IG 
The Farming of Westmorland. 
Wool lias ol late years been a profitable article. The Fell 
fleeces may average from 4 lbs. to 5 lbs. each. Messrs. Whit- 
Avell, Busher, and Co., have recently established monthly sales 
by auction at Kendal, where the farmer has the advantage of 
warehouse-room, and commanding the full market value, on 
paying a reasonable commission. 
Prizes for the mountain breeds were obtained by West- 
morland farmers at the Royal Agricultural Shows at Carlisle 
and Newcastle. 
On the lower commons, allotments, and hill pastures, half- 
bred lambs from the Herdwick or black-faced ewe and the 
Leicester ram, give a very ready and profitable return, and the 
system suits admirably on mixed heathy grounds where there 
is no over-stocking. Sometimes the lambs come double, and 
they are usually sold off at the end of summer at from 20s. to 24s. 
each. 
The Leicesters prevail on the lower farms, Southdowns and 
Shropshire downs are found in a few first-class farms, but are not 
common. 
If the remaining commons were, where ju'acticable, inclosed, 
and others moderately stinted, better boned and better woollcd 
sheep might be kept, and more profit made, with less trouble 
and expense than at present. The only drawback being that 
perhaps we should more seldom enjoy a leg of four-year-old wether 
mutton ; while the school of Lake Poets, and the shade of 
Wordsworth, would doubtless pronounce it as a ruthless pro- 
fanation, if their grand mountains were to be defaced by rigid 
lines of six-foot walls, set out by the surveyor's parallel ruler. 
So long as the tall chimneys of Yorkshire and Lancashire 
smoke, so long will the Westmorland farmer have a never- 
failing demand for all his produce — beef, mutton, butter, cheese, 
and wool. His corn he can keep at home to manufacture meat 
with.* 
Pasture Land. 
The commons above referred to are in their original state, oi" 
as they have existed for unnumbered ages, unaltered by man ; 
and so must they mainly continue. Some improvements might 
be made by open guttering or surface drains, but so long as the 
lands remain in common this is not likely to be attended to to 
any extent. 
The heavy expense of fencing, especially of making many 
* In 1 797 Fell wool sold at 5cZ. per lb. ; 4-year-ol(l wetlicis sold for Oii. to ISs. ; 
eWes about S.s. ; lioggs, 2.?, Ci^. In 1792, "nearly one-third'' of the sheep in the 
county perished from storms and disease. 
