450 



The Agriculture of Worcestershire. 



Table 2. 



Table of Grasses to be used on New Eed Sandstone for renovating Old 



Pastures. 



To be used in proportion of 12 lbs. per acre. 



Arable Land, Eotation, and Crops. 



This is rather a difficult subject to treat, as the land and 

 systems are so intermixed that most farmers have systems of 

 their own, more especially on the heavy soils, but on the lighter 

 sheep lands, which are not so dependent on the seasons, more 

 regularity is observed. A good deal of land lies in the high 

 ridge, but deep drainage has led to a lowering of the ridge. At 

 all events I have never seen what I have heard of as a boy, lands 

 so round and horses so small that ploughmen could pass each 

 other on either side the ridge without being aware of it. On the 

 light soils they try to get rid of as many furrows as possible ; 

 indeed one gentleman told me that he calculated every furrow he 

 made lost him half a bushel of wheat. 



Messrs. Webb and Wintle, the drainage engineers at Evesham, 

 inform me that in some instances on the heavy land (Lias) there 

 has been an increase of 50 per cent, in the crop after draining. 

 These lands should be broken up in autumn with the steam cul- 

 tivator. The common estimate is that the cost of drainage upon 

 the blue Lias clay is repaid in three years. The proportion of 



