58 
The Farming of Cheshire. 
most authentic sources; and with this view I have visited almost 
every part of the county. 
The farms, with few exceptions, being appropriated to the 
dairy, the great objects which the best farmers are desirous of 
attaining, are the selection of a suitable stock for that purpose, 
and an ample provision of nutritious food best adapted for the 
cattle during the winter, as well as a good sweet herbage during 
the summer months. And here I would remark that a great im- 
provement has taken place within the last twenty years in the 
provision for milch cows by the more general introduction of 
turnips, and the application of bone manure to the pasture land ; 
to both of which modes of culture 1 shall have occasion to refer 
more fully hereafter. 
The agriculture of Cheshire is not of so high a character 
generally as that of some other counties in England ; and perhaps 
it exhibits as great a variety of methods, and as bad specimens of 
farming, as can possibly be conceived : yet I think it will be ad- 
mitted that many of its farms approximate very closely to an 
excellent state of cultivation. During the ten or fifteen years 
preceding the spring of 1842, a considerable improvement in the 
management of the land became perceptible ; and this result may 
chiefly be attributed to the diffusion of knowledge by means of 
agricultural societies — to the stimulus given by competition for 
their various premiums — and to the assistance rendered by some 
of the landlords in granting to their tenants a certain quantity of 
draining-tiles, and in occasionally supplying them with bone 
manure. Since ihat period the depreciation in the price of agri- 
cultural produce (with an undiminished pressure of the demands 
upon the farmer) has given a check to that spirit of improvement 
which was spreading through the county, and which was be- 
coming more apparent every year. 
From the great admixture of the prevailing soils of this county, 
which have been shown by Dr. Holland to consist of sand loams, 
tenacious clay, and clay loams, it would be tedious and unin- 
teresting to enter into every particular respecting them ; and 
there are many farms which do not exclusively belong to any 
special class — for instance, in a field in my own occupation, light 
sand land, strong clay land, and peat, are so intermixed, that the 
general management cannot vary in any material degree. In 
order, therefore, to give a clearer view of the various methods of 
cultivation, I shall classify the farms under four distinct heads, 
and treat of each respectively, viz. : — 
1. Sand-Land Dairy Farms. 
2. Clay-Land Dairy Farms. 
3. Sand-Land .Viable Farms. 
4. Clay-Land Arable Farms. 
