Farmhnj of Derhysldre. 



49 



Considering all the difficulties of soil and climate, tlie hand 

 of industry has had much to contend with ; and physical force, 

 supported by a liberal outlay, could only accomplish it. The 

 estate is at the present time under active cultivation, and, by 

 the judicious application of mountain lime, produces abundant 

 crops. The course usually followed on these reclaimed peat 

 earths will be, — 1st year, fallow — turnips and cabbages con- 

 sumed in the fold-yard by cows and young stock, or sheep on 

 the seeds ; 2nd year, barley-bere, or barley-big, giving 5 quar- 

 ters per acre, and occasionally used for malting ; 3rd year, seeds ; 

 4th and 5th years, seeds pastured and broken up for two crops 

 of oats. The drainage, the clay, and the lime have a beneficial 

 effect on the peat : it is less spongy, and more like ordinary soil ; 

 and, by autumn dressing and cleaning, 6 and 8 white crops have 

 since been taken. 



There has been a similar reclamation on the estate of Robert 

 Arkwright, Esq., at Harrod, on a continuation of the same strata, 

 running east. Rocks have been split up and converted into farm 

 buildings and fence walls, and the land drained at the average 

 cost of 19Z. per acre. These improvements, made and making, 

 are proofs that agriculture in Derbyshire is not stationary. Ex- 

 tensive plantations have been made in this district, chiefly of 

 larch, spruce, Scotch fir. At Darley Flash, on the estate of the 

 Rev. — Jebb, of Walton, noble specimens of soft timber are grow- 

 ing, approaching in dimensions to the pines of Northern Europe. 



Going north towards Hathersage, Bamford, Hope, and Castle- 

 ton, the district does not offer any agricultural novelty. It is chiefly 

 pastoral, and in the summer very beautiful. Oats and turnips 

 are the principal crops on the arable lands : the meadows yield 

 good crops of hay. The stock is a mixture of short-horns and 

 the ordinary stock of the district : they are not, generally speak- 

 ing, well attended to and cared for. This is owing chiefly to the 

 want of comfortable houses and sheds : they are turned out 

 ichere there is plenty of room^'' laying their manure where it is 

 not wanted. Farther north, the vales of the Derwent and the 

 Ashop are narrow, and afford only in many places a pass for the 

 stream and the road. The meadows, where there are any, are 

 only strips of land, subject to the mountain flood, but giving 

 good crops of hay. Efforts are continually being made to enclose 

 the land and blow up the rocks to make fence walls, and catch an 

 acre where it is practicable to grow roots and oats. To all these 

 industrial efforts there are many difficulties and drawbacks. The 

 seasons are critical ; the winters long ; showers and snow-storms 

 continual, with frequent hail. The enclosed patches are subject 

 to certain lawless freebooters, with long horns and a longer tail, 

 and typical of the famous Derby ram, read of in nursery rhymes. 



VOL. XIV. E 



