Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF BERKSHIRE. 



m<) 



tithes were depo.iti.il is yet standing and measures I'll yards 

 in leugth and eighteen in breadth. The bide walls are only 



991 



DODO f 



t high, but the roof rises to a great height, and is sup- 

 ported by seventeen stone pillars, each four yards in circum- 

 ference. This construction is obviously judicious ; high side 

 walls, unless tied together by cross beams, would have been in 

 danger of being thrust outwards when the barn was tilling with 

 corn. This, as we have seen (7788.), is the case with the hand- 

 some high-walled bams of Coke. 



4. Occupation, 



One tiiird of the county occupied by proprietors. Farms of 

 all sizes under 1000 or 1*200 acres, but few exceeding 500 acres 

 or under 501. a year. Character of the Berkshire farmer stands 

 liigh. " 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 comforts 

 he enjoys." (Dr. JUavor-) 



a. 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 (2755), is in use 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 wi.eels; a pressing plough (2714.) recently invented: it 

 has three wheels with the tires wedge-shaped, and is intended 

 u to press in the grips or channels made by the common 

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

 buried too deep," &c. This sort of improvement isusual among 

 amateur agriculturists, who have one implement invented to 

 correct the faults of another, both of course bad. A number 

 of other inventions, including a curious hand threshing 

 machine, ingenious enough, but quite unnecessary, are figured 

 and described. The Duke of Gloucester has, at Bagshot Park, 

 one of the most complete threshing machines in "the empire, 

 which has been arranged under the direction and agreeably to 

 the plan of his present farm manager, Mr. Bumes. Having 

 received a plan of it too late for introduction here, we intend 

 giving it in an appendix, for the benefit of agriculturists in 

 countries where manual labour is dear, and where running 

 water abounds. 



6. Arabic land. 



Plough 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 

 Craig's Court, land-agent, and author of " Hints to Gentlemen of 

 Landed Property" 1790. Rye cultivated on the Royal farms 

 near Windsor, and on the Downs. Some hops, woad, flax, and 

 other plants not usually cultivated ; seventy acres of lavender at 

 Park Place, on the side of a chalkv 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 a 

 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 stnd to the still-house in baskets, carried by two 

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

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

 being separated, is poured into copper jars for sale. 



7. Grass. 



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 tlooded after heavy rains. 

 Excellent meadows at Reading; those on the Rennet, over the 

 stratum of peat, of rather a coarse quality. Manuring meadows 

 not general, though they are for the most part mown once a 

 year; upland pastures manured when mown. Herbage, plants, 

 "?nd artificial grasses, a good deal sown. Meadows chiefly fed 

 by oxen after being once mown. The dairy farmers occupy 



4 



the poorer upland grassy districts, and 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 quantities; asparagus for the 

 London and Bath markets, and cabbage seeds for the London 

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

 made, and a gooa 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 property, called 

 Forest Lands, 29.000 acres; encroachments bOO acres. The 

 forest is under the government and superintendence of a lord 

 warden, who appoints his deputy lieutenant, the rangers or 

 head keepers ot 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 lit only 

 for fuel. This 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, especially those 

 of Loveden, Fishe Palmer, Wheeble, &c. Osier beds on the 

 moist parts of the Thames meadows. Extensive plantations 

 have lately been made on the Duke of Gloucester's demesne at 

 Bagshot, under the direction of his very intelligent managers, 

 Christie, Barnes, and Toward. (See Gard. Mag. vol. vii.) 



10. improvements. 



An account of the culture of George 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 tiie ploughs 

 are the Norfolk wheel plough and the Suitblkiron 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 

 thev 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, 

 by a Thomas Kudd, 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 itsquality, for 300/. and 400/., and, in one instance, 

 reached about S00/. 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 colour, but the blackest 

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

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

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

 gives it a pate 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 King about 

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

 repeated, aheap 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 oper- 

 ation 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. 



Tfu usual time of applying peat ashes is March and April. 

 They are generally taken in cans, 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, 

 according 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 ; hut for all sorts of artificial 



?rass, more especially, they are preferred to all other manures, 

 n turnips they 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 improve 

 the grass. 



11. Live Slock. 



No particular breed of cattle; long horned 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 places. Buscot parish 

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

 excellent flavour, and sell higher than other cheeses. The 

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

 wooden mould in the shape of a flower pot, and afterwards sus- 

 pended from beams, rafters, or pegs, in an airy apartment, in a 

 net, whose meshes indent their surface like a pine apple. Salt 

 is then rubbed over them, or they are steeped in brim- ; 

 weight, 51hs. The milk is conveyed from the field to the 

 dairies in what is called a tankard, drawn by a horse or ass. 

 i fie 995.) 



Sheep, a native breed known as the Berkshire polled, ornotts 



ie- 992 ) ; strongly marked, but in much less repute than for- 

 mer*] v ; it is now difficult to be met with pure ; they are 

 considered as very hardy, and particularly adapted lor the 

 low strong lands, and for folding. 



Horses of the common heavy black race. Pesroe calcu- 

 lated in 1794, that 1*2,000 horses were kept in Berkshire for 

 the purposes of agriculture, and that one third of the number 

 mieht be saved bv the use of improved implements : most of 

 the horses are bought from the Northamptonshire br. 

 many, after being kept a year or two at work, are sold for 



^H o£", the native breed one of the best in Britain ; a cross 



D 2* 



Lftg- 



