Farming of Lancashire. 



39 



alluvial districts the old houses and cottages were made by a 

 framework of wood, filled up with wattled stud -work, and covered 

 over with a composition of clay and wet straw, locally termed 

 clat and clay ; these houses are thatched with straw, and, being 

 whitewashed inside and out, have a tolerably clean and pic- 

 turesque appearance when new ; but they are frail tenements 

 at the best, and apt to get out of order, and are rapidly dis- 

 appearing in favour of more substantial habitations. The farm- 

 steads are for the most part badly arranged, with little attention 

 paid to ventilation or the economy of space and labour, now 

 considered so necessary in a well-regulated farming establish- 

 ment. The hav and grain crops are generally housed in large 

 barns, which form a prominent feature in the yard, whilst the 

 humble but more important requisites of steaming-apparatus, with 

 chaff" and turnip-cutting machines, are seldom met with ; large 

 boilers are sometimes used by the more intelligent farmers, who 

 are now beginning to discover their true interests in this respect. 



Stock- Cattle . — The Lancashire long-horned cattle were once 

 famous all over the kingdom, and prevailed throughout the 

 countv ; they were remarkable for the great length of horns and 

 width between the tips, sometimes as much as 4 feet, and even 

 more ; the hide, thick and firm in its texture, was well adapted 

 to resist the climate ; and, though they did not give very much 

 milk, it was considered to afford more cream in proportion to its 

 quantity than that of other kinds. Mr. Bakewell, of Dishley, 

 is said to have made them the basis of his improvements in stock. 

 As oxen they are quite unprofitable, and not being good 

 feeders they have gradually given way to the short-horns, which 

 are finer in the bone and hide, and in fatting quality superior 

 to any other breed. At vVoodacre Hall, near Garstang, Mr. 

 Daniel, a tenant of the Duke of Hamilton, on a farm of nearly 

 500 statute acres, has still some of the old and now despised 

 long-horned breed, and prefers them for their hardy constitution 

 and the quality of their milk. He maintains that 7 quarts from 

 one of his cows will give as much butter as 10 quarts from a 

 short-horn. They are longer in coming to maturity, but they 

 also last much longer, and will produce calves up to fourteen or 

 sixteen years of age. I saw the horns of one, measured by him, 

 which were 6 feet 1 inch from tip to tip : the tape being taken 

 down the horns and across the head. Many gentlemen have 

 endeavoured to raise the standard of stock in the county : in the 

 northern districts Mr. Cranke, of Hawkfield, Messrs. Patterson, 

 Holbeck, Mr. Ashburner, Mr. Ormandy, and a few others in 

 Furness, and Mr. Robinson, near Ulverstone, the Earl of Bur- 

 lington, Mr. Rawsthorne, of Heysham, near Lancaster, Mr. 



