YORKSHIRE. 



tlous a poffcffion, clianges of occupants of farms are by no 

 means common. In the vale of York one-third of the land 

 is computed to be in tillage, and two-thirds in grafs ; but 

 in Cleveland, along the fouth bank of the river Tees, the 

 country is equally divided between com and pafture. In 

 the environs of Thirik, where the dairy is the chief objeft 

 of purfuit, fully three-quarters of the land are devoted to 

 it. In the valleys or dales which interfeft the eaft moor- 

 lands, about one-fifth of the furface is in tillage ; but in 

 thofe of the weft, a much fmaller quantity is ufually 

 ploughed : thofe parts although inclofed are therefore ge- 

 nerally in pafture. In few diftrifts of England have im- 

 provements in agriculture been more generally or (kilfully 

 introduced than of late years in the Eaft Riding. The farms 

 are commonly large, and vary in annual rent from two or 

 three hundred pounds to a thoufand ; but in the marfhy 

 trafts, called the levels, they are moftly fmall. By drain- 

 age there, and in the flat country, in the vicinity of Hull, 

 large trafts, formerly flooded, now produce plentiful crops 

 of corn ; the value of the land being thus increafed to ten 

 times its former worth. In the hilly range of the Wolds, 

 barley and oats have in many places been fuperfeded by 

 wheat. In the Weft Riding the farms are generally fmall, 

 but in the environs of the manufafturing towns a great 

 portion of the ground is occupied by the inhabitants for the 

 ufe of their families. To the eaftward of Leeds, Wake- 

 field, and Rotheram, the greateft part of the Riding is corn- 

 land ; but this traft contains no fmaU proportion of com- 

 mon fields. The foil, however, is good, and improvement 

 may be eafily introduced. In addition to grain of all forts, 

 flax is cultivated in the marfhlands to confiderable extent ; 

 and in the environs of York muftard is now a valuable ar- 

 ticle of cultivation ; though it is ftill confidered as the 

 produce of Durham. The horfes of Yorkfhire, and in 

 particular thofe of the North Riding, have long and univer- 

 fally been famed. Cleveland furnifhes an excellent breed for 

 the coach and the plough ; the northern parts of the vale of 

 York others for the coach and faddle ; and many of both 

 kinds are bred in the fouthern parts and the marllies. The 

 Eaft Riding alfo rears horfes of p-^cuhar value. A fmaller 

 but hardy and ufeful kind is bred in the dales of the eaft 

 moorlands : many of an equally ferviceable defcription are 

 alfo produced in the moorlands on the weft. The horned 

 cattle of Yorklhire are of various kinds, adapted to the 

 nature of their paftures, and to the ufes for which they are 

 employed. The north parts of the vale of York and the 

 diftrift of Cleveland produce the Tees-water breed, which 

 is ranked among the largeft in the kingdoni. In the plains 

 where cattle are chiefly kept for the purpofes of the dairy, 

 the milk, and not the form or ftrength of the race, is the 

 main objeft of attention with the farmer. The fheep in the 

 various parts of the county are alfo extremely different in 

 their nature and properties. In the North Riding, the 

 ftock has of late years been confiderably improved by the 

 intermixture of the Northumberland and other breeds. The 

 (heep of the weft moorlands are fmall ; but the wool is 

 tolerably fine : thofe of the eaft moorlands are ftill fmaller, 

 but with a very coarfe wool. Many of the old ftieep-walks 

 on the Wolds, in the Eaft Riding, are now broken up, and 

 conterted into corn-land. In the Weft Riding, by the in- 

 troduftion of the Leicefterftiire breed, the fheep have in 

 many places been highly improved. Thofe bred on the 

 weft moors and hills ofthis Riding, when brought down early 

 to pafture in the low grounds, become very valuable for food. 

 In many parts of Yorkfliire, great amelioration of the 

 foil has been produced by bollow-drainiDg ; irrigation, 



paring, and burning the furface, have alfo been advantaTe. 

 oufly adopted. In certain trafts, bones bruifed in a mill 

 are ufefuUy employed in compofts for manure. Confidering 

 its great extent, the North Riding of Yorkftiu-e contains 

 but a fmall proportion of woodlands; the whole having 

 been eftimated at about 25,000 acres, of which the vale of 

 York, with its boundary hills to the noui ; contains about 

 1 1,000. Large full-grown timber is accordingly very fcarce, 

 excepting on the eftates of the earl of Carhlle, C. S. Dun- 

 combe, efq. and fome other land proprietors. But the oak- 

 timber of this Riding, produced on hard rocky ground, if riot 

 of great fize, is folid and durable ; and hence the valuable 

 qualities of the ftiipping built at Whitby and Scarborough. 

 The planting of the Wolds in the Eaft Riding has been fuc- 

 cefsfully began by feveral proprietors. In the Weft Riding, 

 the quantity of oak and afti is very confiderable ; and both 

 are much ufed for ftiip-building, and for the various de- 

 mands of the manufafturers : much is alfo confumed in the 

 coal and other mines. In the vicinity of Sheffield, the 

 duke of Norfolk poflefFes above 1500 acres of woodland. 

 According to a calculation made in 1799, the wafte lands 

 in this Riding amounted to upwards of 400,000 acres, of 

 which one-third feemed to be proper only for planting. No 

 great progrefs in that operation has, however, yet been made. 



ManufaHures. — The manufaftured produftions of York- 

 ftiire, efpecially of the Weft Riding, are of the very firft 

 importance to the county and to the kingdom, as well as 

 to the multitudes to whom they furnifti employment and 

 wealth. The principal inducement for the eftabliftiment 

 of thofe great works in the interior of the country was 

 the plentiful fupply of water and fuel for giving motion to 

 machiner)-, and for the various other operations of the feve- 

 ral branches of induftry. Leeds, fituated on the north bank 

 of the river Aire, has long been celebrated as the centre of 

 the manufafture of woollen cloth ; and it is ftill the great 

 mart for that ftaple article of the commerce of Yorkfhire. 

 (See Leeds, and Woollen ManuJaSure.) The white 

 cloth is chiefly made at and about Dewftiury, among the 

 hills which feparate the valleys of the Aire and Calder, and 

 in the vicinity of Wakefield. The mixed cloth is princi- 

 pally made in the villages comprehended in the parifti of 

 Leeds to the weftward of the town ; in the vale of Calder 

 weft from Wakefield ; and alfo in the environs of Dewftjuly. 

 In the year i8c6, the number of yards of broad cloth ma- 

 nufaftured in the Weft Riding of Yorkfliire is ftated at 

 10,079,256, and of narrow cloth at 6,193,317. But in 

 18:0 the broad cloth was only 9,826,048 yards, and the 

 narrow cloth had increafed to 6,951,762 yards. In 1811, 

 however, the quantity of both forts of cloth had fenfibly 

 diminiftied ; for the yards of broad cloth were only 

 8,671,042, and thofe of narrow cloth 6,180,181 ; one 

 of the many effefts produced on the induftry, and con- 

 fequently on the well-being of the county and of the king- 

 dom at large, by the hoftilities in which Britain was then 

 deeply involved on both fides of the Atlantic. The cut- 

 lery and plated goods of Sheffield are in all their branches 

 carried to a perfeftion and an extent of which it is not eafy 

 to furnifh a fatisfaftory account. The cutlery, confifting 

 of edge-tools of every defcription, files, anvils, faws, &c. 

 is not confined to that town, but manufaftured in all the 

 neighbouring villages. The plated goods, confifting of tea- 

 urns, coffee-pots, tankards, candle-fticks, and many other ar- 

 ticles of houfehold ufe, are all prepared within the town. In 

 it are alfo feveral founderies for iron, brafs, and white metal. 



Minerals, ^c Excepting the alum on the borders of the 



eaft moorlands, and the lead of the vicinity of Richmond to- 

 wards 



