Farming of Lancashire. 



47 



and manure, and are effecting a revolution in this respect, which 

 is very important to the farmers. In many parts of Cheshire, 

 where formerly cheese was made, the milk is now taken at once 

 by the railways to Manchester and Liverpool, and the effect of 

 this is, that the cheese-merchants come down into the north to 

 look for that supply which formerly they obtained from the 

 neighbouring county. This has given a new stimulus to the 

 dairy-farmers ; and I have been informed by a leading cheese- 

 factor at Lancaster that, during the last few years, the cheeses in 

 the northern districts have in fact improved wonderfully, and 

 that now much more care is paid both to the making and the 

 keeping of them. All this tends to confirm the opinion which 

 prevails amongst many of the most influential practical farmers of 

 the county, that the dairy and the cheese-room must be the chief 

 objects which all our agricultural improvements ought to have 

 in view. 



The Agricultural Societies also deserve a special notice. Within 

 the last few years the spirit of inquiry and desire to obtain really 

 useful and practical information on farming matters has extended 

 throughout this county, in common with the rest of the kingdom : 

 we are, in fact, in a transition state, in which every advance in 

 the right direction not only leads to positive improvement, but 

 affords encouragement to further exertions — " vires acquirit 

 eundo." The different agricultural societies which have been 

 established in various parts of the county within the last twelve 

 or thirteen years, are a proof of the vitality of this spirit of im- 

 provement. They were, in fact, the waking efforts of a people 

 shaking off their lethargy ; and though they may not perhaps 

 have entirely answered the expectations of the founders, they 

 have not been unproductive of good. A few years ago every 

 town, especially in the northern districts, had its agricultural 

 society. Ulverstone, Lancaster, Preston, and Blackburn vied 

 with each other in their autumnal exhibitions, whilst the private 

 societies of the Duke of Hamilton, Mr. Clifton, and Mr. Ffar- 

 rington occupied the rural districts. Some of these have now 

 disappeared, and others are amalgamated with their more powerful 

 though younger rival, the Royal North Lancashire Agricultural 

 Society. The same change has been taking place in the Southern 

 Division ; and Liverpool and Manchester, instead of having each 

 their separate society, are now united in one. The principle of 

 these large societies is, that they should be perambulatory, like 

 the Royal Agricultural Society of England. It is hoped that by 

 visiting in succession the different districts and important places 

 within their several limits, they will bring within the reach of 

 every farmer, at stated intervals of time, a show of sfock and 

 implements such as no local society could possibly present to 



