264 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



year ; upon others, Swedish turnips give forty tons per 

 acre. The manure employed costs 5s. to 6s. per ton. 



The plan adopted tor bringing the moss-land into cul- 

 tivation is worth describing. First of all, deep trenches 

 are cut at a distance of thirty feet apart, in which the 

 tiles are placed ; after that, vegetation on the surface is 

 burnt, and the ground broken up by several cross-plough- 

 ings. When the whole is well pulverised, marl is carried 

 by means of a movable railway, and spread over the 

 land at the rate of 100 to 150 tons per acre. During this 

 operation, it frequently happens that the ground is so soft 

 that it is necessary to put planks under the feet of both 

 men and horses, to prevent their sinking. The land then re- 

 ceives a manuring of nightsoil and cinders, and is planted 

 with potatoes ; after this crop, which is usually a good 

 one, the Norfolk rotation follows. The whole draining, 

 marling, making roads, and building farm-offices costs 

 10 to 12 per acre. In this way many thousands of 

 acres have been reclaimed, and among them a portion of 

 Chat Moss, between Liverpool and Manchester. 



In the south of Lancashire the average wage is 13s. 

 per week. This is the highest which has hitherto come 

 under our notice. The practice generally, in regard to 

 leases, is to give seven years ; but to wealthy and clever 

 farmers, landlords now offer longer periods. 



North of Lancashire are the five counties next to 

 Scotland York, Durham, Northumberland, Cumberland, 

 and Westmoreland. The most southern and least moun- 

 tainous of the five is York, the largest county in England, 

 and much exceeding in size any of the others, containing 

 as it does 3,800,000 acres. It has been divided into three 

 parts, called Hidings, each of which is still larger than an 

 ordinary county : strictly speaking, the city of York 

 forms a distinct district in the middle of the other three. 



