State of Agriculture in Northumberland. 



155 



maining portions of land which were by any means accessible to the 

 plough were put in requisition ; large stones were dug up and re- 

 moved from the sides of mountains to procure an arable surface; 

 bogs were drained, and lands hitherto open and unproductive were 

 inclosed, and, by the application of lime and good husbandry, 

 made to wave with golden harvests. Reductions of rent, failure of 

 tenants, and change of occupancy, were the effect of subsequent 

 events ; but still the system of agriculture^ which a time of unex- 

 ampled prosperity produced, has been maintained, and a substi- 

 tute has even in a great measure been found for the high prices 

 of the war, in the increased produce obtained by recent improve- 

 ments, such as the use of bone manure, extensive and systematic 

 draining, subsoil ploughing, and a somewhat better understanding 

 of the application of animal and vegetable chemistry to agricul- 

 tural objects, or, in other words, the combination of the science 

 with the practice of agriculture. The grand desideratum, how- 

 ever, of basing the practice of agriculture upon scientific princi- 

 ples, it must be confessed, has as yet made but small progress. 

 To effect that important end, the culture of the mind must pre- 

 cede that of the land ; and although the farmers of the district 

 now under review, holding large tracts of land, and possessed of 

 great capital, have received a more liberal education, and are 

 more distinguished for intelligence and information than many 

 others, yet the daily occupations of the practical farmer, as such, 

 are in no way favourable to scientific research and intellectual 

 attainments. We must look to other quarters for the consumma- 

 tion of this great object ; and happily a new era is opening upon 

 us, and brighter prospects are rising to our view ; the great 

 and influential of the land have engaged themselves in the work. 

 This most important branch of our national industry, and source 

 of our national prosperity, is no longer to be left for its advance- 

 ment to the chance-directed discoveries of the unlettered rustic. 

 When wealth and intelligence lead the pursuit, and call the re- 

 sources of knowledge and science to their aid, it is not unreason- 

 able to expect that sources of fertility and productiveness, as yet 

 unknown, will be developed — that the practice of agriculture 

 will be founded upon principles which, though in strict de- 

 pendance upon philosophic rules, shall be rendered familiar to 

 the understandings of the rough-shod race," whose stolidity has 

 hitherto been subject of proverbial reproach with the learned ; 

 and that agriculture shall take the stand among the sciences, to 

 which it is so justly entitled, as well by the great interest which 

 attaches to it as by the immense national importance which it 

 possesses. 



Having hastily traced the progress of Northumbrian agricul- 

 ture from the most imperfect to its present advanced state, it re- 



