222 



Farming of Cumberland. 



an equitable share of the inferior soils, to be occupied along with 

 the good. By a judicious selection, the number of tenants was 

 reduced to about 140 in 1851. From 4000 to 5000 acres were 

 retained by the owner, who expended on that and the rest of the 

 estate upwards of 110,0007. in improvements, rebuilding, drain- 

 ing, &c., and in 1845 let most of it, and took other portions in 

 hand to improve. Much of the inferior lands were drained 

 without charging the tenants any interest on the outlay ; and in 

 no case is more than 35. Q>d. per acre added for the cost of drain- 

 age. The subsoil being alluvial on 8000 or 9000 acres, and a 

 free clay on most of the rest, the cost of cutting is perhaps less 

 than in other districts. The tiles are manufactured by contract 

 on the property, and the 12,000,000 of them used from 1823 to 

 1849 were only charged with 5 per cent, interest on 20^. per 

 thousand, and since that time at I65. per thousand. The follow- 

 ing extract from a Report prepared by Mr. Brown, the present 

 land-steward, and revised by the late land-steward, Mr. Yule, a 

 short time before his decease, will convey an idea of the state of 

 matters on the Netherby estate thirty years ago : — 



" When the present proprietor succeeded to the estate in the year 1819, it 

 was in a most ruinous condition. The good land, which had been exhausted 

 by repeated corn crops, was chiefly divided into small farms of from 40 to 

 100 acres in extent. The estate was overburdened with an excessive popula- 

 tion ; a great portion of it remained unenclosed ; the farm-buildings, with few 

 exceptions, were very bad, being chiefly formed of clay or mud walls, and 

 thatched ; whilst three-fourths of the estate was completely saturated with 

 water, and a great extent of moss and cold pasture-land, on that account alone, 

 remained uncultivated. The public roads were also in a most wretched state, 

 and quite insufficient for the purposes of occupation. 



" The first step towards the improvement of the estate was the amalgama- 

 tion of many of the small possessions into suitable sized farms of from 100 to 

 500 acres in extent ; the erection of good and substantial farm-buildings ; the 

 division of the land into proper enclosures by quick fences ; making proper oc- 

 cupation roads where necessary; granting 19 years' leases to his tenantry, 

 with improving clauses inserted therein, binding them to follow out the most 

 approved system of modern husbandry ; and lastly, establishing two tile-kilns 

 upon the estate, to furnish tiles for the use of the tenantry. 



By these means, under able and skilful direction, and with the cordial 

 co-operation and support of a most industrious and persevering body of 

 tenantry, the estate has been brought into its present high state of cultivation, 

 whilst hardly an acre, capable of improvement, remains unbroken up." 



The draining proceeds at the rate of about 600 acres yearly, 

 and some extent of land remains yet to be drained. 



The improved system of cultivation adopted, and the greatly 

 extended growth of turnip, rendered a considerable enlargement 

 of the farm-buildings necessary for the accommodation of the 

 annually increasing stock ; and, consequently, upwards of 1000/. 

 per annum has long been applied to that purpose, without 

 interest ; and the homesteads are now nearly all renovated, wit^i 



