerent from those considered as liberal and enlightened. {Brown's West 

 Riding, 1799. Marshal's Review, 1818. Smith's Geological Map, 1821.) 



1. Geographical State and Circu7nstances. 

 Climate, moderate and healthy, excepting on the low surface 



near the Ouse; rain at Sheffield about thirty-three inches in 

 the year. 



Surface irregular, but the middle and eastern parts nearly 

 level ; arable lands generally enclosed with walls and hedges. 



Soil various, from deep strong clay to peat. 



Minerals, Coal, lime, ironstone, lead and some copper, which 

 have been wrought for ages past. 



Rivers. Ouse, Don, Calder, Aire, and 'Wharfe, all consider- 

 able, besides others of lesser importance. 



2. Property. 



Much divided, but some large estates, as those of the Duke of 

 Norfolk, E. FitzwUliam, E. Harewood, &c. 



3. Buildings. 



Wentworth House one of the largest and most magnificent 

 in the kingdom ; farm-houses bad and badly situated as in 

 most English counties; Lord Hawke has erected a commo- 

 dious and elegant farmery for his own use. Great want of 

 cottages for farm operatives. 



4. Occupation. 



Farms small ; for one of 400 acres a dozen under fifty ; occu- 

 pier of 100 acres styled a great farmer ; few leases ; the tenants 

 on one estate warned off because they had become methodists ; 

 tenantry in general much plagued by attorney stewards, who 

 must have business or make it. 



5. Implements. 



Rotheram plough general over the whole district, but one- 

 horse carts and other improved implements, as well as better 

 ploughs, are wanting. 



6. Arable Land. 



Round manufacturing towns great part of the land held by 

 manufacturers, that by farmers not well managed compared 

 with Scotland, but tolerable compared with other districts of 

 England. No grain will ripen on the eastern moorlands at an 

 elevation of 800 feet ; but on the calcareous wolds of the East 

 Riding it ripens considerably higher, and at 600 feet better 

 than here at 800. Such is the eftectof a calcareous soil. Be- 

 sides the usual crops, some flax, rape, liquorice, rhubarb, and 

 weld, cultivated. Some excellent remarks on fallows. 



7. Grass. 



Great part of the county under old pastures, including some 

 meadows, chiefly applied to the feeding of homed cattle ; cattle 



generally made fat on grass, and finished by stall feeding on 

 turnips ; sheep sometimes fed on turnips, by hurdling. Grazing 

 much better understood than aration. 



8. Gardens and Orchards. 



A particular species of plum grows at Sherbome and in the 

 neighbourhood, called the winesour. It grows well both upon 

 gravel and limestone, is hardy, a good bearer, and answers 

 upon any soil ; but does not bear so well, noi is its flavour so 

 good, on any as on limestone or gravel. On a strong deep land, 

 the trees run too much to wood, and do not bear fruit in pro- 

 portion. These plums blossom better than any other sort, and 

 are produced from suckers. The fruit sells from 2U. per peck, 

 when sound and good, to 4. 6d. when cracked and damaged. 

 They are easily hurt by rain. Plants are to be had from most 

 public nurseries, and in gEirdens they should be planted on a 

 layer of lime or chalk. 



9. Woods and Plantations. 



Much oak and ash wood grown, and a ready market found at 

 the shipping and manufacturing towns. 



10. Waste Lands. 



Two himdred and sixty-five thousand acres capable of culti- 

 vation. 



11. Improvements. 



Warping the most remarkable; ably described by Lord 

 Hawke, and Day of Doncaster. 



12. Live Stock. 



A great variety of breeds of cattle and sheep in use, but no 

 one generally preferred. Near Leeds, when milk tastes of 

 turnips, a tea-cup full of dissolved nitre is put among eight 

 gallons of milk, which entirely removes the flavour. Horses 

 generally used in draught : not many bred excepting in the 

 eastern part of the district ; sort in use among the farmers 9 

 small hardy race. 



13. Political Economy. 



Many good and many bad roads ; various canals . Numeroua 

 manufactures of shalloons, callimancoes, flannels, and every 

 branch of woollen goods. At SheflSeld every kind of cutlery, 

 since Chaucer's time ; at Rotherham, iron-works. These and 

 other manufactures the cause of the wealth of the West 

 Riding. 



14. Means of Improvement. 



Leases, division of commons, enclosing of wastes, better ro- 

 tations, &c. 



7806. North Riding of Yorkshire. 1,311,187 acres of bold hilly country, with some fertile vales and 

 extensive moor lands, chiefly remarkable for breeding horses, and especially the sort known as Cleveland 

 bays. {Tuke's Report, 1799. Marshal's Review, 1808. Smith's Geological Map, 1821.) 



1. Geographical State and Circumstances. 

 Climate dry, like that of other districts bordering on the 



German Ocean. Cold east winds during the first half of the 

 year. Milder in June, when west winds begin to prevail, ve- 

 getation not vigorous till June. 



Soil and surjhce : on the coast, clays, and lightish soil on alum 

 strata ; a loam upon freestone, and in some valleys west of 

 Whitby a deep rich soil: of Cleveland, fertile chalk, and sur- 

 face hilly ; vale of York generally a rich soil. 



Minerals. Inexhaustible beds of alum in the hills of the 

 coast and Cleveland ; and the only alum works in the island car- 

 ried on there ; pyrites being found in the alum mines, sulphur 

 was formerly extracted from them ; but as it re<juired a good 

 deal of coal, and pyrites are equally abundant in the coal at 

 Newcastle, the manufactory of sulphur was transferred to the 

 latter place. Some coal and ironstone in the moors, but not 

 much worked ; also copper, lead, freestone, slate, marble, marl, 

 &c. little worked or abandoned. 



2. Property. 

 One third of the Riding possessed by yeomanry ; rent of 



estates from 600/. to 18,000/. per annum ; many gentlemen's 

 seats, and the proprietors reside most part of the year on them ; 

 tenures mostly freehold. 



3. Buildings. 

 Mansions and farm-houses, as in the West Riding, but 



ratlier inferior ; cottages decidedly inferior ; small and low. 



rarely with two rooms ; damp and unwholesome hovels. Close 

 wainscoted beds used, as in the poorer parts of Scotland, 

 which are sources of insects and infection, and every way 

 unwholesome. 



4. Occupation. 

 Farms on the whole small, many very small : farmers sober, 



industrious, and orderly ; most of them have been educated, and 

 educate their children. Few leases. 



5. Implements. 



Rotheram or Dutch plough : hay sweep for drawing hay to- 

 gether with * horse and a simple sort of cart (.fo. 1008. a) in 

 use, formed almost wholly of timber, and to be drawn by one, 

 two or three horses abreast (b) ; wheels entirely of wood (c) ; 

 when to be emptied, the shaft horse is taken out, but not the 

 others. Another variety for harvest work ( fif;. 1009.). 



6. Arable Land. 

 In the vale of York one third in tillage ; about Cleveland 



one half; on the moors much less. Culture and rotations as 

 in the West Riding. Rye more frequently sown than wheat 

 on the light sandy soils ; often mixed with wheat, and then 

 called Meslin. 



Tobacco much cultivated a few years prior to 1782 in the 

 vale of York and Rjedale. In the latter district it did not 

 excite the notice of regal authority ; and was cured and manu- 

 factured by a man who had formerly been employed upon the 

 tobacco plantations in America; who not only cured it pro, 



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