[ 185 ] 
dairy, particularly to the making of cheefe. But 
although fo great a portion of this diftrict is now 
in a ftate of inclofed pafture land, it does not ap- 
pear to have been fo from any remote pericd of 
antiquity. 
The ftraitnefs of the hedges, the uniformity of 
~ the inclofures, and the evident traces of the plough, 
are convincing proofs, that a great portion of it was 
originally in an open common field arable ftate, 
not excepting fome of the very beft meadow land 
on the fertile banks of the Avon. 
The difficulty of tilling and cropping land na- 
turally wet and heavy, and its aptitude to run 
quickly to grafs, has occafioned, from time to time, 
great quantities of it to be laid down to pafture, 
and the increafe of the rents of the land when fo 
applied, occafioned in a great degree by the excel- 
lence and increafing fame of the cheefe made in this 
diftrict, has contributed to keep it in that ftate, 
and daily to increafe its quantity. 
The cheefe of this diftrict was for years fold in 
the London markets by the name of Gloucefter 
cheefe, but is now well known by the name of 
« North-Wiltfhire cheefe.” 
It was at firft doubtlefs an imitation, and per- 
haps an humble one, of that made in the vale of 
Gloucefter, but is now, in the opinion of many, 
at leaft equal, if not fuperior, to that of the favourite 
diftrict of Gloucefterfhire, the hundred of Berkley. 
Mr. 
