672 



DERBYSHIRE. 



Derby, 

 shire. 



Soil aiid 

 agricul- 

 ture. 



the air. It has been supposed, that the mountains of 

 the Peak of Derbyshire attracted the clouds, and that 

 this part of the county was distinguished by frequent 

 and heavy rains; but Mr Farey, in his late survey, 

 doubts the accuracy of this opinion. From the rain- 

 gauge kept in the gardens of Chatsworth, it appears, 

 that the total depth of water fallen from the year 176'3 

 to 1810 inclusive, including melted snow, was not more 

 than 119 feet, giving an yearly average of 28,411 inch- 

 es ; and the average number of the days of rain in each 

 month, was nearly as follows : January 9 days, Februa- 

 ry 10, March 8, April 9, May 9, June 9, July 11, Au- 

 gust 10, September 11, October 12, November 11, De- 

 cember 11 days. 



The soil of Derbyshire is almost as various as its ap- 

 pearance. In the northern parts of the county very 

 extensive peat bogs exist ; the soil in these parts con- 

 sists chiefly of ligneous particles, being roots of decay- 

 ed vegetables, mixed with the argillaceous vegetables 

 earth or sand, and a coaly substance derived from de- 

 cayed vegetable matter. The surface presents nothing 

 but a barren bleak moss, thinly clothed with heath. 

 But in man) r parts of the Peak there is to be found 

 what the natives call a corn loam ; this consists of vir- 

 gin, earth impregnated with nitre. Where this corn 

 loam is in sufficient quantity, and meets with a stratum 

 of marl or clay, it forms a desirable field for cultivation ; 

 but these spots are overbalanced by the vast tracts of 

 barren hills and mountains, whose sides present very 

 little soil, being chiefly composed of rocks. When the 

 limestone forms the mountain, the soil, though scanty, 

 is productive of the finer grasses, which form good pas- 

 turage for sheep. 



The most^common soil in the southern parts is a red- 

 dish clay or marl. This soil, which has little or no 

 stone beneath the surface, is also found to prevail 

 through the middle part of the extensive tract of lime- 

 stone, which lies on the north-west side of the county ; 

 and consists of much calcareous earth, which readily 

 effervesces with acids. Some parts of the southern dis- 

 tricts are interspersed with small beds, and strata of 

 sand, gravel, and other alluvial soils. The large tract 

 of the county that produces coal, is covered with a clay 

 of different colours. This kind of soil is also found in 

 some parts, where the grit-stone is to be met with ; 

 but there it is of a black colour, and frequently of a bi- 

 tuminous quality. That on the north-east side of the 

 county, where the limestone prevails, is of a brown 

 colour and loose texture. The soil on the banks of the 

 rivers and in the vallies is different from that of the 

 adjacent parts, and evidently has been altered by the 

 depositions from the frequent inundations. 



Owing to the barrenness of the soil and the coldness 

 of the climate, there is but little com grown in the 

 northern parts ; and the attention of the farmers is chief- 

 ly turned to grazing and breeding cattle. But as we ap- 

 proach the southern extremity, tillage becomes more 

 frequent ; and on the eastern side of the country it chief- 

 ly prevails. The midland tracts have a mixture of 

 pasture and arable land. About the town of Derby, 

 all kinds of grain are cultivated ; and the produce is, 

 in general, very abundant. The course of tillage gene- 

 rally pursued is, fallow, wheat, barley, beans, or peas. 

 Extensive crops of turnips and cabbage also are raised ; 

 and the cultivation of artificial grasses seems more and 

 more attended to ; indeed the whole agricultural sys- 

 tem of the county is in a state of progressive improve- 

 ment. But an uncommon species of culture, in which 



about 200 acres of this county are employed, is that 

 of chamomile (Antkemis 7iobilis.) Slips from old roots 

 are planted out about the end of March on a loamy 

 soil, and the flowers are gathered in September. The 

 yearly produce varies from 2 cwt. to 6 cwt. and the 

 price per cwt. from 40s. to L.9- 



Great attention has been paid, of late years, by the 

 Derbyshire gentlemen, to improve the breed of their cows. 

 The cows are, in general, horned, large, and hand- 

 some, yielding upon an average ten quarts of milk a 

 day ; and in good grass fatten very soon. They are 

 most commonly speckled, with large and well turned 

 horns, though of late the short horned Lancashire breed 

 has been introduced and preferred by some. The pri- 

 mary object of the Derbyshire farmer is cheese-ma- 

 king, of which upwards of 2000 tons are annually sent 

 to the London market. The Derbyshire cheese is of a 

 good quality, generally mild, and in taste, though not 

 in richness, resembling the Gloucestershire. Derby- 

 shire is not famed for good butter. 



Nature seems to have adapted the horses of this coun- 

 try to the different regions in which she designed them 

 to labour. In the northern districts, the breed is small, 

 light, agile, hard, able to undergo great fatigue, and ca- 

 pable of subsisting upon scanty fare ; in the southern 

 parts they are in general of a strong, heavy, and large 

 size. The sheep also of Derbyshire are small in the 

 north and large in the south. 



Concerning the geology and mineralogy of the coun- 

 ty, it may be expected that some remarks should be 

 supplied. Our observations here, however, must be 

 necessarily confined, as the principal facts and pheno- 

 mena presented in the survey of the rocks and minerals 

 of this district, will be selected in illustration of the 

 articles devoted to the sciences to which they respec- 

 tively belong. There are few, if any, parts of the king- 

 dom, perhaps, more interesting in these accounts than 

 the present. The influence of that powerful agent by 

 which the surface of our globe has been so violently 

 disturbed, is no where exhibited under circumstances 

 more various, or instructive; neither, if we estimate its 

 mineral products by the abundance of those which it 

 furnishes to the necessities and comforts of civilized 

 life, is there any portion of these islands with higher 

 claims to our consideration ; lead, iron, coal, and lime, 

 have, from the plenty in which they have been yielded, 

 long given it an important place in the history of the 

 arts ; and its supplies of zinc and copper, particularly 

 of the former, are by no means inconsiderable. In the 

 variety of its minerals, too, Derbyshire is not without 

 some boast; and a few of the specimens of our cabinets, 

 especially the elastic bitumen, or mineral pitch, which 

 is found near Castleton, it contributes to the exclusion 

 of every other part of the world. The whole of its 

 rocks belong to those two classes to which geologists 

 have attached the names of alluvial and secondary. It 

 has been conjectured by Professor Jameson, and, in- 

 deed, by Brochant, that the limestones and amygda- 

 loids, which form such conspicuous features in the 

 county, are formations, which, in the Wernerian school, 

 would be denominated transitive; but this, on exa- 

 mination, will probably not be found to be the case. 

 The abundance of extraneous fossils which they con- 

 tain, their connection with the coal series, and the 

 absence of those external characters, which are usual- 

 ly said to attend this ambiguous and imperfectly de- 

 fined class of rocks, all conspire to show, that by 

 whomsoever this arrangement may be acknowledged. 



Derby- 

 shire. 



Mineralo- 

 gy- 



