The Express.
London, England, 1851-04-26 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, APRIL 28, 1851.

I place, suraeon to Bartholomew's Hospital ; James Pim
67, St. James's-street, surrriral instrument soaker,
•
XL—Cotton.
Sir James Atu.uon, Lord Provost of Glsagovr, Glasgow;
rotten maaufaetterer ; Thomu Ashton, Hyde Cheshire,
asdon spinner; W. Gray, Mayor of Holton, Whe.ttliad,
Hokon, cotton spinner; (icons Jackson, Corporation-road,
Carlisle, cotton. spinner; J. .6.spinal Turner. Idanehoter,
cotton spinner.
- - -

Xll.—Woollen and Worsted.
Samuel Addinuton, 10-i, St. Martin's-lane, and Stroud,
woollen merchant ; Henry Brett, Wood-street, Chcapsiole,
and "fodder4fleld, woollen merchant ; John Cooper, J. P.
I,eols, woollen merchant and mlnufaeturer Henry Forbes,
Bradford, merchant • GeoNe Lawton, Meeklehurst, near
Ashton-under-Lyne, manufacturer; Thulium Mar-
ling, Stroud, retired manufacturer.

" THE
AGRICULTURAL DISTRICTS.

EAST YORKSHIRE.

TO THE EDITOR OF TIIE DAILY NEWS.

SlR,—.ln the East Riding of Yorkshire we have ~ .
an entirely different character of roil and surface to i
that which prevails in the West Riding. 'Lite eastern i
side is bounded throughout by the German Ocean. 1'
The wolds, a magnificent assemblage of chalk I .
hills, reaching the sea at Flamborough Head,
but divided from the sea from Bridlington southward
to the Humber by the low Hat district of Holderness,!
seem, like
some convulsionanportioeo ot
of the Lincolnshire
by
shire welds,mighty 1
severed '.
during so
Humber and its rich broad banks. The Holderness ,J
district next the sea is in many respects analogous to '
the fen districts of Lincolnshire. The wolds have •
been described as the South Downs on a large scale,
and their rounded uniform outline is similar to the
chalk formation in other parts of the island. In this
respect they offer a striking contrast to the oolitic
range of hills lying on the north-west. •
The East Riding has well defined natural boun-
daries, that of the south being the River Humber,
and the lower portion of the Ouse ; on the east is
the German Ocean; and the rivers Ilarford, Der-
went, and Ouse, surrounding, on the north and west •
sides, with the exception of some eight or ten miles
from Stamford-bridge to York. The Riding con- •
tains 711,000 acres, which geologically consists of
three districts, viz., Ist, the eastern portion of the
Vale of York, the great part of that vale being com-
prised within this Riding. This district belongs to
the new red sandstone formation, but is covered so
much by drift, gravel, and diluvial deposits, that for
agricultural purposes it partakes very little of the
characteristics of the new red sandstone. The soil
and surface of this district are very various. There
is also a belt of liar clay, extending front llowsham
to Brough, on the Humber, and having a breadth of
I about two miles ; and the land is of a most tenacious
nature. Northward lies,—first, a tract on the infe-
rior (polite, and then the upper oolite begins on the
edge of the wolds near North Grimatone, and forms
a succession of hills by Langton Wold to Witham
and Talton. The land un the oolites con-
sists of turnip and barley soils, and is equally
well adapted fior either pasturage or tillage.
A large part of the Vale of York consists of a le-
vel diluvial tract, crossed in a few plans by beds of
clay. and gravel. Between Pocklington and Market
Weighton there is a liand of chalky ;navel running
along the base of the \Vold hills, which, though ori-
ginally a poor hungry soil, has in many places, by
good management, been converted Into useful
and arable land. Beyond this gravelly tract lies a
belt of poor ferrugiuous sand which has not been
anywhere cultivated with success. Recently, how-
ever, heavy dressings of clay and marl have been
applied to the extent of from NO to 1.50 cubic
yards per acre, with sonic promise of better results.
Chem are about 15,000 acres of this land which may,
and probably will, thus he eventually reclaimed. The
second geological division is the wold or chalk
district, which extends front Flamborough Head to
Acklamn—a distance of Omit thirty miles, and
known as the high wolds, while the lower wolds
reach front Hug gate, in a south-eastern direction,
towards the Humber, and terminating at Ilessle, a
distance of 21) miles. These chalk hills are steep
towards the Vale of Pickering on the north, and to-
wards the Vale of York on the west, but slope gra-
dually towards the south-east until they dip beneath
the alluvial land of llolderness. At the north of the
wolds, the highest point of elevation is SOHO feet
above the sea level, falling to about 500 feet above
the sea at the southern extremity. The dip of the
stratum is towards the east, and the district is de-
scribed generally as consisting of two or three long
pandlel ridges running cast and west, having on
their summits a large extent of Hat table-land. This
table-land is covered with diluvial soil, eighteen
inches or two fesi thick, and harming a deep, dark-
soloured loam, having a mixture of clay. It is wor-
thy of note that the soils here resting on the chalk
do not partake largely of the nature of the rock on
which they rest, many of them having no more than
from two to five per cent. of calcareous matter. Geo- I
twists have accounted for this by the theory that I
the diluvial beds of Holderness have been carried by,
enormous masses of water over the western. escarp-
omit of the wolds, furrowing them into deep east
and west valleys, and leaving on the level and ele-
vated portions of the wolds a deposit of diluvial sedi-
ment. The average breadth of this district is about
six miles. This theory is confirmed—that deep bedsl
of gravel wear in several places upon the welds, and
along the line of the valleys.
The third geological division is the Holdernesa
district. This tract is somewhat Hat, having an in-
clination front the coast towards the south-west ; the,
soil is chiefly clay, and the sea yearly makes consi-
&Table encroachments, as much, it is said, as three I
feet per annum on an average. Though consisting
generally of clay, the soils of Holderness arc moat
various, and an equal variety in their management is
tbund to exist. In a few places there is gravel and I
sand, and the Carrs form a tract of peaty fen land of
1,700 acres, adjoining the river Hull. The laud in
llulderness generally requires drainage, and that
improvement has been partially executed, though
usually the drains have been laid too shallow. Much
of this tract is still in grass, about two-thirds
only being under the plough. So late us 1512 the
East Riding was designated as entirely a grazing
and breeding country. The liolderness cattle, which
have had much share in turning the modern York-
shire short-horn, is believed to have been introduced
into the district from !Miami and the former pre-
valence of black and white cows seems to attest the
accuracy of this reputed origin. For many years
Past, pine-bed short-horns from the Tees have been
used in Holderness for crossing the native cattle of
the district, and the result has been the creation of a
(large-framed sort of cattle, more remarkable for
milking than bir fatte ' g qualities. The large
. Yorkshire bay horses, still much used for carriage
horses, are chiefly bred in Holderness : in accordance
with the improvld taste of the day these horses are
now three parts thorough-bred, and many small
farmers now take to Howden horse fair in September
two or three voung horses of great value, Indeed, I
believe that 'farmers have of late wars too much
overlooked the profit to be obtained' from breeding
well-bred horses; the only drawback is that they re-
main long on hand, not being usually saleable till
four or five years old.
Agriculturally, however, the Wold district is the
most important and the most improved of this
Riding. Here there is much good fanning, but I did
not find it so general as in the same kind of soil in
Lincolnshire ; neither are the \Vold farmers of York-
shire remarkable for the same degree of enterprise
which is a characteristic of the Vold thrmers of Lin-
. coltishire. In Arthur Young's time (1770) he thus
!speaks of a part of the Wold district :—lletween
' Dritfield and Bridlington the country is chiefly open
\Voids ' • the soil is indifferent and lets from 2s. to
I 75. G per acre. but in the Mehl:tares it is much
dearer. Across the Nrolds large tracts were left in
an uncultivated state. producing rents front -Id. toils.
per acre. And he says," They plough up the turf and
sow icicley or more often oats, and then leave
. the soil to gain of itself a new sward ; and
this is their management every six years." The
farms were then from 30/. to 1001. a Year. no turnips
were grown, and seventh farmers joined their Hocks
together for the purpose of folding. Sir Digby Le-
gard, of Gunton, writing to Arthur Young of the
system then pursued on the \Voids, says : .. 'fhe gene-
ral use made of the open Weld land is to stock with
sheep, and cultivate a small part of it with the plough.
But by this tillage at a great distance from the farm
laws. a, which are situated at the foot of the hills, it is
, impracticable ter the farmer to get his dung conveyed
thither at any moderate expense. lie never attempts
it : all the manure this land gets is from the sheep-
fold; and were he content to plough no more than
' he can thus well improve by twice folding, it would
. lie well; but he has been accustomed every year to
plough up a fresh inn of his sharp-walk, to take a
crop or two. and. then let it lie 15 or 20 years,
• till the natural grass has again formed a kind of turf,
' but it will sometimes be 40 years before the land is
' completely sodded over." The rate of increase ordsuch
a ~,a,•l. MU'. nut melee titan three:cid, fe,nr baslwls
, of oats sown rettruing only twelve bushels to the
acre at harvest : and Sir Malty estimated that six
times the quantity of corn thee grown might be ob-
tained. In that very district large crops of wheat,
barley, and yuts an• now grown, and the land lets at