Farming of Yorkshire. 
113 
During tLe late wet season the good resulting from drainage 
was proved by our comparatively small loss in sheep when com- 
pared with that of former rainy seasons. 
Hay. — The high price and great demand for hay has done 
much to turn attention to th(^ manuring and management of 
meadows so as considerably to increase the crop. Around the 
larg(> towns in particular the demand for dairy produce has so 
largely increased, that the dairymen, who a few years ago fre- 
quently sold the chief part of their manure, now retain all for 
their own land. 
Ficld-Pcas. — Field-peas are extensively grown for the con- 
sumption of the ])opulation in towns : they are generally sold by 
the acre, the buyer employing labourers to gather them, and the 
farmer carting them to the town. Wlaen a fair crop they pay 
extremely well. 
Potatoes. — The growth of potatoes in marsh-land and along 
the ])rincipal lines of railway for the markets of the West Riding 
and Lancashire is very large. The disease, however, which of 
late has affected the potato proved last year most extensive and 
destructive, spreading over the whole county, on all kinds of 
soil, under every description of cultivation. The exemption 
of Scotland from the malady which extended all over England 
will perhaps cause some light to be thrown on this perplexing 
subject. During our stay in Scotland last October we had an 
opportunity of inspecting many farms, and better crops of po- 
tatoes and turnips we never saw in that or any other country. 
In the county of Wigton, the East Lothians, and part of 
Perthshire, the crops for size and quality were wonderful. 
Is this owing to the influence of the climate? The potato is 
without doubt the most valuable of root-crops : the evil that 
Avould arise from its total failure incalculable. 
The fust potato which became noted in the London market 
as the produce of the district round Goole and on the skirts 
of the river Ouse, from Trent Fall to Selby, was the red- 
nosed kidney — a most prolific and mealy potato, originally 
introduced from Berwickshire ; at first the custom was to 
obtain every year such quantity of fresh seed that the produce 
arising therefrom would insure .sufiBcient sets for the next 
year's crop. After a few years' cultivation, however, this kind 
degenerated to such an extent that the farmer was compelled to 
procure the whole of his seed fresh every year. The deteriora- 
tion of the plant was in the first instance only observable by a 
curled small leaf, and a considerable deficiency in produce : in 
a little time the seed altogether failed, and fresh plants were pro- 
cured from the north-west of Scotland ; these were shipped from 
Fraserburgh, Peterhead, and Aberdeen. The seed, however, 
VOL. XXII. • I 
