86 



Farming of Northamptonshire, 



of them the property of the occupier, who has erected some con- 

 venient outbuildings, to which is attached a comfortable resi- 

 dence ; some of them may be ranked among the most commodious 

 and pleasant occupations in the county, being often situated on 

 the side or top of a hill, and commanding a wide and beautiful 

 prospect. Some of them are capable of further improvement by 

 the addition of more accommodation for cattle ; and the erection of 

 a few labourers' cottages on the farm would also be a great 

 advantage. 



While we would willingly yield our meed of praise to noble- 

 men and other land proprietors who have, during the last few 

 years, been making great efforts to improve their farm build- 

 ings, yet very much still remains to be done, and there is a 

 great want of proper accommodation for the cultivation of the 

 soil. In some villages you will not see a good farm-home- 

 stead ; the houses are low, with small barns and stabling, ill- 

 contrived yards, with miserable accom.modation for cattle and 

 pigs ; all the buildings covered with thatch, and often very 

 dilapidated, thus entailing an annual demand for straw on the 

 tenant, which is not very often granted, until a high wind or 

 the roof taking wet, renders it absolutely necessary to com- 

 mence operations. In many cases these forlorn buildings are 

 all the provision for the cultivation of 150 to 200 acres of land, 

 probably the greater part arable. It is in vain for the tenant to 

 endeavour to improve the quality of his manure by stall-feeding 

 cattle, for he has no bullock-hovels ; or to expend corn or cake in 

 the yard, for the first heavy rain that falls washes all the soluble 

 parts of the manure into the horse-pond, which is an invariable 

 appendage to a Northamptonshire old-fashioned farm-yard. 



In some districts you will find many good, substantial, well- 

 built, stone farm-houses, a good barn, but the other buildings 

 very inferior ; this shows that while attention has been paid to 

 the dwelling-house and a suitable provision for the thrashing 

 of the corn, yet no great attention has been paid to the yard, or 

 accommodation for a supply of that commodity to replenish the 

 barn — viz., a good supply of well-made manure, forgetting that 

 every improvement in the cultivation of the soil necessarily brings 

 with it a requirement for increased accommodation to convert the 

 produce of the farm into manure. 



In many parishes the whole of the farm -homesteads are situated 

 in the village, and the land lying out behind them ; or, in some 

 instances, in different parts of the field, and at a considerable 

 distance. I have known the produce drawn as far as two miles 

 to the homestead. The inconvenience which the occupier must 

 labour under from residing at so great a distance from his land, 

 and the loss of time and extra expense in cultivation, in carting 



