Northern District. 
359 
February and March, at 36.s". or 44s. When the lambs are g'one, 
the mothers are fatted on vetches or layers, with ^ lb. of oilcake 
each, and sold in September for about 45.?., the wool being worth 
6.f. 8r/. more. These are not bad agricultural returns. 
The buildings throughout the North are very inferior to those in 
the South. They are of stone (if convenient), or brick (if more 
convenient), or mud (which is most convenient), with frames of 
wood and roofs of thatch. There are, however, some good pre- 
mises at Swainston and Thorley. The late Sir Richard Simeon 
was the first to apply the stalling system to sheep, and it is 
continued at Swainston to this day, almost a solitary instance of 
such perseverance. I saw both sheep and beasts tied up on 
boarded grating. 
The manual labour is '05, the tithe is 35. or 4s. an acre, 
the rent IZ. on the best-managed and improved farms, and 10s. 
on those of inferior quality in the liands of tenants of the old 
school. Leases are not usual except on the larger and better 
. farms. 
Is it too much to say that the north of the island is, as a whole, 
a century behindhand in practical agriculture ? One would 
suppose things could not go on as they are, if they had not gone 
on so long already. With an open fallow, with 14 bushels of 
wheat per acre, with no roots and little stock, the present system 
would seem, in these days of competition, doomed, in spite of the 
milk-pail. I heard the mass of the tenants spoken of, as deficient 
in intelligence, capital, and enterprise. I have no doubt of the 
fact. But are the landlords as a body prepared to do their part ? 
I am not going to enter into any vexed questions of the relations 
between landlords and tenants ; but any occupier Avho sinks his 
capital in these undrained cold clays, by attempting improved 
modern systems of farming, witliout the proper preliminary 
improvements both in the field and yard, must be a very bold 
man. The change has already begun both among landlords 
and tenants. Much of the land has been, and is, in the market. 
The purchasers have in some cases become residents, and have 
entered on the improvement of their newly acquired property, 
with the zeal proverbially attending on the prosecution of a new 
pursuit. In other cases, tenants from over the sea, with a scientific 
education, practical experience, and new ideas, have been intro- 
duced. The ownership of the land, and its management, are 
both in a transition state. 
Any report of the farming of the northern portion of the island 
would be incomplete without a description of the Prince Con- 
sort's farm at Barton — not because it is the Prince's, but because 
it is the farm which any unprejudiced person would select as 
" the characteristic farm " of that district, and as exhibiting 
