164 State of Agriculture in Northumberland. 



work is impeded^ may seem ridiculous to those to whom it is 

 familiar ; but I am induced to notice it because it answers all the 

 purpose of the more nice, but infinitely more expensive, covering 

 invariably applied in the southern counties, which is reserved for 

 particular hands, as requiring a degree of skill and ability beyond 

 the reach of the ordinary labourers on the farm. 



The portion of land, after turnips, not sown with wheats, is 

 occupied by barley, unless in cases where it is of a moorish or 

 clayey nature^ when oats are preferred. The Chevalier kind is 

 sown on the best lands, and the common Scotch barley where the 

 land is inferior or the time of sowing very late, as the latter 

 ripens about ten days earlier. Land which has been well cul- 

 tivated for turnips is frequently in tilth sufficiently fine to admit 

 of being sown after once ploughing into ridges, in which case it 

 is frequently drilled or ribbed by means of one-horse ploughs 

 which are used for clearing turnip -drills, and then sown by the 

 hand, the seed falling , into the ribs or furrows made by the little 

 ploughs 8 or 9 inches apart, and then being regularly covered by 

 harrowing. This process is more expensive than the use of a 

 drill-machine, but it works the land better, and, as far as the crop 

 is concerned, I am inclined to think is preferable, inasmuch as the 

 roots are not confined in so small a space as when deposited by 

 the drill, and are apt to shoot more vigorously ; although for hoe- 

 ing, if weeds prevail, the closer row from the machine is better. 

 If any stiffness or want of friability appears in the land, it ought 

 to have more than one ploughing for barley and grass-seeds. 

 The time of sowing is from the middle of March to the middle 

 of May, as the land can be got ready and the weather may be 

 suitable : early sowing is not desirable, as the corn while tender 

 is apt to get a check by frost, and I should say that in an average 

 of seasons, the best crops of barley are from land sown from the 

 middle to the end of April. Harvest commonly begins in 

 August, but is seldom concluded till late in September, and in 

 some seasons much remains to be done in October. Barley, 

 especially that which is early ripe, is more frequently mown, 

 either with the cradle -scythe, or the short scythe, or double- 

 handed sickle, than any other grain ; but if the weather be fickle 

 and the season advanced, the farmer is generally anxious to have 

 it tied into compact sheaves, for although it may be tied up 

 directly from the scythe, it does not pack so tightly together from 

 the swathe as the sickle. The produce of the district far exceeds 

 its consumption, and much of the surplus is shipped from the 

 port of Berwick. 



Timiip cultivation is the branch of rural economy in which 

 this district peculiarly excels, which exercises by far the greatest 

 influence upon its prosperity, and has produced the greatest effect. 



