Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF WORCESTERSHIRE. 



1099 



tlrely clear of stock by the latter end of April. If May be at all 

 Intruded on, the hay crop will be much injured, and the grass 

 become soft and woolly, like latterinath. After spring-fewdinn 



autumnal, winter, and spring watering will not occasion rot in 

 sheep ; but if the water be used for a few days in any of the 

 summer months, the pasturage becomes unsafe for such stock. 

 This is conformable to the general idea of rot ; viz. that it is 

 occasioned bv summer- moisture, and is seldom known to any 

 considerable extent without a long continuance of warmth and 

 rain. A wet summer, therefore, is always productive of this 

 disease in the vale. The general advantages of watering are, 

 that the land and herbage are continually improving, without 

 manure; and the crop is not only full and certain, but also 

 early. 



Warping might be practised to a considerable extent on the 

 banks of the Severn, if the commissioners were to direct their 

 attention to the subject. 



12. Livestock. 



The dairy the principal object with most of the vale farm- 

 ers. Good milkers preferred, without much regard to per- 

 fection of shape. Gloucestershire breed resembles the Gla- 

 morganshire excepting in color, which is red or brown, bones 

 fine, horns of middling length, white with a black tip at the 

 ends, udder tliin in flesh and large. In the higher vale the 

 improved long homed cows of Bakewell and Fowler in most 

 repute. Devons, Herefords, and various others in use The 

 best land does not always produce the most marketable cheese ; 

 often times the reverse ; if it has either been much manured 

 with dung, or sheep feeding, the quantity of milk will be in- 

 creased, but the quality materially altered. This is probably 

 owing to the introduction of plants, which did not grow there 

 before, or to the destruction of some that did. The cause does 

 not originate with the cow, but the herbage on which she feeds. 

 The same cow, on two pastures, separated only by a hedge, will 

 give milk of different qualities : from one shall be made fine, 

 rich, and close cheese; while from the other shall be made 

 rank, " heaving," hollow, unpleasant to the palate, and unfit 

 for the market. In the parish of Haresfield, two grounds ad- 

 joining each other were alternately used for the pasture of 

 cows : while they were on one, excellent cheese was made; but 

 on the other, it was difficult to make any tolerably good. The 

 latter had been lately well dressed with manure, which pro- 

 duced plants unfavorable to the dairy ; and the dairy woman 

 herself remarked, that if the farmer continued to enrich the 

 herbage witli dung, she must give up making cheese. It is 



proper, therefore, that mllklng-cows should not be removed 

 from one pasture to another indiscruninately, but that ceruia 

 grounds, m proportion to the stock, should be assigned to their 

 use ; and this is the przwtice on many farms iwhere cow- 

 pastures have for time immemorial been aiipropriated exclu- 

 sively to the use of the dairy. The dung of the cow, indeed, 

 being of a cooling nature, is the best manure for cow-pastures. 

 Other animals, such as colts and sheep, may occasionally be let 

 in to eat the refuse grass, but not more than one sheep should 

 be allowed to an acre. Among the plants which are useless, 

 or unfavorable to the making of good cheese, are white 

 clover (TrifuUum repent), the different kinds of crow -foot 

 {Ranunculus), and garlic {Allium). White clover is brought for- 

 ward by manure and sheep stock, and is a proof of good land, 

 at least of land in a state of high cultivation ; hence it has 

 has a tendency to raise the quality of the milk, and make the 

 cheese heave. 



Cheese-tnaking. Best cheese not attempted while the cows are 

 on hay ; generally commences about May, when the cows are 

 turned into the pastures. Cows milked twice a day, at four in 

 the morning, and at the same hour in the afternoon ; the 

 cheese-factor discovers the " hoved" cheeses by treading on 

 them. 



Sheep. Principal breed the Cotswolds ; now very much mixed 

 by crosses with the Leicester and 8outh Downs. The liver rot 

 common in the vale, and therefore few bred there. Wiltshires 

 are bought in and fed oft'. 



Hones, no particular breetl. 



Pigeons, formerly numerous, now on the decrease. 



13. Political Economp. 



On the hilly districts, where stone aboimds, the roads greatly 

 improved of late ; those under M'Adam excellent ; but the 

 vale roads in many pleices very bad. Manufacture of woollen 

 broad-cloths, chiefly superfine from Spanish wool, extensively 

 carsied on in the district called the Bottoms. Carpet weaving 

 and thin stuffs at Cirencester ; stocking frame knitting at 

 Tewkesbury; wire, cards, rugs, blankets, iron and brass wire, 

 tin plate, pins, writuig paper, felt hats, manufactured at differ- 

 ent places. Spinning of tl;ix the winter work of women in the 

 vale of Evesham. Lxtensive iron works in the forest; the best 

 iron in the kingdom made at Huxley ; nails made at Little- 

 dean. Articles of agricultural commerce, cheese, bacon, 

 cider, perry, grain, and salmon, to the extent of 4000/. per 

 annum ; in manufacturing commerce, broad-clotlis and pms 

 are of the greatest imiwrtance. 



7007. WORCESTERSHIRE. A surface of 500,000 acres, distinguished by the two extensive' vales of 

 Worcester and Evesham. In the fertility of its soil, and the amenity of its situation, surface, and natural 

 embellishments, very few districts ef similar extent are equal to it scarcely one excels it. And its 

 agricultural products are not only more abundant, but more various, than those of other counties ; not 

 corn, cattle, and dairy produce only, but fruits, liquors, and hops, rank among its productions. \Pome. 

 ray's Worcestershire, 1794. PitVs Report, 1807. Marshal's Review, 1818.) 



1. Geographical State and Circumstances. 



Climate of the middle, south, and west of the county, re- 

 markably mild, soft, and salubrious; the vales of the Severn, 

 Avon, and Teme, with the contiguous uplands, rising to 150 

 feet above their level, ripen their products from a fortnight to 

 a month earlier than what takes place in elevated counties 

 even with a similar soil and surface ; sixty yards perpendicu- 

 lar = one degree more to the north ; conformably to this idea, 

 early at Worcester, and late at Birmingham. Apparently 

 much less rain falls here, than in counties more elevated and 

 more inward. 



the,Sevem, and a good deal on the Avon, Teme, and Stour ; half 

 the rest of the county, rich clay and loam: some light sandy 

 soils about ICiddeimiinster, and springy gravel about Broms- 

 grove. 



Minerals. Brick-clay ,T!p'avel, sand, marl, freestone, coal, at 

 Mamble ; quartzem, a siliceous stone, forms the basis of the 

 Malvern hills. Excellent common salt at Droitwich. 



Water. Kivers, but no lake, pool, or pond formed by nature^ 

 Malvern well, a good chalybeate; it is lunpid, without smell 

 or taste. 



Fish in the Severn, salmon, shad, lamprey, and lampem ; 

 the lamprey grows to twenty-six inches long, and is often three 

 or four i>ound.s weight ; it leaves the sea in the spring, and is 

 esteemed a great delicacy, but unwholesome when eaten too 

 freely. The lami)em goes to the sea at certain seasons ; is 

 ten or twelve inches long, about the size of a man's finger, 

 and common in Worcester, potted or preserved ; vast quan- 

 tities sold for baits to the cod fishery. 



2. Property. 



Variously ilivided among all classes ; many resident families 

 of considerable opulence and fortune. 



3. Buildings. 



Some magnificent residences; farm-houses erected at differ- 

 ent times, and no way remarkable, unless for being badly 

 situated and arranged ; great want of sheds for cattle. Cot- 

 tages have nothing to recommend them ; often built of timl)er 

 and plaster, and covered with thatch. Some good stone 

 bridges over the Severn, and an iron one of one iirch, 160 feet 

 span and fifty feet rise, at Stourport. 



4. Occupation. 



Farms small, from 10/. to 400/. a year, but some larger; 

 seldom held on lea e ; but when a tenant takes a farm on strong 

 lands, where the c-ourse is fallow and three crops, he hoUls 

 it by custom for four years. Knight, of Lea Castle, farms 

 .130 acres in a masterly stvle ; large farmers have a turn 

 for improvement; small ones have seldom an opnortunity ; 

 many inventions proposed and introducetl, and the sensible 

 farmer unfortunately finds few of them that will answer. 



Picturesque "fanning ly Knight. About 200 acres around 

 Lea Castle, formerly in irregular uncouth divisions, with 

 wide sloveiJy hedges, are now laid, or laying together, the 

 roads better dispose<l both for conveniLnce and appearance, 

 and the he<lges stocked up ; but the trees, which are m abund- 

 ance, carefully preservetl, to give a park like apiH-arance ; this 

 is diviJetl into lots by temporary hurdles. 



Milituri/ farming. The same gentleman, when the volun- 

 teer cavalrv were raised, sold his heavy farm bprscs, aud 



bought light ones, chiefly Clevdands, on which he mounted 

 teh of his own servants for military service. The horses doing 

 all the farm work, and occasionally serving for saddle horses, 

 or to draw his carriage. 



5. Implements. 



Plough two-wheeled, and drawn by three horses in a line, 

 walking in the furrow ; in the vale of fevesham, a heavy swing 

 plough ; these ploughs are seen no where else ; they are all 

 woott, excepting the share and coulter ; very long in the tail, 

 throat.r and sideboard ; a load for a team ; the four-wheeled 

 trolley is a low waggon, used for harvest work. Knight uses 

 improved implements, aud ploughs with two horses a breast. 

 Various drills for sowing wheat, and stirring the soil l)etween 

 the rows (.fe. 781.), manufactured at Evesliam, and used in 

 the neighborhood. 



781 



Arable Land. 

 Fallows plou^'hed four times, which is ratlier rare in Eng- 

 land ; rotations generally a fallow and tw-o com crops, with 

 " " ;). I); 



an intervening leguminous herlKige, i 



in use for wheat, in the vale of Evesham and other places'; 



turnip crop. Drilling 



beans commonly dibbled. Turnips lailtivatetl broad-cast, and 

 Carjtenter, author of A Treatise on Pradical and Bxperi- 

 nienUtl Agriculture, has discovered since he published his 

 lX)ok, that the fly is to be prevented or destroyed by steeping the 

 seed in sulphur before sown, and harrowing as soon as the fly 

 is discovered, " tlien sow eight bushels per acre, of dry lime, 

 or fine ashes, when the dew is on tlie leaves, so as it may ad- 

 here to them." Carrots sown by Knight and others in the 

 neigh liorhootl, where a good deal of seed is raised tor the 

 I,ondon seedsmen. 



Hops grown to great perfection, and fruit trees generally 

 nlanted among them, at the rate of forty -eight to an acre; 

 1000 stools of hoi>s are considered an acre, wliatever ground 

 they may stand on, .and lalior is paid foraccordhigly. Golding- 

 vine, mathon- white, retl, nonpareil, and Kenti.sh graiie, 

 local names for varieties distinguished bv verv slender shades. 

 Land stirrel l>etween tlie plants with the plough ; only two 

 poles to a stool ; picking chiefly by Welsh women. When 

 tithe of hops is taken in kind, the parson may either take 

 every tenth basket when green, or every tenth sack when 

 dried ; in the latter rase, allowing 25#. i)er cwt. for drying. 

 sacking, and duty. The culture of hops having \->een carriecl 

 too far, the trade here, <is elsewhere,! is on the diclinc ; corn, 

 en the average of years, is found to pay better. 



Asparagus, cucumbers, aud onions, grown in the fields oi 



