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CHAP. 4.

shale and gravel soils, yet a small portion only per acre is applied. If more than half the quantity of what is considered a good dressing of Peak-lime Preliminary be used, the effects of this magnesian lime are pernicious. The different Observations. properties of these two limes have been often illustrated by the effects produced on the after-crop; where a cart load or more of each kind have been deposited in two heaps, and remained some weeks, until in a fit state for spreading upon the land. Upon the place where the Peak-lime lay, the after-crop will be very luxuriant; whilst the after-crop upon the place where the magnesian lime lay, will be sickly and not come to perfection; or, what is frequently seen, will produce no corn at all.

In the vale of Scarsdale the land is of various qualities, as indeed, is usually the case in coal and ironstone districts. Some of it is very good, and some very bad. The same farm, nay, the same field, often contains several different kinds of soil, each of which requires a different mode of culture; and, notwithstanding that the farms are generally small, it is no unusual thing for the occupier to follow grazing, dairying, and breeding, upon his grass land; and the different modes of cultivation, as practised in Norfolk or Northumberland, upon the arable part. As farming land is of a mixed nature and character, (much of it being of an inferior description) and where a variety of systems must necessarily be followed, there are no farmers who excel, generally speaking, those in the vale of Scarsdale. Amidst so many breeders and farmers of deserved celebrity as this county presents, it may, by some, be considered invidious to select any for particular mention. Yet justice demands that we should record the names of those who stand pre-eminently conspicuous for their encouragement of good farming, and the improvement of the breeds of horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs. The late and present Duke of Devonshire have, for many years, kept stallions for the use of the tenantry and neighbourhood. The late Earl of Chesterfield was a warm promoter of agriculture; and his large farming establishments continued and improved with equal spirit under the present Earl. Sir George Crewe, bart. is a strenuous supporter of the farming interest. So is Sir George Sitwell, bart. Francis Mundy, esq. one of the members for the county. William Palmer Morewood, esq. of Alfreton Hall. Thomas Hallowes, esq. of Glapwell. Mr. Wilson, of Stenson. Richard Arkwright, esq. of Willersley Castle. The Messrs. Strutt of Belper and Derby. William Jessop, esq. of Butterley Hall. W. B. Thomas, esq. of High Fields, through whose exertions the Derbyshire Agricultural Society was established in 1819, and who has ever stood forward as the farmer's firm friend, whether as an introducer of the best breeds of farming-stock, or as a staunch advocate for due protection to the British Farmers. Abraham Hoskins, esq. of Newton Solney. Samuel Rowland, esq. of Derby. Mr. Hassall, of Hartshorn, who has for many years been a celebrated breeder of sheep. Mr. Smith, of Swarkstone-Lows, more recently celebrated as the successor of the late Mr. Bakewell, in his residence at Dishley, near Loughborough, as well as in his great merit as a breeder, which will be more fully shown hereafter. Mr. Webster, of Norton. Mr. Heywood, of Brimington. Mr. Gratton, of Wingerworth. Mr. Gregory, of Longstone. William Carleill, esq. of Longstone Hall. Mr. Greaves, of Bakewell. A. H. Heathcote, esq. of Stonecliffe Hall.

CHAP. 4. J. G. Barnes, esq. of Ashgate. E. S. Cox, esq. of Brailsford, and many Preliminary others. Nor ought we to omit honourable mention of the late Mr. PrinObservations. cep, of Croxall. Mr. Cox, of Culland. Mr. Horton, of Catton, and Samuel Oldknow, esq. of Mellor.

Estates.

Value.

Leases.

After these general preliminary remarks, for which we are highly indebted to an intelligent agricultural friend, it is necessary to enter more particularly into the minuter circumstances, by which the agriculture of Derbyshire may in some respects be regarded, as distinguished from the rest of the kingdom.-Like all other British districts, the land of this county must in the first instance be considered as divided into possessions or estates. The nature of that ownership will belong more properly to the general and family history of the county; and it will suffice to observe, in this place, that with a few extraordinary exceptions, the ownership of territorial property is not remarkably extensive or unequal. Mr. Farey estimates the prices at which estates sold in Derbyshire about fifteen or twenty years ago, at thirty years purchase on the rental. We believe the present prices may be calculated, upon an average, at a much lower rate; although there are recent instances of parcels of land having exceeded this valuation. The price of land necessarily differs, not only with respect to its quality, but its situation. Good land near Derby has been sold at £200. and £250. per acre. Mr. Farey says, that in 1815, the selling price of

land about Mackworth was from £90. to £150. at Kirk Ireton land was sold as low as £90. Newly allotted common-land was purchased about the same period, near Egginton heath, at £80. per acre, and at Hoon two farms on red marl and gravel were sold at the same rate.- Freeholds are far more numerous in this county than copyholds.-Leases were more frequently granted in Derbyshire than they are at present; and perhaps the great fluctuations which have taken place since the war, in the prices of agricultural produce, have deterred tenants from soliciting the advantages which leases are thought to ensure. The Duke of Devonshire grants no leases; but then, by a continued and hereditary liberality, unexampled perhaps in the kingdom, the tenants have been so fully encouraged to confide in the honour of their landlord and the rectitude of his agents, that improvements, costly and extensive, are not unfrequent on farms held under his Grace, by tenants at will.-Leases are granted by the Earl of Chesterfield at Bretby, for twenty-one years; and similar leases are known at Ashover, Dale, Stanton, Hartington and some other places.-The leases of the Earl of Chesterfield's farms require the tenants to plant and protect a certain number of young timber trees. In the verbal lettings at will, there are seldom any other conditions than the carting of coals, repairing of roads, and performing the landlord's statute duty; but even these conditions are not general, and the keeping of a few sporting dogs for the landlord, seems the only claim of a general nature. In covenants or agreements for letting farms, the proportion of land to be in tillage is sometimes mentioned, but throughout the county, it is mostly left to the tenant to break down or lay up any particular pieces of land. In this the Derbyshire farmers possess an advantage over those of the southern counties, where fields are obliged, by clauses in the letting, to be kept in pasture or arable, which would frequently be more profitable in an opposite state.

The farms in this county are mostly of a moderate extent, there not be- CHAP. 4. ing more than six or seven that exceed six hundred acres, with the excep- Farms. tion of some held by the tenants of the Duke of Devonshire in the woodlands of Hope, who have very large tracts of mountain bogs and heathy uncultivated hills, attached to farms which might of themselves be considered comparatively small. There are farms in the Scarsdale Hundred, round Ashover, which average less than fifty acres each; and in the same parish there is an instance of ninety-seven tenants on a rental that barely exceeds sixteen hundred pounds; and such small occupancies are by no means uncommon in other places.

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The rents of lands near the principal towns are high. Near Derby, it Rents. is not unusual for the small tenants who supply the town with milk, to give from 70 to 120s. per acre. There are farms which let at 40, 50, and 60s. per acre; in Kirk Ireton the average rent is said not to exceed 20s. and at Ashover it is about that sum. At Newhaven the new allotments have been let at 10, 12, and more recently, at 16, and 20s. per acre.Upon the whole, the rental of Derbyshire, taking into consideration the extensive waste tracts of the Peak, is below the average rental of all the surface of England and Wales. Mr. Farey observes, that "here and every where else, the major part of the farms are too small for the most perfect management, or the most abundant or cheap produce being brought to market." He adds, "the disposition, laudable in itself, which English land-owners have for preserving the same tenants or families on their estates, seems carried to a mischievous excess, in great numbers of instances. The tenants, in several places, are said to leave the occupation of their farms to their widows or children, &c. by will, with as much confidence as if it were their own estate, or held on a long lease; and that a custom of long standing prevails with the noble owner* and his agents, of entirely respecting such bequests, except on very particular and rare occasions."-We differ entirely with the intelligent surveyor upon this important subject, because in his very doubtful views of utility, he would destroy that example of confidence between the owner and his tenants, which is at once honourable to the illustrious landlord, and beneficial to the county. It would be well if such tenures were much more prevalent; nor can it be doubted, that agricultural improvements will be extensive where the occupant can rely so strongly on the moderation and integrity of his landlord. -There are differences of opinion also, relative to the superior benefits derivable by the public, from large farms. Mr. Pitt, in his history of Staffordshire, very justly intimates that small farms should be composed of grass-lands chiefly, and occupied by a dairy of cows, well-managed, and that the tillage should be with the spade. Undoubtedly farms of larger size are best adapted for raising grain for the supply of the public market, but the true system is to have farms of all sizes—thus "employing and encouraging the industry of the working farmer, and the capital of the more opulent"—and this is the case in Derbyshire as much or more than in any other county.

The cottagers throughout Derbyshire are much better provided with Cottages. habitations than they commonly are in the southern counties of England,

* His Grace the Duke of Devonshire is here particularly alluded to.

CHAP. 4.
Cottages.

Tithes.

and the cottages are more frequently white-washed and have a more com-
fortable appearance. The rural cottages are here particularly meant, as
there will be occasion hereafter to mention the extensive accommodations
for the working-people at the numerous and important manufactories.
Some of these rural cottages are attached to farms, particularly at Culland
and at New-Haven; and, notwithstanding the writings of our modern
economists, we cannot but agree with Mr. Farey, who says, "it would be
well for the country, if such were far more numerous than at present."
Such an opinion from an intelligent enquirer, who, in all he says concerning
population and the poor, is a professed advocate of the Malthusian system,
is highly valuable; and we quote the following paragraph to show that his
notions of a rural cottage are not alarmingly liberal. "However desirable
it may be, that farmers should keep a cow, on reasonable terms, for the
most deserving of their stated labourers, residing on or near their farms,
yet the impolicy of suffering commons to remain uninclosed and in a state
of total neglect, like that of Hollington and others, for the sake of cottagers'
cows, is strikingly apparent, and so would be the favourite schemes of some
persons, of allotting them one or more pastures in common. Under the
baneful influence of the poor-laws, but few cottagers will be found pro-
vident enough to purchase a cow, and fewer still perhaps, who would long
keep one that was given or provided for them by others. The less busi-
ness of his own, that a labourer has, which should cause him at any time
to leave his regular employ, and be his own master, the better for his
habits, his family and his country. A garden, as large as he can cultivate
at over-hours, and his family and his pig can consume the produce of,
has, after much observation, seemed to me the proper extent of a labourer's
occupancy of land. Milk, the farmers might and ought in general to fur-
nish to the labouring poor, and at a cheap rate to their own labourers,
without their keeping cows. After I had been at Cromford,* I heard of
a cow society having existed there, I believe among the cottagers, but the
precise nature and objects of the same I am unacquainted with."
A considerable proportion of land in this county remains subject to tithes,
while a fixed composition has been beneficially established in some parish-
Farmers are seldom willing to attempt improvements where tithes are
to participate in the returns for their expenditure; and it has been ob-
served, improvements have been most extensively made on composition-
lands, or where the farmers have obtained leases of the tithes. A very
beneficial practice is gradually increasing among the opulent land-owners,
of obtaining leases of tithes from the clergy and lay-impropriators, in order
to re-let them to their tenants, at fixed compositions. It has been usual
in some parts of Derbyshire for the clergy to have a survey made annually
previous to harvest, and for charges at certain rates per acre to be made on
each occupier; but more frequently, the surveyor, on the part of the clergy,

es.

At Cromford is a society of rather a singular kind, instituted by the owners of cows, to insure against loss attending that kind of property. The cows belonging to the members are valued twice a year, and each person pays monthly, at the rate of one penny per pound, in proportion to the value of his stock. Whenever the fund of the society amounts to £40. the payments are discontinued, till it is reduced below that sum; and when any member's cow dies, he is indemnified to the full extent of its worth. Beauties of England and Wales.

Note.-This society still exists, and its consequences are said to be highly beneficial. Editor.

СНАР. 4.

agrees with the principal occupant or occupants for a gross sum, which is left to be adjusted at a parish meeting.* Tithes upon improved or newly Tithes. inclosed lands have been the subject of much complaint. The earliest inclosures by Act of Parliament, in this county, provided for the tithes by allotments of land: but, strange to say, in the more modern acts the lands to be inclosed are left subject to tithes: the evil of this was felt, and, in some instances, the tithes have been commuted in land.†

The poor's-rates, county rates, and parochial rates, generally, as they Rates. affect the profits of the farmer, might be noticed in this place: but they will more correctly come under financial statements, which belong as well to the trading as to the agricultural interests of the county, and which will be given in a subsequent chapter.

The variety of soil in this county has already been mentioned, and we Implements. shall therefore proceed to enumerate the implements of husbandry chiefly in use, and the modes of cultivation mostly in practice.

The ploughs used in Derbyshire are of various kinds, but, perhaps, the Ploughs. most prevalent are the wheeled-ploughs. These are either single or two shared ploughs, and vary in price from two to ten pounds. Double or twofurrow ploughs answer very well on light soils, but they are not much in use. The single wheeled plough is an excellent implement, requiring no person to hold or touch it, except when turning at the end of a furrow.Swing ploughs, drawn by two horses a-breast, and guided by a ploughman chiefly with reins, are sometimes used, but the wheels are thought to add greatly to the draught. There are also double boarded moulding-ploughs for potatoes and other drilled crops, which have been found to be very serviceable implements. Trench-ploughs for open drain work are made at Hathern-turn, but covered drains are now so much preferred, that these powerful implements are falling into disuse.

Harrows of the old form are still in use, but the double harrow consist- Harrows. ing of two, and sometimes of four small oblong harrows hooked together, is acknowledged to be a serviceable implement, and we have seen it frequently at work in the south of the county. At Bradley park, there are bush-harrowing machines, mounted on two low wheels in front, and these are loaded with weights in the middle, according to the degree of pressure of the thorns behind.

Rollers of wood and of stone are used in different parts of Derbyshire, Rollers, &c. with occasional, but no very remarkable peculiarities of construction.Drilling is not practised so extensively as in the neighbouring counties; but on some farms the improved drills are made use of.- Horse-hoes and

Upon the general view of the subject, Derbyshire pays less in direct tithes than the average of other counties. The amount of tithes in this county, according to the property-tax returns, was, in 1811, only 74d. and a small fraction more in the pound, upon the total rental of the county; so great a part of the rental being on exonerated lands, on houses, &c. The average of tithe throughout England and Wales, was, at the same period, 1s. 7d.

At Beighton, the tithes are paid by a fixed commutation in corn.

The wheels have been much improved by the addition of an iron flay, firmly screwed to the coulter, which, in ploughing leys, takes off the turf and turns it into the furrow, where the plough immediately covers it with earth; by this management, a turf at one ploughing has the appearance of a fallow, and harrows nearly as well: this ploughing requires no additional trouble, but the strength of an extra horse, and the flay may be used or not, at pleasure. The common swing plough, without wheels, is used to plough hedge sides, ill-formed corners, or any difficult work, when both a holder and driver are required. Pitt's Staffordshire.

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