54 



Farming of Derbyshire. 



when they are strangers. The best remedy is to change the 

 pasture frequently. Mr. Stephen Glover, of Middleton, says, 

 " As regards the breed of cattle, their object (the farmers') is 

 to obtain quantity and quality for the production of cheese and 

 butter, and such as will come to early maturity for the butcher. 

 And I think for really useful purposes, for symmetry and breed, 

 this township for its extent may challenge the county. In their 

 sheep stock you may average them with the generality of Peak 

 farmers." This township (the township of Middleton by Youl- 

 greave^ is " a gem of the Peak," and has the enviable reputation 

 by general consent of being the best-managed estate and having 

 the best farmers in the county. The practice of seeding down 

 land with rape after .turnips, though not introduced in the first 

 instance by the late Thomas Bateman, Esq., was approved of by 

 him, and its adoption insisted on by his tenantry. This plan 

 gives two green crops and two fallows, and the land must necessa- 

 rily be clean and in a high state of cultivation. The practice is 

 common on the mountain limestone, and is really high farming ; 

 repelling in a great degree the libel " that Derbyshire proprietors 

 are indifferent to agricultural progress." A great breadth of 

 meadow-hay is grown on these soils, and most of the farmers have 

 hay-making machines made by the village carpenter : they are 

 simple in construction, without springs, and answer all the pur- 

 poses of the more expensive machines. Those employed on the 

 farm of Mr. Gregory, Meadow Place, are worth notice. 



The Hon. G. H. Cavendish, M.P., Ashford Hall, has favoured 

 me with an account descriptive of his farming operations at 

 Ashford Hall, near Bakewell : — 



" The farm consists of 150 acres of land, of which 40 acres is 

 arable. The arable, a good soil from 10 to 12 inches deep, 

 has most of it been ploughed deep, some trenched, and recently 

 obtained the prize given by 'The Bakewell Farmers' Club,' as 

 the best-managed farm : — 



Course of Cropping. Weight and Quantity of Crop. 



"1st Year.— Oats after seeds . . . . 8 to 9 quarters per acre. 

 2nd* do. Wheat . . . . . About 4^0 5 quarters ditto. 

 3rd do. Turnips and mangold . . . About 20 tons, 

 4th do. "Winter barley (sown in October) . 9 to 10 quarters per acre. 

 5th do. Seeds generally mown twice for hay. 



" The great bulk of the farm-yard manure is put on the seeds 

 and meadow-land. The winter barley stands up well, ripens 

 early, and the seeds grow remarkably well underneath. This 

 barley fetches (1853) about 28 shillings per quarter, and when 

 proper pains are taken in its cultivation seems to be a crop well 



* A better sample of wheat is grown after oats than after a green crop, -vrhere it 

 is too liable to run to straw. ^ 



