Farming of Cumherland. 



237 



Guano is extensively used over most of the county ; bones 

 sparingly ; lime is a common product from one end of the county 

 to the other, and was very largely used before the introduction 

 of guano, but is little used now ; a great deal of good has been 

 effected by its use, and some harm by its abuse. When the en- 

 closures of the numerous commons so rapidly succeeded each 

 other, from 1780 to 1825, and large crops of grain were com- 

 monly obtained after liming the virgin soil, lime was abundantly 

 applied to all soils without discrimination. There were scarcely 

 any soils which, on breaking up, did not respond abundantly 

 for a few years after a heavy dose* of lime ; and when they 

 began to diminish, a fresh application of lime was expected to 

 be as efficacious as the first. On dry or well-drained soils 

 this did no harm, and, if not applied too soon after the first, 

 it was beneficial ; but on wet clays, weak sandy soils, and 

 light peat earths, much injury followed this second or third 

 application. The wet clays were mortarized (to use a coined 

 term), the light soils worked and disintegrated till their texture 

 was destroyed, and both rendered almost sterilej until drained 

 and re-cultivated with manure and no lime. Composts of lime 

 and soil, so common when Bailey and Culley wrote, are little 

 used now, other manures being better and cheaper. 



Tradition says seaweed was much used for manure in former 

 days, and " tangle-dotes " have been allotted on some parts of 

 the coast,J: where each farm had its separate right of collecting 

 the weed. Perhaps some diminution may have taken place in 

 the production of this useful manure,§ as only small quantities 

 can now be had along the coast. Some farmers neglect to use 

 these privileges, and others are a ery attentive to them. 



Of the large extent of moor and heath broken up within the 

 county, much has been reclaimed by paring and burning, the 

 ashes being spread and ploughed in along with lime, varying in 

 quantity from 150 to 300 imperial bushels per acre. A great 

 deal of this was sown with wheat in the autumn, after the 

 paring, on the first ploughing. On the peaty or very light soils, 

 or on high situations, oats were sown, and almost invariably 

 abundant crops resulted ; some followed Avith oats and seeds, 

 and others scourged by repeated crops till the soil was ex- 

 hausted and left for their successors to renovate ; some had an 

 idea that the heath could not be destroyed without paring and 

 ploughing, and put themselves to great expense to accomplish 



* From 12 to 14 carts, of 18 imperial bushels each, equal to about 250 per acre, 

 t Considerable tracts on Inglewood Forest, Botton Pasture, and other late 

 commons, might be instanced as examples. 

 X Allonby, &c. 



§ In the Isle of Man potatoes are grown without any other preparation, on some 

 farm.s, than merely ploughing in the sea-ware on the greensward. 



