Farming in Devon and Cornwall. 
515 
alike for their share of blame for the then neglected state of 
agriculture in this picturesque county. 
Mr. Karkeek, in Vol. VI., was hardly less severe on the farming 
of Cornwall, though he commenced by saying that " it was in a 
transition state, passing from a slovenly course of husbandry — 
though by very unequal and incomplete degrees — to a better 
one." Good management was admitted to " exist on some large 
farms, but it was a very rare case to witness anything ap- 
proaching it on very small ones. - ' The management of hay was 
condemned because of the " grass not being cut until far too 
ripe,"' and the crops were described as " miserable in the ex- 
treme." The culture of the arable land did not escape censure, 
whilst the pastures were described as " little better than half 
weeds," which could not be eradicated except by " recourse to 
the pernicious practice of burning." " Cattle were not properly 
fed," but kept in a "half-starved condition in the yards and lanes 
in the winter," whilst " oilcake had scarcely been seen by one 
farmer in a thousand." In no part of Cornish farming was 
" greater neglect exhibited " than in the breeding and rearing of 
horses. The equine " stock was generally bad," and its produce 
was a "weedy trashy race too light for either riding or driving; " 
and if the young colt " did happen to be tolerably perfect when 
introduced into the world, it was generally rendered useless by 
the Cornish system of rearing." Unfortunately there were "far 
greater numbers of badly cultivated farms than good ones," and 
on the generality of soils the one breadth of green crop in the 
rotation was " not sufficient to counteract the exhausting effect 
of the three previous corn crops." Many of the " bad methods 
of farming " were attributed to the conditions of management 
laid down in the leases ; whilst the practice of " not limiting the 
number of successive corn crops to less than two " (in some cases 
three were allowed) was naturally commented upon unfavourably. 
The writer anticipated a "hundredfold greater improvements" 
if the landlords, one and all, would " adopt a better system in 
their leases." Large farmers were by " bad management ruining 
their farms and themselves at the same time." 
Not very flattering pictures these ! But they were drawn 
nearly half a century ago, and " much has happened since." 
Agricultural education has greatly advanced — the extensive 
showyards of the " Royal," and their smaller reflections in the 
efforts of local Societies, have led to improvement in the breeding 
and rearing of stock of all kinds, and to the invention and use 
of economical machinery and implements. A spirit of enter- 
prise and emulation has been roused which has resulted in greater 
advances in agricultural management than any amount of adverse 
