1162 



STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part IV. 



of martial achieTemenfs ! " " This," Marshal observes, " most 

 assuredly means, not htm, but me. ' 



In some prdhmnari) observatiotis to this report by Watson, 

 Bishop of Llandafi; are suggestions for settling poor people in 

 cottages on the wastes, as has been done in Spain, and on the 

 advantages which would result from planting them, especially 

 with the larch and oak. 



y. Geographical State and Circumstances. 



Climate. Healthy, though subject to great and frequent falls 

 of rain, especially in autumn, which renders harvest late and 

 precarious : snow on the mountains for six or eight months. 

 Average rain at Keswick seventy inches. 



Soil. Clavs and loams on the better parts of the valleys and 

 hill sides, arid peat earth on the mountainous districts. 



Surface. Beautifully and greatly diversified, chiefly moun- 

 tainous, and incai>able of being improved by the plough ; but 

 part of the valley and plains are cultivatable soils. 



Minerals. Chiefly coal, lime, and lead ore; there are also 

 black lead, copper, gypsum, lapis calaminaris, and excellent 

 slate and freestone. 



Waters. Sixty-seven miles of sea-coast, several large and 

 small rivers, and the lakes well known for their beautv, and 

 the excellent char, trout, and other fish which some of them 

 produce. 



3. Property. 



Few counties where land is in such small parce's, and these 

 occupied by their owners. The annual value of these tene- 

 ments vary 'from 5/. to 50/. a year; generally from 15/. to 30/., 

 some few 100/. Largest estate in the county 13,000/. a year. 

 Tenure of by far the greater part of the county ' customary 

 tenure," a species of vassalage, by which the holder is subject 



to fines, heriots, and various services to the lords of manors. A 

 good deal has been enfranchised. Coi)yhold and leasehold are 

 rarely met v/ith ; what is not customary is freehold. 



4. Buildings, Implements, Arable Land, 8(C. 

 Approaching to Cliat of Northumberland. A great manv 



young plantations rising on the sides of the mountains. 



5. Live Stock. 



Cattle of various kinds ; breed of the county a small long- 

 homed kind ; but the most improved varieties are now intro- 

 duced. 



Sheep bretl in the county the Herdwicks, a hardy mountain 

 sheep. Some horses bred' by the farmer, and bees very com- 

 mon. In every parish the taking of moles is let at a certain 

 sum, and defrayed by a parochial rate per acre ; a plan which 

 will soon eradicate this animal from the county. 



6. Improvements. 



Various kinds, as draining, watering, planting, &c. made by 

 Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, at Colgarth Park. Those of 

 J. C. Curwen, Esq , of Workington, especially in feeding and 

 fatting stock, have made a distinguished figure in agricultural 

 writings; but their practical merits have been questioned. 

 We paid a high compliment to Curwen in the first edition of 

 this Encyclopanlia, on which a scientific and practical man, 

 who was personally acquainted with him, made the following 

 note : "I doubt if Curwen has any right to the compliments 

 here paid him. If I may judge, both from his writmgs and 

 conversation, he is certainly not a first-rate farmer, and, what 

 in his situation is worse, not very much the friend of farmers. 

 He admitted to me, indeed, that his management was not 

 profitable, which is saying all in one word." 



7811. WESTMORELAND. 540,160 acres, chiefl)' of mountain and moor, but with some few tracts of 

 vale lands, cultivated or capable of cultivation. On the whole it is naturally the most 'infavourable county 

 to agriculture or comfortable living in England, owing to its wet and cold climate, ungrateful soil, and 

 rugged surface. {Pringle's General View, 1794. Marshal's Review, 1808. Smith's Geological Map, 1824. 

 Edin. Gaz. 18'27.) 



1. Geographical State and Circumstances. 

 Climate. S. \V. winds and rains prevail for eight months in 



the year: in 1792 eighty-three inches, medium forty-five or 

 fifty inches, which is twenty inches above the medium quan- 

 tity that falls in Europe. Air pure and healthy ; winters long 

 and severe. In 1791-2 thirty six pounds were paid for cutting 

 in the snow ten miles of horse tract between Shap and Kendal. 



The soil most prevalent on the low lands is a dry gravelly 

 mould, and peat on the mountains. 



Surface. Mountainous and hillv, and in most places incapable 

 of cultivation by the plough. Large tracts of black barren 

 moors, called the Fells. 



Minerals. Some trifling veins of lend; limestone in abund- 

 ance in most parts of the county ; excellent blue slates ; gypsum 

 used for laying floors ; freestone, and marble near Kendal. 



Water. Several rivers and some lakes, corresponding in 

 beauty and products with those of Cumberland. 



2. Property. 



As in Cumberland; land-owners called statesmen (for 

 estatesmen), as in Ireland. 



3. Buildings. 



Very indifferent ; few mere cottages ; the labourer and 

 mechanic generally reside in a small farm-house, and occupy 

 more or less land. 



4. Occupation. 



Farms small ; and farmers, who are generally proprietors, 

 " live poorly and labour hard," in the fields in summer, and 

 weaving in winter ; wear clogs, the upper part of leather, and 

 the soles of birch, alder, or sycamore. The culture of arable 

 land is very limited, and, like that of greiss land, was in a very 

 backward state at the time the reporter wrote, but gradually 

 improving. Dairying in a small way is generally practisetl, but 

 little attention to the sort of cow or breeding. The Earl of 

 Lonsdale, and Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, were among the 

 first to set the example as to planting. 



5. Manufactures. 



Woollen cloth, or Kendal coatings, stockings, silk, gun- 

 powder, &c. A private carpet manufactory at Lowther, by 

 the Earl of Lonsdale. 



7812. LANCASHIRE. 1,150,000 acres ; (1,155,840, Brook's Gaz. 1809, 12,000,000! Edin. Gaz. 1827), 

 included in a very irregular outline, extending above a degree, or about seventy-four miles from north to 

 south, containing mountainous and moory surface, and a large portion of low, flat, or moderately varied 

 lands, of good quality. The soil in great part sandy, and chiefly in pasture. The early introduction and 

 successful culture of the potato distinguishes this county, and also the immense extent of its cotton 

 manufactures, and very considerable foreign commerce from Liverpool. It is also the country of Brind- 

 ley, the engineer. {Holt's General Vieiv, 1795. Dickson's General View, prepared by Stevenson, 1815. 

 Marshal's Review, 1808.) 



1. Geographical State and Circumstances. 



Climate. Air every where pure and salubrious, but on the 

 elevated parts cold and sharp ; protected, however, by the 

 northern and eastern ranges of mountains form the N. and E. 

 winds ; not much snow or long continued severe frosts. In 

 1819-20, when the thermometer in gardens near London had 

 fallen lo-l degrees below zero, that in the botanic garden at 

 Liverpool never fell to zero. Average of rain in the county 

 probably about forty-two inches: in 1792, sixty-five; and in 

 some years fifty. Firom a register of the times during a series 

 of years, at which potatoes, asparagus, and gooselierries were 

 first brought to the Liverpool market, it appears that the dif- 

 ference between an early and late spring is not less than six 

 weeks. 



Soil. On the mountains and moors rocky and peaty ; on the 

 northern part of the lowlands moist, cold, and rushy silt ; on 

 the rest chiefly sandy loam. 



Minerals. Principally coal, copper, lead, and iron ; the first 

 and last very abundant ; there is also slate, grey -slate, and 

 flagstones, freestone, and limestone. 



Waters. Seventy-five miles emd upwards of sea-coast, and 

 several rivers and meres. 



2 Property. 



Very variously divided ; a considerable number of yeomanry 

 from 10/. to 700/. per annum : a general spirit for possessing 

 land and agricultural improvement ; tenures, as usual, chiefly 

 freehold. 



3. Buildings. 



Old farmeries the work of chance and random ; houses often 

 there formerly occupied by proprietors, and offices without 

 order or design, but various new erections on the most approved 

 j>lans; cottages in many places comfortable, with good gardens, 

 especially those occupied by operative manufacturers and me- 

 chanics. Those in the less improved parts of wattled studd 

 work, plastered or wrought in with teinpered clay and straw; 

 provincially " cat and clay." 



4. Occupation. 



Farms in general small ; education and knowledge of most 

 of the small occupiers very circumscribed ; larger farmers more 

 enlightened, and having more command of capital, are improv- 



ing the culture of their farms 



5. Implements. 



Little improvement, but the Northumberland plough and 

 Meikle's threshing-machine introduced; horse pattens are 



almost peculiar to this county, and are used in cultivating 

 light peaty soils. 



6. Arable Land. 



Less prevalent than grass ; but great attention paid to the 

 culture of potatoes, both by farmers and cottngers ; the former 

 generally cultivated in drills, and horse-hoed ; the latter in beds 

 or dibbled in rows, and hand-hoed. The method of growing 

 early potatoes, and several crops on the same soil in one season, 

 has already been given. (5321.) Onions are cultivated exten- 

 sively near AVarrington, and rhubarb and madder have been 

 tried, and grown to very great perfection, but not so easily 

 dried and prepared for sale as to induce a continuance of the 

 practice. 



7. Grass Lands. 



Extensive, but chiefly coarse upland pastures ; some good 

 meadows and productive marsh lands. Application chiefly for 

 the dairy for home consumption of milk and butter ; not much 

 cheese made, excepting on the Cheshire side of the county. 



8. Gardens and Orchards. 



Excellent market gardens near most of the large towns. 

 Liverpool remarkably well supplied : great quantities of cab- 

 bages and onions used by the shipping, and of^ dried herbs and 

 onions exported ; the dried herbs sent to Africa. " There is a 

 certain farm in Kirkby, about eight milesnorth-eastfrom Liver- 

 pool, the soil of a small part of which is a black loamy sand, 

 and which produces great qu^.ntities of early and strong aspa- 

 ragus, and another farm, a part of which is of the sime na- 

 ture at a place called Orre!, about four miles north-west of 

 Liverpool : both which produce this plant with less attention 

 and less dung than requisite in the rich vale of Kirkdale, aliout 

 two miles from Liver^iool, where the greatest quantity of land 

 in any place of this neighbourhood is appropriated solely to 

 horticulture." 



Gardens of Mechanics. " A small patch of ground appended 

 to his cottage furnishes the weaver, smith, or carpenter with 

 health and pleasure, and contributes to his sobriety ; intempe- 

 rance not unfrequently proceeding from want of recreation to 

 fill up a vacant hour. This small space is devoted to nurtur- 

 ing his young seedlings, trimming his more matured plants, 

 contemplating new varieties, in expectation of honours through 

 the medium of promised jiremiums. Thus, starting at inter- 

 vals from his more toilsome labours, the mechanic finds his 

 stagnating fluids put in motion, and his lungs refreshed with 

 the fragrant breeze, whilst he has been raising new flowers 



