Farming of Lancashire. 



7 



longitude ; it is bounded on the north by Cumberland and West- 

 moreland, on the east by Yorkshire, on the south by Cheshire 

 and Derbyshire, and on the west by the Irish Sea. The extreme 

 length is 74 miles, and its greatest breadth 4-1 4 miles : its surface 

 contains 1765 square miles, of which about 1125 are compre- 

 hended in the Southern Division, and 650 in the two other 

 divisions. The area of the county comprises, according to the 

 Ordnance Survey, 1,117,260 acres of land, of which about 

 350,000 are in tillage, 450,000 in pasture, and the remainder in 

 woodlands, moors, and mosses. 



The population in 1821 amounted to 1,052,200, and according 

 to the last Census in 1841 it had increased to 1,667,054, of 

 which it may fairly be said that three-fourths are engaged in 

 commerce and manufactures, or dependent upon them for their 

 employment and support; this allows 416,763 for the cultivation 

 of the land. 



The great geological features of the county consist in a chain of 

 hills which separate Lancashire from Yorkshire on the east, and 

 which run northwards from Ashton-under-Lyne, near Manchester, 

 to Hornby. This tract of mountainous moorland is chiefly com- 

 posed of millstone-grit and hard freestone formations, the soil for 

 the most part being thin and poor, and in the lower parts a strong 

 clay. Amongst the highest hills of the range are Blackstone 

 Edge, Pendle Hill, which is 1805 feet above the level of the 

 sea, and the Fells of Bleasdale and Wyresdale. The district north 

 of the river Lune from Lancaster has the metalliferous limestone 

 for its immediate substratum ; and as we approach the northern 

 mountains of the county, which form the barrier between it and 

 Westmoreland and Cumberland, the transition limestone and slate 

 prevail. These hills, from their picturesque beauty and height, 

 form some of the most magnificent features of the lake scenery 

 in this part of England ; Coniston Fell, the highest point of which 

 is well known by visitors to the lakes as the fi Old Man," being 

 2580* feet above the level of the sea. The soil on this northern 

 range is better than on the eastern chain, and the natural drainage 

 more rapid and complete than on the grit formations. On the 

 western and southern sides of the county is found the new red- 

 sandstone, which forms an irregular band of some miles in breadth, 

 extending along the vale of the Mersey, east of Manchester, to 

 Liverpool, and thence along the western side by Ormskirk and 

 Preston to Lancaster, and in this stratum is found the red marl, 

 which is so valuable as a manure in reclaiming dry, sandy, and 

 peaty soils ; to the westward of this line lie the alluvial districts, 

 and the coal-beds occupy the whole space between the red -sand- 

 stone and the eastern boundary of the county south of the Ribble. 



Westward from the eastern chain of hills flow the three great 



