Farming of the West Riding of Yorhshire. 287 
this report ; and although in the endeavour to make such a de- 
scription full and intelligible it may be difiTicult to avoid some 
prolixity, yet by basing it on the general geological features as 
they occur, seriatim, 1 shall hope to carry tiie mind's eye of the 
reader along with me, and with the aid of the accompanying 
Map of the Riding, perliaps, too, of his own more practised 
knowledge of the characteristics of each formation, lead him to a 
tolerably accurate conclusion as to the nature of the soils of this 
important manufacturing and agricultural portion of the county. 
The most prominent geological feature of this Riding, as most 
people are probably aware, is that great Coal-formation which com- 
prises so considerable a portion of its entire area ; and from 
whence is derived the primary source of that manufacturing 
industry which has secured for the numerous productions of its 
enterprise and skill so well-merited a celebrity throughout the 
world. The broadcloths of Leeds, the cutlery of Sheffield, the 
worsteds and stuffs of Bradford and H uddersfield, the linens of 
Barnsley, the blankets of Dewsbury^ the pig and bar-iron of 
Rotherham, Low Moor, &c., with their innumerable adjuncts 
and appliances, have each and all their lives' sinews from the 
apparently inexhaustible supply of this greatest of national trea- 
sures. Unlike some of the more northern coal districts, where 
the immense value of the under-ground product seems to have 
operated rather as a reason for the almost total disregard of the 
surface, than as an inducement for any cultivation of the soil — as 
if superiority of intellectual endowment was an exemption from 
all the proprieties of external deportment — the more grateful 
sons of this locality have bestowed upon mother earth a culture 
which, if not of the highest order, is at least perhaps commen- 
surate with the time that could be spared from more innnediately 
profitable occupations. 
The Yorkshire coal-field embraces at least one-third of the 
West Riding, extending from its southern boundary to some few 
miles north of Leeds, with a breadth of from 20 to 30 miles. 
The undulation of surface which it exhibits forms a constant 
succession of hill and dale ; and rising as the backs occasionally 
do to more than ordinary altitude, a varied landscape of much 
beauty and richness is constantly presented to the eye of the 
traveller. Commencing at Harrowgate, where the indications of 
the mineral wealth of the formation seem * first to manifest 
themselves, there is a succession of steplike configurations of 
surface gradually ascending into Derbyshire and Cheshire ; the 
general dip of the strata being to the north-east, until it reaches 
* The mineral waters of Harrowgate, both sulphate and chalybeate, 
seem to attest this ; and it is probable that coal and iron would be found 
at no great depth, though they might be of inferior quality. 
