224 CHESHIRE 



by hand so as not to bruise the straw. When thus 

 treated it will command as much as 2s. per stone i.e. 

 8 a ton and the farmer has also the grain for 

 feeding or sale as seed. The other great Cheshire 

 crop is potatoes. Lancashire, Cambridge, Lincoln, 

 and the West Riding possess a large acreage, but 

 nowhere else except in Lancashire do the potatoes 

 exceed all the other root crops put together. They 

 are found all over the county, though the most 

 considerable areas are on the alluvial flats by the 

 Mersey, where they join on to the Lancashire potato- 

 growing district. On the light, sandy soils, however, 

 early potatoes are very generally grown, and had been 

 almost entirely cleared when we passed through in the 

 first days of August. They are generally interplanted 

 with cabbages or broccoli, and when the potatoes are 

 lifted one or two drills of turnips, to be pulled small 

 for table purposes, are generally sown in their place 

 between the cabbages. 



With markets for all kinds of produce so close at 

 hand, Cheshire farmers are not usually very particular 

 about their rotations, but it is customary to follow a 

 four-course shift, containing two years of oats, one of 

 potatoes and other roots, and one or sometimes two of 

 seeds. Seeds hay is specially important in Cheshire, 

 occupying almost as much of the land as old land hay 

 from permanent grass, a proportion which can be 

 explained on the one hand by the intensive character 

 of the Cheshire farming (for temporary leys will yield 

 much bigger crops than permanent meadows, especially 

 with a smoky atmosphere), and again by the very 

 good markets which Liverpool and Manchester afford 

 for coarse hay that can be chaffed. Considering the 

 season the seeds were looking very green and flourish- 

 ing, and had grown more since the first cut than any 



