254 FURNESS AND THE LAKE DISTRICT 



also yields a red building-stone, the material out of 

 which the comfortable farmhouses and cottages are 

 erected, the roofing slates on most of the older 

 buildings being also finely coloured slabs of the same 

 stone. 



Most of the farms of the district have from one- 

 third to one-half of their land under the plough, but 

 the usual rotation keeps a considerable proportion 

 under temporary grass. The seeds are left down for 

 two or three years, mown the first year and grazed 

 afterwards ; on part of the ploughed-up lea potatoes 

 will be planted, and oats sown on the rest. Then 

 comes a year of turnips, then another oat crop in which 

 the seeds are sown afresh. Wheat is not much grown, 

 and barley, which was general enough but a few years 

 back, has practically disappeared. Potatoes bring in 

 the most money, but by the usual covenants only a 

 certain proportion of the lea can be planted with 

 potatoes. The farming is very dependent upon getting 

 a good crop of turnips, part being drawn off for 

 bullock-feeding and the rest fed off with sheep. 

 Mangolds are grown, but to no great extent. The 

 sheep mostly consist of flying flocks, Blackface crosses 

 and the like, brought off Cross Fell and the long range 

 of similar moorlands which we could see rising like a 

 wall from north to south a few miles across the Eden. 

 Cheviots and Wensleydales were not in favour in the 

 district, and even the Herdwicks seemed to travel west 

 and south rather than to the east. On many of the 

 farms milk production is the most important feature, 

 though the distance from a station and in one or two 

 cases difficulties about a water supply for refrigeration, 

 put obstacles in the way of selling the milk itself, and 

 in consequence a certain amount of butter-making 

 goes on. One farmer whom we visited estimated his 



