1124 



STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE 



Part IV. 



abled to hreed early lambs." As soon as the lamte are able to 

 travel with the ewes (perhaps about the middle of March), the 

 flock is But into the water-meadows. Care is, or ought to be 

 taken to make them as drv as possible for soine days before the 

 sheep begin to feed them ; and on account of the quickness ot 

 the grass, it is not usual to allow the ewes and lambs to go mto 

 them with empty bellies, nor before the morning dew is gone. 

 The general hours of feeding are from ten or eleven in the 

 morning till four or f^ve in the evening, when the sheep are 

 driven to the fold, which at that lime of the year is generally in 

 the bnrley fallow. The grass is daily hurdled out in portions, 

 according to the number of sheep, to prevent their trampling it 

 down ; but a few spaces are left in the hurdles, for the Iambs 

 to get through, and feed forward in the rich grass. One acre 

 of good gra^ will be sufficient for 500 couples foradav; the 

 great object is, to make the water-grass last till the barley 

 sowing is finished : the meadow is then laid up for hay. 



The nmter-meculon'a of Orchesfnn, a village six miles N. W. 

 of Ameshury, have been long celebrated. What is called the 

 long grass of these meadows is the afrrostis gtoUmifera or black 

 couch " one of the worst grassps," says Davis, " in its native 

 state which the kingdom produces, and the peculiar plagiie of 

 the farmers of that district. It usually abounds in such arable 

 land as is too poor to bear the white couch (Triticum rejtens), 

 and is the general and almost only herbage of the old, bum. 

 baked, worn-out downs, and in that situation is so coarse and 

 wiry, that no cattle will eat it. It forms a thick tough cover- 

 ing over the lands which preserves itself, and destroys every 

 thing else. But in these meadows, when fed abundantly with 

 water, it is of a juicy nourishing quality, and makes the most 

 desirable hay in the district, particularly for sheep. These 

 meadows are not laid out in any regular form for watering, 

 the supply of water being too partial, but they depend entirely 

 upon the floods ; and being situated at a sharp turn of a nar- 

 row part of the valley, the water makes an eddy, and deposits 

 its sediments upon them. 



The substratum of these meadows is an almost entire bed of 

 loose flints, in which the roots of grass freely run, and produce 

 strong succulent shoots, which fall down, and taking root at 

 the joints, send forth other shoots, which, in like manner, 

 drop and root again, so that the stalk is frequently eight or ten 

 feet in length from the original root ; and though the cup is 

 exceedingly thick, it is, perhaps, not eighteen inches in height. 

 But this grass, though very abundant in those two meadows, 

 prevails in most of the meadows which lie below them on the 

 same sfream; and whenever the winters are productive of 

 floods, the grass in all of them is abundant in quantity and suc- 

 culent in quality, and the hay is excee<lingly nutritive ; but in 

 a year when water is scarce, their produce is extremely small, 

 and of a very bad quality. 



On exaVnining other meadows in different bournes of this 

 district, we find the same grjiss uniformly to abound in those 

 situated near the spring-heads, and which in some years have 

 plenty of wa'er, and in others none at all. The same remark 

 on its variation in quality and quantity, according to the wet- 

 ness cr dryness of the winter, is equally just. The most pro- 

 bable way of accounting for it is, that it is almost the only 

 grass common to water-meads that, will stand wet and dry ; 

 for though it nourishes most when under water, yet no dry 

 weather will kill it. 



Lire Stock. Cattle few in this disfrict ; oxen not generally 

 under the plough ; sheep the chief stock and the basis of the 

 Wiltshire Down husbandry; object, fo' ding and wool ; breed- 

 ing a c n equence rather than a cause of keejiing sheep. 

 Horses a h^avy very unsuitable breed; great error in principle 

 of breerif rs here as every where among the old school, that of 

 enlarging the size of the animal. 



703?. North Wiltshire. 



Clim; te milder than that of the S. E. district ; soil not so 

 uniform ; under-stratum broken stones, and surface reddish 

 calcareous loam. 



Property more divided than in the eaut side of the county. 



Bml'li7tf:s. Charlton, a noble pile, by Inigo Jones. Farms 

 generally enclosed, and chiefly under grass, and applied to the 

 making of cheese ; leasps from fourteen to twenty-one years. 



Scotch farmeya. " Within these few years, several of the 

 great landholders in Wiltshire have introduced into this dis- 

 trict Scots farmers, who, from a supposed superior skill in the 

 science of agriculture, have leases for twenty-one years, with 

 scarcelv any restrictions as to husbandry. The ancient pastures 

 are allowed to be broken up, buildings are erected for their ac- 

 commodation at a low rate of interest, and a degree of counte- 



nance and patronage given to them above the other tenants cf 

 the day. These men give nominally a large rent for their 

 farms; but as their maxim is to pay neither repairs, tithes, or 

 parochial taxes of any description (these dues and services being 

 all included in the rent received by the landlord), 1 have strong 

 doubts whether the advantages held out to the land-owners will 

 be ultimately any increase of net cash into their pockets. In 

 strong loamy counties, or in rich sands, I am aware much profit 

 may be made by an economical system of husbandry in the til- 

 lage; but the practice of the Scots farmers not embracing sheep, 

 of water-meadows, will never make them rich on the Down 

 farms of Wiltshire; and if the Downs be broken up by the te- 

 nants, who have no stock to maintain them, the land and the 

 farmer will soon come to povertytogether." ( Danwl 74-5 ) A mong 

 these farmers was the unfortunate Gourlay, who was ultimately 

 ruined by the speculation. Of his farming we know nothing, 

 nor are we aware what description of Scotch farmers they can 

 have been whose husbandry in an inland turnip district did not 

 embrace sheep. On the Earl of Suffolk's estate at Charlton, 

 some Berwickshire farmers were introduced in part through 

 our means, whose chief object was the sheep system. Lord 

 Suffolk, however, who is a' weak man, without an opinion ot 

 his own, got so alarmed by his family at the idea of breaking up 

 old turf, that he bought up the leases of these farmers almost 

 as soon as they were granted. 



The arable part of this district is on the north-west verge, 

 being a part of the Cotswolds hills, and treated like them. 



Grassland prevails almost to the exclusion of arable on all the 

 wet and heavy lands : their management of late much improved 

 by draining, manuring, winter burning, early mowing, and 

 feeding and mowing every piece of land alternately. The 

 grand object in these improvements is, to get -an early bite 

 for the cattle in the spring, and thereby, in fact, to shorten the 

 winter. 



The cheese of this district was many years sold in the London 

 market bv the name of Gloucester cheese ; but it is now per- 

 fectly well known by the name of " North Wiltshire Cheese." 

 It was at first, doubtless, an imitation, and perhaps an humble 

 one, of that made in the vale of Gloucester, but it is now 

 allowed by many to be at least equal, if not superior, to the 

 cheese of the favorite district of Gloucestershire, the hundred 

 of Berkeley. 



Gardens not numerous ; some near Wootton Basset, for sup- 

 plying the markets of Cricklade, Cirencester, &c. 



Orchards frequent as an appendage to farm-houses, but no 

 cider made. 



Wood frequent in hedgerows, but not in masses. 



Irrigation not common ; springs scanty, and land too ab- 

 sorbent ; alleged they produce coarse grass, but this is owing 

 to its not being mown in time. 



6. Live Stock. 



Cattle of the long homed breed ; Devons bred, and found 

 better for fatting, but it is questionable if they are so good for 

 the dairy. Breeding cattle not the fashion. " The dairy -m.en 

 sav, that the advantages which their situation gives them of 

 sending their veal to London and Bath markets, makes it more 

 their interest to fat their calves than to wean them for stock ; 

 but the opponents of the long horned cows say, that the oxen 

 are generally so ugly, and the heifers frequently such bad 

 milkers, that the farmers are never certain of breeding such as 

 they would wish to keep ; and, therefore, they prefer buying 

 cows (of which they can nave a choice) to breeding them, and 

 to use horses for the plough instead of oxen. 



Mamj sheep bred in the district ; some for folding, and others 

 purposely for fatting : for these purposes a kind to walk, and a 

 kind to stand still necessary : the Wiltshire answers the former 

 purpose, and the Leicester the latter. 



There are yet left in North Wilts a few flocks of the native 

 Wiltshire homed sheep, possessing qualities of perfection, both 

 for folding and fatting. They stand short in the leg, with wool 

 under their bellies; are wide and heavy in the hind Quarter, 

 light in the fore quarter, and in all their offals, with tne Ro- 

 man nose, and quick piercing eyes. These are in the hands of 

 a few farmers near Broad Hinton. 



7. Political Economy. 



As applicable to both distnds it is observed, that the turnpike 

 roads are numerous and good in most places ; three canals ; 

 e^ttensive woollen manufactures at Salisbury ; also cutlery of 

 superior excellence there; carpets at Wilton, and fancy 

 woollens ; and of superfine broad cloths at a great many places. 

 No agricultural society, but many farmers and others are mem- 

 bers of the Bath and West of England Society. 



7033. DORSETSHIRE. .'51 2,1.')4 acres of undulating surface, in great part chalky soil, and celebrated 

 from the time of the Romans for its pleasantness and fertility. Like Berkshire and some other counties, 

 it is called by the inhabitants the ;garden of England. It is chiefly under grass, and is celebrated for its 

 breed of sheep, which bring three lambs in two years, and for its watered meadows, of which Boswell, of 

 this county, has given a valuable account. {Claridge's General View, 1193. Stevenson's General Fiew, 

 1812. Marshal's Review, 1817.) 



' 1. Geoiiraphical State and Circumstances. 



Climate dry and salubrious rather than mild and bland ; 

 supposed colder since the elevated downs were denuded of their 

 native forests. 



Soil chiefly chalk, next clay, then sand, and of loam, 

 gravel, &c. nearly equal and moderate portions. Chalky and 

 sandy soils of the uplands very thin. 



No metallic mines or cauls, but the peninsula of Portland four 

 jniles and a half in length by two in breadth, one entire quarry 

 of Portland stone, so extensively used, especially in London. 

 Potters clay found in various parts of the county. 



2. Properti/. 



Estates large compared with those of other counties ; some 

 of the principal under the care of land surveyors, others of 

 lawyers. Tenurps chiefly freehold and leasehold. 



3. Buildings. 



Farm buildings as' in other coun'ies; generally ill situated, 

 built of stone, and covered with reeds or thatch. 



4. Occupation. 



Farms very large, 1500 or 2000 acres of sheep farm being fre- 

 ouetitly to lie met with. Many of the proprietors ^eat farmers. 

 JLagfs of twentv-one years common till the beginning of the 

 resent century,' now for shorter periods. 



5. Implements. 



Two sorts of uncouth wheel -plough in use. Small's plough tried 

 one or two places ; from the difficulty of ploughing flinty soils 

 wheels are deemed an 'advantageous appendage to whatever 

 sort is adopted. Threshing, winnowing, and various other 

 modem implements introduced in a number of places. The 

 wattled hurdles of Dorsetshire consist almost invariably of ten 

 stakes, which the hurdle-makers drive into auger holes, that 

 are made for that purpose in a piece of timber, which is sup- 

 ported at a convenient height from the ground l)y other pieces 

 of timber, and then the stakes are wattled. Stones set on edge, 

 and rublestone walls used as fences in various parts. 



6. Arable Land. 



Deep ploughing generally less approved of on the chalky 

 soils, and cross ploughing never practised, even for turnips; 

 two or three horses form a team. Fallowing general all along 

 the coast; but what is here termed a summer fallow, is, in 

 most cases, no other than a preparation of ley ground for a crop 

 of wheat, by ploughing it three or four times, the first plough- 

 ing being given in June or July, and sometimes as late as 

 August. 



Uponlthe thin chalky soils around Blandford, and upon the 

 hills in theneighborhoodof Abbey Milton, the course of crops 

 with the best farmers is as follows : viz. one-seventh of the lanii 



