THE NORTHERN COUNTIES. 267 



Lord Londonderry has constructed, at his own expense, 

 a harbour for the export of his coal, and also a railway to 

 transport it thither, costing together between 300,000 

 and 400,000. As yet, agriculture has only followed the 

 movement at a distance. Clay-lands, with their usual 

 difficulties, predominate, and upon them the old triennial 

 course is still followed. The average extent of the farms 

 is sixty acres, and the farmers, generally speaking com- 

 mon labourers who do everything for themselves, are not 

 rich enough to lay out much upon the land. 



At the time of the low prices, these small farmers, 

 however economical and laborious, were not able to live. 

 A revolution became necessary there also ; and it has 

 begun. Fortunately, property was not so much divided 

 as farming, and most of the proprietors have been able, 

 in default of their tenants, to make advances to the 

 land. Lords Londonderry and Durham, and the Duke 

 of Cleveland, in a measure rival each other in generosity. 

 A large portion of the profits realised from coal is ex- 

 pended upon all kinds of improvements. Tile-drains 

 are being laid down in every direction, farm-offices con- 

 structed, and large quantities of fertilisers and manures 

 are imported, so that in a few years the face of the 

 country will be quite altered. But the whole of it does 

 not need remodelling ; for upon some parts the light 

 soils, for instance, under the Norfolk rotation, and the 

 rich grass-lands farming is already in a prosperous con- 

 dition. We must not forget that the breed of short- 

 horned cattle came out of one of the Durham valleys. 



The small county of "Westmoreland is, as its name in- 

 dicates, the land of the west moors, and the most moun- 

 tainous, the most uncultivated, and thinly peopled part 

 of England. The population is only one to nine acres. 

 Agriculture flourishes in the valleys, especially in those 



