The Express.
London, England, 1850-11-05 00:00:00

AGRICULTURAL DISTRICTS.

TO MI ZDITOZ 01 Tlll IIPIIIIII.
LEICESTER, Orr., 1850.
Bia,—Between Stamford and Oskham are acme
floe feeding meadows, the higher ground oa . each
vide being arable land, after which to the Wens's-
dine—a arrow bat deep stream, which some of the
more daring Meltonians have occasionally ridden over
—the land consists of a mixture of arable and grass,
which is pretty well cultivated. Here a good many
;2. are fed and young cattle reared. The amuse
of tattle its also pursued. The greater portion
therm land is only second-rate, and ought to be
bathes sad a completely arable system of husbandry
alerted. The chief obstacles to that change are,
that it would require the employment of more capital
oa the part of the tenant and a considerable outlay by
the landlord for fresh buildings.
From the Whiasendine to Melton Mowbray, and
for some miles round that town, the land is almost
wholly iill gran an arable field being rather the ex-
ception. Fifty years ago the greater part of this dis-
trict was under tillage, but being a strong heavy
soil, and difficult to manage under arable cul-
ture. it has long sines been converted into patine
ad meadow gain, sad is that state has peokal,
produced much higher rents than it would have done
had it remained ander the plough. Now, however,
in the hands of farmers of enthcient capital I have no
doubt that it would give better returns were a con-
siderable portion reconverted to tillage. Foe that
purpose there must be more draining done and
more buildings and better buildings than at precast
exist on the farms ; and this will prevent the conver-
sion of grass lands so long as landowners can obtain
scything like their present rents, varying in this
district from 30s. to 50a, per acre. I coulees Ido not
see how the occupiers of gram land alone can pay
such rents unless cattle, sheep, and dairy produce
range at exorbitant prices, which they will proba-
bly seldom reach, and certainly cannot permanently
retain. It struck me that the grass farmers of Leices-
tershire manage their land well—better, perhaps,
than most districts where dairy husbandry and feed-
lag form the sole, or nearly the sole, objects. There is
ems "bullock laud," that is, land which will fatten
fall grown oxen, in this district, but its extent is
limited, and the majority of the Leicestershire
graziers feed only heifers and cows, which fatten on
less food and in somewhat less time than oxen. Large
numbers of sheep are also fed ; these consist chiefly
of wether lambs, which are purchased in the autumn
and kept throughout the winter on the pastures, be-
coming fat duritg the following summer, and are sold
off not mach betore Carnation Some farmers, how-
ever, prefer to feed " two-shear sheep ;" that is, in-
stead of buying lambs in the autumn, they purchase
" shear hogs," or wethers, which have been once
shorn, and arc about a year and a half :old. These
sheep go through tho winter better than lambs, and
go off fat the following summer by the end of July,
thus easing the pastimes, and leaving more food for
the cattle, whether feeding or dairy stock, just at the
dry season of the year, when it is desirable that grass
land should be as lightly stocked as poiable, especi-
ally with such close-feeding stook as sheep. Around
Great Dalby, Little Dalby, Thorpe, and Burton, south
of Melton, there are some very nicely managed farms,
according to the actual system; and the land, fences,
and so forth, are kept in very good order. There is
considerab:e judgment required in the management
of pastures, neither to allow wild and coarse grass to
get ahead, nor to stock too heavily, particularly
during the summer. Thus the winter beasts are kept
on certain of the stronger postures throughout the
winter, to clear up the " fog,' or old grass left over
from the preceding summer, and the winter lambs or
shear hogs are kept here through the winter, and
continue on until sold off to the butcher. The only
culture these pastures receive consists in tatting date
thistles and other weeds, to prevent seeding, and col-
lecting the clots into heaps, which are often car-
ried off to help the weaker lands of the farm.
Road scrapings, the scourings of the ditches, oc-
casionally a little lime, mixed with the manure
which accumulates in the sheltered corners of the
fields, where the cattle lie or are fed in the winter,
constitute the only dressings which the greater part of
the Leicestershire graziers afford to their land.
Neither cattle nor sheep usually receive any fodder
during the winter unless the weather should be very
severe, but subsist entirelyon the rough grass left the
previous summer. In fact, if the stock be allowed any
fodder they become teatime, and disinclined to eat up
the rough grass, which it is their especial province to
consume. In this way the Leicestershire grazier assumes
that his cattle and sheepast him nothing for wintering.
For the dairy cows some little provision of hay is
made, the hay-stack being placed in the middle of
the field from which it has been cut; but one cannot
help being struck, when riding through the grass-
lands of this county, with the very slender provision
made for the winter maintenance of the cattle.
The sheep fed in this district are generally good,
being almost exclusively Leioesters,and where atten-
tion has been paid to keeping them large and vigo-
rous, it would be difficult to find a more profitable
sheep for this county, and the system of farming pur-
sed; but the cattle will disappoint persons who re-
gard Leicestershire as a breeding county. Occasion-
ally you see some good cow., but the majority of even
the dairy stock is of a somewhat mixed chsraelee,
while the feeding besets are often very miscellanea
Towards Leicester the soil becomes less tensaisas,
sad six or seven miles on the Melton side arable law
• Here is a fertile district lying to the
and left of the river Bar, adjoining which are
INN excellent meadows. Some of these are flooded
he lbe winter, and may be mown yearly with little or
no help, while others which are oat of the reach of
floods are good pastures. The land in this district
lets as high as 501. per are, taking the farm through,
and notwithstanding its liability to be burdened with
heavy poor rates when the manufacturers are in dis-
tress, I do sot consider it snob too dear, taking into
account the advantages of its proximity to so good a
market as Leicester. Jost now, however, the mane-

factoring people in:this district are extremely well off;
all bands are in fall employ, chiefly in the fancy
trade, at which the women and girls will eontsfimes
earn 12s. to 14s. a week' each. Where there are
several in a family thus employed, the united income
forms a considerable sum, which, if properly econo-
mised, ought to place the stockinsers out of the reach
of alixtlute want, even in times of the dullest
trade ; bat they are for the most part improvident.
spending great part of their wages in periods of
prosperity like the present in good clothes and high
living. True, it is, that many of them obtain during
inch periods furniture and other chattels which serve
sea resource in times of difficulty ; but4comparatively
few, I was told, save money as they might easily de.
At the same time it is notorious that some of the
most successful and now wealthy manufacturers of
this district were originally working men. On the
agriculture of the district, the effect of the existing
briskness of trade is to afford the farmers much relief
as regards poor rates, the payment on that account, in
Thurman" where I went over a farm, being con-
siderably less than half the amount paid during the
late high priced years. As might be expected apt-
cultural labourers are better paid than in the purely
agricultural districts, the present wages of a regular
man being now from 10e. to 12s. a week.
The farm I referred to affords a good specimen of a
well ma aged farm in this district, conducted accord-
ing to the system which may be called good, but fall-
ing somewhat short of high farming. The tenant
however is a man of good means and very iatelligent,
and though he complains of low primes and high rent,
will, I have no doubt, be well able to accommodate
his plans of cultivation to whatever may eventually
turn out to be the ordinary rasp of prices.
Thurmaston le a large village situated on the turn-
pike road from Leicester to Milton Mowbray, four
miles from the former place and about a mile and a
half from the Lyston station of the Leston and l'etrr-
borough Railway. It is bounded on one side by the
River Soar, and the Midland Counties Railway and a
aasigable mat both raa through Unmet& i the laVAe

abrdieg a anreadeace for bringing from Leicester
lame quantities of its refuse manure at a cheep rate. I
dill est hare, however, that say of the farmers
welled Ilemmehen ef this heility i the truth being
that by
_the old of their See meadows and careful fil-
lip Air lead furs litheete been 'sedative ono
to enehis them top as contentedly The farm in
5
pariah mid& I Tithed sionsisted ef ;boat 430 serer, ,
whieh abest half war meadow and pasture land, Via.'
betwooa the turnpike read and the Soar, many eons
of the meadow land being yearly flooded by the river.
The present Meant has occupied the farm moos 1817,
at the tame rent of 60s. per sore, which be ceseiderit
high. He originally held under • lease, but for semi
years put he has Racoon ea a yearly tenant, his land-
lord, • geetlemes of the bar, never interfering with
him or emseisiting the farm. He might have a
hen Ibe whited it. The meadow and pasture
Made me_ wrygood, the former being appa-
rently, hintedi by alluvial deposits, and the
Woe amok et a good firm loam which has
been improved by a few rather deep drains. The
unedows are mown every year and produce an einin-
donee of meet smoellent hay, all of which is consumed
by the Meek of horses, cattle, and sheep, and the
miners so made applied to the arable land. The
Z2:111 the Sow keeps up the hrtility of the
which s
tock. a las Aim end 4andant
alteeonieb ihr the s Indeedlatli driven off by
the winter floods, sheep and tattle do well ea these
meadows. The non-flooded gram lead is always fed
and mugged in the anal manner of the district.
The stock kept consists of eight cart and two riding
horses ; a breeding flock of 200 Leicester ewes, and
sixteen milking cows with their offspring. The
flock is a first rate one, the farmer having always
bought good rams during the whole period of his
occupation. He sells off most of his ewes when they
have had two lambs, just in their prime, and come-
quently obtains high prises for them, and he also soil!'
his wither lambs in the autumn of the year is which
they are bred. A certain number of his ewes are fat-
tened in the autumn on the clover lees with whole
barley. This flock strongly marks the change which
the Leicester flock masters have of late years been
making in their sheep. A few years since there is
no doubt that a dors adherence to the Dishley blood
'bad imparted a delicacy to this breed, rendered
them small and very fine in their oats, and
sacrificed many vigorous qualities to early
maturity. In this mistaken course many of
the Leicester breeders still persist. The more
shrewd have seen the error, and are using only
large, strong-framed rams, with heavy fleeces and
deep flesh. They are resolutely designated pure Lei-
cester., but I have seen enough of the flocks of this
part of the world to satisfy me that a strong dash of
Lincoln blood has contributed to the great perfection,
le regards size, wool, and flesh, to which the best
Leicester flocks have been brought. It is • signifi-
cant fact that the chief winner of prizes for Leicester
sheep at the Exeter meeting of the Royal Aricul-
tarsi ticciety wag Mr. Abraham, of Barnet-by-the-
Wald, in Lincolnshire, who lives in the very heart of
the district where some of the first-class breeders of
Lincoln tops reside. At all events, the best Leicestere
of the day are very different animals to the delicate
Dishley sheep. The flocks on this farm show the
progress of the improvement ; a few of the ewes
have the fine strait coat of the Dishley Leicester,
though with the size and more vigorous form of the
modern Laieester ; but the great majority had also
the well-curled fleece u well This flock also pos-
sesses that similarity of form and character, which
forms the best evidence of careful breeding, and is
the beat guarantee of their ruefulness as stock.
In sheet, I know nowhere persons desirous of
forming a breeding flock of Leicester. can go to,
with better prospect of success, than to the flock
of Mr. Lander, of Thurmeeten.
There are few counties more favoured as regards
mailemid climate than Leiesstembirm The soil is gene-
loamy aa4
cellent et geed etegle, sons of it very ex-
land, and witheet the extremes of very stiff
oily and light sand or chalk. It is also protected
from the superabundant moisture of some of the more
western counties by the high hills lying nearer to the
Atlantic. It is in fact one of the pleasantest counties
to farm in, and there is no return why all but
the really land should not be
broken up ancfP)llougtrtatianto a high state of cul-
tivation. For corn the county itself affords a good
market, its own growth at present being quite Meal-
dent for its own consumption. Ido not, however,
expect to see the proprietors consenting to this change
until it is forced upon them by the conviction that
grass land alone cannot continue to pay the present
high rents which prevail in the county. The various
sine of the farms is another advantage of Leicester-
shire, and would be even more so should the exten-
sion of tillage take place. Formerly many well-bred
horses suitable for hunters were bred in this county,
bat latterly the farmers have found the breeding cart
colts pay them better, as being more certain of meet-
ing with a market, and coming to be mold in much
less time.
The market in Leioester on Saturdays is an excel.
lent one, immense quantities of meat, batter, poultry,
eggs, and so forth being exposed for sale. Here the
wives and daughters of the smaller farmers. and ems
of the farmers themselves, stand with their baskets of
butter and eggs or their groups of poultry selling by
retail to the multitudes of artisans and others who
come to provide their week's supply of these commo-
dities. They were getting 13d. and 14d. a pound for
their better, and such marketing probably well re-
pays them for their trouble.
A MIDLAND COUNTIES FARMER.

ATTEMPTED SOICIDIL—This morning we of the
labourers in the employ of the Waterloo WU/At Compaay „
on going down the steps leading to the pier, found a man
lying upon the bottom step, oomplstely insensible and math
mutfiated ; the man was restored without delay to the I
CM/ins-cross Hospital, and it was found that both hie legs
were fmetered is several pleas, sad kis skull was also fro/
tend. Oa regaining his seems and being questioned es to •
hew le at with the Wangs, he refused to reply. He mid
his sum was Hen , but refused to gin his =
or tall where his Meads raided. Re wee
is the garb of a plasterer, sad appeared to be sheet
31.2. rs of age. Oa Ming sserehed there was Mad is his
a trowel, the palm el white had Mimi Ms hip-
reraT.. A delineate wee elm And, lours redused to
trowel which had b:en Odra He is set spats& to sur-
vive tie day. The anfattemals Bra must Isle Mews bier.-,
boa the parapet feting thesSigeleadkim telbe Oar, ask
instead of falling tato the IMMO' lie filfBll.4 le OW
upon the steps.
THE Pope's "Bins.'—lre Leeds a strong feeling
la Pat!" uy anwegth the *orgy sedum the aetablishossat
of the MIMI* is lisuleed • sad yesterday (Mon-
day) a sesellug, esommied by the Rev. Dr. Rook, vicar of
the perish, wee held le the misty of the pariah church, to
megearialhe this Bishop of Ripon on the subjset. The
mtelftg was strictly a private sae, but It is usderstood
eat ef demo that a sasmoriel was agreed emc
MOVIMIIITI OF TROOPS IN THE UNITED KING-
DOM—The fallowing regiessals will ceases their stations is
the seems of this month and the Bert, bet the changes will
sok u at present unused, ammasses oath about the middle
of this month :-2ad Foot, *gallows, toCleasset; IlithFoot,
from Fort George, N. 8., to Stirling; fill Foot, from
Stirling to Belfast ; 396 Foot, from Baling to /Ism" ; 62nd
Foot, from Liverpool to Limerick ; 63rd Fmk from Aaiun
to Cork ; 74th Foot, frost Moans' to Forney; Depot 79th
Foot, from Preston to Berwick; 61st Foot, fresa Bawl& to
Kilkenny; 90th from Kasehester to Cork.
A PRETTY SMART HIMIIiCANE visited Liverpool
marshy amnia., bat, happily, soon expended Ms fury
withoet Millais say dump In Um Mussel of ea dime.
licaucciacinialL—Aa ezirsordioaryead d 1 smug
, easerresse leMt pima ea Stmlay morning at the Mouse of
Dv. Reels, ha Newhall-strest,lNgmagfasea. It appalls that
Mr. Mertes, Meths, of Irslss, la bees la the habit
of rides from' hal aid wolllft a oho et ommokolkon,
but no cononsoosco oca kb
Sunday thorolog, lobos ko Ist eel oblelriPg,ll.B4
6 o'clock, spool Ur orimichr et Ike olllcslosull
, 0n0,117 slop% plocipllolod Woolf ItZezmla
Ms &moss be Ail gooiest the dimisp-sems glom
limailzams Most Mmix the 111, but be stem: ISM
awl mw whist Ms • ilbuts of do
M..,
awl was mho
wipe sa duty iutheat4lesediesd Mord odor oar
sifted by the fill, awl peoccodG4 to the spat gaited Mr.
Blanes and sosveyed Ides to the hone; Me labida
c. were of a meet telghtillTaharaster ; for many hems the
arise of Ms unfortunate ms slimed the whole mialskper•
1 UPI: mid up to WS gelid ha soutiasod is a C,Wo of
same Isoaor.