3 5 o Saddle and Sirloin . 



and heather make up Mr. Peel's sheep walk, and of 

 the remaining 355 acres at the Home Farm, Harrow- 

 field and Gibbs, about 50 acres are arable. The 

 estate lies on the western edge of the Great Craven 

 Fault, and the union of this limestone formation with 

 the millstone grit on the hill-side caused endless cal- 

 culations and searchings of heart both to Mr. Peel 

 and his stalwart bailiff, Henry Clapham, who ori- 

 ginally acted as foreman of the drainers. 



Only one thing was certain — that the grit would be 

 always above the limestone, and not directly in it ; 

 but there was no great comfort in that. A.D. 1844 

 saw the commencement of these fierce labours of 

 spade and pickaxe, and although the higher land 

 does not aspire to the glories of the Hodder side 

 meadows, which have been known to let as high as 

 seven guineas an acre, and feed off two sets of beasts 

 and sheep in summer, it has already brought back its 

 increase with compound interest, in the shape of 

 swedes, orange ovals, cabbages, and kohl-rabi. 



Salmon, as well as horses and calves, have also had 

 their turn in the park, and a stream as pure as crystal, 

 from between the limestone and the grit, was trickling 

 down the now deserted beds, in which the ova boxes 

 were deposited for hatching. The stream ran over 

 the young fry for twenty-one days, at the end of 

 which they were removed to the first pond ; the 

 second became their local habitation when they were 

 yearlings, and they then took their start for life as 

 two-year-olds in the river. It was here that Mr. 

 Ramsbottom, who has been to salmon what Nesfield 

 is to landscape gardening, acquired much of the ex- 

 perience which he has brought to bear in Ireland, 

 Scotland, and Hungary, and solved the much-vexed 

 question to his entire satisfaction, as to whether 

 " smolt" are the salmon fry of the year before, or the 

 year before that. Of the merits of the controversy 

 we know nothing ; but those who feel dull when they 



