Farming of Cornwall. 
403 
nboiit 1815, and a better system of cultivation, soon produced a 
wonderful revolution in Cornish agriculture, more particularly 
after bone-dust became introduced in 1835, the effect of which on 
our light soils was an immense addititm to the food consumed by 
cattle, which in their turn, producing a considerable increase of 
manure for enriching the soil, made an incalculable addition to the 
acreable produce. These are the results which the better know- 
ledge of the improving age has already produced, and yet, great 
as they may appear to be, the means by which they have been 
eflectcd have been only jmrtially introduced in any parish of the 
county. The following table, exhibiting the proportions of white 
and green crops grown to the acreage of arable land in three 
different parishes, will prove this : — 
r^risiics. 
o . 
li 
3i 
£C 
rt 
Q.- 
<! 
Arable Land. 
aT ^ 
« 3 
1 i Is 
a; 
? 
Barley. 
Oats. 
'a 
1 Potatoes. 
j Rape. 
Vetch. 
a 
XI 
.2 
O 
^ Carrots. | 
2 
~S 
tc 
a 
ti 
1391 
8513 
6514 
1599 
j91i 
903 
232i 
487 
76 
ia3i 
34 
10 
li 
3* 
2, Ruanlanjhorn . 
444 
2250 
1826 
424 
228 
340 
98 
109 
133 
3i 
3. Pcrranarworllial 
1755 
1713 
1237 
476 
170 
1G9 
53 
49 
121 
1 
In Probus we have just 26^ per cent, of corn crops, and nearly 
,1 1 2 per cent, of green crops, including about 1 per cent, of 
potatoes. In Ruanlanyhorn we have rather more than 36.j per 
cent, of corn crops, and 13^ of gieen crops, including 7A- nearly 
of potatoes. And in Perranarworthal we have nearly 14 per 
cent, of green crops, of which more than 9 per cent, are potatoes. 
The first of these parishes is generally considered the best culti- 
vated in the county— the second may be considered as a fair ex- 
ample of ordinary farming, where the potato culture prevails — 
and the last parish is situated near a mining district, where almost 
every cottager has his pig and plot of potatoes. I have selected 
these parishes purposely to show that even in Pi'obus, which is 
considered to be the best cultivated parish, the quantity of green 
crops is not so great as might be imagined from merely surveying 
a few of the principal estates, where the proportion of green crop 
to white crop is more equal. This will be clearly exhibited as 
w e proceed in our survey of the different districts. 
The Varieties of Soils, their estimated Value, Acreable Produce, 
and Courses of Croppiny. 
G. The investigations of science have proved that there is a 
natural relation between the Cornish soils and the rocks beneath, 
which may be said to consist of four distinct formations — each of 
