DORSETSHIRE. 



53 



Dorsetshire, agriculture of Dorsetshire presents few subjects that are 



"Y"*' very interesting. It is by no means well farmed, ex- 

 cept in what respects the management of their sheep, 

 the dairying system, irrigation, and the culture of hemp, 

 flieepfanns. The principal sheep country is round Dorchester, with- 

 in eight miles of which it is calculated that nearly 

 200,000 sheep and lambs are kept, of which about a 

 fourth part arc- sold every year principally at Weyhill 

 fair. The whole county supports upwards of 800,000, 

 of which nearly 200,000are annually sent out of it. Dor- 

 set has long been famous for its breed of sheep. As they 

 Iamb at a very early season, they are brought up to 

 supply the metropolis with house lamb. They are 

 large sized, with round and bold horns, deep carcase, 

 and short legs. There is no mixture of colour in them 

 if they are pure Dorsets. The Wiltshire sheep resem- 

 ble them most. They thrive remarkably well on the 

 rich pasture of the downs. Besides this breed, there is 

 a small kind in Portland and Purbeck, the flesh of which 

 is uncommonly sweet. It seldom weighs more than 

 lOlb. a quarter. 



ry ays- The dairying system of Dorsetshire is peculiar to it, 

 and some other of the south-western counties : the 

 plan is for the farmer to find the dairy-man, as he is 

 called, a certain number of cows, at a fixed sum, which 

 he supports throughout the year. The usual price 

 paid for the use of each cow is from L. 10 to L. 14 

 annually Little cheese is made here ; but the Lon- 

 don market is supplied with large quantities of salted 

 butter, which is reckoned inferior only to the Cam- 



gation. bridge butter. The admirable improvement of irriga- 

 tion is well understood, and very generally practised 

 in this county ; indeed it may be said to have been re- 

 vived by a native of it, a Mr Boswell of Piddletown, 

 whose treatise on the subject is complete and satisfac- 

 tory in all that relates to it. The watering commen- 

 ces at or before Christmas, and is occasionally repeated, 

 MI that in general, by the middle of March, there is 

 sufficient food for ewes and lambs ; these are grassed 

 till the month of May, when they are taken out, and 

 the meadows again watered ; by this plan, about the 

 beginning of July nearly two tons of hay per acre are 

 obtained. As soon as the hay crop is off, they are 

 again watered till .September, when the dairy cows are 

 put on them till near Christmas. The different cuts 

 for this purpose are made with great judgment ; the 

 expence at first is from L. 4 to L. 6 per acre ; after- 

 wards there is very little trouble or expence attending 

 them ; watermen, as they are called, attending the mea- 

 dows, to put all the cuts, &c. in order through the win- 



mp and ter, for 3 shillings per acre. Hemp and flax are prin- 

 cipally cultivated on the deep rich loams near Bridport. 

 From 1782 to 1792, 86,571 stone of the former was 

 grown, the bounty on which amounted to L. 1082 : 

 '-' : <). Since the year 1792, the bounty has been dis- 

 continued, so that the exact quantity now grown can- 

 not be ascertained ; but it is supposed to be very con- 

 siderably increased. It is calculated that 500 acres 

 are under this plant. Between 1782 and 1792, 301,726 

 stones of flax were grown ; on this the bounty amount- 

 ed to L. 5028: 15: 4; at that time 1700 acres were 

 .supposed to be under flax ; at present it is calculated 

 there are at least four times aw many. The only cir- 

 cumstance attending the preparation of flax, either pe- 

 culiar to this county, or at least not common, is the 

 mode of ripening it. It is not watered in pits or brooks, 

 as in most other parts of England, but exposed for 

 three or four weeks to the action of the dews and rains 

 011 the stubble, or meadow-land ; hence it is called dew 



ripened flax. The price of wheat in Dorsetshire, on an Dorsetshire. 

 average, for a very great number of years, is found to " '"">"""' 

 be above the average price of wheat in England and 

 Wales, as inserted in the Gazette, while the price of 

 barley was below the average of the kingdom. 



Dorsetshire is rather an uninteresting county to the Botany. 

 botanist; on the beach of Weymouth, however, most 

 of thej'uci that can be found in the south of England 

 are thrown up by the sea : the isle of Portland affords 

 Euphorbia Portlandica in great abundance ; and, on 

 the higher parts of the island, Lavatera arborea, tree 

 mallow, is found. Lichen rochella, orchell, has also 

 been met with here. On the Chesil banks there are 

 several marine plants, particularly Salsola fruticosa, 

 Inula crithmifolia, and Pisum maritimum. On the 

 heath between Morden and Wareham, Exacum filifor- 

 me (Marsh centaury) grows: this rare little plant, Dr 

 Maton remarks, has never, as far as he knows, been 

 found farther northward ; it grows on spots overflowed 

 in the winter. Near the harbour of Poole, Santolina 

 maritima, another rare plant, is met with. On the 

 veins of chert, which form Lulerak cove, Lichen con- 

 centricus appears ; and on the shore, near the same 

 spot, a singular variety of Fucus nodosus. On the de- 

 clivity of some chalk hills at Loders, in the vicinity of 

 Bridport, Ophrys spiralis (spiral tway-blade) grows in 

 considerable abundance; Dr Pulteney discovered on 

 Hodhill, in Cranborne Chain, Cineraria integrifoh'a, 

 (mountain flea-wort,) and Dr Maton observed Thesi- 

 um linophyllum, (bastard toad-flax,) and Rubia sylves- 

 tris, in a wood skirting the declivities of the hill. 



Dorsetshire is rather more interesting to the geo- Mineralogy 

 legist and mineralogist. The western border of the andgeology. 

 county is nearly the limit of that singular but by no 

 means uncommon phenomenon, which has puzzled 

 all geologists the occurrence of flints in the chalk. 

 Within four miles of Honiton, in Devonshire, it totally 

 disappears. The extent of this formation, therefore, 

 according to Dr Berger, setting out from London, and 

 going in a direct line from east to west, is about 150 

 miles ; but though this formation stretches so far in- 

 land, yet it ceases long before in the cliffs which form 

 the sea coast. Flints in the chalk are very conspicu- 

 ous in the cliffs of the Isle of Wight ; but the island of 

 Portland presents a grit, with a calcareous cement ; and 

 Lyme Regis a shell limestone. This contains some ve- 

 ry beautiful and large specimens of ammonites, &c. In 

 the Isle of Purbeck, the chalk hills lie in the prolonga- 

 tion of a line westward from the Needles. The hill, 

 on which Corfe Castle stands, consists of what is term- 

 ed hard chalk. Coarse shelly limestone, which is thought 

 to be very rare in England, is met with in Purbeck and 

 Portland ; in some places, it includes patches of a com- 

 pact limestone, which becomes harder, as it passes gra- 

 dually into a state of complete flint or chert. In the 

 quarry of Tilly whim, in the isle of Purbeck, the stone 

 is principally composed of shells of oysters that have 

 lost their outside coat. The marine remains, found in 

 the Portland stone, are principally a species of Trigo- 

 nia of Lamarck, a genus of which a living species has 

 been found in the South Sea. The specific gravity of 

 the coarse shelly limestone, Dr Berger found to be, 

 from Swanase quarry, 2.563. Portland north-east quar- 

 ry, 2.563. Tillywhim quarry, just where it passed in- 

 to a calcareous sandstone, 2.466. The specific gravity 

 of the composit limestone, from the Tillywhim quarry, 

 was 2.501; and from Portland, 2.511. The specific 

 gravity of chert from Portland was 2.545. Oviform 

 limestone is met with in th quarry of Wardspit, in the 



