Farming of Lancashire. 



exhaustion as the land has suffered during past years, it is impos- 

 sible to restore it to anything like vigour without going through a 

 judicious rotation of crops, and the system of the schedule, tried 

 on this property, which binds the tenant to a fixed and regular 

 course, though at first greatly disliked by him, is the only mode 

 of accomplishing the object sought after. The rental of the land 

 averages 305. per statute acre, or rather more, and the rotation 

 of crops, which is now adopted with success in working and 

 restoring it, is a five-course, as follows : — 



Out of ley— 1. Oats. 



2. Oats, a better crop than the first. 



3. Green crop manured, turnips or potatoes. 



4. Oats or barley, with seeds. 



5. Seeds for hay or pasture. 



And after that one year or more in pasture, according to cir- 

 cumstances, the object being to get a good permanent pasture for 

 the dairy, and sometimes it is preserved unbroken for three years. 

 The land is strong and retentive of moisture, and produces, after 

 a fallow, a good crop of wheat, 25 or 30 bushels to the acre ; but 

 before any of these crops can be grown, it is necessary to drain it 

 thoroughly. The first method of draining on this property, before 

 the invention of pipes, was with horseshoe-tiles and stones, at a 

 rate varying from 15rf". to \%d. a rood of 7 yards, total cost, filled 

 and completed, and 60,000 roods of drains were so laid at a 

 depth of not more than 30 inches; but now a drain of 3 feet deep 

 with a 2-inch pipe for the water, is found to answer admirably at 

 intervals of 8, 9, or 10 yards, down the fall, at a cost of lid. to 

 ISd. per rood, including the tiles, cutting, laying, and filling. 

 The understratum in which the tiles are laid is a stiff reddish clay, 

 capable of being made into bricks or tiles; and the drains are, 

 for the most part, laid 8 yards apart, with an air-drain carried 

 along the top of the field, and communicating of course with the 

 heads of all the drains. This admission of a draught of air is 

 most advantageous, and may, in fact, be considered as one of the 

 great secrets of thorough tile-draining : in meadow land, or per- 

 manent pasture, it is quite sufficient to bring the pipe up in a 

 slanting direction to the surface ; this plan I have tried, and it 

 saves the expense of the additional air-drain. 



A large brickyard and tilery has been at work on this property 

 for more than 15 years, and the horseshoe-tiles were made in 

 large quantities, as may be imagined from the length of drains 

 named above, which was generally laid with that kind of tile, the 

 opening turned upwards, and a stone placed as a cover. For the 

 last three years pipes have been substituted for the horseshoe ; 

 and last year, 1848, upwards of 500,000 tiles were made in that 

 yard, nor was this supply at all equal to the demand. There are 



