Farming of Cumhcrlaiid. 



235 



given to them at milking-time ; and the poor animals soon 

 learn to be very regular in their attendance at home at those 

 hom's. In the neighbourhood of Ravenglass and Bootle vetches 

 are occasionally sown among ley oats — the mixed crop is cut, 

 threshed, and given to horses, or ground for pigs and fat cattle. 

 The vetches do not seem to injure the oat crop, and the oats 

 constitute a support, which enables the vetches to ripen sooner 

 than when sown as a separate crop. 



In former times hemp and flax were grown in small parcels 

 on almost every farm (as the common names* of many fields still 

 testify), and formed part of the employment of winter evenings to 

 the household : the male branches platting the hemp into cord- 

 age and scutching or dressing the flax, while the females spun 

 part of the latter into thread for home-made linen,t and prepared 

 the rest for sale as lint, to be spun by others. Cottagers were 

 allowed to sow flax on the neighbouring farms, on giving harvest- 

 labour in return ; the seed was saved, and sold by the women in 

 the market-towns by the hoop-measure.J From this the home- 

 grown seed was called "hoop-seed ;" and that of foreign growth, 

 from being sold by weight, was termed "pound-seed," and 

 brought a higher price. The growth of flax was partially con- 

 tinued down to the present century, but was finally obliged to 

 give way, along with its manufacture, before foreign competition 

 and machinery. 



Gardens are common appendages to the farms, and orchards 

 partially so. The parishes of Irton, Muncaster, and Crosthwaite 

 contain many good orchards, where fruit is grown for sale. In 

 Bassenthwaite parish field-orchards were tried a while ago, but 

 abandoned on account of the extensive depredations centered on 

 them. 



Manures are now assuming the importance they are justly 

 entitled to in rural affairs, and farmers turn their attention to 

 many sources for obtaining them now that were entirely over- 

 looked or unknown a few years ago. The best farmers also 

 exercise more judgment in preparing, mixing, preserving, and 

 applying the mianures produced on their farms. Many farms 

 now have tanks for collecting the valuable liquids which, till 

 lately, all ran to waste, and many more still require them. The 

 produce of these tanks§ is applied to grass-lands, to Italian rye- 

 grass, and other soiling crops, and to saturate the dung-heaps. 

 Capt. Robertson Walker has set the example of covered dung- 



* Hempgarth, linegarth, hemp-headling, &c. Hemp-dubs and line-dubs, and 

 their uses for steeping, are still remembered by many old people. 



f The bracken (fern) was gathered and burned to make potash for bleaching 

 the home-made linen. 



X The " hoop " contained six quarts, and the name was derived from its being 

 made of a broad wooden hoop in the form of a tub. 



§ Some doubt if the benefit is equal to the labour of distribution. 



