29-2 



Farming of Cumberland. 



a drop to run to waste he can possibly prevent ; whilst others, 

 having abundance of rich water at command, heedlessly allow it 

 to run out of their premises, without any attempt to turn it to 

 a beneficial use. Many a muddy stream, the washings of limed 

 or of manured or ploughed lands, is suffered to flow quietly away 

 with the fruitfulness of acres in its highly coloured compound. 

 Roadside ditches, impregnated with the finely pulverised lime- 

 stone, of which many roads are made, and with the droppings of 

 the horses and cattle passing along them, are too often suffered to 

 stagnate, with evidence of their powers in the luxuriance of the 

 weeds they produce. And above all, the " sypings " * of the 

 dunghills and fold-yards (in spite of the thousand-and-one warn- 

 ings of the agricultural writers of the day), in far too many in- 

 stances continue to surfeit the small patches next their sources, 

 without regret or restraint. It is true that some few collect and 

 preserve all these means of fertilization, and apply them to good 

 purposes. Some have formed pits below their dungheaps, as re- 

 ceptacles for the water which flows from them, into which they 

 carefully collect the weeds of the farm, and the soil of headlands 

 and ditch-sides ; and those, after being saturated a few months 

 with the essence of manure, form a rich compound for top-dress- 

 ing. Others retain the black juices in ponds, until, with the aid 

 of the water they may command, sufficient is collected to flow 

 over the nearest meadow or grass field. Some have the liquid 

 re-applied to the manure heap, to keep it moist ; and all find the 

 benefit of their several ways of application ; but there still exists 

 the great majority who shamefully neglect all these advantages ; 

 and no wonder if they run into arrear of rent, for such as they 

 will commit other neglects. 



It ought to be a special inquiry by a landlord as to whether 

 an applicant for a farm has been in the habit of taking due care 

 of his manure, and if he has not, to reject him at once. 



The springs and streams which flow down the mountain-sides 

 do not in general possess great fertilising properties ; and there- 

 fore the catch-water" system, so much approved in some of the 

 continental husbandry, cannot be so universally practised here ; 

 and the sheep-farmers totally object to irrigation, as dangerous to 

 the health of their flocks. 



The tops of many of the mountains are covered with peaty soil, 

 and from this cause the streams become impregnated with the 

 water oozing from it, which contains a very considerable portion 

 of tannin, and is hurtful to vegetation. There are springs issuing 

 from the calcareous f beds of Crossfell, Hartside, and others of 



* Provincialism for drainings. 



t Some springs in the parish of Bolton deposit a strong crust of lime as they 

 proceed, and are useless for irrigation. 



