.1159 



STATISTICS OF AGllICULTURE. 



Part IV. 



perly, but K-ive it the propw cut, ami finally prepjired it for 

 the pipe. But in the vale of Vork the cultivMors of it met 

 with less favourable circumstances : their tobacco was pub- 



1008 



licly burnt, and thams Ives severely fined and imprisoned. 

 Penalties,it was said, were paid to the amount of thirty t^ousand 

 pounds. This was enough to put a stop to the illt-gal cultiva- 



1009 



tion of tobacco ; but, perhaps rather unfortunately, it has 

 likewise put a stop to the cultivation of that limited quantity, 

 half a rod, which the law allows to be planted for the piurposes 

 of physic and chirurgery, or destroy, ini* insects. 



MiUlard grown in considerable quantities in the neighbour- 

 hood of Yoi k, and fields of it may be met with in other parts 

 of the Riding. It is prepared for use in the city of \ ork, 

 where there are mills and machinery for the purpose ; and it is 

 afterwards sold under the name of Durham mustard ; sown 

 either on land pared and burned, or prepared and manured as 

 for turnips. Seed, one to two pecks per acre broadcast, in the 

 early part of Mav. No culture whilst growing, except hand- 

 weecling, if necessary. Shorn with the sickle m September, 

 and generally stacked in tbe fiel;!, and threshed out upon a 

 cloth, at the" convenience of the farmer. Two quarters per 

 acre is thought a good crop. 



Teasel grown on strong soils ; seed, two pecks a little before 

 May-dav ; surface dug or forke<l over in .June, October, and 

 Lady-day ; reaped in August ; 10 pecks an acre a good crop ; 

 each pack 1350 bunches, of ten tejisles each ; price, 3 to 5 

 guineas per pack. 



7 Grass. 



Old pastures and meadows very badly managed ; uplands 

 overrun M'lth moss and ant-hills ; meadows with rushes ; and 

 so neglected, that what would be worth 200/. under a proper 

 course of husbandry, is dear at 7.; chiefly devoted to the 

 ilairy. 



8. Gardens and Orchards. 



Have made but little progress, in this Riding owing to the 

 want of manufactming towns to create a demand; farmers' 

 gardens, as in most places, much neglected. 



9. Woodlands. 



Of small extent; a good deal of timber in hedge-rows in va- 

 rious places. 



10. Live Stock. 



Short-horned cattle chiefly prevalent. Stall feeding carried 

 to less extent than dairying. Cows taken in at Martinmas, and 

 tied on turnips, and straw or hay if there are no turnips; butter 

 chiefly made and salted in firkins, and sold to the factors, who 

 ship it to London ; a good many cows brought up for London, 

 and any surplus stock for the Ijncolnshire graziers. 



Sheep. In the bleaker parts, the Cleveland breed, large, coarse- 

 boned, slow feeders, and the wool dry and harsh. All the new 

 breeds introduced, and several professed ram breeders in the 

 vale of York. 



Horset. This Riding long famed for its horses, particularly 

 those of Cleveland. In the northern pirt of the vale of York 

 a light breed for saddle and cOEich ; in Cleveland, a fijller-boned 

 horse, very strong and active, and well adapted for either 



E lough or coach. In all the other districts horses are generally 

 red ; on the western moorlands Scotch gallowavs are put to 

 the stallions of the country, " and rear a hardy and strong 

 race in proportion to their size." Before the war mules were 

 bred, and sent to the West Indies. Some farmers do not breed, 

 but buy colts and work them till four or five years old, and 

 then shoe them for the first time, and sell them to the London 

 dealers for co :ch horses. 



The farmers rrho breed horses, generally breed from those 

 mares which are employed in the business of the farm ; these 

 are often worked until" the very time of foaling, after which 

 they have usually two or three weeks' rest, before they are 

 again taken to work ; the foal, during the time the dam is 

 working, especi-Jly v.'hilst it is young, is shut up in a stable; 

 and it is the practice of some, before she is suffered to go to 

 the foal, after returning from work, to bathe her udder with 

 cold water, and to draw most of the milk from it, to prevent 

 the milk, which may have been heated by labour, from hav- 

 ing any hurtful efl\x-t upon the tbal. Some continue this 

 practice as long as the toal sucks : others, after the foal has 

 got sufficient strength to travel along with the mare, take it 

 along with her into the fields, and frequently suffer it to suck, 

 from an opmion, that by the milk being frequently drawn, less 

 danger arises of its being heatetl, or of possessing any quality 

 prejudicial to the foal. The general time of foaling is about 

 May-day (from which day the age of all horses is reckoned), 

 and that of weaning about Michaelmas, when the foals are 

 put into good after-grass, or the best pasture the farmer pos- 

 sesses : they remain there as long as the weather permits (if 

 there be sufficient food), and, on the approach of winter, have 

 a little good hay given them, where there is a stable, or hovel, 

 that they can go into at their pleasure. The colts are usually 

 gelded i"n the spring following, and in summer are allowed 

 only an inferior pasture ; the next winter they make their 

 living in the fields, or in the straw-yard, except they are in- 

 tendeid to work in the spring, which is frequently expected of 

 those of a strong kind : such are rather better kept as the time 

 of labour draws nigh, and are only put to light and easy work, 

 and generally work only h;;lf a day at once. Some keep their 

 colts a year longer, before the operation is performed, and find 

 that such become the stronger and handsomer horses. The 

 foal always receives a great check by being weaned, which it 

 does not well ret^ver before it gets the fresh pasture of the 

 following summer. The foals which are gelded at one year 

 old receive a second check, at the very time they should begin 

 to recover from the first ; whereas at two years old they appear 

 to be in the best condition for the operation, and recover at 

 least as well as at one year old, EUid are much improved by the 

 keeping of the preceding year. 



Exportation of horses. The horses which are sold for the 

 London market, if for the carriage, are chiefly bay geldings, 

 with but little white on their legs and faces, those which 

 have much white, with chestnut, roan, and other unusually 

 coloured horses and mares, generally do not bear an equal price 

 in the London market ; but with other slight and undersized 

 horses, are more sought after by foreigners, and eagerly pur- 

 chased by them for exportation ; or are exported by people of 

 this country, who c^rry them to the foreign markets, and 

 ultimately obtain a price equal to that obtained for those sold at 

 home: bv these means of exportation, contrary to an usually 

 received tut ill-founded opinion, has a strong tendency to re- 

 duce the price of those horses which are calculated for the home 

 market ; and since as many fillies as colts are n.iturally bred, 

 and one third of the colts at least will either have too much 

 white for the home market, or be of some other colour than that 

 which is fashionable at the time, if the breeder had not a mar- 

 ket for thoie, which appear to be two thirds at least of all he 

 unavoidably breeds, he would be compelled to put such a price 

 upon the one third which happened to suit the home market, 

 or variable taste of the moment, as would pay for the other two 

 thirds ; which last would either be unsalea"ble, or fetch very 

 inadequate prices. The consequence naturally flowing from 

 this would be, that the price of horses used at home would be 

 far greater than at present, when a foreign demand procures to 

 the breeder nearly as good a price for the horses that would 

 otherwise be useless and unsaleable, as for those which are 

 valued at home. 



llalibils are kept in one or two warrens ; in one the silver 

 grey is kept, the skins of this variety being worth double 

 those of the greys : not used for felts like the common skins, 

 but dressed as furs, and exported to China to be worn by the 

 Mandarins. 



1 1. Political Economy. 



Roads in an improving state ; bridges better attended to 

 than in most counties; but guide-po.sts neglected, which an 

 annotator on Tuke's report justly remarks, is a sort of revert- 

 ing to barbarism ; as an attention to these sort of minutiae 

 is one of the most striking marks of civilisation. Various 

 canals. 



Mamifiictures of sail-cloth and cordage at Whitby and 

 Scarborough ; at various places in its neighbourhood," alum 

 works ; 4000 tons of this article anually shipped from Whitby ; 

 linens, cottons, woollen, and paper manufactured in various 

 places. 



7807. East Riding of Yorkshire. 819,200 acres of inoderately wavy surface, intersected with numer- 

 ous, deep, winding valleys ; not remarkable either for its arable lands or pasturage; but productive of 

 horses for the coach and saddle, and of the excellent Holderncss breed of cows. (Leaifiam's Genn-al Fiew, 

 1794. Strickland's View, 1812. Marshal's Review, 1812. Stnith's Geological Map, 1821.) 



1. Geographical State and Circumstances. 



Climate of the wolds severe and variable ; N. and N.E. winds 

 prevail in winter and spring ; in the vales milder ; mild, but 

 not very healthy, on the Humber ; rain at Hull twenty-seven 

 inches and a half yearly at an average. 



Soil of the wolds calcareous loam ; of Ho'.demess fertile cla/ 

 and stiff retentive clay. On the banks of the Humlier, from 

 I'aul nearly to Sperm Point, there are 13 or 14,000 acres of 

 warn-land,"of a strong clayey loam, the productiveness of which 

 oan hardly be equalled. 



Sunk Island on the Humber is a modem creation bv that 

 estuary. It first began to show itself about 16R7, at ebb tide, 

 and as no man pretended title to it (it being a detached island), 

 a grant of it was made by the crown in the same year. In 1787 

 1600 acres of the land were embanked and under tillage, pro- 

 ducing a rental of 900/. a year, with a chapel and several farm- 

 houses erected on it. That part of Sunk Island which was first 

 embanked was originally about two miles from the shore, and 

 many persons are still living who recollect vessels passing be- 

 tween it and the mainland, to which it is now united by a 



