236 



CORNWALL. 



Cornwall, led grotvan, from grnxv, a Cornish word, signifying gra- 

 V T~"""' vel : this soil is found principally in the western parts 

 of the county. The slaty soil is the most abundant : 

 it is formed of schistose matter, mixed with loam. The 

 pure loamy soils are of no considerable extent ; they 

 are found principally on the low grounds, declivities, 

 and the banks of the rivers. From this description of 

 the soil and climate of Cornwall, it will appear that it 

 is one of the least inviting of the English counties. The 

 Rivers rivers in Cornwall are all small : the principal are the 

 Tamar, and the Camel : the former rises on the sum- 

 mit of a moor in the parish of Morvinstow ; it follows 

 a southern direction, with very little variation, for near- 

 ly 40 miles, when it falls into the harbour of Hamoaze. 

 The Camel, which is the largest river on the north 

 coast, has two sources, one near Camelford, the other 

 near Roughter: The streams join below Kea-bridge, 

 and from Wade-bridge to Padstow harbour the river is 

 navigable. Besides these rivers, there are the Lynher, 

 the Loo, the Fawy, and the Fal. At the mouth of 

 the Loo, there is a curious fact ; the river forms a kind 

 of reservoir, at a little distance from the sea, from which 

 the water runs into the sea by a subterraneous passage : 

 at no time of the year is the water in this pool salt, or 

 even brackish. 

 Property, Property is very much divided in Cornwall, so that 

 leases, -&c. there are no estates of any considerable size. The te- 

 nure of land, for the most part, is freehold ; some is 

 held of ecclesiastical corporations ; and the ancient 

 duchy land is held under the Duke of Cornwall, as 

 copyhold in fee, subset to a small annual rent. For- 

 merly leases were often granted for lives, for a term of 

 99 years, determinable on the death of the longest 

 liver of three lives ; the landlord, however, consenting 

 to add a new life, on the death of one of them, on the 

 payment of a fine of from 14 to 18 years rent. This 

 kind of lease is now on the decrease, except in cases 

 of miners, who enclose patches of the waste land to 

 the westward of Truro, granted to them on the condi- 

 tion that they build a cottage, and pay an annual rent 

 of ten shillings. 

 AgricuU I' 1 an agricultural point of view, Cornwall presents 



ture. very little worthy of notice. Its implements are very 



various, but few of them are peculiar to it. The Cor- 

 nish waggon, or wain, however, maj' be recommend- 

 ed, as being extremely well adapted for carrying corn 

 and hay in harvest time. The old Cornish plough is a 

 rude and simple . instrument, which still maintains its 

 ground in many parts of the county. In the lower 

 parts of Cornwall, corn is thrashed on bam boards, 

 raised above" the level of the barn floor, each plank 

 being about the third of an inch from the next to it, so 

 that the grain falls through it, and is not bruised as in 

 the visual manner. In some parts, the wheat is beaten 

 out by women on a barrel, or inclined plane. The term 

 hedge is applied to all kinds of mounds or fences, of 

 which there are three sorts; stone hedges, made of 

 coarse slate, which are principally on the western part, 

 and on the sea-coast ; earth hedges, capped with stone, 

 &c. on the moors, and in the country round Camel- 

 ford ; and the common hedges, which are most usually 

 met with on the eastern part of the county. Nearly 

 one third of the cultivated land is under the plough : 

 the crops generally grown, are wheat, barley, and oats. 

 The arena nuda, which in Cornwall is called pilez, is 

 sewn in the western district. " This grain is smaller 

 than the common oat, and the straw much mere deli- 

 cate, so as to answer for feeding horses and cattle near- 

 ly as well as hay : this kind of oat is steamed with po- 



tatoes, and used for fattening pigs. -The soil and cli- Cornwall. 

 mate of this county are particularly favourable to the s -~~y"'*~' 

 growth of potatoes ; and a very large portion of the 

 tillage land is annually planted with this valuable root, 

 the cultivation of which is carefully attended to and 

 well understood. The uninclosed waste lands in Corn- 

 wall are computed at nearly 200,000 acres, the great- 

 est part of which serves no other purpose than to af- 

 ford a scanty pasturage to a miserable breed of sheep 

 and goats. The agricultural produce would be much , 

 more limited than it actually is in this county, were it 

 not for abundant supplies of three valuable manures, 

 two of which, as almost peculiar to it, deserves to be 

 noticed ; these are fish and sea-sand ; the third, sea- 

 weed, is used in many other parts of the kingdom. 

 Bruised and small pilchards, called " caff" are buried 

 in a pile of earth, where they are permitted to lie for 

 some months before they are laid on the ground: some- 

 times the fish are used alone. The liquor which drains 

 from them while under the process of curing, is also 

 deemed a valuable manure. The sea-sand of Cornwall 

 is found to be very fertilizing, containing in general 

 a great quantity of calcareous matter ; and some of it, 

 a slimy earthy matter, called Eg, or liggair, which is 

 applied to potatoes. The sand, which is in the highest 

 estimation, is found near Falmouth; it is frequently 

 carried fifteen miles inland, on horses, mules, or asses, 

 about "2cwt. called a seam, being the burden for each 

 animal. This sand has a more immediate, as well as a 

 more permanent good effect, on the moor-lands, than 

 on the loamy soils,*and is therefore very valuable when 

 found in the vicinity of them. It is reckoned that 

 54,000 cart loads of sand are carried from Padstow har- 

 bour alone, and that the expence of land carriage for 

 it, in the whole county, amounts to L. 30,00!) per an- 

 num. Lime is found only in two places, in the pa- 

 rishes of South Petherwin and Veryan: the Veryan lime- 

 stone contains a considerable quantity of manganese 

 and oxide of iron, and is more valuable as a cement than 

 as a manure. 



Few of the native cattle of Cornwall are now in exist- Cattle, 

 ence; they are very small, of a black colour, short 

 horned, coarse boned, with a large proportion of offal, 

 at the same time very hardy : they have been super- 

 seded by the genuine north Devon. The practice of 

 letting cows out to labourers and poor people, is not 

 unusual among the farmers ; the hirers have the milk 

 and butter ; the farmers the calves. Oxen are much 

 employed in agricultural labour, being worked from 

 three to seven or eight years old, and regularly shod. 

 The native sheep, like the native cattle, have nearly Slieep. 

 disappeared. Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall pub- 

 lished in the beginning of the 17th century, describes 

 them as having little bodies, and coarse fleeces, so as 

 their wool bore no better name than Cornish hair, and 

 hath from all ancientry been transported without pay- 

 ing custom. On the sand hillocks on some parts of the 

 north coast, there is a small compact sheep, the mut- 

 ton of fine flavour, and the fleece nearly equal to that 

 of the South Down. These sheep have been observed 

 to feed greedily on the small turbinated shells, which 

 come out from the sand, in the mornings and evenings. 



Cornwall is celebrated for its mines, of which there are Miries. 

 generally about one hundred of different kinds wrought. 

 Of these, in 1800, when an accurate map of the mines 

 was made by Mr William Phillips, there were 45 of 

 copper, 28 of tin, 18 of copper and tin, 2 of lead, 

 1 of lead and silver, 1 of copper and silver, 1 of silver, 

 1 of copper and cobalt, 1 of tin and cobalt, and 1 of 



