Farming of Derbyshire. 



63 



emigration, and the high rate of labour, and the deficiency of 

 hands, have checked the progress of draining ; but it is patiently 

 and quietly going forwards, guided by practice and experience. 

 The great quantity of rain falling in the north and north-western 

 parts of the county, as compared with that falling in the south 

 or the eastern coasts of England, renders the necessity of drainage 

 imperative. At Derby, the quantity of rain falling on the average 

 is about 28 inches ; at Chatsworth it has been averaged at 34 

 inches ; Hathersage at 40 inches : and at Kinderscout, near 

 Chapel-en-la- Frith, at 80 inches. In London the average of rain 

 falling is about 28 inches, and at Harwich 23 inches. The 

 quantity of rain falling, then, in any particular locality, has or 

 should have an influence on the drainage. 



I had fully intended a visit to all the tile-yards in the county, 

 and from inquiry to have ascertained the quantity made at each 

 yard during the year, and deduced the amount of drainage going 

 forwards. The continued rains of the winter of 1852-3 reduced 

 the amount of time given, and it became impossible. 



The different kinds of oats, which have lately been introduced, 

 of an early kind, combined with early sowing, have hastened the 

 northern harvest, and this has further been pushed forward by an 

 improved condition of the land. It may be asked. Would rye 

 grow on the upland farms ? If so, it ivould yield more straiv than 

 any kind of crop that could he soim, and it would be no less 

 valuable, commercially speaking, than oats. Rye will grow on 

 the sandy deserts of Sherwood, but its growth does not appear 

 to have been attempted on the high districts of Derbyshire. 



The farm-buildings are improved and improving, the difficulty 

 often presenting itself, whether to pull the v/hole down and 

 build new, or patch and repair the old. Many years of indif- 

 ference and neglect to farm-buildings have allowed them to go 

 out of repair ; and it may be regretted that agricultural archi- 

 tecture has made so little progress. In all buildings of a useful 

 rather than ornamental nature, such as workshops and factories, 

 some uniformity of plan or design is carried out that is found by 

 experience to be the most convenient and useful for the pur- 

 poses intended ; but it is not so in farm-buildings, every farm- 

 stead having a different plan or design. Where uniformity might 

 prevail there is none. One cheap and useful design might be 

 applied generally ; but the difficulty is in fixing the new with 

 the old, so as not to prevent future improvements. This applies 

 not to any particular soil or district, but the whole county gene- 

 rally requires an improvement in this important branch of rural 

 affairs. If there he one neglect in Derbyshire more diffused and 

 general than another, it is the too common icant of spouting s to carry 

 away the eaves-icater from the manure. This has heen before al- 

 luded to, and the evils of washing and brewing manures pointed out. 



