48 Agriculture of Shropshire. 



moss. All that is necessary to lay any of these bogs dry is to 

 break an aperture in the side or bottom of this natural basin, and 

 an outlet for the water is immediately made. Here, then, we see 

 the cause and the remedy for the frequent bogs which are met 

 with upon the red-sandstone formation. 



Southwards of the Une between Broseley and Ryton we find 

 an extraordinary variety of soil, for, although the entire district is 

 remarka!)le for rapid transition fiom the extremes of sand and 

 clay to all the inteimediate soils, yet here it is more particularly 

 so. Fields are very often met with containing two or three 

 totally different soils, and furnishing a good apology for crooked 

 fences by the remarkably correct manner in which dry and wet 

 land have been separated from each other. I have seen instances 

 of dry land suitable for sheep rendered unfit for them by throwing 

 down fences and the addition of unsound land : here tlien is fair 

 cause for cautitm. 



The land around Bridgnorth is exceedingly good, as also 

 at Chctton and Earlington. As we pass from hence towards 

 Quattford we have jSIr. Whitmore's beautiful Seven Meadows 

 below us, and after passing the rich alluvial deposit of the Severn 

 valley we come upon a strong red loamy soil, which occasionally 

 becomes rather more sandy in its nature. From here to the 

 border of the county the bold and beautiful scenery will charm 

 the tourist, whose patience and pedestrian powers have enabled 

 him to perambulate this interesting district. Having taken the 

 reader through it with as much rapidity as possible, I must 

 proceed to report by what means it is turned to the practical 

 advantage of its occupants. 



Tliis is a thorough sheep-farmivrj district, showing the extremes 

 both of good and bad management. The general system of 

 working the land is on the four or five years' course : oi roots, sprinq 

 corn, seeds for one or two years, and icheat. It is sometimes 

 varied where we get heavier spots of land, but this is the 

 general course of cropping. In many cases the rotation is modi- 

 fied thus : Green crop followed by roots, spring corn, peas or 

 ])nlse, wheat ; and as this offers fuller scope for observation, I shall 

 follow this sequence. 



Green Crops before roots are only grown on the best and 

 warmest land, and by those energetic farmers amongst us who 

 lose no opportunity of making their farms as productive as 

 possible. The corn stubble having been broadshared and cleaned 

 receives a coating of dung. In disposing of this dung the vetches 

 have the prior claim, and generally take the lion's share. We 

 endeavour, as far as we can, to give the ground seven or eight 

 cubic yards of dung per acre, which being ploughed in we com- 

 mence our sowings of vetches, dividing the entire breadth into 



