Red Devon Cow
Corn crops—which in the returns are made to include not only wheat, barley, oats, and rye, but peas and beans—occupy altogether about 200,000 acres, or one-sixth of the cultivated area. In this respect Devonshire surpasses the three adjoining counties, and is excelled by only six English shires; Essex and Lincoln, where corn crops occupy one-third of the area, Norfolk, where they are two-fifths, Cambridge and Suffolk, where they take up nearly one-half, and Yorkshire, where more than half the cultivated area is thus occupied. With regard to wheat alone, the average yield per acre in Devonshire, for the last ten years, is only 26 ¼ bushels, which is lower than that of any other county in England except Monmouth.
Green crops other than permanent grass, and roots, occupy altogether about 300,000 acres, an amount exceeded only in Norfolk and Yorkshire.
Devonshire ranks very high as a fruit-growing county, and the area of its apple-orchards, about 27,000 acres, was, in 1908, greater than that of any other county in England. Apples are grown in many districts, but especially in the Vale of Exeter, in the South Hams, and in the Valley of the Dart. Much of the fruit is, however, grown only for making cider, and is of little value for the table. Plympton is said to have had the first cider-orchard in England. When pears, plums, and cherries are included in the fruit returns, Devonshire takes third place, being surpassed by Kent and Hereford. Vines are grown against many cottage walls, as is the case in other southern counties; but it is remarkable, considering the mildness of the climate, that no Devonshire vineyard is mentioned in Domesday Book, although several are included in the survey for Somerset.
The space devoted to small fruits—strawberries, raspberries, currants, and gooseberries—although showing a large comparative increase over 1907, amounted in 1908 to no more than 1252 acres. In this respect Devonshire is fourteenth among the English counties, producing little more than one-twentieth as much small fruit as Kent, for instance.
Devonshire has no true forests. Dartmoor and Exmoor were so called in the sense of being unenclosed and uncultivated. But except on the moors, the county is well-timbered, and its fine trees add greatly to its beauty. Its woods, plantations, and coppices amount altogether to nearly 90,000 acres, or about one-eighteenth of its whole area; and it here ranks fifth among the shires of England. Sussex has the greatest proportion of woodland, about one-seventh of its total area; and Cambridgeshire, with only one-ninety-second, has the least. There are considerable woods in some of the many beautiful parks; but probably the most famous is the Wistman's Wood, near Two Bridges, the ancestors of whose stunted and fantastic-looking oak-trees are mentioned in Domesday Book.
Gathering Cider Apples