30 Account of Ravenftonedale, in the County of Weftmorland. [Aug. 1, 
in agriculture of any confiderable impor-. 
tance can be effeéted 5 fince it .is by flow 
and almoft imperceptible degrees they 
will be communicated and adopted. And 
it muit be from much experience and re- 
peated obfervatien, that the attentive agri- 
culturift will leasn to purfue that plan of 
cultivation which is moit congenial to the 
joil and climate of his grounds, and beft 
adapted to promote his own intereft. 
Wery little of the land in this parifh is in 
tillage. Mr. Pringle in his Agricultural 
Survey of the County of Weitmorland, 
publifhed in 1794, fays that in Ravenftone- 
dale there are not fixty acres of corn.. 
And I can very readily believe there would 
be no fuch number at that time ; fince at 
refent, when the dearnefs of grain might 
be fuppofed a fufficient inducement to at- 
tempt the culture of this neceflary article 
on every foil and in every climate, where 
any probability of fuccets fhould prefent 
itfelf ; and when more land is in tillage, 
than can be remembered at any former 
period; there are neverthelefs not more 
_ than one hundred acres fown with corn. 
Thofe whofe grounds are in tillage, take 
three or four crops of oats from the fame 
Jand without intermiffion ; and afterwards 
the land thus impoverifhed is left to re- 
cruit’ itfelf, without fowing upon it for 
this purpofe any artificial graffes, as is 
cuftomary in ether countries. It feems 
aftonifhing that the coldnefs and moifture 
of the climate fhould be confidered by the 
inhabitants as infurmountable difficulties 
attending the cultivation of corn, when it 
is well known, that in Norway, Sweden, 
and fome other northern fituations, where 
the cold is far more intenfe, and where 
the foil is in many places naturaily unfer- 
tile, they neverthele!s grow great quauti-_ 
ties of grain. The caule of fuperiority 
in the culture and produétion of corn in 
thofe bleak and dreary regions appears 
to be the ufe of a kind of feed that ripens 
at a very early period, and which requires 
not for fo great a length of time the 
warmth and nutriment of the fun to bring 
it to perfeftion. And were the fame kind 
of feed of univerfal requeft here, the crops 
would, I doubt not, be much more prolt- 
fic than at prefent, and be alfo fooner rea- 
dy for the fickle. It is not fo much the 
elevation of the country, or the vicinity 
of the mountains, as many fuppofe, that 
hinders the corn from ripening and being 
produétive, but the ufe of a grain which 
cannot attain to perfection until the year - 
be far advanced, when the great falls of 
rain that generally happen at that feafon, 
deftroy the hopes of the hufbandman, and 
render the crops of comparatively. fmall 
value. With refpect to potatoes, there 
are very few. grown inthis parith; and 
perhaps not more than two or. three fami- 
lies plant a quantity fufficient for their 
own fupply. The potatoes that are ~ 
chiefly confumed here, are therefore ~- 
brought from Appleby, for the carriage of 
which, in addition to the exorbjtant price 
this article has lately fetched, and exclu- 
five of impofitions which are not unfre-_ 
quent, they pay nine-pence for everyeight 
Winchelter pecks ; infomuch that, during 
the laft year, the Winchefter bufhel of: 
potatoes was often fold for fix fhillings. — 
It is impoffible to affign any plaufible or 
fatisfa&tory reafon, why an article that 
has been cultivated in: almoft every part 
of the country with the greatef% profit and 
fuccefs ever fince its firft importation, and 
which is perhaps the moft ufeful root that 
was ever imported into this or any other 
country, fhould be fo much neglected in 
Ravenftonedale. It has been computed 
that an acre of ground planted with pota- 
toes, will yield on an average three hun- 
dred and twenty Winchefter bufhéls,- 
which, if fold at the rate of two fhillings 
per bufhel, willleave 321. for the rental of 
the land and other incidental expences. 
And if every landholder and farmer were 
to appropriate one acre of ground yearly 
to the raifing of potatoes, than which no- 
thing can be more profitable, there would 
not only be a quantity fufficient for theufe 
of all the inhabitants, but a great provi- 
fion for the fupport of horfes and cows: 
during the winter feafon would be alfo 
thereby effected.* Turnips alfo have 
been very little attempted. |The general 
opinion of agriculturifts, founded on F 
know not what foundation, is that they 
are a crop which will not fucceed here. 
One perfon has this year fown a fmall field. 
with turnip-feed, the greateft quantity of - 
Jand that has perhaps ever been fet apart 
for this purpofe. Ravenftonedale is moft 
remarkable for its excellent meadow and 
pafture-ground ; and, in this view of it, 
perhaps excels every other parifh in Weft- 
morland and Cumberland. It is proba- 
ble, that two-thirds of this dillri&t may 
* Before quitting this fubje&, it is not per- 
hapseither improper or unneceflary to notice 
the method by which potatoes are ufuallycul- 
tivated here. ‘hey neither dig nor plough the 
ground deftined for this purpofe 3 but having 
placed upon it the intended manure, plant 
the potatoes, and fpread over them a 
light covering of fcil. A method very repre- 
henfible. 
. coniift 
