511. 
Farming in Devon and Cornwall. 
of farmyard manure," and "its soluble parts were allowed to 
find their way unchecked to the nearest watercourse." " Lime, 
if bought," was in many cases "not judiciously applied," and 
one common method of its application " only required to be 
noticed for its inconsistency to be admitted." The practice of 
Denshiring (abbreviation of Devonshiring), namely paring and 
burning, was pointed out as likely " ultimately to impoverish the 
soil," and "its evil was" said to be "seriously increased by too 
limited an application of farmyard manure " subsequently. Even 
the manufacture of cider was described as " very imperfect and 
uncertain," and in one respect as " very defective in its discrimi- 
nation." " Little worthy of notice " was said to be " observable 
in the general management of the grass land," and, " despite 
the inducements held out to him," the farmer of the period 
" rarely benefited himself by the employment of his ready 
resources for irrigating meadow land." The paragraph headed 
"Grass Land" wound up with the following significant re- 
mark : — " If the agriculturist of Devon would rightly estimate 
the means at his disposal, and could be led to their better 
application, his private interests would be benefited and the 
public welfare promoted." The " careless mode of breeding 
cattle" adopted at the time "removed all hope of immediate 
improvement," and the advantages of sheep-farming were " not 
duly appreciated." The landlords did not escape censure; 
for the farm buildings of that day were described as " in the 
majority of cases very irregularly and badly constructed," and 
a good homestead was " rarely to be met with in any part 
of the county." The latter appeared to have been " built 
without any regard to uniformity or convenience," and their 
lowness and " imperfect ventilation gave rise to various diseases." 
The yards offered " every facility for the escape of liquid 
manure," although in many instances " a trifling outlay would 
have remedied the defect." It was asserted to be " absolutely 
necessary that the existing buildings should be superseded by 
others of more complete character before the farming of the 
county could make any great advance towards improvement." 
The restrictive nature of many of the leases "compelled the 
tenant often to act contrary to his better knowledge," whilst 
the '" stringency of the conditions " was " no protection against 
injudicious management." " Want of security" for the tenant a 
outlay " prevented him improving his land," and " led to -his 
limiting his expenditure to such a sum as would yield only a 
return for his own maintenance." 
Thus all classes connected with the management of land — 
landlords, agents, tenants, and even the Legislature — came in 
