1802.] 
or before, the 20th of Auguft ; and ufually 
, terminates before ‘the 2zoth of Oober, 
Inthe years 1787, 1792, and 17995 the 
feafons were remarkably cold and wet ; 
and the corn: im ‘general not having been 
got into the barns and) ban: -yards until 
late in November, ‘the crops were ¢x- 
tremely defe€tive and bad. 'In 1800 and 
180n, the feafons were the beft ever re- 
membered, and the crops were not ‘only 
got into the houles in good: condition be- 
fore the 20th of September, ‘but! proved 
alfo very productive. 
The importance and utility of having 
the fields dry, and of preventing as much 
as poflible the water, that breaks out in 
the declivity of almoft every bill in this 
 €ountry, from injuring the lower! grounds, 
muft be obvious to all. And of late years 
draining the land has been muchipraétifed, 
and found ‘to be ‘very beneficial. ‘The 
drains are commonly walled on each fide, 
and covered over within the furface with 
jarge ftones. Sometimes, however, they 
are only walled on:one fide, and the cover 
is placed in a declining pofture. . 
‘There are a few quickfet hedges ; but 
the fields are chiefly inclofed with flone 
walls, for the making of which they pay 
after the rate of 5s. or 5s. 6d. per rood. 
There is but very little wood, and not 
more than one fixth part of the land has 
any trees: growing upon it. “Fhefe: prin- 
cipally confit of afh and fycamore, with 
two or three oaks of no great fize. 
The chief manures are the dung of 
cattle, lime, a compoft of earth with 
other materials, and an addition of fimple 
earth of a different nature from the foil 
of the fic!’ on which it is intended to be 
placed. The farmer at Grange-hall, an 
eftate-of 436 acres, the property’ of Mr. 
Wakefield of Kendal, and at this time 
moftly in pafture, i is bound by the articles 
of agreement to place a bufhel of lime on 
every fix yards {quare. For this purpoie, 
a large and commodious kiln has been_ 
ereéted- upon the eftate, and fifty or fixty 
bufhels of lime are burnt every day from 
the firft’ of March to Michaelmas yearly. 
Thefe attempts at improvement, upon fo 
extenfive a feale, muft, of account of the 
~ diftance of coals, be neceffarily attended 
with great expence ; and tlhe farmer pays 
7% per cent.’ for the money bich Mr, 
Wakefield thus lays out. To judge, 
however, from the nature of the foil, 
which is.a very thin covering of earth upon 
limeftone, it would feem that thefe at- 
tempts will fearcely anfwer the expecta- 
tion of the proprietor or farmer. -For the 
ftone being fo near the furfaee, the lime, 
Montuiy Maa, No. 34. 
Oo wecount of Afhy in Weftmoreland, 
113 
in ‘whatever quantity it is laid, cannot 
tend in any confiderable degree to the im= 
provement of the land. And that this is 
really the cafe, the little or no: beneficial 
confequences that have refalted in the 
ground already manured, appear! fuffici= - 
ently to evidence. There is perhaps: but 
one way in which it can be produétive ‘of 
any beneficial effects; and that isy by 
creating a moiftute,’ and hindering’ the 
Jand from becoming dried and parched, 
to which a fort of ‘this nature is otherwife 
naturally fubje&.° “But. in fome parts of 
the effate, whére the’ foil is deeper, lime as 
a manure may'in all probability’ be uled 
with much advantage. 
At Gudill-bill, about 2 quarter of a 
nurlé porth/ea ff Gdn the village of Great 
Afby, is a quarry. of very fine free. tone, 
which was lately found by mere accident, 
and has been ‘wrought only ince the 
{pring of the prefest year. The ftones 
got in this quarry, when firft taken out of 
the ground, aré of fo foft a nature, that 
they may with the greateft eafe be cut 
into any form or Give. But after they have 
been expofed to the air, for a {mall dura- 
tion of time, they acquire a hardnefs and 
denfity which render them very. fervice- 
able. Their value is already known 
and acknowledged in many of the neigh- 
bouring parifies ; and they are become of 
almoft univerfal requeft fer every purpofe 
of building, “and-are cafried to a confides 
rable diftance. , The owner; Mr.’ John 
Bousfield, has built a very neat and cle- 
ant hodts upon the top ‘of Gudill- hill, 
the flones of which were all procured. in 
this quarry, Great quantities of free- 
flone were alfo formerly obtained, about 
a quarter of a’ mile weft from the village 
of Great Afby... Thefe ftones are how- 
ever Of a fpurigus and inferior kind, and 
very difficult to ‘bé got; and although 
this quatry is Rill’ wrought, yet fince the 
otherabove-mentioned has been difcov ered, 
it has been nearly abandoned. . A mine of 
copper was worked until very. lately, 
which is faid to have‘ anfwered pretty 
a 3 and the ore, though not of the’ bett 
r pureft kind, was neverthelefs of a mid- 
dle quality, It is reported that fome 
perfons have again taken this mine, for 
the purpofe of wotking it. In. digging 
for ftones upon Afby-matk, | feveral pieces 
of jet were difcoveréd, of fo fine a nature 
as to have the appearance of having been 
melted and moulded in a {mootly veffel : 
it was found in a rotten lHmeftone; about 
three or four feet from the furface. > A 
fear’ of coal appears at different depths 
quite through ver from eat to welts 
But 
ae, 
