Turf ashes are used in the dales of the eastern moorlands, and along the coast: they make an excellent hand manure for any kind of crop, particu Jarly turnips. Composts are much used in the northern parts of the Vale of York, and in some degree in almost every other part of the riding. They are made of the cleanings of ditches, and sometimes of the shovellings of roads, mixed with lime, and all thoroughly incorporated. Live Stock. The breeding of cattle throughout the North Riding, is the short-horned, except towards its western extremity, where some small long-horned cattle are to be met with, and also a mixed breed between the two. The short-horned cattle of the northern part of the Vale of York, and of Cleveland where also consideraple numbers are bred,) are known by the name of the Tees-water breed ; and in the south of England by that of the Holderness cattle, from the district of that name in the East Riding where this breed was either originally established, or first so improved as to bring it into notice, and where, within the district now under survey, the best of the breed are still to be met with. This district is supposed to produce the largest cattle in the kingdom; and several proprietors of stocks have of late years, at considerable expence, attentively improved them, encouraged thereto by the great prices given for cattle of this breed. The cattle of the improved breed are very large and handsome; their colour light red, or black blotches, distinctly marked on a white ground; their backs level; throat clean; neck fine; carcase full and round; quarters long; hips and rumps even and wide; they stand rather high on their legs; Landle very kindly; are light in the bone in pro $ 3 portion portion to their size, and have a very fine coat and thin hide. Very few oxen in the northern part of the vale, and Cleveland, are used for the purposes of the draught. In the southern part of the Vale of York, breeding of cattle is not so much attended to as it is in the northern part, the object of cattle there being for the dairy. The cattle of the western moorlands are small; in the lower parts of the dales. they are generally of the short-horned kind; but in the higher situations near the moors, and on the borders of the West Riding and Westmoreland, the long-horned breed prevails. In the eastern moorlands, and the coast, a great number of very good cattle are bred. They are not quite so large as those near Tees, but are clean and fine in the bone, and very free feeders. Great numbers of the oxen are worked until six or seven years old, and then they are sold chiefly to the graziers of the south of Yorkshire and of Lincolnshire, by whom they are preferred to every other breed. In Rydale, with the Marishes, and the Howardian hills, many cattle are bred, and a considerable attention is paid to their improvement by several spirited individuals; and here, next after the banks of the Tees, the best of the short-horned cattle bred in the Riding are to be met with; the breed formerly was crossed with bulls from Holderness, but since the Tees-water bulls have taken the lead, they have been chiefly resorted to for improvement. The breed of Rydale is generally very large, with great bone, as it does not feed quite so quick as the Tees-water, to remedy which the Sussex breed has been used for a cross by two farmers of the dale. Sheep. Sheep. The sheep of the old stock of the northern part of the Vale of York, and of Cleveland, are very large, coarse boned, slow feeders, and the wool dry and harsh; they feed to from 30 to 40 pounds per quarter, at three years old; and a few have been fed above that weight, and produce 10 or 11 pounds of wool each; but of late years the stocks of very many of the breeders have undergone a great change, and been much improved by the use of rams of the Dishley breed. This improvement in the breed of sheep, extends betwixt the Swale and western moorlands, as far south as the West Riding; but it is not yet so general in the southern part of the vale as the northern. The sheep of Rydale, the Marishes, and the Howardian hills, possess much of the Lincolnshire blood; the original breed of the dale having been improved by that cross. These sheep have been much improved by the introduction of the Dishley blood. The improved breed is about the same size, but produces rather more wool than that of the Vale of York. The sheep which are bred upon the moors of the western moorlands are horned, have grey faces, and legs, and many of them a black spot on the back of the neck, and wool rather coarse and open. Horses. Yorkshire has long been famous for its breed of horses, and particularly this riding, in almost every part of which considerable numbers are still bred; the prevailing species are those adapted to the coach and saddle. In the northern part of the Vale of York the breed has got too light in bone for the use of farmers, by the introduction of too much of the racing blood; but the most valuable horses for the saddle, and some coach horses are there bred. In Cleveland the horses are fuller of bone than those those last described; they are clean, well made, very strong and active, and are extremely well adapted to the coach and the plough. In the southern part of the Vale of York, the Howardian hills, Rydale, and the Marishes, a greater mixture prevails, both of the black and the racing blood, than in Cleveland; nevertheless, those districts produce a very considerable number of both coach and saddle horses; but want of attention or judgment, or both, in the owners of mares, in not suiting them with proper stallions, evidently injures the breed. The dales of the eastern moorlands, and the coast, rear many horses, which are rather of a smaller breed than those before described; but are a hardy useful race, though generally too low for the coach. Horses constitute a great part of the stock of the high parts of the western moorlands; the farmers there generally keep a few Scotch galloways, which they put to stallions of the country, and produce an hardy and very strong race, in proportion to their size. Wood Land. When the extent of the North Riding is considered, that of the woods will be found comparatively small; their amount cannot be spoken of with perfect exactness, but the following estimate of them in each district of the riding, is as near the truth as could be ascertained during the present survey, but is thought to be within the quantity. The Coast Cleveland The Vale of York, with the Howardian Acres. 3000 1500 11,000 Rydale, with the East & West Marishes 6000 The Eastern Moorlands 3000 Western ditte 1000 Exclusive of the above the North Riding produces a considerable quantity of timber in the hedge rows, particularly in those of the Vale of York, the Howardian Hills and Rydale; though in them as well as the woodlands, far less now than at no distant period heretofore; nor has the size of the timber that remains decreased faster than the number of trees. There is reason also to believe that woods formerly covered great tracts of country, where not a tree now remains; and which it is the present opinion are incapable of growing timber; but evident remains of trees, and traces of woods, still indicate that the moor lands were once a forest. The spontaneous produce of the woodlands is principally oak, ash, and the broad-leaved or witch elm; the produce of the mountains much birch and alder; and of the hedge-rows, and cultivated places, various other trees, the consequence of improvement and art. EAST RIDING. This riding consists of almost every variety of soil, from a deep warp to a blowing sand. That part adjoining the sea, extending about 50 miles from the Spurn-head to Filey, is much exposed to the easterly winds, and greatly annoyed by them; they blow from the sea in the spring, and are commonly of long duration; they check vegetation greatly, particularly the growth of the hedges. From the Spurnhead to Bridlington, an extent of 33 miles, the shore is generally low, and the influence of these winds is not so much felt as on the coast from Bridlington to Filey. The shore for 15 miles round Flamboroughhead is high, and behind it lies the wold part of this district, called the Yorkshire Wolds, extending westward to near Filey by Willerby, Sherburn, West Heslerton, and setterington, to near Malton, from thence southward to Minithorpe, Leavening, Bishop Wilton, Pockington, Market Weighton to South Cave; then eastward by Ferriby to Kirk Ella, north ward |