AGRICULTURE 



like the Home Farm at Raby were improving the methods of cultivation, 

 introducing fresh crops, importing cattle and other live stock into the 

 county, and building good accommodation for live stock. 



A General Vieix* of the Agriculture of the County of Durham was written in 

 1810 by John Bailey of Chillingham, for the Board of Agriculture. Bailey 

 began life as a schoolmaster and became steward to Lord Tankerville at 

 Chillingham. He was a man of sound judgement and great practical know- 

 ledge, his services were in great request as a valuer of land, and he claimed 

 an intimate acquaintance with the agriculture of the county for upwards of 

 forty years. The first authentic records of inclosure of commons he found 

 were those of the Ryhope (1658) and Stockton Common Fields (1659), both 

 containing 1,765 acres. In connexion with these dates it should be noticed 

 that in 1652 Walter Blith, an officer in Cromwell's army, had published the 

 third edition of The English Improver Improved, in which he strongly urged 

 the inclosure of common lands, and it is evident that the influence of this 

 advice was soon felt. Bailey gives a full account of the commons divided 

 and inclosed in the county between 1756 and 1809, their total acreage being 

 over 114,000 acres. The largest were the Weardale stinted moors and 

 pastures (25,000 acres), and the Middleton and Eggleston commons 

 (18,000 acres). Of the total of 114,000 acres, only about 74,000 were 

 considered to be ' capable of improvement by the plough.' The whole, 

 however, was ' well inclosed, and sub-divided into proper sized fields by 

 thorn hedges or stone walls, and a great many new farm houses, offices, etc., 

 have been erected.' The inclosure of these lands greatly enhanced their 

 worth ; in fact Bailey states that he 'valued and let an allotment for 750, 

 for the common right of which before the division, the proprietor and his 

 tenants never received benefits equal to as many shillings,' and he estimated 

 that by inclosing these lands their average value had increased at least 

 tenfold. 



Farms were usually let for from three to twelve years, the time of entry 

 being Old May Day. Old pastures could not be broken ; when drainage was 

 done by the landlord, seven per cent, on the outlay was paid annually by the 

 tenant, and the tenant on leaving had a waygoing crop from two-thirds of 

 the ploughed land, with use of the stackyard and barn for a year later. 

 Minerals, &c., were reserved, but damage caused by their working was met. 

 As to farm buildings he had ' not found any meriting any particular notice.' 

 The cottages were ' comfortable dwellings of one storey, covered with thatch 

 or tiles.' The farms were small, the greater number being between 50 and 

 150 acres; while only one is mentioned as being as large as 1,000 acres. 

 The few large farmers however were ' men of education and superior 

 intelligence, who travel to examine the cultivation of distant countries, and 

 improved breeds of cattle, sheep, and other animals,' and had capital to carry 

 out their ideas. Among these were the Messrs. Culley, the great agricultural 

 improvers of the north. The small farmers had little capital, had worked on 

 the farm from childhood, toiling from four in the morning till eight in the 

 evening in summer, and in winter from ' twilight to twilight,' and obtaining 

 their scanty education during the winter months; they were greater slaves than 

 their servants. Rents had greatly increased during the previous twenty years, 

 in many cases being doubled. Rent for arable land varied from 5^. to 3 an 



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