THE

RURAL ECONOMY

O F

YORKSHIRE.

COMPRIZING THE

Management of Landed Eftates,

AND THE

PRESENT PRACTICE of HUSBANDRY

IN THE

AGRICULTURAL DISTRICTS

OF THAT COUNTY.

By Mr. M A R S H A L L.

VOL. II.

LONDON:

Printed for T. CADELL, in the STRAND,

M3DCC,LXXXVIII.

CONTENTS

OF TH I

SECOND VOLUME.

Page

1. WHEAT - i

2. RYE - 14

3. BARLEY 16
4 OATS 18

5. PULSE .--•—-.'• '.'*.-•' - 26

6. TURNEPS .*••.' - 27

7. RAPE - 29

8. POTATOES - - 51

9. FLAX - 68
10. TORACCO - 79
j i. CULTIVATED GRASSES • 82

12. NATURAL GRASSES - 105

13. HORSES - 1 60

14. CATTLE - 180
is- SHEEP 218
i -. RABBITS - 232
17. SVVINE 235

>ULTRY - 237

KS - 2j8

20. WOLDS - - 244

. l-DERNESS - - 269

22. CLKVELAND - - 271

23. MORELASDS - 275
LIST OF RATLS - - 297

I'llCVINCIALlSMS - - 303

21)07945

THE

RURAL ECONOMY

O F

YORKSHIRE.

i.

WHEAT.

IN NORFOLK, a CORN country, whole
hufbandry may be taken as a ftandard
for other LIGHT-LAND DISTRICTS, I ftudied
the various procefTes of each ARABLE CROP
with attention ; and have endeavoured to de-
fcribe them with minutenefs. But to pur-
flie a fimilar conduct in a country where
GRASSLAND prevails ; where corn is of courfe
only a fccondary objedt ; and where, through
the divcrfity of foils, and the prefent ftate of
VOL, II. B inclofurej

2 WHEAT. ii

inclofure, no regular management of arable
trops fufficiently excellent to be held out as
a pattern is eftabliihed, — would be an impro-
priety. Neverthelefs, in a country where
improvement flands on tiptoe, eager to dif-
cover and bring into practice every thing
which wears the afpect of fuperior utility, it
would be ftill more improper to pafs over
the INDIVIDUALS of the ARABLE CROPS with-
out notice.

Their GENERAL MANAGEMENT has been
already defcribed under the foregoing gene-
ral heads. What remains to be done with
refpedt to EACH CROP is to regifter fuch PAR-
TICULARS as I judge may be of fervice in the
advancement of the plan under execution.

The particulars which ftrike me as being
noticeable, under the prefent he-ad, are,

i. The fpecies of wheat prevalent here ;
a. The raifing of new varieties ;

3. Preparing the feed to prevent fmut;

4. An opinion refpecting mildew.

I. THE SPECIES of wheat cultivated at
prefent in the DiitricT: are,

I.TRITICUM Hybernum-, WINTER WHEAT :
of which there are the following VARIETIES :

i. " Zealand

i. YORKSHIRE. $

1. " Zealand Wheat :" chaff white, with-
but awns * ; ears fomewhat large ; grain white
and full-bodied ; ftraw long and reedy. This
fort is well adapted to weak and to middling
foiled land. In a rich foil, efpecially in a
moid feafon, it runs too much to draw.

2. " Downy Kent :" chaff white, downy,
and awnlefs ; ears middle- fized ; grain white
and fmall ; ftraw ihort. This kind is beft
adapted to good land ; in which it generally
yields well, notwithftanding the fmallnefs of
the grains.

3. Common White Wheat. The two pre-
ceding forts feem to have almoft banifhed
the " old white wheat" of the Diftrid — the
white Lammas of other diftri&s.

4. Hertford/litre Brown. Chaff whitey —
grain red, — ftraw of a middle growth : re-
fembling the Kentifh white Co/h of Norfolk.

5. " Yellow Kent.'' Chaff fomewhat red;
grain white ! ears large ; ftraw flout.

6. Common Red Wheat. This, like the o?d
white, appears to be now nearly extincl.

B 2 2. TRITICUM

• All the -varieties of Triticum Hylemum which I
h^vc yet obfcrved have afewjhort awm towards the top
of the ear.

4 WHEAT. it

2. TRITICUM ^Sflivum; SUMMER WHEAT;
—generally known by the name of SPRING
WHEAT.

In the Whitby quarter of the Morelands
this fpecies of wheat has been cultivated
many years. It was introduced into the
Vale a few years ago ; but it does not feem to
gain an eftablifhment here. It has, however,
been fufficiently tried to afcertain the proper
month of foyeing : namely, April.

II. RAISING VARIETIES. It is probable
that time has the fame effedl upon the varie-
ties of wheat and other grains as it has on
thofe of cultivated fruits^ potatoes^ and other
vegetable productions.

In every country I find new varieties of
corn gaining footing, and old ones giving
place to them. Fafhion may influence a few
individuals to introduce a new variety ; but it
is not likely that fafliion alone fhould induce
a body of profeffional hufbanclmen todifcard
au old one.

In GARDENING, varieties are endlefs ; and
frclh ones arc annually making : not perhaps
io much by accident as by induftry* Thus
to produce an early PSA, the gardener marks

the

f. YORKSHIRE. 5

the plants which open firft into bloflbm,
among the moft early kind he has in cultiva-
tion. Next year he fows the produce of thefe
plants, and goes over the coming crop in the
manner he had done the preceding year,
marking the earlieft of this earlier kind. In
a fimilar manner new varieties of APPLES are
raifed, by choofing the broadeft-leaved plants
among a bed of feedlings rifing promifcu-
ouily from pippins.

HUSBANDMEN, it is probable, have hero
tofore been equally induflrious in producing
frefh varieties of CORN j or whence the end-
lei's variety of WINTER WHEATS? If they be
naturally of one and the fame fpecies, as
Linneus has deemed them, they muft have
been produced by climature, foil, or in-
duiiry ; for although nature fometimes fports
with individuals, the induftry of man is rer
quifite to raife, eftabhfh, and continue a

PERMANENT VARIETY.

Of late, the raifing of varieties has perhaps
been little attended to. Transferring thofe
already etfablifhed from one part of the
kingdom, or from one part of the world, to
another, has alone perhaps produced the re*
0 3 cent

6 WHEAT* i.

cent changes in the feveral Diftridb. The
only inftance in which I have had an oppor-
tunity of tracing the variety down to the
$a>cnt individual, has occurred to me in this

A man whofe obfervation is ever on the
wing in the field of hufbandry, having per-
ceived in a piece of wheat a plant of uncom-
mon ftrength and luxuriance, diffufing its
branches on every fide, and fetting its clofely
furrounding neighbours at defiance j marked
it, and at harveft removed it feparately.

The produce was fifteen ears, yielding fix
hundred and four grains of a itrong-bodicd
liver-coloured wheat, different in general
appearance from every other variety I have
feen. The chaff finooth, awnlefs, and the
colour of the grain. The ftraw flout and
reedy.

Thefe fix hundred grains were planted
fingly nine inches afunder, filling about forty
fquare yards of ground ; not in a garden, or
in a feparate piece of ground, but upon a
clover ftubble ; the remainder of which was
at the fame time (own with other wheat
in the common way : by which means extra-

ordinary

,, YORKSHIRE. 7

ordinary trouble and definition by birds were
equally avoided.

The produce of thefc forty yards was two
and a half gallons, weighing twenty pounds
and a half, of prime grain fie for feed, be-
fides fome pounds of feconds. One grain
produced thirty-five ears, yielding twelve
hundred and thirty-five grains.

The fecond year's produce being fufficient
to plant an acre of ground, the variety was
of courfe fufficiently eftablifhed.

This, the fifth year, I have feen it grow in
quantity ; but the feafon being moift, and the
foil good, it was moft of it lodged, The
crop upon the ground is abundant : fe-
venty full ftiocks an acre. But the produce
of Zealand wheat in the fame piece is equal
to it ; and, on examination, I think the grain
of this is better, its (kin is fomewhat thinner.
Neverthelefs, the variety under notice may
rank with the firil of the prefent day. For
nn inferior foil it may perhaps be found
fuperiorly eligible *,

B4 Its

* It is obfcrvable, that the quality of this rariety
improvn. Its colour and fkinr this year, notwith-
ftanding the unfavourable aefs of the feafon, are finer
than they were the laft and the preceding years.

8 WHEAT. i.

Its intrinfic value, however, would not have
been a fufficient inducement for defcribing
the circumftances of its rife, had not thefe
circumftances pointed out at the fame time
the practicability, as well as an eafy and fpeedy
method of raifing new varieties, and of improving
thole which are already known.

What deters Farmers from improvements
of this nature, is principally the mifchievouf-
nefs of BIRDS ; from which at harveft it is
fcarcely poffiole to preferve a fmall patch of
corn, efpedally in a garden or other ground
fituatcd near a habitation. But by carrying on
the improvement in * field of corn of the fame
?ia:ure9 that inconveniency is got rid of.

In th's fituarion, however, the lotanift will
be apprcher.five of danger from the floral
farina of the nirrounJing crop. But, from
what obfervation I h.ive made, I am of
opinion his fears will prove ground lefs. No
evil effect of this nature occurred in the in-
llancc above iccited, although the cultivation
has been carried on among white wheat. But
this nef.cl nor be brought as an evidence : it
is not uncommon here to fow a mixture of
red and wb:te wheats together, and this, it is

con-

t. YORKSHIRE. 9

confidently affcrted, without impairing even
the colour of either of them.

The fame mode of culture is applicable to

the IMPROVEMENT OF VARIETIES J which

perhaps would be more profitable to the
hufbandman than railing new ones, and much
more expeditious.

Formerly, it was the pradice in the im-
provement of cattle to crofs with other breeds ;
but modern breeders, who have brought the
art to a high degree of perfection, purfue a
different method : they pick out the faireft
of the particular breed or variety they want
to improve, and prolecute the improvement
with thefe fete fled individuals.

Jn every field of corn, let the variety be
ever fo pure and ever fo well adapted to the
foil and liquation, the fame inequality in the
beauty andgoodnefs of individuals is obferv-
able, as in a herd of cattle; and it is the bu-
finefs of the corn-farmer to avail himfelf of
fo fuitable an opportunity of improvement,
by fdefling fuch individual plants as excel in <ui~
gour and produflivenefs, under a moral cer-
tainty that fuch individuals are peculiarly
adapted to his foil and fituation.

IIL PRK-

,0 W H E A T. i.

III. PREPARING SEED-WHEAT. IntheRural
Economy of NORFOLK I have mentioned an
improvement in the ufe of fait and lime as
preventives againft fmut. Here a fingular
remedy is made ufe of for that purpofe -9 fin-
gular I mean as to this Diflrict, in which
alone I have found ARSENIC ufed as a pre-
ventive of that troublcfome difeafe.

Formerly, brine and lime were the ufual
preparation here, as they ftill are in almoft
every Diftrid of the Ifland. How long ar-
fenic has been in ufe here, or how the ufe of
it was introduced, I have not learnt with fuf-
fiqient accuracy. One perfon (whofe accu-
racy might be fafely relied on, were not his
evidence corroborated by my own occafional
pbfervation) has ufed it more than twenty
years, invariably, and with uniform fuccefs.
He cannot fay that during that time he has
not had a fmuity ear of wheat upon his
farm ; but he afiferts with confidence, that
fince he prepared feed-wheat with ar-
fenic-water, he has not experienced a fcn-
fible injury fr-om finut. The fame or a fimi-
iar flrength of evidence might probably be
pbtained from an hundred individuals in this

neighbourhood.

Its

». YORKSHIRE, *i

Its EFFICACY is not, I believe, doubted by
any one who has given it a fair trial ; but
there are fome who, through appreheniions
of danger from the carelefsnefs of fervants,
pr from their own abfentnefs, or under an
idea that an arfenical preparation is hurtful
to the feedfman, are fcrupulous about ufmg
it.

"Whether the fafl has or has not any foun-
dation in truth is at prefent a matter in difpute.
The perfpn abovementioned has not, during
his twenty years practice, experienced any in-
conveniency either tphimfelf, his fervants, or
his live ftock \ not even to his poultry. Nor
have I heard of a fingle accident having
arifen from the ufe of it in any part of the
Diftrict.

I do not mean to comment upon this prac-
tice : fuffice it for me to regifter fuch facts
as have occurred to me refpecting it, and to
give the procefs ; leaving the reader to form
his own judgment in regard to the propriety
of uiing it.

This preparation is made by pounding the
arfcnic extremely fine, boiling it in water,
diluting the decoction, and drenching the
feed effectually in the liquor.

la

12 WHEAT. .*,

In flrictnefs, the arrenic fhould be levi-
gated fufficiemly fine to be taken up and
wafoed over with water, reducing the fedi-
rnent until it be fine enough to be carried
over in the fame manner.

The ufqal method of preparing the liquor
is to boil one ounce of white arfenic finely
powdered in a gallon of water from one to
two hours, and to add to the deception as
much water or ftale urine as will increafe the^
quantity pf liquor to two gallons,

In this liquor the feed is, or ought to be,
fmmerged, ftirring it about in fuch manner
as tofaturate effectually the downy end of each
grain.

This done, and the liquor drawn off, the
feed is confidercd as fit for the feed-baiket,
without being candied with lime, or any
other preparation.

If, however, any danger arife to the feedfr
man from fowing feed thus prepared, ir proT
bably arifes from the fuperfluous moifture of
the feed in this itate entering the pores of his
hand. Candying the i'eed with lime would
not only abforb the redundant liquor, but
would render the feed more pleafimt to the

hand

i, YORKSHIRE. 13

hand in fowing, and more diftinguiihable by
the eye when call upon the ground.

A bufhel of wheat has been obferved to
take up about a gallon of liquor. The price ;
of arfcnic is about fixpence a potfnd ; which,
on this calculation, will cure four quarters of
feed. If no more than three quarters be pre-
pared with it, the coft will be only a farthing
a bufhel ; but to this muft be added the la-
bour of pounding and boiling. Neverthe-
lefs it is by much the cheapeft, and perhaps
upon the whole the beft, preparation we are
at prefent acquainted with.

When, however, I fay the left preparation \
I mean only to fpeak the language of protef-
fional men, not only in this, but in every
other Diftritt. My own practice has not
furnimed me with a fufficient proof that any
preparation is neceflary. I therefore fufpend
my judgment at prefent, upon this difputablc
but interefling fubjecl: of hufbandry. Nevcr-
thelefs, I wim to have it underftcod that I
am not at prefent an enemy to preparations.

IV. THE MILDEW OF WHEAT. It is a re-
ceived idea in this Diltrict, that MESLIN, —
provincially, " masfhelfon,"— * (a mixture of

wheat

14 WHEAT. j;

wheat and rye, formerly a very common
crop in this neighbourhood, and ftill remains
to be fo in the Morelands) is never affected
by the blight or mildew,-— provincially and
properly, " meldew :"—and that the nature
of rye is fuch, that a very fmall quantity of
it fown among wktat prevents this frequently
definitive effect.

This, if well founded, is a moft interefting
fact ; not only in HUSBANDRY, but in the
VEGETABLE ECONOMY.

RYE.

THE ONLY SPECIES of rye culti-
vated in thefe kingdoms is the SECALE cereak
of Linneus ; of which two varieties are cul-
tivated in this Diflrict.

1. BLACK RYE ; formerly the only fort.

2. WHITE RYE, or DANTZICK RYE; in-
troduced into this country about half a cen-
tury

2. YORKSHIRE. 15

tury ago, and is now the almoft only fort
which is cultivated.

Before the ufc of LIME was prevalent,
much rye was grown on the lighter, lands
upon the margin of the Vale ; and in the
Morelands fcarcely any other crops than rye
and oats were attempted. Now, rye is prin-
cipally confined to the Moreland-dales ; and
even there the alteration of foils by lime has
been fuch, that wheat is become the more
prevalent crop.

Neverthelefs, on light fandy Moreland foils
rye is generally more profitable than wheat 5
and the bread which is made from a mixture
of the two grains, is here efleemed more
wholefome to perfons in general, than that
which is made from wheat alone.

BARLEY.

i6 BARLEY.

BARLEY.

THERE ARE FOUR kinds of barley^
all of them diftind SPECIES, cultivated niore
or lefs in this Diflridlr.

Common barley, — bordeum zeocriton, — •'

long- eared barley.
Battledoor barley, — hordeum diftichon, —

fprat barley.
Big - - 3 bordeum — — -, four-

rowed barleyj Or fpring barley.
— --- -bordeum hexaftichon, — ^fix-

rowed barley, or winter barley.

The firft and the third are the forts which
are now principally cultivated. The firfl, in
the Vale; the third, in the Morelands, or
in the Vale, when the feafon of fowing is
driven very late. Formerly, IC BATTLEDOOR
BARLEY" was a common crop ; but atprefent
it is almoft out of cultivation, The WINTER

BARLEY

3. YORKSHIRE. 17

BARLEY is new to the Diftrict; and it does
notfeem to be yet generally underftpod that
it ought to befown in autumn.

In the open field ftate barley was grown in
the " wheat field," alternately with wheat.

One circumftance refpeding the ancient
hufbandry of this crop deferves to be regif-
tered ; as it ferves to Ihew the alteration which
time has the power of making, even in the
bufmefs of hulbandmen.

Lefs than a century ago, I believe, barley
was not faleable until it was MALTED. Pub-
lic malt-houfes, and the bufinefs of a maltfter,
were equally unknown : every farmer malted
bis own barky, or fold it to a neighbour who
had a MALT KILN ; an out office neceffary in
thofe days to every confiderable farm.

The fuel ufed on this occafion was chiefly
brakes, cut off the neighbouring commons :
a certain day of cutting being fixt, to prevent
any man from monopolizing more than his
ftiare.

When malted, it was faleable ; and the
furplusof the confumption of the neighbour-
hood found a market at Whitby, Scarbo-
rough, and other towns of the Diftn<5r..

VOL. II. C Now,

j8 BARLEY. 3,

Now, even public malt boufes are unknown j
the entire bufinefs of malting being in the
hands of profeflional MALTSTERS ; who buy
the barley of the farmer, ami fell him the
malt which he may want for his own private
ufe.

OATS.

LINNEUS includes the whole tribe of
cultivated oats in the fpecies AVEKA fctiva.

The VARIETIES formerly cultivated in this
Diitrict were the " SLOW OAT" and the
" HASTY OAT;" both of them confidered as
of Scotch extraction.

At preient the forts principally in ufe are,

i. " POLAND OATS:" a fhort, plump
grain ; but the thickncfs of its fkin feems to
Jiave brought it into difrepute among attentive
farmers. Moftly fingle; no awn ; ftraw fhort.

2. FRJJ-ZLAND

4. YORKSHIRE. 19

2. " FRIEZLAND OATS.*' Thefe appear to
be at prefent the favourite oat of the country ;
and with good reafon : they afford more
ftraw, and are thinner-fkinned than the Po-
land oat. Moftly double ; the larger fome-
times awned ; the awn placed high.

3. " SIBERIAN OATS,"— more generally
known by the name of TARTARIAN OATS.
This is evidently a diftinct SPECIES, unno-
ticed by Linneus. Each flower frequently
contains three perfect florets-, never lefs than
two, and a pedeflalled rudiment. Sometimes
three perfect grains and a rudiment. The
panicle, too, varies efTentially from all the
varieties of AVENA fatzva. AVEN A arundina-
'cca would be a proper term for ir. The
grains of this fpecics are thin and fmall ; the
largcft awned ; the fmall ones awnlefs ; the
ftraw tall and reedy.

The REED OAT may be faid to be here
fairly in the hands of hulbandmen; a cir-
eumftance which I have not obfervcd elfe-
whe^e. But it does not feerri to be in fufficient
eftimation to gain an eftablifhed footing in
theDiftridt. The grain is light, and they?nra>
too much like reed, to be affected by cattle*
C 1 The

20 OATS. 4.

The particulars which are noticeable in
the cultivation of oats in the Vale are,

1. The foil.

2. The quantity of feed.

3. The produce.

4. A fingular mode of thrafhing.

I. SOIL. The rich lands in the weflern
divifion of the Vale are peculiarly affefted
by oats. There have been inftances of fowing
them fix or feven years fucceffively on the
fame land. This, however, has been where
the land has previoufly lain long in grafs.
The foil principally a rich fandy loam ; a
foil fingularly productive of OATS 5 but not
of wheat : which in thefe foils runs too much
to ftraw.

It is therefore highly judicious in the oc-
cupiers of them not to attempt wheat. Oats
will generally pay much better on fuch foils.

II. QUANTITY OF SEED. Five or fix
b.ufliels, and even a quarter of oats, an acre,
are here fometimes fovvn ! On fomc foils it
is found, that the more feed, the greater in
proportion is the produce. A prudent man,
however, ought, in my opinion, to afcertain,
by comparative experiments, the extent of his

fill

4. YORKSHIRE. 21

foil before he fow, on a large fcale, more
than fix bufhels of oats an acre.

III. PRODUCE. Ten quarters of oats an
acre have been grown on a piece of many
acres. Seven or eight quarters an acre
throughout a large farm has not unfre-
quently been produced. One Vale farmer,
laft year, fold and fent to market a thoufand
quarters of oats.

IV. THRASHING. A mod eccentric prac-
tice has of late years taken place with re-
fpect to the thrafhing of oats : not in barnF,
or under cover, as heretofore, and as the ope-
ration is ftill carried on in every other part
of the Ifland j but in the field, or the (lack-
yard, IN THE OPEN AIR !

This new method of thramin,g oats pro-
bably took its rile from the ordinary one of
thrafhing rape in this Diftrict (a procefs
which will be explained by and by) ; the
oats, at the outfet, being all thraflied on cloth.
But, now, I find it is common to thraih them
on apiece of plainykvW or other level ground
without a, cloth ! it having been found, from
experience, that if pigs and poultry be
employed to pick up the few which the
C 3 broom,

22 OAT S. 4.

broom leaves, the wafte is little or no-
thing.

What may feem equally flrange, this bu-
finefs is frequently done at harvefl ; the oats
being carried immediately from the field, in
which they grew, to market !

This, however, is lefs extraordinary when
we are acquainted with the market, which is
always open for new oats in this country:
The manufacturing parts of Weft Yorklhire
life principally oaten oread ; and new oats
are coveted for oatmeal. This accounts for
their high price at harveft, here, compared
with that which they bear in other places ;
and this was probably the inducement which
led to the fingular expedient under notice.

The conveniency of thrafhing them in the
feld being by this means difcovered, the
practice was eafily transferred from the field
to the flack-yard.

In one inflance, to which T more particu-
larly attended, the operation was thus con-
dueled. A cloth was fpread upon the ground
(fir ft made fmooth) by the fide of the flack
of oats (in a flack-yard). A boy threw the
ihe uves off the flack on to the cloth. One

man.

YORKSHIRE. 23

opened and fpread the fheaves j turned
them when requifite, and threw off the
flraw when fufficiently thrafhed. Four men
kept continually thrafhing.

In another, the oats were carried from the
field to a grafs inclofure, and Hacked in a
place convenient for the expenditure of the
draw. In this cafe the floor was a circle of
clofe-paflured greenfward ; about ten yards
diameter ; the opened iheavcs being fpread
in a ring with their heads toward the center;
eight or ten thrafhers treading this ring with a
flow pace. One fide fufficiently thrafhed,
the other was turned uppermoft, and the
draw at length (hook off the circle. Wo-
men were employed at the floor, while two
men {lacked the ftraw as it was thrown off;
and while others were employed on the op*
pofite fide of the ring, in winnowing the oats
with a machine-fan,

In a third, the oats were carried immedi-
ately out of the harveft-ficJ'd to the thrafli-
ing-floor, without a previous (lacking. In.
this cafe alfo the floor was a ring of green-
fward ; — beaten firm and fmooth with flails
Before any corn was laid upon it. Thewafte
C 4 is

24 OATS. 4.

is nothing compared with the expence of a
cloth.

The ftraw was in every cafe flacked loofe 5
to be cue out as hay : the common practice,
I underfland, when oats are thrafhed abroad.

When the ftraw is thus freed from the coih.
at harvefl, and is flacked in good orderr'lt
takes a heat in flack, and is faid to make ex-
cellent fodder. Cattle will fometimes get
forward in flefh. upon fuch ftraw alone.

But this happens in the rich.land quarter
mentioned above. And, query, has not a
rub foil a fimilar effect upon \\\tjlraw> as it
has upon the hay, which is grown upon it ?
.The hay of Lincplnfhire will fat large bul-
locks, which that of Norfolk would barely
jupport.

The ADVANTAGES held out in favour of
this method of thraihiog oats, are thofe of
difpatch and the faving of barn room 5 or
•the faving of carriage. A perfon who had
a large quantity of oats upon an off-farm,
fome miles from his place of refidencea with-
out a barn upon it, gave a {hilling a quarter
for thralhing, at barveft; a bufy time. Had
not this expedient been practifed, a bam

muft

4. YORKSHIRE. 25

muft have been built, or an impracticable
quantity of carriage would have been requi-
fite.

The chance of bad weather feems to be the
only objection to this practice. But there is
always plenty of draw to cover up the CORN
with ; and it is found by experience, that a
little rain upon the STRAW does not make it
lefs affected by cattle.

In feme cafes the practice is, beyond dif-
pute, highly eligible in this country ; and
might, I have not a doubt, be profitably ex-
tended to many other Diftricts of the liland.

PULSE,

26 f U L S E.

5-

PULSE.

NOTHING particularly noticeable has
pccurred to me in thisDiftridt refpedting any
pf the fpecies of cultivated pulfe ; except*
jng that it is a pretty common practice to
fow beans and peas (grey peas) together,
under the name of " BLENDINGS," Some-
times " FITCHES" (probably a gigantic va-
riety of the ERVUM lens) are fown among
fceans. Thefe mixtures are found to increafe
the crop; and the component fpecies are rea»
dily feparable with the fieve.

Formerly (* LENTJLS," the true ERVUI^
If us, were a common crop in this neighbour-,
hood ; but at prelent they are growing, if
£0t already grown, into difufe.

TURNERS,

YORKSHIRE. 27

6.

T U R N E P S,

TWENTY YEARS ago the turnep crop
was a ftranger in this Diftrict. Even yet it is
far from being an eftablifhed crop.

Neverthelefs, there are fome men whom
the fpirit of improvement has ftimulated to
the turnep-culture ; and who may rank
among the beft turnep farmers in the king-
dom ; thofe of Norfolk excepted.

It mud not however be expected that, af-
ter the ample detail I have given of the NOR-
FOLK PRACTICE, much new matter can be
collected from the practice of this Diftrict.
I have met with only one particular which
merits notice ; and which, though a fimple
and eligible piece of management, I do not
jrecolled: to have met with in Norfolk.

In the inftance of practice under notice,
the large/I of the turneps arc drawn and car-

28 T U R N E P S. 6,

riejeffot fatting cattle ; and the fmall ones
faten upon the ground with fheep j efpecially
\vith ewes and lamUs in the fpring.

This practice eafes very much the labour
of drawipg, tailing, &c.— and gives the fmall
turneps room to grow, in the early part of
winter ; and to Ihoot freely in the fpring.

If the fmall ones be eaten off in winter,
the foil is rendered free for the plow, as if
the whole had been drawn and carried off.
And in this particular only, refts the fuperi-
ority of the Yorkfhire practice : one inftancp
.of practice in Norfolk having been noticed,
in which the large ones were drawn, and the
fmall ones fuffered to fland until fpring. See,
. FCON. Vol.1, p. 287.

YORKSHIRE. 29

RAPE.

Zfl'lU} If,'.' ''>-

THIS is the only Diftrid: in which I have
met with rape (BRASSICA na-pus — Colefeed)
cultivated for its SEED.

It has long been the practice of the Vale ;
where large quantities have been annually
cultivated ; and where the cultivation of it is,
1 believe, equal at leaft to that of any other

It therefore merits a full and minute de-
fcription in this place.

The requifite diviiions of the fubject are,

1. Succeflion.

2. Soil and procefs.

3. Manure and procefs.

4. Seed-procefs.

5. Vegeuting-procefs.

6. Harvcft-management.

7. Market.

I. SUCCESSION.

3o RAPE. 7.

I. SUCCESSION. Rape is generally fown
bn fward. In the richer parts of the Vale it
is fometimes fowri on fallow, like turneps ;
and fometimes it is ventured upon \\\t ftubllt
of an arable crop ; but, unlefs the foil be
clean and rich, feldom with fuccefs. On
MAIDEN STVARD, as that of commons, or old
grazing grounds, it in general turns out a
Very profitable crop.

II. SOIL AND PROCESS. Various as are the
SOILS of this Diftricl, it is fown on every fpe~
ties ; and generally with a fuccefs propor-
tioned to its richnefs ; the fpecifc quality of
the foil being confidered as immaterial ; pro-
vided it has lain long in SWARD ; and pro-
vided the fward be reduced, and the foil
ameliorated, by PARING AND BURNING. See
the Article SOD-BURNING.

III. MANURE AND PROCESS. The afhes of
the fward, with generally a fprinkling of
iirte) are the univerfal and only manure for
rape on fward. The afhes,' I believe, are
principally depended upon for the rape ; the
lime being rather intended for fucceeding

IV.

7. YORKSHIRE. it

IV. SEED-PROCESS. The time of fowing%
July : early enough to get a ftrong leaf, and
late enough to prevent its running up to
ftem, the firft autumn. Quantity of feed, one
gallon an acre ; fown generally on the rough
plit of one plowing (fee SOD -BURNING) ;
the feed being brulhed in with a thorn-har-
row;

Sometimes the tops of the plits are fcratch^
ed with a pair of .lined harrows before the
feed be fown ; and fometimes they are nei-
ther harrowed before, nor (wept after thd
fowing !

V. VEGETATING-PROCESS. I have heard of
an inftance or two of rape being hoed- with
five or fix-inch hoes. But that is not the
practice of the country. Neither homg,
nor weeding of any kind, is, I believe,
fcarcely ever beftowed on the rape crop.

One practice, however, in this flage of the
general proccfs of rape deferves notice. The
practice here meant is that of " TRANS-
PLANTING :" namely, filling the vacant
patches (with which rape too frequently
abounds) with plants drawn from the parts
which are overftocked.

This

32 RAPE. 7,.

This work is generally done by women,
\vho put in the plants with dibbles.

Plants thus removed feldorh fail to take
loot ; but they ripen fomewhat later than the
unmoved plants. Neverthelefs, the practice
is highly eligible.

The time of tranfplanting, October.

If the whole, or a principal part of a land,
or a large patch, — happen to mifs, — the
PLOW is fometimes ufed in tranfplanting.

In this cafe the plants are laid, or placed
in a leaning pofture, by women, in every fe-
cond furrow, about a foot apart in the fur-
rows. The roots are of courfe covered with
the next plit ; and a fecond plit being added,
another row of plants are laid againfl it.
The diftance, therefore, is about eighteen
or twenty inches by twelve, which, upon
good land, is found to be fufficiently near.

The expence of tranfplanting rape in this
manner has been found, on accurate obferva-
tion, to be about four {hillings an acre :
namely, eight women, at fixpence a day
each. :

This

7- YORKSHIRE. 33

This expedient leads to an operation which
would, in my opinion, be a valuable IM-
PROVEMENT IN THE CULTURE OF RAPE.

The great objection to this crop, and that
xvhich deters many judicious men from cul-
tivating it, is the length of time it occupies
the foil; Being fown in July or Auguft, the
whole tribe of biennial weeds have time to
eftablifli themfelves before winter ; and not
being reaped until July or Auguft follow-
ing, they have time to mature and fhed their
feed,

The grafies; and (Irong-rooted weeds of
every kind, likewife gain in that time a degree
of poflefllon which is difficult to be fet afide.
The foil, too, gets out of tilth, by lying fo
Jong a time without plowing.

ONE PLOWING IN AUTUMN would remove,
or greatly alleviate, thofe evils. The bien-
nials would thereby be extirpated ; thegrafTes
and ftrong-rooted weeds be checked 5 and
the foil be preferved in tillage.

The operation which ftrikes me as being
(ingularly eligible to be adopted is that of

TRANSPLANTING THE WHOLE CROP.

VOL. II. D The

It RAPE. 7.

The method I mould propofe is this : draw
from the firft land a fufficiency of plants to
plant the loft land with, and bury their roots
in a vacant ground until wanted.

Plow the firft land ; burying the weeds and
the refufe rape ; and (lock it at the fame time
with plants, drawn from the fecond land, in
the manner above deicribed.

The firft land finished, fupply the fecond
Vv-ith plants from the third, and fo on till the
whole be finiihed, planting the laft land with
the plants in referve.

Befides the ADVANTAGES already fet forth,
the entire piece would by this means be fur-
nifhed with prime -plants •, equal in ftrer.gth 'y
and regular in diftance. Hence the foil would
not only be evenly occupied ; but the cropr
would ripen equally. The large and uniform
diftance of ch« plants, too, would give free
admiffion to the hoe : — even a narrow borfs-ko?
might be ufed between the rows.

I' bus, the fouleft crop which farmers have t&
deal with, might,forafmaHexpence, be render-
ed a FALLOW CROP cf the frft eftimaiion.

If fod-burnt land were managed in this
niarmer, the Erft or feed^plowing ought to be

very

7. YORKSHIRE, 35

very ihallow, acrofs the ridges (if any); and
the fecond, or tranfplanting plowing, long-
way of the lands, acrofs the firft plowing ;
gathering up the ridges dry againft winter.

A manured fallow, a rich wheat ftubble,
or other land fufficiently clean, and in fuffi-
cient heart for rape, might be planted with
it in a fimilar manner ; raifing plants for this
purpofe in a detache.d feed -bed.

VI. HARVESTING. Rape is generally ripe
in July : fooner or later, according to the
feafon. It is confidered as fit for cutting
when the forwardeftof the feed has begun to
turn black.

It is univerfally cut with fickles, by wo-
men ; who, in the ordinary management of
the country, lay it in broad thin " reaps,"
upon the tops of the flubble ; which they
generally cut about a foot high, or as high as
the lower branches will allow.

In thefe " reaps," — moves or open
fheaves, — it lies until the fap be pretty well
dried out of the greeneft, and the ripeft is
ready to open its pods. If it lie too long,
much of the prime feed will be loft in the
field ; if it be thrafhed too green, much will
D 2 be

36 RAPE, 7,

be left in the pods, and that which is thrafh-
ed out be difficult to cure.

The method of thrajhing (which has been
pra<?tifed in the Vale, perhaps, ever fmcc
rape has been cultivated in it) will require
more defcription than I can well perfuade
myfelf to bellow upon it. But a PUBLIC
is RAPE-THRASHINTG," conducted as it is in
this country, is one of the moft ftriking fcenes
which occur in the field of Rural Economy.
Armies under engagement can fcarcely ex-
hibit, to general appearance, greater tumult ;
nor, on the parade, can they boaft of better
difcipline than may fometimes be obferved in
a well-condudtcd rape-thrafhing.

If the quantity to be thralhed be large ;
as twenty or thirty acres ; the whole coun-
try, fo£ many rriiles rcaind, are" collected.
The days of thrafhing are confidered as pub-
lic days ; the lord of the harveft keeping open
jield for all who choofe to come into it ; ample
piovifion of meat and drink being, made for
\his purpofe. A wake or a fair is not a-
fcene of greater joUity.-

It is not common, however, for unbidden
gucfts to go to chefc rural meetings without

7. YORKSHIRE. 37

affifting, or at leaft offering their fervices to
affifl in forwarding the bufinefs of the day.
But to make fure of hands for the more la-
borious departments, men and women are
previoufly retained with wages over and
above the fpoils of the feaft.

Alfo previous to the day of thralhing, a
" rape cloth," — <f carrying-cloths," — and
other neceffaries, are to be provided. The
cloths are in the hands of a few men, who
let them out at fo much a day, or fo much
an acre. A rape cloth of the largeft fize
meafures twenty yards fquare : weighing
more than half a Jon weight. Heffen is the
ufual material of which it is made. Thr
hire of fuch a cloth 15 s. day.

Alfo before the thrafhing, the rape and the
ftubble are to be removed off the place (or
places, if the piece be large) where the
thrafhing-floor is to be made; the clods be-
ing taken off, and the hallows filled up where
the cloth is intended to be laid.

The bufinefs qf the day i? thus conduced :

The men are divided into carriers, thraih-

ers, and floor-men. Women fill the carrying.

cloths j and boys hold them while filling.

D 3 Thefe

3S RAPE. 7.

Thefe cloths are made of canvas, about fix
feet fquare, with poles fixt on two oppofite
fides (in the manner of a rolling map); open-
ings being left in the middle between the
poles and the canvas for two men to run their
arms through one on either fide ; the poles
refting by their middles on the men's fhoul-
ders ; the cloth filled with rape hanging be-
tween them. In thefe cloths the whole of the
crop is carried to the thraming-floor.

The floor-men are divided into layers-on,
turners, takers-off, rake-men, riddlers, &c.
&c. &c.

The rape to be thraflied is fpread thin up-
on the cloth, in a circle as large as the cloth
will contain.

The thrafhers move continually in this
ring; marching with a How Hep in pairs,
and in two divifions ; the individuals of each
divifion following one another as clofely as
the nature of their employment will allow
them.

The nrfl division are preceded by the
layers-on, and followed by the turners ; an4
clofeupon the rear of the fecond divifion fol-
low the takers-off; who with wooden-tined

forks

7. YORKSHIRE. 39

forks lhake and throw-off the ftraw, which
is piled in heaps by others with longer imple-
ments.

Finally, the rake-men run off the feed,
with the heads of their rakes thruft before
them ; forcing the feed into recefTes formed
within the ring, or upon the corners of the
cloth ; where groups of fillers, riddlers,
&c. &c. are employed in feparating the feed
from the principal part of the pods and Ihort
ftraws which beat off in thrafhing; while
Others are equally bufy in putting the un-
winnovved feed into bags, and carrying it to
the " pie" or the waggon.

Toward the clofe of the day, when the
ftraw has rifen into mountainous heaps of al-
mofl fnowy whitenefs ; when the field of em-
ployment appears on its largeft fcale j when
every department is in full work j and when
every individual is animated, and not yet fa-
tiated, with the entertainment of the day ;
the rape - thralhing affords the contem-
plative mind a pleating fight ; and would
afford the pencil a moft pi&urefque fubjeft.

The two divifions of thraihers moving in
^lofe phalanx, with flails nimbly brandifh-

40 RAPE. 7.

ing, ibmetimes in open view, fometimes par-
tially hid among the piles of flraw ; the
clothmen bufy and attentive to their various
employments; the team drawing off the
loaded iced ; the carriers from every hand
preifing to the thrafhing-flooi with their teem-
ingiy cumbrous loads; and the diftant groups
of fillers fcattered on every fide of the fore-
ground ; could not fail of affording matter
interefling to the painter ; efpecially in a
country where a fuitable ofTscape is feldom
wanting.

It were almoft pity that a fcene at once fo
picturefque and fo truly ruilic fhould be fuf*
fered to fink into oblivion, as in all probabi-
lity it will do in a ihort courfe of years. A
more economical management is growing into
efteem ; and it is highly probable that in a
few years public rape-thrafhing will be dif-
continued, and of courfe in a few years more
xvill be forgotten.

The feed is cured (that is, takes the heat
which is incident to all recent vegetables) in
the chaff or pcds— provincially, " pulls" — '
either on a barn-floor, a granary, &c. or in
" FIES" built in the field for this purpofe

with plaited draw.

The

;. YORKSHIRE. 41

The form, that of a corn-bumel ; the di4-
meter, feven or eight feet ; the height three
or four, filled with rough feed to the brim,
and topped up in a conical form with ilraw
or other materials; and the whole fecurec}
with a coat of thatch.

This is more generally done when the
markets happen to be low at the time of
thrashing ; as in thefc pies the feed may be
kept any length of time, provided a fufficienc
proportion of pulls be retained among it, and
provided the fize of thefe receptacles, ancj
confequently the quantity of feed depoSted
in them, be not top Urge.

When the feed has done heating, and a.
market offers, it is fold, carried to the barn,
winnowed, aqd fent to market.

TheiNCONVENiENCiES ofpublfc rape-tbrajh-
ing now require to be mentioned. The
buftle and hurry, fp diflimilar to the placid
routine of hufbandry, which are unavoidable
pn thefc occafions, are difagreeable to moft
men ; the cxpence too is fomctimes unrcafon-
able ; the hazard by weather confidcrable ^
«itttf the waftc which is generally made by the

over?

42 R A P E. 7.

over-afliduoufnefs of unikilful volunteers,
are all of them objections to the practice.

Befides, \\-\eftraiu and the pulls are in this
cafe little lefs than waited, being ufually burnt
in the field {Q? their afhes, which are very few
in quantity, and the neat profit arifing from
them inconfidcrablc.

The feafon too is inconvenient : whether
jn hay-time or harvcft, every other employ--
ment, however neceifary, bows to the rape-
thrafhing.

It were no wander that inconveniencies
f:-.ch as thefe iliould induce fenfible men to
devife a more eligible management of this
profitable crop. Yet fuch is the infatuation
c'ftabliihccl cullcm, that there has not,
I believe, been n;i in-iisnce of more than one
deviation originating in the Vak during rhc
centuries of time v;lv;cli rape may have been
Cultivated in it.

In this indance the rape was HARVESTED
AS WHEAT \ — reaped, bound, mocked, car-
^-icd into the barn, cured" in ibe ftrtrjv, and
tliramed out when markets and

The

7. YORKSHIRE. 43

The binding while yet in a flexible {late fe-
cured it from that wafte by fliedding, which
is more or Icfs incurred in handling loofe
reaps in a dry parched ftate, with the pods
ready to open with llighteft touch.

By felling it up in ftooks the wafte com-
mitted by birds was much le{Tened,efpecially
that by wood-pigeons,which fettling upon the
reaps, beat ouc tenfold what they eat ;
whereas in fhocks, that which is beaten out
runs down into the (heaves and is faved.

In earning, a tall pole was fixed at each
corner of the waggon, and a large clotl}
thrown over them, hanging in a bag to re-
c i lie load and to catch the fhedded ,eed.

f o prevent IK aft e in the barn, the floor of
the mow was covered with SOFT HAY, which
flops the running of the feed, and off which
it may be eaiily gathered or thrown into the
thraming-floor ; whereas ftraw, being more
open, admits the feed to run down among it,
and is the caufe of confi^erable wafte.

The expence under this management is
comparatively much Icfs than it is in a public
thrashing, more efpecially if the piece to be
harvcfted be fmall ; as four or five acres for

inftance,

44- RAPE. 7,

inftance, which create as great a buftle, and
caufe almoft as great an expence, as twice
that quantity.

By an accurate account of the expence of
five acres of rape harvefted in theufual man-
per fome years ago, the expence appears to
be 235. an acre. The fame quantity would
now, under the prefent price of living and
the prefent ftyle of treating upon thefe occa-
iions, coft from thirty to forty IhilHngs an
acre.

By an account equally accurate and parti-
cular it appear?, that four acres and three
quarters, harvefted as wheat a very few years
ago, coft only i6s. 6d. an acre, tho' thraihed
put in harveft.

Reaping — three women, at 8d. each 2 o
Binding — a man 2S.a boy 6d. 2 6.

Carrying — three loads, at i8d. 46

Thrashing — -three days in barveft, at
as. 6d. 7 6

16 6

But the filing of expence is far from
being the greateit faving by this practice.
':fhe VALUE OF THE STRAW to cattle in winter

u

7. YORKSHIRE. 4$

is found to be very confidcrable. Theftoyer
(that is, the pulls and points of the draw
broken off in thrafning) is as acceptable to
them as hay ; and the tops of \hzftraw are
eaten with avidity, '* nearly equal to oat-
" ftraw better than wheat- ftraw." — If it be
well got, the fmaller butts will be eaten up"
clean. The offal makes excellent litter for
the farm-yard ; and is ufeful for bottoms of
mows, flacks, &c. &c. *

Setting fire to the whole in the field is a,
barbarifm which ought to be exploded.

Objectionable, however, as the common
rriode of harvefting rape in this country un-
doubtedly is, it has, during time irnmemo-
tial, been implicitly adhered to (the inftanc'e
laft-mentioned only exceptcd) until this year
(1787), when an IMPROVEMENT has taken
place which bids fair to effect a revolution
in this department of the husbandry of the
Vale.

In

* If we confidertiic nature of fape, how nearltfit is'
allied to the turnep, and how grateful to cattle while in
a green ftatc, it is no wonder that ihepods ana ilm-r
parts of the ftcms fliould beatxeprabk to ihecu in a Jt.ue
of drvnefs,

46 RAPE. 7.

In this improved method the rape is all
BOUND IN SHEAFLETS, about half the fize of
ivheat-lheaves, with green underling plants
of rape, or with long grafs or other weeds*
with which the flubble of rape too generally
abounds.

Theie (heaflets are laid lightly upon the
tops of the flubble to dry, not fet up in
Hooks, as in the inftance above-noticed. When
they are half-dry, they are, or ought to be,
turned; and when fully dry, are STACKED IN

THE FIELD.

The {heaves are carried to the Hack in
fledges, each fledge being furniflied with a
cloth or large bag, fupported by a tall frame,
fifing about four feet above the body of the
fiedge, which is light and drawn by one
horfe. Thefe fledges are loaded, that is to
fay, the bags are filled, by women, and are
taken to the Hacks by boys riding upon the
Korfes. A large cloth is fpread by the fide
of the (lack for emptying the fledges upon,
ivhich is done by overturning them ; fo that
no time is loft either by the fledges or the
forkers. A large piece of rape is fbon got
together in this way.

When

7. Y O R K S H.I R K. 47

n it is thwJtcitfedinftack, ;MU! has taken
its &£#/ in tbejtra-iv, it remains at the option
of the owner to thralh it when, where, and in
what manner he plea&s •, that is, as markets,
leifure, and other circumftances may direct
him. It is obfervablej that rape- feed cured
inftack generally turns out a fine fample.

One thing relative to this practice is too
remarkable to pafs unnoticed. It has been
an eftablijbed, and, I underfhnd, the ordinary
pratiicci during many years, of a Diftrict (the
Egton quarter of the Morelands) fituatcd
not more than ten miles from that part of the
margin of the Vale {Lockton) at which it
this year made its entry !

This is a {hiking inftance of the How pro-
grefs which practices in hufbandry, howfo-
ever excellent, make in travelling from one
Diftrid: to another. How effentially necef.
fary then it is to regifler them in the Diftricts
of their birth, or in places where they have
reached the higheft degree of perfection, and
to dillribute fuch regiilcrs reciprocally
among the various Diftrids of the Ifl^r. •,:.

VII. MARKETS. There are no oil mills ia
the Vale. The only market is Malton, from

\vh.

48 k A P E, 7.

whence rape-feed is fent chiefly, I believe,
into the manufacturing part of the county;
where oil-mills abound.

The PRICE ten to thirty pounds a laft, of
ten quarters. The produce of a middling crop,
four quarters an acre : five quarters an acre
liave not unfrequently been produced.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. The fluctua-
tion of price which i"ape-feed is fubjedt to
l)cing in fome riieafure perhaps influenced by
the fuccefs of the Greenland fifhery, and the
hazard to which the crop is e£pofed?; render
it in a degree uncertain.

FROSTS, in fpring, when rape is in blow,
or in the critical ftate oetween the blofTom-
ing and the formation of the pods, are its
greateft enemies. In the fpring of 1783
much mifchief was done by frofts in May.
One perfon had a piece of twenty acres almoft
deftrdyed by it. In the beginning of May
this crop piomifed eight or ten pounds an
sere : the foil rich, the crop on the ground
fc;ood, and the price above par. In the wane
of May the twenty acres were offered for
twemy pounds ! a lofs of 6ne hundred ant!
fifty t6 twahundred pounds in one article, a'nc$

perhaps in one night !

But

;. YORKSHIRE. 19

«

But every crop is fubje<ft to hazard, and to
a fluctuation in price; and although rape b^
liable to be cut off by froft, it rarely is uc-
ftroyed by that means. Upon the whole, ic
may be confidered as one of the moft pro-
fitable crops in hufbandry. There have been
inftances, on cold unproductive old paflure
lands, in which the produce of the rape crop
has been equal to the purchafe-value of the
hnd.

This produdtivenefs, or, in other words,
the profitablenefs of the rape. crop, is, how-
ever, held out by fome men as an objection
to its culture, under an idea that it mud im-
poverim the foil.

Does not every fro (lit 8 foe crop impovefifo
the foil? Yet who will argue that good crops
are lefs eligible than bad ones ? A good crop
enables the farmer to repleniili and meliorate
his foil with manure and tillage, which
ought (generally fpcaking) always to be in
proportion to the recent produftivenefs of
the foil, and to the (late of foulncfs and
tilth in which the nature of recent crops have
placed it.

VOL. II. E If

50 RAPE. 7.

If in the culture of rape the foil be per-
mitted to lie undifturbed, either by the plow
or the hoe, from feed-time to harvcft, fuf-
fering weeds of every fpecies to mature and
fcatter their feeds, and to gain ap eftabliih-
ment in the foil ,' and if, at harveft, the flraw
be burnt in the field, and the alhes be fent
to market, rape is in truth an hrpoverifhing
crop;

But were the foil to be plowed in autumn,
and to be hoed during the enfuing fummer ;
and were the ftraw, &c, inftead of being
burnt, to be confumed in the farm-yard as
fodder and litter, I am of opinion that rape,
in many cafes, would be the molt eligible
crop the farmer could make choice of *.

POTA-

* Whether oleaginous or farinacebus crops —whether
five quarters of rape or five quarters of wheat an acre —
incur the greater impoverifhment of foil, is a fubject
which is yet in the hands of theory. While the food
of vegetables, and the vegetable economy at large, are
fo little underftood as they appear to be at prefent, all
argument refpefting the comparative impoverifhment
of the foil by different fpecies of vegetables mult b&
futile.

t. YORKSHIRE. Ji

8.

POTATOES.

THERE is only one SPECIES of potatoe
-^-SOLANUM tuberofum : — but the varieties of
that fpecies are endlefs. Every county has
its favourite kinds ; though very different
from one another. To enumerate the forts
of any particular Diflricl: would be filling the
page with barbarous terms ; without convey-
ing any ufeful information to the reader.

The vARiETiEsof potatoes are tranfitory in
every Diftridt ; having their entrances and
their exits. The rough-fkinned " Rufia
taty" of this Diftrici was long a favourite ;
but is now, I believe, with many others which
have flourifhed for a time, entirely loft.

There is fome reafon to believe that the

difeafe, which has of late years been fatal to

the potatoe-crop in this and other Diftrifts,

under the name of " CURLED TOPS," has

E 2 arifen

52 POTATOES. 8.

arifen from too long a continuance of declining
•varieties. Be this as it may, it appears to be
an opinion eftabliftied here, by fome years
experience, that frejh varieties, raifed from
' feed, are not liable to that difeafe *.

T-t,

The

* This matter, however, may not yet be fuffieiently
nfcertained, to be regiftered here as a fa6h This dif-
eafe made its appearance fome years ago, with more or
lefs eiTc6t, in, I believe, every part of the kingdom.
In fome parts of it, its continuance was fhort ; its effects
have ceafed; and are now almoft forgotten. In one
hi fiance, (which I may hare occafion to mention here-
after) its removal was, in all probability, owing to
the introduction of new varieties.

The Diftrict under furvey furnifties a remarkable
inftance vefpecling this difeafe. The Moi elands are at
prefent in a manner free from it, while the Vale is Hill
in fome degree infected with it. Plants procured from
the Morelands remain free from it in the Vale, the firfi
year; but, being continued, become liable to the dif
cafe.

The difeafe of curled tops is feldum obvious at the
firft coming up of the plants ; but attacks them as they
?ncreafe in fr/e ; the entire top becoming dwarfilh and
ihrivelled, as if affecled by drought, or loaded with in-
fe<5ts : ' tliey neverthelefs live, and increafe, though'
flowly, in nzc ; but cLe roots art unpi\-du£tive. Some
cr-'ps have beer, almoft \vholiy Jcitroycd by this dif=
eafe.

Where the attack has been partial, weeding &xt tbe
difcafcd plants, as they failed, is faid to have had a good
effect. _ And, /'/ is faid, the Morelaaders i;ot rid cf the
difeafe through this means.

£. YORKSHIRE. 53

The method of RAISING POTATOES FROM
SEED is known to fome intelligent hufband-
men here. The prevailing method is this :
— In autumn, when the apples are beginning
to fall fpontaneoufly, they are gathered by
hand, and preferved in fand until fpring,
nvhen they are maihed among the fand, or
among fr-elh mould ; feparating the feeds, and
mixing them evenly with the mould. As
foon as fpring-frofts are judged to be over,
they are fown in fine garden mould ; and as
faft as the plants get into rough leaf, and are
ftrong enough to be handled without injury,
they are tranfplanted from the feed-bed into
another bed of frelh, rich mould — in rows ;
which are kept clean during the fummer,
In autumn, bunches of final! potatoes are
found at the roots of thefe plants j varying
in fize, the fiift year, from the hazel nut to.
the crab. Thefe being planted next fpring
produce potatoes of the middle fize; bwt they
do not arrive at their fulleil bulk until the
third or the fourth year.

Where the ufe of the ftove or the garden-
frame can be had, this procefs may be fhor-
tencd, The feeds being fown within either
E ' of

54 POTATOES. S.

of thefe, early in fpring, the plants will be
fit to be planted out as foon as frofls are
gone ; by which means the fize of the roots
will be muchi increafed the firft year ; and
will, in the fecond, rife nearly to perfection.

Potatoes raifed from feed are a mifcellany
of endlefs varieties. Sometimes thefe varie-
ties are planted mifcellaneoully ; fometimes
particular varieties are felected.

In SELECTING VARIETIES from fcedling
potatoes two things are to be attended to ;
the INTRINSIC QUALITY of the potatoe, an$
its PRODUCTIVENESS. If thefe two defire-
able properties can be found in one plant,
the choice is determined. To this fpecies
of attention and induftry we are indebted for
the many valuable kinds which have, been,
and now are, diftributed throughout the
Ifland.

It is obfcrvable, however, that varieties of
potatoes, like thofe of corn, are partial to
particular foils and fituations. Hence the
propriety of bit/ban dmen railing potatoes from
feed j as by this means they obtain, with a

degree

8. YORKSHIRE. 55

degree of moral certainty, a fort adapted to
ttyir own particular foils and Situations.

But it has been already obferved, that 'va-
rieties degenerate : the old favourite forts of
this Diftrict were driven, until fome of the
individual plants barely produced their feed
again.

Whoever has attended clofely to the work
of taking-up potatoes, mud have obferved
the great inequality in the produflivenefs of
individual plants. The difference in the pro-
duce of adjoining roots, where no difparity of
foil can influence, will fometimes be three or
four- fold. Hence it is evident^ that each
variety has its SUB-VARIETIES ; through
whofe means, it can hardly be doubted, the
parent variety may be improved, and its conti-
nuance be prolonged.

Thus the farmer has another mea,n in his
power of improving the quality and produc-
tivenefs of his potatoe crop, by IMPROVING
VARIETIES, or, in other words, SELECTING
SUB-VARIETIES, fupcriorly adapted to bis foil
and fituation.

Every attentive cultivator of this valuable

root muft be acquainted with the wide diffe-

E 4 rcnce

56 P O T A T O i. 3. g.

rtnce in H^A* ^>rof.t between a /a//ar
middlix* crop. The rent of land, the feed,
and the labour are the fame, whetbei
produce prove great or fmall. How Im-
prudent, then, to propagate an unproductive
kind, when ihe means of obtaining a pro-
ductive one are fo eafy and obvious.

Considerable quantities of potatoes are
raifed in the Diilridt r-nder furvey. Aimed
every man, let his farm be ever fo final 1,
cultivates potatoes in the field :, not in the
'•1 pradtiled in mod D; drifts
ef t'-e kingfjr-rri : net with the fpade, but
with the PLOW : a pra^l'ce which has been
followed invariably for near a century. I do
not mean to, ipeak of it as a practice peculiar
toYorkfhire ; but, 1 believe, there is no other
county in which it is fo. prevalent. It there-
fore merits particular notice here.

It will be necclfary to confider feparately,

1. The Succeflior. ;

2. The Soil and Procefs ;

3. The Manure and Procefs ;

4. The Seed and Procefs ;

5. Vegetating-Procefs ;
€. Harveft- Procefs;

7. Marker-: 2

8, YORKSHIRE. 57

7. Markets; or A ;icc ;

8. " he i.ffcct of the Po u oc Crop on
Soils.

I. SUCCESSION. In the common practice
of the co-jirr-, potatoes are cultivated as a
fallow crop for wlcat : the clc?.neft part of a
Hubble, or other ground, intended to be
fummer- fallowed for wheat, being fet apart
for potatoes. They are fclJcm phnted on
fward ; the common prc Aeceifor of the po-
tato -crop, in moil other places. It is, ho*.v»
tfvc>, und i ilocd, here, that they do bed
upo.i " frej/j land ;" that is, land which ha^
not been too long under the plow.

II. SOIL and TILLAGE. Formerly potatoes;
were confined to light friable loams : and the
forts which were cultivated in thofe day$
might require this restriction : now they are
grown in all foils ; different varieties being
found partial to different land. It is obferv-
cd, however, that let the fort be ever fo well
adapted to the foil, heavy cold land feldorn
gives light well-flavoured potatoes.

The foil is broke-up in winter or fpring,
and worked-ovcr two cr three times with the

plow

58 POTATOES. 8?

plow and harrow, as for turneps ; getting it
as fine as the nature of an early fpring-fallow
•91 ill admit of.

III. MANURE. Dung : generally longftrawy
dung; which is fet in heaps, upon or near
the patch to be planted ; previous to the
feed-plowing. The quantity twenty to thirty
cartloads an acre.

IV. SETS and PLANTING. Formerly it was
the common practice of the Diftricl to plant
zvlole potatoes. In taking up potatoes, they
yere forted into large, fmall, and fets\
ivliich were of the middle fize.

At prefent, that practice is, I believe, en-
tirely laid ailde ; it being now the cuftom to
(Kt potatoes into more than one fet : name-
Jy, middle-fized ones into two, large ones in-
to three or four ; leaving the cuttings much
larger than is done in mod other Diftricls j
\vhere eight or ten fingle-cyed fets are fome-
times cut out of qne pptatoe.

The reafon given fo.r the ufe of LARGE CUT,-
TINGS is, that the young plants may acquire^
st the outlet a ilrong vigorous habit, and
thereby be enabled to throw out and maiu-
number of roots and branches,

8. YORKSHIRE. 59

And the reafon I have heard given for ufing
large potatoes in preference to fmaller ones
is, that " large ones are more likely to pro-
duce large ones again." The rcafoning, in
both cafes, appears to be good.

The fets being prepared, thz feed.pkwing
is given. In this plowing the land is laid up
in ridgelets, fimilar to thofe in which gar-
deners leave the foil, in the operation called
trenching, when it is not intended to be im-
mediately cropped. The width of thefe ridge-
lets depends on the judgement of the planter-,
from two and a h,alf to three feet is the ufual
width.

This operation is performed with a com-
mon plow, in the way in which rice balking
(fee NORF. ECON,) is ufually done ; endea-
vouring to leave the bottoms of the drills
fraigbt, narrow ', and clean. One ftrong horfe,
if the foil be light and line, or two horfes*
one before the other, if otherwife, is the beft
team for this work, tjorfes abreaft are apt
to foul the drills. The ufual depth of the
drills is that of the cultivated foil.

In thefe drills the fets are dropt, by wo-
;:ien or boys, at twelve to eighteen inches

diftance,

60 POTATOES. 8.

cViftance, according to the judgement of the
farmer. If the quantity of land be given,
and the number of fets be indefinite, twelve
inches may be a fufftcient ciiftance ; but if,
as is generally the cafe here, the quantity of
land be greater in proportion than the num-
ber of lets, the farther they are planted
afunder, the greater will be the produce in
proportion to the plants.

While one party arc planting, another are
carrying on the dung, in fcuttles ; either
feathering it regularly along the drills, or ap,
plying it partially to the plants ; covering
each let with its due portion of manure. This
may appear to be a tedious bufmefs ; it cer-
tainly is a dirty one : but not fo tedious as
inexperience may fugged. If the loads be
broken into three or four heaps, and thefe be
distributed conveniently, . five or fix women
will plant and cover an acre a day in this
manner.

The plow clofes the bufmefs of planting :
the ridges are either returned upon the plants
and dung, with a common plow, or are fplic
i/iih a double-rnould-board plow ; in either

*. YORKSHIRE. 61

cafe, raifing the foil into finiilar ridges over
the drills of potatoes.

V. VECETATING-PROCESS. As ibon as the
young plants make their appearance, the land
is harrowed length way of the ridges -9 to tear
up the feed-weeds which grow upon their
crowns, and to fmother thofe in the trenches
with the mould. In a ihort time afterward
the plow, with the {hare broad and Iharp, is
run through each interval, and the rows
cleaned with the hoe. In a few weeks more
the intervals are again Itirred with the plow,
and the hand-hoing repeated. If leifure and
the depth of the foil will permit, a fecond
earthing may be given ; and, when the plow
nnd the hoc are no longer able to find admif-
fion among the tops, hand-weeding is, or
ought to be, made ufe of.

By thefe means land may be as effe&ually
cleaned from feed-weeds as by fallowing j
and no man, who has any regard for his own
intcrclt, or for his character as a farmer,-
•^•ould ever think of planting potatoes in a
bed of couch and thiftles.

VI. HARVEST-PROCESS. Formerly, pota-
toes were taken up with the plow ; endea-
vouring

6$ POTATOES. r8:

vouring to get the fhare below the potatoes,
and to overturn the ridges. But without
great care, rriany potatoes were cut in this
operation, and many more unavoidably buried j
to that picking again and again was necef-
fary ; and4 at leait^ fdme were left in the
land;

At prefent, the prevailing practice is to
take them up with common dung-forks : an
operation which is at once effectual; and
which is by no means fo tedious when pota-
toes are grown in ridges, as when^ in the ordi-
nary way, the entire ground is to be dug over.
In ridges, the roots are diflinct, and are eafily
laid bare ; being open on three fides, with
free vent for the mould. The fork being
forced down behind them, the whole nidus
are at once expofed.

The way of preferring potatoes, here, has
been either to bury them in deep pits within
the ground ; or to houfe them in a barn or
other out-building, guarding them on every
fide with ftraw* The dangers to be guarded
againit are fro/Is and 'wet-nefs.

At prefent (the evil effects of deep pits
having been difcovered) the growing practice

feems

8. YORKSHIRE. 63

feems to be that of laying them in "long
ridge-like heaps upon the fur face of arable
ground, and covering them np with the
furrounding foil, ridged-up in a roof-like
form.

A LONG ARCHED VAULT-, running endway
into the fide of a hill (or the fide of a pit
or other hollow) $ with a door at the end,
level with the ground below ; with a road
over the top ; and with one or more fhooting
holes, fimilar to thofe of coal vaults under
the ftreets of towns, would be an eligible re-
ceptacle for potatoes.

VII. MARKETS and APPLICATION. In this
part of the Diftrid, few potatoes go to mar*
ktt, except for fets in the fpring.

Nor is the application of potatoes to fatting
ftcck extenfive. In this Di.ftri<fl SWINE are
almofl the only fpeciesto which they are ap-
plied. Some few may be given to cows.

But in the bottom of the VALE OF YORK,
great quantities have of late years been ap-
plied to the FATTING OF CATTLE. They arc;
I believe, invariably given to them -raw;
with alternate meals of hay or barley meal :

the

64 ) F A T O E S. 8

the method of fatting with potatoes being
lirniiar to that of fatting with turneps.

The quantity of potatoes grown upon ati
acre under the management above-defcribed j
and their prdfitableneft as an article of food
for cattle j — I have not been fortunate enough
to r fecit a in with fufBcient accuracy.

VIII. THE EFFECT OF POTATOES ON LAND.

Various are the opinions of profefiional meri
on this fubject. One aflerts that they are
great impo-verifiers of the foil ; that they are
hurtful to the cent, and ruinous to the JTV?/.;.,
which fucceeds them. Another is clearly of
opinion that they are friendly to corn, and not
enemies to grafs.

The difpute may, perhaps, be fettled fatif-
factorily in this manner.

The potatoe contains, indisputably, a great
quantity of nourifhment ; and is therefore,
perhaps, as indifputably, a great exhaurter of
the foil.

Bjt the quantity of vegetable no'urifhment
carried off in the potatoe crop is not the only
canfe of exhaiuUon : it is notorious to com-
mon obfervation, that this crop leaves the
foil in a fmguhrty friable fertile ftate -, caufing

an

8. YORKSHIRE. 8j

a"n abundant produce of the crop which fuc-
ceeds it.

If, taking the advantage of this prodigality
'of the foil y the hufbandrhan keeps cropping it
year after year with corn ; and, when it will
no longer anfwer his unreafonable expecta-
tions, lays it down to grafs,— it is no won-
der that it Ihould be unproductive : for hav-
ing laviftied all its riches on an ungrateful
occupier, it is of courfe reduced to extreme
poverty.

On the contrary, — if, after a crop of pota-
toes, well dunged for, only one or two crops of
corn be taken, and the land laid down to
grafs, while yet in aftate of fertility, the potatoe
crop is, to vulgar appearance at lead, friend-
ly to the crops which fucceed it.

Hence it follows, that land which has beeri
cropped with potatoes ftiould prefently after-
wards be laid down to grafs • or fhoUld be
timely repknijhed with 2 quantity of manure
proportioned to the degree of exhaujlion it has
undergone.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. The value of
POTATOES as a fallow crop, and as an article
of food fir cattle compared with TURNERS and

VOL. II, F CABBAGES

66 POTATOES. .8.

CABBAGES for the fame purpofes, may be con-
fidercd thus :

Potatoes are more nutritious ; and, in the
opinion of thofe who haveufed them, fat cattk
much quicker than either turneps or cabbages.
Potatoes, too, being fecured from the feveri-
ties of winter, are a more certain article of
fatting than turneps or cabbages ; both of
which are liable to perilh under an alternacy
.of froft and thaw ; and the turnep, more
particularly, is locked-up, or rendered diffi-
cult to be come at, during a continuance of
inow or froft. Turneps and cabbages, if
they out-weather the feverities of winter, oc-
cupy the foil in the fpring when it is wanted
to be prepared for the fucceeding crop; while
potatoes, if properly laid up, are a food which
may be continued without inconveniency un-
til the cattle be finimed, or the grafs has ac-
quired the requilite bite for finiihing them in
the field,

On the other hand, potatoes are a difagree-
ablc crop to cultivate : the planting is a te-
dious dirty bufinefs ; and taking them up,
may be called the filth ieft work of huf-
bandry ; efpecially in a wet autum : and ftill

more

Jf, Y 0,R K.S H I.R E. 67

more efpecially on a tender ten'atious foil :
while, upon weak thin land, the extraordinary
quantity of manure which is requifitc, ren-
ders them impracticable to be cultivated, on
a large fcale, in ordinary fituations.

Upon the whole, it appears to me evident,
from the information I am at prefent in pof-
fefiion of, that the three crops under confider-
ation are each of them fuperiorly eligible
when they are cultivated on the SOILS to
which they are peculiarly and refpedlively
adapted.

A ftrong tenacious foil is equally unfit for
potatoes and turneps, while it is fingularly
adapted to CABBAGES.

Light (hallow unproductive foils areequally^
unfit for potatoes and cabbages ; while with
good hufbandry TURNEPS may be grown on
them with advantage. » i . i

Rich found deep fandy loams are accept*
able to the three. But the POTATOE appears
to be pofleflcd of feme fuperior properties,
which render it at leaft an object of experi-
ment in CLEAN RICH SOILS.

F 2 FLAX.

68 FLAX.

X.

WITHIN the lail twenty years a
derable quantity of flax has been grown in
Che Vale. The richer parts of it are not ill
adapted to this crop ; but whether thefe
parts are now gone over, or whether the re-
ftrictions of landlords have cheeked the fpirit
of cultivation, the culture of it is now evi-
dently on the decline.

The flax-crop, however, being confined to
a few individual Diftridts, it may be proper
to give a iketch of its management in this,
although it cannot here be called a ilapte
crop.

j. Species.

2. Soil and Succeflion.

3. Soil-procefs, and Manure;

4. Seed-procefs.

5. Vegetating-procefs.

6. Management of the Croj^
j. Markets.

I. SPEC rss-;

9. YORKSHIRE. 6gj

I. SPECIES. We have only one SPECIES of
cultivated flax — linum ufitatiffimum. — The 'va-
riety cultivated here is the blue, blow, or lead*
coloured flax— -provincially, " BLEA LINE."

II. SOIL AND SUCCESSION. Flax requires a
rich dry foil. A deep fat fandy loam is per-
haps the only foil on which it can be culti-
vated with advantage.

OLD GRASSLAND bearing this defcnption
is confulcredas the propereft matrix for line.
It is not unfrequently, however,fown onarabls
land ; and when the foil is in heart, dry,
friable, and free from weeds, with good
fuccefs.

III. SOIL-PROCESS and MANURE.
procefs generally confifts of a fmgle
whether of fward or of wheat-bubble.

In the latter cafe, however, it is rnoftly bad
management. If line be fown on old corn-
land, it ought in general to be purged from
weeds, and rendered perfectly friable by a well-
worked SUMMER FALLOW.

Manure is, I believe, feldom, if ever, fet
pn immediately for the line crop.

F IV. SEED,

79 FLA X. 9,

IV. SEED-PROCESS, i. The time of footing,
May. 2. The preparation of the foil. Much
depends on the ftate of the foil at the time of
lowing. It ihould neither be wet nor dry ;
pnd the furface ought to be made as fine as
that of a garden-bed. Not a clod the fize of
an egg fhould be left unbroken. 3. Quan-
tity of feed ', two buihels an acre. 4. Covering
the feed. Sometimes the furface is raked (after
being firft harrqwed) with garden or hay-
rakes. If, at the fame time, the clods an4
other obftructions, which could not eafily be
reduced, were drawn into the interfurrows,
the operation would be ftill more complete*
A light hand-roller uied between the final
harrowing and the raking would aff.ft much
in this intention.

V. The VEGETATING -PROCESS depends
chiefly on careful weeding-, an operation which
ought to be performed with great fcrupulouf-
nefs. Hence land which is fown with flax
fhould be made as free from weeds as pof*
lible ; othcrwife the expence of weeding,
or the injury to the crop, becomes confi-
derable.

If, through a droughty fetfon, the plants
come up in two crops 5 or if by any other ac-
cident,

9. YORKSHIRE. 71

cidcnt, or by mifmanagement, the plants be
too thin upon the ground, the crop is irre-
parably injured.

The nature of flax is fuch, that where It
has room at the root, or whenever it gets its
head above the plants which furround it, it
fends out Jtde-brancbes, and lofes in a great
meafure its upward tendency. But its good-
nefs as a crop depends on its running up with
onefingleftalk from the root to the feed. At
whatever height it ramifies, there the length of
line terminates. The branches are inevitably
worked off in dreffing ; and the ftem itfelf,
unlefs it bear a due proportion to the bulk
of the crop, is likewife worked out among
the refufe.

Hence the neceflity of having an EVEN,
FULL CROP. Clods before the fowing, by
making the feeds glance in falling, prevent
the furface from being evenly feeded ; and
thofe which remain when the feeds are in th?
ground, prevent them from rifing regularly.
The infant plants, unable to pierce the clod,
form themfelves in a circle round it, leaving
a vacancy in the center favourable to their
pajly ramification.

F 4 This

72 FLAX- f.

This being the nature of the plant, zfecond
coming-up feldom rifes to profit ; for being
overgrown by the fpreading plants of the
firft crop, it remains weak, ftiort, and under-
ling, and, at pulling-time, is left Handing to
rot upon the land. 'Thus by a droughty feed-
time the entire crop is frequently {ported*

Nor is drought the only enemy of flax : it
is liable to injury from faring frofts ; and is
fometimes attacked, even when it is got five
or fix inches high, by a fmall white Jlug,
itripping off the leaves to the top, which
bending down with their weight, they will
fometimes draw into the ground ; thus in,
part checking, and in part deftroying the
plants.

If at the time of weeding a piece of flax do.
not prcmife fair for a crop^ it is always bad
management to beftow/«r^r labour and ex-
fence upon it. A crop of turneps or rape will
generally pay much better than fuch a crop
of flax.

VL MANAGEMENT OF THE CROP. The
time of barveft in this climature is generally
the latter end of July or the beginning of
Auguft. If the crop be intended for line of

9. YORKSHIRE. 73

the firft quality, the time of pulling is when
the feeds are fully formed, but not yet ripe.
If the/<*J be fuffered to mature, the quality
pf the flax is lowered ; the filaments are
harfh, and the cloth made from them will
not take a good colour in whitening.

The " pulling" is done by taking the full-
fizejd plants near the top and drawing them
up, or rather breaking them off by the roots.
One hand is ufed in pulling, while the [other
is employed in receiving the handfuls, until
as much is collected as both hands can grafp.'
Some fhort underling plants are then ga-
thered for a band, and thus a Iheaflet is
formed.

Thefe Iheaflcts are collected into heaps,
and immediately taken to the wtering-pit, in
which they are completely imaiergcd ; firft
by treading, and afterwards by loading them
with iods or other heavy materials.

The immerfion is, or ought to be, care-
fully attended to; for that which happens to
be expofed above the furface of the water is
materially injured.

The " fteeping" is continued a longer or
ihorter time, according to the weather and

other

74 ir LAX. 9,

ether circumftances. It ought to He until it
bp fufficiently tendered without being rotten ;
l?ut to catch this flate requires a nicety of
judgement, which can be learnt from long
practice only. It generally lies about ten
days in fteep ; fometimes a fortnight.

From the (i line-pit" it is carried to the
*' rating - ground ;" — a piece of unbroken
^ftergrafs, where the Iheaflets are untied, and
the flax fpread thin upon the grafs. It is
calculated that a full crop ought to cover as
much ground as it grew upon. Here it lies
lentil it; be fufficiently " rated ;" namely,
iiptil the more woodlike fubftance of the
ftems will feparate freely from the filaments or
flaxen fibres, while thefe remain yet untainted ;
therefore the length of time of rating, like:
that of ileeping, depends much on the wea-
tlter, and can be afcertained only by the daily,
cbfcrvation of a peribn whofe judgment has
been matured by long experience.

Jf when it reaches this ftate, the weather be
fuch that it' will not dry as it lies upon the.
grafs, it is fet upon its butts in parcels re-
f?mbling fugar-loaves, or large untied gaits,
dry, it is laid up in a barn or other

con*

g. YORKSHIRE. 7$

convenient place to be " fwingled," when
leifure and conveniency will permit.

The "fwingling" — (and, generally, the
" deeping" and the " rating") — is done by
men who make a bufinefs of it, travelling
from place to place wherever flax is under
cultivation.

The prqcefs of fwingling is that of fepa-
rating the woody fubftance from the fila-
ments. To effed this, the rough ftubborn
{terns are mangled in a " break ;" an inflru-
ment which breaks the brittle fubftance of
the Item— provincia.liy, the " bun'' — into
fragments, without feparating them from the
^laments. The feparation is effected by beat,
ing, or rather hewing the mangled items,
againft a v< fwingling flock" — (an upright
ftout board or flab) with a cc fwingle-hand"
*— or wooden broad-axe ; the fwingler fror5
time to time drawing out the tow or fhort
broken filaments, by means of a " foot-
heckle" — (refembling the tpols of the flax-
dreflers) ; — and thus ufing alternately the
fvyingle-hand and the heckle, proceeds until
the line be rendered fit for the flax-drefler ;
namely, until the principal part of the frag-
ments

76 FLA X. 9.

ments — provincially, " fhivs" or lhivers}— •
and the principal part of the tow or Ihort fila-
ments,, be extricated ; when the flax is folded
up into bundles for fale.

The fwingling is done by the (lone, at a
piice proportioned to the length and flub-
bornnefs of the crop. Flax which is ihort or
tough requires much more labour than that
which is longer, or from which the fhivers
part freely. From eighteenpence totwoihil-
lings a ftone, with board and lodging, is
given for fwingling ; about twentypence is
the com men price. The work is" yery la-
borious.

VII. MARKETS. -—A fmall manufactory
of coarfe linen being carried on in the
Vale, a market is always at hand. The price
of rough flax varies with foreign markets
and its intrinfic quality. Seven to eight IhiU
lings a-ftone (of fourteen pounds) may, I be-
lieve, be confidered as a medium price.
From thirty to forty ftones an. acre a mid-
dling crop,

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. From this fketch
of the culture and management of flax it ap-
pe£VSj that the goodnefs of -the crop depends.

til

9. YORKSHIRE. 77

in fome meafufe upon its length ; and this
upon its evennefs and clofenefs upon the ground.
The (terns fhou Id be tall, firelight, w\AJlender.
Three feet high is a good length of ftem ;
and the thicknefs of a crow's quill a good
thicknefs. A fine (talk affords more line and
fewer ihivers than a thick one does. A tall,
tbickfet crop is therefore dcfirable*

But, unlefs the LAND BE GOOD, a thick crop
cannot attain a fufficient length of ftem. Hence
the folly of fowing flax on land which is unfit
for it.

Neverthelefs, with a SUITABLE SOIL, zfuffi~
ciency of feed, evenly diftributcd, and a. favourable
feafon, flax may turn out a very profitable
crop.

The flax crop, however, has its MSADVAN-
TAGES : it interferes with harveft, and is ge-
nerally believed to be a great exhaufter of the
foil, efpecially when its feed is fuffcred ttf
mature *.

Its

* In this cafe, the flieaflets are fet up in ftooks in rhe
field, and, when dry, are curried to the barn, thraflie ..',
rated, font to the watering-pit^ and treated as primt

?S FLAX. 4.

Its cultivation therefore cfught to be con-
fined to RICH GRASSLAND DISTRICTS, where
harveft is a fecondary objed:, and where its
exhauftion may be rather favourable than
hurtful to ftic c ceding arable crops, by checking
the too great ranknefs of rich frefh-broken
ground.

It is alfo evident from the foregoing fketch;
that much judgement is requifite to the right-
ordering of flax. No man, therefore, ought
to attempt its cultivation on a large fcale
until he has himfelf ftudied the various pro-
ceffcs maturely, in a Diftricl: where it is cul-
tivated, or has procured from fuch a country
a per'fon who is enured to them by long
practice.

But no prudent man will put himfelf to
either of thefe inconveniencies before he has
tried, by fmall EXPERIMENTS, whether his
SOIL be fufficiently AFFECTED BY FLAX, to
enfure, under proper management and a good
feafon, a moral certainty of a CROP;

TOBACCO.

,0. Y O R-K S H I R E. 79

10.
TOBACCO,

SOME YEARS ago (moftly in the year
1782) large patches of tobacco, together
amounting to feveral acres, were grown in
this Vale : and in the Vale of York a flili
greater quantity was cultivated.

In this Diftridt it did not excite the notice
of legal authority : in the richer parts of the
Vale, where the grcatcft quantity was raifcd,
it was cured and manufactured by a man who
had formerly been employed upon the to-
bacco-plantations in America; and who not
only cured it properly, but gave it the proper
cut, and finally prepared it for the pipe.

But in the Vale of York, the cultivators
of it met with Ids favourable circumfhnces.
Their tobacco was publicly burnt, and them-
felvcs fevcrely fined and imprifoned. Penal-
ties,

8o T O B A (j C O. to;

ties, it was faid, were laid to the amount of
thirty thoufand pounds *.

This was enough to put a {lop to the il-
legal cultivation of tobacco. But, perhaps
rather unfortunately, it has likewife put a
ilop to the cultivation of that limited quantity
which the law allows to be planted for the
purpofes of " phyfic and chirUrgy."

The quantity of land allowed to be culti-
vated for thefe purpofes is, I believe, HALF
A ROD, which is fomewhat more than FIFTEEN
SQUARE YARDS of ground-, a patch of ground
fufficicat, under proper management, to raife1
tobacco enough for all the medical purpofes
of a farm-houfe ; in which it is, on many oc-
cafions, ufeful. In cutaneous diforders of
cattle and fheep, it is uhiverfally applied.

1 will therefore juft mention fuch circum-
fhnces refpedting its cultivation in this neigh-
bourhood as I collected in the autumn of
1782. I had nbt an opportunity of feeing the
plants on the ground.

The SPECIES was probably NICOTIANA
rujlico-) the ENGLISH TOBACCO ; fo called

from

* The penalty, I believe, i$ iol. a rod, or i6ooL
an acre.

JO.

Y O R K S H I R,E. 81

from the circumftance of its being the firft
fpecies cultivated in England.

The feeds were procured at the feed-mops,
and handed about from one cultivator to
another.

The feed-bed zs rich and fine as pomble.

The time of fowing as foon as the wea-
ther became warm enough to make it ve-
getate : perhaps in April.

When the feedling plants were ftrong
enough to bear removing, they were tranf-
flanted from the feed-bed to the patch on
which they were intended to ftand.

In the practice of one, they were planted
out in the quincunx manner, a foot afunder :
in that of another, in rows two feet apart,
and one foot afunder in the rows.

In both cafes, they were carefully hoed, and
kept free from weeds during the fummer.

In autumn, when the flowers began to drop
off, they were cut and dried in tbejhade.

When dry, the leaves were picked off, and
prejfeddown clofe, in cafks or other veflels.

The fpring pf 1782 being late, the plants
did not, upon weak foils, reach maturity be-
fore the frofls began to fet in. Hence a rich
VOL. II, G forcing

$2 TOBACCO. 10.

forcing foil feems to be neceffary to the cul-
ture of tobacco in this climate.

The vegetation, however, may be greatly
forwarded by forcing the feedling plants in a
hot-bed, and tranfplanting them out as foon
as the frofts of fpring are over.

II.

CULTIVATED GRASSES.

THE SPECIES ofgra/es,—or more prd-
perly HERBS, — cultivated in this Diftrict for
the purpofes of hay and pafturage are,

Clover — trifoHuftipratenfe' — red clover *.

White clover — trifolium repens — white clo-
ver -f.

Trefoil — trifolium agrarium—\\Q\>. clover.

Trefoil — trifohum procumbent— trefoil.

Rye-gi afs— lolium perenne—* rye-grafs.

Hay-

•* RED CLOVER; a cultivated variety of the MEADOW
TREFOIL. See NAT. GRASSES.

f WHITE CLOVER ; a cultivated variety -of the

GREETING TREFOIL,

it. YORKSHIRE. 83

Hay-feeds — bolcus lanattts.

Rib-grafs — flantago lanceolatus.

Cinquefoil — bedyfarumonobrychis~fa\ntfo\n.

Thefe fpecies are cultivated feparately or
mifcellaneoufly, as foils and circumftances
point out. The DURATION of the intended
ley is the firft thing confidered ; therefore the
principal divifion of the fubjedt is into

1. Temporary leys.

2. Perennial leys.

I. TEMPORARY LEYS. The annual ley^
which is now common in moft parts of the
kingdom-, and the biennial ley, which is pre-
valent in Norfolk, are almoft equally ftran-
gers in this Diftric~t.

Fallowing for wheat is flill a common
practice here. Clover ftubbles are feldorn
ufed as matrices for that crop. An ill-
grounded notion prevails that wheat after
clover breeds quicks !

If land be (locked with couch when the
clover is fown, the fucceeding wheat-crop,
no doubt, by occupying the foil fo long with
only a fingle plowing, increafes the quan-
tity. There is no worfe management than
fowing wheat on a foul clover Icy ; but this
G 2 is

84 CULTIVATED GRASSES. 11.

is no argument againft annual leys. If the
land be clean when the clover-feed is 'Town,
it will as foon breed fugar-canes as quicks.

In a grafsland country, however, clover
leys are lefs wanted than tillage ; and in the
cooler, better-foiled parts of the Vale they
may, perhaps without much impropriety, be
difpenfed with. But on the drier thin-foiled
lands which lie upon the marginal heights,
temporary leys would be found far preferable
to the unproductive " meadows" which now
occupy a confiderable part of their furface.
The Norfolk fyftem of hufbandry appears to
me to be fingularly well adapted to the lands
of the " high towns;" the more productive
parts of which ought not, in my opinion, to
be permitted to bear more than two crops of
corn, nor two crops of grafs, fucceffively.

II. PERENNIAL LEYS. Formerly, in this as
in other Diftricts, arable land was laid to grafs
by the mere ceifation of plowing. When
land refufed to produce corn any longer, it
\vas permitted to lie down to reft ; or, in
fiber words, to lie wafte. For feveral years
it produced nothing but weeds ; and thefe,
of courie, of the leaneft kind. The wild

birds

ii. YORKSHIRE. 85

birds were its only occupiers. At length,
however, the graflcs, by fome myfterious
proccfs of nature, would begin to make their
appearance. But their progrefs was flow : it
was twenty years, perhaps, before a full crop
of them was produced.

Before the cultivation of grafles was known
in the Ifland, fuch barbarous management
was excufable ; but how this and other coun-
ties could continue it more than half a cen-
tury after the cultivation of them was fully
eftablifhcd in a neighbouring county (Nor-
folk), is a matter of fome aftonifhment.
Thirty years ago the cultivated grafles were
flrangers in the Vale. The production of
perennial leys was left wholly to nature; and
even yet there are fome few individual who
remain bigots to Nature's practice.

It is, no doubt, a fact as notorious as it is
interefting, that all the charming old grafs-
lands with" which this neighbourhood at pre-
fent abounds is of NATURE'S LEY ING. For
richneis and variety of herbage (as will ap-
pear in the next lection) it is no where, per-
haps, exceeded. It is alib notorious that
there has been very little, if any, well-her^
G 3 baged

86 CULTIVATED GRASSES. 11,

baged meadow produced in this Diftridt
through the means of artificial graffes.

Striking, however, as thefe fads may be,
they only afford matter of argument, do not
bring proof, againft the CULTIVATION of

PERENNIAL LEYS.

If a foil already exhaufted ly corn crops, and
foul through a want of 'tillage ', be rendered flill
fouler by Having the/^j of weeds, under the
denomination of " hay-feeds^" fown over it ;
and if, added to this, the weedy crop, which,
fuch management mtift neceflarily afford, be
mown year after year and the produce carried
off, it is no wonder that the fward, inflead of
improving by age, ihpuld annually go off,
and that the foil mould at length require to,
be given up again to the plow.

On the contrary, if a foil, naturally fuired;
to grafs, in good heart, and thoroughly
cleanfed, be fown with the feeds of herbage
fuitable to its nature, and free from the feeds.,
of weeds ; and if for a few years the young
ley be paftured in the fpririg, and ;he wee.ds
and broken grafs be fwept down with the,
fithe after Midfummer, a vvell-herbaged dur,-

n. YORKSHIRE. 87

able ley may, on a certainty, be produced,
and this without one year's crop being loft.

The DURATION of good herbage, however,
depends much on the nature of the SOIL, and
much alfo on the ftate in which it has been
kept. Land which has been kept in TILLAGE
for centuries is peculiarly affected by the
graffes, which, under fuch circumftances,
will flourifh for a length of time, even on
foils which are not peculiarly adapted to
them. Some of the grafslands of this neigh-
bourhood are now growing toward a century
old ; yet notwithftanding they are generally
mown year after iyear without intermifiion,
they are ililj in a flourifhing (late : not, how-
ever, I apprehend, entirely owing to the me-
thod in which they wrere leyed, but to the lancl
having previoufly been long in TILLAGE.

Neverthelefs, I am of opinion, that the
variety and clofenefs of the herbage under
notice arifes, in fome meafure, from the
METHOD OF LEYiNc. But taking this for
granted, and admitting that the produce is
fomewhat improved or increafed by an end-
lefs variety and an extreme clofenefs of
Jierbage, no man, without the pale of dotage,
G 4 can

88 CULTIVATED GRASSES. n.

can confider this advantage as a full compen-
fation for the lofs of at lead ten years crops.

Of late years, the art of leying land to grafs
has, in this Diftrict, made rapid ftrides to-
ward perfection.

In the CHOICE OF HERBAGE, judicious huf-
bandmen are guided by the nature of the foil
to be fwarded. On the fouthern height a
calcareous foil, SAINTFOIN, is cultivated as a
perennial ley. In the Vale, where the foils
are non-calcareous, a MIXTURE of graffes are
cultivated for that purpofe.

Formerly, " HAY-SEEDS" were in high
eftimation, and they have ft ill fome few advo-
cates left. They confiil either of a collection
of graffes and weeds as collected from the
hay-loft, or a lefs foul felectlon of the
MEADOW SOFT GRASS, which is cultivatad
feparately, and thrafhed as corn for its feeds.
But this is far from being an eligible grafs
for cultivation, and is now entirely exploded
by judicious hufbandmen ; among whom
RYE-GRASS has at length grown into due efti-
mation ; and has very properly fupplanted in
their efteem the whole tribe of hay-feeds *.

RYE-

• The growers of the feeds of the foft grafs are the
only perfons who have profited by its cultivation.
Eighty buftiels an acre have been produced.

ii. YORKSHIRE. 89

RYE-GRASS, nevcrthelefs, has ftill its ene-
mies. But they arc either men who are unac-
quainted with it, or who have been unfortu-
nate in their experience.

If the feeds be foul (as is too generally the
cafe) the herbage will of courfe be of a bad
quality. If it be fuffcrcd to run up in the
fpring, before (lock be turned upon it, much
of it will no doubt be left uneaten. If luf-
fered to (land too long before it be mown,
its hay will of courfe be ordinary. Under
bad management even the wheat crop is un-
profitable. But will any man bring this ns
an argument againft the intrinfic quality of
wheat ; or againil its being proper to be cul-
tivated in foils and fituations to which it is
adapted ?

The feeds of rye-grafs ftiouid be wrwwow-
ed9 and freed from the feeds of weeds, with
the fame fcrupuloufnefs that is beftowed on
the feed of wheat or other grain.

If rye-grafs be intended for PASTURAGE,
it ought to be broken as early in fpring as the
land will bear flock ; which ought to be fo
proportioned, that it never can get above a
bite,

If

<p CULTIVATED GRASSES, n,

If it be fhut up for HAY, it ought to be
mown as fcon as the feed-ftems are fully
formed ; before the flowers come out.

If it be intended for SEED, it ought to
Hand until the flowers be fully blown. But
it mud not be expected, in this cafe, that the
firs™ will prove hay. Who ever expedl'ed bay
from oats or barley, which flood to mature th$
feed?

As a fpring food, RYE- GRASS is indifputa-
bly preferable to every other grafs ; and in
(ttitunw it renews its nutritious bite. This
property, added to its produftivcnefs, and
to the facility with which its feeds may be
collected in quantity, give it a decided pre-
eminence to. every other blade-grafs at pre-
fcnt known in thefe kingdoms,

But rye-grafs, like other early graffes, re.
mains, in a great rneafure unproductive du-.
ring the fummer months. This renders it
improper to be fown alone^ for PASTURAGE.

WHITE CLOVER, the TREFOILS, or other
Jammer herbage, is fequifite to be cultivated
with it.

All perhaps that is wanted in addition to
thefe, in order to render the bunnefs of cut-
tivating perennial leys as nearly perfect as

common

3. YORKSHIRE. 91

common practice may require, is one or mors
SUMMER BLADE-GRASSES of a nutritions qua-
lity and productive growth, and whofe feeds
may be eafily collected, feparately, from th-
feeds of weeds.

The MEADOW FESCUE (pESTucA tlatior)
is moft likely to anfwer the pu'-poie.

The MEADOW POP (POA pratertf.s) has fome
properties which recommcr-d it ftron<?;1y ;
but its feeds are not eafily leparable. Never-
thclefs, it might be worth fome pains to cul-
tivate this grafs. It is (triftly a fumwer*
grafs. It blows fufficientlv late, and bears
drought with uncommon hardinefs. I have
feen it flourifh on a wall throughout fummer.
And during the drought of 1786. Mr. Cur-
tis's garden afforded a linking inftance of its
nature in this refpeft : it remained green, and
in growth, while its neighbours were moft
of them fcorched up with drought.

This Diftrift has adopted the NARROW-
LEAVED PLANTAIN as a fummer grafs. As
an article ofpa/lurage for cattle and fheep, it
is in high efteem : it is not, however, well-
affe&ed by horfes ; and as an article of bay it
i$ detrimental to the crop ; retaining its fap

an

92 CULTIVATED GRASSES, n.

an unufual length of time; and when fully
dry falls into a frnall compafs ; or is broken
into fragments, and left behind in the field.
An advantage of this grafs is, that its feeds
may be eafily procured in an unadulterated
{late. A fmall proportion of it may be eli-
gible : it has now flood the tell of twenty
years eflablifhed practice, and feems to be
ftill in good eflimation ; even among obfer-
vant htifbandmen.

THE MIXTURE OF SEEDS for a perennial
ley varies in this Piflrict with the fpirit and
judgement of the occupier. Some make
choice of the cheapeft, and imagine a fmall
quantity to be fufficient ; while others choofe
thofe which are moft fuitable to their refpec-
vive foils, and think they cannot throw on too
many.

The moil promiiing young perennial ley
which I have feen in the Vale, and which is
in the occupation of one of the largefl and
beft farmers in it, was feeded with the fol^
lowing iecds and proportions an acre : name-
ly, fourteen pounds of WHITE CLOVER; and
fourteen pounds of RED CLOVER, TREFOIL,

SUB-

;. YORKSHIRE. 93

RIB-GRASS, and RYE-GRASS, mixed in equal
proportion of weight.

But the more general mixture is fourteen

pounds Of RED CLOVER, WHITE CLOVER, TRE-
FOIL and RIB-GRASS mixed in equal quanti-
ties ; with a bufliel or two of RYE-GRASS
fown feparately.

This, however, is an unneceflary quantity
of RYE-GRASS^ a gallon to a peck an acre of
clean winnowed feed appears in the above in-
ftance, as well as in the Norfolk practice, to
be abundantly furHcient.

The AFTER-MANAGEMENT of perennial
leys is, in the ordinary practice of this Dif-
tritt as it is in that of mofl other places, ex-
tremely injudicious.

Letting the land lie eight or ten years in
wotfe than a flare of wafte is very little wider
from the line of right management than
mowing a young perennial ley every year,
and carrying off the produce.' They are
two extremes which ought to be equally
avoided. One of them is giving up prefcnt
profit, entirely, for future advantage : the
other, regardlefs of future advantage, is
grafping at prefcnt profit.

In

94 CULTIVATED GRASSES. 11.

In tenants at will, without confidence in
their landlords, there may be fome excufe
for fuch management* But they are not,
perhaps, aware that by fueh conduct
they are deftroying that confidence which
landlords ought to have in their tenants :
thereby militating againft themfelves and
their profeffion.

Landed gentlemen in general ate tenacious
of their old grafsland : and with good rea-
fon : even though it might, for a time, be
worth thrice the value in a ftate of aration.

An inftanee occurs in this neighbourhood,
in which a piece of old grafsland broken up to
arable has thrown out its purchafe-value, as
grafslahd at the time of breaking, up, in the
firft three crops*

All fward, unlefs- the foil be fmgularly*
good, the management extraordinary, and the
manurings frequent, will in time become un-
productive. Even the fward of well-foiled
commons, off which no produce has been
taken, is, when inclofed, found weak and un-
profitable.

Neverthelefs, it may be more prudent ill
men of landed eilates to hand down their old

grafsland

n. YORKSHIRE. 95

grafsland to their fucceflbrs in the (late in
which it is, than to permit it to be broken
up and reduced, by improper treatment, to a
ftate (till lefs valuable. And were there no
means of avoiding the evils of improper ma-
nagement in tenants, landlords would be
fully warranted in a rigid refufal of their
rcquefls to break up old grafslands, though
unproductive and unprofitable.

But, in the management of an eftate^ GRASS-
LAND and HEDGES ftand in nearly the fame
predicament. It is the tenant's interefl to
injure them ; and the landlord's bufmefs, of
courfe, to look td their prefervaticn.

If on a farm, already in due proportion as to
GRASSLAND and ARABLE, the tenant rcquc'ft
to break up a piece of unproductive fvvard, it
is a duty which the landlord owes to the
community at large, to grant his requeft.
But it is, at the fame time, a duty which he
owes to himfelf and his fucceflbr, to oblijje
him to lay down an equivalent of arable land
to grafs.

Not, however, a piece which has been cx-
hauftcd and rendered foul by a fucceffion of
corn crops ; but one which is in heart, and

has

96 CULTIVATED GRASSES. n.

has been duly cleaned by a whole year's fal-
low. Not, however, by fowing it with foul
feeds, or an improper affortment ; but
(where due confidence cannot be placed in
the tenant) with clean feeds furnilhed by the
landlord at the tenant's expence.

The after-management calls equally aloud
for .the landlord's attention. If he volunta-
rily fuffer it to be eaten with fheep, or to be
poached with other flock, the firft winter ; if
he fuffer the tender bottom grafles to be
fmothcred in their infant ftate by the taller
herbage running up for hay, or the foil to be
exhaufted by carrying off a crop during the
firft three years ; or if he permit it, under or-
dinary circumftances, to be afterwards mown
(except fwceping off the weeds and broken
grufs after Midfummer) oftener than every
fecond year ; — he is doing injuflice to him-
felf and the community.

It muft be underftood, however, that the
management here recommended is applicable
only to perennial lays of twenty, fifty, or a
greater number of years: not to temporary
leys of one, two, or even five cr fix years.
In this cafe, herbage becomes an ARABLE

CROP,

IT. YORKSHIRE. 07

CROP, and calls for no other attention than
that which the ordinary management of an
eftate requires.

SAINTFOIN LEY. This is a perennial ley ;
in the making of which both landlord and

D

tenant are generally interefted.

The Diftridt under furvey is fingularly fa-
vourable to the ftudy of the culture of faint-
foin. In fome parts of it, it is cultivated with
great profit. In others its culture has been
repeatedly attempted without fuccefs.

The fined faintfoin I have feen grows in
the immediate neighbourhood of MALTON.
Three tons of hay an acre are faid to have
been cut. I have feen crops, which, to ap-
pearance, would not afford lefs.

They*// a dry calcareous loam, from ten to
twenty inches deep. The fubfoil a marly
rubble, from two to three feet deep -, lying
on an unfathomed rock of fofc limeftone^
(See Art. MANURE.) ,

One hundred grains of the cultivated fur-
face foil of " Peafy Hill" affords twenty-five
grains of calcareous matter.

One hundred grains of the earthy part of
they«£/wY; among which the plants of faint-

VoL.II. II foin,

98 CULTIVATED GRASSES, n.

foin, in all probability, principally feed ; con-
tain fifty-nine grains of calcareous earth *.

The anaiyfis of the rock appears in Vol. I.
page 336.

About BROMPTON, in the north-eaft quar-
ter of the Vale, good faintfoin is grown ;
but, I believe, in no way comparable with
that of Malton.

The/t/7, a lightifli loam ; pretty turnep and
barley land j varying in depth.

The fubfoily a calcareous loam ; mixt
with limeftone or with redftone gravel ;
and lying on a limeilone, or on a fedftonc
rock. In either cafe, the land is productive

* It has been conceived that faintfoin feeds on the
Hones themfelves ; not on the foi^vvhieh is mixt among
them, or which covers them ; and this has fcrved to ac-
count for the fuperiority of the faintfoin of Malton.
But it fcems much better adapted to the nature of plants
to feed among foil, than in ftones ; efpecially when the
foil is of a nature fimilar to that of the ftones which mix
among it. The lower part of the fubfoil, which forms
the upper part of the rock, r? compofed of fmall ftones
mixed with an efflorefcent mould, formed in the inter-
ftices of the ftones, which mould is almojl wholly calca-
nous; fo that the plants in this cafe have a fufficiency
or" c ilcareous matter to pafture among without feeding
upon the ftones ; which, though foftt cannot in this
caie be faid to be porous.

of

ir. YORKSHIRE. 99

of faintfoin ; in proportion, it is faid, to
the depth of the foil ; that is, the depth be-
tween the furface of the foil and the rock ;
lading twenty years, more or lefs, according
to the depth of the land.

One hundred grains of the natural foil
(taken from the fide of the lane between
Brompton and Sawdon) yields three grains of
calcareous matter.

One hundred grains of the fubfoil of an ad-
joining inclofure, taken from the top of a
loofe mixt-ftone rock, at about eighteen
inches deep, affords fourteen grains of cal-
careous earth.

The iimeflone is of a nature between that of
Malton and that of Pickering (See Art.
MANURE), namely, a granate of a middle
Duality as to hardnefs.

The redjlone is of a fingular nature ; being
intermixed with calcareous granules, exactly
fimilar to thofe of the fofteft of the Malton
limeftone. One hundred grains of this red-
ftone, collected among the foil above analized,
yields thirteen grains of calcareous matter.
The flone in this cafe porous ; fufficiently
H 2 open

joo CULTIVATED GRASSES. 11.

open for the fibrils of plants to ipfinuate
themfelves.

In the neighbourhood of PICKERING faint-
foin has been repeatedly tried ; but, I be-
lieve, without one inflance of tolerable fuc-
cefs. The plants, I underftand, rofe very
well from the feed ; but never got up to a
cvop ; and in a fhort time difappearcd.

On examining a piece of limeftohe land
which was fown with faintfoin, by my father,
ibrne fifty or fixty years ago, I find, in one
particular part of it, a few plants ftill furviv-
ing.

To afcertain the nature of the paflurage
which could give fuch unufual longevity to
thefe plants (iuppofing them to be remains
of the originally cultivated roots), I dug
down by the fide of two plants which grew
within a few inches of each other : one of
them remarkably healthy, though not luxu-
riant: the other, a declining plant; half of
its top decayed.

The roots (truck downward, perpendicu-
larly, and parallel to each other -, throwing
out a few (lender fide rootlets.

Near

li. YORKSHIRE. lot

Near the furface they were accompanied
with the roots of the burner, and of the bur-
net-rofe ; neither of which reached more
than two feet deep.

At the depth of three feet the root of the
decaying plant had rotted off; having no-
thing but the fibrils above left to fupport it.

At four feet the vigorous plant reached
the top of the rock ; or rather, the loofe flones
which lie upon the rock.

The fields of pafture of this plant were
evident. The root was (imply a thong,
reaching from top to bottom; tapering from
the fize of a reed to that of a crow-quill. The
fibrils on the fide were merely hairlike ; ex-
cept at about two feet deep, where fome
threadlike rootlets were thrown out into a
tiiin layer of fomewhat palifh- coloured clay ;
and except at about three feet and a half
deep a fimilar ramification had been made in
a fimilar but paler-coloured earth. At \four
feet a general ramification had taken place;
the main root there fcparating into large
branches -, flriking nearly horizontally ; not
upon the top of a hard impenetrable rock
(though upon a {lone of about fix inches
H 3 over)

102 [CULTIVATED GRASSES. IT.

over) but in a ftratum of flill paler clay ;
fome three or four inches thick : a proof
that it had here met with a foil fuitable
to its nature ; only one of its rootlets ^not
thicker than a flem of rye-grafs) having at-
tempted to go lower.

In telling the feveral ftrata, I find that the
three feams of clay, alone, difcover fymptoms
of calcareofity. Neither the top-foil ; nqr
any of the intervening flrata, appear to,
contain any thing of a calcareous nature j
except fome fragments of hard limeftone
which mix more or lefs with the whole.

One hundred grains of the uppermoft feam
of clay yield feven grains and a half of cal-
careous matter : one hundred of the middle-
moil, twenty-three and a half grains : one
hundred of the loweft ftratum , the main field
of pafturage, twenty-nine grains.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. From the fum
of this evidence, and from every part of it, it
appears, demonflrably, that SAINTFOIN de-
lights in CALCAREOUS EARTH. And we may
almoft infer, with equal certainty, that it will
not fiourijh in a fituation where both the foil
and the fubftrata arc deftitute of calcareofity.

In

jr. YORKSHIRE. 103

In another part of the field laft under no-
tice, the rock riles to within ten inches of the
furface ; terminating in flat clean (tones,
without any admixture of mould or effloref-
cent matter; and the foil perfectly uncalca-
reous. Here not a leaf of faintfoin is to be
feen. The plants, in all probability, did not
furvive the firfl year.

Much of the limeftone land above Pick-
ering is of a fimilar nature : this accounts
for the mifcarriages which have taken place.

Neverthelefs, the tops of fome of the lime-
ftone quarries (as the Cattle BankJ termi-
nate in loofc ftones mixt with grey, effloref-
cent mould, and have fifTures containing efflo-
refccnt matter, which, I find, is purely calcare-
ous. Among; thefe faintfoin no doubt would
flourifh. There may be confiderable patches
of this land; and they appear to me to be
well worth fearching for. To throw away
feed, and perhaps two or three years crops,
merely on fuppofition, is highly imprudent.
Kut a few hours, or a few days, expended in
the fcarch of a proper foil, might be time
well employed.

H4 The

104 CULTIVATED GRASSES, n.

The great ADVANTAGE OF SAINTFOIN, and
that which diitinguiflies it in a ftriking man-
ner from all other crops^ is that of its feeding
principally below the field of ordinary "vegeta-
tion : bringing up to the furface vegetable
matter, which, without it, wou!4 for ever
have lain ufelefs to agriculture ; and enrich-
ing the cultivator with treafures which, with-
out its afMancc, might as well have been
fituatcd at the earth's center *. While he is
annually reaping a crop of the moft nutriti-
ous herbage agriculture is at prefent acquaint-
ed with, his foil, ib. far from being exhauiled,
is in all probability gathering ftrength to en-
able it to throw out, in future, a fucceffion of
arable crops: befides the 'additional advan-
tage arifing from the quantity of manure
which he has been extracting from the bowels
of the earth, by twenty or thirty crops of
•faintfoin.

NATURAL

* On the Mai ton fide of toe Vale, // hfaid, the roots
of faintfoin have been traced to the depth of fourteen
feet. I have fecn roots, which near the furface have
been nearly ag thick as an ordinary walking-cane.

12, YORKSHIRE. 105

12.

NATURAL GRASSES.

IN A DISTRICT where grafsland abounds;
and where the foil varies from the coldeit
clay to the mod fertile loam ; and from this
to the moft barren land in the bleakeft fitu-
ation ; the SPECIES OF GRASSLAND muft be
in fome meafure indefinite.

But in the GRASSLAND MANAGEMENT, the
intrinfic quality of the SOIL is Jefs attended to,
than its fituation, with rcfpcct to drynefs and
inoifture — warmth and coclnefs.

In this quarter of the Vale, three SPECIES
of grafsland are fufficiently difcriminable tq
merit feparate defcriptions : namely,

1. Low-land Grafs;

2. Middle-land Grafs ;

3. Up-land Grafs.

I. LOW-LAND GRASS. This is provin-
cially called INGLAJJD, or INGS, — a term,

fynonimous

io6 NATURAL GRASSES. 12,

fynonimous with MEADOW, as ufcd in forne
Diftrids; or CAR, which is fynonimous with
MARSH or FEN, and with the meadow of Nor-
folk.

While the Vale lay in its open ftate, the
INGS were the only wow/elands it contained,
In ordinary fituations, all the land which lay
out of the water's way was converted to ara-
ble or common-field land; or to common
pqfture grounds.

The. Ings are invariably SITUATED low ;
by the fides of rivers or rivulets ; generally
lying flat, and fubjecV. to be overflowed in
times of floods.

The SOIL of the Ingland is moftly a firm
tenacious clay, on a cold retentive fubfoil.
Jn fome places the clay is covered with a ftra-
turn of black vegetable mould : generated,
probably, by the overflowing of fprings,
while the land lay in a ftate of nature, before
common-fhoTcs and ditches were opened,

The HERBAGE of the LOWLANDS OF PlC-

KERING confifts chiefly of the following
plants ; which I have endeavoured to place
according to their frequency in the open Ings,
•which have in all probability been mown,

without

12. YORKSHIRE. 107

i

without intermiflion, during the laft thou-
fand years.

Many of the plants in the lower part of
the lift may not grow in thefe old-mown
grounds ; but are common on the fame foil,
and in a fimilar fuuation, where the ground is
inclofed, and may have been pajlured, and im-
proved by draining &c. but has never been
flowed.

Provincial. Unman. EngUJh.

Pig -leaves, — onopordon acantbiumy — ; cotton

thiftlc.

Blue-caps,— fcabiofa fuccifa} — meadow fca-'
bious.

fanguiforba offic'matis, — meadow burnet.
junfus articulatus,— jointed rufh.
Clock-fea vcs, — fcb<enus nigricans, — black-
headed bog-rufh.

cardamir.c prtf/r^,-^-common ladies*

fmock.
betonica cjpcinalis *, — betony.

Henpenny,

* BETONY. This is a common article of herbage
in the grafslands of this Diftrift ; abounding in almoft
; very foil, and in every fuuation, from the marflx ta
the movinta'n. The -errn ff^ooJ Betony is ill applied,
to it ; at lead in this divifioa of the liland,

joS NATURAL GRASSES. 12.

Provincial. Linnean. ILngliJh.

I-Ienpenny, — rbinanikus crijla-galli^ — yellow
rattle.

valeriana alo'ica^ — marfh valerian.
anemone nemorofa^ — wood anemone !
juncus camp eft r is, — g r af s - r u ih .
Crakefeet, — orcbes^ — orchifes.
Scgs,— carice:, — fedges.
J-] ay -feeds, — kolcus l&n&tus, — meadow foft?
grafs.

poa trivialis, — common poe.
agrcjtis canina, — brown bent grafs.

bnza ^^/^j-'-trembling-erafs.
feftuca duriufcula^ — hard fefcue-grafs.
air a cteruka, — purple air- grafs.
phleumnodofum. — bulbous cat's-tail grafs,
crobus iuberofus, — bulbous pea.
Ictus corniculatiiS) — birdsfoot trefoil.
bypocbaris radlcnia^ -- long-rooted

hawkweed.

fctratula tinRoria, — dyer's faw-wort.
cclnllta ptarmica, — goofe- tongue.
•pcucidanum filaus,~me3co\\< iaxifragc.
vicia cracca* — blue-tnftcd vetch.

is. YORKSHIRE.-

Provincial. Linn

pedictilaris paluftris, — marfh loufe-
worr.

fpirsea ufmaria, — meadowfweer.

l\ thrum falicaria — fpiked vvillowherb.

arundo calamagroftis^ — hedge reed.

carduus falujhis^ — marfh thi-flle.

lycfa: :s fos-curuli, — meadow campion .
Scaves, — -jtwcus cfufas, — common rufh.
Re flics, — -juncus ixflrxus, — vvire rufh.

cineraria pafaftris, — marfh fleabane.

I lorfcknobs, — centaurea jacea, meadow

kirobweed.

acbitlea millefoUumy — m i 1 fo i 1 .

ParnaJJia paluftris, — grafs of ParnafTus,

ccrnftium vulgatum., — common moiife-
ear. -

potenlilla anferina, — fi 1 vcrwecd .

aveaa flavefcens^ — yellow oat-grafs.-

lolium perenne^ — ray-gra fs.
Windlcftraws, — cynofurus criftata> — crefted
dog'?-taii.

fefiuca clatter, — tall fcfcuc.

agroftis alba, — marfh bcnt-grafs.

alopecurus geniculatus, — fiote fox;

fefti'ca fluitans, — fiote felcuc.

Bulls'

no NATURAL GRAS SES. 12.

Proi'inciah Linnean. Englijh.

Bulls foreheads, — air a c*fpetofa,~turfy air-

grafs.

latbyrus -pratevfiSf— meadow vetchling.
trifolium pratenfe, — meadow trefoil.
Is fits corniculatus, — birdsfoot trefoil.
ranunculus acrlsy~~ common crowfoot.
ranunculus reptns, — creeping crowfoot.
Sourdockeiij— rumex acetofat— common forrel.
angelica fylvejlris, — wild angelica.
cemarum paluftre — marih cinquefoil.
(hryfanthemum kucanth. — ox-eye daifey.
bypericum quadrangulitm> — St. Peter's

wort.

prunella vulgarise -felf-heal.
Woodwelh,— genijta tinffofia, — dyer's broom;
falix, — dwarf bitter willow.
epilobium parvifarum, — fmall-flowered

willow-heib.

eriophorum vaginatu?rtt—- cottofi-rufli.
fpergula nodo.fa, — rnarfti fpurrey.
Bog v\o\et,—pinguicu/a vulgarise—bog violet.
' bydrocotde vulgarts, — penny-wort.
lyfimacbia nummidaria >— money-wort;
mentb*et — mints.

hydrofipcr>— fmartweed.

fmm

12.

YORKSHIRE. in

Provincial Unman. Englifi.

fium uodijlorum,— creeping water-parf-
ncp.

caltba paluftris, • - rtiarih-mar igold.

iris pfeud-acorus, — yellow flag.
Threefold,— -mettyantbes trifoliate,— bog-hewl.

equifctum palttf.re,-— marih horfctail.

galium paluftre,— white bedftraw.

veronica beccalunga,— brook-lime.

Jifymbrium nafturtium,— water-crefs.
The PRODUCE of this fpccies of old grafs-
land is much below par. The quality may
be judged of by the herbage it bears; and
the quantity, even on the inclofed parts, is not
great. The parts which yet remain as open
common meadow, are ftill lefs productive.
The furface in many places is more than half
of it occupied by the leaves of the COTTON-
THISTLE ; and in others, entire patches are
covered with the BOG RUSH. The medial
produce about half a load of hay (if it me-
rits the name) an acre. The rent live to
eight fhillings.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. Neverthelcfs,
it appears demonftrably, from the patches of
corn which are intermixed with this lowland

grafs,

ill NATURAL GRASSES. 12,

grafs, that its prefent unproductivenefs is not
fo much owing to the nature of the foil or the
filiations, as to the age and the prefent qua-
lity of the HERBAGE.

A ilronger inftance need not be produced
of the great impropriety, in. f ome cafes ^ ofob-
ftinately withholding permiffion to break up
old g rats land.

Who> but a mere botanift, can fee without
difgnft his eftate occupied by fuch a tribe of
'weeds as are here enumerated ? efpecially
when the means of extirpation are fo eafy
arid fo profitable. All that is requifice to
render the land of dduble its prefent value,
is to annihilate the prefent fvvard, and raife
lip a frefh one in its place : in doing which,
if properly done, a cotirfe of corn-crops may-
be profitably taken.

But neither the foil nor the lituation of
lands of this nature fit them for a continuance
of arable crops. They ought to be ufed as a
means only of purging the foil from its former
impurities, and rendering it fit for the recep-
tion and nourifhment of herbage ; every blad'e
and leaf of which is nutritive '.

,2. YORKSHIRE. 113

In the inflance under notice, the renova-
tion of the fward is now rendered eafily prac-
ticable. The CommilTioners of Inclofure for
this townfhip, with a degree of judgement
and fpirit which do them the greatefi credit,
and for which the townfhip will for ages be
indebted to them, have funk a common-fhorc
through the center of thefe lowlands, every
acre of which is now plowable ; confe'quently
every owner may now choofe whether he will
continue a fward of paluftrean weeds, equally
unproductive and innutritious to flock ; or
whether he will convert it into nourifhmcnt
for a courfe of corn-crops, and replace it
with a fward of grafles and legumes equally
productive and nutritious.

How many thoufand acres of land in thefe
kingdoms now lie, or might eafily be placed,
in a fimilar predicament.

II. MIDDLE-LAND CRASS. This confids of
the prime part of the common-field land, l?id
down to grafs in the natural way, which has
been mentioned.

The SITUATION ccol, but in general dry
enough to permit the foil to bear flock in
winter.

VOL. II. I The

u4 NATURAL GRASSES. 12.

The SOIL a rich fandy loam : the cooler
parts deep, and mixed with a few pebbles ;
the higher parts fhallower, with a mixture of
redftones : equally productive of grafs and
corn.

The HERBAGE confifts of the following
plants. The hit twelve fpecies grow prin-
cipally near the hedges, or toward home-
ftalls ; but are fometimes found in the areas
of fields.

Provindal. Linnean. Englijh.

Wincllcltraws — cynofurus criftata — crefted
dogstail.

daftylis glomerata — orchard grafs.
Ggrcfiis canina — brown bent-grafs.
antkcxanthum odoratum — vernal.
White grafs — bolcus lanaius — meadow foft-
grafs.

brlza media — trembling grafs.
avena fizuefcens — y ellow oat-grafs.
Rye grrfs—lolium perenne — raygrafs.
foa trivialis* — common poe.
pon c.nnua — dwarf poe.
foa pratenfts — meadow poe.
akpecurus pratenfis — meadow foxtail,

fefime

,2.

YORKSHIRE. 11$

Provincial Linnean. Engliflj*

fejluca elatior—tzll fefcue.
feftuca duriufcula — hard fefcue.
bromus mollis—foh brome-grafs.
avena elatior — tall oat-grafs.
avena pubefcem — rough oat-grafs.
agroftis capillaris — fine bent-grafs.
lordeum murinum — common barley-grafs.
juncus campejlris — grafs rufli.
kiborafi.— - plantago lan:eelatus — narrow plan-]

tain.
Red clover — trifolium pratenfe — meadow tre-

foil.
White clover — trifolium repens — creeping

trefoil.

Trefoil — trifolium procumbens — procumbent
trefoil.

lotus ccrniculatus — birdsfoot trefoil.
latbyrus pratenfa — meadow vetch ling,
Fitches — vicia fativa — meadow vetch.

ranunculus acris — common crowfoot.
ranunculus repens — creeping crowfoot.
ranunculus bulbofus — bulbous crowfoot,
Uontodon taraxacum — common dandelion,
leonlodon bifpidum — rough dandelion.
bypoch<eris radicata — long-rooted hawk-
weed.

1 2 Hen-

n6 NATURAL GRASSES. 12.

Prc-'indal. Linnean. Englijh.

Hcnpenny — rlinantbus crifta galli — yellow
rattle.

kelDtiica officinalis — betony.
c-raftium vu'gatum — common moufe-ear.
*ualentia cruciafa-s—croCs\vorf.
prunella vulgari — felf heal.
Birdseye — veronica chc.m<edrys*— germander
fpeedwell.

ra nimculm facaria- — pi 1 e wort*
Cowftriplings — primula veris — cowflip.
Bairn wftrts-^=^//w perennis — daifey.
Cufliia — heracleum fpbondylium — cowparfnep.
Horfe knobs — cmtaurea jacea — meadow knob-
weed.

Seggrums — ftr.ecio jacobcea ' — common f ag*-
woit.

achillea rnillefoHum-'— milfoil .
So'urdocken — rurnex acetofa — common forrel»
campanula rotundifolia — bl uebells.
p Lint ago major- — broad plantain.
vicia craccd — blue-tufted vetch.
vltiafepium — buih vetch.
f'i'viiiii birfittum — two-feeded tare.
tragopogon pratenfe — yellow goatsbeard.
agrimoKta eiipatoria- agrimony.

geranium

12. YO R K S H I R i:. 117

Provincial. TJnnean. Englijh.

geraniumpratenfe — crowfoot crancsbill.
Mauls — maha fyhejiris — common mallow.

mafaa rotundifolia — round- leaved mallow.
Cicely — cb<eropbylli<m fyheftre— orchard weed.
Dockens — rumex crifpus — curled dock.

rumex obtufifolius — broad-leaved dock.
urtica dicica — common nettle.
The PRODUCE is fuch as may be expected
from the herbage t ihcfoil, and the fit nation.
An acre of fomc of the lands lying immedi-
ately round the town of Pickering, will af-
ford pafturcge for a cow from Mayday to
Michaelmas ; not by being forced with ma-
nure, but in its intrinfic nature. In general,
three acres are allowed to two cows ; but
they are of uncommon fize, nearly equal to
three middle-fized cows.

The produce of hay is from one to two tons
an acre in a common year. The quality of
the hay, if well made, is very fine ; well-
affedted by every kind of ftock ; equally fit
for cows and horfes,

The RENT thirty (hillings to three pounds
an acre. The fummer-pafturage of a cow
forty to fifty (hillings.

I 3 3. UP-

ji8 NATURAL GRASSES. it.

HI.UP-LAND GRASS. In the uninclofed ftate
this land was partly in arable field, partly in
upland pafture for cattle and ftieep.

The SITUATION hilly, rifing fomewhat
abruptly above the middle-land. The fub-
flrudure a limeftone rock, rifing in fome
places up to the foil ; in others a feam of
redftone intervenes.

The SOIL a loam, of different depths,
mixed with redftone, or with limeftone
rubble. Some parts of this land, where the
foil is deep and the redftone ftratum two or
three feet thick, may rank with the firft corn-
land in thefe kingdoms.

The HERBAGE which prevails on the old
fward of thefe uplands may be feen in the fol-
lowing lift :

Provincial. Llmean. Englijh.

Uontodon bjfpidum — rough dandelion.
plantago media — middle plantain.
typacbaris radlcata — long-rooted hawk-
weed.

leontodon taraxacum — common dandelion,
Henpenny — rbinantbus crijla-galti — yellow
rattle.

cbryfantbemum kucantbemum — ox»eye
daifey.

Moun-

12. YORKSHIRE. 119

Provincial. Linncan. Englijh.

Mountain flax — ttnum catharticum — purging
flax.

alcbemilla vulgaris — ladies mantle.

pel- gala "jt'Jgaris — mil kwort.

fejluca duriufcula — hard fefcue.

antboxanthum odoratum — vernal.
White grafs — bokus lanatus — meadow foft-grafs*

avena pubefcens — rough oat-grafs,

avena flavefcens — yellow oat-grafs,

briza media — trembling grafs.

agrcftis carima — brown bent-grafs.

dattylis glower ata — orchard grafs.

poa trivialis — common poe.
R y e-grafs — lolium perenne — ray grafs,
Windleftraws— cynofurus criftatus— ere fled dogs-
tail.

poa pratenfis — meadow poe.

pbleum nodcfum — bulbous catstail-grafs,

avena elatior — tall oat-grafs.
fejluca ovina — fheep's fefcue.

juncus campeftris — grafs rulh.

carex faxatilis ? — upland fedge.

plantago lanceolatus — narrow plantain.
Red-clover— trifolium pratenfe — meadow trefoil.

trifolium alpejire — alpine trefoil.

I 4 White

J2o NATURAL GRASSES. 12.

Provincial. Linnean. Engli/b.

White clover — trifolium repens — creeping tre-
foil.
Trefoil — trifolium agrarium — hop trefoil.

lotus corniculatus — birdsfoot trefoil.

lathyrus pratenfis — meadow vetchling.

orobus tuberoftts — bulbous pea.

an thy His "oulnera ria — 1 adiesfinger.

galium verum — yellow bedftraw.

campanula rotundifoHa — bel Iflower.

veronica cbatnadrys — germander fpeed-
well.

eupbrafia odontites — red eyebright.

eupkra/ia officinalis — common eyebright,

yalantia cruciata — croffwort.

cerajlium iiulgatum— common moufe-ear.

letonica, cfficinalis — berony.

•prunella vulgaris — felf heal.
Cow ft r i pl'mgs — primula verts — co wflip.

ranunculus fie aria — pilcwort.
Dog daifies — bellis perennis — daifey.

draba verna — whitlow-wort.

thymus ferpyllum — wild thyme.

poteniilla reptam — creeping cinquefoil,
Horfe knobs — {tniaurtajacfa~-mcadovr knob-
v.'ced.

rattan?

|4. YORKSHIRE. 121

Provincial. Linnean. Englijh.

ranunculus acris — common crowfoot.

ranunculus repens— creeping crowfoot.

fcabicfa arvenjis — field fcabious.

fcabiofa £<?/«w^mz---mountain fcabious.
Bluecaps — fcabiofafuccifa — meadow fcabious.
Yernuts — bunium bulbocaftanum — earthnut.

achillea millefolium — n i i 1 to i 1 .
Seggrum s — fenccio jacolaa — ragwort.

beracleum fphondylium — cowparfnep.

orchis mafcula — male orchis.

orchis mcrio — fool's orchis.

orchis uflulata — upland orchis.

poterium fanguiforba — upland burnet.

origanum vulgar c — wild marjoram.

fpirtea filipendula — drop wort.

agrimonla eupatoria — agrimony.

•ualtriana ojjicinalis — medical valerian.

marrubium vulgarc — horehound.

fanicula europ^a — fanicle.

gcntiana centaurium — centaury gentian.

refeda luteola — weld.

crepis teftoruwi — fmooth crepis.

ftellaria graminea — meadow ftichwort,

viria cracca — blue-tufted vetch.

ervum birfutum — two-fecded tare.

122 NATURAL GRASSES. is.

Provincial. Linnean. Englijh.

geranium rcbertianum — (linking cranes-
bill.

geranium diffeRum — -jagged cranesbill.
geranium deuterium — - hemlock- leaved

cranesbill.

Jhcrardia arvenfis — field fherard.
bieraceum pilocetta — moufe-ear hawk-

weed.

aphanes ^rz^^/Af-r-parfleypert.
Brakens — pteris aqiiil'ma — brakes.
$ur-thiftlc — carduus lanceolatus — fpear thiftle.
carduus nutans — nodding thiftle.
carduus erhpborus — woolly-heacied thiftle,
ferratula arvenfis — cr u- .on thiftle.
Red thiftle— -carduus paluftris — marlh thiftle,

carlina i-iilgaris — carline thiftle.
Ruftburn — oncnis arisnfis — r eftharro w.
Cat-whin — rofa fcmcjijjiriia. — burnet rofe.

The PRODUCE, in a dry year, little or no-
thing. On a par of years, half a ton of hay
an acre. 1 he ordinary allowance for a fum-
iner pqfturageoi a cow, two or three acres.
The RENT ten to thirty fliillings.
Land bearing this defcription is entirely
\mfit for psrentiial ley. Corn-crops intermixed

J2. YORKSHIRE. 113

with TEMPORARY LEY are much more fuit-
able to its nature.

The MANAGEMENT OF GRASSLAND in th'lS

country now requires to be delineated.

The OBJECTS are bay and pajluragc ; each
of which will require to be feparately confi-
dered. But there are fome GENERAL MAT-
TERS which are common to them both, and
demand a previous confederation. Thefe are,
j. Draining, 4- Weeding,

2. Clearing, 5- Manuring.

3. Drefling.

i, 2. DRAINING, CLEARING. Thefe two
operations have been already fpoken of fuffi-
ciently under the general management of
ARABLE LAND, excepting fo far as relates to
clearing away ant-hills.

Here, as in moft places, this operation is

too much neglected. When praftifed, the

hills are either taken off with a paring-fpade,

or perhaps a plow, level with the furrounding

fward, and carted into hollows, &c. fow-

ing the hill (leads with hay-feeds ; or, in one

inftance, I faw the cap of the hill firft taken

off thin, and when the body of the hill was

removed, the cap was laid upon the hillftead.

But

124 NATURAL GRASSES. 12.

But this is ineligible. No implement can
come upon the furface to drefs it ; and the
caps are liable to be mifplaced by cattle and
other flock.

The practice of GELDING * has lately been
introduced. The greateft nicety of the art,
1 find, lies in clearing away the fkirts of the
Core effectually j fo that when the flaps are
returned, a rim, rifing above the furrounding
furface, be not left for the moulding-fledge
or other implement to lay hold of.

It this operation be performed in autumn^
the frofts and rains of winter will temper the
cores, and in the firft dry weather of fpring
the moulding-fledge will readily reducethem,
and lodge them at the roots of the grafs.

If the operation be imperfectly done, or the
lumps of core remain ftubborn, a heavy rol-
ler fhould be run over the furface before the
moulding-fledge be ufed.

No man who has attended to the quality of
\ktbtfrbage of ant -bills needs any argument to
convince him of the propriety of bellowing
a little attention on the moil eligible means
pf extirpation.

3.
* See NORF. ECON. Vol. II. p. 85.

12. V O R K S rt I R £. 12$

3. DRESSING MEADOWS. The Vale huf-
bandmen are peculiarly afiiduous in this de-
partment of the management of grafsland,
which, in the fpring of the year, engages
much of their attention. The dung and
molehills are generally fpread repeatedly,
and the (tones and wood affiduoufly gathered
off. The ground intended for hay is more
particularly attended to ; but pafture-grounds
are paid their fhare of attention.

" Moulding,'* that is fpreading dung and
molehills, is either done wholly by hand with
a " moulding-rake ;" namely, a fhort flat-
headed rake with four flat teeth (a tool not
uncommon in other Dirtricls) ; or by the
means of a " moulding-Hedge" (fee IMPLE-
MENTS), an implement introduced into this
country fome twenty or thirty years ago.

The firft moulding is given the lirit dry
days of fpring ; generally about Candlemas.
Old mole-hills are found to get heavy and
firm by lying-, and if horfc-dung be not bro-
ken while moift, it is difficult to be got to
pieces *.

The

* I have met with one inftancc of moulding paflutt
£i-ounds at Micbatlmatt (whenftock is here ufually tranf-

ferred

i26 NATURAL GRASSES. 12,

The foil muft become firm before the
Hedge can be ufed with propriety. After the
furface has been polimed by this, it is finally
looked over, with the rake- efpecially round
the borders^ where the fledge may have left
it unfmimed.

Hand-moulding is done entirely by wo-
men. Wages 6d. a day.

This may be a proper place to mention
an opinion which I have met with in this
Diflrid: refpecting MOLES.

A man whofe examinations are feldom fu-
pcrficial, is clearly of opinion, that moles are
ufeful to the farmer. And under this idea
he has not had a mole killed upon his farm
during the laft twenty years ! He believes
them to be ufeful in draining the foil ; in
communicating air to the roots of plants ; in

railing

ferred from paflure grounds to after-grafs,) a practice
which ought to be univerfally adopted. The furface
is then generally open enough to admit the dung which
is fpread upon it j whereas, in fpring, being fpread
Over a furface fatu rated with water, it is probable that
much of it is waflied away with heavy rains, or diffi-
pated by froits. Moulding in early autumn is fimilar
in its eftedts to the practice of manuring grafsland at
that feafon.

n. YORKSHIRE. 127

railing frefh mould upon grafsland ; and in
killing worms ; which, he-conceives, feed up-
on the roots of grafs and corn. ^

That moles are ufeful to cold fir ong- textured
land, aixl to grafsland in general^ is probably
a fad ; and this may account for the opinion
under notice; which. was formed on foil of
that defcription ; or on grafsland of a more
loamy nature.

But admitting that moles are ufeful upon
cold ftrong grafsland, it does not follow that
they likewife are ufeful on light, thin-foiled^
arable land. Their mifchiefs, here, are too
obvious to be over-looked.

With refpedt to WORMS, too, moles are pro-
bably mifchievous. No evidence, I appre-
hend, has ever been produced of their feed-
ing on the roots of vegetables. I fpeak of
the common earth-worm ; not of the grubs
of beetles, &c* They are faid to draw leaves
and other vegetable fubftances into the%
ground ; but to what end is only conjectur-
ed. It may be in purfuance of the wifcft
dictates, and for the beft of purpofes.

I mention this fubjett, bccaufe I believe it
is new to the public ; and I mention it in. this

curfory

i.iS NATURAL GRASSES. 12.

curfory way, becaufe I have not yet had op-
portunity of ftudying it maturely. It ap-
pears to me, however, a fubjedt of the firft
importance in Rural Economics : for meanly
as we are habituated to think of this lowly
drudge, the profperity of the vegetable and
animal creation may hinge upon it. Its na-
tural hiflory appears to me a fubjedt of fuf-
ficient importance to engage the attention of
any man ; let his abilities and pretenfions be
what they may : and it is a fubjecl which
any man of leifure may apply himfelf to
without difficulty.

4. WEEDING GRASSLAND. This depart-
ment of, the grafsland management is too
little attended to. Beds of the common tbifile
are too frequently fufTered to feed in paftures,
to the great nuifance of the neighbourhood ;
while both meadows and paftures are not un-
frequently difgraced with the dock ; a weed
which requires much lefs indullry to extir-
pate it.

I met with an inftance of a meadow, foul
in the extreme with knobweed> cured by paf-
turing it repeatedly with Jheep in the fpring.

Ragwort

12. YORKSHIRE. 129

Ragwort I have known killed in the fame
manner.

I likewife met with an inftance, here, of
a bed of decks being deflroyed by faine ; or
by mowing. The facl was, a large patch of
docks as thick as they could grow upon the
ground were liable to the bite of fwine (fome
fpccies of which will feed on them with avi-
dity) ; and what they left was repeatedly
mown off; perhaps twice or thrice in a fum-
mer, for a fuccefiion of years. At length
they vanilhed as by a charm ; and were fuc-
ceeded by a thick fward of the finer graffes.

Perhaps neither the fwine nor the fithe
could be faid with flrictnefs to have killed
thefe docks •, which, it appears to me, evi-
dently, died of age. No vegetable is everlaft-
ing. Some are annual, fome are biennial,
others perennial. But the age, or natural
life of perennial herbs has not perhaps been
attended to. We may however take it for
granted, without experience, that all plants
which propagate their fpecies by feed alone,
may be fubdued by perfevering to prevent
their feeding. All that we want to know
from experience is their feveral ages ; in <fr-

VOL. II. K der

i3o NATURAL GRASSES. 12.

der that we may calculate the difference be-
tween the expence of heading them from
time to time, and that of deflroying them at
once by eradication.

5. MANURING GRASSLAND. The dung-
cart is feldom drawn on to grafsland. The
quantity of dung which is made in the Dif-
tridt (fee FARMYARD MAN.) is fmall ; and
is chiefly applied to arable land; while the
collecting of wild, roadftuff, and other mate-
rials, .meliorating to grafsland, is fhamefully
neglected.

FODDERING on grafs in winter is chiefly
depended upon as an equivalent for its ex-
hauftion by hay ; and •paftured ground is con-
fidered as Handing in no need of extraneous
afliflance.

If a piece of mown ground were to have
the whole of the crop returned to it in fod-
der, and in a proper manner, it is probable
that fuch ground might be repeatedly mown
vvirhout being materially exhaufted. But
the foddering fliould certainly be general to
the whole piece ; beginning on one fide, and
ttalhing it regularly in the Norfolk manner

(fee

X2. YORKSHIRE. 131

(fee NORF. ECON. Art. TURN EPS), until the
oppcfitc fide be reached : not partially under
the hedge, as is generally the cafe here. The
hedges are, no doubt, crept to for fhelter ;
in windy weather, efpecially, hay will not lie
in an expofed place: but certainly the hedges
ought to be considered as a refource to fly to
in flormy weather; returning to the area of
the field whenever the florin abate.

The GOOD EFFECT of foddering on any
grafsland, wbicb will bear the treading of flock
in a;';;/<T, is evident to common obfervation.

The great danger to land which is inclin-
ed to tenacity •, is that of its being caught in the
drought cffpring ; before the fward be reliev-
ed by rains or by frofls ; which, by temper-
ing the furface, is obferved to releafe the
grades from their confinement in the footfteps
of flock. On fuch land the foddering fhould
not be continued too late in the fpring.

On light-land grafs many advantages arife
from this practice. The fodder is laid up,
and the manure carried on at a fmall expence.
The contexture of the foil is improved, and
mofs (the greateft enemy of land of this de-
K 2 fcription)

132 NATURAL GRASSES. 12.

fcription) checked or deftroyed by the tread-
ing of flock. There can be no doubt that,
in fome cafes, and under proper manage-
ment, flacking hay in the field, and fod-
dering with it on the land it grew on, may-
be perfectly eligible. Much depends up-
on the nature of the land, and much upon
whether the given piece of grafs, or the ara-
ble land in the fame occupation, is moft in
want of melioration.

But advantageous as this management may
be in fome cafes to light land grafs, a ftriking
inftance of the inutility of teathing ftiffland,
in winter, with fheep, occurred in this neigh-
bourhood. A piece of low cold retentive
(but well-flickered) Ingland was foddered
upon, during a fucceffion of fevere weather,
until its fur face was black with dung. Great
expectations of improvement were formed ;
but no fenfible benefit whatever followed.

From this and other inftances of a fimilar
1 a cure, it is more than probable that teathing
clolely-textured land in winter, is equally in-
eligible us manuring it in winter; an impro-
priety which I am fully convinced of from

12. YORKSHIRE. 133

my own practice •, and which all countries are
beginning to be aware of. I am afraid, how-
ever, that the principal part of the little ma-
nure which is fet upon grafsland in this Dif-
trict, is carried on during the frofts of win-
ter ; the worft time invention can devife.

Lime is, in the general idea of the country,
rather injurious than beneficial to grafsland.
Evidences are produced againft it ; but they
are not conclufive : the trials which are faid
to have been made were on cold retentive
foils ; the leaft likely, perhaps, to ba im-
proved by lime. To corn-crops lime is mo ft
beneficial on dry warm foils ; and fome re-
cent experience here mews, that on fuch foils
lime is beneficial to grafs.

A quantity of lime having been fcattered
accidentally on fward, it was obferved to in-
jure the herbage confiderably for the firft
three or four years. This of courfe corro-
borated the opinion of its being injurious to
grafs. But in a few years more this inciden-
tal patch became much fuperior to the reft
of the piece it lies in ; and has now continu-
ed to be fo for fome years. The foil a middle
loam, on a rocky fubftratum.

K 3 This

134 NATURAL GRASSES. ,2.

This led to an experiment with a fmaller
quantity ; namely, four chaldron an acre -,
on a piece of declining moffy fward, on a
burning fand, in an upland fituation.

This experiment was made lafl autumn.
The prefent ftateof it isftrikingfSept. 1787).
The entire countenance of the land is changed :
the fward has acquired a dark-green healthy
colour ; and the mofs has already moft of it
difappeared : while the remainder of the
piece (the whole eaten with fheep) is cover-
ed with a fleece of mofs intermixed with
parched ft raw- coloured herbage.

Thus far, and as far as one experiment
will go, this under notice is decifively in fa-
vour of lime being beneficial to a fcorching
upland foil. For reviving the productive-
nefs of old fheep-walks and rabbit-warrens
lime may, perhaps, be found a molt profit-
able manure.

A remarkable incident occurs this year
(1787) near Pickering. Part of the com-
rnon has been, I believe, time immemorial,
in ufe as a whitening-ground — provincially,
<; bleaching-greens." — The foil, drift fand
left by a brook which frequently overflows
thole greens ; the Aibfoil gravel ; left in all

pro-

12. YORKSHIRE. 135

proability by the brook in fhifting its chan-
nel from time to time. Neverthelefs, fuch
was the fuperficial appearance of this valley
while it was ufed as a whitening-ground, that
the Commifiioners under the Inclofure valued
the land (laft fummer a dry feafon) at forty
to fifty Shillings rent an acre. But this year,
the bleaching being difcontinued, it has
turned out not worth fifty-pence an acre;
notwithftanding the uncommon power which,
vegetation has this year every where elfe ma-
nifefted •.

The parts where the webbs have ufually
lain, arc evident to common obfervation :
fcarcely a blade of grafs has this year ihewn
itfelf upon them. Even the fedges and other
paluftrean weeds, which attempt to grow, are
not able to hide the dead-looking fand among
which they are rooted. The foil, naturally
weak, is at prefent evidently exhauiled. But
query, how has this exhauftion been erTecbed ?
By the lime which has been ufed in bleach-,
ing? Or by the watering which it has here-
K 4 tofore

* A (hiking evidence this of the caution rcquiflte to
be ufed \>y Jlrangtn in eftimating the value of land.

I36 NATURAL GRASS ES. 12.

tofore conftantly had through the fummer ?
Or by the warmth of the webbs ; which, ad-
ing as a gardener's frame, has induced the
foil to exert itfelf beyond its natural ftrength ?
The effect is well afcertained ; but evident
and interefting as it is, it appears to me dif-
ficult to be accounted for fatisfactorily.

Having thus pafled through the general
management of grafsland, it will now be pro-
per to particularize,

1. The Management of Meadows.

2. The Management of Failures.

I. MEADOWS. All old grafsland which is
mown is here called "MEADOW;" whether
its fituation be low or high, dry or moift. It
is merely a term in contradiftindtion to PAS-
TURE, or " fummer-eaten" ground; which
name it may take the enfuing year ; it being
a pretty common practice to mow and fum-
mer-eat alternately.

This, however, is far from being a gene-
ral practice ; the fame lands will be mown,
and others will be ufed as cow-paflure, for
feveral years fucceffively. But of the land
which is defcribed above as midland grafs,

an

12. YORKSHIRE. 137

an altcrnacy, though not perhaps annual and
regular, generally takes place.

In describing the MANAGEMENT OF MEA-
DOWLAND, a fourfold divifion of the fubject
will be requifite.

j. Spring Management ;

2. Haying ;

3. After-grafs;

4. Winter Management.

I. SPRING MANAGEMENT OF MEADOWS.
The general practice is to " eat" them until
Old May -day ; when the flock is transferred to

the pafture-grounds and the meadows

finally (hut up for hay.

In this climature the practice is injudici-
ous. It throws hay-time too backward in a
common year. And if dry weather fet in
early, the ground, having no covering, is
parched with drought, and the crop of bay,
perhaps^ thereby leffcncd.

In Surrey, and round the metropolis,
grounds intended to be mown are fcrupu-
loufly freed from ftock early in the fpring ;
not a fpring flioot is cropped. This is the,
oppofite extreme ; and, if the land will beat
ftock, is alfo improper. Some valuable

fpring.

138 NATURAL GRASSES. ia.

fpring-feed is loft; the frofts deftroying that
which would be of fervice to flock.

Land may in general be eaten until OLD

LADY-DAY Or the MIDDLE OF APRIL, Without

injuring the crop of hay. Early weeds, and
the ranker graffes, are choaked, by which
. means the better bottom graffes are fuffered
to rife, and to ripen with them.

2. HAYING. To give a minimal account
of this department of the grafsland manage-
ment, it will be requifite to confider feparate-
ly the following fubdivifions :

1. Mowing; 3. Laying-up ;

2. Making; 4. Expenditure.

i. Mowing. This is done chiefly by the
« day's mowing," which is an inaccurate
acre; fometimes more, but generally lcf$
than a (latute acre; old-inclofed meadows
having been reckoned from time immemo-
rial, fo many " day mowings ;" and whether
they are in reality a greater orlefs number of
acres, they are confukred as fo many days'
works.

The wages for mowing, one milling to
righteen-pence a-day and board. Little or
ro mowing is clone by the acre. A man

feldorn

12. YORKSHIRE. 139

fcldom mows more than his day-mowing ;
which, if he be a good hand, he performs
in a few hours, in the morning and evening;
generally lying by in the middle of the
day.

The Yorkmire mowers labour hard during
the Ihort hours they work : their fithes are
of uncommon length, and they take their
fwath of unufual width ; feldom lefs than
three yards ; fome of them ten or eleven feet
wide ; and, what is I believe peculiar tothem,
they invariably " keep ftroke;" that is, all
{hike together as one man : a practice which
is at leaft pleafing to look at.

2. Making. All countries, I find, abound
in bad haymakers ; and fome are deflitute of
good ones. The country under furvey may
be faid to be above par ; and that is as much
as can be faid of it. Quantities of hay are
annually wafted, and ilill greater quantities
unnecefiarily injured, through bad manage-
ment. It is feldom tedded fufficiently ; is
frequently expofed all night abroad in catch-
ing weather; and in fuch weather is too of-
ten carried before it be dry.

Afm-

140 NATURAL GRASSES. 12.

A fingular expedient is here pradtifed to
get it (as it is intended) out of harm's way.
This is to put it into " pikes," or flacklets
of about a load each — before it be fit to be
put into flack ; and, too frequently, before
it be fit to be put into large cocks. This
is confidered as a middle flage ; in which it
is to take a partial heat, and become pre-
pared for the ftack.

If hay be free from water-wet, but yet too
full of fap to be trufted in (lack, " piking"
it may have its life. But it is more gene-
rally made ufe of as a ilovenly expedient for
getting hay out of hand in a tedious feafon.
In this cafe, however, it is mofily mifchie-
yous. I have fecn thefe pikes, when opened
out to be carried to the flack, white with
mould, black with rottennefs, and of every
intermediate colour, excepting that which
alone is defirable. But this good old way
ftc-ns to be declining.

In the beft pradice of the Diftricl:, the

grai's, in fine weather, is tedded after the

powers ; or, in Ihowery weather, as foon as

y fair opportunity offers. In the evening,

nicis due confidence can be placed in the

ta. YORKSHIRE. 141

weather, ii is put up into cocklets— provin-
cially, " hippies ;" — made in different ways ;
ibme being let up hollow with the foot and
the head of the rake; others in the common
\vay with forks. As the hay has advanced
tn drynefs, the hippies are increafed in fize.

When a fair opportunity offers, and the
grafs is perfectly dry, the hippies are " fun-
dered ;" that is, broken out into beds in the
ufual manner; turned •, and again got up into
cocklets, of fuch fize as the flate of drynefs
requires. When fufficiently dry, the hay is
made into \vell-fized cocks ; namely, about
eight or ten to the load.

When the crop is intended to be flacked
on the piece it grew on, the firft-made part
generally (lands in thefe cocks until the
whole, or the principal part of the remain-
der, be ready for the ftack ± which, by this
means, is never expofed abroad in its firft
ftages : a circumftance, however, which is
too commonly fuffered by lefs judicious hay-
farmers.

3. Laying tip bay. The mod prevalent
practice is to ftack it in the field ; either for
the purpofe of foddering it on the ground,

or

142 NATURAL GRASSES. jiJ

or to be fetched home in froily weather, or
when wanted. Much, however, is carried
to the homeftall at hay-time ; fome to be
ftacked j others to be houfed ; a practice
which, when room can conveniently be had,
feems to be in good eftimatiom It is at once
got out of the way of the weather, and pro-
bably into the place in which it will be
wanted : the muftinefs- of houfed hay, which
is talked of in fome places, is not perceived
in this.

The pradliee of STACKING HAY IN THE
FIELD adds much to the eafe and difpatch of
hay- time. If the ftack be placed in the
center of the ground, a confiderable part of
the hay may be collected, without the trou-
ble of loading it on to a carriage.

If it be in large cocks, it is fometime's
drawn to the flack with one horfe, and a cart-
rope put under the fkirts of the cock on the
fides, and above the fkirts on the back part ;
giving the bend of the rope fufficient hold
of the hay, to prevent its being drawn from
under the cock. The two ends of the rope
pafs to a pair of hames ; being made fafl on
on.e fide, and kept in its place with a peg on

the

i2. YORKSHIRE. 143

the other; the cock arrived at the (lack,
and the peg drawn, the rope is difengaged.

If the hay be abroad it is rowed in the
ufual way, and is fometimes drawn together
with a long pole (fix or eight feet long),
with a rope patting from each end of it to the
names ; a man Handing or prefling upon the
pole, to keep it down to its work, and make
it clear the ground as it goes. This how-
ever, though fimple, is a difficult bufmefs.
More complex implements of various con-
ftructions have therefore been contrived for
this purpofe.

Thcfe implements are alfo ufed in cocking;
and, when the quantity of dry hay is great,
and hands fcarce, it eafes and expedites the
bufmefs very confiderably. For, in this
cafe, the main burden of the hay is drawn
together by the team, the rakers having on-
ly the bared ground to rake over ; following
the implement, and drawing the rakings to
the part to be cleared by the next fweep of
the implement ; beginning on one fide of
the piece, and proceeding in this regular and
expeditious manner to the other ; leaving the

hay

j44 NATURAL GRASSES. 12,

hay in large rows, eafily to be cocked ;
dragged to the Hack ; or loaded ; as occa-
fion may require. This expedient, how-
ever, is far from being in general practice.

When the ground near the ftack is clea'r-
ed, and the flack has rifen too high to be
Conveniently forked on to from the ground,
the ourfkirts of the field are drawn together
in carriages.

In the befl practice of the Diflrict, the
flack, if not very large (which field-flacks
feldom are), is never begun upon until a fuf-
ficiency of hay be dry to get it above the eaves
the firfl day. If the whole be ready, the
middle of the flack is rounded up, and the
remainder fet in tall " pikes" by the fide of
it, ready to be laid on the firfl fine day after
the ftem be fufficiently fettled. This appears
to me to be bringing the bufitiefs of laying
up hay as near perfection as the nature of it
will admit.

Field- flacks are, I believe in variably, made
round. The favourite form at prefent feems1
to be that of &n-egg ; a form, perhaps, of all
bthers the moil beautiful, but by no means
the nioft convenient *.

* Li CLEVELAND the oppofite extreme prevails.'
The tumrf is theie the sirch^type, If ha v flacks be

inadp

12. YORKSHIRE, 14$

When the hay has done heating, the ftack
5s finally topt up, its roof adjufted and raked,
and its top capt with thatch ; the principal
part of the roof being left naked.

In a country where thatching the entire
roof is the eftablifhed cuflom, this would ap-
pear negligent management. In this coun-
iry, to beftow thatch and thatching upon the
whole would be deemed a wafteful extrava-
gant cuftom. It would be difficult to fay
with certainty which is the better practice.
Either of them is good, if properly executed.

Field flacks are fenced with large hurdles,
— provincially, " flack-bars" — refembling
the gate-hurdles of fome Diftri&s, and the
cattle-hurdles of others. Being placed in a
ring, and united together with pins pafling
through the heads, they form an arch, and
become a fimple and fufficient fence againft
every kind of (lock.

4. Expenditure of bay. There is no re-
gular market for hay in the Dillrid. It is
ieldom fold but in times of fcarcity. It is
VOL. II. L mofliy

made round % a form between the egg and the turnep is
preferable to cither extreme ; but, in my. mind, a for*
is the bcft model for a hay-ftack.

1 46 NATURAL GRASSES. 12.

moftly confumed on the premifes : chiefly
perhaps in the houfe, but partly in the
field ; a practice which has already been
lp o ken of.

3. AFTERGRASS. In fome places cattle are
turned into meadows as ibon as the crop is
out of them. This is fouling the ground
without any advantage to the cattle, which
will not, cannot, eat the ftubble of mown
ground.

In this country, the oppofite extreme of
management is too prevalent. AFTERGRASS
— provincially, " fog" — is fcarcely ever
1oroken till after Michaelmas •, is fometimes
hoarded up till near Martinmas before it be
turned into. In the latter cafe, half of it,
perhaps, is generally wailed. Whether the
weather prove wet or frofty, one of which
may reaforiably be expected at that time of
the year, cattle deftroy as much long over-
grown aftergrafs with their feet as with their
mouths. ' Wherever they tread in wet wea-
ther, the grafs is fouled ; wherever they ftep
when froft is on the ground, the grafs they
i vi.;>d on is entirely deft rayed.

YORKSHIRE. 147

It is a matter of fome aftonifliment that no
country has yet adopted AN ECONOMICAL EX-
PENDITURE OF AFTERGRASS. I have met

with fome faint attempts in the practice of
individuals in different places ; but nothing
of a regular confirmed eltabliilicd practice.

There is one leading principle of manage*
ment which is eafy tobeobferved, and by which
alone perhaps half the prefcnt wafte might be
avoided. This is the felf-evident and fimple
one of never fuffering cattle to remain at
nights on aftergrafs, nor to return them in
the morning while froft remains on the ground.

In ftridtnefs, they ought never to be fuf-
fered to lit down among it, but mould be re-
moved as foon as their appetites are palled.
Even this, when the expenditure is on cows,
is not difficult. But fatting cattle may per-
haps require more indulgence. Thefe, how-
ever, might, without injury, be let out in
the evening into an adjoining ftubble or
pafture-ground, and be fuffered to return in
the morning, with very little extraordinary
attention or trouble. Cows might be folded
in a yard, or kept in the houfe, or in the field,
as circumftances might require.

L 2 The

348 NATURAL GRASSES. 12.

The expenditure of aftergrafs in this coun-
try is principally on milked cows-, fome on
ilry fatting cows, and fome on oxen thrown
up from work in the fpring and finifhed with
aftcrgrafs.

GEN. OESERV. ON AFTERGRASS. Grafs
which has been trampled under foot, in the
manner defcribed above, necefiarily remains
in winter an encumbrance to the furface. If
the ground be foddered upon, fome of it will
of courfe be worked off by cattle ; and horfes
will eat a ftill greater fhare of it. Still, how-
ever, the fward will be ragged in the fpring ;
ir thing which ought to be avoided. In the
early part of fpringj aftergrafs ought to be
level ; that is, cither entirely bare^ or covered
with a fufficient even bits of unfoilcd after-
£fafs, or winter-freed pafturage«

Two of the ableft rural economiils ofthefe
kingdoms (one of them of Lancafhire, the
oiher of Leicefierfiiire) make a point of fav-
ing autumnal grais for fpring-feed ; and they
are probably r'ght when they affert that it is
the moil certain, and on the whole the belf,
ipring-feecl at prefcnt known.

On thefe principles the right management
of aftergrafs is evident. The forwardeft

ought

12. YORKSHIRE. 149

ought to be broken fufficiently early to be
eaten, without wafte, before winter fet in ;
and the lateft, that is to fay, the fhorteft,
ihould be fhut up for fpring-feed. If
aftergrafs be too long and groffy it is apt
to lodge, and rot upon the ground in winter.
Therefore on rich land it ought to be more
or lefs fed before Michaelmas; and then, of
a due length, be ihut up for the winter.

II. PASTURES. The management of paf-
ture-grounds requires to be fubdivided into

1. Spring Management.

2. Stocking.

3. Summer Management.

j. SPRING MANAGEMENT. In the ordinary-
practice of the DiftricT: paftures are fhut up
in winter, or early in the fpring, and freed
from ftock until Old Mayday.

This appears to me to be bad manage-
ment. At Old Mayday, in a common year,
and on an ordinary foil, there is a fufticient
bite over every part of the fur face. Cattle of
courfe choofe the better herbage. They have
no inducement to crop the weeds and coarfer
grafts, which they fuffer to run up to feed,
L 3 thereby

150 NATURAL GRASSES. 12.

thereby in the inftant encumbering the fur-
face, and in the confequence increaiing their
fpecies ; and of courfe leffening the proportion

Of NUTRITIOUS HERBAGE.

Even fuppofing the fward to be perfectly
free from weeds and coarfe graffes, in is bad
management to fuffer flock (STORE-STOCK) to
be turned upon a full bite. They cannot,
if duly flocked, keep the whole of it under.
Much of it will inevitably run up to feed,
fprming tufts and uneaten patches, which (if
not removed with the fithe) remain during
the fummer as ufelefs to the grazier, as if
they were not included within the limits of
his paftures. They are fo much wajte ground*
The quantity of grazing furface, or, in other
words, the fize qf the pafture, is lefTencd in
proportion to the quantity of ft ale herbage.

On the contrary, if flock be admitted into
paftures while the early weeds are yet in a
tender Jlate, and before the furface be covered
with bet^ir /herbage 9 every weed will be crop-
ped, and every part be equally eaten. Even
fujbes when they firfl ihoot are eaten freely
by cattle and horfes ; efpecially the latter.
The cowparjntp, „ ragwort, and other grofs

early

ii. YORKSHIRE, 151

early plants are, on their firft cm er fieri, de-
voured greedily by cattle and fheep.

But changing weeds into nutriment, and in*
crcafing the quantity of pa/luting •furfact^
are not the only advantages arifing from
breaking paftures early with flore-cattlc.
The cattle themfelves are benefited, by being;
removed by degrees from dry meat to grafs,
and thereby, in all human probability, pre-
ferved from many diforders which cattle are
liable to on their firfl being turned out to
grafs in the fpring.

It will be faid, that under this manage-
ment paflure-grounds require to be (locked
Dinner than in the ufual practice. For a fc\sr
days immediately after Mayday, the paflurc
will be comparatively^;-/ (a circumflancc,
perhaps, favourable to beafts when firft
turned out wholly to grsffs), but afterwards
the advantage will be evidently in favour of
early breaking ; inafmuch as the quantity of
furfacc is thereby cncrcafcd. It is therefore
dcmonflrable, that under this management
pafturcs may be flocked thicker th^n in the
common practice.

L 4 FAT-

152 NATURAL GRASSES. 12.

FATTING CATTLE which are forward in
fiefh, and are intended to be finifned with
grafs, may require a full bite at firft turning
out. But for cows, WORKING-OXEN, REAR-
ING CATTLE, and lean cattle intended to be
fatted en grafs, a full bite at the firft turning
out is not requifite.

Another objection which may be made to
early grazing is, that of laying the land open
to the drought of fpring. This, too, is in great
meafure, when applied to pafturage, an ill-
grounded apprehenlion. It is notorious to
common obfervation, that cows milk and
cattle in general thrive beyond expectation in
droughty weather. It is not the length cf grafsr
but the quantity of noiirijhment it contains,
which makes cattle pay for their pafturage,
In dry feafons medicinal waters are ftrongly
impregnated, and fruit expofed to the fun in
fuch feafons, is fweeter and more highly fla-
voured than it is in a moift feafon or a lhady
fituation ; but the diftillers of fimple-watcrs
are the beft judges of the effects of feafons on
herbage.

The ricbnefs of vegetable prcduftiom appears
!t l>g in proportion to the quantity of heat in the

immt*

Jz. YORKSHIRE. 153

immediate fpbere of tbeir vegetation. Thus the
richnefs of fruit is increafed by the reflection
of the wall ; and it ftrikes me that the rich-
nefs of grafs is increafed by the reflation of
the foil. Long grafs fhades the foil and de-
flroys the reflection. The ihorter the grafs
the ftrongertbe reflection, and, confequently,
the richer the herbage.

But the longer the grafs, the fooner the
cattle latisfy their hwnger, and lie down to
reft. A medium therefore is pbfervable.
The due length depends upon the nature of
the flock, the nature of the foil, and the nature
of the feafon. Rich grafs goes farther than
that which is watery and weak. A good
crrpzlcr looks to the cafe of his cattle, rather,
than to the length of their pafture.

Thefe obfervations are drawn from my
own experience, as well as from the practice
of one man in this Diflrict ; who, by early
{locking, keeps not only his rough paftures,
but even his yards in a great meafure level
and free from encumbrances.

OLD LADYDAY to the MIDDLE of APRIL,
According to the progrcfs of fpring, appears

J54 NATURAL GRASSES,

tp me at prefent as the bed time forfli
UP mowing-grounds and opening paftures.

2. STOCKING PASTURES. Thtjpea'es and
the quantity require to be fepajately conli-
dered.

No fettled rules with refpect to the mixture
of fpecies are here obferved. It is generally
underftood that horfes and cattle intermixed
will eat grafs cleaner than either fpecies will
alone ; not To much from their feparately af-
fecting dipcrent graiTes, as from the circum-
ftance of both fpecies diiliking to feed near
their own dung.

Horfes, it is true, appear partial to parti-
pular patches of f.vard ; bur, on clofe cxami-
WAtipn, I have never been able todifcover any,
peculiarity in thejW/or the herbage of thefe
barely-eaten fpots j which are, \ apprehend,
t-aten to the quick accidentally, and are after-
wards kept down through their peculiar fweet-
nefsi owing to the Peculiar (horttiefs of the
herbage. Hares and rabbits in the neigh-
bourhood of kept covers, keep down patches
of barley or other corn in a fimilar manner,
and through iimilar motives.

Beiidcs this unfair manner of feeding, the
. i-j difli^cd in paihires^ on account of"

the

|2. YORKSHIRE. 155

the worthlefihefs of the dung of horfes at
grafs.

This, when the fuperior value of their
dung in the ftable is confidered, appears
fomewhat paradoxical. The idea, however,
is not confined to this Diftrid:, nor to this
Ifland ; it prevails, I am well informed, in
America, and perhaps more or lefs in every
place where hufbandmen obfervc fuperfi-
cially.

The idea has, no doubt, fome foundation.
The dung of horfes dropped on grafs in fum-
mer loon undergoes a change. Its fubftance
is prefently fcooped out by infeds; nothing
but a porous bundle of undigefted vege-
table matter being left. If infedts not only,
eat horle-dung, but fly away with it out of
the field, it is in reality loft to that parti-
cular field -, but if, what is moft likely, they
drop it again near the place where it was
taken up, and at length find a grave for their
own bodies among the grafs, the occupier of
the land fuftains no lofs,.

SHEEP, I believe, are feldom mixed either
with cows or fatting-cattle. They eat lefs
fair than horfes, which ftick to particular

. patches ;

i& NAT'URAL GRASSES. u,

patches j while fheep run over and nibble
out the choiceft'morfels of the entire piece.
They are generally kept alone, except on
commons, and are on this fide of the Vale
properly confined to the uplands, the molt
natural pafture of Iheep.

With regard to the aggregate QUANTITY

O OO C5 ^w

OF STOCK fuitable to a given piece of ground,
hufbandmen here, as in other places, differ in
their opinions. Extremes are mofdy inju-
dicious. The impropriety of flocking too
thin has already been {hewn ; but laying on
flock too thick is a ftill greater impropriety.
Bioken grais may be mown for hay ; but the
evils of over- {locking are not eafily repaired ;
{lock once checked do not readily regain a
thriving habit. I have known (not in this
Diftrict) the entire produce of the land

• n away by over (locking : it is an error
which novitial farmers too frequently fall
into. The middle way ought to be atten-
tively fought after. Nothing but experience
on the given ground can point it out. In ob-
g this experience it is always prudent to
begin on the fafe fide ; or, in other words, to.

;itock rather than overilockthe firil year.

n. YORKSHIRE. 157

3. SUMMER MAN AC EMI: NT OF PASTW
In this department of the grassland manage-
ment, the DiftrLft under fuivey is deficient.
~Xo ftifiing of flock : no head fcock and fol-
••: nor fmeping of paftures with the
fnhe. In the ordinary pra&ice of the coon-
try, (lock are turned into pafture-grounds at
Mayday and there remain impounded until
Michaelmas ; or until harveft be in, when
the head (lock are transferred to the mowing
grounds -, the ordinary to the ftubbles ; to
partake of the u average :" a provincial
term for the eatage of arable land after har-
vcft ; a term probably originating in the an-
cient common-field management.

I have already intimated, that it is not my
intention to make the prefent n didactic
work. Neverthclefs, where I find what ap-
vK«irs to me caufe of ceni'ure, itmay be right
to mention what I think would be a means of
doing it away.

The grafslanJ management is no longer a
iubjccr. which is new to me. I have now had
a confiderable mare of experience in my own
practice, and have alfo had opportunities of
abfcrving on a large fcale the practice of

i$8 NATURAL BRASSES. 12,

others in different and diftant Diftri&s. I
will therefore here give, in as few words a$
poffible, aJZefcb of my prefent ideas refpedt-
ing the proper management of SUMMER PAS-
TURES.

Much depends oh SITUATION, and much
on WATER. There are cafes (many of them
In this DiflricY) in which the flock are
through neceffity confined during the fum-
mer in one grafs-pound. Cafes like thefe can
Only be lamented, not remedied. There arc
others which will admit of only two divi-
fions ; that is, of cnefoift : a predicament in-
finitely preferable to the firft j but not alto-
gether defirable.

In all cafes, where fatting cattle or dairy
cows make a part of the ftock, and where
fituation, foil, and water will permit, every
fuite of grazing-grounds ought, in my idea,

tO COnfift of TtiREE COMPARTMENTS. One

for head ftock (as cows or fatting cattle)^
one for followers (as rearing or othejr lean,
ftock), and the third to be fliiit up to frefhen
for the leading ilock.

If at the time of fhifting the followers;
there be much feedy berl'agl left upon the

ground,

TI. YORKSHIRE. 1^9

ground, it ought to remain until they be
ihifu'd ; and to be MOWN AS HAY during the"
reeds.

But if, at that time, a few weeds, and a
tittle feedy herbage only be left; they ought to
be SWEPT down with thefithe a few days be-
fore the removal of the lean flock; which
will not fail, in this cafe, to lick up even the
iharpcft thirties, while they are in the foft
flaccid (late which the fithe in a ihort time
reduces them to.

Finally, I am clearly of opinion, that let the
pafturc confill of one, two, or more com-
partments, not a weed ought to feed, nor a
tuft of ftalt graft be differed to (land in a paf-
ture-ground ; which ought at lead once dur-
ing the fummer to be LEVELLED WITH THE
si THE ; thus, at a fmall cxpcnce, converting

WEEDS INTO NUTRIMENT", and WASTE GROUND
1KTO AFTERGRASS.

H O R S E S.

i6» HORSE

HORSES.

YORKSHIRE has long been celebrated
for its horics. Fitzbcrbert, who wrote two
hundred and fifty years ago, mentions his
going to Rippon fair to buy colts.

The influence of cHmatur'e on the conjlitu-
tion, or changeable part of the nature of ani-
mals, is a matter difficult to. be demon (If at-
ed. There are men who deny it. — Never-
thelefs, ftrong evidences of its exigence maiy
be drawn from the animal under con£dera-
tion.

No man has yet been able to breed Ara-
bian horfcs in England ; Englifh horics iri
France or Germany ; nor Yorkihire horfes
in any other DiftricT: of England. Some
good horfes j no doubt, are bred every year
in different parts of the kingdom ; but they
are few in proportion to the number of bad
ones bied in thofe parts.

In

ij. YORKSHIRE. 161

In Norfolk, the breeding of faddle-horfes
has been repeatedly attempted without fuc-
cefs. Yorkfhire ftallions have been, and ftill
are font into Norfolk in the covcring-feafon.
The foals may be handfome, lut they lofe their
form as they grow up.

On the contrary, in Yorkfhire, let the foal
when dropt be ever fo unpromifing, it will,
if any true blood circulate in its veins, ac-
quire fafhion, ftrength, and activity with its
growth.

This in my mind accounts fully for the fa-
periority of Yorkfhire-bred horfes ; and is
a flrong evidence that air, water, foil, or her-
bage, has an influence on the conftitution oc
changeable nature of animals.

The Diftricl more immediately under fur-
vey may, perhaps, be confidered as the firft
in the county for the breeding of horfes.
Neverthelefs, it cannot even here be called
a univerfal practice. Men arc led into it by
accident or caprice.

It would be difficult to afcertain the exact
number annually bred. The Vale, the Wolds,
and Holdernefs, probably employ a hundred
(hllions. One hundred mares are confidered

VOL. II. M as

a(2 MORSES. 13.

as the full complement for one horfe.
Some of them, perhaps, do not get fifty. On
this calculation, there are from five to ten
thoufand horfes bred between the Eaftern
Morelands and the Humber *.

It will now be necefiary to confider fcpa-
rately,

1. The breed.

2. The method of breeding.

3. The method of making-up.

4. The markets.

5. The management of worked horfes in
this Diftria:.

I. BREED. Thirty years ago, STRONG
SADDLE-HORSES, fit for the road onlyj were
the principal breed of the Vale.

During the lafl twenty years, fome capital
HUNTERS have been bred in it. This change
\vas principally effected by one horfe,
JALAP ; a full-bred horfe ; whofe pedigree
and performances are well known upon the
turf.

He

* This calculation, however, is grounded on little
more than fuppofitiou. It would be difficult to afcer-i
fain thi exact number of iUllions kept in fo wide a Di£

13- YORKSHIRE. 163

He is flill living ; and, what is remark-
able, lad feafon, at the age of thirty, cover-
ed feveral mares. v His leap five guineas
each, for blood mares ; two guineas for
" Chapmen's" mares *.

But notwithflanding the credit which the
Vale has juflly acquired of late by its hunt-
ers, the breed is at prefent changing to fa-
fhionable COACH-HORSES; namely, tall, flrong,
overfized hunters. The breed, therefore,
may be faid to have increafed in fize, rather
than to have undergone a change. In 1783,
the flail ion -Ihows exhibited beautiful groups
of animals, nimble as the greyhound, and fpi-
rited as the lion. This year (1787) the
Ihows were comparatively flat and fpirit*
lefs : a mere parade of troopers.

There may be feveral reafons for the altea
ration which is taking place in the breed of
horfes in the Vale. — The Jalapian breed has
degenerated ; very few of the Tons of this
celebrated horfe have been good flock-get-
ters. Another reafon, and perhaps a better,
M 2 is

* He died in December 1787, fince this article was

written.

1 64 HORSES. 13.

is the unfitnefs of high-bred hunters for
beafts of burden and draught. Not only
brood mares, but growing horfes, are ufed
in hufbandryi The operation of plowing
with two horfes requires flrength. Slender
horfes are unfit for it; but a three or four-
}rcar old coach-horfe may be occafionally
ufed; and, in cafes of deformity or lamenefs,
may be continued as a farm-horfe. If to
this be added, the extravagant prices which
this deicription of coach-horfes have recent-
ly borney the Va.le farmers may be right in
propagating the breed *.

Be this as it may, they are moft nfluredly
wrong, when they give encouragement to the
Fen Erced^ the " Hovvden mack" of BLACK
CART-HORSES, which I am forry to fee worm-
ing their way into the Vale. The breed of
grey rats, with which this Ifland has of late
years been over-run, are not a greater peft
in it than the breed of black fen horfes : at
kail while cattle remain fcarce, as they are at
prefent ; and while the fiefii of horfes re-
mains

. * The WO-LV j and HOLDER NESS have been lostger
hi the practice of breeding- eoach-horfcs.

13- YORKSHIRE. 165

mains to be rejected as an article of human
food.

Let the We-farmers continue to plow
with coach-horfes, and ufe oxen in carnage:
a breed of horfes better calculated for eating
than working, and whole main tendency is
to render their drivers as fluggifli as them-
felves, are ill-adapted to the prefent rents of
the Vale. Norfolk has already experienced
the evil confequences of encouraging that
breed ; and I hope this country will not fuf-
fer by the fame indifcretion, It is laughable
enough to fee a (lender half-bred mare, who.
perhaps, a few years ago, received the em-
braces of Jalap or his offspring, bending
under the weight of a cumbrous animal,
vvhofe very legs, in all their admired rongh-
ncis, are nearly equal in fizc to the body of
her former gallant. No wonder that mon-
flers, having not their likenefs in nature,
ihould be the produce of Inch unnatural
amours.

IT. BREEDING HORSES. From what has been

faid refpedting the fuperiority of Yorkshire

Dories, it will, no doubt, be expected that

M 3 great

,66 HORSES. 13.

great attention is paid to breeding ; and that
{he myfteries of it will be difcloled ; while,
perhaps, others have conceived that their fu-
periority is more owing to the art of breed-
ing than to the geniality of climature. I
ihould be fqrry if truth oblige me to difco-
ver the misjudgment of my readers ; and feel
myfelf aukwardly circumftanced in being
under the necefiity of difclofmg the mifcon-
duct of my countrymen.

In different parts of the kingdom the
breeding of race-korfes is reduced almoft to
fcience.' In the Midland counties, the breed-
ing of cart-horfes is attended to with the
fame affiduity as that which has of late years
been beftowed on cattle and fheep ; while the
breeding of faddle-borfes, hunters, and coach-
bcrfes^ is almoft entirely neglected ; is left
almoft wholly to chance : even in Yorkfhire !
I mean as to FEMALES. A breeder, here,
would npt give five guineas for the beft
brood mare in the kingdom; — unlefs Ihe
could draw, or carry him occasionally to
market; nor a guinea extraordinary for one
which would do both. He would fooner
from a rip which he happens to have

I3. YORKSHIRE. 167

upon his premifes ; though not worth a
month's keep.

But how abfurd. The price of the leap,
the keep of the mare, and the care and keep
of her progeny, from the time they drop to
the time of fale, is the fame, whether they
be fold from ten to fifteen, or from forty
to fifty pounds each.

Almofl every thing depends upon the
MARE. There is an inftance, in this neigh-
bourhood, of the offspring of one mare ber
ing fold to dealers for four or five hundred
pounds. What are a few guineas in the firft
purchafe of a good mare ? and what are a
few days plowing, or a few rides to market,
compared with the difference between a race
of good and of ordinary horfes ?

It appears to me evidently, that much re-
mains to be done in this department of Rural
Economics. Good STALLIONS may be had
for money ; and the different hunts in the
fouth of England will, fo long as they re-
main, be a fource of MARES moft fuitable to
the purpofe of breeding CAPITAL HUNTERS.
Mares lamed or ftiffened by fevere exercife,
find improper treatment, are generally to be
M 4 bought

i68 HORSES. 13.

bought In the neighbourhood of thefe hunts,
at moderate prices. And mares fit for the
breeding of COACH-HORSES are to be met
with in every county.

The prefent prices given for hunters and
coach-horfes ; and more efpecially the de-
clenfion of the breeding of the former ; arc
incitements fu.fficient to induce men of fpirit
to make an attempt. Nothing appears to
me to be wanting, but a BAKEWELL to take
the lead.

While the nation remains in its prtfent
ftate of refinement, horfes for the road and
the field are in a degree nccefiary ; but racers
and cart-horfes might, with lefs inconveniency,
be difpenfcd with.

'The King's Plates have probably had their
ufe in improving the Englifh horfe in acti-
vity and fleetnefs. But the original intention
of them has long ago been anfwered : RACE-
HORSES are now fit for the purpofe of game-
fters only. They are in general drawn much
too fine for ufe. Therefore to continue thefc
prizes will be distributing the nation's mo-
ney toward the worft of pnrpoies : the encou-
rage mcn.jE,

i3. YORKSHIRE. 169

ragemcnt of gaming,; and the injury of the
breed of Englifli horfcs. The broad-lotned,
deep chefted, old Engiilh hunter is giving
phce to the lank feeble racer. If it fhould'
be dill thought />r0/>?r to continue the King's
Plates, it would certainly be wife to raife
the limited weight to twelve (lone,

With refpeCt to CART-HORSES,— if ex-
tending the faddle-horfe tax to farm-horfes
in general would leflen their number, and in-
creaie that of working oxen, it would be po-
litical to extend it without lofs of time.

Under the prefent head it may be proper
to rcgifter an idea which I have met with in
this country; and which, evident as it may
feem, never occurred to me before, either in,
theory or practice.

It is a fact, wcll-eftablifhed in the common
practice of this Diftricl:, that fpayed heifers
work letter, and have in general more wind,
than oxen; and it is not doubted that SPAYED
MARES would have an equal preference to
geldings.

I do not, however, find that the experi-
ment has ever been tried. The reatbn held
put agaioft it, though formidable at firft

fight,

I7o HORSES. 13.

fight, proves a mere Shadow on examina-
tion. The fpaying of fillies would undoubt-
edly fpcil them for brood-mares. But docs
not the gelding of a colt fpoil him for a
ftallion ? What breeder, when his mares
foal, wilhes for fillies ? and what dealer would
not willingly give half-a-crown a piece to
have his mares changed into geldings ?
or perhaps into animals fuperior to geld-
ings ?

In the fpring of the year cpen mares are
faint and trouble fome. Nothing feems to be
wanted but a fafe cutter and a man of fpirit
to fet him to work, to bring the fpaying of
female foals into common pra&ice.

It does not follow that, becaufe a part of
the female foals mould be cut, there would
not be open mares to breed from, any more
than it does, that bpcaufe fome heifers are
Jpayed Jar the yoke, or for fatting, there
are not cows enow fufficient for the purpofes
of breeding and the dairy.

I do not mean to recommend a practice of
which I have had no experience ; but if the
experiment has not been tried, it frrikes me
forcibly that it is worth the trial ; — and

I3. YORKSHIRE, 17$

that it is more than time it were fet a»
bout.

III. MAKINC-UP HORSES. The age at
which young horfes are here made up for 3
market is four or five years old.

Some breeders make-up their own horfes ;
orhers only back them, and perhaps ufc them
gently in barnefs ; felling them at full age to
PROFESSIONAL DEALERS; who, with arts beft
known to themfelves, make them fat and
fine-fkinned — fet up their tails — abridge oc-
cafionally the number of their teeth,— and
teach them their ftable exercife.

Some are bought up at two or three years

Old by HORSE-DEALING FARMERS; who^mO

them upon good land ; break them into the
faddle, at lead; and finally make them up,
according to art, for marker.

One farmer in the Vale is faid to make-up
an hundred annually. And one dealer at
Malton is faid to have fomctimes two cr
three hundred horfes in his flables at once.

Making up horfes upon a FARM, by a man
who is a judge, is a moil profitable branch
Of hufbandry. Oats, hay, and ft raw, find a
market on the fpotj and town manure is

procure^

172 HORSES. 13.

procured in quantity without the expence pf
fetching.

IV. MARKETS FOR HORSES. Maljon has
the only HORSE-SHOW in this DiftricT:. It is
held in the fpring of the year, and continues,
for the week ; namely, the week before Palm-

Sundav.

*

At this fair great number of made-up
horfes are fold. They begin to go in on
Monday. Tuefday and Wednefday are the
principal days for good horfes. Thurfday
and Friday generally exhibit an inferior fort,
And Saturday, which is like wife a great cat-
tle fair, is principally a ftallion-fhow j and a
fair for refufe-horfes ; which on this day are
ihewn in the open market.

During the week-days, the horfes are
fhewn in ftables, fitted up at the inns, and
in private yards, for the purpofe ; being only
led out occafionaliy, at the delire of th$
chap man.

The hours of fhow are the morning before,
•breakfaft, the forenoon, and again in the.
^vening ; the ftables being univerfally muc
^u/ing meal-t'irn.es,

The

i3. YORKSHIRE. 173

The fhow confifts of well-bred hunters, in-
ferior faddlc-horfes, and light coach-horfes $
mod of them being bred in the Vale, on the
Wolds, or in Holdcrnefs ; fome few from
Cleveland and the upper part of the Vale of
York.

The purchafcrs are the London dealers and
foreigners, efpecially of FRANCE and PRUSSIA.

In 1/83, the French markets being then
recently opened by the peace, fcveral French
dealers were at this fhow. The favourite
colours, yellow bays, greys; and cheinuts.
Brown, the Knglimmari's favourite colour,
is difliked by foreigners.

But of late years the principal part of the
firft-rate horfes have been bought by the
dealers, foreign and dome flic, previous to the
JboWj at the houfes of the country dealers or
the breeders.

The prices various : from fifteen to fifty
pounds includes the majority of the made-up
horfes fold at Malton-fhow. They are led in
firings to London, or Ihipped off at Hull for
foreign markets. In 1783, a vefifel laden
with horfes, bought at this fhow and in the
neighbourhood, was loft off the coaft of
Vorkfhirc.

V. TREAT-

i74 HORSE S. ij.

V. TREATMENT OF WORKED HORSES. In
a DiiVid where the working of oxen has
been for many ages the eftablifhed practice,
it cannot be expedted that any very accurate
management of DRAUGHT-HORSES can have
taken place. But in a country which has
always been confidered as the fou.rce of good
HUNTERS, and the fchool of good horfeman-
ihip, it may be reafonably fuppofed that a
iuperiority of management prevails.

This, however, is not, from what I have
feen, the cafe. The only ftriking feature of
igerrrcnt which has caught my notice is,
that of turning hunters and other hard-
ridden horfes out into the field in the day-
time in winter j cold or warm, and fornetimes
wet or dry : a practice which has been cried
tip by many great horfemen, and is to be met
with in every part of the kingdom ; though
nowhere fo prevalently, perhaps, as in this
country.

It has always ftruck me as a bad prac-
tice. Neverthelefs, in compliance with the
cuftom of the place I was in, I let a mare,
which I rode into the country in 1782,-

run

j3. YORKSHIRE. 175

run out to grafs on leifure-days, and He in
the houic at nights. The confequence was
unfavourable, and fufficicntty ftriking to in-
duce me to minute the circumftances at ths
dole of the occurrence.

As the fubjecV appears to be of confi-
derable importance, I will here copy th«
Minute.

«c 1783, March n. There are perhaps few
horfes which will bear to be hunted one day
and turned out to grafs the next. My bro-
ther's practice is to let his horfes run at
grafs in the middle of the day throughout
winter. In conformity with' this plan, mine
was turned out in the day-time whenever I
did not want to ufc her. On my arrival here
in November lad, though I had rode her a
journey of two hundred miles, fhe was as fat
as a mole, and her carcafe round as a barrel.
In the early part of winter I rode her a good
deal, and mewed her the hounds generally
once a-week. With this excrcife I was not
furprifed at herfhrinking. But having more
lately given her eafe in order that fhe might
recover her flem and fpirirs, without rinding
any alteration, J had good reafon to think

that

i75 HORSES. 13;-

that it was not altogether the work, but the
treatment, which kept her down ; for with
all the indulgence I could give her, her fides,
ten days ago, were clapped together, and her
hide ftuck as clofe to her ribs as if it had
been glued to them. Her appetite for dry
meat at lead was gone. She would let her
corn lie in the manger untouched; though
for the time I have had her — fix years— fhe
has always been a remarkable good feeder.
1 had forne blood taken from her, but ihe
flill remained the fame. Sufpecting that
hanging after the grafs was the only caiife of
her ill-thriving, (he has for the laft ten days
been kept entirely in the houfe. Her fkin is
already looTe and filky, and (lie calls for corri
every time the flable-door is opened. The
other day fhe wanted fpurs.- Now Ihe is all

fpirits again. turned out a mare, which

he had hunted the day before, to grafs, on a
told day. She got a violent cold ; was feized
-of her limbs ; and it has been with great dif-
ficulty he has faved her. began to turn

cut a valuable mare which he hunted occa-
fionaliy ; but finding that fhe refufed her dry
meat, he difconiinued it ; and now finds that

fhe

,3. YORKSHIRE. 177

flie has taken to her hay and corn again.
My brother's horfe, ufed to it as he has been
from his infancy, and pampered as he con-
ftantly is, looks more like a common hack
than a hunter.

" There are two reafons why aJiorfe which
is fubjeded to violent exercife mould not be
expofed at grafs, in fevere weather. It takes
them off their dry meat; and horfcs which
fwcat much are in the nature of things more
chilly, fuffer more from pinching cold, and
are more liable to be feized by acute dif-
orders, than horfes which have more mode-
rate exercife, and whofe frames are lefs relax-
ed. A horfe which has been enured to thofe
tranfuions of heat and cold will, no doubt,
bear theni better than one which has always
been ufed to a warm liable ; and which cer-
tainly ought not to be expofed to fuch dan-
gerous treatment without the greateft pre-
caution.

" I am neverthelefs of opinion, that letting
a horfe run out in winter keeps his legs cleaner
and more fupple than (landing always in the
liable. My mare was not frefher on her legs

VOL. II. N at

178 HORSES. 13,

at four years old than fhe has been this win-
ter. And if hunters could be turned out on
leifure-days, when the weather is tolerably
fine, into a fpacious place to hay and corn,
without grafs, I am of opinion it would be of
great fervice to them. Horfes which are un-
avoidably expofed to tranfitions from heat to
cold — as hunters frequently are, in faunter-
ing by the fide of a cover after a hard run —
ought, indifputably, to ftand in a cool ftable.,
and to be expofed to the open air on leifure-
days, fo far as the {late of perfect, health and
wgffur will permit : but no farther."*

I make no comment on the foregoing facts
and reflections. I infert them as a caution
to the inexperienced : and as hints to thofe
who wifli to hit the happy medium of treat-
ment.

Turning out horfes to grafs in the fpring. — I
met with an idea in this Diftrict refpecting
the firft turning out of a horfe entirely to
grafs, which deferves to be generally known.

When a horfe is thrown up, or turned out
at nights to gvafs, in the fpring of the year,
it is common to choofe nie forenoon of a fine
day to do ic in. The natural confequence is,*

the

«3. YORKSHIRE. 179

the horfe fills his belly during the funjhinc,
and lays him down to reft in the cold of the
night ; thereby probably expofing himfelf to
diforders.

A much better pra&ice prevails here. The
horfe, inftead of being turned out in the
morning, is turned out at bed-time. The con-
fcquence is, he eats all night, and fleeps in the
funfhine of the next day *.

* It is generally underftood here, that HORSES AT
GRASS do not require WATER. They are frequently
kept for months together in dry upland paftures with-
•ut water, and without any apparent iftconveniency.

N 2 CATTLE;

J8o CATTLE. 14.

CATTLE.

IN A SEQUESTERED Vale abound-
ing with GRASSLAND, cattle may be expect-
ed : they are the moft natural flock.

In the uninclofed ftate of this Vale, the
Conimons and Cars were applied chiefly to
the rearing of WORKING OXEN and a few
DAIRY cows. In the Weil Marfh.es and
other central parts of the Vale, which have
been inclofed time immemorial, and which,
until of late years, have always lain in a ftate
of rough grafs, great numbers of YOUNG
CATTLE were reared for fale.

Converting the Lowlands to arable; in-
clofing the Commons ; and laying the arable
fields to grafs, have wrought a confiderablc
change in what may be called the ECONOMY
OF LIVE STOCK ; more efpecially in the ECO-
NOMY OF CATTLE. HAIR i ES have iricrcafed ;

GRAZIN*

H. YORKSHIRE. ,81

GRAZING has been introduced; and REAR-
ING has declined.

Thus far, however, the Vale may be fakl
to have reared its own flock ; excepting
fome few SCOTCH CATTLE, which are annu-
ally brought into it for the purppfe of clear-
ing rough paftures in winter ; and to be
fatted on fecondary grazing-grounds the en-
fuing fummer.

To give an adequate idea of the nature
and management of cattle in this Diftrict, it
will be proper to divide the fubject into four
principal divifions : namely,

1. The Species or breedr

2. Cows and dairying.

3. Rearing cattle,

4. Fatting cattle.

I. SPECIES. Within the memory of a per-
fon now living ; namely, about feventy years
ago; the ancient breed of BLACK cattle,
which probably once prevailed throughout
England, and whofe name is ftill very impro-
perly ufed in fpeaking of cattle in general,
were the only breed of cattle in this DiftricT:.
By defcription, they appear to have refemblecjl
the prefent breed of the Lowlands of Scot-
N 3 land :

182 CATTLE. 14.

land : moftly all black ; but fome with white
faces: moftly loomed', but fome of them
" humbled ;" that is bornlefs.

To thefe fucceeded a BLACK AND WHITE
breed ; probably a variety of the original
fpecies. But ftill the red cow's milk was con-
lidered as medicinal ; and many inveterate
diforders were no doubt cured with it : that
is to fay, by a perfeveranee in milk-diet.

The black mottles, probably a tranfient
fort, were fucceeded by the LONG- HORN ED or
" Craven breed :" the probable, and, I be-
lieve, undoubted origin of the prefent cele-
brated breed of the Midland counties.

But in a country where the bufinefsof ara-
tion was carried on principally by oxen, this
breed was found extremely inconvenient.
Horns a yard long were not only trouble-
fome but dangerous in yoke j efpecially in
the narrow roads and hollow ways with which
the Diflri6t formerly abounded. Accidents
.were frequently happening to them j by get-
ting their horns entangled in the hedge or
the bank; fometimes breaking off their horns j
but more frequently breaking their necks.

This

I4. YORKSHIRE. 183

This was a fufficfent inducement for a-
dopting the SHORT-HORNED or " Holdernefs
breed :" probably of Dutcb extraction. This
change took place fome forty or fifty years
ago : and the ihort-horned breed flill pre-
vails; though it has undergone feveral al-
terations fince its firft introduftion.

The firft variety of this fpecies of cattle
which I can recoiled:, was a thick, large-
boned, coarfe, clumfy animal : remarkably
large behind, with thick gummy thighs.
Always flefhy, but never fat; thefle/b being
of a bad quality. This, however, was not
the worft : the monftrous fize of the buttocks
of the calf was frequently fatal to the cow.
Numbers of cows were annually loft in calv-
ing. Thefe monfters were ftigmatized with
the epithet Dutch -but locked. This was pro-
bably the worft breed the Vale ever knew.

The unprofitablcnefs of the " Dutch
breed" being evident, men of difcernment
began to fet about improving it. In the
courfe of the laft twenty years the bone has
been lowered, the hind-quarters reduced, and
the flefh and fatting quality Very much im-
proved ; not by foreign admixtures and un-
N 4 natural

j 84 CATTLE. 14.

natural erodings, but by choofing the cleaned
and befl-flefhed bulls and heifers from among
their own or their neighbours flock.

It is very obfervable, however, that in ef-
fecting this improvement, the horn has been
considerably lengthened ; the prefent prevail-
ing breed appearing as if it were a cr.ofs be-
tween the old Ihort horizontal horn — (pro-
vincially, " buckle-horns") — and the middle
elevated horn of Herefordfhire and Suffcx :
not, perhaps, from either of thefe breeds
having been employed in the improvement,
but merely from the circumftance of a " fine
horn" — namely, a clean, fmall, fharp horn —
having been fy/hionalk for the lafl twenty
years.

This (hews how much the appearance, as
well as the nature or conflitution, of a given
breed of flock may be altered and improved,
without calling in theafiiflance of alien breeds.
Even the Dutch buttocks were probably bred
in England.

The Holdernefs breed, on their firft intro-
duction into the Vale, were faid to be thin-
quartered, too light behind, and too coarfe
; large Ihoulders, coarfe necks, and

deep

14. Y'O R K S H I R E. ^5

deep dewlaps. This form being found dif«-
advantageous to the butcher, encreafing the
quantity of the coarfer parts, and reducing
the weight of the prime pieces, the breeder
endeavoured to enlarge the hind-quarters ;
and had he (lopped when he had got tp the
happy medium, he would have wrought a
good work. But the faihion was fet;— •'" clod-
dy" bullocks were in eftimation ; and their
evil qualities were overlooked until they wcve
rendered too obvious, and the conftcjuences
above-mentioned had taken place.

The form and fize of the PRESENT BREED
PF THE VALE may be leen in the following
dimenfions of a working ox rifing five years
old ; above par as to form, but fomeyvhat
beneath it in point of fize.
Height at the withers, four feet eleven inches.
of the brifket from the ground,

twenty inches.

Sniulleft girt, fevcn feet four inches.
Largeft girt, eight feet five inches.
Created width at the (boulder, twenty-two

and a half inches.
•• at the buckle, twenty-three

skid a half inches.

Grtatcft

186 C A T T L E. 14,

Greatefl width at the round-bone, twenty-one

inches.
Length from forehead to nache, eight feet

five inches.
— the center of the fhoulder-

knob to the center of the huckle, four

feet one inch.
'— the center of the huckle to

the extremity of the nache, twenty-two

inches.

Length of the horns, fourteen inches.
Width of the horns at the points, twenty-two.

inches.

The eye full and quick.
The head and neck clean.
The bone fomewhat large.
The chine and buttocks full.
The fleih foft and mellow to the han.d'
The colour blood-red, marked with white.

But a variety new to the Vale is now creep-
ing into it : the TEES-WATER BREED; — a.
variety of the Ihort-horned fpecies. This va-
riety is eftablifhcd on the banks of the Tees,
at the head of the Vale of York, and is held
out as the " true Yorkfhire Ihort-horned
breed." Be this as it may, much attention

has

I4. YORKSHIRE. 187

has been beftowed on its eftablifhment ; and
it appears to be at prcfent a mod valuable
breed of cattle : valuable, I mean, to the
grazier and butcher: the bone, head, an4
neck fine ; the chine full; the loin broad ;
the carcafe throughout large and well- fa-
ftiioned -, and the fiefh and fatting quality
equal, or perhaps fuperior to thofc of the pre-
fent breed of the Vale ; which, however, ap-
pear to be more afti-ve, more athletic, and
fitter for \\\eyoke or harnefs.

In forming that variety, a horn very dif-
ferent from that which is prevalent in the
Vale has been produced. The " buckle-
horn" is in this cafe, as in the other, fome-?
what lengthened ; but \btfafeiftMble horn on
the banks of the Tecs is a clubbed down-
hanging horn, as if, in forming it, a dafh of
Craven blood had been thrown in. And it
may be a moot point ; whether the horns of
the two breeds, now particularly under no-
tice, may have' been produced by faihion
alone ; or whether the Tees- water horn may
not have been altered from the original fliort
horn, by a flight intermixture of the Craven
Jpreed j and whether the Holdernefs breed,

from

,88 CATTLE. -14.

from which the Vale cattle have indtfput-
ably originated, may not have had a fimilar
admixture of the middle-horned blood.

I wifh to trace the origin and progrefs of
the different breeds of cattle in the Iftand ;
but I find it will be a difficult taik to do it
with ftridt accuracy.

The HORN is the beft criterion for diftin-
s;uiihing the different fpecies (if the term be
applicable) of cattle. It is a PERMANENT

SPECIFIC CHARACTER. The Colour, though

not altogether accidental, is changeable ; and
neither the form nor theflc/k are permanently
charadleriftie of any particular fpecies. Good
form and good fiefh may be found in every
fpecies ; though they are by no means equally
prevalent nor equally excellent in all. But a
horn fix inches long was never yet produced
by the Craven breed ; nor one a yard long
by the Holdernefs breed. And the middle-
horned breed of Herefordihire, Suffex, and
oilier parts of the IQand, appears to be as
diftinft zfpeties as either of the former.

Thcie are my only reafons for being fo mi-
r.utely deicriptive of the horns of ca!:tlc. I
alii not a BIGOT to horns of any ihape or

length.

I2r. YORKSHIRE, 189

length. I would as foon judge of a man's
heart by the length of his fingers, as of the
value of a bullock by the length of his

horns.

If hhflejb be good and well laid on, and his
e/al be froportionably fmatt; if he thrive welt,
fat kindly at an early agt, or work to a late one
if required ; I would much rather have h^rrt
entirely without horns, than with any which
ENTHUSIASM can point out.

The doctrine of horns has long appeared
to me as a fpecies of SUPERSTITION among
Farmers, and as a CRAFT convenient to lead-
ing-breeders, in eftablifhing their refpecYive
fyjtems.

But left I fhould have ,caufe to repent of
my rafhnefs in fpeaking thus irreverently of
horns, I will here allow them all the merit
which, in my opinion, truth entitles them to.

The horn has been mentioned as a perma-
nent fpecific character of cattle. Hence in
varieties it may have its ufe as a criterion.
Thus fuppofing a male and female of iupe-
rior form and fiem, and with horns refcm-
bling each other (as nearly as the horns of
males arid females of the t'amc variety natu-
rally

igo C A T T L E. 14;

rally do), no matter whether fhort or long,
fharp or clubbed, rifing or falling; andfup-
pofing a variety to be eftabliihed from this
parentage, it is highly probable that the
horns of the parents would continue for a
while to be character iftic of the true breed,
and might by inferior judges be depended
upon, in fome degree, as a criterion.

But it is indifputable that horns remain
the fame, while the flefh and fatting quality
change ; and every man of fuperior judge-
tnent will depend more upon the form and
handle of the carcafe, than upon the length
and turn of the horn. For it is a notorious
fact, 'that the individuals of a given variety
may have exactly the fame horns, without
having exaflly either the fame fafhion or the
fame flelh.

If there be any criterion or point of a beait
which may be miner/ally depended upon as a
guide to the grazier, it is the EYE, not the
horn. The eye is a mirror in which the
health and habit of the animal at haft may be
feen'with a degree of certainty.

II. Cows,

i4. YORKSHIRE. 191

II. Cows. This admits of two principal
fubdivifions.

1. Management of Cows.

2. Dairying.

i. MANAGEMENT OF Cows. This fubjedt
requires to be further fubdivided into

1. Rearing. 3. Treatment.

2. Purchasing. 4. Difpofal.

1. Rearing. It has already been fai'd that
the Vale ftill continues to rear its own ftock.
The rearing of cows will appear in the next
lection, under the general head REARING
CATTLE.

2. Purchasing Cows. Though a dairyman
may in general rear his own cows, he mud
be fortunate indeed if he never have occaliou
to purchafe a cow.

The favourite points of amilking-cow here
are, a thin thigh; a lank thin-fkinned bag
hanging backward ; teats long, and fufri-
ciently free of milk without fpilling it ; dug
veins large j and horns yellow. 1 will not
vouch for the infallibility of all thcfe points ;
but this I can fay, that I never noticed a cow
faith a thick flcihy thigh which was a good
milker.

The dimenfions of the handfomcft cow I
have feen of the true Vale breed, rifing five

years

IQI CATTLE. 4.

years old, and within a few months of calving,
are as follow :

Height at the withers; four feet five inches.
of the brifket, eighteen and a half

inches.

Smalleft girt, feven feet one inch.
Largeft girt, nine feet two inches.
Width at the ilioulder, twenty-one and a half

inches:

. huckle, twenty-four inches.

round-bone, nineteen inches.

Length from forehead to nache, feven feet

five inches.
— — ' • center of the fhoulder-knob

to center of the huckle, three feet eleven

inches.
__: j- center of huckle to the out

of the nache, twenty-one inches.
Length of the horns, ten inches.
Width at the points, eighteen and a half

inches.

Head, neck, and leg,/ȣ and clea/t.
Chine full, and back level.
Colour, a darkiih red mottled with white.

2. Treat-

I4. YORKSHIRE. 193

3. Treatment of Cows. Here, as in all coun-
tries where grazing gives place to the dairy,
milked cows are indulged with the beft the
farm will afford. The bcft land for pafture
in fummer ; the head of the fog in autumn ;
and generally hay mod of winter. This
practice has already been noticed. If the
prefent breed of cows require hay when they
give no milk, it is a depreciation of their
value as milking-cows.

Be this as it may, there is certainly one dif-
advantage of the Vale breed of cows ; which,
I believe, is common to all the varieties of
the fhort-horned breed. This is their diffi-
culty in calving. For not with {landing the
fiejbinefs of the hind-quarter has been fuffi-
ciently ddne away, the bones dill remain.
The loin is flill broad, and the huckles Hill
protuberate; perhaps too much, either for
fightlinels or ufe.

An improper treatment of the cow may
encreafe the difficulty. A cow can fearcely
be too low in flefh a month before flie
calves. Good keep three weeks or a month
before calving gives due (Irength and a flufh
of milk. The caufe may be difficult to point

VOL. II. O out

r94 C A T T L E. 14,

out with precifion ; but the effeft is Well
afeertained.

It is a fad:, that fhort-horned cows feldorh
calve without ajfiftance. Their hour of calv-
ing is watched with obftetric folicitude •, the
pcrlbn who has the care of them frequentl y
rifing in the night, and fometimes fitting up
xvith them the night through. From con-
ftant obfervation, however, a good dairymari
will judge at bed-time the hour of calving,
fufficiently near to know whether it will be
neceffary for him to rife before his ufual
time.

4. Market for Co<tvs. Milking-cows are
moftly fold at the neighbouring fairs,
with calves by their Jides. Sometimes, but
not frequently, they are fold as incalvers.
The medial price of a cow and calf, on a par
of tile lad ten years, feven to nine pounds.

Dry cows — provincially, " drapes" — arc
either fold at the fairs to jobbers, who buy
them up for the Midland or South-of-England
graziers, or are farted on the dairy-farm
xvith aftergrafs,-' turneps, &c. — The medial
price' of a lean " drape" of the Vale breed, on
a par of the hft ten years, five to fix pounds.

2. DAIRY-

U< YORKSHIRE. 195

£. DAIRYING. The objects of the Dairy
are,

j. Calves, for the butcher and for rearing.

2. Butter, for home confumption and the

London market.

3. Skim-cheefe, for home confumption.

4. Swine, for family-ufe and for fale.

i. Calves. The rearing of calves will be
fpoken of in the next fedtion. The fatting of
calves belongs properly to this.

There is a practice, pretty common in this
neighbourhood, though not general, which
merits notice from its fingularity rather than
from its excellency. In this practice the
calf never fucks its dam ! which, from the
time of her calving, is milked into a pail, and
the warm milk immediately given to the
calf; which, never having had the teat, foon
learns to drink.

The chief reafon given for this practice is,
that the cow does not pine after her calf; fo
much, at lead, as when it is permitted to
fuck her.

For rearing calves I can fee no material ob-
jection to this method, except that of addi-
tional labour, which is dill more encreafed
O 2 when

*$6 CATTLE. 14*

when calves avefatted'm that way ; the time
being longer in this cafe : and it feems to be
allowed that calves do not fat fo kindly with
the pail as when they fuck the cow ; nor is in
probably fo good for the udder of the cow.

2. Butter. Great quantities of butter are
annually fent out of the Vale. Many thou-
iand firkins are fent from Malton ; and the
produce of the weft end of the Vale goes
principally to York.

The fraternity of cheefemongers in Lon
don have agents, placed in different parts of
the country, filled " fearchers," who probe
and examine the quality of every firkin ;
marking it firft, fecond, tbird, or " grcafe"
according to its intrinsic quality.

The firfts and fuonds go to the London
market ; the " greaft" to the woollen-ma-
nufa&ory in the weft of Yorkshire.

There are " weighers" likewife employed
to check the weight of each firkin, each of
which has its maker's name branded upon it,
Thefe are wife regulations :— the fearchers'
mark is a guide to the London dealer, as the
farmer's name is to the country " fac~tor." If

it

,4. YORKSHIRE. 197

it will not bear the fearch, the fador has a
clue to the farmer ; if, on its arrival in Lon-
don, it do not anfwer the mark, it is returnee}
upon the fearcher.

After what has been faid in the RURAL
ECONOMY OF NORFOLK on the fubjeft of
PUTTER-MAKING, there is nothing in the
pra&ice of this Diftridr. which entitles it to
minute description. There are, neverthelcfs,
a few particulars which may merit notice.

CleanlinefS) the ban's of good management, is
well attended to in mod dairies • perhaps top
clofely in fome. Formerly, the milk was fet
wholly in deep wooden bowls, almoft fcmi-
globular : a worfe form could not be wel£
devifed. Now, it is fet principally in leads—
provincially, ?' lead-bowls" — made in tha
ufual broad flat (hallow form ; a form much
Better calculated for raifjng the cream *.

O 3 Thefe

* In fome countries milk-leads are fkimmcd with a
Ikimming-difli. Here, the milk is let off through 4
hole in the center, leaving the cream in the lead. The
pipe through which the milk efcapes is fitted with a tall
wooden ftopper. Previous to drawing the ftopper, a
lo.jfc wide leaden pipe, feven or eight inches long, is put
over it. The bafe of this pipe is notched, or otherwife
made uneven, fo as to admit the niilkto fteal away be-
neath it, without endangering the efcape of the cream ;
which (the pipe being removed) is afterwards let down
through the fame aperture.

198 C A T T L E. 14,

Thefe leads are fcalded as often as they are
•ufed ; and, :in common practice, are fcoured
about once a month. But this has been
found, in the practice of one whofe cleanli-
nefs cannot be doubted, to be injurious to
the butter churned next after the fcouring of
the leads. The effect is not immediately ap-
parent ; but the butter will not keep ; pre-
iently turning rancid. She therefore fcours
her leads only once a year ; about Mayday ;
and then with fine fea-fand ; not with/^//;
the common material ufed ;n fcouring lead
bowls *.

The barrel.churn is now chiefly in ufe. An
improvement has lately been made in its
form. Formerly the flaves were nearly
1 flraight ; now they are bent j the churn
being made coniiderably bulging. By this
means a churn large enough to churn a fir-
kin (56 Ib.) at once, may be ufed to churn

three

* I mention this circumft,ance, as many " grc-afe fir-
kins" may be made through the means here noticed ;
and, if the evil effeft be caufed by a folution of the par-
ticles of lead loofencd by the icouring, the butter, if
eaten in a recent ftate, may be of flill worfe confq*
Alienee.

*4. YORKSHIRE. 1.99

three or four pounds. The entire quantity
qf the cream, though fmall, being collected
in the bulge, receives its clue agitation. The
" Handing churn," an aukward utenfil, feems
to be going out of ufe. A barrel churn,
two feet and a half long, two feet diameter
at the mouth, and twenty-one inches at
the ends, with dalhers fix inches wide, will
ch.urn either a firkin, or a few pounds, of
butter. The price of fuch a churn is about
fifty {hillings ; iron hoops, cranks, frame, 8cc.
inclufivc.

The fi)kins are made in the neighbour-
hood, at very low prices (price of a " whole
firkin," weighing 12 Ib. lod. to is. — of a
" half firkin," weighing 7 Ib. 8 d. to pd.).
The ftaves and heads of aih ; the hoops
principally of hazle. The firkin is fcaldcd
and falted on the infide, previous to its being
ufed : fait is flrewcd at the bottom; the
butter clofely kneaded in; covered at the
top with fait ; and headed up for market.

The " firft gathering" is generally font to

piarket in the fpring, in a recent (late ; the

V fummer butter" (namely, that gathered bc-

O . twccn.

200 CATTLE. 14,

tvveen the latter end of May and the begin-
ning of November) is fent from time to time
as the factor's or the farmer's convemency
requires -, or is fometimes kept to the
clofe of the feafon, and carried at once to
market.

The price of firkins, for the laft ten years,
aSs. to 325.

3. CHEESE. Skim-cheefe — provincially,
" old-milk checfe" — is the natural accom-
paniment of a butter dairy. In the richer
parts of the Vale, towards the banks of the
Rye, fome " new-milk cheefes" are madej
and of a quality nearly equal to thofe of
Glouceflerfhire. But on the leaner parts of it,
this Jpecies of cheefe is feldom attempted.

I have met with nothjng ftrikingin the ma-
nufacturing of fkim-cheefe to deferve notice ;
excepting what relates to the CURD-MILL ; a
iiteniil of the dairy which I never met with
elfevvhere, and which is new to this DiftridL

In making Jkim* cheefe, the curd is broke-up.
in the whey ; the whey, when the curd has
iubfided, laded off j the remainder, with the
curd, thrown into a coarfe ftrainer j and hav-

94* YORKSHIRE. 201

ing lain abroad in this (fpread over a
large tray, with a hole at the corner to
let out the whey which drains off) until
quite cool, the corners and loofe part
of the ftramer are gathered together in the
hand, and the curd fqueezed as hard as the
hands can prefs it. The curd in the ftrainer
is then put into a vat, and fet in the prefs
for a few minutes to difcharge the remain-
ing whey more effe&ually. The whey hav-
ing done running, the curd is taken out of
the prefs, and rebroke as finely as pofiible ^
faked ; and returned to the prefs.

It is in the final breaking the CURD-MILL
is ufed. The labour of doing it by hand,
when a large quantity of curd is to be bro-
ken, is almoft intolerable. In a large dairy,
* curd-mill muft be found very valuable *.

The

* CURD-MILL. This utenfil confifts of two rollert
Working in a thin deep cheft, one above the other ;
on the principle of the common cyder-mill of the fou-
^hern counties. The upper one is ftuck with iroa
fpikes, an inch long, and i-J- inch afunder.— The lower
one is clofely fet with bevelheaded nail", rifing with a
(harp angle about a tenth of an inch out of the furface
jf the roller. The curd, partially broken, is put into

a ho|j-

2p2 GAT T L E. 14,

The confumptlon of ikim-cheefe is princi-
pally in the neighbourhood of its manufacture.
It is eaten by almoft all ranks of people. If
well made, it is not only palatable, but, I ap-
prehend, a very wholefomc food. To have
it in perfection it fhould be, what is called,
kept one year uncfer another : that is^ ihould
not be eaten under a year old.

The price on a par of the laft ten years 2S.
to 2 s. 6d. a flonc (of 14 lb.).

4. Swine. The whey of Ikim-milk is only
a lean beverage for fwine ; but mixt with
butter-milk, a tolerable food is formed.
Pigs, however, are only grown, feldom/^/-
ted, with the '* fwillings" of the dairy.

a hopper, the bottom of which is 'the upper roller ;
which working a^ainit; the fide of the box, prepares
five curd for the boit'Jin roller ; which, being finer, and
working clofer, grinds it down to fan 11 granules. The
Boilers are about fix inch. a diameter, and fifteen inches
Jong. They are bo h of them turned by one crank ;
put on one end of the axle of the upper roller. On,
^he oppofite ends of the rollers are fixt two even-
lopthed wood wheels; working in each other, and
giving niotio.i to the lower roller.

14- YORKSHIRE. 203

The produce of a good cow in a common
year is thus calculated ;

A rearing calf — 0150

3 firkins of butter *, — at 305. 4 10 o
v cwt. of fkim-cheefe, — atiSs. 090
Milk and whey for hogs o 10 o

£640

III. REARING CATTLE.
j. CALVES.

1. Time cf rearing. Candlemas to Q14
Ladyday.

2. Points of a rearing Calf. The form I
pafs over in this place,, as not having met
with an accurate definition of it in this coun-
try ; where the blood and the colour feem to be
more attended to by breeders in general than
the form.

A " raw nofe ;" that is, .a white muzzle 9
with noftrils red on the infide ; is confidered
as a bad mark, portending a tender beaft :
on the contrary, a black or brown muzzle,
with dark-coloured noftrils, is efleemed a

fign of hardinefs.

A calf

* A large dairy of cows in which heifers are inter-
piixt, feldom turn out three firkins each. Two and a
half is, I believe, efteemcd a good produce, taking the
round.

**4 C A T T L E. 14,

A calf entirely white is generally rejected,
•under a notion that white cattle are of a ten-
der nature j that they are peculiarly fubjecl:
to loufmefs ; and that they are difliked by
their affociates ! The fineft ox I ever knew
pf the Holdernefs breed was white. The
£neft ox I ever faw of the Tees-water breed
was white. One of the fineft cows now in
the Vale is white. Neverthelefs, valuable
calves are annually fent to the butcher, merely
becaufe they are all white. The fmalleft
fpeck of colouring ; even the tip of an ear,
Ted or black ; faves them from profcrip-
tion : under a notion, no doubt, that it har-
dens their nature; defends them from lice j
and renders them acceptable to their com-
panions : a vulgar error, which is not con-
lined to this Diftrict; but which ought, in
ji>y opinion-, to be univerfally exploded.

3. Gelding Calves. Oxen in this country
(as probably in others) are peculiarly fub-
jecl to a ftoppage in the inteftines; owing,
it is believed, to the " blood firings" of
the teftieles being left in the body at the
jime of gelding. The fact feems to be, that

I4. YORKSHIRE. 265

the diforder is generally caufed by a link of
the inteftines being thrown (in playing, it is
fuppofed) acrofs a ligature fituated near the
anus ; and the cure is radically effected by*
breaking this ligature : an operation which
is not unfrequently performed *.

If the ligature be really a firing of the
tefticle^ indcxteroufly left in the calf, much
caution is requifite in the operation of geld-
ing.

An experienced cutter performed it thus J
Having extricated the tefticle,. and cut the
icminal chord—the " nature ftring," — he

forced

* I remenrtber once to fiave feen this operation ; and
Iiave lately heard it minutely defcribed by a pcrfon
who has repeatedly performed it. It is fimple and fafe.
An orifice large enough to admit the hand being made
in the coats of the abdomen— on the near or left-fide —
(between the ribs, the huckle, and the flank) the in-
teftines are drawn forward into their natural fituation,
and the ftring broke : otherwife the beaft is liable to a
tcpedtion of the fame diforder. The fymptom* arc
rcftleflhefs, with attempts (but not violent, I believe; to
beat the belly with the hind legs; and with a ft >ppagc
of the focces ; nothing parting through the body but a
white (limy matter. In many places I apprehend this
diforder is not well underft cd ; being miftaken for
9iaw-bi*n<tt or other internal diforder. Death is of
cjurfe the inevitable coufe^uencc.

ao6 CATTLE. 44;

forced his finger and thumb upward, asl
it were into the body of the calf, (which
flood on its legs during the operation) draw-
ing the " blood firing" twelve or fourteeti
inches long : the point of it appearing not
abrupt, as if broken off; but fine as a
thread, as if wholely extracted.

4. Treatment of rearing Calves. This dif-
fers in the practice of different individuals.
In an inftance which, perhaps, may be con-
fidered as a fair fpecimen, the treatment is
this : — The calf never fucks its dam j but
has her milk warm from the teat given to it
twice a day in a pail ; from the time of
calving until it be a fortnight or three weeks
old. At that age the calves begin to have
half new milk and half ikim-milk, boiled
(which is thought to be more •' nourifhing"
than raw milk) for about three weeks longer :
they are then put to all fkim-milk, or to milk
and water, with perhaps a little oat-meal of
wheat flour fire wed over it * ; and with hay,

irt

•* Sometimes a fmall quantity of LINSEED JBL£Y i«f
nuxt with thin milk and water, and is found of great
fervice ; mak'ng their fltms remarkably fleck and filky.
If too much be ufed, it is liable to make them'fcour.

14- YORKSHIRE. ic^

in the early part of the feafon; or grafs, as
foon as fprinir puts in. In the latter end of
Mav, or the beginning of June, according to
the time of their bei,.g dropped, they are
Turned away to grafs^ and water only, for the
fummer.

2. YEARLINGS. Young cattle are, I be-
lieve, invariably, houfcd the firft winter :— »•
generally loofe ; and are generally indulged
with the beft hay the farm will afford.
Their fummer pafture is fuch as conveniency
will allow them: moftly of a fecondary na-
ture. In the open-field (late, the common
was generally their fummer pafture.

3. Two- YEAR OLDS. The fecond winter,
oat ftraw is the common fodder of young
cattle. Generally tied by the neck in hovels
or under flieds. Their fummer pafture, com-
fnons, woody waftes, rough grounds, or what-
ever beft fuits their owner's conveniency.

At two years old the STEERS- — provinci-
ally, " itots,"— are generally broke-into the
yoke; but are not, by good hufbandmen,
worked much at that age.

At two years old, alib, the HEIFERS — pro-
yincially, <* whies," are generally put to the

bulJ.

io8 CATTLE. i£

bull. This, however, is not an invariable
practice. In the ftate of commonage, they
were frequently kept from the bull until they
were three years old : ndw, in the ftate of
Inclofure arid improvement, and at the pre-
fent high rents, they are frequently fuffered
to take the bull when yearlings ; bringing
calves at two years old.

This is an interefting fubje& in the ma-
nagement of cattle. Farmers in every Dif-
tridt differ in their opinions refpedting it.

The arguments for bringing heifers in at
two YEARS OLD, are, that they come fooner
to profit ; and that farmers cannot afford, at
the prefent rate of rent, to let them run, un-
profitably, until they be three years old.

On the other hand, the argument in favour
of bringing them in at THREE YEARS OLD is
that, not being {tinted in their growth, they
make larger finer co'ws than thofe which are
fuffered to bear calves at a more early age.

But I have not yet met with any man who
even attempts to prove which of the two"
is, upon the whole, the more profitable prac-
tice.

the

r4- YORKSHIRE. 209

The gardener fcems to be well aware, that
fuffering a tree to bear fruit too early checks
its growth; and there may be fome analogy,
in this refpect, between vegetables and ani-
mals. But even admitting this, if the cow
receive no injury as to thriving, cahing,
milking, nor any other than that of being
checked in point of fize-, the objection ap-
pears to me to fall. If, however, early
production check not only the cow, but her
progeny likewifc, an objection no doubt will
lie againft it.

I have long been of opinion that it is, in
general, the farmer's intereft to let his hei-
fers take the bull whenever nature prompts
them. There is undoubtedly fome prefent
profit arifing from their coming in at an ear-
ly age ; and whether a middlc-iized cow may
not afterwards afford as much neat profit as
one of larger ftature, is certainly a moot point.

Much however depends upon KEEP. A
ftarveliiig heifer will not take the bull at a
year old. Nor ought any yearling heifer
which has taken the bull, ever afterwards to
be dinted in keep. If (he be ill kept while
with calf, there will be danger at, or after,

VOL. II, P the

2IO C A T T L £. 14,

the time of her calving. If afterwards
pinched, there will be danger of her not
taking the bull the next year.

Hence we may infer, with a degree of
fafety, that the propriety, or impropriety, of
bringing heifers into milk at two years old
depends principally upon SOIL and SITU-
ATION.

On a good foil, and in a genial clirnature,
in which heifers do not experience a check
from the time they are dropt, they ought, 1
am clearly of opinion, to be permitted ta
take the bull whenever nature prompts them.

But in lefs genial iituations, where lean
ill-hcrbaged lands are to be paftured with
young cattle, it appears to me equally evi-
dent, that heifers ought not, in ftrictnefs of
management, to be fuffered to come into
milk before they be THREE YEARS OLD.
. GEN. OBSERV. ON REARING CATTLE. The
preient dearnefs, arifmg beyond difpute from
a real fear city, of cattle appears to be a matter
ef fenous import to the community. Had it
.Rot been for the immenfe influx of frifii
cattle, which have, during the laft three or
four years, poured into this Ifland, the gra-
zing

14.' YORKSHIRE. an

zing grounds could not have been fully
(locked ,• nor the markets well fupplied.
There is not, generally fpeaking, any aged
cattle left in this kingdom.

There can be only two reafons of this
fcarcity : either the CONSUMPTION OF BEEF
muft have lately intreafed, or the REARING
<OF CATTLE muft have diminijhed -, or the effect
muft have been produced by the joint opera-
tion of the two caufes.

I vvifh to bring the matter to a rational
iffue; and have endeavoured to colledt evi-
dences in the Diftricts I have vilited. This
Diftrict affords two, which appear to be ad-
mifiible.

Twenty or thirty years ago, there was not,
for the fmaller markets of this Diftrict, a
fingle bead killed (except upon fome extra-
ordinary occafion) during the winter, fpring,
or fummer months. In autumn, particu-
larly in the month of November, confidera-
ble numbers were butchered, to be faked and
hung for winter provifion ; hung-beef being
formerly a ftanding difh, not only in this,
but in other Diftricts *. But the number

* HANGING BEEF. Formerly, before the cultiva-
tion of turneps, £c. as winter food of cattle ; and be-
? * fore

212 CATTLE. 14,

which wefe then killed in autumn was {"matt,
compared with the much greater numbers
that are at prefent butchered in the Dif-
trict; every market of which is now plenti-
fully fupplied with beef the year round ; and
this, notwithstanding considerable quantities
are ftill hung in autumn. The market of
Makon might well vie with the London mar-
kets. If only twice the quantity of beef be
confumed in the Diflrid: now, of what was
confumed fifty years ago, the evidence is
good.

Twenty or thirty years ago, great quanti-
ties of young cattle, bred in the common
paftures, and in the rough grounds of the
marihes, and other central parts of the Vale,
were annually fent out of it. The number
of lean oxen, too,, which were fent out of the

country

fore the ufe of r.il-cake, &c. \vas Known ; more efpe-
cially in open countries, at a diftance from marfhes, fens,
a*id r ch baylaxd Diftricls ; the practice here noticed
v/as a th'.ng of necrjjity. The only opportunity the
huibnnchnan Irad of railing his cattle atove the half-
(larved common-pafture condition, was in the wane of
iummer, with the aftergrafs of the common meadow.,
a.-.d the ftubbies of the common fields : thefe done, his
ifj roes of fatting were exhauftcd, without a poffibility
».'i rt:vj'>v:il,- until the wane of the caiulne; iummciv

14. YORKSHIRE. 213

country was very confiderablc. Now, the
Vale, perhaps, barely rears its own ftock.
A few young cattle may go out of it every
year; but a number of Scotch and fome
Irifli beads, and generally more or fewer
young cattle from the Tees-water quarter, are
annually brought into it. •' A few lean oxen,
(few in companion with what formerly went
out) and fome barren cows ; and a furplus
of fat cattle driven to the ports of Whitby
an4 Scarborough ; may be faid to be the
only cattle which the Vale at prefent fends
to market, .. .

The caufes of this decline are the incrcafe
of horfes ; the increafe of tillage in the lower
parts of the Vale ; and the increafe of the
dairy upon its margins; an increafe of graz-"*
ing grounds in the richer parts ; and, through-
out, an increafe in the confumption of beef.

This too may W fairly admitted as a cir-
cumftantial evidence, at leaft, of a growing
foarcity of cattle at prefent in thtfe king-
dpms. I mc:in a fcarcity comparative with i
the prefent confumption.

1 fliall, in their proper places, have other
evidences to produce. At prefent, there-
fore,, I do not attempt any general conclusions.
P 3 IV. *'AT-

2r4 CATTLE. 14;

IV. FATTING CATTLE. Although graz-
ing has of late years gained fome footing in
the Vale, it does not yet fall under the de-
nomination of a grazing country. A detail of
management mufl not therefore be expected :
and the only incident of practice which has
occurred to my notice, and which appears to
be entitled to a place in this regifter, is the
following ; at once evidencing the proprie-
ty of finifljing fatting cattle ; and giving a
favourable fpecimen of the YORKSHIRE

BREEDS OF CATTLE.

The fubjedt of this incident is a cow
which was bred and fatted in this neighbour-
hood. Her dam was of the improved breed
of the Vale, with an admixture of the Cra-
ven or long-horned breed.- Her fire a Tees*
water bull of the firft blood ; being leaped
at half-a guinea a cow ; which, twelve years
ago, was a very high price.

From the time of h^r being dropped fhe
was remarked as a good thriver ; fhe came in
at three years old; had one cow-calf which
was reared, and three bulls, all of which
died before they were three weeks old ! they

being

*. YORKSHIRE, 315

being feized about that age with a numbnefs
in their limbs; foon dying with jellied joints,
and fymptoms of a general mortification.
Like mod high bred cows, me milked well
for a few weeks after calving ; but afterwards
fell off her milk, and generally got to be
good beef about Michaelmas.

After her laft calf (in 1782) Ihe was milk-
ed until Auguft ; when Ihe was tolerable
beef j worth, at the then low price of beef,
about ten pounds. In autumn me had af-
ter-grafsj in winter turneps, hay, and oat-
fheaves (in the houfe), but no ground corn.
Jn March 1783 Ihe was fold for twenty
pounds to return one guinea : confequently
Ihe paid more than fix millings a week for
fatting.

Jier dimenfions, a few days before flic wa.$
(laughtered, were thefe :

Height about four feet fix inches (not a.f-
furately taken).

Smalleft girt feven feet fix inches,
Barged girt nine feet,

P 4 length

216 CATTLE. 14.

Length from flioulder-point to buckle
four feet.

Length from buckle to the extremity of
the nache, two feet two inches.

Width at the buckles from out to out, two
feet two inches.

Her horns fine; of a whitilh-grey colour ;
ftiarp ; fomewhat refembling the Craven
born ; but fhorter ; and turned upward at the
points in the middle-horn manner : her head.
and neck Imall and clean ; her legs fbort, and
her bone throughput fine.

Her points as to fatnefs were not all of them
full. Her kernel was fmall, and her Jhoulder
bare ; her fore-dug and flank not extraordi-
nary ; her chine and loin were well laid up ;
one dimple, but not regularly cloven ; fhe
was not. what; is called very fat upon : but her
rib, her buckle^ and her nache, were very
good ; and her twift remarkable ; bulging
out in an extraordinary manner *.

She

* Taking the dimenfions of cattle, and defcribing
their points with minutenefs, is not merely a matter
of curiofity. Nothing matures the judgement more
fpeedily, nor gives a more adequate idea of the due
proportion of the parts of a bullock. J never, how-
ever,

>4. YORKSHIRE. 217

She "proved as follows : the quarters equal ;
exa&ly eighteen (lones each ; together feyen-
ty-two Hones (fourteen pounds each) ; the
tallow eight Hones ; the hide feven ftones.

The weight is not remarkably great ; but,
that a fmall cow fliould lay it on in from
Vionths is extraordinary.

ever, underftood that the admeafurement of carle was
reduced, any-where to common prafiice, until lately.
In the Weft of Yorkflnre, I am told, the manufactu-
rers, who kill their own beef, carry meaTuring tapes to
market with them. The butcher by LO ftant practice
may be a match for the grazier with his eye alone : but
it is certainly prudent in the clothier tp take his mca-
fure with him alfo.

A WEIGHING-MACHINE would, however, in this
cafe be a much fafer guide. One, fixed in a (ingle
flail, opening with folding-doors to the ftreet, would
be a good appendage to any market-place.

SHEEP.

S H E E p,

SHEEP,

THERE ARE FEW large flocks kept

in the VALE. Tjie farms are chiefly {mall,
and the commons are now moftly inclofed,
Alrnoll every farmer, however, keeps a few ;
fo-that, on the whole, the number kept is
considerable.

The general economy of fheep is here very
simple. Every man, let his number be great
or fmall, rears his own flock : his flore-flocli
(in the inclofed parts of the Vale) confifting
of ewes, — hoggards,-r-and fheerling wed-
clers j his returns being in fat lambs, — two-
fbeer wedders, (lean or fatted on turneps,
hay,. &c.) and aged ewes. In the richer parts
of the Vale fheerling wedders are fatted.

But in the MORELANDS, and upon the
heights of the northern margin, where confi-.
Arable flocks are kept j efpecially in the

rnora

I5. YORKSHIRE. 219

more central parts of the Morelands ; a diffe-
rent economy prevails. The lambs are all
reared, and the wedders generally kept until
they be three or four fheer ; moftly felling
them and the aged ewes lean, in autumn, to
the Vale farmers : or if the walk — provin-
cially, the " heaf *' — be good, they will fome-
times get fat enough upon the heaths for the
butcher.

1. Species. 3. Treatment,

2. Rearing. 4. Markets.

I. SPECIES. The old common (lock of the
Vale was a thin-carcafed, ill-formed, white-
faced, hornlefs breed. This (perhaps a weak
worn-out variety) has of late years been fo
much improved, as no longer to bear marks
of its former degeneracy. I fpeak of the
more highly improved flocks of the Vale.
The old bafe blood may ftill be detected in
the flocks of lefs attentive breeders.

The improvement has been effected by the
introduction of rams of the Leicefterfhirc
and Tees-water breeds ; the former pur-
chafed or hired of Mr. CULLY of Northum-
berland (a fpirited and fuccefsful difciple of
Jtfr. BAKEWELL of Leicefterfhire) ; and the

latter

220 SHEEP. ^

latter of Mr. Collins, and other attentive
breeders, in the neighbourhood of Darling-
ton, on the banks of the Tees.

Fortunately, perhaps, for the Vale, two of
its moft confiderable farmers, to whom it is
principally indebted for its prefent improved
breeds of (lock, differ in their opinions re-
fpecting the fupcrior excellency of thefe two
breeds of fhcep ; each of them propagating
and encouraging his own favorite breed.

Both of them are excellent, though per-
haps widely different in their origin.. Of the
lylidiand breed I fay nothing in .this place,
as I may hereafter have occafion to fpeak of
it fully. The Tees-water breed fails within
the intention pf the p-refent work.

T^e *? mud" (beep have been inhabitants
of the banks of the Tees time immemorial.
1 semember them twenty years ago of enor-
mous fize, refembijng, when their wool was
ia fu)l growth, the fmalltr breeds of cattle
rather than fhcep. Their feflj neverthelcfs
was of an excellent quality ; their wool (as
long wool) fine, and of an uncommon length^
fingularly adapted to the worftcd maau-
faflory.

The

15. YORKSHIRE. ?.2i

The prelent fafhionable breed is confidef-
ably (mailer than the original fpecies ; but
thi'y are Hill confiderably larger and fuller
of bone than the Midland breed. 'J hey bear
an analogy to the fnort-horncd breed of
cuttle, as thofe of the Midland counties do to
the long-horned. They are not fo com pad",
nor fo complete in their form, as the Leicef-
terfhire ilieep ; neverthelefs the excellency
of their flefh and fatting quality is not doubt-
ed ; and their wool flill remains of a fuperior
ihpie. For the banks of the Tecs, or any-
other rich fat-land country, they may be fin-
gularly excellent *•

The MOREL AND breed of fhcephas always
been very different from that of the Vale,
and has not perhaps varied during a fucceffion
of centuries. It is peculiarly adapted to the
extreme blcakncfs of the climature, and the
extreme coar lends of the herbage. They
live upon the open heaths the year round.
Their food heath, rulhes, and a few of the

fcoerfeft

• In thib Di.lriil the Mkilmd fljeep appear to fain a
jirdcrcnce. (.);ic leading Lr cilc-r lets out a conlidcrablc
number of r.iins t-vcr\- year ; mut has ahvaily got tha
pile: s t ) ten or fil'tccn gu'.n.as tor the feufoa.

$22 S H E E I>. 15;

.coarfefi grafles ; a pafture on which, perhapss
every other breed of Iheep of this kingdom
would ftarve.

The Moreland fheepare probably of Scotch
extraction : they refemble much the Scotch
ilieep which are fometimes brought into the
Vale : their horns wide ; the face black or
mottled ; in countenance and general appear-
ance very much refembling the Norfolk
breed ; except that their wool is fomewhat
longer, and much coarfer, than that of the
Norfolk Iheep. The covering of their but-
tocks is mere hair, refembling the fhag of the
goat, rather than the wool of meep^ But this
is confklered as a mark of hardinefs ; and the
Moor-dale Ihepherds arc faid to prefer a
coarfe-wooled fhaggy tup. The carcafes of
thefe fheep are fmall ; not much larger than
the heath Iheep of Norfolk : the ewes, mo-
derately fatted, weighing from feven to ten
pounds ; the wedders ten to fourteen pounds
a quarter.

II. REARING. The common time of put-
ting ewes to the ram, in the Vale, is from
old Michaelmas to the-'latter end of October ;
bringing them in the latter end of March, or

the

J5. YORKSHIRE. 223

the beginning of ^pril. In the Morehnds,
the latter end of November, or beginning of
December, is chofcn for the time of putting
to, in order that the fnows may be pretty well
over before lambing-time.

If twin lambs be preferred, the ewes are
put to fuperior keep a few weeks before the
ram be admitted. This like wife brings theni
in nearer together than when they are put to
the ram in low condition.

It is allb underftood by attentive fliepherds,
that ewes ought to have an increafe of keep a
few \\ccksprevious to their lambing; but lefs
judicious iheep-mafters think it fufficicnt to
put them into good keep as they drop thrir
lambs.

This, however, is a very faulty practice.
If there be any myftery in the rearing of Iheep,
it lies in giving the ewes a FLUSH OF MILK
at the time of lambing. This cannot be done
without putting them to good keep a fort-
night or three weeks before that time. An
additional fupply of milk cannot be com-
manded in a few hours. The carcafe of the
ewe, as well as her udder, may reqiiiie ro be

fatu-

224 SHEEP. i5;

faturated at the time 'of lambing, left, in the
interim of preparation, the lamb be flinted or
flarved.

Another praflice to which attentive breeders
pay due regard is, that of trimming — provin-
cially, " docking" — breeding-ewes; as early
in the fpririg as the ftate of the weather will
permit. I have feen the bags of ewes (of the
modern breed) fo heated with the dung and
urine which hung about them, as to be-
come chafed to running fores. The bag
ought to be trimmed a few weeks before
lambing (when the ewes are put to frefh
keep), and the tail and buttocks as foon as
warm weather fet in;

GEN. OBSERV. ON REARING. To render
the breeding of fheep profitable, much at-
tendance and attention is requifite. A few
ewes, therefore, cannot be worth the notice
of any man, except a fmall pains-taking
farmer, who has little elfe to attend to. 1
have feen more labour and attention thrown
away upon a fcore of ewes than their whole
f>rdduce was worth. A ewe-flock large
enough to employ a {hepherd^ is, in many
foliations, the moil profitable ftock*

III. TREAT-

I5. YORKSHIRE. 225

III. MANAGEMENT OF STORE SHEEP. The
only particular of management which is here
entitled to notice is, that of dreffing them in
autumn with tar and greafe — provincially,
" SALVING i" — the tar and greafe with which
they are anointed being aptly enough termed
falve.

How the practice was firft introduced into
the Diftrict under furvey does not appear to
be at prefent known, though not of more
than fifty years (landing. It probably tra-
velled from the north, where 1 find it is now
in ufe ; — not from the fouth, where I have
never met with the fmallefl traces of ir.

The intention of this practice is to kill
lice, prevent the fcab, and make the wool
grow ; and another idea, I believe, is, that it
fortifies the fkin againft the feverity of the
winter's cold.

Whether it anfwer all or any of thefe in-
tentions I will not aiTcrt. Whatever may be
its effects, it has now been the .invariable
practice of the Diftrict for near half a cen-
tury. I have not at lead met with more than
one man who has deviated from ir, through
principle.

VOL. II. Q^ Tius

126 S H E E P. 15.

This deviation, however,- is made by one
who ieldom acts from caprice. He does not
wholly deny its ufe, but thinks its effect is
very tranfient. He has found tobacco-water
more effectual agiinft vermin ; — oil of tar,
if cautioufiy ufed, a fafe and certain remedy
of the fcab ; — and is of opinion, that falving
is of littl-e if any life to the growth of the
wool : he allows that it may encreafe the
weight of the wool in proportion to the quan-
tity of dirt it contracts ; but thinks it does
not add to the quantity.

Whether it does or does not may, never-
thelefs, be a moot point : — ointment rubbed
on a recent fear ctf'a horfe is believed to affift
the hair in growing. Pomatum is allowed to
encourage the growth of the human hair^
and it is probable that falve may have fame ef-
fjift on the growth of vvool : the only doubt
in my mind is, whether the advantages, upon
the whole, are adequate to the expence.

Th's is a matter difficult to be afcertained :
1-cv.n Lty5 that the fcab does not appear to be
left prevalent in this than in other Dlftridts :
and it appears probable to me that, notwith-
ilanding ihc pvclcnt prc valency of the prac-'

tice,-

i5. YORKSHIRE. 227

tice, it will in time wear away. I will, ne-
verthelefs, here give a detail of the procefs ;
not to prolong its continuance, but to me-
morize a practice which at prefent gives cold
and dirty employment to thoufands, fome
weeks in every year.

The mixture is eight pounds of butter (of
the fecond, third, or fourth quality — fee ar-
ticle DAIRYING) to one gallon of tar. The
butter being diflblved, the two ingredients
are poured into a tub or other veffcl, and
Itirred for -fome time with a long wooden
fpatula; agitating them violently, and unit-
ing them intimately together. The general
guide is to keep flirring until the butter has
regained its flirThefs fufficiently to hold the
ftirring- flick erect in the oinrment •, which,
when quite cool, is of the confidence of but-
ter in warm weather. Some put the tar pre-
vioufly into the " falve-tub," and ftir that
alone until it lofes its blackncfs, acquiring" a
mellow yellowifh hue ; then add the diflblved
butter, and continue ftirring until the (lick
Hand on-end. If the butter be heated too
much, it is thought to injure the tar: it
ihould be barely oiled.

Qjz The

228 SHEEP. 15,

The time of falving is from Michaelmas
to Martinmas.

The method is this : the feet of the fheep
being bound, it is laid upon a bier — provin-
ciaily, a "creel"— (about fix feet long — two
feet wide in the middle — twenty-one inches
toward the ends — with four legs about two
feet long). The " falver" fits aftride of one
end of the creel, the fhoulder of the fheep
fefting againft his thigh -, its head under his
arm.^-He begins the operation by parting- —
provincially, " fhedding" — the wool from
the withers to the tail, leaving a flraight
open «' flied" or cleft in the wool the whole
length of the Iheep. This cleft ought to be
perfectly ftraight and clear at the bottom ; a
form which practice only can give it. It is
made by taking the wool on each fide in the
hands and pulling it afunder, forming the
c^eft with the thumbs. The fiffure made and
the wool preflec? down fiat on either fide with
the. hands and wrifls, the workman takes a
piece of ointment the lize of a large hazle-nut
(from a kind of difh formed out of a block
of wcod in the fhape of a cheefe), upon the
fids cf the end of his fore-finger, and applies

,.$. YORKSHIRE. 22.9

it to the (kin of the fhcep.; chiving it along
the bottom of the fhed fome fix or eight
inches, with a degree of flcight which expe-
rience alone can teach : the perfection of the
art lies in diftributing the ointment evenly,
and in applying it entirely to they#/#, with^
put fouling the wool, except immediately at
the root. One " finger-full" being expended,
another and another is applied, until the
whole length of the fjrfl fhed be finifhed ;
when a fecond cleft is made, about an inch or
an inch and a half from the firft. In making
the fecond and every fucceeding fhed, the fin-
gers of one hand are kept in the lafl-madc cleft,
by which means an experienced workman is
enabled to make the partings exactly parallel
with each other. Towards the back of the
fhecp the ftieds are made clofer to each other
than they arc beneath its barrel ; where the
wool being thinner, the fcab is lefs liable to
make its attack.

Ten or twelve fheep of the middle fize are
efteemed the day's work of one man. His
wages, and board, fifteen to 'eighteenpcncc
May.

Q.3 The

230 SHEEP. 15,

The expence is thus calculated : thirty
fheep take eight pounds of butter
(/econds, thirds, or greafe), worth
on a par fourpence halfpenny a pound 3 o
One gallon of tar, cofting on a par i o
Labour — 3 6

7 6

Five (hillings a fcore, or threepence a fheep,

IV. MARKETS. Weft-Yorldhire is the prin-
cipal market for WOOL. Formerly, a manu-
faclory of coarfe woollen-cloth was carried on
in the eaflern Morelands ; but at prefent it is
almoft wholly laid afide.

The following are the weights and values
of the fleeces of different breeds of fheep
in the Diftrict :
Morehnd ftore ewes, one and a half pound,

at 4<1— 6d each !
aged wedders fatted in the Vale,

two and a half pounds, 4d — lod.
Ewes of the old Vale breed, fummered on a

common, four pounds, at 6d — 2s.
Two-fheer wedders of the fame breed, four

and a half pounds, 2S. 6d.

Ewes

t$. YORKSHIRE. 231

£wes of the improved breed, fummcrcd in

incloled grounds, feven pounds, at 5d — 35*.

Wool is here fold by thejlom of feventeett
pounds.

The markets for CARCASES are, the market-
towns in the neighbourhood, and the ports of
Scarborough and Whitby.

The price of mutton in the markets of the
Vale, ten years ago, was twopence halfpenny
to threepence a pound. This year (1787),
fourpence to fourpence halfpenny a pound.

But the moft driking evidence I have any
where met with of the recent rife in the
price of live (lock may be taken from the
Moreland Jiore fheep ; a fpecies of flock
which has undergone no change whatever ei-
ther by breeding or by cultivation. .

The price of Moreland (lore ewes, ten or
fifteen years ago, was twofhillings and fixpencc
to five Shillings a-head. This autumn, they
were fold for eight Shillings and fixpence.
The price of Moreland ftore wedders, the fame
time ago, was fix to eight fhillings a-head.
This autumn they have been fold for four-
teen fhillings I

Q^4 R A B-

» Non« of the fheep from which the above fleeces
Tverc taken were fulved.

232 RABBITS.

16.

RABBITS.

THE VALE affords few rabbit-warrens.
The northern margin is the only part of it
adapted to this fpecies of live-flock. At
Dally there are two pretty large warrens.
At Lockton there is one now tc planting."
And there are other parts of thefe heights
which might be profitably flocked with rab-
bits. In general, however, property is too
much intermixed to^admit of an improvement
fo fingularly adapted to the nature of thefe
high grounds.

In fnuations where the ground *, as well as
the foil, is fuitable to rabbit-warren, and
where an extent of it fufficiently large can be
collected together in one property, there is a
very flrong reafon why it may be profitably
flocked with rabbits.

The
* See NORF. ECON, Art, RABBITS.

j*. YORKSHIRE. 233

The hide of a bullock (6f fome breeds) is
not worth more than one-twentieth of his
carcafe. The fkin of a fheep may, in full
wool, be worth from a fixth to a tenth of its
carcafe. But the fur of a rabbit is worth
twice the whole value of the carcafe : there-
fore, fuppofing the rabbit to confume a
quantity of food in proportion to its carcafe,
jt is, oa the principle offered, a fpecies of
flock nearly three fixes as valuable as either
cattle or flieep.

This theory is ftrongly corroborated by an
incident of practice. One of the warrens of
this Diftrict contains eighteen hundred acres
of furface ; moft of it covered with a black
moreland foil ; part of it a barren dead gra-
vel ; fome little of it a thin limeftone loam ;
not worth perhaps, on a par, for the common
purpofes cf hujlandry, a fhilling an acre; ne-
verthelefs, thefe eighteen hundred acres are
let, as a rabbit -warren, for three hundred
pounds a-year !

\ will not pretend to fay that the warren
here alluded to is worth three hundred pounds
a-year, nor aflert that it is not worth a fhil-

234 RABBITS. j6,

ling an acre to a hufbandman. If it be worth
two hundred and fifty pounds as a warren,
and fuppofing it to be worth even two (hil-
lings an acre as a farm, it ftill is a fufficient
evidence of the profitablenefs of rabbit-
warrens, in proper fituations.

As I fhall, in giving a fketch of the huf-
bandry of the WOLDS, have occafion to fpeak
fully of this fpecies of Hock, it is needlef? tq
dwell on the fubjesft in this place.

S W I N E,

i7. YORKSHIRE. 13$

SWINE.

THE HUSBANDRY of fvvine has unr
dergone a total change in this part of the
Diftridt within the laft thirty or forty years.

Formerly, there was fcarcely aBREEDiNQ
sow in the Vale. The entire fupply of ftore
pigs was from the Wolds, through the me-
dium of Malton market. Now, they are
bred wholly in the Vale.

The BREED, too, has been totally changed.
The Wold pigs were of the white, gaunt,
long-legged fort, which appear to have been
formerly the prevailing fpecics throughout
the kingdom. Now, the black-fandy Berk-
ihire breed is prevalent; with a mixture, here,
as in other places, of the oriental fpecies.

There is a variety of this fpecies the indi-
viduals of which have two valuable proper-
ties,

2$ SWINE. *?,

ties. They are remarkably cadijh and quiet ;
of a difpofition direclly oppofite to that wild-
nefs and ferocity which I have experienced
in other varieties of this fpecies of fwine in
different parts of the Ifland. Their other
good quality is that of their pafturing freely :
not only upon the better grafles, but upon
fome of the more noxious weeds ; particu-
larly the dock. This is a property of fwine,
which is worth attending to by the breeders
pf this fpecies of live flock.

• The GENERAL MANAGEMENT of fwme in

the Vale has likewife undergone a change.
Formerly the Wold pigs, which were not
fatted for home,confumpticn, were returned
to Maltpn, full-grown and flelhy, but not fat ;
and were there fold to drovers ; who bought
them up, probably, fcj the diftillers, ftarch-
makers, &c. of the metropolis. Now, the
furplus, which is much greater than former-
ly, are fatted, butchered, and fold, whole, to
bacon-rnakers ; who fait and dry them for the
London and Weil Yorklhire markets.

rOULTRY.

YORKSHIRE. 23?

1 8.

POULTRY.

NOTHING fufficiently ftriking has oc-
curred to me in this Diftrict refpedting the
management or the breeds of poultry, to excite
particular notice. The different fpecies, and
the management of them, are on a par with
thole of the Ifland in general.

BEES.

238 SEE s.

BEES.

THIS MAY be called a Bee-country ;—
cfpecially the Morelands and the northern
margin of the Vale ; where great numbers of
bees have been ufually kept ; and great
•quantities of honey collected ; chiefly from
the flowers of the heath ; which afford an a-
bundant fupply ; but the produce is of an in-
ferior quality -, brown and ftrongly flavoured.

In hives fitnated between the heaths and the
cultivated country, a ftriking contraft is ob-
fervable between the fpring and the autum-
nal combs. The former gathered wholly
from the meadows, pafture-lands, trees, and
cultivated crops ; the latter entirely from the
flowers of the heath ; none of the fpecies of
which begin to blow until late in the furr.mer.

The

|9. YORKSHIRE* 239

The combs of the former will be nearly-
white as fnow : and the honey limpid almoft
as the purett oil. Thofe of the latter brown j
and the honey they yield of the colour and
confiftency of melted rofin. This difference
is mort ftrikint* when the hive is carried in
autumn, from the lower parts of the marginal
heights, into the Moreland dales, to be filled
up with honey ; a practice which, fingular as
it may appear, has been followed with fuc-
cefs.

In the winter of 1782-3^ a general morta-
lity took place among the bees of this coun-
try. Many bee-keepers loft their whole
ftock. I remember to have feen in Jhe
fpring of 1783, twelve to fifteen empty ftones
in one garden without a fingle furviving
hive.

But the univcrfality of the definition,
uncommon as it was, being fuch as no one
can remember, was not fo remarkable as the
manner in which it was effected. The bees
were obferved to dwindle away, by degrees ;
though they had plenty of honey in their
hives; at length vanifhing; while fli!), pcf-

hips,

*4° fe E E S. 19;

haps, a confiderable quantity of honey re-
mained unexhaufted !

A man who has paid fame attention to
bees, and whofe ideas are frequently well-
grounded, was of opinion that the effect was
entirely owing to the want of a fucceflion of
young bees ; under a fuppofition that the
year preceding had not been a breeding year *
and that the bees which dwindled away in
the fpring were the old bees dying of age.

There may be fome truth in this opinion ;
the unufually backward, and extremely wet
fpring and fummerof 1782, might check the
breeding of young bees ; but it is unlikely
that it fhould wholly put a flop to it ; and
that not one hive in ten Ihould have bred a
fingle bcei For under this argument the
young ones, though few, would, with an
ample (lore of honey, have furvived.

In thccourfe of the fpring of 1783, an in-
cident led me to a theory which feems. to ex-
plain the phenomenon more fully.

Being attentive to a female fallow which
was in blow, I obferved lhat bees were
equally buiy among its flowers, as they were

among

510. YORKSHIRE. 241

among the male catkins of a neighbouring
tree.

This induced me to confidcr the nature of
the materials they colled, and to reflect on
whether the different parts of generation,
even in hermaphrodite flowers, may not af-
ford them diftihct materials. HONEY, it is
- well underftood, is collected from the ns8a-
rium. WAX may well be confidcred as a
collection of the vifcid mucus of the piftil-
lum ; as BEE-BREAD appears to be merely an
aggregation of the farina of \\iGJlamen.

It is well underftood by bee-keepers in ge-
neral, and is aflerted by \Vildman himfelf,
that bees cannot live without bread. That
they cannot be kept alive with pure honey
a!cne> is, I believe, well afcertained. But be-
ney which has been prefied hard from a comb
containing bee-bread as well as honey, is con-
fidercd as a fafe and certain relief to them
when their own (lores are exhaufted.

Admitting that bees require bread, as well
as honey, to fupport them in winter ; and ad-
mitting that bee-bread is a collection of the
ftamineous farina of flowers ; the phenome-
non under notice is eafily explainable.

VOL. II. R It

242 SEE s. i^

It is well known, that flowers are tenaci-
ous of their parts of generation in a rainy fea-
fon ; expofing them with caution. Nor is it
mere expofure that fits the ftamina for the
purpofe of the bee. The anthers mufl be
burft by the fun, before the bee can load
its thighs with the contained farina ; which
being expofed, is liable to be wafhed
away, or Ihook down, by the firfl heavy
fhower. Hence the collection of BEE-BREAD,
in a moid fhowery feafon, muft be very pre-
carious and inconfiderable.

. But the collecting of WAX and HONEY de-
p£nds lefs on the weather. For the flower
once open, the bee has free accefs to the nec-
tary and piftil, whofe productions are lefs
liable to a fhower than is the farina. Be-
fides, it is, I believe, a fact which is not
doubted, that bees collect honey from what
are, perhaps, improperly called honey-*fcj?
as well as from flowers.

From thefe prerniffes may we not fairly
draw the following conclusion ?

The fpring and fummer of 1782 being ex-

reraely wet, (fee NORF. ECON.) a dearth of

BREAD

t$. YORKSHIRE. 243

»READ became the natural confequencc; but
through intervals of dry weather; or through
a plentifulnefs of leaf -honey; the collection of j
HONEY was fufficiently ample. While the
bread laftcdthebecs lived. Nordid they, when
it was confumed, die at once, as when their
entire (lore is exhaufted. The honey pro-
longed their lives for a time ; proportioned,
perhaps, to their refpective ages or conftitu-
trons ; the individuals following each other
as difeafe and famine overcame them ; un-
til the whole perimed : not through a \vant
of HONEY ; but for the want of a more fub-
fb.ntial food : their STAFF OF LIFE.

R 2 WOLDS.

244 WOLDS. 2*0,

20.

WOLDS.

THE SITUATION and GENERAL AP-
PEAR ANCE of the Yorkshire Wolds have been
given. The OUTLINE, nearly circular. Their
EXTENT, about twenty-five miles diameter;
containing within their fkirts 500 fquare
iniles, or about 300,000 acres.

The MATERIAL which forms the natural
conftru&ufe of thefe hills, is probably a uni-
form rock of bard chalk ; rifing, in mofl
places, to near the furface.

The SUBSOIL in general a chalky rubble, of.
different depths and contextures, intervening,
between the rock and the foil.

The prevailing SOIL is a calcareous loam ;
varying rn depth and productivenefs.

The North-Eaft quarter of the Wolds is
covered with a thin infertile foil ; applied to
fheep- walks ; much of it being over-run with
furze and heath ; refembling the inferior
downs of Surrey.

On

2«. YORKSHIRE. 245

On the contrary, a (hallow, vale which ex-
tends fome confiderable diftance between
Malton and Burlington; including the town-
fhips of Duggleby, Kirby, Lutton, Helper-
thorp, Weaverthorp, Foxholes, Woldnewton,
&c. with a fmall rivulet running through it
(delightful fummer fituation !) enjoys a rich
deep loamy foil ; flrong enough for wheat,
and chiefly under the plow.

On the higher Wolds. the foil is a lighter
loam, from fix or eight inches to a foot deep ;
moft of it well adapted to the crops of tur-
neps, barley, and faintfoin ; but has formerly
lain, and ftill lies in grea,t quantity, in Iheep-
walk and rabbit-warren.

The CLIMATUR.E of thefe hills is cold';
owing in fome meafure to their prefcnt n.i-
kednefs. The north and eaft winds pouring
in upon them from the fea, and acrofs the
Vale from the Moreland Mountains, fweep
over their furface without a break.

The SEASONS, here, are fomewhat earlier

than in the Morclands ; but later than in the

Yale, or oh the Howardian hills. The per-

R fed

246. WOLDS. 20,

fed: drynefs of the fubftratum of the Wolds is
the only advantage they have, at prefent, in
refpeft to climature.

INCLOSURE. Formerly, the Wolds, whe-
ther parcelled out in common field, or dif-
pofed in more entire properties, lay entirely
open ; excepting a few yards about the vil-
lages. The Eafl-Wold-Vale ftill lies in a
Hate of common field. But on the higher
Wolds fome fpirited attempts have lately been
made at inciofure.

PLANTING. — Sir Cbriftopher Sykes may, I
believe, claim the honor of being the firft
fuccefsful planter upon the Wolds. Attempts
had formerly been made ; but without fuc-
cefs : owing, perhaps, more to the fmallnefs
and the thinnefs of the plantations than to
any other mifmanagement.

Sir Chriftopher,! am well informed, is now
contracting, or has contracted with a nurfery-
man for upwards of five hundred acres of
planting; to be finished in ten years : an un-
dertaking which muft do him infinite credit.

It is, perhaps, to be regretted, that Sir
Chriflopher's plantations confift chiefly of
the finus-iribc ; moftly of Scotch Fir ; the

2o, YORKSHIRE. 147

nioft worthlefs of timber-trees. As a fkreen
to better plants, it may, in bleak fituations,
have its ufe.

But the BEECH, to which the foil of the
"Wolds is peculiarly adapted, would be more
acceptable to pofterity j and would afford
much greater ornament to the Wold Hills.
If raifed from the maft, with due care, there
can be no doubt of its fucceeding on thefe
Hills. The Welch mountains abound with
it in their bleakeft afpedts.

Other gentlemen are raifingSKREEN PLAN-
TATIONS, and LIVE HEDGES, in a moft fpirited
manner.

In one inftance, I obferved three rows of
hedge-wood planted ; about two feet apart;
and defended by a row of pofts and rails on
cither fide : the bank in which the pofts
ftand appearing to have been formed of the
fubftratum of chalk rubble; a flip of foil on
cither fide being thrown* in between the rails,
to give encouragement to the hedge-plants.
In other inftances, the foil has been cleanfed
by a turnep fallow *. The plants, when I
faw them, were vigorous, and in high pre-»
fervation.

R 4 The

* Neverthclefi, a ditch is, I believe, invariably
funk on one fide. Gathering the cultivated foil into

.-'J one

24S WOLDS. 2*0,

The inclofures, as yet, are moftly large :
forty or fifty acres. But fhould the fpirit of
planting continue to diffufe its influence over
thefe hills, the fize of inclofures will in time
be leflened. Should a time arrive when the
higher fwells ihall be crowned with wood,
and the intervening yallies be interfered with
living fences ; forming inclofures of eight or
ten acres; the climature of the Wolds will
be rendered fome degrees of latitude more
genial than it is at prefen: ; and the produc-
tivenefs of the foil be doubly that which it
has hitherto been.

In giving A SKETCH OF THE RURAL ECO-
NOMY OF THE WOLDS, the following parti-
culars will be entitled to notice :

1. Eftates. 10. Team Labour.

2. Farms. 11. Implements.

3. Tenure. 12. Manure.

O

4. Rent. 13. Harvefting.

5. Removal. 14. Farm - yard Ma,-
6 Building. nagement.

7. Obicdts of Huf- 15. Markets.

bandry. 16. Turneps.

8. Succeffion. 17. Sheep.
y. Manual Labour. 18. Rabbits.

I. ESTATES,

one evenly round wide ridge, would, I apprehend, be
fou. d much more eligible upon the Wold foil.

*o. YORKSHIRE. 249

I. ESTATES. The lands of the Wolds be-
long chiefly to large owners ; being moftly
occupied by tenants ; few of them, I believe,
being in the hands of yeomanry, as they are
in the Vale, and a great part of the More-
lands.

II. FARMS. Many of them very large.
M.OW thorp and Coldbam, near two thoufand
acres each; Qrome thirteen or fourteen hun-
dred acres ; all of them charming arable
farms ; fuch as would (if properly Jheltered)
let in Norfolk for fourteen or fifteen ihil-
lings an acre.

III. TENANCY. Upon the larger farms
leafes are become common. Some of feven
years ; which is confidered as too fhort a
term : fome fourteen, which good tenants
feem to be fully fatisfied with.

IV. RENT. Upon the larger farms fix to
tv:elve fhillings an acre. The rent depends
chiefly on whether the tenant has or has not
liberty to break up oldjheep walk, with which
the larger farms moftly abound. Thefe lands
in a ftate of fward may not be worth more
than five Ihillings an acre. But having lain,
perhaps a fuccefiion of ages, in a flate o£

grafs,

250 WOLD S. 20.

grafs, they are many of them, for a courfe of
years, worth five times that rent as arable
Und.

No wonder landed gentlemen are tenacious
of thefe old grafslands. They are treafuries,
vrhofe keys they would be blameable in deli-
vering up, without a fuitable confederation.
Bat they are {till more culpable in obftinate-
ly depriving themfelves and the community
of the ufe of them. The fined farm upon
the Wolds js {hamefully cramped, through
an ill-judged prohibition from breaking up
the fheep-walks, of which it principally con-
iiiis. The tenant cannot winter his fheep
upon the farm. He has not a fufficiency of
arable land to grow turneps in proportion to
his fummer feed. It is not paying twenty-
pounds a-weck far {beep-feed which confi-
tures the evil in this cafe; but the circum-
jftance of having his flocks (battered about
the country, perhaps ten or fifteen miles
from his farm, during the winter months,

A general permiiTion for breaking up can
only be dictated by folly or ncceffity. A due
rtijan is ail that is at ^refsni requifite,

V. REMOVAL:.

ao. YORKSHIRE. 251

V. RLMOVALS. The time of chnr,
tenants is Lady day or Mayday. Oa large
farms moftly Ladyday; the \vhxat on tnc
ground being valued by reft it cs. O . fmall
farms, Mayday; the fpring crops being lik -
wife fown by the outgoing tenant, and va-
lued with the wheat by referees.

VI. BUILDINGS. A number of new fir-
merics have of late years been credted upon
the Wolds. The plan of fome of them fi'ti-
ple and eligible. The dwelling houfe to the
weft; barns and ftable on the north ; ftack-
hovels, for cattle and implements, on the
eaft ; forming a fquarc draw-yard, open to
the fouth ; faving a high brick-wall,, with
tall boarded gates; altogether well-adapted
to the bleaknefs of the foliation. At the
top of Garton hill the dwelling houfe isfnn-
ple and Inug ; becoming its ufe and (ituation ;
with low leantos ; enlarging the r< of, for the
purpofe of collecting rain-wafer : a plan
which ought to be wniverfally adopted on
thefe bleak and waterlefs hills *.

VII. OBJULTS

* For obfcrvatipns on the Wold PONBS, fee the Art.
A); inking Pools.

2,-* WOLDS.

20.

Vir. OBJECTS OF HUSBANDRY, i. STOCK,
principally, Jbeep and rabbits. Few cattle^
except what are purchafed in autumn tor the
purpofe of railing manure, being Ibid off in
the fpring j chiefly to the graziers of Lin-
colnihire. Some borfes are bred ; but the
more general practice is to buy in colts at a
year old, and keep them until they be three
or four j felling them at that age to country
Dealers; or keep them till five years old,
and make them up for the hcrfe-:'ho\vs,
1, CROPS. Principally oats ; but much bar-
ley and fomep^j are grown ; and, in the val-
lies, wbeat. But, upon the high wolds, the
largeft farmers, until of late years, bought
their bf^&cbrlL The old turf, when new-
ly brc" -menfe crops of

pats; and h., I believe, in ge-ceral, equally
productive of rape. Juflances arc mentioned,
in which the fjfr crop of rape has H

clover, zndjc:intfc;3j are alfo Wold-crops.

VIII. SUCCESSION. No regular f) item of
inanagement, with refpedt to the fuccefficn
pf crops and fallow, is in any part of the

Wokb

ID. Y O R K S H I R E. 253

Wolds to be found in general pradice. Upon
the thinner-foiled fvvells the prevailing prac-
tice is to break-up, by fod-burningj for tur-
neps ; oats two years •, barley and'grafsrfeeds,
letting the land lie down again to grafs. In
the vallies, where wheat is grown, turneps*
barley, clover,wheat, has of late years gained
fome footing.

IX. MANUAL LABOUR. The Wok's arc
, thinly inhabited. The refident labourers are

few, compared with the work to be done ;
efpecially in harveft; when numbers flock to
it from the furrounding country. In lefs
bufy feafons, the work is done moftly by
yearly fervants ; the few labourers th'jre are
being, in winter at Icatfj chiefly employed in
thrafhing : for which employment the cot-
tagers are fometimcs hired by the winter
half-year. The wages for thrafhing nx-
pcnce to cightpence a-day, and board ; or
fourpence to fivepence, a quarter of oatsy
and boafi' The Wold farmers, generally
fpeaking, board all their work-people.

X. TEAM LABOUR. The beaih of la-
bour, principally ho'rfcs, of the faddle or
the coach-horfc breed. A fc\v oxen are
Ibmctimes ufed about home.

The

954 WOLDS. 20.

The method of ufing draught-horfes upon
the Wolds is fingular ; whether they be ap-
plied to the waggon or the plow.

The Wold waggon is furnifhed with a
pole, fimilar to that of a coach ; and the
horfcs applied in a fimilar manner as coach-
horfes. Four horfes are the ufual team ; the
driver, on ordinary occafions, riding on the
riear-fide horfe behind ; generally trotting
\vith the empty carriage.

At plow, the fame four horfes, in the fame
harnefs, are, in ftrong work, invariably ufed
without a driver ! the plowman guiding them
with reins : a practice which is, perhaps, pe-
culiar to the Yorkshire Wolds. In lighter
work, as in ftirring .a fallow, two horfes only
are ufed.

But, in this cafe, a practice equally fingu-
lar is prevalent. A third horfe, drawing a
light harrow, is fattened on the off fide of
the plow-horfes; the plowman driving the
three.

This in breaking up turnep-grounds, or
in other fpring fallowing, is a good practice
on dry land ; which, by this means, is got
perfectly fine at a fmall expence (the harrow

in

20. Y O R K S F! I & E. 255

in this cafe being ufually drawn by an old
worn-out horfe, or by a two or three-year-old
colt), and immediate!}' as it is plowed, by
which means the feed-weeds have full time
to fpend thomfekcs. Buc in winter and in
fummcr the pra&ice is pernicious. A fullov;
cannot lie to® rough in thofe feafons.

The hours of work are long. In fpring feed-
time, the plow-teams will fometimes ftay out
from fix to fix ; the plowmen having their
dinners carried to them in the field •, the
horfes remaining all day without a bair, and
vnth only a fmall allowance of corn when
they reach the liable ! neverthelefs, in lighr.
work and in a bufy fea'fon, each horfe plows
near an acre a day. What breed of blatk
horfes can ftand hardfhips like thefe.

XI. IMPLEMENTS. The waggons high and
aukward. The^/wo, -of the old ftraight
mould-board conftru&ion. Both of them
cull loudly for improvement. 1 he turnwrtfl
flow is much wanted upon the Wolds.

XII. MANURE. Tard dung-s&<\ jheep-te&tbc
nre the principal manures. Soot and ibtue
lime are allb in ufe. Rape-cake would, per-
haps, be found a valuable manure upon the
Wolds.

XIII. HAR-

256 WOLDS. 2*.

XIII. HARVESTING. All oats and barley,
and much wheat, are mown againft the ftand-
ing-corn, bound in Iheaf, and fet up in {looks,
at the time of mowing. The Wold farmers
follow this practice, as being lefs tedious than
that of gaiting, as in the Vale (fee Art. VE-
GETABLE-PROCESS), and lefs wafteful than
that of harvefting loofe, in the South-of-En-
gland manner.

XIV. FARM-YARD MANAGEMENT. Straw
Is all confumed.in open yards; chiefly in
double racks fupported by four legs. No

cattle fattened by the head ; nor any ftraw

*
(except wheat-ftraw) bound.

The flraw-yard ftock is chiefly aged oxeri
of the fhort-horned breed, bought at Stan-
ford-bridge and other fairs in autumn ; and
fold in fpring to jobbers or graziers, whd
fometimes buy them up in winter, on fpecu-
lation, to be delivered in fpring. They leave
about twenty fhillings a-head for wintering.
But much depends upon judgement in buy-
ing them in.

XV. MARKETS. Malton and Driffield, both
of them NAVIGATION-TOWNS, and Burlington.,
a SEA-PORT, are the principal markets for

ccrn.

20. YORKSHIRE. 257

corn. The Derwent being made navigable
many years before the navigation of the Hull
was extended to Driffield, Malton was once
the principal market. But, at prefent, Drif-
field, an improving place, takes the lead. Ac
Malton, the corn-trade is in the hands of a
few merchants, who can generally make their
o\vn price. At Driffield, the buyers are nu-
merous, and moftly faflors, who purchafe
by commiflion. By the low commiffion of
fixpcnce a quarter, fome of the factors are
faid to make three or four hundred pounds
a-year ; a ftriking evidence this of the great
quantity of corn which is grown upon thcfe
Wolds.

XVI. TURNEPS. The turnep-crop may be
faid to be (till a new thing to the Wolds ; not
more than of twenty years (landing, though
fingularly adapted to the foil ; and notwith-
ftanding it has in Norfolk, whofe coaft may
almoft be feen from thefe hills, been an efta-
blifhed objed: of culture more than a century !

At prefent this crop is in full eftimation,
being confidcred as the mod folid bafis of
Wold-hulbandry.

VOL. II. S Turneps

258 W OLDS. 20.

Turneps generally fuccecd fward, fodburnt,
once plowed very fleet ; or perhaps only rice-
balked. No manure, and only once hoed.

This at firft fight may appear to be a loofe
mode of culture j but not fo if we duly con-
fider its bafis.

If the turf be of a good age, and the foil of
a tolerable quality, no other manure than its
aflies is required ; and fward which has been
fodburnt and only once plowed is much lefs
liable to foul the crop with weeds than land
which has been under tillage. Upon the
whole, it appears to me to be a practice well-
adapted to the Wolds, where old fward is
abundant, and where extraneous manures are
difficult to be procured.

The application tf theturnep-crop is almoft
wholly to Iheep, which are folded upon the
fi anding turners ; a practice which cannot be
defended (fee NORF. ECON. Vol.1, p. 297 )
and^ with only one flock \ a pradke which is
flijl more cenfurable. It is no wonder that
die Wold Iheep at turneps fhould be fubject
as they are to diforders : to-day iatiated with
the tops and the befc of the pulp ; to-morrow
pining over the fhells, with only half their

filli

ao, YORKSHIRE. 259

fill -, and pnrt of what they pick up weeds
and dirt. The next day glutted with a flulh
of frcfh turneps.

If turneps be eaten up clean, a bead flock
and followers are indifpenfably neceflary to
common good management. If it be rcqui-
fite to eat off turneps with one flock of fat
fheep. one-third of the crop at leaft ought,
in like management, to be left on the ground
as manure.

The fence of the Jheep-fold is generally of
NET-WORK, made of fmall cord ; the fize of
the mefties four to fix inches ; the width or
height of the fence about three feet ; fup-
ported by flakes eight or ten feet afunder.
The coft fourpence to fourpence halfpenny
a yard. But " net-hurdles" are more com-
monly hired (of rope- makers) than purchafed.
The priccalhilling to eighteenpence a-week
for a hundred yards. About home, " bar-
hurdles" are fometimes ufed , but nets, being
lighter carriage, are generally ufed at a dif-
tance. For (beep which are hornlefs, as the
Wold flieep invariably are, netted folds are
very eligible.

S2 XVII. SHEEP.

260 WOLDS. 20.

XVII. SHEEP. The flocks of the Wolds are
fome of them very large. One, at leaft, fo
high as two thoufand ; eight or nine hun-
dred of them ewes ; the reft wedders and
yearlings.

The breed is a variety of the long-wooled
fpecies. Some of them very handfome, re-
fembling the prefent breed of Leicefterfhire,
but more active. The wedders will fat at
two-fheer (that is, two to three years old) to
thirty pounds a quarter. Clip about fix
pounds of wool : the length ten to thirteen
inches.

Some years ago a crofs of this breed with
the large breed of Lincolnihire, was intro-
duced upon the Wolds, to the no fmall lofs
of fome of the Wold farmers. One of them,
calculates to have loft feven hundred pounds
by a diforder in the head, called the " me-
grims," which this ill-judged crofs were fub-
ject to. He returned again to the Wold
breed, and the diforder left his flock.

Every country appears to have a natura-
lized flock — of fheep at leaft — belonging tQ
it. By neglect this flock will degenerate.

By

20. YORKSHIRE, 261

By care it may be improved j cither by the
faireft of its own individuals, or by thofe of
a kindred variety ; not by zforeignfpecies.

XVIII. RABBITS. The Wold warrens are
numerous, and fome of them very extenfive.
COLDHAM-WARREN is at prefent, I believe,
the largeft upon thefe Wolds ; and, probably,
the moft valuable warren in the Ifland. The
Coldham farm contains about nineteen hun-
dred acres ; and, fpeaking generally, it is all
warren: nor, however, wholly appropriate4
to rabbits, a flock of fix to eight hundred
Jkeep being kept within the warren-walls ;
principally, however, on one fide of the war-
ren, away from the burrowing-grounds.

This appears to be a practice peculiar to
the Wolds *, where batter foil is appro-
priated to rabbit-warren than is perhaps in
any other part of the Ifland. The Coldham-
warren, in point of foil, ' is moft of it worth
ten to twelve (hillings an acre ; fome of it
fifteen or fixteen (hillings -[-. As thefe better
S 3 parts

* OfYorkfliire and LincolnfliirCj whofc hills like-
wife abound much with rabbit-warren.

f But the prefent bleakaefs of the/Jr*a/;V» renders it
•f little more than half the value.

262 WOLD S.

20.

parts become moffy, they are inclofed by a
ibd-wall, the furface pared and burnt, and
the foil broken up for arable crops. Having
afforded a fucceffion of crops of corn, tur-
neps, &c. they are fown with grals feeds, and
again thrown open to the rabbits and
fheep.

In 1783 there were about two hundred
acres of this farm under the plow, befides
fome little Iheep-walks, which lay without
the warren-walls. The warren therefore at
that time contained fifteen to fixteen hundred
acres : and adjoining to Coldham are two
more confiderable warrens ; fo that there are
perhaps three or four thoufand acres of tole-
rably good land, lying together, and appro-
priated principally to rabbits «, a circum-
fiance which it would be difficult to equal.

To give a general idea of the MANAGEMENT
of the WOLD WARRENS, the following divi-
fion of the fubjedr. will be requifite ;

1. Soil. . 4. Species,

2. Burrows. 5. Taking.

3. Fences, 6. Markets,

'< i. SOIL,

20. YORKSHIRE. 263

1. SOIL. There is a difadvantage in (lock-
ing a rich foil with rabbits: aflufh of grafs,
after a dry fcafon, is found to throw them into
a fcouring ; which fometimes carries off great
numbers.

2. BURROWING-GROUND. Upon the high
Wolds the burrows are moftly on the fides of
bills: ai COLDHAM, principally in one deep
valley ; whofe fides are fteep, giving the rab-
bits great freedom in working. The foil in
this cafe about eight or ten inches deep ; un-
der this a chalky rubble of fome inches
ttiick, lying on a chalkflone rock. The bur-
rows are in the fubfoil, between the foil and
the rock, and chiefly toward the tops of the
hills*.

But at DRIFFIELDGREETS, near Driffield,
where there are two large warrens, the fur.
face is a dead flat ; neverthelefs the warrens
are well-flocked and produclive; a proof
that a flat furface may, in fome cafes, be pro-
fitably flocked with rabbits. The foil, ia
this cafe, a light land or gravelly loam,

S4 In

» Thousands of da'.vs build their nefts in thcfe bur-
rows, to the great annoyance of the rabbiy.

264 WOLDS. 20.

In flocking a warren, whether the furface
be flat or hilly, ARTIFICIAL BURROWS are
made to reconcile the rabbits to the ground,
and to preferve them from vermin until they
have time to make their own burrows. In
making thefe artificial burrows, an improve-
ment has lately, I believe, been hit upon.
They are bored with an AUGER of a diameter
large enough to make a burrow of a fufficient
width. In a level warren, thefe AUGERS may
from time to time be found ufeful.

3. WARREN-FENCES. The common fence
upon the Wolds is fodwall, capped with furze,
or of late with ftiffftraw, forming a kind of
thatch *. The warrens near Driffield are
fenced with paling -, an expenfive fence in the
outfet, and always under \ repairs. A brook,
though ever fo deep, is found to be infuffi-
cient as a fence againil rabbits : one fide of
Driffieldgreets-warren is bounded by a
brook j but it is neverthelefs fenced with
paling. When the rabbits can evade this,
they readily fwim the brook.

4. SPE-

* Reed would be admirable in this intention ; and
might perhaps be had at a reafonable coft from the fens
of Holdernels, or thofe at the foot of the Vale of
York.

20. YORKSHIRE. 265

4. SPECIES of RABBITS. Until of late years,
the common grey rabbit— probably the na-
tive wild rabbit of the Ifland — was the only
fpecies. At prefent, the fliver-baired rabbit
is fought after, and has, within the few laft
years, been introduced into moft warrens f.
The fkin of the grey rabbit is ntf ; that is,
the " wool" is pared off the pelt as a mate-
rial of bats : whereas that of the (ilver-baired
:abbit is drejjed as/#r ; which, it is faid, goes
principally to the Eafl-Indics. The colour,
a black ground, thickly interfperfed with
fingle white hairs. The fkins of this variety
fell for about four millings a-dozcn more than
thofe of the common fort ; a fufficknt in-
ducement this for propagating it.

5. METHOD OF TAKING RABBITS. The
Wold-warrcners have three ways of catching
their rabbits : — with fold-nets — with fpring-
mts — and with " tipes ;" a fpecies of trap.

The fold-nets are fet about midnight, be-
tween the burrows and the feeding-grounds ;
the rabbits being driven in with dogs, and
kept inclofed in the fold until morning.

The

f Some of the Lincolnfhirc warrens, it ii faid, are
already wholly flocked with this variety.

266 WOLDS.

20.

The fpring-m!, when ufed, is, I believe,
generally laid round a hay-ftack, or other
object of inducement for rabbits to colled: in
numbers.

The trap is a more modern invention. It
confifts of a large pit or cittern, formed
within the ground and covered with a floor ;
or with one large falling-door, with a fmall
trap-door toward its center, into which the
rabbits are led by a narrow muce.

This trap, on its firft introduction, was fet
moftly by a hay-ftack — hay being at that
time the chief winter-food of rabbits ; or on
the outride of the warren-wall, where rabbits
were obferved to fcratch much, in order to
make their cfcape. Since the cultivation of
turneps as a winter- food for this fpecies of
flock has become a practice, the fituarion of
the trap has been changed.

Turneps being cultivated in an inclofure
within the warren, a trap is placed within the
wall of this inclofure. For a right or two
the muce is left open and the trap kept co-
vered (with a board or triangular rail), in or-
der to give the rabbits the requifite haunt of
the turneps ; which having got, the trap is
bared, and the required number taken,

In

20. YORKSHIRE. 267

In emptying the ciflcrn the rabbits are
forted: thole which are fat and in feafon are
flaughtcred -, thofe which are lean or out of
condition are turned upon the turneps to
improve.

At the clofe of the feafon the bucks and the
does are forted in a fimilar way : the bucks
are flaughtered ; the docs turned loofe to
breed. One male, I underfland, is confidered
as fufficient for fix or feven females; and the
nearer they can be brought to this propor-
tion, the greater flock of young ones may be
expedlcd ; it being the nature of the males
(unnatural as it may appear) to deflroy their
young, more efpccially perhaps when their
proportional number is too great.

Great precaution is requifke in the ufe of
thefe traps. If too many rabbits be admitted
at once, and the ciflern be kept clofe covered
only for a few hours, fuffocation and inordinate
heat take place, and the carcafes, at leaft,
are fpoiled. Many thoufand carcafes have
been wafted through this means — The traps
are therefore watched; and when the required ,
number are caught, the muce is flopped, or
the trap covered.

Some

268 WOLDS. 20,

Some idea of the produce of the Wold- war-
rens may be gathered from the great num-
bers which are frequently flaughtered at once.
Five or fix hundred couple have not unfre-
quently been flaughtered in one night : and,
it is faid, that when the two Drilfield war-
rens lay together, there was once an inft.ance
of fifteen hundred couple being killed atone
Daughter.

6. MARKETS FOR RABBITS. York, Hull,
and the neighbouring tovtfns, for carcafes :
Stanford-bridge and Malton, for (kins -, which
are cut by furriers who refide at thqfe places.,
and who find a market for their wool in the
hat-manufactories of London and Manchefter.

Sometimes the fkins and carcafes are fold
together, to huckfters, or other wholefale
dealers. The average price for the feafon
about two Shillings a couple. The price of
carcafes, in the neighbourhood of the war-
rens, eightpence to tenpence a couple.

H O L-

2i. YORKSHIRE. 269

21.

HOLDERNESS.

THIS IS the only Diftrict of the county
I have not been in. I have repeatedly look-
ed over its furface, and been upon its bor-
ders ; but never went over its area. I pur-
pofed to have gone over it this year (1787),
but the Vale employed my whole attention,
during fummer ; and the extreme wetncfs of
the autumn would have prevented me from
vifiting a fen country at that feafon, had lei-
fure permitted it.

The objects of hufbandry, and the means
of obtaining them, are, I have always under-
Itood, fimilar to thofe of the Vale of Picker-
ing : neverthelefs, Holdcrncfs may have its
partial excellencies ; as almoft every Diftrift
has, in a greater or lefs degree,

The

2;o HOLDERNESS. 21.

The north-weft quarter is appendant to a
line of marginal villages ; lituated moft de-
firably on the ikirts of the Wold hills-, but
no way excellent, I believe, in their plan of
management. Neverthelefs, the coaft of
Holdernefs may merit, furvey.

CLEVELAND.

22. Y O R K S H I R F. 271

22.
CLEVELAND.

CLEVELAND is fmall, comparatively
with the other Diftrids of Eaft Yorklhire.
To the cad it terminates in a broken coun-
try; mixing with the northern margin of the
Moreland hills.

The OUTLINE, if the broken country about
Gijborougb be cut off, is nearly oval. The
EXTENT of the greater Diameter being about
fourteen, of the fhorter about ten miles ; con-
taining within its area fomewhat more than
one hundred fquare miles ; or about feventy
thoufand acres.

The SURFACE is nearly plain, but perfect-
ly free from colle&cd water ; its principal
brook the I .even, running in a valley fome
feet below the general furface.

The SOIL, almoft invariably, a tenacious
clay. Good wheat and bean-lauJ.

The

272 CLEVELAND . 21.

The OBJECTS OF HUSBANDRY are corn, but-
ter, bacon, rearing cattle, and borfes ; varying
but little in its objects from the VALE OF
PICKERING ; excepting that CLEVELAND is
more a corn country.

A uniformity of fituation and foil is gene-
rally productive of a uniform fyftem of ma-
nagement •, more efpecially in a country like
Cleveland, which has been long in a ftate of
inclofure ; and a minutial detail of its aralk
frocefs might be interefting. But the Vale
of Pickering having furnifhed materials more
ample and more interefting than I expected,
I have beftowed on that alone more attention
than I had fet apart for the county.

Some peculiarities of the Cleveland prac-
tice haver been already mentioned. One
which marks it ftrongly, and which diftin-
guifhes it from every other Diftridt I have ob-
ferved in, remains to be noticed.

The TEAM of Cleveland is, invariably,
three borfes and a cart. Notwithstanding the
deepnefs of the roads in a wet feafon, there
is fcarcely a waggon or a long team in the coun-
try. The three horfcs are, invariably,

drawn

** YORKSHIRE.- 273

drawn two-and-one ; namely, one horfe in
the fhafts ; the other two in a pair before it :
the whole being guided by leathern reins,
and driven with a long-thonged whip, in
the coach manner.

This practice has probably arifen from the
circumftance of coals and lime being fetched
into Cleveland from diftant parts of the coun-
ty of Durham. The latter, which has long
been the fheet-anchor of the Cleveland far-
mers, is drawn, into the interior parts of the
Diftrid:, more than thirty miles ; the teams
going and returning without a reft, except-
ing tranfient baits upon the road.

The rule, when going empty, is to trot
two miles and feed one ; the driver riding in
the carriage the two miles, and walking
by the fide of his horfes the one ; baiting
them with hay, out of his hand, as they go
along the road. When loaded, he keeps
feeding whenever he finds the horfes will
eat a mouthful of hay. Corn is alfo carried
in thefe journies, and given in bags hung up-
on the horfes* heads ; in the manner in which
hackney coach-horfes are fed upon the ftands

VOL. II. T in

174 • CLEVELAND. 22.

in London. Horfes thus ufed will (land
travelling thirty miles every day. The
breed, ftrong, a&ive, coloured coach-horfes.
The Cleveland team treads the road even-
ly ; and is the fliffeft ; the mofl handy ; and,
for a level country and long journies, is, per-
haps, altogether the moft eligible team in-
vention can fuggeft.

MORELANDS.

YORKSHIRE. 2)5

MORELANDS.

THE SITUATION of this Diftricl was
given in defcribing the COUNTY at large.
And, in giving a more minute defcription of
the Vale of Pickering, the Morelands are
mentioned as bleak mountains, covered with
heath, and interfered by CULTIVATED
DALES. Thefe dales have been already no-
ticed as appendages of the Vale ; fo far as
they are noticeable. What I propofe under
the prefent head, is to give fome account of
the MOUNTAINS and their UNCULTIVATED

VALLIES.

The CLIMATURE of the Morelands is ex-
tremely bleak ; feveral degrees of latitude
colder than the Vale of Pickering ; where
rain, or perhaps open weather, will frequent-
ly prevail, while the Morelands are covered
with fnow.

The EXTENT of the Eaftern Morelands,

including the hills of HAMBLEDON, is thirty

to forty miles of length, by ten to fifteen

T 2 of

276 CLEVELAND. 2^

of breadth. Excluding the CULTIVATED
DALES, &c. they may contain from three to
four hundred fquare miles, or from two to-
three hundred thoufand acres, of UNCULTI-
VATED HEATH.

The MATERIALS of thefc mountains are
principally free-ftone, (of a fingularly fine
grain) which too frequently riles to the fur-
face ; lying in fome places above-ground in
blocks ; fome of them of confiderable fize.
A thin feam of coal has been found, and ftill
continues to be found, in different parts of
thefe hills, at no great depth from the fur-
face. Iron is forged near Ayton ; and csp-
per has been fmelted near Hacknefs. But
allum fhals is the moft valuable material of
the eaftern Morelands ± which alone, I be-
lieve, furniili the Ifland, and a great part of
Europe, with allum.

The immediate SUBSOIL is generally fand;
which, in fome places ) is formed into a pan or
cruft i refembling rufty half-decayed iron
rather than an earthy fubftance : being al-
moft as impervious by water as an iron vef-
fel.

The

23. YORKSHIRE. 277

The SOIL invariably a black moor ; — appa-
rently a mixture of vegetable mould and
fand ; refembling the moory foil of fens.

Linneus, I think, calls this fpecies of foil
the depauperated foil of heaths ; but on what
grounds I know not. The moor of fens ap-
pears obvioufly enough to be compofed of
the decayed roots and other parts of vegeta-
bles, with a greater or lefs proportion of fand
and mud, walhed in among them while in a
date of growth. But how a fimilar matter
could be formed on the tops of mountains is
lefs obvious. Neverthelefs MOUNTAIN MOOR
has every appearance of a VEGETABLE MOULD.

This mould, which covers a principal part
of the mountains of the Iflan.d, appears to me
a moft interefting fubjectof inveftigation.

It varies greatly in regard to depth. On
the " low moors," where it has probably
been repeatedly pared off for fuel, it barely
covers the fand or gravel of the fubfoil : but
upon the higher more diftant fwells the co-
vering of foil is thicker ; frequently from one
to two feet deep of what is called " fat moor."
In the vallies, particularly towards their
heads, are peat bogs of feveral feet deep ;
T 3 buried

278 M O R E L A N D S. 23,

buried in which, trees of great fize have
fometimes been found.

The NATURAL PRODUCE of the more lofty
fvvells of thefe- mountains — termed provinci-
ally, the " high moors" — is principally
beatbt interfperfed with patches of " bent j"
(a fpecics of rujh ;) together with the com-
mon rum and other aquatics in the vallies,
and on the bogs, with which even fome of
the fwells abound.

But, at the feet of thofe fwells ; and on the
face of the cliffs which terminate them to the
fouth ; as well as upon the top of the margi-
nal heights ; which, when they fhoot far to
the northward, as between Newton and Cold-
thorn, are covered with black foil and heath ;
—a number of the better grafles, with a va-
riety of other plants, may be found grow-
ing among the heath, notwithftanding the
ikuation, which, in point of bleaknefs, is
little inferior to the te Moorheads."

A lift of thefe hardy plants may have its
ufe.

Provincial. Linnean. EngHJh*

Common ling, — erica vulgaris, — common

heath.
Crow-ling,— erica cinereay — fine-leaved heath.

Wire

23. YORKSHIRE. 279

Provincial. Linnean. Engttijh.

Wire ling,— mV<f tctralix, — crofs-leaved heath.
Bent,— ^/»<T«J bulbofus .?— heath rulh.
Scaves,— juncus effufus, — foft rulh.
Moor palms,— carices — fedgeg.
Gale,— myrica gale, — fweet gale.
Juniper,— -juniperus communis, — common ju-
niper.

Cranberry, — vaccinium oxycoccos, — cranberry.
Bleaberry, — vaccinium myrtillus, — common

whortleberry.
White clover, — trifolium repens, — creeping

trefoil.

Cheefe-cake grafs, — lotus corniculatus, — birds-
foot trefoil.

Bent grafs, — nardus firitta ? — mat grafs ?
air a fluxuofa, — heath air. grafs.
aira cteruha, — purple air-grafs.
aira prtecox? — early air-grafs * ?
anthoxanthum adoratumy — vernal.
briza media, — trembling-grafs.
cynofurus criftatus, crefted dogs tail.
feftuca duriufcula, — hard fefcue.
feftuca layurus ? — wall fefcue ?

lolium

* It was late in fummer before I made this collec-
ion. Some of the early plants had feeded, and their
(pacific charailen were of courfe beco c doubtful.

28o M O R E L A N D S. 23,

Provincial* Linnean. Englifi.

lotium perenne^-— ray-grafs.

daflylis glomerata, — orchard-grafs.

bclcus mollis, — couch y foft-grafs.

euphrafia officinalis, — common eye-
bright.

orobus tubercfuS) — bulbous pea.

galium verumy — yellow bedftraw.

galium montanum ? — mountain bed-
ftraw ?

fcabiofa fuccifa, — meadow fcabious.

rumex acttofdla^ — fheep's ibrrel.

frunella vulgar h, — feli>heal.

tormentilla £refla> — common tor-
mentil.

fotentilla reptans, — common cinque-
foil.

'. - i •

cijlus heliantbemum, — dwarf ciflus.

thymus ferpyllum, — wild thyme.

poterium fanguiforba, — upland burnet.
fpir<ea filipendula, — dropwort.

acbillea millefolium,— milfoil.

bypericum perforatum, — common
Saintjohnswort.

earlina vutgaris, — carline thiftle.

carduus palujlris * ? — marfh thiflle ?
fitris a$nil>na— brakes.

23. YORKSHIRE. 281

The STOCK of the Morelands is principally
Jhcep. Upon the " high-moors" they arc the
only flock. On the lower borders, and on
the margins of the cultivated dales, young
cattle are kept upon them a confiderable part
of fummer. But, in a general light, SHEEP
may betaken as the flock of the Morelands ;
and though they be thinly flocked, the num-
ber on the whole is confiderable.

In flocking thefe mountains with fheep,
the general calculation is, I believe, one fheep
to ten acres. The number therefore kept, on
the foregoing calculation, is twenty to thirty
thoufand.

Thefe fheep live entirely upon the " moor,"
from their being a year old until the time
of their being fold off; which, formerly, was
not until they were four or five years old.

The yearly profit of a Moreland fheep
(very fmall, fee Art. SHEEP), allowing for

attendance

* This thiftle has no other fpecific difference which
I have been able to difcover, from the c arduus paltiftr'it,
except the thicknefs of its flem ; which, upon thefe dry
barren bleak hills, will fomctime« be equal in fize to
the largeft walking-cane. There is a variety of it with
white flowen.

-82 M 0 P. E L A N D S. 23.

attendance, hazard *, falving, and a little hay
in winter when the heath is buried in fnow,
may be laid at two (hillings and fixpence
a-head -f-.

Confequently the YEARLY PRODUCE or

THE HERBAGE, at prefent, IS THREEPENCE AN

ACRE ; at which rate much of it was valued
by the Commiffioners under the Pickering
Bill of Inclofurc}.

The IMPROVEMENTS which have been at-
tempted among thefe hills require now to be
mentioned.

The

* A Moreland farmer reckons that if half the num-
ber he breeds, reach a market he has tolerable luck.

-,'• This calculation is made on the advanced price
which ihccp have borne, on a par of the laft tern years.
There arc who affert that if attendance were rigidly
calculated, no neat profit whatever vvould arife from
keeping flu ep on thefe heaths. But the number of little
jortuncs which have been made in the Moreland dales,
. j'i'iliejnally, it is believed, by keeping iheep, contradict

ibis alTcj.nrn.

t Kefides the berlnge, the fuel which is pared < ff the

fiivface aud cut out of the bogs, may be confidered at

p'/eitm a* a fpccies of PRODUCE.

The Pickevi. g highmoor al!orments, containing
nvonty acies or upward, are now feUi'ig for ten pounJs
<":!';h. Th'% fee-fimplc of three of thefe allotments, con-
taining near one hundred acres, were pure ha fed the,
t-thcr dfjy f-Ji" thirty pounds.

2j. YORKSHIRE. 283

The late SIR CHARLES TURNER ranks
higheft as an improver of the Morelands.
But Sir Charles's fite of improvement is not
a fair fpecimen of the two hundred thoufand
acres of uncultivated heath which are the
immediate fubjedt of this article.

Keldale, the principal fite, is a valley ifiuing
out of Cleveland. The bottom, which has
formerly been inclofed, is a rich loam of great
depth; but had been rendered unproductive
for want of draining. The fides of the val-
ley are varioufly foiled ; moftly bog, or a fat
moory foil, formed probably by fprings, with
which the whole valley abounds, and which
having trickled down its fides from age to
age, have clad them in vegetable mould.
Keldale, at the time Sir Charles undertook
its improvement, was a neglcfted valley •, whofc
foils were full of infringe riches, and required
nothing but an improvement of their fubfoil
to render them highly productive.

Had the improvements of this valley been
fet about with deliberation, and carried on
with judgement and firmnefs, the profits ari-
fing from it would have been exceedingly
great. Even in the eccentric way in which

they

284 MORELANDS. 23,

they were conducted, the improvement mud
have greatly exceeded the expence. In the
fpring of 1783, when I faw them, Sir Charles
had let off one farm of one hundred and fifty
pounds a- year (containing about one hundred
and fifty 'acres !) and had then built, or was
building, three or four more fubflantial farm-
houfcs.

Kempfwidden, thr other fite of Sir Charles's
improvements, is more nearly allied to our
prefent fubject. This is a high ridge of moun-
tain which forms one fide of the valley of
Keldale. The foil, partly black moor ; in
part, of a brown loamy nature ; altogether,
much fuperior in naturalquality to the "high-
moors ;" and equal, if not fuperior, to any
cxtenfiye plot of uncultivated heath on this
fide of the Morclands.

In 1783, the principal part of this hill had
been inclofed with ftone-walls ; and part of
it had, in the outfet, been unfortunately
broken up for (orn. But the rich loams of
Keldale being found to be better adapted to.
arable crops, this was prudently laid down
to grafs ; a fpecies of crop much better
fuited than corn to fuch a foil, in fuch a

Tfo

23. YORKSHIRE. 2$$

The inclofing of Kempfwidden was evi-
dently premature. Had Sir Charles begun
at the bottom of Keldale ; climbing by de-
grees up its fides ; reaching in due proceft
of time the tops of the hills ; what amufemenc
and profit might have been reaped from the
undertaking!

The ATTEMPTS which have been made ort
this fide of thefe mountains remain to be no-
ticed.

About twenty years ago the inclofurc of
Mi DDL ETON, whofe parifli extends into the
Morelands, gave freedom to the fpirit of
improvement.

The file which was principally chofen for
the effays which have been made, were the
lower fkirts of the Moreland hilh, under the
northern fteep of the limeftone heights. This
fituation was in a degree of {belter, was near
the cultivated country, and the foil in that
valley is better than it is higher up the fides
of the hills.

The principle of improvement was to extend
the cultivated country into the Morelands.
Corn was of courfe the main object. The
btatby wa/ies were confidered as grafs- com-
mons ;

286 MORELANDS. 23.

mons ; which ufually are, and generally ought
to be, converted into arable le.nd, and kept in
that flare for a courfe of years after their in-
clofure.

The method of breaking-up was either by
paring and burning, or by fallowing ; which
latter was performed in a fingular manner.
The heath being previously finged off, the
land was plowed, and fuffered to lie unflirred
in rough furrow for two years, in order to
give the roots of the heath time to rot. The
third year it was flirred as a fallow ; and the
fourth year cropped.

The manure ufed, invariably lime ; which
is burnt in quantity near the fite of improve-
ment. The quantity fet on, three to fix or
feven chaldrons an acre.

The crops wheat, rye, oats, potatoes, tur-
neps. Red-clover, it is faid, does not flou-
rifh : it will rife very well from the feed, but
generally goes off the firft winter. And rye-
grafs has been cautioufly ufed, left it mould
foul or impoverifh the land !

The refult of thefe experiments, foine of
them on a pretty large fcale, is, fome fmall

for-

23. Y O R 1C S H I R E. 2$7

fortunes have been funk, and fome larger
ones have been injured. I have not come at
any thing like proof of one infl.mcc in which
the improvement has been adequate to the
txpence.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. From thefe pre-
mifes we may fafely infer, that the two hun-
dred thoufand acres of land under notice arc
unimproveable ; or that the attempts at im-
provement which have hicherto been made
have been ill conducted ; or that the prin-
ciple of improvement has hitherto been er-
roneous.

Unprepared as I am with felf- practice in
the cultivation of thefe waftes, it would be
rafhnefs in me to dictate a general plan of
improvement ; but having fome general
knowledge of improvements of this nature,
and having beftowed fome conliderable lhare
of obfervation and attention on the Diftrict
under confideration, it might be wrong to
fupprefs the reflections which have occurred
to me refpecting its improvement. In a king-
dom whofe limits are not extenfive, two hun-
dred thoufand acres of furface becomes an
object of national importance j and on whe-
ther

i88 M O R E L A N D S. 23.

ther they lie in a ftate of wafte or produdive-
iiefs, the welfare and happinefs of many in-
dividuals may be dependant.

The PRINCIPLE OF IMPROVEMENT IS what

I (hall more particularly fpeak to ; and in
doing this, I mail keep the HIGH-MOORS — •
not the heathy upper margin of the limeftonfe
heights — -principally in view.

It appears to my mind that a man who
attempts at prefent to crop thefe heaths with
corn, muft either be in natural abilities ex-
tremely deficient; totally uninformed in rural
affairs ; or unfortunately gifted with more ge-
nius than judgement. To begin with carrying
0^~the means of produ&ivenefs in the fhape
of grain (which the cultivation of corn im-
plies) from a foil which it is to be feared
naturally contains them in very inconn-
derable quantity, is irreconcileable with com-
mon fenfe.

The ARTIFICIAL PRODUCE which flrikes
me as eligible to be propagated at prefent on
thefe heaths, is wood and herbage.

PLANTATIONS. There are evidences, but
no proof, of thefe hills having been formerly
covered with wood. The trees which are

ftill

23. YORKSHIRE. 389

ftill found in the peat-bogs are a pretty
flrong evidence. And part of thefe hills being
included within the ancient forejl of Pick-
ering, is a corroborating circumftance.

That trees, if properly chofen and pro-
perly managed, would grow on thefe hills,
is, I believe, beyond difpute. And I am
clearly of opinion that, if they be improvealle^
planting is the rirft ftep which ought to be
taken toward their improvement. Wood-
lands, if once extended, would not only af-
ford immediate fhelter to flock •, but woul'd
in all human probability change the clima-
ture of thefe bleak fwells fo far as to give
due encouragement to the herbage which
might be cultivated upon them,

^Where the furface is ftrewed with large
Hones, planting feems to be the only pro-
bable mean of improvement. Where the fur^
face is free, flacens of wood would be prin-
cipally wanted.

The Scotch fr and the birch might be em-
ployed to break off the North and the Eag-
erly winds. The Norway fpruce and the
VOL. II. U larch,

293 MORELANDS. 23.

larch, and in all probability the oak, might
with due care be reared in the more genial
afpects.

Much would depend upon management.-—
In Keldale and on Kempfwidden, the pine-
tribe and oaki'-i:£s were dibbled in among the
ftanding heath. i\o wonder they mifcarried.
The ground fhould be rrenched with the
fpade ; or be prepared with the plow ; and the
plants be put in with the nurferyman's beft
care. Not fingly or widely fcattered : but
in numbers and in clofe order.

There is a natural warmth in vegetable as
in animal life. One tree is raifed with diffi-
culty in any fituation which is inclined to
bleaknefs ; but plant a number in clofe or-
der, and the difficulty is overcome. They
not only create among themfelves, by their
natural warmth and perfpiration, a frefh at-
mofphere ; but affift each other in withftand-
ing the attacks of the winds and other ene-
mies.

HERBAGE. If tkefe Mils be improveable by
hufeandry, the principle of improvement ap-
pears to me to be that of removing the heath,

and

23. YORKSHIRE. 291

and replacing it with herbage adapted to fuch
flock as is beft fuited to the foil and fitua-
tion.

Sheep and rabbits are the flock beft
adapted to thefe hills ; and the ihorteft and
leaft expcnfive way of bringing them into a
ftate of SHEEP WALK and RABBIT WARREN is,
on this principle of improvement, the firjl
thing required.

The Heath, it is more than probable, can-
not be overcome without cultivation, A
fimilar degree of tillage would probably jbc
requifite for herbage as for corn *.

The SPECIES OF HERBAGE would be the

grafts, the legumes -f*, and the brajjica- tribe.

The hardieft of the two former might be

U 2 feen

* In Derbyfliire it has been found that a thick cover-
ing of lime alone is equal to the deftrucYion of the heath,
(without breaking up the foil,) and to the production of
a turf of rich herbage. But I have heard it doubted,
by thofe who are acquainted*with the pradlice, whether
in that cafe the improvement be adequate to the ex-
pence ; the quantity of lime requilite to produce th«
effect being great. However, on the fltirts of the hills
under notice, to which lime might be carried at a mo-
derate expence, the experiment would certainly be
worth making.

•f Legumes. — The clovers, trefoils, retches, &c. tyc.

292 M O R E L A N D S. 23,

feen in the foregoing lift. The turnep and
the rape might be chofen from the laft. The
rye and the oat, if fed off or mown for hay
while in a flate of herbage, might be found
eligible.

The MANURES which prefent themfelves
are Urns, which might be had in any quan-
tity, and within a ihort diftance compared
with that which it is carried in other Dif-
trifts. Ajbes of the peat-bogs, and the fat
moor, where this is of fufficient depth,
might likewife be had at will. Even the
fat moor, unburnt, it is more than probable,
would afford a falutary manure, if properly
applied. I have obferved inftances, in which
having been thrown upon the furface, (as in
cutting through it for a road), it has in a
iliort time become overgrown with a turf of
fine herbage. Earths, if properly fought
for, might, it is highly probable, be found
with. natural qualities adapted to the im-r
provernent of the moory foil.

Another fpecies of improvement, which it
is probable might be profecuted with fuc-
cefs, is that of cutting off the fprings which
pycrfjpw the fides or the bottom of hills, and

23- YORKSHIRE. 293

underdrawing* if requifite, the bogs they have
formed ; by which means many fertile
patches might, it is probable, be pro-
duced.

Another fpecie; of melioration applicable
to the reclaiming of thefe waftes is watering —
flooding. I have obferved where the waters
of hollow-ways, &c. break out over the black
earth, a covering of grafs takes place. AU
moft all the bottoms of the vallies and fkirts
of the hills might be flooded with the fprings
and rivulets which lie above them.

Thofe who are unacquainted with the
practice of flooding will doubt the efficacy
of the waters of fyrings and char rivulets ;
while thofe who are verfed in it would fmile
at their want of information. I have feen
waters perfectly limpid produce the happieft
effect. It is not the colour^ but the intrinfic
quality, of water which fits it for the pur-
pofe of melioration. Any water, which is
not in its nature poifonous to plants, has, if
properly thrown over grafsland in the fpring
and fummer months, a beneficial effect.
Whether the fprings and rivulets in queftion
U 3 would

294 MORELANDS. 23.

would or would not have a beneficial effect
on the lands which lie below them, might
eafily be put to the teft.

By application and due attention upon the
fpot, other probable means of improvement
might prefent themfelves.

That the principal part of thefe hills might
be brought into a ftate of grafs of no mean
producYivenefs, appears to my mind indifput-
able *. But whether any means of improv-
ing

* An inftance ftrongly corroborative of this opinion
irny be produced. A labourer who lived in " Blakay-
Houfe,"— fituated near the higheft fwell of th'efc
mountains, — inclofed a patch of moor adjoining to his
houfe : a fair fpecimen of '* turf moor :" — namely, a
dry black fbriey foil, lying on a fandy fubfoil. Never-
thelefs, in 1783, when this improvement accidentally
i aught my eye, he had converted the principal part of
it, perhaps about two acres, into a piece of very pro-
dutfive grafsland. He told me that he had tried corn
of all forts upon it without fuccefs. It came up very
well, but generally died away in weaning from the ker-
nel. Nor did potatoes ever do well. He had one yeaf
a very fine prclpe£t ; but a cold high wind cut them off
entirely. He was fo fully tired of every thing but
grafs, that upon a ftripe he was about to lay down, he
only meant to throw a few oats by way of encreafing
thfc fwath of hay, intending to mow them oft with the
vcft of his clofe. His manure — lime, afh.es, and cow-
doin£ ;i patch well over every year.

23. YORKSHIRE. 295

ing can be hit upon which would render the
improvement greater than the expence of ob-
taining it, experience alone can fhew ; and
individuals ought to enter cautioufly into the
project.

But, viewed in a national light, an improve-
ment of this kind, whether individuals gain
or lofe by the profecution of it, is defirable.
If through the means of a foil which lies
wade, of fofiile fubftances which lie ufelefs,
of fire which may be had at will, and of wa-
ter which nature has provided upon the fpot,
lands which are infertile can be rendered pro-
ductive, without robbing thofe which are
already in a flare of productivenefs ; the rea-
lity oftheacquifition, to the (late, cannot be
doubted.

In the center of thefe hills, among their
higheft eminences, lies a plot of land which
belongs exclufively to the Duchy of Lan-
cafter. Might it not be laudable in Govern-
ment to direct fome attention toward its im-
provement ? The two hundred thoufand acres
of wafle which lie immediately round it
would not be the only object in view.
Twenty times the quantity of fimilar fur-
face lies wafte within the kinghom.
U4

O F

RATES, &c.

BUILDING MATERIALS.

OAK TIMBER, for buildings, 144. to
i Sd. a foot.

Afh timber, is. to u. 6d. a- foot.

" Stock'* bricks, 2U. a thoufand, and

" Water" bricks, 15^.

Pantiles, 45*.

Ridge-ftones, 5^. a foot.
„ Copings of gables, 5^.

Gable brackets, 2s. 6d. each.

Lime, js. to 9^. a chaldron.

Dimenfions of bricks, 9! — 4|— 2| inches.

v pantiles, 14 by 10 inches.

CAR-

298 LIST OF RATES.

CARPENTER'S WORK.

Journeyman's wages, 14^. and board, or
2S, a day.

M AS ON's WORK.

Journeyman's wages, i6d. and board, or
2S. a day.

Labourers — — — — lod. — — — or
jj. 6d. a day.

BLACKSMITH'S WORK.

Common heavy work, 4^. a Ib.
Traces, draught-irons, &c. 6d. a Ib.
Horfe-ihoes, 4^. each — removes, i^.each.
Laying a friare or coulter, 8^. to u.
Sharping id.

WOODLANDS.

Ship-timber at the ports, 3/. to 3 guineas
a ton.

Carriage of timber, about yd. a ton

a mile.

" CrambJes"

YORKSHIRE. 399

" C rambles" — firewood boughs, IQJ. to
1 2 j. a load*

Bark ready chopt for the tanner, IQJ. 6d.
a quarter.

Peeling bark, about zed. a day.

and chopping 3* . to 3*. 6d. a quarter.

Spray faggots, 6s. to 8*. a hundred of fix
fcores.

Binding fuch faggots, 2S.

Felling and binding furze faggots, 4^.
a fcore.

Grubbing — ' 6d.

a fcore.

Grubbing without binding, 20^. to 305. an
acre.

PLANTATIONS.

Price of oziers, u. a bundle of a foot dia-
meter, or 1 1 yard in circumference.

FENCES.

Price of feedling white thorn, 5-f.a thoufand.

. tranfplanted js. to Ss.

Setting polls and two rails and winding them
with thorns, 4^. to 5^. a rod of 7 yards.

Stake-

300 LIST OF RATES.

Stake-and-edder hedge, %d. to 4^. a rod of
7 yards.

Fence-walls ; railing ftones, carriage, and
walling, is. a rod of 7 yards.

TEAM LABOUR.

Hire of four horfes and a man, 8j. to los.
a-day.

Carriage of coals, about $d. a chaldron a
mile.

YEARLY SERVANTS WAGES,

Head man, 13 to i$l.

Second 8 to io/.

Dairymaid, 5 to 6/.

DAY-LABOURER's WAGES.

Man in winter, Sd. a day and board.
in fummer, is. to \%d. •

Woman, in autumn and fpring, 6d. a day,
no board.

— in hay-time, yd.

. in harveft, iod.

M A-

YORKSHIRE. 3°'

MANURE.

Price of lime, 71. to 9*. a chaldron.'

Burning lime — raifing ftones, breaking,
felling, and helping to draw, i%d. to 2od.
a chaldron.

Get on the north-fide of the Vale (mate-
rials hard), from 2| to 3 chaldrons of lime
for one of coals.

on the fouth-fide (ftone fofter,), 3 to

3 1 for one.

Set on 3 to 4 chaldrons an acre.

SOIL-PROCESS.

Underdraining with wood, 2 to 4 feet deep,
6d. for a rod of 7 yards.

Paring with the breaft-plow, ios. to 14?,
an acre.

Drying and burning fods, 5*. to 6s. an acre,

Spreading afties, 2j. an acre.

Whole expence, 181. to 2is. an acre.

H AR-

302 L I S T O F R A T E S".

HARVEST. PROCESS.

Mowing grafs, 1 6d. a day and board ; or
21 d. to 2s. %d. an acre.
Mowing corn, is. to i^d. a day and board.

BAR N-L A B O U R.

Thrafliing wheat, 3^. a ftook : or is. 6d. to

5J. a quarter.

GRASSLAND.

Gait of a cow from Mayday to Michael-
mas, 4OJ. to 45^.

PRO-

YORKSHIRE.

PROVINCIALISMS.

THE DIALECTS OF YORKSHIRE

are flrikingly various.

The provincial language of Cleveland dif-
fers more widely, in fome refpects, from that
of the Vale of Pickering, though fituated only
twelve or fifteen miles from each other, than
the Dialec"l of the Vale does from that of
Dcvonlhire, which is fituated at an oppofitc
extreme of the kingdom. The Eaftern More-
lands are a barrier which formerly cut off all
communication between the two Diftrid:s.
But this cannot be the only caufe of dif-
ference : the language and the manners of
their rcfpeftive inhabitants appear to have
no natural affinity : they are, to prefent ap-
pearance, as diftincl: races of people as if they
were defcended from differenr roots. The
pronunciation of the Vale bears a ftrong ana-
logy to the Scftcb } while that of Cleveland,

which.

j-4 PROVINCIALISMS.

which lies immediately between the Vale
and Scotland, has little or no affinity to the
Scotch pronunciation.

About Leeds, the language flill varies : jt
is there ftrongly marked by a twang in the
pronunciation. In the Vale of Pickering the
word cow, for inftance, takes the clcfe found
" ceo ;" about Leeds it becomes " caw :"
the afaort) as in can ; the w being articulated
as in the eftablifhed pronunciation of the

In the more extreme parts of Weft Tork-
fbire the dialed is characterized by an open-
ncfs or trtodrtffs of pronunciation, very dif-
ferent from the reft of the county. The
language even of Waktfidd and that of
J,,eeds, though thefe two places are fituated
y/iihin twenty miles of each other, are in
many particulars lefs analogous than thofe of
Scotland and the Vale of Pickering.

The dilTimiJltudes here mentioneed, how,
ever, relare more to pRosuNrciATiON,or what
is lets properly termed vcrent^ than to WORDS.
rbrltfs, in woi'ds^the different Di(tric~ts
this extenfive province vary confiderably
in identify and

YORKSHIRE. 305

PROVINCIAL WORDS are either corruptions
of the eftablifhed language, or native words
defcended from the ANCIENT LANGUAGE of
the province they are fpoken in. Hence in
RECLUSE DISTRICTS we muft expeft to find
the greatcfl number of genuine •provincialifms*

Of ANCIENT VOCAL SOUNDS.

The VALE OF PICKERING is fingularly cir-
cumftanced in this refpec}. The peculiar
reclufenefs of its fituation has been defcribed;
and being in a manner wholly agricultural,
its connexions are inconfiderable. Had it not
been for the influx of words and fafhion
which Scarborough has annually drawn into
it, this fecluded Vale muft inevitably have
been, in language and manners, a century at
lead behind every other Diftri<5t of this king-
dom fituated equally near its center.

The MOR ELAND DALES, which are in rea-
lity appendages of the Vale, have been ftill
more effectually cut off from all converfe with
grangers. Their fituation is fo reclufe, their
foil in general fo infertile, and their afpect fo
uninviting, that it is probable neitherRoman,
Dane, nor Saxon ever fet foot in them. No

VOL. II. X wonder

306 'PROVINCIALISMS.

wonder, then, the language of thefe Dales,
which differs little from that of the Vale, —
except in its greater -purity^ — fhould abound
in native words ; or that it mould vary fo
widely in pronunciation from the eftablifhed
language of this day, as to be in a manner
wholly unintelligible to ftrangers ; not, how-
ever, fo much through original words, as
through a regular SYSTEMATIC DEVIATION
from the eftab limed -pronunciation of Englijh
words *.

This difference in PRONUNCIATION gene-
rally arifes from a. change of the vowels', which
is of courfe produ&ive of a change of words.
Hence it will be neceflary, in giving an ade-
quate idea of the language, to point out the

leading

* It might be a difficult talk, now, to afcertain with
precifion, whether thefe DEVIATIONS are in reality
corruptions or purities of the ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
They are probably a mixture of the two ; I mean, they
m:ty contain fome flight admixture of depravity. But
it -would be equally reafonable to fuppofe that a di-
fturbed ftream fliould be lefs adulterate than its foun-
'tain, as that the language at prefent eftablifhed fliould
be lefs corrupt, or (to change the word without altering
the argument) lefs refined than that of a Diftrift fe-
eluded in a iinguhr manner from all intercourie with
other languages.

YORKSHIRE. 3^7

leading principles of pronunciation : and previ-
ous to this it may be proper to mention a
deviation in GRAMMAR ; which, I believe, is
peculiar 10 the dialedt under notice.

The provincial language of Eaft-Yorkfhire
has no genitive cafe, except that of its pofTef-
five pronouns ; and except when the nomina-
tive cafe is underftood. When this is ex-
prefled, the preceding fubftantive becomes in
effed: an adjedtive ; as, John Hat, — George
Houfe ; analagous with London porter, — York-
Jhire butter.

This excifion of the genitive termination
gives great additional beauty and fimplicity
to the language, doing aw ay almoft entirely the
declenficn of nouns, and leffening that biffing
which is fo difagreeable to the ears of fo-
reigners, and which is indifputably one of
the greateft blemifhes of the Englifh lan-
guage-

A perfon unacquainted with this mode of
fpeech will conceive it to be the caufe of
much ambiguity. But, among thofe who
ufe it, no inconveniency whatever arifes from
it. When the nominative cafe is not ex-
X 2 prelfcd,

30$ PROVINCIALISMS.

prefTed, then a genitive termination becomes
requifite,and is always ufed ; as, Whofe hat is
this ? It is John's. Whofe houfe is this ? It
is George's. The fame in the perfonal pro-
nouns : as, Whofe land is this ? It is your's ;
it is mine ; it is his. Even when the fubftan-
tive is joined, the perfonal pronouns take a
genitive form ; as, his country, your country,
my country.

The PRONUNCIATION now remains to be
noticed.

The deviations lie principally in the
vowels ; but there is one peculiarity of AR-
TICULATION which is noticeable; as being
a ftranger in the eftablilhed pronunciation ;
though common, I believe, to the northern
counties. This is in the articulation of the
/, in butter, matter, and all words of a fimilar
termination •, alfo in tree, trace, tread, and all
words and fyllables beginning with tr *.

The articulation, in thefe cafes, is between
the eflablimed articulation of the/ and that of
the th; the tongue being preffed hard againft
the teeth and the gums jointly ; not ilightly

touching

* The letter d takes the fame articulation in fimilar
cafes j namely, whenever it is fubjoined with r or «•.

YORKSHIRE. 309

touching the gums alone, as in the ordinary
articulation of the /. I notice this as a pro-
•vincialifm ; and know no better teft of a nor-
tbern provincialift than this peculiarity.

In the pronunciation of VOWELS, that of
o long, as inftone, yoke, bolet more, is firft no-
ticeable. A mere provincialift of Eaft York-
(hire knows no fuch found ; nor can he, with-
out much practice, pronounce it. In the
provincial dialedt it takes four diftinct vocal
founds j namely, eea, an, ooa, 0, — according
to the confonants it is joined with in compofi-
tion. Thus ftone is pronounced jleean ; yoke,
yauk ; bole, focal ; more, mare.

The diphthong ea, which formerly, it is
probable, had a diftinct vocal found affigned
it in the Englilh language, but which feems
to be at prefent entirely unknown to the
Englifh tongue, is flill in common ufe in the
dialect under notice. In the eftablilhed pro-
nunciation, break is become brake ; tea, tee j
fea, fee \ but in this they are pronounced
alike, by a vocal found between the < and the
a long.

3ro PROVINCIALISMS.

The along is generally, but not invariably,
changed into eea; as, flake, fieeac ; lame,
beam ; late, heat ; or into a /hort, as, take,
tack ; make, mack.

The e Jhort, before / and », is lengthened
by thejy confonant articulated as in yet, yes,
you : thus, well (a fountain) becomes weyl ;
to fell, tofeyl; men, meyn ; ten, teyn : in one
cafe it changes into e Jong -, as, well ^the ad-
verb), weel.

The ; long feldom has the eftabliihed pro-
nunciation. Before £/>/ it generally changes
into e long ; as, night, met ; bright, breet ;
right, reel : before /, into a bread (as in father,
half, and before the letter r); as, mile, maal \
ftile,y?^/i and does not, in any cafe, tal^c,
in flriclnefs, the modern found, which is a
Diphthong compofed of a broad ^and e: where-
as its provincial found here is, the accepted
found of ejhort lengthened by the y confo-
ttant*; as, white, wbeyt ; to write, to wreyt :
a mode of pronunciation which perhaps for-
merly

* I fay, the accepted found of ejhort, though it is by
no means the aflual found of that vowel. I have nc-
verthelefs thought proper to give it the eibblilhed;
power in the Gloflary. The * Jbort I retain for the
fame reafon, though flill'more liable to objection.

YORKSHIRE. 311

merly was in general ufe, but which now
feems to be confined to provincial dialects,
or is not at leaft heard in fajhionabls lan-
guages.

The oo before k changes into « long ; as
book, luke ; to look, to lake : before /, /, m*
tbt generally into ea long ; as boots, beats ;
fool,/*?/; broom, bream ; tooth, teatb : be-
fore r, moftly into ee ; as floor, fleer; door,
deer.

Ol before ^generally becomes au\ as, old,
aud ; cold, caud; wolds, wauds : in one in-
ftance the / is mute ; as, hold, bod.

In words ending \nault or alt, the /is like-
wife mute, the termination becoming in both
cafes aut-9 as fault, faut', fah,fauf-t malt,

maut *•

X 4 The

* This brings to my mind a circumflance which de-
fcrves notice ; as it Icrvcs to fhew theprecf/s ofcorrvp-
tion, or as others perhaps will have it, refinement of lanr
guages. There are, in many cafes, t-ivo diftintt provin-
cial language* in this Diftrift : one of them fpoken by
the lower clafs, — more especially of old people j the
other by the fuperior clafs of provincialijls. The fii ft
I fliall call the vulgar tongue (though in all probability
the purer language) ; the other the middle dialetf,
Thus the Eng'ifh word malt is in the vulgar tongue

312 PROVINCIALISMS.

The ou changes almofl invariably into 00;
as, flour, floor ; pur, oor\ houfe, boofe; moufe,
mcofe.

The ow is fubjedl to a fimilar deviation ;
as, bowls, book; power, poor; flower, floor ;
bow, boo ; cow, coo.

Thefe are the principal part of the more
REGULAR DEVIATIONS in the pronunciation
of the Eaft-Yorklhire dialed. To go thro*
its ANOMALIES would be an endlefs talk :
fome of them will appear in the following
GLOSSARY; in the forming of which I have
been induced to break through my original
plan with refpeft to PROVINCIALISMS ; which
was, and indeed flill is, to confine myfelf
merely to fuch words as relate more efpeci-
ally to RURAL AFFAIRS. But finding, in this
particular inftancey a DECLINING LANGUAGE,

which

tnzut ; in the middle dialect, molt : Malton, in like man-
ner, becomes Mauion and Molton. All fyllables formed
with o long have three diftincl: pronunciations : thus
Icoal in the vulgar tongue, ball in the middle dialect,
and. bole in the Englifli language, convey the fame
idea. Creeac, crake, crow ; father (the a Jbort}^ faither^
father, are other inftances. In a few generations, it is
probable, the prefent vulgar tongue will be loft, and
the prefent middle dialed will then of courfe become
the vulgar tongue.

YORKSHIRE. 313

ivhich is unknown to the public *, but which,
it is highly probable, contains more ample
remains of the ANCIENT LANGUAGE of the

CENTRAL PARTS OF THIS ISLAND, thatl ED/

other which is now fpoken ; I was willing to
do my bed endeavour towards arrefting :t in
its prefent form 5 before the general blaze of
falhion and refinement, which has already
fpread its dawn even over this fecluded
Diftrict, mail have buried it in irretrievable
obfcurity.

* Except fome fragments of if, which were collected
on the banks of the Humber (at the mod extreme dif-
tance from what may be confidered as the fource of the
dialect) by Mr. Brokelby, and communicated to Mr.
RAY j who has preferved them in his COLLECTION OF
LOCAL WORBJ.

PRO-

PROVINCIALISMS

O F

E A S T-Y ORKSHIRE*.

EXPLANATIONS. In this Gloflary, a, before a
confonant and without the e final, has the accepted
power of a Jhjrt^ as in man. a, with the e final \ or
«7/, denotes the Englijh a, or a Jlender^ as in fate ; oa>
the French a, or the Englifh abroad, as in half:
tfw, the Italian #, or the Englifh aw, as in law ; aw a
fyllable compofed of ajhort, as in hat, and w confunani^
as in word.

ey the accepted power of e fiort. ea^ a long vowtl>
orfimph vocal found) whofe power lies between thole
of a jknder and e long, ee^ the ehng, as in feet. ecat a
diphthong^ or compound vocnl found, compofed of e long
andafiort. ey, zfyllable formed of e J})ortt and y con"
fonant.

o is invariably Jhort, as in hot. oo invariably long^
as in food, ooa, a compound of oo and ajhort.

The /and the w have their accepted powers aflign-
ed them ; excepting the flight deviation in the ;' long,
which has been mentioned. Where there is room
for ambiguity, the quantity is fpecified.

ABOON ;

* More efpecially of the Eaftern Morelands and the
Vale of Pickering : the Wolds, Holdernefs, and the
Howardian hills, ufe the fame dialccl:, but in a lefs per-
fc&ftate,

YORKSHIRE. 315

A.

A BOON ; above, in its general fenfe.
To ADDLE; to earn by working: " he
cannot addle his bread."

ADDIWiSSEN j to be fent about addiwiflen, is to
be fent on a fool's errand : — an expreffion which
is nearly obfolete.

AIRTH ; quarter; as, " in whatairth is the wind ?"

AISK ; a newt, or lizzard.

AITHER ; a plowing ; as, the firftor fecond aither;
the fame as airth of fome places, and earth of
others.

AME'LL } between ; as, <* amell fix and feven
o'clock."

ANANTERS, or ANTERS ; left, or for fear ;—
" ananters it fhould rain."

ANCHOR ; the chape of a buckle.

ANENST, or OVER-ANENST ; oppofite.

AR ; a cicatrice, or fear left by a wound.

ARFISH ; fomewhat afraid.

ARK ; a kind of large cheft or bin, .with divifion*
within, formerly ufed for laying up drefled corn
in ; a fort of moveable granary.

ASS; afhes.

ASSLE j query, a corruption of axis, or a native
word ? afs/f-tootbj a grinder ; afsle-tref, the axis
of a carriage-wheel, but of no other wheel ; nor is
it ever applied without the termination tree. Per-
haps axlt is a pedantic corruption of this word.

AVE*

3i6 PROVINCIALISMS.

AVERAGE ; the pafturage of common fields and
other ilubbles after harveft.
; elm.

B.

BACKSTON j (that is, bakingjtone}- a flate, hung
in an iron frame over the fire, to bake cakes upon,

BADGER j ahuckfter.

BAIRN; child.

BAIRN WQRTS; lellh }?rennis j daifey.

BALKS (pronounced bauks} ; a rough chamber in

an out-building.
BARFAN ; a horfe-cojlar.

BARGUEST ; a hobgoblin of the higheft order ;
terrible in afpe£t, an4 loadec) with chains of tre-
mendous rattle.
BASS ; a matt of any kind.
BAT j a blow : hence
BATS j a beating : " aa'll gi' tha' thi1 bats:" I'll

give thee a beating.
BEACE ; cattle; the plural of beaft.
£EACEj a cattle-ftall.
ToBEAL; to bellow as an ox.
BECK ; brook (the common term).
£EELD; fhelter ; alfo the caufe of flicker: a
clump or fkreen o.f trees planted for the protection
of ftock, is called a beeld.
RELIVE ; (the i long} in the evening.
JBENP ; a fpecies of ru,fh which grows on the
Moreland h-UJs.

- BE,

YORKSHIRE. 3*7

BESHARP; makehafte.

BINK ; a bench, common at the doors of cottages ;
generally made of ftoues, or of earth planted on
the top with camomile.
BIRDSEYE; Vfranica chamadrys ; germander fpeed-

well.
BISSLINGS, or BISSLING-MILK ; the firft

milk of a nevvly-calven cow.
BLACK-NEBB'D-CROW ; the carrion crow.
BLAKE; yellowifh : colour of bees-wax.
BLASHY; wet,dirty,fplafiiy; as, "blafhy weather.^
BLEA ; duflcy blue, or lead-colour.
BLE ABERRY j vaccinium myrtillus, common whortle-
berry.

BLEB ; a blifter ; or an air-bubble.
BLENDINGS j peas and beans grown together as

a crop.

BLEWMXK; fkim-milk.
BLINDERS, or BLINDING-BRIDLE (the/
Jhort] ; blinkers for draught-horfes.
BLUE-CAPS ; fcabiafa fucctfa j meadow fcabious ;

devil's-bit.
BOGGLE j an inferior hobgoblin, or any thing

frightful ; hence ts btgglt, as a horfe.
BOG- VIOLET ; pinguicula vulgarn ; butterwort.
BONNY; pretty, handfome, beautiful.
To BOOAC ; to reach ; to keck.
BOON; going prcfcntly^ as, "he is boon to market."
BOORLY ; lufty; grofs an<l large made, with fomc
degree of comelinefs ; as, a boorly man or woman.

BOTCHETi

3i8 PROVINCIALISMS.

BOTCHET ; fmall-beer mead.

BOTTRY; elder : a " bottry tree."

BRAKENS j pterls aqttilina', brakes ; fern.

BRANT j fteep -t as a hill, or a road (the common
epithet).

BRASS ; halfpence.

BRASHY; fmall, rubbiflily ; as, refufe fuel.

To BRAY j to pound, or to break fmall, as lime-
ftones for the kiln, &c.

BREEA ; the brink or bank of a brook or river.

BREERS ; brambles and briars.

BRIDE-DOOR ; " to run for the bride-door," is
to ftart for a favor given by a bride to be run fcr
by the youth of the neighbourhood ; who wait at
the church-door until the marriage ceremony be
over, and frcm thence run to the bride's door.
The prize a ribbon, which is worn for the day in
the hat of the winner. If the diftance be great,
as two or three miles, it is cuftomary to " ride for
the bride-door."

BRIDE-WAIN ; a carriage loaded with houfhold
furniture and utenfils, travelling from the bride's
father's to the bridegroom's houfe. Formerly,
great parade and ceremony were obferved on this
occafion. The wains were drawn entirely by
oxen, whofe horns and heads were ornamented
with ribbons. Ten or perhaps twenty pair of
oxen have, on great occafions, a/lifted in drawing
a bride- wain, A young woman at her fpinning-

wheel

YORKSHIRE. 319

wheel is feated on the center of the load. Inpaffing
through towns and villages, the bride's friends
and acquaintance throw up articles of furniture,
until the " draught," be it ever fo powerful, is at
leaft feigned to be over-loaded j and at length
Is " fct faft j" generally, however, by fome artifice,
rather than the weight of the load ; which, never-
thelefs, has on fome occafions been fo confider-
able, as to require feveral wains to carry it.

BRIMMING ; a fow when flie takes the boar is faid
to be a brimming ; and the boar is faid to brim her.

BROOACH (that is broach) ; the fpire of a church.

BROCK ; a young grafshopper. *' He fweats like
a brock."

BROO j the forehead j and hence the upper part of
a hill, refembling the forehead.

BUCKHEADING ; cutting offlive hedge-thorns,
fence-height.

BUCKLE-HORNS j fliort crooked horns, turning
horizontally inward.

BUFE ; a bough of a tree.

BUFFETSTOOL j a low four-legged ftool.

BULLHEAD; the fi(b, milLrVtbumb. ,

BULLS-FOREHEAD i aira cxfpttofa ; turfy air-
grafs.

BULLSPINK; the bird, chaffinch.

BUMMLE-BEE ; the humble bee ; properly hum-
ming-bee.

BUN ; a kecks, or hollow ftem.

BUR-

j2o PROVINCIALISMS.

JKTRDEN-BAND ; a hempen hay-band.
BURK ; betula alba ; the birch.
BUR-THISTLE; carduus lanceolatus -, fpear-thiftlc>
BUSK; abufli.
BUTTERBUMPj the bittern.
BUVER j the common gnat, or mufquitd.

C.

To CADGE ; to carry.

To CAKE ; to cackle as geefe : gecfe cake, henS
cackle.

CAM ; any long mound of made earth.

CAN ; a fmall milk-pail, with a handle on the fide.

To CANKER ; to ruft.

CANKER; ruft (in common ufe).

CANTY ; brifk, lively, active ; generally fpoken of
an old perfon.

CAPES ; ears of corn broken off in thrashing
(the NORF. COLDER).

CAR ; low marfhy ground ; fen ; contradiftindl:
from " Ing," as being paftured.

CARBERRIES ; goofeberries ; ribes groj/ularia; pro-
perly grofiberrits.

CARLINGS ; fried peafe, eaten the Sunday next
but one before Eafter j which is called " Carl-
Sunday."

CAT-WHIN ; rofa fpinofj/ima ; burnet rofe.

To CAVE (vulgarly to keeav)-> to raks off or out of;
as fhort ftraws and ears from the corn in chaff on
a barn-floor.

CAUF j calf.

CAVING-

YORKSHIRE. 3*1

CAVING RAKE ; a barn-floor rake, with a fhort

head and long teeth.
CAZZONS; the dung of cattle dried for fuel ; a

common article of fuel in Holdernefs.
CilLING ; the wainfcotting of a room is called

the " fealin ;" the ceiling, the " underdrawing"
CHATS; keys of the aih, and maple j aifo the

catkins of the hazle.
CHEESE - CAKE - GRASS $ lotus tornuulatus ;

birdsfoot trefoil.
CHESLIP-SKINi the' calf s bag, ufed in maki»g

" yerning."

CHIMPINGSj grits; rough-ground oatmeal.
To CHIP ; to trip ; as, " to chip up the heels ;"

or to " chip a fall ;" as in wreftling.
To CHIP j to break the (hell as chickens do previ-
ous to their exclufion ; alfo to chop, as the lips.
CHIZZIL ; bran (the common term).
To CHUNTER ; to talk about and repine at fmall

misfortunes ; to exprefs difcontent about trifles.
CICELY ; ch<sropkyllum fylvejlrc ; orchard weed j

cowparfley.

CLAGGY; fticky; as wet clay.
To CLAME (v. ».)i to daub, as wet foil with the

harrows.
To CLAME ; (v. a.} to fprcad unctuous matter;

as falveon a plafter, butter on bread.
To CLAPPERCLAW ; to beat, or paw, with the

open hand.

VOL. II. Y CLARTYj

322 PROVINCIALISMS.

CLARTY ; clammy, as honey, &c. fpoken of a
clayey foil when wet.

CLAVVER; clover.

To CLAVVER; to clamber, as children.

CLEANING ; the fecundine of the cow, ewe, &e.

To CLICK ; to fnatch haftily or rudely.

To CLIP ; to fhear as fheep.

CLIPPING; a fheep- fhear ing.

CLOCKS ; beetles of all kinds.

CLOCK-SEAVESi fehanus nigricant', black-
headed bogrufh.

CLODDY ; thick, fliort, and full of flefh ; as *
bullock of this defcription.

CLOG ; a log ; as a clog of wood.

CLOG-SHOES; wooden (hoes; or rather fhoes
with wooden foals. '

To CLOW ; to pull together, rudely ; or to la-
bour in a vulgar, furious manner.

CLUBSTER; afloat.

To CLUNTER ; to make a rude noife with the
feet in walking.

To COBBLE ; to ftone ; to throw ftones, dfrt, or
fnow-balls.

COBBLES ; pebbles ; round ftones found in the
foil. Alfo the fmall boats of fifhermen, &c.

COBBLETREES ; double fwingle-trees, whip-
pins, or fplinter-bars.

COBBY ; merry j cheerful.

COD;

YORKSHIRE. 313

COD ; pod : peafe or beans which are well hung

with pods, are faid to be well " codded."
COMMOTHER (perhaps Co-mother) ; a godmother.
CONNY; clever; neat; tidy; agreeable.
COOL, or COWL ; a fwelling raifed on the head

by a blow from a cudgel, or other hard weapon.
COOP ; an ox cart, with a clofe body, and without

" flielvings," for carrying manure, &c. ftil! in ufe.
To COOR ; to crouch or fit upon the haunches.
COOSCOT ; a wood-pigeon.
COPING (pronounced keeaping] j the covering of a

ftone quarry.
CORNBIND ; polygonum convolvulus j climbing

buck wheat : alfo convolvulus arvtnfis j corn con-
volvulus.
CLOSE (pronounced tlMact}* an inclofure; in dif-

tinclion to " field," which implies an open field.
COTTREL ; the kty of an iron bolt.
COWDY; pert; frolickfome.
To COWL j to gather, rake, or fcrape together.
COWL-RAKE ; a mud fcraper.
COW-MIG; the drainage of a cow-houfe, or

dunghill.

To CO WP ; to change ; to fwap.
COWSTRIPLINGS ; primula veris ; cowflips.
COWTHERED ; recovered from difeafe or coW-

nefs.
COW-TIE ; a fliort thick hair rope, with a wooden

nut at one end, and an eye formed in the other;

for hoppling the hind legsofacowwhilcin milking.
Y 2 CRAKE

324 PROVINCIALISMS.

CRAKE (vulg. creeak) ; a crow or rook.

CPJVKEFEET; arches; orchifes.

CR AKENEEDLES j fcandix pcfltn venens ; fhep-

herds needle.
CRAMBLES ; large boughs of trees, off which thi

faggot wood is cut.
CRANKY ; checked linnen : *f cranky apron ;"

a checked-linen apron.

To CREE ; to feethe ; to pre-boily as rice, &c.
CREEL ; a kind of bier, ufed for flaughtering

and falving fheep upon.
CROFT; a fmall inclofure; larger than a yard 5

but (mailer than a " clofe."
CROOK (pronounced cruke) ; a hook ; as, a " yat-

cruke ;" a gate hook.
CROUCE; pleafed, fatisfied, happy, in good fpi-

rits.

To CROWDLE (diminutive of to crowd); to
creep clofe together, as children round the fire, or
chickens under the hen.
To CRUNKLE ; to tumble or rumple, as line«

or other cloaths.
CU PROSE; papaver-, poppy.
CUSHIA j btracleum fpondylium j cowparfnep.

YORKSHIRE. 325

D.

DAFT j ftupid, inapt ; oppofed to quick and fen-

iible.
DAITLE (that is day-tab) j by the day; as,

" daitle-man," a day-labourer j " daitle-work,"

work done by the day.
DAP ; fledge, as young birds in the neft.
DAW; doughy, underbaked.
DAWL'D ; tired ; worn-out with fatigue or re-
petition.
DEAj do: as, " winnot ye dea't?" will you not

do it ?
DEAF ; blafted, or barren ; as a deaf ear of corn ;

or a deaf nut ; namely, a nut without a kernel,
DEA-NETTLE ; galeopfo tetrahit ; wild hemp.
DEEAZ'D; killed, or much injured by cold, or a

want of due warmth j as vegetables which arc

froft-nipped ; or chickens which die in the (hell,

through the hen's abfence.

DEED; doings: " whent deed ;" great to-do.
DEFT; neat; pretty; handfome.
To DELVE ; to dint or bruife, as a pewter or a

tin veflel.

DESS (of hay) ; a cut of hay.
To DESS UP ; to pile up neatly.
To DIG ; to break up the ground with a hack,

mattock, or other tool, which requires a ftrokc in
. yfmg it : fee To GRAVE.
Y

$26 PROVINCIALISMS.

DIKE ; a ditch ; alfo a puddle, or fmall pool of

water.

To DILL ; to foothe, blunt or filence pain or found j
To DITHER (the ;' Jbort> as in wither) ; to trem-
ble or fhiver with cold.

To DOCK ; to trim the buttocks, &c. of fheep.
DOCK EN; rumex-, dock.
DOGFINKIL; anihemis (otula; maithe-weed.
DONNOT (that is, dowt-not); good for nothing 5

bad : a name of the Devil.
To DOOK ; to duck, or immerge in water; alfo

to bow down the head abruptly.
DOORY, or DEERY j very little, diminutive :

" a laatle doory thing."

DORDUM j a loud, confufed, riotous noife.
To DOW i to thrive or be ufeful ; as, « hedowfi
for nought," he is good for nothing: " he neU
ther dees nor dows," he neither dies nor mends.
DOW LED } dead, Hat 5 fpoken of liquor which

has lofl its head.

DOWLEY ; fickly, pale ; not brilk, or florid.
DOWNDINNER j afternoon luncheon.
DOZZAND 3 flirivelled; not plump and fair.
DRAFF ; brewer's grains.
DRAPE (vulgarly drccap) ; a barren cow.
DRAUGHT ; a team, either of oxen or horfes.
DREE; tedious; unexpectedly long.
To DRESS (pron. drifs) ; to clean, as the barn-?
floor or the table j alfo to cleanfe from refufe, a«

corn or flour.

T«

YORKSHIRE. 317

To DRITE; to drawl in fpeaking.

DROKE (pronounced drooac] ; folium temulentum j

darnel.

DUBBLER ; a difh or platter for the table.
DUMP ; a deep hole of water ; feigned at leaft t*

be bottomlefs.

PUNDER-KNOLL } a blockhead.

To DUZ ; to beat out, as over-ripe corn at harveft.

£.

EASINS; eaves of a houfe.

EE; the eye.

EEN; eyes.

EERAN ; errand,

ELLER i bctula alnut ; alder.

ELS1N ; an awl.

ENTRY j an entrance, or fmall hall.

ESH i the afh : probably the Saxon pronunciation*

EWER ; fee YEWER.

FAANTICKLES ; freckles on the face.

To FAFF } to blow in puff$.

FALLOW ; ground laid down to reft, without

fowing grafs feeds (as formerly praflifed).
FALLOW-HAY i hay grown upon a fallow, o

pew natural ley,

y T,

328 PROVINCIALISMS.

To FALTER ; to thrafh barley in the chaff, in or-
der to break offthetiwns.
To FASH ; to teaz^, and vex by importunity.
FAT-HEN ; cbeiropodiitm ; goofefoot.
FAUD ; a trufs-of /hort ftraw, containing as much

as the arms can well " faud ;" that is, fold.
FAUF ; a fallow, or ground repeatedly tilled, with-
' cut an intervening crrp.
To FEAL ; to hidLj, in the general fenfe.
To FEED (v. a.) ; to fat cattle or fheep. " I mean

to feed him ;" I intend to fat him.
To FELLY ; to break up a fallow.
FEND ; activity, management, afliduity, prowefs.
To FEND ; to ftrive, as for a livelihood.
To FEY ; to winnow with the natural wind.
To FEZZON CN ; to feize fiercely; as the biill-

dog f.iftcns on the baitvd bull.
To FICK ; to ftruggle or fight with the legs ; as a

cow in the " tie;" or a child in the cradle.
FIRE-EYLDING ; fuel.
FITCHES 5 vicia; vetches.
To F. FTLE ; to prepare, adjuft, or make ready.

[FAX ; the fincws of the neck of cattle and fheep.
To FLACK ; to flicker as a bird ; to throb as a

wound.

FLAGS ; flakes of fnow are called " fnaw-flags.?
To FLAN ; to fpread wide ; as the fides of a bowl

or feu tile ; opnofite to upright.
To FLAY ; to frighten, in the general fenfe.

FLAY-

YORKSHIRE. fif

FLAY-CRAKE ; a fcare-crow.

FLEAKS ; wattles ; hurdles woven with twigs.

FLECKED ; pied, as cattle.

FLIG ; fledge ; able to fly ; analogous with to %
to lie.

To FLIT ; to move, or remove, as tenants at quar-
ter-day.

To FLOWTER ; to flurry, or confufe, with a de-
gree of fear.

FOALFOOT ; tuffilagt farfara ; coltsfoot.

FOG ; aftergrafs (hence per haps foggy, as applied to
a horfc).

FOISTY ; mufty.

FOLDGARTH (vulg. faudgarth) ; farm-yard.

FOND ; weak, filly, fuolifh.

FOND-PLUFE : It was formerly a cuftom, which
is not I believe yet laid afiJe, for the youth of each
parifh or townfljip to drag a plow from village to
village, on Twelfth-day ; collecting money to make
merry with in the evening. Each party is headed
by " Mab and his wife," in difguife, with their
faces blacked, and a kind of Harlequinean drefs. I
have met with no fatisfadtory account of the ori-
gin of this cuftorn.

FOSS*} a waterfall.

FOULMART (pron.foomart) i a polecat.
FOWTj a fool.

Ta

35o PROVINCIALISMS.

To FOOAZ; to level, with a pair of fhears, the top

of a fleece of woo!.

FREM ; ftrange, inimical, not intimate or friendly.
To FRIDGE j to chafei tofrift; to wear or injure

by friction.
FRUGGANi an oven-poker : alfo a dirty flovenly

woman.

G.

GAALFAT, or GUILEFAT ; the vat in which
new ale is let to ferment; alfotheliquor fermenting.

GAD; a long team- whip; alfo a fifhing-rod.

GAIN ; fhort, near; as, the " gaineft way.'*

GA1RN; yarn.

GAIT (vulg. feeat) ; ftreetj as weft-gait, caftl«-
gait*, the town-gait, the gait-door.

GAIT (vulg. geeat)-, away; as "killing-gait,"
" goflip-g.iit ;" the names of by-ways acrofs com-
mon fields ; alfo " git a gait" — go thy way.

GAIT (pron. gteai] ; a going place; as a <« cow-
gait j" the going of a cow in a furnmer paflure.

GAIT (pronounced as 'gate]; a fin.gle fheaf of corn,
bound near the top, and fet upon its butts,

GALLOWAY ; the common name of a poney, or
under-fiztd faddle-horfe.

GA~

* In towns which never were inclofed by a wall ;
confequently never had any gates. The interior ilrcets
ot York, and perhaps of all old towns in the county,
arc called gaits ; improperly gates.

YORKSHIRE. 531

GAMASHERS ; fliort fpatterdafhei, worn by

plowmen.

ToGAMMIRj to idle;
GAMMERSTAGS; an idle loofe girL
To GANG ; to go.

GANG ; a fet ; as, " a gang of calves-feet."
GANTRY ; a beer-ftand ; a frame for placing li.

quor-cafks on.
To GAR ; to make, or oblige by force j t», " I'll

gar you do it."
GARFITS ; garbage.
GARSIL j hedging thorns, or other brufliwood ufcd

in making dead hedges.

GARTH ; a yard, or fmall inclofure near a houfc.
To GAU V ; to flare about oafimly.
GAUVISON ; an oafifh, weak filly fellow.
GEEAVL AC (perhaps gemlehack) ; an iron crow foi

raifing {tones, &c.
GEEAVLE (in the middle dialecl gavle}-, thegablt

of a building.
GEERS ; harnefs of draught horfcs (the common

term).
To GERN (the£ bard, as in get)$ to fnarlas a dog^

or an ill-natured hufband.
GEWGAW ; a Jew's harp.
GIB (the g bard, as in gild) ; a hook : igibbjjliek,

a hooked ftick.
GILDERS (the^^rJ)i hair noofcs for catching

fmall birds.

GILL

33* PROVINCIALISMS.

GILL (the g hard] y a fmall valley; generally a

branch of a valley, in a mountainous country,

furnished with a ftream, and containing more or

lefs wocdinefs.
GILTS (the g bard] j young female pig?, whether

open or fpayed ; analogous with heifer.
GIMMER (the g hard} ; a female young fheep ; as,

" gimmer-lamb— a ewe-lamb — '* gimmer-hog"
. — a female ewe of the firft year.
A GLIFT ; a glimpfe.
To GLOOAR ; to ftare with a fixt countenance,

rudely, or frightfully.
GOB ; a vulgar name for the mouth : htnce gob/lick,

z wooden fpoon.
(GODSPENNY ; earner! money, given on hiring a

fervant.

GODSHARLD ; God forbid !
GOLDSPINK j the bird, yellowhammer.
£OOAC (mid. dial.^w/;) ; the core of a hay-ftack.

or an apple.

pOSSIP j a godfather.

GOTHERLY j affable, fociable, pleafed with each
r other.
GOWBANS ; the yellow flowers of the crowfoot

tribe.

fSOWPIN ; as much as the two hands can hold.
GRAIN j a branch j as, a bough of a tree, or a

branch qf a dale ; and alfo the tine of a fork.
GR/UTlJ'i riches.

T9

YORKSHIRE. 333

To GRAITHE ; to make fit; to prepare; to fur-
nifh with things fuitable.

To GRAVE (vulg. gretav) ; to dig or break up the
ground with zfpade. See To DIG.

GREASEj rancid butter, of theloweft degree. See
Vol. II. p. 196.

To GREET ; to weep; to cry as a child, oraper-
fon in grief.

GRIFF ; a deep valley, with a rocky fiflure-like
chafm at the bottom.

To GRIME j to fully with foot or coals : in com-
mon ufe.

GRIP ; a trench, or fmall ditch.

GRIPE; a dung-fork.

GRIZELY (vulg. graazl-j} ; ugly in the extreme.

H.

HACK ; half a mattock ; a mattock without the

axe-end ; a tool much in ufe.
HAG- WORM; an adder.
HAGS ; hanging-woods ; or woods in general.
HAIROUGH igalium apcrine ; cleavers.
HANDCLOUT (that is, hand-clctb) ; a towel.
HANK ; a with, or rope, for faftcning a gate.
To HAP ; to cover; ai the feed with foil, or the

body with cloaths.
A HAR ; a ftrong fog or fmall drizzling rain.

HAR-

334 PROVINCIALISMS.

HARLED ; mottled ; as cattle.
HASK j deficient in moifture } fpoken more particu-
larly of food, as bread.
HAUF; half.
HAVVER; oats.
HAY-SPADE ; a fharp, heart-fhaped fpade, uni-

verfally in ufe for cutting hay with.
HEAF; the haunt or habitual pafture of deep, on a

common or heath.

HEAP ; a pottle ; a quartern j a quarter of a peck.
To HEAZ i to cough or hawk ; as cattle when

they clear the windpike, or force up phlegm.
HEBBLE ; the rail of a wooden bridge.
HECK ; a rack; as a « hay-heck ;" a horfe-rackj

alfo the inner or entry-door of a cottage j formerly j

in all probability, made like a heck.
HECKLE } the flax-dreflers tool.
HECKLER ; a flax-dreffer.
HEDGING-MITTENS $ hedging-gloves.
HEEAL; whole (probably the old Britifli word).
HELM 5 a hovel ; or an open flied for cattle j fome-

times covered with faggots, and frequently with a

ftack of beans or other corn.
HENYBAUKS; hen-rooft.
HENYCAUL j a chicken-coop;
HENYPENNYi rhinantbucri/lagaai} yellow rattle,
HEV; have.
HEZ j has.
HIND j a farm-bailiff, or headman.

YORKSHIRE. 335

To HIPE ; to ftrike with the horn (Doss— Now.)

HIPPLES ; cocklets, or fmall bundles of hay fct up
to dry. Vol. II. p. 141.

To HITCH ; to hop on one leg.

HOB j the fhoe or foal of a fledge.

HOG j a fheep of a year old; a hoggard.

HOG-PIGS j caftrates ; barrow-nigs.

HOLL (pronounced h»wl) ; hollow ; a*, a " holl-
way," a hollow-way : cattle when empty of meat
are faid to be " holl."

HOLL ; a deep narrow valley is frequently termed
a " holl."

HOLLIN; holly.

HOLM (pron. bowm) ; a frefli-water ifland ; a piece
of land furrounded by a divaricating river or brook:
hence the name of places, as Keld-holm^ North-holm.

HONEY j a common word of endearment.

The HOOD ; the back of the fire.

To HOPPLE; to fetter, by tying the forelegs loofely
together.

HORSAM and HUNGIL-MONEY ; a fmall
tax which is ftill paid (though the intention of it
has long fince ceafed) by the townfliips on the
north fide of the Vale, and within the lathe or
weapontake of Pickering, for horfemen and
hounds kept for the purpofe of driving off the deer
of the foreft of Pickering from the corn-fields
which bordered upon it. Whsn that field of a given
townfliip which lay next the foreft was fallow,

no

33 * PROVINCIALISMS.

no tax was due from it that year: and tho' this forefl
has long been thrown open, or difafforefted, and
the common fields now inclofed, the " fauf year"
(calculating every third year) is ftill exempt from
this imp'fttion.

HORSKKNOBSj centaurea jacea j kwobweed 5
knapweed.

HOST-HOUSE (pron, wojl-boufe] ; a farmer's inn
at market.

To HOVER ; to ftay; to wait for: " Will you
hover till I come ?"

The HOUSE ; the fitting-room, or fore-kitchen.

HOWj around hillock; perhaps fometimes a na-
tural knoll ; but generally of factitious origin^
The Moreland fvvells abound with btw s.

To HOWZE ; to lade, as water.

HOYT 3 a fimpleton ; a mild name for a fool.

HUBBLESHEW; a hubbub, a tumultuous affembly,

HUFFIL ; a finger-bag.

HUFIL j the bird, woodpecker.

To HUG ; to carry ; efpecially a cumbrous load.

The HUKE j the huckle, or hip.

HULET j an owl.

BUMBLED ; hornlefs ; fpoken of cattle and iheep.

To HURPLE ; to flick up the back, as cattle under
a hedge in cold weather.

HYV1N i ivy.

I.

YORKSHIRE. 337

J.

To JAUP (w. n.) j to make a noife like liquor agi-
tated in a clofe veflel.

To JAUP (v. a.) ; to jumble ; as the fediment with
the clear of bottled liquor.

JEWEL ; the darling of a wooden bridge.

ILK ; each j every ; as, " ilk other houfe."

IMP ; an eke placed under a bee-hive.

The IN-EAR, or NEAR ; the kidney.

ING ; meadow j low mowing ground. See CAR.

INOO; prefently.

JUST NOO (that is,;o/? now} ; immediately, inftantly^

K.

To KEDGE ; to gluttonize.

KEEAL, or kale j broth ; pottage.

KfcEAL-POT ; porridge-pot.

KEEANS ; fcum, or mother, of ale, &c.

KELD (vulg. keyld] ; a fpring ; or perhaps a ge-
neral name for a river or brook which rifes abrupt-
ly : hence the names of places ; as, keld-head, the
head of the river Cofta j keldholm^ near the efflux
of the Dove; holl-keld-bcady the head of an emer-
gent brook near Kirbymoorfide.

KELTERj condition. "He is in good keltcr:"
he is in good cafe.

VvL.II. Z T«

338 PROVINCIALISMS.

To KEN (vulg. to keyn)\ to know: a word in

common ufe. u Do you ken him ?" Do you know

him ?
KENSBACK ; a thing known by fome finking

mark is faid to be a kenfback.
To KEP j to catch, as a ball, or rain-water from

the eaves of a houfe.
KERN; churn (probably Britifli).
KET ; carrion j and hence a word of reproach.
KIDS 5 faggots.

KIE ; cows j the plural of tf ess."
KIMLIN j a large dough-tub.
KIN ; a chop in the hand, &c.
KIND j friendly, intimate. " They are as kaand

as brothers."
KINK j a fit, orparoxifm j as, a (C kink of laughter,"

a violent fit of laughter : hence
KINK-COUGH j the hooping-cough.
KIRK ; church j ftill pretty common in the vul-
gar dialect.
KIST j cheft.

KITE ; a vulgar name for the belly.
KITLING ; kitten, or young cat j Catling.
KITTLE ; ticklifli ; fenfibleto theAighteft touch;

a&uated by the moft frivolous motive j unftable ^

tottering.
To KNACK j to attempt to fpeak the eftablifhed

language j or to fpeak it affe&edly.

To

YORKSHIRE: 339

To KNARL j to knaw.

The KNOLL ; the top or fwell of a hill is called
the knoll of the hill.

L.

LAATLE ; little.

To LA1K ; to play, as children ; or at cards, or

other game.

To LAIT ; to feek, in the general fenfe.
LANGSICKLE; a kind of wooden fopha.
LASS j the vulgar name of a maid-fervant.
LAT ; a lath.

LAUKERINS ! an expreflioh of fome little fur-
prize, or difguft.

LEA ; the common term for a fithe.
LEA-SAND. See STRICKLE.
To LEAD (pronounced leed}\ to carry, as corn and

hay.

LEAD-BOWLS (the ea long) ; milk-leads.
LEAP ; a large deep bafket ; a chaff bafker.
LEATHWAKEi lithe, weak, flexible, limbe^
feeble j as a hair, a thread, an ozier twig, or an
angling-rod.

LEAVE-HOLD; let go,

To LECK-ON; to add more water, as in brewing.
To LEEM ; to furnilh the rock of the fpinning*
wheel with line ; alfo to free nuts from their
hufks.

Z2 LEEVE;

340 PROVINCIALISMS.

LEEVE ; willingly ; a word of indifference. " Aa'd

as leeve gang as ftay ;" 1 would as foon go as ftay.

A word in common ufe.
LEER ; a barn (growing intodifufe).
LEYLANDS; lands in a common field laid down

to grafs j oppofed to plowlands, or fuch as are

kept under tillage.
To LIB ; to geld male lambs and calves (horfcs and

pigs are "gelded"}.

To LIE LEY ; to lie in grafs ; as lands in a com-
mon field. See LEYLANDS.
To LIG ; to lie along.
To LIGHT ; to reft, depend, or rely. " It is not

to light on ;" It is not to be depended upon ; it

is not fafe to fettle or reft on.
LING ; trica; the common name for heath.
To LITE; to wait; as, " Will ye lite o' ma' ?"

Will you wait for me ?
LOBSTROUS LOUSE; a wood-loufe.;
LOGGIN ; a trufs of long ftraw.
LOOAN, or LOOAN1N ; a lane.
To LOOK ; to weed ; or rather to difweed ; as corn,

or young woods.
LOOP ; the thimble of a gate or door. <« Loops

and crukes j" hooks and thimbles : alfo a ftitch

in knitting.

A LOW ; a flame, or blaze ; as the low of a candle.
LOWCE (that is, loofe) ; freed from fervitude.
LOWND ; loo, ftill, calm, under (belter ; oppofed

to windy.
ToLOWPj to leap.

MACK;

YORKSHIRE. 341

M.

MACK; fort; fpecics j as, what mack of corn,

or ftock ?

MEEALIN (mid. dial, mallin] ; an oven broom.
To MAINSWEAR ; to fvrear falfely ; to commit

perjury.

MAIZ ; a kind of large light hay baflcet.
MANG ; a mafh of bran, malt, &c.
MAR ; a mere, or fmall lake.
MARROWS ; fellows ; fpoken of oxen, &c. &c.
MASHELSONj a mixture of wheat and rye;

meflin.

MAUKS ; maggots.

MAUL j a beetle ; as " a clodding-maul j" a clot-
ting-beetle.

MAULS ; malva\ mallows.
MAUF ; a brother-in-law.

MAUM ; mellow, attended with a degree of drynefs.
MEADOW ; any ground fhut up to be mown ; in

contradiftin&ion to pafture.
MEALS ; mould ; earth ; foil.
MEANS ; property.
MEEA ; the plural of more ; analogous with enowri

as, " meea meyn, and mare wark."
MELL (vulg. meyl] ; a mallet.
MELL-SUPPER,or MEYL-SUPPER ; a fupper

given to farm work-people at th« clofe of har-

veft i a harveft-home.

Z 3 MENSE j

342 PROVINCIALISMS,.

MENSE ; manners j creditablenefs.

MENSEFULj mannerly, decent, neat.

1VIERCURY ; arf^nic.

MET ; twobufhels.

MET-POKE j a narrow corn-bag to contain twp
bufhels.

MEW; a mow of corn or hay.

MICKLE i (vulg. tong.) ; much : << Is there mic-
kle ti' dea ?" Is there much tp do ?

MIDDEN; a dunghill.

MIDGE j a fmall gnat.

MILNER ; miller.

To MINT ; to make a feint ; to aim without in-
tending to hit ; alfo to hint diftantly at fomething
defired.

MISTEACHED ; (pron. miftecht] ; fpoiled by im-
proper treatment ; vicious, as a horfe.

MITCH; (mid. dial.) much.

MITTENS ; gloves with only one bag for the fingers.

MOOR-PAWMS ; (that is Moor-Palms) ; the
flowers of the carex tribe j after which the heath-
fheep, in the fpring, ftray away from their accuf-
tomed " heafs :"— returning again when thefe
flowlrs go ofF.

MOOTER ; toll taken at a mill for grinding corn.

MORTAR ; loamy foil beaten up with water, for-
merly ufed in building ordinary walls ; in contra-
diftinction to " lime,!'—?—" lirne-and-fand," 01:
cement.

YORKSHIRE. 343

To MOULD (pronounced to mowd) ; to fpread

mole-hills, &c.
MOWDHILL ; mole-hill.
MOWDIWARP; a mole.
MOY j muggy; alfo demure (perhaps clofe).
MOZE ; a mofs ; that is, a lake overgrown with

mofs and other aquatics.
MUCK ; dung ; manure.
To MUCK, or to MUCK-OUT ; to clear the ftalls

of cattle from dung.
MUCK-MIDDEN ; dunghill.
MUD-SHEEP; fheep of the old large Teefwater

breed.

MUFFS ; mitts.

MUN ; muft : " Aa mun gang ;" I muftgo.
MUNNOT, or MOANT ; muft not : " Thoo

munnotgang ; " Thou muft not go.
To MURL ; to crumble as bread.

N,

NANTPIE; magpie.
NAT ; a ftraw mattrafs.
NKAF ; the fift.
NEAF-FUL ; a handful,
NEB; the beak of a bird,

To NEEZE ; to fneeze (the ancient pronunciation).
FHTHERED.(the i Jhort as in withered) ; perifliing
with cold.

1 4 NOWTFOOT-

344 PROVINCIALISMS.

NOWTFOOT-OIL j an oil extracted from the feet

of cattle.
NOWTHERD j cattle-herd, or keeper of cattle j

neatherd.

o.

OLD-FARRAND (vulg. audfarrand) ; old-fa-
ihioned ; fpoken of a child forward in fenfe and
backward in growth.

OLD MILK ; (kirn-milk.

ON ; ufed for*?/"; as, <e nowther on 'emulteylmah;"
neither of them will tell me.

ON-STAND ; the rent paid by the outgoing to the
incoming tenant for fuch land as the former has
rightfully cropped before his leaving the farm.
See Vol. I. p. 37.

ORLING ; a ftinted child j or any ill thriving
young ftock.

OSKIN ; an ox-gang; aquantity,or (hare of com-
mon field land, proportioned, perhaps, to the fize
of the fields, and the number of meffuages in the
given townfhip, at the time the fields were fetout,
or apportioned among the houfes.

To OVERGET (pronounced owergit) -3 to over-
take upon the road,

OWCE; ox.
OWCEN j oxen.

OWERj over,

OWE R WELT

YORKSHIRE. 345

OWERWELT (a word difficult to define,) ; a (beep
which gets laid upon its back, in a hollow is laid to
be in an owerwelt.

FAIT ; a badger.

PALMS (pronounced pawns] j the male catkins of
the fallow, which are worn in the hat (if the feafon
permitj on Palm Sunday. Palm-crofts are alfo
made, on that day, of the twigs of the fame tree.

To PAN j to frame or proffer, as a learner : " He
pans weel."

PANKIN j any fmall earthen jar.

PARING-AND-BURNING j burnbeating ; den-
fliering ; fodbu/ning.

PARING-SPADE ; a breaft-plow.

PAWKY ; arch ; cunning ; artful.

To PEFF ; to cough (hort and faintly, asfhecp.

PESSCOD-SCALDING ; a kind of merry-making,
in fummer-evenings : the treat, green field peas,
boiled in the {hells.

To PET ; to indulge ; to fpoil by over-indulgence.

PET ; a child fpoiltby improper indulgence.

PET-LAMB ; a lamb reared by hand ; a cade lamb.

To PICK j to pufh, or fhove, with the arms or bo-
dy : " He picked me down."

To PICK-UP; to vomit.

PICKS j the fuit of diamonds, in cards.

PIE;

346 PROVINCIALISMS.

PIE ; a receptacle for rape-feed. See Vol. II. p. 40.

To PIE ; to pry j to peep, fly ly and watchfully; per-
haps as the magpie.

PlGGIN j a fmall wooden drinking veflel j now
difufed.

PiGLEAVES; onopordon acantbium ; cotton thiflie.

PiKE j aftacklet, or loadcock, of hay. See Vol. II.
p. 140.

A PILE OF GRASS ; a blade of grafs.

PLANE-TREE ; acer pfcuds-pla'.anus j fycamore,

PLOOK j a pimple.

PLUFE ; plow ; to phw j to plow,

POOAC j a narrow corn bag.

POPPLE; agrojlemma gitbago ; cockle.

POST-AND-PAN. Old half-timber buildings are
faid to be poft-and-pan.

POT-KELPS 3 the loofe bow or handle of a por-
ridge-pot.

PREACE ; eftimation : fuch a perfon or thing is
in *£ great preace."

PRICKER; a brad-awl.

PROD; a ftiort fpike : hence

PROD; a goad for driving oxen,

To PROD ; to poke or prick with a prodr

To PRODDLE j to poke, or feel for, or fetch out,
with a long ftickor other inftrument.

BUBBLE ; plump, full-bodied, as corn.

PULLS ; the fhells or chaff of rape and other pulfe,

PUL.SEY ; a poultice,

QUEER i

YORKSHIRE. 347

Qt

QUEER j the choir of a church.
QUICKS ; triticum repent j couch-grafs. Sec
WHICKS.

.,'.' ' *

To RAIT ; to diffipate the fap of vegetables, by
expofing them abroad to the weather. Hay is faid
to be raited when it has been much expofed to an
alternacy of wet and dry weather. See the Art.
FLAX; Vol. II. page 74.

RAITCH j a line or lift of white down a horfe's
face.

RANK; (landing in clofe onjer ; thick upon the
ground, as corn in the field, or trees in a wood.

RANNLEBAUK ; a wooden bar, or balk, laid
acrofs the chimney of a cottage, to hang the pot-
hooks on.

REAPS j parcels of corn laid by the Reapers to be
gathered into (heaves by the binder.

RECKLING i the laft of the farrow j an under-
ling.

RECKON ; pot-hooks of a particular make.

REEANG'D ; difcoloured in ftripes ; lifted.

REEK $ fmoke ; a word in common ufe.

JIESHES ; juncus infltxus ; wire-ru(h.

KEZZLE ; wcezle.

T*

348 PROVINCIALISMS.

To RIE ; to turn corn in a fieve; bringing the

" capes" into an eddy.
To RIFT ; to cruciate.

RIGG ; ridge, as of land ; alfo a long narrow hill.
RIGGEN ; ridge of a roof.
RIGGEN-TREE ; a piece of timber laid along the

ridge of a roof to fupport the heads of the fpars :

an unnecefiary piece of timber with which all old

roofs are loaded.
RIGGIL ; ridgil.

RIMS ; the fteps or ftaves of a ladder.
To ROIL j to play the male-romp j fpoken of a

rude playful boy.
ROOAC,orROKE; a kind of f moke ; afpeciesof

mift, fog, or fmall rain.
ROOP ; a hoarfenefs.
ROOTER ; a kind of rufhing noife ; or a rough

attack ; as a violent guft of wind ; or a perfon

rufhing into company abruptly, or rudely.
To ROW j to rake or ftir about, as afhes in an oven.
To ROWT ; to low as cattle.
ROWTY ; rank ; overgrown, as beans or other

corn.
RUD ; red ochre j ufed in giving a temporary mark

to fheep.
RUDSTAKES j flakes to which cattle are fattened

in the houfe.
To RUMMLE (that is, to rumble) \ to make a low

rumbling noife, as the bull when he is agitated or

difpleafed.

RUNSH j

YORKSHIRE. 34

RUNSH ijjnapis arvtnfu ; wild muftard ; catlock.
RUSH ; a feaft ; a merry-making ; a rout.
RUSTBURN ; ononii ; reft-harrow.

s.

SAAN ; fmce, when it follows the time ; as, " Hoo

" lang faan r" " A yearfatin."
SACKLESS ; idiotic; fpoken of a weak, harmlefs,

inoffenfive perfon.

SAD ; heavy, applied to bread ; deep or dark, ap-
plied to colour.
SA1M; hog's-lard.
SAL; ihall.
To SALVE SHEEP ; to drefs them with tar and

greafe.
To SAM ; to curdle milk for cheefe, &c. "When do

you fam ?" When do you fetyour milk ? or, When

do you make cheefe ?
SARK.; fhirt.

SAUF ; falix caprea j fallow.
SAUFY ; wet, as land in a rainy feafon.
SAUL ; a kind of moth.
To SCALE ; to fpread, as manure, gravel, or other

loofe materials.

SCAR ; a precipice faced with rock.
ToSCRAUT; to fcratch, wirh a nail or other

lharp-pointed tool.

SCROGS i

350 PROVINCIALISMS.

SCRQGS ; ftunted fhrubs; as the hazle browzed
by cattle.

To SCUD ; to clean or fcrape with a " fpittle."

To SCUG ; to hide.

In SCUGGERY ; in fecrecy ; hid, as from creditors.

SCUTTLE ; a fhallow baiket or wicker-bowl ;
much in ufe here in the barn, and in other de-
partments of hufbandry.

SEAVES ;>»«'; rufhes.

SEER ; fure, or aflure ; as, " Aa weant, aa feer
tha' j" I won't, I aflure thee.

SEG, or BULLSEG ; a caftrate bull.

SEGGRUMS ; jenecio jacobcsa j ragwort.

SEGS ; car ices ; fedges.

SEN; felf: « Aa'll dea't mi' fen }" I'll do it myfelf.

To SET ; to fee, or accompany part of the way.

SETTER ; a feton, or ifTue in cattle.

SETTERGRASS ; hcftbarutfatidus ; a fpecies of
bear's-foot ; ufed in making *' fetters" or iflues
in cattle.

To SHACK (that is, to Jbake) j to flied, as corn at
harvefr.

SHACK-FORK (that is, flake-fork)-, a wooden
fork, for fhaking ftraw cfFthe barn-floor ; gene-
rally made of a forked ozier ; the tines or branches
about two feet long, and one foot wide at the
point?.

SHACKLE OF THE ARM; the wrift.-

SHADE ; afhed for fuel, &c.

SHAFT;

YORKSHIRE. 351

SHAFT; handle; as « fork-fhaft"— « fpade-fhaft,"

&c.

SHANDY; a little crack-brained; fome what crazy.
To SHED ; to part ; as wool, or the hair.
To SHEER ; to reap, or cut corn, with a fickle, or

reaping-hook.
SHEEP-SALVE; tar-and-greafe for dreffing fheep

with. See Vol. II. p. 225.
SHELVINGS; moveable fide-rails of a waggon or

cart ; put on for a top-load, and taken off for a

body-load.

SH1BBANDS ; fhoe-ftrings.
To SHILL ; to (hell ; and more generally to fepa-

rate : taking off the floughs or fktr.s of oats, in

order to make oatmeal, is called falling them ;

turning a fmall quantity of milk into curds and

whey is called Jhill'i ng it ; to fercr fheep is to Jbiil

them.
SHOT-ON; rid-of: " He can't git (hot on't :"

he cannot difpofe or get rid of it.
To SHURL ; to flide, as upon ice.
SIDE ; long, deep ; fpokcn of a roof, cloaths, &c.
To SIDELONG ; to fetter, as a preventive from

ftraying, or breaking paflure, by chaining a fore

and a hind foot of the fame fide together. See

To HOPPLE.
SIDEV/AVER; thepurlineofaroof.

T.

352 PROVINCIALISMS.

To SIE ; to ftretch j as a rope, gloves, &c.

SIKE ; fuch, in its general fenfe.

To SILE ; to ftrain, as .frefh milk from the cow.

SILE ; a milk-ftrainer.

SILLS j the fhafts of a waggon or cart.

SIN ; fince, when it precedes the time exprefTed ;
as, " I have not feen him fin Tuefday."

To SIND ; to rinfe, or wafh out, as linen, or a milk-
ing pail.

To SIPE ; to ooze, or drain out flowly.

SINSAAN ; fmce, when fpoken indefinitely, or
when the time is underftood ; as, " I have not
feen him finfaan j" I have not feen him fmce, or
fince that time.

SITTINGS ; ftatutes forfervants.

ToSIZ; to hifs.

SKEEL; a large milking pail ; with two han-
dles, formed of two oppofite ftavcs rifing higher
than the reft.

To SKELP ; to whip the bottom with the hand.

SKEP ; a deep, round, coarfe bafket.

To SKERLj to fcream as a child in crying, or a
%woman in diftrefs.

To SKEYL ; to lean on one fide : to Jkeyl-up ; to
throw up the fore-part of a cart, in order to fhoot
the load ; tofieyl-over ; to overturn.

SKEYLBEAST ; the partition of cattle ftaiis.

SKEYLD ; party-coloured, as geefe or ducks;

(helled.

To

YORKSHIRE. 353

To SKIME (vulg.fiaam) ; to fquint.
To SKIMMER; to fliine; to glitter.
SKREED ; a border j or narrow flip ofland, or of

cloth.

SKUFE; a precipice.

SLACK ; a valley, or fmall (hallow dale j a dip.
SLAPE ; flippery j as ice, or a dirty path.
SLED i a fledge.
SLEEAN (that is. JJain) j the fmut of corn. An

ear which is fmutty is called a " flain ear."
To SLIPE OFF ; to draw off fuperficially ; as

fkin from the body, baric from a tree, &c.
To SLITHER (i Jhort, as in hither) ; to flide, as

down a rope, a ladder, or the fide of a hill.
SLOT ; any broad, flat wooden bar ; diftin<St from

zJlGWer, which is always round.
SLUSH ; mud.

To SMIT ; to infeS: (perhaps tofmite).
SMITTING j infectious j catching, as a difeafe.
SMOOT ; a hair muce ; or any fmall gap or hole in

the bottom of a hedge : hence,
To SMOOT ; to creep under or through, as a hare

or fheep through a hedge.
To SMOOTH (vulg. to fmeatl); to iron wafhed

linen.

To SMURK j to fmile ; to look pleafantly.
To SNAPE j to filence, check, oratleaft threaten,

as a barking dog, or a mifchievous child.
SNECK, the latch of a door, or a gate.

VOL. If. A a SNEVVERj

354 PROVINCIALISMS.

SNEVVER ; {lender and neat.

SNOCKSNARLS; thread which is overtwifted,
and runs into kinks, is faid to run up into fnock-
fnarls.

SNOD ; fmooth, even, fmug, neat.

To SNOOAC ; to fmell in a fnuffing manner.

SOCK ; the fhare of a plow (the common term).

SOKE (vulg.fooac) ; an exclufive privilege claim-
ed by a mill, for grinding all the corn which is
ufed within the manor or townfhip it ftands in*.

To SOSS ; to lap, as a dog.

SOURDOCKEN; rumtx acetofa ; forrel.

To SOWL ; to pull about in water ; as flieep in
the wafhrpool, &c.

SPAW; the flit of a pen.

SPECK ; the heel-piece of a fhoe,

To SPEEAN (mid. dial, to fpane) ; to wean, as
calves or pigs.

To SPEEAV (mid. dial, tofpwe) ; to fpay, as a fe-
male calf.

To SPELDER (vulg. to fpeylder) ; to fpell, as a
word.

SPELK j a fpl inter, or thin piece of wood.

SPENG'D ; pied, as cattle.

SPICE j dried fruit, as raifins, currants, &c.

SPIRES ;

* Some trials at law relative to this ancient privilege
have lately taken place ; but the millers have generally
been caft. It fpems tp be un4erftood, hovyever, that an
alien miller has no right to afk publicly for corn to be
ground in a parifh which has a corn mill belonging to
it. A horn may neverthelefs be founded, or a bell be
rung.

YORKSHIRE. 355

SPIRES ; timber ftands (not common).

SPITTLE j a fpaddle, or little fpade.

To SPREAD ; to break hay out of fwath ; to ted.

To SPRENT ; to fplafh or faiear with fmall fpots.

SPRIG j a brad.

SPRING ; a young wood, raifed from the ftools of

fallen timber-trees.
SPRUNT; afteeproad.

SQUAB ; a couch, common in mofl farm " houfes."
STACKBARS ; large hurdles with which hay

ftaclcs in the field are generally fenced.
STAG j a young horfc.
STALL ; a doorlefs pew of a church.
STALLED ; fatiated with eating.
To STANG ; to (hoot with pain.
STANG ; a long pole *.

STARK ;

* To RIDE THE STAN<3. A cuftom, which ff-iv men,
I hope, will cenfure, has prevailed in this country time
immemorial, and is (till, I find, prevalent. This cuftom
is called " riding the Hang :" and is ufed as a reproof
to the man who beats his wife ; or (when it happens)
to the wife who beats her hufband.

The ceremony is that of placing a man or a boy up-
on a long pole, borne on men's fhoulders, and parad-
ing before the houfe of the delinquent ; the rider re-
peating fomc ruftic verfes applicable to the occafion.
It this be found ineffectual, the ceremony is repeated
with ilrongcr marks of difapprobation. In flagrant
and obftinate cafes, the door has been aflailed, the of-
fender feized, and the pumlhmcnt of the ducking-ftool
added to the difgrace of the ftang. Some inveterate
cafes, it feems, have recently yielded to this admirable
cmcdy.

356 PROVINCIALISMS.

STARK; tight; complete; not lax: as a
rope; ftark with fevere exercife; ftark mad.

To STAUP ; to liff the feet high, and tread hea-
vily, in walking.

STEATHING; a lath and plaifter partition.

To STECK ; to fhut, as a door or a gate.

STEG ; a gander.

STEVVQN; a loud voice.

STIDDY (that is, Jleady) ;• the common name of
an anvil.

STOOK ; fhock ; twelve fheaves of corn fet up
together in the field.

STOOP j a pqft ; as, « a yat-ftoop," a gate-port 5
" ftoops and rails," ppfts and rails.

STON YHARD ; litbofpermum arvenfe ; corn gromwell,

Tp STOOR ; to rife up in clouds, as fmoke, duft,
fallen lime, &c.

STORM; afalloffnow.

STOT ; a fteer, or young o?:.

STOVEN ; a fhoot of a tree.

STOWER.: a ftaff, or round flick j as, « a heck-
ftower," a rack-ftafF.

To STRAMA'SH : to crufh, or break irreparably ;
to deftroy.

STREEA; ftraw.

STRICKLE ; an appendage of the fithe ; the
tool with which it is whetted ; made, here, in a
peculiar manner : a fquare piece of wood, work-
ed off at one end to a point ; the other end forms
a handle : the furfaces indented with the point of

a fickle ;

YORKSHIRE. 357

a fickle ; greafed with hogs-lard ; and powdered

With (harp fand, or powder of a grifane, found in

one particular part of the Eaftern Morelands j

from whence it is carried as far as the banks of

the Humber for this ufc j under the name of

" leafand."

To STRIP ; to draw the afltrmilkingi of cows.
STRIPPINGS; aftermiliingsi ftrokings.
BTRUNT ; the dock of a horfe, independant of the

hair; alfo the tail of flaughtered cattle or fheep,

when the (kin is taken off.

To STUB ; to grub up (lumps of trees and (lirubs.
STUNT; ftubbornj not eafy to be bent; as, a

" ftunt child," a ftubborn child ; a <« ftunt

ftick," a thick (hort ftick.
STUPID; obftinate (the common epithet).
STURKEN ; to ftiffen, as melted greafe.
STURKS ; yearling ca tie.
STY ; a ladder (the common term).
SUD; ffioiild.

To SUMMER-EAT ; to ufe as paftu/e.
To SUNDER ; to air ; toexpofe to the fun and

wind ; as hay which has been cocked but which is

(rill under-dry.
SWAD ; apod ; efpecially of peas which have been

boiled in the (hell.

RWAiMISH; ba(hful, in the general fcnfe.
SWANG ; any low, long, grafly place covered with

water.

Aa SWAPE;

35» PROVINCIALISMS.

SWAPE ; a long pole turning on a fulcrum ; ufed
in raifing water out of a well.

SWARTH j fward ; whether of grafs land, or of
bacon.

To SWASH or SWASH-OVER ; to fpill by
waves ; as milk or water agitated in a pail.

SWATCH ; a pattern or fmall fpecimen of cloth,
cut off the end of the piece ; alfo a dyer's tally.

To SWATTER j to fpill or throw about water, as
geefeand ducks do in drinking.

SWEEATH j a fwath of mown grafs.

SWEEATH-BAUK ; the ridge of fiubble or fhort
grafs which is left between two fwath-widths in
mowing.

SWEET-MART; the marten. See FOUL-
MART.

To SWIDDEN ; to finge, or burn off, as heath, &c.

To SWIDGE ; to fmart violently, as a burn or re-
cent wound.

SWILL ; a fort of fliallow tub.

SWILLINGS ; hog-wafh.

SWILL-TUB ; hog-tub.

SWINE-THISTLE ; fonchus okractus*, fow thif-
tle.

To SWINGLE; torough-drefs flax.

SWINGLETREE; fplinterbar; whippin.

SYKE ; a rill or fmall brook ; more particularly, I
believe, in a low boggy fituation.

YORKSHIRE. 359

T.

To TAAL ; to fettle, or be reconciled to a fituation ;

as a fervant to a place j (Keep to a " heaf," &c.
TAISTREL; arafcal.
TEA i to : as, '« pud fum mare tea't •" put fome

more to it.

TEA; too: as, " aal gang tea j" I'll go likewife.
TEAM ; an ox~chain, paffing from yoke to

yoke.
To TEAM j to pour, as water : alfo to unload, as

hay or corn.

TEAMj empty ; as, a " team waggon," an emp-
ty waggon.
TEAP ; tup ; a ram.
TEATHY ; pecvifh, as children when cutting the

teeth.

To TED. See To SPREAD.
To TEE AV ; to paw and fprawl with the arms and

legs.
TEMCE ; a coarfe hair fieve, for feparating the

inferior flour from the bran.
To TENT ; to tend, as (beep or other ftock.
To TENT ; to fcare or frighten ; as, to tent the

birds off the corn.

To TENG j to fling, as the bee or the adder.
To TEW j to work as mortar, &c. alfo to agitate

and fatigue by violent cxercifc.

A a 4 THAAVLE ;

360 PROVINCIALISMS.

THAAVLE ; a pot-flick; a ladle without the bowl.
THACK; thatch.

THARFLY; flowly; deliberately; as, " the rain
comes tharfly."

ToTHEAK; to thatch.

THEAKER; thatcher.

THEET ; clofe ; tight ; oppofed to leaky.

THOU ; this pronoun is flill much in ufe. Far-
mers in general " thou" their fervants ; the in-
ferior clafs (and the',lower clafsof men in general)
frequently their wives, and always their children ;
and the children as invariably " thou" each other.
Superiors in general " thou" their inferiors ;
while inferiors " you" their betters. Equals
and intimates of the lower clafs generally " thou"
one another. Thefe diftinclions are fometimes the
caufe of aukwardnefs : to " you" a man may be
making too familiar with him ; while to " thou"
him might affront him.

To THREAP ; to aflert pofitively ; to force down
an argument.

THREAVE ; twelve " loggins" of ftraw.

THREEFOLD ; menyanthes trifoliata ; bogbean j
buckbean.

THRONG (vulg. throng) ; bufily employed ; " def-
perate thrang," very bufy.

THROW, or THRAW; a turner's lathe.

To THRUM ; to pur, as a cat.

TIFFANY;

YORKSHIRE. 61

TIFFANY j a fine gauze fieve, for feparating fine
flour.

To TIFT ; to adjuft, or drefs up.

TIPE ; a trap or device for catching rabbits. See
Vol. II. p. 265. Alfo for taking mice, rats, or
other vermin. The general principle is that of
a balance, with one end fomewhat heavier than
the other. The heavier end refts horizontally on
fome fupport : the lighter is furnifhed with
a bait ; which being approached, the weight of
the animal overcomes the counter weight of the
balance ; which lofmg its horizontal pofition, the
animal drops into a pit, or a veflel of water,
placed below to receive it.

TIPPY; the brim of a cap, or bonnet.

TITTER ; fooner; rather: " I would titter go
than ft.iy." — " I was there titter than you."

TIV ; to : " gang tiv 'ein ;" go to them.

TONGUE-WHALED i Severely fco!ded.

TRAMPERS; (hollers; whether beggars or ped-
lers.

TUFIT ; the peewit, or green plover.

To TUM ; to card wool roughly; to prepare it
for the finer cards.

To T WATTLE ; to pat ; to m ike much of; as
horfes, cows, dogs.

TWEE A ; two, in its general fenfe.

TWILL; a quill.

TWILT ; a quilt, or bed-cover.

TWITCHEELL ; the earwig.

TWITTER;

362 PROVINCIALISMS.

TWITTER ; thread which is unevenly fpun is
faid to be in twitters.

V.

VARRA ; very : " varra faan $" very fine.
VOIDER ; a kind of optn-workbafket.

U.

ToUNBETHINKj torecolka: « I unbethought

myfelfon't," I recollected it.
The UNDERDRAWING -, the ceiling of a room.

See CEILING.
UNKARD j ftrange; as an unkard place. A fer-

vant is unkard on his firft going to a frefli fervi-

tude.

UVVER : upper; as theuvver lip.
UZZLE, or BLACK UZZLE j a blackbird.

W.

WAD ; would.

To WAFF ; to bark as a cur.

WAIN ; a large ox-cart with an open body, and
furnimed with " fhelvings ;" formerly ufed in
carrying corn and hay. A hundred years ago,
perhaps, there was not a farmer's WAGGON in the
country : fifty years ago, WAINS were, I believe,
pretty common ; now, there is not, perhaps, one
left.

WAIN-

YORKSHIRE. 363

WAINHOUSEi waggon-houfes ftill retain the

ancient name.
WAKE ; a company of neighbours fitting up all

night with the dead : a cuftom which is ftill pre-
valent.

WALKER ; a fuller.
WALK-MILL ; a fulling-mill.
WALLANEERING ; an txpreffion of pity.
WALSH; infipid ; wanting fait, or fomc other fea-

foning : oppofed torelifliing.
WANKLE j unftable j not to be depended upon ;

as wankle weather, a wankle feat, &c.
WAR, or WARSE ; worfe.
WARBLES ; maggots in the backs of cattle.
To WARE; to lay out ; as money at a market.
To WAR K j to ache : hence " head-wark"— " teeth-

wark;" head-ache—tooth-ache.
WARK ; work, in its general fenfe. But what is

noticeable, the verb to wo>it and the fubftantive

worker^ take the eftablifhed pronunciation.
WARK-DAY (pr on. war day) ; week-day; in con-

tradiftin&ion to Sunday : " Sunday and war-day."
WARRIDGE ; the withers of a horfe.
WATH ; the common name of a ford,
WATTLES ; rods laid on a roof to thatch upon.
WAVERS; young timberlings left ftanding in a

fallen wood.

To WAW (the w articulate); to mew as a cat.
To WAWL ; to cry audibly, but not loudly.

WAZ-

364 PROVINCIALISMS.

WAZISTHEART; an expreflion of condolence,
WEAD ; very angry ; mad, in the figurative fenfe.
WEAKY ; juicy ; oppofed to " hafk."
WEANT (vulg. dial.); won't, will not.
WEER1NG (that is, a wearing] ; a confumption.
To be WEEA; to be ferry : " I am weea for him.'*
WEE-BIT j fmall piece,
WELL (vulg. wryl) ; furface fpring?, ufed as a

fource of water for domeftic or other fpecial pur-

pofes, are generally termed wells.
WEYEY (the y articulate) ; yes, yes.
To WHALE; to beat feverely, with a whip of

pliant flick.

WHEAN ; a ttrumpet.
WHEEANG; a thong of leather.
WHENT', great; extraordinary: «< whentdeed/'

great doings.
WHERRY ; a liquor made from the pulp of crabs

after the verjuice is exprefled ; generally called

crab-wherry.

To WHEWT ; to whiflie faintly, or unfkil fully.
WH1CK ; alive; quick.
WHICKS ; quicks ; couchgrafs;
WHIE j a heifer j or young cow.
WHIG ; a beverage made with whey and herbs.
WHILK; which; as, " whilk wrllyou have?"—

not ufed in the relative fenfc;
WHIMLY; foftly ; filcntly, or with little noife.
WHINS ; uhx eureptztis ; furzes.

WHITE*

YORKSHIRE, 365

WHITE-NEBB'D CROW j the rook.

To \\ HITE ; to cut or (hape wood with a knife,

WHITTLE j a pocket-knife.

\VHISHT ! hufh ! filence !

WHOOR (mid. dial. WHEER) ; where: the lau

ter is probably the Sax an pronunciation j the

former, perhaps, is of Brltifo origin.
WIDDYi a with, or withy.
WIKE; the corner of the mouth or eye.
W1KES ; temporary marks ; as boughs fet up to

divide fwaths to be mown in the common ings j

alfo boughs fet on haycocks for tithes, &c, &c,
WILF ; fall* alba j willow,
WINDER ; window.
To WINDER } to clean corn with a'fan.
WINDLESTRAWS j cynojurus crtfatus j crefted

dogstail.

WINNOT (mid. dial.) j will not.
WIZZENED j withered ; fhrivellcd.
WOODWESH } gcn'ijla tinfloria ; dyer's-broom.
WOTCHAT j orchard.
WOTS ; oats.
To WRAX j to ftretch the body in yawning ; or

as cattle do when they rife.
WUMMLE j an auger.
To WUN; to live, or abide; as, "hewiinsat fuch

a place" (nearly obfolete).
\V" YAH } well j a word of confcnt.

Y.

66 PROVINCIALISMS.

Y.

YAA j one, with the fubftantive exprefled ; as, "yaa

man ;" " yaa horfe."
YACK ; oak : yackrans, acorns.
YANj one, with the fubftantive underftood; as,

" gi' me yan :" give me one.
YANCE i once.
YAT ; a gate,
YATHOUSE ; a high carriage-gateway through a

building.

YAWD j a riding-horfe.
YERNIN ; cheefe-rennet.
YERNUTS ; bunimn bulbocajlanum j earthnut?,
YETHERSjedders.
YETLING ; an iron pan.
YEWER j the udder of a cow, &c.
YESTERNIGHT (pronounced yijlerneet); laft

night j analogous with yefterday.
YOON ; oven.

To YOWL, or YOOL ; to howl as a dog.
YUL-CLOG ; a large log laid behind the fire on

Chriftmas-eve ; about which, formerly, much

ceremony was observed,

INDEX

A FTERGRASS, expen-
^* diture of, ii. 14.6.
Ant-hills, clearing of, ii,

123.

Arfenic water, ii. 10.
Artificial rills, i. 174.
Afh timber, i. 244.

.B

Bark of oak, i. 244.
Bark, peeling of, i. 242.
Barley, ii. 16.
Barns, i. 128.
Barn-floor granary, i. 132.
Barn-management, i. 400.
Beans, ii. 26.
Beafts of labour, i. 260.
Bees, ii. 238.
Blendings, ii. 26.
Brackets of gables, i. 139.
Bricks, i. 109.
Buildings, i. 105.
Burning lime, i. 337.
Butter, ii. 196.

C.

Calves, fatting, ii. 195.
•— •*-! — , rearing, ii. 203.
, gelding, ii. 204.

Canine marine's, i. 382,
Carriage of timber, i. 245.
Cattle, ii. 180.

, breeds of, ii. 181.

, fatting, ii. 214. *

— , on the fcarcity of,

it. 2IO.

Cement, i. 109.
Chamber barn, i. 128.
Chambe: barn-floor, i. 128.
Cheefe, ii. 200.
CiHernsforrain-water,i. 141.
Clearing rough grounds, i.

CLEVELAND, ii. 271.
Copingsof buildings, i. 138.
Covenants, i. -jc.
COUNTY,!, i
Cows, ii. 191.

— » dimenfions of, ii.

192* 215.

Cultivated grafles, ii. 82.
Curd-mill, ii. 291.

D.

Dairyine, ii. 195.
Dairy-fwine, ii. 202.
Dead hedges, i. 200.
Deal, i. 108.

Dimenfions

I N D

Dimenfionsof an ox, ii. 185.
•. -• -- acow,ii.iQ2.
. ---- a fat cow, ii.

215.
. --- cattle, gen.

obf. on, ii.2i6, note.
Dogs, i. 382
jpraught horfcs, 260
Dreffing meadows, ii. 125
Priiiking-pools, i. 146

Eaves gutters, i. 141
Embankment of rivers, i. 226
Eftates and tenures, i. 19
Eitates, management of, i. 23

F.

Fallowing, i. 361
Fan, machine* i. 281
Farms, i. 254
Farm-buildings, i. 105
Farms, management of, i.

Farmers, i. 257
Farmeries, i. 126
Farm-yard management, i.

400

Fatting cattle, ii. 214
Felling timber, i. 242
Fence?,!. 194
Fence-walls, i. 198
Field-wells, i. 179
Flax, ii. 68

Floor's of mortar, i. 144
Fcrtn of leaf?, i. 42
Forefls, propofed improve-

ment of, i. 316
£ oreft-trees on a drained

moor, i. 250

E X.

Furze-ground, to c'sar,

G.

Gable-brackets, i. 139

Gates, i. 194

Granary over a barn-floc,r,

i. 172

Grafles artificial, ii. 82
, - cultivated, ii. 82
— -- natural, ii. 105
Grafs-land, management of,

ii. 123
»— • - ........ ••, prefervation of,

ii. 94
• -- • — , fpecies of, ii,

105.
Grafs-feeds, choice of, ii. 88

Harvefting, i. 387
. --- with the fickle,
i. 387

i. 390

Hay, expenditure of, ii. 145
Haying, ii. 138
Hedges, dead,i. 200
--- , live, i. 201.
Hedgewood, i. 202.
Heifers, on time of bringing

in, ii. 207

Herbage of Lowlands, ii. 107
---- Midland, ii. 1 14
. ---- Upl.nd, ii. 118
HOLDERNKSS, ii. 269.
Horfes, ii. 160
-- , breed of. ii. 162
. - , breeding, ii. 165
- - • — , making up, ii. 171
Horie?,

I N D E

Horfes, markets for, i;.

, treatment of, ii. 171

, turningouttc

ii. 178.
, working, i. 260

I.
Improvement by draining and

planting, i. 249
Improvement by river em-
, bankment, j. 226
Implements, T. 168
Ingland, ii. 105
Incloi'ures, i. 48

L.

Laying lands acrofs the flope,

i. 3^4.

Lentils, ii. 26
Laying land to grafs, ii. 85
Leys, perennial, ii. 84

, temporary, ii. 83

Lime, i. 333

Liming, method of, i. 349
Live hedges, i. 2CI.
Lowland grafs, ii. 105
plants, ii. 107

M.

Machine-fan, i. 281
Machine for weighing cattle

propofed, ii. 217
Malting, formerly a branch

of hufbandry, ii. 17
Management of cows, ii. 191
eftates, i. 23

of Y

Mam-re,

Manuring grals-luud, ii. 130

Markets, i. 409

Marl, i, 328

Meadows, management of,

ii. 136

Meadows, to drefs, ii 175
Mice, i. 377.
Middle-land grafs, ii. 113

— — — plants, ii. 114

Moles, cblcrv. on, ii. 127
MORELANTDS,ii. 275

plants, 278

Mortar-floors, i. 144
Moulding meadows, ii. 125
Moulding-fledge, i. 279
Mowing corn, i. 390
grafs, ii. 138

N.

Natural grafll-?, ii. 105
Newton-Dai.- Well, i. 328

O.

Oak bark, i. 244.

timber, i. 243

for ho'ife building,!. 12^

— — for {hip building, i. 243
Oats, fpecies of, ii. 18

culture of, ii, 90

,a ntwmtthod of thraih-

ing, ii. 21

Objects of hcfbandry, i. 293
Ox, dmunfu-ns of, ii. 185
Oxen, working, i. 260

B b 1».

INDEX.

P. R.

Pantiles, i. 107 Rabbits, ii. 232.

, to lay, i. 135 Raifmg timber, i, 235

Paper money, i. 410 Raifingyard manure, i. 405

Paring and burnings,!. 304 Rap?, culture of, ii. 29

Paftures, management of, ii. Rape thrashing, ii. 36

149 Rats, i. 381

Peas, ii. 26 Rearing cattle, ii. 203

Peelinffbark, i. 24.2 • • — , gen. obf. on,

Perennial levs, ii. 84 ii. 2IO.

Plants, Lowland, ii. 107 Receiving rent.", i. 40

— • , Middleland, ' ii. 114 Removals, i. 37

, Upland, ii. 118 Rent, i. 33

, IVJDieiaii'J, ii. 278. Rido-e-ftones, i. 138

pfantaticns, i. 746 Rills, artificial, i. 174
on Welds, ii. River embankments, i. 226

24*) Roads, i. 180.
on Mcrelands, Rough grounds, i. 302

propofed, ii. 288 Royal- forells, propofcd im-
Planting hedges, 1.204 pvovementof, i, 316
Plow, i. 274 Rural architecture, ;. 124
Plowing wi;h rein?, i. 323 Rye, ii. 14
Pools for cattle, i. 146 :•.:, obfcrvations on,
Poftsand rails, i. 199 )i. cj
Potatoe?, ii. 51
, raifing from feed, S.

ii. 53 • Saintfoin, ii. 97 •
• — • — , felecling varieties beed-procefs, i. 353

of, ii. Selling unile'r, i. 239
? in-.proving varie- St-n-ants, i. 259

tits of, ii. 55 Sheep, ii. 2l8

-, culture of, ii. 56

• ; , their tfFeci on

ia:-.il, ii. 64

, as a fallovy prop,

ii. 66 *

breeds of ii. 2 ig
rearing, ii. 2:: 2

. :ment cf, ii. 225
• 1,1,1-fCcts for, ii. 230
great rife in price, ii.

. ;;- 2.v7

,il. 10 Sheep c!ogs,i.383

i u;u , 11. 2O

Sodburning,

INDEX.

SoHburning, i. 304

Soil, fpccicsof, 1,298

Soil-procefs, i. 298

Sowing, 1.353

Stocking paitures, ii. 14.5

Stock, on ii .carci-

ty of, ii. 2iO. 231
Stones f..r buiidinjj, i. 105
Stone-walls, i. 198
Straw, expenditure of, i. 403
Subfoils, i. 300
Succefiion, i. 296
Surface-drain?, i. 224
Swine, ii. 235

T.

Tenancy, i. 32
Temporary leys, ii. 83
Term,i. 33

Thrafhing oats, a new me-
thod of, ii. 2\
Tiling/, 322
Timber, 1.3*4

. , carriage of, i. 245

, markets for, i. 243

, price of, i. 244

Toba co, ii. 79
Tra-ning timber, i. 210
Tr-::t-vjnt of worked horfcs,

ii.i74

Turncps, ii. 27
Turning holies out to grafs,

ii. 178
Tvvu-ycur old c^tcl,-, ii. 207

U.

VALE OF Pi'.
i. 12

^timber, i. 241 '

Varieties of wheat, to raffl^

ii.4

. , tfr im-
prove, ii. 9.

• of potatoes, to fc-

lc£t, ii. 54

• — — — — , to im

prove, ii. 55

Vermin, i. 377

Vetches, ii. 26.

Underdraining, i. 301

Upland grafs, ii. 118

— — — plants, ii. 118

W.

Waggons, i. 268
WalUfences, i. 198
Water-c.ftcrns, i. 141
Weather, i. 284
Weeding, i. 3'*2
Weeds and vermin, i. ^54
Weeds of corn, a lilt of,

'• 35-1-

—— • ' •-, to deuroy,

i. 360

Weeding grafs-hn.J, ii. 128
Weighing machine fur cattle

propofcd, ii. ^17
Wells in ficl(J<;, i. 179
> iesof,ii. i

9 to prepare the feed

with arfcnic, ii. 10
Win : ,',i. i^._j.

. • ^OI

.nine, i. 281
WOLD

•il»;Z, 246

.

.

INDEX.

WOLDS, removals, ii. 251 WOLDS, rabbits, ii. 261

„ , obje&s of hufban- Woodlands, i. 334

dry, 252 , to clear, 1.314

• , manual labour, 253 Woody waftes, to improve,

———, team labour, 253 '-316.

• • -, implements, 255 Workmen, i, 259

— — — -, manure 255 Worms, obferv. on, ii. 127
-., harvefting, 256

•• ? farm-yard manage- Y.

ment, 256 Yard management, i. 403

, markets, 256 Yard manure, to raife, i. 405

,turnepculture,257 Yearling cattle, ii. 207.

— — — ,ftieep, 260

THE END.

IN UN

3 1158010230976

A 000 007 754 5