80 
Exmoor Reclamation. 
The following extracts from an article on the condition of 
Eimoor, which I wrote after visiting the district in the autumn 
of 1853, tempted by an advertisement of the pony sales, give a 
good idea of the character of the country, and of the changes 
that have taken place within a quarter of a century. These 
changes have made the iSorth Devon and Somerset farmers 
prosperous, while the arable farmers in the rest of England are 
struggling with a succession of difficulties. 
1853 was a year of low prices for every sort of farming- 
produce, and particularly for live-stock. Aorth Devon had not 
tasted the benefits of railroad cattle-trucks. At that date a 
recently opened spur-line from Exeter to Tiverton afforded the 
nearest station to Exmoor, distant 30 miles of very hilly road. 
Within the last six years, two lines starting from Taunton 
have tapped the Hill district — one, the more important, running 
through South Molton, 11 miles from Exmoor, terminating at 
Barnstaple — the other along the base of the Brendon Hills to 
Watchet and INIinehead. Both communicate directly with all 
the markets from Bristol to London. Instead of having to 
travel to Exeter, and then change to a branch line to Tiverton, 
the " Flying Dutchman " takes up at Paddington and deposits 
at South Molton within six hours ; while the meat-van, packed 
with carcasses in the evening at South Molton, is in the Metro- 
politan jNIarket the next morning. But the road from South 
!Molton to Exmoor has scarcely changed since 1853. 
" A gradual ascent over a succession of hills, of which every 
descent, however steep, leads to a still longer ascent the first 
6 miles, through real Devonshire lanes, with high banks on each 
side, covered with ferns' and grass, and topped with trees and 
hazels, bearing nuts with luxuriant abundance ; the road for 
the most part excellent, without much road-makers' care, for it 
rests on natural rock. On the rich valley pasture of small 
enclosures red Devon oxen were fattening ; and sheep^ not of 
any mountain or upland breed, but long-woolled. 
" At length the hedges began to grow thinner, beech-hedges 
succeeded hazels ; the road, more rugged and bare, showed the 
marks winter torrents had ploughed, deep channels ; and at 
the turn of a steep hill we saw on the one hand the brown 
and blue moor stretching before and above us, and below, the 
fertile long cultivated vales lay like a map unrolled, various in 
colour, according to the crops, divided by frequent enclosures 
in every angle, from the most acute to the most obtuse. Below 
was the result of the cultivation of centuries ; above, an example 
of one of the most recent attempts at reclamation. As far as the 
horizon extended, not a place of habitation was to be seen, until 
just at a hollow bend out of the ascending road we came upon a 
