1096 



STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part IV. 



ven, and E. h. Loveden, Esq. the largest proprietors ; several 

 handsome seats with land not exceeding 100 acres, and many 

 small freeholders and yeomanry. Some curious customs ; at 

 Enbome and Caddleworth manors, belonging to Earl Craven 

 and R. W. Nelson, Esq., the widow of a copyholder, guilty of 

 incontuiency or marrying again, lost her freebench or life in- 

 terest, unless she submitted to the ceremony ot riding into the 

 court on a black ram, and of repeating some well-known con- 

 fessional lines. (See Addison's Spectator.) In the manor of 

 (ireat Faringdon the customary tenant's daughter, on being 

 convicted of incontinency, was to forfeit the sum of forty 

 pence to the lord, or to appear in court, carrying a black sheep 

 on her back, and making confession of her offence in these 

 words : " Exe porta ptidureni ponteriorU mei." Many other 

 curious customs. 

 .3. Buildings. 



M^indsor Castle and many fine seats ; houses of the yeoman- 

 ry genteel and elegant : farm houses-generally comfortable. 

 I>oveden's ample but ill arranged; cottages of the poor 

 cenerally in a bad state, some present erections better. 

 (./?/? 777.) 



Farmeries on collegiate or corporate lands generally in bad re- 

 pair, because the fines for renewal of the leases take all the 

 sjiare money, &c. 



Chelset/ Farm, near Wallingford, in 1800 the property of 

 Lord Kensington, and formerly reputed to be the largest and 

 most compact farm in England. Rent 1000/. per annum. 

 Before the dissolution of monasteries it belonged to the Abbot 

 of Reading, who had a seat here. The great bam in which 

 his tithes were deposited is yet standing, and measures 101 

 yards in length and eighteen "in breadth. The side walls are 

 only eight feet high, but the roof rises to a great height, and 

 is supported by seventeen stone pillars, each four yards in cir- 

 cumference. This construction is obviously judicious; high 

 side walls, unless tied together by cross-beams, would have 

 b 'en in danger of being thrust outwards when the bam was 

 filling with com. This, as we have seen (7003.), is the case 

 with the handsome liigh-waUed barns of Coke, 



4. Occupation. 



'' One-third of the county occupied by proprietors. Farms of 

 all sizes under 1000 or 1200 acres, but few exceeding 500 acres 

 or under 50/. a j ear. Character of the Berkshire farmer stands 

 high. " A hospitable style of living, liberality of sentiment, 

 and independence of principle, are characteristic of the Berk- 

 shire farmer ; to which he unites persevering industry and in- 

 tegrity in his dealings, which render him worthy of the com- 

 forts he enjoys." {Dr. Mavor.) 



5. Implements. 



The Berkshire waggon, one of the lightest and best imple- 

 ments of the waggon kind. The'sort of draught chain described 

 and recommended by Gray, (2613.) is inuse on one estate, " the 

 object is to prevent the draught of the trace horse from pulling 

 down the thiller." The county plough a clumsy implement 

 with wheels; a pressing plough (2515.) recently invented; lit 

 has three wheels with the tires wedge-shai>ed, and is intended 

 " to press in the prips or channels made by the common 



Iiloughs, that no hollow places may remain for the seed to be 

 luried too dtep, &c." This sort of improvement is usual 

 among amateur agriculturists, who have one implement in- 

 vented to correct the faults of another, both of course bad. A 

 iiumljer of other inventions, including a curious hand threshing 

 machine, ingenious enough, but quite unneccsseury, are figurtd 

 and described. 



6. Arable Land. 



I'lough generally with four or five horses at a snail's pace. 

 George III. had two farms, one of 800 acres, cultivated in the 

 Norfolk manner, and another of 450 acres, managed in the 

 Flemish manner ; 450 of the former, and 150 of^the latter 

 were arable. The whole delegated to the care of N. Kent, of 

 i:raigs CouTt, land-agent, and author of " Hhits to Ciciilltmiii 

 i,f Laiuitd Property," 1790. Rye cultivated on His Majesty's 

 farms, and on the ijowns. Some hops, woad, flax, and other 

 I .ants not utually cultivated j seventy acres of lav.iKUi at 



Park Place, on the side of a chalky hill, originally planted by 

 General Conway, who distilled it himself at his coke manufac- 

 tory. As the plants die they are replaced by others from d 

 small nursery plantation. It begins to flower about the end 

 of July, when nearly one hundred women and children are 

 employed in cutting off the flower spikes, which they tie up in 

 bundles, and send to the still house in baskets, carried by two 

 men. The lower part of the stalks are then cut off, and the 

 heads are put into the still, and distilled. The chemical oil, 

 being separated, is poured into copper jars for sale. 



7. G/ass, 



About one-fifth of the county under permanent grass, exclu- 

 sive of the Downs and wastes. A tract of excellent meadow on 

 the Thames, from the windings of the river, 105 miles in length , 

 little irrigated, but a good deal flooded after heavy rains. 

 Excellent meadows at Reading ; thosa on the Kennet over the 

 stratum of peat, of rather a coarse quality. Manuring mea- 

 dows not general, though they are for the most part mown 

 once a year; upland pastures manured when mown. Herbage, 

 plants, and artificial grasses, a good deal sown. Meadows 

 chiefly fed by oxen after being once mown. The dairy farmers 

 occupy the poorer upland grassy districts, end the breeders of 

 sheep the Downs. 



8. Gardens and Orchards. 



About forty acres of market garden and orchard at Reading, 

 where onions are raised in great quemtities; asparagus for the 

 London and Bath markets, and cabbage seeds for the London 

 seedsmen ; good apples there and at other places ; some cider 

 made, and a good many cherries grown for market. Near 

 Abingdon an orchard of twenty-one acres, containing 541 

 trees. 



9. Woods and Plantations. 



Extent of Windsor Forest, belonging to the crown, 5454 

 acres, including wood and water; private j^iroperty, called 

 Forest Lands, 29,000 acres ; encroachments 600 acres. The 

 forest is under the government and superintendance of the 

 Duke of York, lord warden, who appoints his deputy lieuten- 

 ant, the rangers or head keepers of the several walks, and the 

 under keepers. 



Great part of the timber on the forest sold, as well as that 

 retained, is truly venerable and picturesque in appearance, but 

 rotten or mildewed to the heart in such a way as to be fit only 

 for fuel. Tlus rot, or mildew as it is called, seems to be the 

 natural process of decay, and is particularly fatal to beech 

 trees, which are by no means so long lived as the oak, ash, and 

 others. Various young plantations on different estates, espe- 

 cially those of Loveden, Fishe Palmer, WTieeble, &c. Osier 

 beds on the moist parts of the Thames' meadows. 



10. Improvements. 



An account of the culture of Geo. III.'s farms, by Kent, 

 dated 1798, is given as of the greatest national consequence, &c. 

 Oxen are used both in farm and road-work, and the ploughs 

 are the Norfolk wheel plough and the Suffolk iron plough. At 

 a later period the Rotherham plough, and with which two 

 oxen, yoked in collars, will plough, on the light soil of the 

 forest, an acre a day. Draining in the Essex manner a good 

 deal practised ; the drains filled with straw, rubbish from brick 

 kilns, wood, cinders, or gravel. 



Peat ashes is a manure almost peculiar to Berkshire, though 

 they might be obtained by the same process wherever peat of 

 similar quality abounds , and are so obtained in Holland, and 

 the ashes extensively used there, and sometimes shipped to this 

 country. In the year 1745 peat was first burnt in Newbury, 

 bv a Thomas Rudd, who at the same time spread the ashes on 

 clovers, for which they have ever since been famous. An acre 

 of peat land at that period sold for 30/. : it has since sold, 

 according to its quality, for 300/. and 400/., and, in one instance, 

 reached about 800/. per acre. Over the stratum of peat, which 

 is about five or six feet deep, is a good meadow soil, and under 

 the peat is gravel. The peat varies in color, but the blackest 

 is reckoned the best, and is used for firing, the ashes of which 

 are most esteemed, and have the reddest color. What is 

 burnt for sale, is mixed with turf and other substances, which 

 gives it a pale whitish hue. It is usually dug with a long- 

 handled spade, from the middle of May to the end of June, and 

 is conveyed from the spot in little wheelbarrows, to a short 

 distance, where it is spread on the ground, and after lying about 

 a week, the pieces are turned. This being three or four times 

 repeated, a heap is made in the middle of the place where the 

 peat is spread, and in the centre of this heap some very dry 

 peat is put, which being lighted, the fire communicates slowly 

 to the rest of the heap. When it is completely lighted, an ad- 

 ditional quantity of peat is put upon the heap, and this opera- 

 tion is continued till the whole is consumed, which generally 

 takes a month or six weeks, as quick burning is not approved 

 of. Rain seldom penetrates deep enough to extinguish the 

 fire. The heap is commonly of a circular form, and rather flat 

 at top. At first it is very small; but at last it is sometimes 

 two or three yards deep, and six or seven yards in diameter. 

 The ashes being riddled, are conveyed away in uncovered 

 carts, to a distance sometimes of twenty miles, and put into a 

 house, or under a shed, to keep them from the wet, till they 

 are wanted to be put on the ground. 



The iisual time of applying pent ashes is March and April. 

 ' They are generally taketi in carts, and sown on the ground be- 

 fore or after the seed is sown on the land. The quantity is 

 usually from twelve to fifteen Winchester bushels per acre, 

 accord,ing to the soil and crop. It is supposed that too large a 

 quantity would be injurious. For barley, wheat, and peas, 

 they are not in much estimation ; but for all sorts of artificial 

 grass, more especially, they are preferred to all other manures. 

 In turnips thev assist to prevent the ravages of the fly ; and in 

 grass seeds the"farmers reckon on an acre, manured with ashes, 

 producing nearly a ton of hay beyond what it would have 

 yielded without them. The effect is supposed to be of no 

 longer duration than two years. On meadow land, from fifteen 

 to twenty bushels may advantageously be put ; they much im- 

 prove the grass. 



11. Live Stock. 



No particular breed of cattle; long homed most common. 

 A dairying tract in the west of the vale of White Horse ; much 

 butter made, and some cheese of the single Gloucester kind. 

 Calves a good deal suckled in some place*. Buscot jiarish 

 famous for cheeses, in the shapeof pineapples; they are of most 

 excellent flavor, and sell higher Uian other cheeses. The 

 curds are well worked with the hands, then pressed into a 



