Ar/riciLlture of NortJiumhcrlaiid. 



42J 



rally mown the first year, and pastured the second. In the neigh- 

 bouring county of Berwickshire the five-course system is universal, 

 and permanent grass dispensed with altogether. 



5. The oat-crop is managed precisely as in the previous rota- 

 tion, although the better varieties are commonly grown, such as 

 the Potato and Hopetown. 



It must not be omitted to mention, that the pea takes the same 

 place in this system of cropping that the bean does in that already 

 described, and with equal advantage to the clover-crop. 



The farms under this rotation are generally on long leases, thus 

 giving proper security to the spirited farmer, who rarely fails to 

 benefit both himself and landlord by the use of costly artificial 

 manures, and by feeding his cattle with oil-cake. Lime is also 

 frequently carted a distance of forty miles, and found to repay this 

 great expense. Whatever may be said by interested parties against 

 the farmers as a class (sometimes with too much truth), here it is 

 undeserved. We have no hesitation in saying, that a more enter- 

 prising body of men does not exist than those who farm in the dis-> 

 trict we have been describing. 



Though the potato is not so extensively cultivated as the turnip 

 in this county, it deserves seme notice, forming as it does so seri- 

 ous an item in the food of all classes. The supply for the wants 

 of the county is, in a great measure, drawn by railway from Cum- 

 berland, and by shipping from Scotland. This root requires a 

 rather stronger soil than turnips, and is here cultivated in pre- 

 cisely a similar manner in drills, the lazy-bed system of the 

 southern counties being unknown. If the statem.ents of the old 

 farmers are to be relied on, there is a yearly increasing difficulty 

 in securing a good crop of potatoes, so much so, that the kidney 

 potato, formerly the universal favourite, has long ceased to be a 

 profitable crop. Experiments of every kind have been tried in 

 tlie county to prevent the ravages of the disease, but hitherto \yith- 

 out success. Notwithstanding all that has been said and written 

 on this important subject, we feel ourselves compelled to agree 

 M'ith a speaker at the late meetir.g of the British Association, that 

 vre literally know nothing about either the cause or the remedy of 

 the potato disease. 



C. In describing the stock, and system of stock-feeding in 

 Northumberland, the WTiter thinks he will be best understood by 

 dividing the subject into three heads : — 1, On the Hill or Breeding 

 Farms; 2. On the Turnip Farms; and 3. On the Grazing 

 Farms, icith Turnips. 



1. On the Hill or Breeding Farms. — A great portion of tlie 

 western and north-western parts of Northumberland, as already 

 named, are solely adapted for sheep pasturage, and the Cheviot 

 breed is mainly if not altogether kept. The farms in this district 



