FarvuiKj of Yorhshire. 
125 
in that report .arc carried out to the present day, and tlie county 
is celebrated for the size and cjuality of the fowls, and c(|ually so 
for its breeds of turkc^ys, ducks, and <?eese, any number of which 
find a ready sale at the difTerent markets ; for the poultry and 
ciTiTs imported bear a very small jiroportion to the consumption. 
But whilst the farmer's wife; and daughters endeavour to supply 
a larger class of fowls for the table and good-sized eggs, their 
patience and ingenuity have been much tried during the last 
year ; diseases among the denizens of the poultry-yard have been 
universal, and the cold damp weather fatal to numbers. We are 
glad to record that the system of penning fowls is exploded ; they 
are again allowed to range at large during the day, to the benefit 
of their healthiness and productiveness. 
Cheese. — Though some of the cheeses in the' North Riding 
are excellent, and the well-known " Gruel thorpe" maintains its 
fame, still Yorkshire is not a cheese-making county, but with 
regard to the butter we believe no district can compete with the 
West Riding both for quality and quantity. The increasing 
population of our large towns, with a corresponding increase in 
the demand for milk and butter, has stimulated the dairy farmers 
in the neighbourhood of these towns to increase their productions 
by a better mode of feeding their dairy cows, and also to provide 
them with better accommodation. 
Agricultural Implements, 
Although the introduction of steam to supersede horse and 
manual labour in agricultural operations has not been so rapid 
and complete in this county as in the neighbouring one of 
Lincoln, and although there are yet remote isolated corners 
where the steam plough has scarcely been heard or seen, and the 
inhabitants cherish the belief that the flail is the most econo- 
mical and efficient means of threshing corn, yet it is satisfactory 
to report that the important aids afforded us by mechanical 
ingenuity have not been overlooked or neglected by the generality 
of the farmers of Yorkshire. 
Steam Tliresliing-machine. — Under this head the most im- 
portant invention is perhaps that of the portable steam threshing- 
machine. Its introduction dates from the years 1851 and 1852. 
At the meeting of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society at Thirsk 
in 1850, the notice of farmers was drawn to portable engines, by 
the award of a prize to one ; and in the following year, at the 
Bridlington Show, a prize was given to a threshing-machirie 
driven by steam ; the Yorkshire Society being a year in advance, 
in consequence of the Meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society 
having merged in the Great Exhibition of 1851. The effect of 
these awards, seconded by the results of experience, was imme- 
