216 



Farming of Cumberland, 



no unusual thing to find the potato-tops broke off by the ground, 

 the stitches on the lighter soils levelled, and the turnip-plants 

 left dangling by the ends of the tap-roots, or blown entirely out 

 of the soil. This frequently occurs along the exposed coast from 

 the Duddon to St. Bees, where the soils are generally of a light 

 texture. To the north-eastward of St. Bees the coast is more 

 elevated, and from Whitehaven to Workington the soil is stronger ; 

 the bluff headlands oppose and in some degree break the 

 force of the tempest ; and as the mountains also recede from the 

 coast, the wind sweeps over the bulk of the wheat-growing 

 district with a less violent force. 



Further still, the coast along the Solway is low and level or 

 with gentle undulations, which invariably run in the direction 

 from south-west to north-east, and offer no obstruction to the 

 prevailing south-west winds. 



Wheat requires more heat as it advances towards maturity 

 than any other of our corn crops ; and the degree of summer heat 

 is often so low on our elevated lands as is barely adequate to 

 bring it to that state.* Even the tops of our hills, of 600 feet 

 elevation, in the best of our wheat districts, require a more than 

 ordinary fine season to ripen wheat sufficiently. Barleyt ripens 

 well on dry and light soils at 600 feet. It is ventured, and fre- 

 quently succeeds, up to 800 feet, but is not to be depended upon 

 as to be reckoned a paying crop at that height. Oats are occa- 

 sionally sown at higher elevations, when it is wished to break up 

 land for improving the herbage, but beyond 800 feet of altitude 

 the crop rarely ripens well or yields much. 



In the extreme north-eastern parishes, where the surface slopes 

 gradually up from the Solway to the confines of Northumberland, 

 oats are grown to the utmost limit of cultivation,^ and succeed at 

 a greater altitude than where the rise is more abrupt. In the 

 vales of Garrigill and Nent, above the town of Alston,§ there are 

 several farms where hardly an attempt has hitherto been made to 

 cultivate any corn crops, on account of the altitude and exposure. 

 The spring seasons there are backward, but when vegetation 



* " In the south of France wheat is cultivated to the height of 5400 feet. In 

 Mexico its culture first begins at the height of 2500 to 3000 feet ; nay, between 

 Vera Cruz and Acapulco, according to Humboldt, fields of wheat are first met 

 with at the height of 3600 feet, and ascend above 9000 ^eQ\."— Meyer. 



Wheat, of excellent quality, " is cultivated in all parts of Chili, where there is 

 sufficient water, from the sea to a height of 5200 feet." — Ibid. 



t In the south of Lapland, in 67° N. latitude, where there is not a trace of the 

 culture of wheat, barley ascends to the height of 800 feet above the sea. — Schouws 

 Hxiropa. 



X Seven Carlisle, or 21 imperial bushels per acre, is thought a fair crop. 



§ The owner and occupier of a considerable estate there told the writer, in 

 December, 1851, that he had a great mind to breakup 10 acres for growing his 

 own corn, and that he has actually ordered an iron plough, there never having been 

 a plough on the farm yet. 



