34 
Tlie Farming of Westmorland. 
answer every purpose eflTectually for many years, their worst 
enemies beings lats and rabbits. 
The drainage being completed, the underlying clay is dug 
from pits in the sides of the field or ditches, and applied broad- 
cast on the surface, at the rate of 100 cart-loads per acre ; it 
afterwards forms a fine friable mould, full of vegetable matter, and 
produces extraordinary straw and root crops and luxuriant clovers. 
There are scarcely any buildings, and most of the produce is con- 
veyed to the neighbouring " hard land " farms, each of which pos- 
sesses and highly values its " moss " portion. The land rarely gets 
any but artificial manure, which is applied to the green crop. 
The course is the four years' shift. Notwithstanding, after thirty 
years of this treatment, the fertility of the soil seems unabated. 
Italian rye-grass is grown to a considerable extent for seed. 
There are still remaining patches of the ancient mosses, around 
the margins of which, as for many ages past, peats are got by 
neighbouring farmers, and by tlie villagers of Brigsteer and 
Beathwaite Green, who mainly subsist by the sale of this fuel 
at Kendal. As the moss recedes potatoes are grown extensively, 
and on the unclayed ground are remarkably exempt from disease ; 
but they are often cut down by sharp frosts, even in May and 
June. 
Before this drainage, ague was a common complaint amongst 
the surrounding villagers, but now it is never heard of. 
The sea occasionally returns, as if to assert a right to its ancient 
dominion. In the winter of 1852 an extraordinary tide swept 
over the embankments, and submerged the low-lying lands in 
Foulshaw, Levens, &c., several feet deep, driving the inhabi- 
tants to their upper rooms for several hours, drowning the cattle in 
considerable numbers, and otherwise inflicting serious damage. 
Apart from these casualties the annual cost of keeping all the 
main drains, embankments, flood-gates, and other works in 
order, does not exceed 2s. per acre. 
Another striking improvement in the same district is the em- 
bankment and reclamation from the sea, of the Castlehead and 
Meathop Marshes, by Mr. Brogden, in connection with the 
works of the Ulverston and Lancaster Railway, Avhere it crosses 
the Kent Estuary of Morecambe Bay. Mr. Brogden purchased 
a large portion of the bay itself from the Duchy of Lancaster, 
and has embanked and reclaimed from 500 to 600 acres. Por- 
tions of bare sea-sand, which formerly were covered with the 
tide every day, were scarified, sown with seeds, and liberally 
dressed with bones and other manures, and soon became luxuriant 
pastures, the wonder and admiration of the neighbourhood ; 
carrying extraordinary numbers of sheep and cattle, the former 
sometimes looking half overhead amongst the clovers. On other 
