1 MO 



STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 



Taix IV. 



with the Chines*, now more OOmnion than the mm native 



bnaL w bereve? tht in kept, but they are 



ited a profitable sto k tobehnwlth vul would rattan 



<it(,, ..r In p. i ii. i,s i hietlv mi. !■■ mt>> bttOOn | eured in 



the iiMi.d waj.-uiil dried in rooim bestted with WO 



LorwJan hs* .1 l.u'i'ii ln'iiM-, li.'.iinl \n % MoTO .ind tines. In 



Bun-hoo nnoka dried In the < bJmneys with wood 



fins, which ii nppoMjd to hsvs tbfl hot flavour. 



Bnobtfj kept in warrens, in one or two places ; and our ern- 

 lleman roan tame rabbits of a pan white) the skin* of which 

 sell high fur trimming*. 



Near Oskingham, many are crammed for the 

 market . they ere put up m a dark place, and crammed with a 

 patte made of baney-meaL mutton suet, and some treble, 

 or coarse sugar, mixed with milk, and are found to be com- 

 plettly rip - in .i fortnight. If kept longer, the fever thit Ls 

 Induced by this continued state of repletion renders them 

 n-d and unsaleable, and frequently kilts them. In the eastern 

 part of the county* mani geese reared on the common. 



Pigaomi iti considerable numbers. 



' . - r common. Sir William East, of Hullplace, a 

 ted apiarist In the forest district, bees are most com- 

 mon. One gentleman removes his hives to a heath at the 

 flowering season. 



Deer kept in several parks; 2500 fallow, and 300 red deer, 

 In Windsor Great l'ark. 



12. Political Economy. 



Roads for the most part good, especially since a part has 

 been put under the care of M'Ad nn. Gravel, flint, or chalk, 

 abounds in most places. Canals and navigable rivers so inter- 

 I, that no part of the county is further than twelve miles 

 from water carriage. Cloth for sicking and hammocks, ma 

 oufactured at Abingdon and Maidenhead, also some sail- 

 cloth, and rush, and twine matting. Cofon mills at Taplow. 

 Paper, and former, ly blankets and other woo lens, at Newbury. 

 A parchment manufacture at Oakingham. At Reading, a 

 pin manufactory, and the weaving of galoon, satin, ribands, 

 and other light fabrics ; a floor cloth manufactory ; twine and 

 rope making ; sail making, sacking, &c 



The Berkshire Agricultural Society, established in 1794. 



7791. GLOUCESTERSHIRE. A surface of nearly 800,000 acres, in three natural divisions; the 

 ( Otswold lulls, the vale of the Severn, and the Forest Lands. Great part of the county is under meadows, 

 pastures, and orchards; and cheese and cider are its known agricultural productions. It is also a 

 iiKiiiufacturing county, and its fine broad-cloths are celebrated, as well as its iron, tin-plates, and pins. 

 There is no very eminent gentleman agriculturist, nor any agricultural society in the county, but I)r 

 lennant farmed a small estate on the Chilterns. {Turner's Report, 1794. Budge's Report, 1807. Mar- 

 shal's Review, 1818. Smith's Geological Map, 1821.) 



L Geographical State and Circumstances. 



Climate, cold and bleak on the Cotswold hills; mild in the 

 vale. Whic h lies open to the south winds J on the sand, soils of 

 thetbrest district, the harvest is sometimes cut a fortnight 

 earlier than in the vale. 



; the Cotswold is all calcareous loam or stonebrash ; 

 Intfae vale, a fine black loam, or fertile red loam, and in some 

 places a strong clay and peat earth ; the finest soil is generally 

 santlv loam, sand, or peaty earth. 



Mineral*. None in the I iotswold&j but iron and coal in the 

 Forest of Dean, both worked, Lead found in the limestone 

 rockl n the lower part of the vale; not worked. Though 

 iron ore be abundant in the Forest of Dean, onlv a small quan- 

 tity braised, it being found more profitable to bring the richer 

 or.- of Lancashire, which is burnt with the coke of the forest 

 ron, and plates for tinning. Coal pits numerous, 

 an 1 worked at b shallow depth, for want of proper machinery 

 to exhaust the i iter; three sorts delivered, kitchen coal, 

 smith's coal, and Lime coal. Ulavstone and freestone found in 



pi t- of the t MSI ; paving stones, grindstones, vellow 



tiles raistd in different parts of the Cotswolds; 

 gypsum Is raised for stuccoing, and sent to Bath from Han- 

 bur.; It is a] a ter for chimney nieces* &c 



WaUr. Produce of the Severn is roach, dace, beat, floim- 



rers, chub, carp, trout, and perch. The sea-fish 



sithin the limits of the county, in the >e\ern, are 



anerns, chad, soles, shrimps, cod, plaice, 



eel, porpoise, and sturgeon. Salmon formerly caught 



in great abundance, but now comparativelj scarce Great 



I done bj the use of small meshed nets, which take the 



samlets or fry, 



i the! otswold hills, as alreadj de- 

 scribed 1467), in thi rale in the common manner. The wa- 

 t. r , which rUe through beds of blue clay, are often strongly 

 saline, asatCheitenh un, .vc. 



- Property. 



i est estate B00O/. a year among the nobility, and 30001. 



among the gentry; tenon | ,., , . .Muhold, 



I - . Est itea un- 

 der the I ulouct ter, leaded out on lives; those of the cor- 



isnal fine fbi r. oewal of a life, 

 SSa and a half ef the unproved annual value. 



SL Buildings. 



handsome seats : farm houses and cottages on the 

 U built of fi 



• lOOt i veai as are required for 

 - farm of 500/. a yes . under I i 



on the Cotswolds ; in the va'e a clumsy swing plough. Lum- 

 bert's draining-plough much in use with the improved draught 

 apparatus, and in the old way. Various improved ploughs 

 and other implements, as well as threshing and winnowing 

 machines, introduced. .A thistle drawer ( fe.221.1 in use for 

 extracting, the com thistle (Serratula arrensisj from corn- 

 fields ; cradle-scythe used for cutting beans. 



6. Enclosing. 



The first enclosures during Oueen Anne's reign; eleven dur 

 jng the reign of Geo. II. ; and upwards of seventy during the 

 reign of George III. Hedges of white thorn, on which the 

 reporter observes medlars might be grafted, and raised in great 

 plenty. Black thorn (Prnnus spinbsa] hedges, he says, never 

 suffer from the blight ; a most erroneous idea. 



7. Arable Land. 



300,000 acres; much ploughing on the Cotswolds lightens 

 the staple of the weak soils : seven horses often used in the vale 

 teams; ridges in the vale so high that a person six feet high 

 maj stand in the furrows, and not be able to see the crown of 

 the second ridge from him ; to reduce them a small ridge of en 

 be»un tret ween them. Fallowing practised on the clays, 

 then wheat and beans or oats. Rotation on the Cotswolds 

 — 1 turnips, 2 barley, 3 and 4 clover mown the first >ear, 

 5 wheat, 6 oats, tares, or peas ; if oats, frequent Iv laid 

 down with saintfoin. XDn crumbly soils wheat is sown and 

 ploughed in during rather wet weather, otherwise the seedling 

 plants are apt to be thrown out with the first frosts ; the same 

 thing attended to in Oxfordshire and various other counties; 

 tWs is called seven-field husbandry. Beans either drilled or 

 dibbled; a broad bean, themazagan, used when the land is in 

 good heart, and ticks when less so. The Hurbage pea, an 

 earlj grej variety, most in use. " Some lands have the pecu- 

 liar quality of raising riddotv peas, or such as boil freely;" on 

 them the Charlton is grown, and sold for splitting : clay lands 

 never have this property. Tares common, and among these a 

 sort called dill, supposed by Marshal to be the crrvum mrsutum 

 /•-, but erroneously termed .Inethum by Rudge. Turnips on 

 the Cotswolds always broad cast, and sometimes after wheat 

 or tares, and then called stubble turnips ; consumed by sheep 

 in hurdle folds ; sometime given to horses, and found to'induce 

 them to eat barn chaff" with a better appetite. Some flax 

 r aised ; teasels a good deal cultivated formerly, now not 100 

 Ben s Of them in the whole county. 



8. Grass. 



Very rich meadows on the Severn, overflown during winter 

 ■7ml spring, on which the farmers depends for a crop. When 

 the salt water overflows, the meadows are termed marshes, and 



. „. WM.UM im- 



il ; bai . h ever, of i moderate use ; wheat ttai ked B raz ed by hors s and cattle that require rest and spring physio 

 on stone t'.wld'. Piintie- . m-:lu ted, and *" i-'eneral meadows are mown and pastured alternately, ex- 



■ •ruble; some judicious remarks on the subject b> cepfing mar Gloucester, where abundance of manure is Ob* 



tamed. Herbage, plains, and ryegrass sown on the Cotswolds, 

 hut little in the vale ; saintfbin much cultivated on the stone- 

 brash soils. Grass lands fed In general from Mav to the end of 



Hodge. 

 4. Occupation, 



Farms ditVer muih in sire ; few exceed 1000/. or fall short 

 of 50/. a - fai n the vale of 500 acre-, 



but U00 and 3**) man Leases Of three yi ars most 



common, next of seven yean, not many uf fourteen, and those 

 of t wen :> -fine on OOTporatS property. 



r >. Implements. 



A narrow -wheeled waggon in general use among farmers. 

 V'arivii, ploughs; a ihuti-beaned one* heel pluuth in u-e 



September, and then the cattle, unfinished, are taken in and 



completed with bay, oil-cake, and other artificial Tood, but 

 seldom with roots. The OVchis mascula so common in tlie 

 . thai it has lieen gathered, Rudge informs us, and 

 made into sago. (6184. 



9. Gardens and Orchards. 



Most of the cottages, uch as they are, have gardenr, and 

 almost every farm its orchard ; but lar^e ones* so as to admit of 



