22 WESTMORLAND AGRICULTURE, 1800-1900 



to supply the two linen mills at Morland where " the flax was 

 dressed in the mill and given out to be spun by hand in the numerous 

 households in the district, and finally woven by handloom weavers on 

 the premises." 



Butter was made from the milk in summer, when it was salted 

 and put up in firkins weighing 56 lbs. and sold in the market to 

 dealers from Lancashire and Yorkshire at from 30/- to 35/- each firkin. 

 New milk was sold at id. per quart, and in Kendal it brought i|d., 

 while skimmed milk sold for |d. per quart. Housman (1800) sajre 

 " the Kendal cow-keepers sell their new milk at i|d. per quart, which 

 pays better than butter." A cow in milk was worth about £10, and the 

 profit of keeping a little " Scotch " beast on the common from May to 

 October was about 7/6. Three-year-old barren heifers would bring 

 £5 to £8, and if the heifers were with calf, £y 10/- to ^^lo, to the 

 graziers of Yorkshire and Lancashire. 



In 1774 Wm. Hutchinson wrote of the agriculttire in the Eden 

 Valley : " The meadow and pasture grounds are beautiful ; but there 

 is little tillage, it having been a received opinion for ages past that 

 grain would not ripen or come to perfection so near the moors and 

 mountains, from whence a continued moist vapour is supposed to be 

 borne into the valley, which blights the com in its blossom and prevents 

 its filling and coming to maturity ; but this absurdity is declining 

 through experience, which hath taught the inhabitants that want of 

 knowledge in agriculture is the chief defect, and the impetuous rains 

 to which a mountainous country is subject, their greatest detriment." 



The following description of the agriculture of Ravenstonedale is 

 epitomized from the account given by Robinson in 1801* — the popula- 

 tion was then 1138, males 498, females 640 ; employed in agriculture, 

 232, employed in trades, 54 ; and all other classes numbering 844. 



The farms are small, varying from £10 and under with a few 

 above £60 a year ; it is generally reckoned that there are three 

 statesmen to one farmer in the valley ; there are no tithes. Four- 

 fifths of the inclosed land, of which there are between 2,000 and 

 3,000 acres, are let at 4/- to 11/- per acre, and the remainder from 

 20/- to 40/- per acre; the land is seldom leased for more than six 



• Monthly Magazine. 



