The Farming of Westmorland, 
27 
wIh)1(^, Westmorland may stand a comparison, in this r(?spoct, 
with more favoured counties, and yet there are very many home- 
steads very deficient in proper accommodation for man and beast, 
ancient and dilapichxted, low, damp, and ill-ventilated. The 
house, barn, and cow-house are often all joined together, and 
very often the barn is what is called under-housed, i. e. the cow- 
house is underneath the barn floor. The barn is built on a 
slopino^ hill-side, the floor being level with the ground on the 
high side, underneath which is the cow-house, termed in the Kendal 
district the shippon, and on the northern side of the county the 
byre, the access to which is from the low side of the building. 
On the barn floor, above the cows' heads, is stored the hay and 
straw for their winter fodder. The head room of the cow-house 
is generally much too low, the floor roughly paved, very uneven, 
undrained, with stagnant pools of liquid manure. The poor 
animals, huddled closely together, must suffer the certain con- 
sequences of dirt, deficient light, and foul air. 
In more modern erections the cows are ranged under a " drag 
roof" by the side of the barn, alongside which, in front of them, 
runs the " fodder-gang," or feeding-passage. 
Buildings. 
Buildings lately erected are generally suitable for the ordinary 
mixed farm, without any special distinguishing features. It is easy 
to condemn the present state of farm-buildings generally, but the 
remedy is not so easy. The erection of entire new buildings is 
exceedingly costly, often running away with four or five years' 
rent of the farm. Farmers cannot afford to pay interest on much 
building, nor indeed is it expected of them ; the leading of all 
stones, slate, timber, lime, sand, &c., being a heavy undertaking, 
and the wear and tear of carts, &c., so considerable, that the 
farmer doing this does his full share. Sometimes the whole 
homestead gets so bad that there is nothing for it but to pull down 
and rebuild, but in the majority of cases the old buildings are 
patched up, and added to according to circumstances. In this 
way great improvements might be made, draining the sites, 
spouting, and making all watertight, and by perforating the walls 
in proper places proper ventilation without draughts and cold might 
be secured. The common draining tile, inserted in the wall, 
answers very Avell for this purpose. The old underhoused cow- 
house can generally be conveniently converted into barn-room, 
and the cow-house added by a " drag," or by radiating sheds, 
connected with the barn for fodder, and with adjoining turnip- 
house. 
One almost universal failing talked about, time out of mind, 
