Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF CORNWALL. 



1171 



consequent, pericverance ; and thus habituates them to receive 

 instructions. 



Where Vancourer Is at present we do not know ; we hope he 

 may loiiK live to witness the extension of education which is 

 now taking place, not on'.j in this, but in almost every country 



in the world ; and we hope all those whom be designates pea- 

 santry, who may ever happen to read the above extracts, will 

 see the necessity of fortifying themselves, by knowledge and 

 good conduc', against the litgicidatioa attendant upon ignor- 

 ance and vice. 



7825. CORNWALL. A peninsular hilly surface, of 758,484 acres, remarkable for its mines, and of 

 late greatly improved in its agriculture, the object of which is chiefly corn It is the country of Sir 

 H. Davy, who may be considered as having eminently contributed to agricultural science by his agricul- 

 tural chemistry. The inhabitants have been remarkable from the time of the Romans for their mildness 

 and complacency of temper, urbanity, hospitality, courteousness, and liberality. {Frazer's Cornwall, 171)1. 

 JVorgan'sCk)r7iwall, 1810. Marshal's Revkw, 1817. Edln. Gaz. abridged, 1829.) 



1. Geographical Slate and Circumstances. 



Climate, like that of other peninsular situations lying far to 

 the south and west, inconstant as to wind and rain, and mild 

 as to heat and cold. Plants, shrubs, and even the most hardy 

 trees on the sea-coast, sustain much injury from the violence of 

 the westerly wind, and the salt spray of the sea, which it drives 

 with great force before it; hence crops of wheat and turnips 

 have been totally destroyed. After a storm, the plants have 

 their roots much torn, and their leaves corroded and shrivelled 

 as if scorched, and taste of a pungent saltness. Trees and 

 shrubs shrink and lean away to the eastward, and appear as if 

 clipped by the gardener's shears. The only shrub which seems 

 to bear the sea air is the tamarisk. 



Surface remarkably unequal ; ascents and descents follow in 

 rapid succession ; some hills very steep. 



Soil generally slaty and loamy, mixed in a manner that ren- 

 ders it alrost impossible to designate the boundaries and extent 

 of each. 



Minerals chiefly tin and copper ; for the former Cornwall has 

 been famous f; om the remotest antiquity, as some think, from 

 the days of the Phoenicians. 



2. Property. 



Very much divided, subdivided, and vexatiously intermixed. 

 Esta'es from twenty a-res to 500 acres, very few exceeding 

 400/. per annum. Many gentlemen and clergymen in this 

 county occupy their own estates and glebes, and keep their 

 grounds in a very superior state of cultivation. The manage- 

 ment of great estates is generally given to attorneys. 



Entailed estates. " I was in hopes that I had been a singular 

 sufferer in Cornwall, from this kind of deceptive tenure ; it 

 would then not have been worthy of notice ; but in my excursions 

 through the county I have met with fel'.ow-sufFerers, and wi.h 

 others who are likely to become so. As such cases have oc- 

 curred, and may occur again, it behoves every man who is 

 about to occupy a f.:rm for a term by lease, to make enquiry 

 whether it be an entailed estate or not ; because the possessor 

 having the power of letting for his own life only, in case of his 

 death, the occupier is. left entirely at the mercy of his sue- 

 cessor." (Worg-an'i Survey, 22.) 



3. Buildings. 



Old farm-houses of mud and thatch ; the lower divisions con- 

 sist of a kitchen, and an apartment dignified with the name of 

 parlour, but called (provincially) the higher side, a cellar, and 

 dairy-room ; but these latter are frequently under a lean-to 

 roof; the rooms very low, not ceiled, and two bed-chambers 

 over; the floors of the chambers are of oak plank ; the ground- 

 floor er.rth, lime-ash, or flag-stone. 



The farm-offices, built of the same materials, consisting of a 

 bam, cow and ox sheds, and hog-sties, stand in confusion about 

 the dwelhng. The intervening and circumjacent ground is 

 called the farmer's town-place ; for as to that essential a])pend- 

 age, a regular farm -yard, it is a convenience not often met with 

 in any part of the county. 



Some good new farmeries erected centrically on newly en- 

 closed lands. One for forty-six acres has a very neat elevation 

 (,fig. 1116.), and the plan {,fig. 1117.) contains a feeding pUice 

 into which the turnips are carried (the cart being backed mto 

 it). Aid from whence the sheep and oxen are fed () ; place for a 

 yoke of oxen (6), either for soiling or winter-feeding : the oxen 

 are tied to posts (cc) ; there are troughs for turnips (d); cribs, 

 or racks for hay or straw (<) ; lean-to, for store sheep if); lean- 

 to, in which half a score sheep are kept to fatten, the number 



being completed again soon as any are sold (;) ; fodder house, 

 used as a bam (A) ; open shed for tools (i) ; hanging doors with' 



1116 



bolt inside, aajl through which the fodder is handed to supply 

 1117 



the cattle, and is thus kept always dry (k) ; door and staircase 

 leading up to the wool chamber (I). The stairs rise quick, so 

 as to be quite out of the way of the ox feeding in that side of the 

 house. 



Cutiages. " I had occasion often, in my dreary walks during 

 my survey, to take shelter in some of these miserable dwellings, 

 and found the poor inhabitants busy in placing their bowls, 

 crock-i, and pans, to catch the water pouring in at the roof. 

 However, the meanest cottage generally has that great source 

 of comfort, a garden, attached to it." Some very comfortable 

 plans of cottages, by Captain Penson of Ethy, are described by 

 the surveyor. 



4. Occupation. 



Farms from three or four to three or four hundred acres, 

 mostly from 30/. to 50/. a year. Leases on rack-rented farms 

 generally from fourteen to twenty-one years. 



5. Implements. 



. No county affords a greater varie^ of wheel and other car- 

 riages. The harvest waggon [fig. 1118.) has a lade before and 



1118 



behind, and is open in the middle , it carries about 300 sheave 

 of corn. When drawn by horses, shafts are :ipplitd ; when by 

 oxen, a pole. An arch ol boards over the hind wheels prevents 

 the com from bearing on them. 

 Tlie wain is another Ught useful carriage for carrying com 



sand hay. It consists of a light, open, long body, borne upon two 

 wheels ; a railed arch over the wheels prevents the load from 

 bearing upon them; it will carry from 200 to 250 sheaves 

 which are secured by ropes, it having no sides or lades. 

 A ilulge for com, hay, orfaggots (jig. 1119. a) ; slide butt (6) ; 



111 



4 F 2 



