Dec. 1895.] 



PARLIAMENTARY PUBLICATIONS. 



355 



Royal Commission on Agriculture. — Report by Mr. Wilson Fox, 

 Assistant Commissioner, on the County of Cumberland, 

 [C— 7915.-L] Price U. 



In this Report it is stated that the chief characteristics of 

 farming in Cumberland are the grazing and feeding of stock, the 

 breeding of horses, the growth of corn and seed-grass hay for 

 sale. The fall in price of grain has brought about a great de- 

 crease in the area of wheat and barley grown in the county, but 

 the acreage under oats is said to have been considerably enlarged, 

 the damp and humid climate in the valleys being very suitable 

 for this crop in the fertile soils. Comparing 1874 with 1894, the 

 acreage of wheat declined from 21,914 acres to 4,510, that or 

 barley from 7,433 acres to 2,573 acres, while the area of oats 

 increased from 68,281 acres to 81,199 acres. The soil and climate 

 of Cumberland are particularly favourable to the growth of 

 pasture, and farmers in the county have not been slow to avail 

 themselves of these natural advantages, for between 1874 and 

 1894 the area of rotation grasses increased nearly 19 per cent., 

 and the permanent pasture 9^ per cent. In the same period the 

 number of cattle rose from 126,069 to 138,118, while sheep 

 declined from 562,844 to 520,811. The principal breeds of cattle 

 are shorthorns and shorthorn crosses, while of sheep the Herdwick, 

 Scotch black- faced, and Cheviot are the most popular breeds, and 

 there are also some half bred long-wooled sheep of the Leicester 

 type. Mr. Wilson Fox gives some interesting particulars of 

 a custom existing in some of the hill districts known as " heating," 

 whereby the tenant rents a flock of sheep from the landlord at a 

 rent representing 4 to 4 J per cent, of their value. The tenant 

 before entering the farm has to find two bondmen, who are, 

 severally and jointly, liable with him to return to the landlord, 

 at the expiration of the tenancy, the same number of sheep in the 

 same condition as when first let. This custom of " heafing " is 

 said to be of great benefit to men with but little capital who 

 want to take a hill farm, and to have often enabled a shepherd 

 to rise to a position of a farmer. 



Butter-making is carried on to a considerable extent in Cum- 

 berland, both on hill and lowland farms ; but in many parts the 

 butter, especially that made on small farms, is stated to be of 

 inferior quality, though it appears that the technical instruction 

 provided by the county council has led to an improvement in 

 this respect in some districts. 



Mr. Fox states that it is not an easy matter to represent what 

 rents are paid in the county by quotiug an average rental, as 

 they vary so much according to the quality of the soil. One 

 authority puts the i-ents per acre on better class farms at from 

 18s. to 30s., on poor cold land which has gone back to grass 3s. 

 to 4s. per acre, and on the better part of such land still under 

 plough from 5s. to 10s. per acre. 



As regards the position of agriculturists in Cumberland, there 

 are, it appears, comparatively few outw^ai d and visible signs of 



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