STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part IV. 



1168 



1812. MarthaVt Res-few, 1817. £rf">. (•(« WW 



I Geographical Stale ttnd Circumstances. 

 Cbima dry and saluh. "" 1 ''' ""' : 



iu ir i,.U.i.iiT»im'rlh. ■ ' • » ere denud .■>! o! I 



Sod chiefly chalk, neat cl.it, then nd, and "t loam, 

 be. mart) rquii and m «l.-r..te portions. Chalky and ■ 



■ lh-- upl a"d- ter, thin. 

 NomWoJh -.invuMof Portland. lour , 



mile and » halt In langth by t»o in breadth, one entire quarry 

 o. Portland stone, n . vie„.,..i. mod, especially In London. 

 Patter,' . lag (bond in variou. parti ot the county. 

 i. Property. _ 



B a its* Lun comnand with those of other count,, 

 of the principal uni ' ' '■'"'* "TS ™' 



lawyan I nurcs chiefly freehold and le as eh ol d . 



F^rm"'u,l.ling. as In other counties; generally Ul situated, 

 bjilt of atone, and covered with reeds or thatch. 



Farms verv large, 1500 or 20(10 arres of sheep firm being fre- 

 .„■,.„, fwlth. Many of the proprietors great fanners. 

 Leases of twenty-OW wan common till the beginning of the 

 I | canton , now for shorter periods. 



5. Implements. 



T»o sorts of uncooth whcel-plouzh in use. Small s plough 

 tried in one or two places ; from the difficult, of ploughing Bint) 

 coil-, wh.es are deemed an ids intageous appendage to what- 

 ever sort is adopted. Ttoeshing, winnowing, and various other 

 modern Implements introduced in a number of places. I he 

 wattled hurdles of Dorsetshire consist almost invariable of ten 

 .takes, which 'he hurd e makers drive into augur holes, that 



are made for that pan In » piece of timber, which is sup- 



imrted at a convenient height from the ground by 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 generallv 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 ; hut what is here termed a summer fallow is, in 

 most eases, no other than a prep .ration of ley ground for a crop 

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

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



l^Ion'the thin chalky soils around Blandford, and upon the 

 hllla In the neighbourhood of Ahbej Milton, the course of crops 

 with the best farmers is as follows: vi/. one seventh of the land 

 I. In samifuin, and ihe rest of the arable is cultivated in the 

 rotation of one, wheat; two, r.e, winter barley, or winter 

 vetches, to be fed with sheep in the spring, and ihe whole fol- 

 lowed b» turnip , rape, Sec.; thee, bar'ey or oats; and four 

 and five,' artificial grasses, to be f..l owi d b, wheat as before. 



I 'pon the thin chalks and shallow lliniy loams, ..heat is gene- 

 rally so«n on the hack of a two sears 1 clover ley ; but, even on 

 those thin soil., a great deal is sown after turnips, rape, &c. fed 

 offwith sheep eailv enough to sow it in the same autumn, and 

 in most instances a good crop is produced of a fine sample. On 

 the better sorts of chalks- and gravelly soils, the same practice 

 prev uls, except u|>on the lev-ground, which continues in grass 

 but one tear instead of two; the wheat is taken after the nrst 

 year's ley, and is supposed to answer better than it would in the 

 second tear, upon the latter description of soils. Old sainfoin 

 broken up without paring and burning. Hemp and flax a 

 good deal cultivated. 

 7. Grass. 



SOOflOO acres, or ahout three fifths of the county; 6000 acres 

 of meadow in the chalky disrict irrigated. Application of the 

 meadows : fatting cattle, and of the uplands the dairy. 



R, Gardens and Orchard*. 



Both are frequent appendages to farm-houses and cottages; 

 some of the cottage gardens are small enclosures taken from 

 the sides of thehighwass. The goosefoot (Chenopodium bonus 



II iineusi cultivated h. a f» pe sups here, as in Lincolnshire 

 and ebewh re, and calculations male by Batchclor, to show 

 what would be the expenses and profits of an acre for the 

 Ixindon market. The pi mt is greatly inferior to spinach, but 

 might t.e used as a subs itiite for it in spring, as it is a p rennial, 

 and very earlv in leaf. Sea-eale, which grows on the shore. 



a Burton/is now generally introduced into the gardens of 

 f.irnii-rs. 



Orrhanlt to the extent of 10,(100 aeres ; application cider, 

 In making which hops are sometimes added to make it keep ; 

 proportion one pound to a hogshead. Twenty bushels of apples 

 will make a hogshe td of d lei. 



9 Hands and Plantations. 



Timber scarce, and chiefly to be found in parks and hedge- 

 row.. Mans \oung pl.miat'ons lately made on the heath 

 lands. 



10, Improvements. 



lrrigal ion c irried to considerable extent and great perfection, 



.nd one of the best books on the subject is by Boswell of 

 l'd.lh- own. A dry meadow of good quality is worth forty 

 - lulling- ; watered, naty-fire shilling, pa * n ; pro.lu.-e of hay 



,"„ l.rul. 00 .re. TlW streams ,11 Dnr-et are ,n general 

 ind have a considerable fall ; the meadows are narrow, 

 ., id the water is supplied with comparative regularity, m con- 

 of ita having to niter through Immense m 



to Its exit at the springs , and l.ence the process 

 of irrigation Is much facilitated. 



t Dorsetshire are well known as supplying the 

 tropolis with house-lamb at a ret] e.ri. season, I arkinson 



which some contend ,s the true breed of the county. I.o« # >nan 

 of Portland observes, it is the practice there to fold these 

 dwarfish animals from Candli m ..to M rtintlde, putting them 

 in late at night, and letting them out ca.ly in the : morning. 

 Th- mutton is deemed the best In Engl .nd, and the wool as 

 good as the Sooth Down kind. Some of them have been pur- 

 chased hv sheep-breeders, with a view to obtain a cross be- 

 tween these and the Merinos. Both etes and wethers are 

 k pt, and gener .lit till the. are five tears old ; sometime, they 

 remain till a greater ag-, but it is not thought a profitable 

 method. Such as are fatted are put into a common, at the 

 northern part of the island, which Is pretty good land, and 

 remain there from the 12th of August to the 5th ot November, 

 on which day Portland sheep-fair is held. All the sheep of the 

 island are kept prettv generally upon the commons from .No- 

 vember the 21st to Candlemas, 'l he Portland mutton is sold 



It is 



vember the — 



by the quarter in general at ten shil.ings and sixpence. It 

 never weil bi d, hut v.ould come to one shilling a pound whc. 

 common mutton is only seven-pence : it seldom weighsmore 

 than ten pounds a quarter. Several flocks of pure .Merinos, 

 Down Merinos, and other breeds. ..... . ... 



Grn*r... »u.«.™»l of sheep. The lambs which are bred for 

 the regular suiSuj of the flock are dropped at Christmas, or 

 soon afterwards, and the couples are kept in the best ewe-leares, 

 tec. on grass, hat, and turnips, if necessary ; and such as have 

 watered meadows, depasture their she-.p there, on the early 

 grass, till old May-day, when the lambs are weaned, and the 

 sheep go to fold ; but sometimes the two latter circumstances 

 take place as earlv as I.ady-dat. The ewes are forted co.w nil y, 

 and kept on the Downs, on artificial grasses and other pastures, 

 till near the ensuing Christmas, at which tune they have 

 another crop of lambs, the rams having be-n put to the tick 

 about the end of July. __— s_ 



Th re is, probably, no part of England where the pract.oe 

 of sheep-folding is more admired, or more e^JJWLP"™™; 

 than in the county of Dorset. Fifteen dozen of hurdles, with 

 a like number of stakes and withes to connne them together, 

 will enclose a statute acre of ground, and w ill contain U00 or 

 1300 sheep very commodiously. '1 he hurdles are moved etery 

 morning; consequently the same number of sheep ■will na a " u ™ 

 an acre' of land daily. The real value of the fold there is no 

 means of ascertaining; it is undoubtedly very beneficial to 

 the arable land, but it has reduced the Downs to a state of 



"""llwes'are generallv kept tiU they are four years and a half 

 old, when the. are sold to the dealers. A singular custom 

 prevails of colouring them with ochre, for which nc .other 

 reason is given than that of being able to distinguish them from 

 the Somerset sheep. 



in a given time as th ee horses, and four asses v 

 to plough broken land, it is believed that two asses will per- 

 forin as much work as one horse, and they do u more conte- 

 nienth in the hilly part of the county, as they carry their lading 

 in panniers, where It would be difficult to use wheel carnages. 



Oeesc kepi on the com pastures in Purbeck, from an idea that 

 the. promote the health of the cattle. 



Bees kept in various places ; does not answer to feed them ; 

 the only way to render them profitable is, after the honey-season 

 to destroy .-ill hives under twenty pounds weight. 



11 Political Economy. . 



Koids of flint, and in general good : an iron railway, of three 

 miles and a ha'f, for convesing potters clay from Norden to a 

 ace opposite Poo'e, where it is shipped lor Liverpool. No 

 canals Manufactures of flax and hemp at Bndport and Bea- 

 oster; upwards of '2000 people employed in making sail- 

 cloth cordage sackinp, tarpaulin, s^c. ; flannel at hhafiesburv, 

 and woollens at Ltme Regis ; ; twistinw jg^^g™™ 

 into skeins at Sherbourne and other places; shirt buttons ex- 

 tensively at Shaft.-sl.urv, Blandford and the surrounding vd- 

 i"es; the bu tons made of wire and thread; inany thousands 

 ., "children in this manufacture: wicker baskets, with a small 

 hoV a ton, called lobsterpo s, at various places on the coast, 

 md i tan,., of o-.her articles. Many very uncommon pro- 

 vincial terms u-ed in this count. . 



million of acres, chiefly of meadow and pasture land, h™y«>d 



rshes and bogs in others, but on the whole, though far behind 



in general cold and 



SOMERSETSHIRE! About one i 

 mountainous in some place, and with marshes and bogs 



in artificial culture, celebrated tor its natural fertility. The climate is various, 



boisterous on the elevated parts, but almost without a winter mar the sea. Thecounty is dntd t» otne 

 in, nh east, middle, and south-west districts, by it- very able reporter, J. Bilhngsley, Lsq. ot AsflWiCB t.roie. 

 (fiillmgsley's General View, l"f>7. Marshal's Review, 1817.) 



7R21 North fast Distrkt. 



v„r/.icr vers irregular, Intermtxad with lofty hills and rich 

 c miate varioii-; soil chiefly c'ay, and in part 

 evil; application chiefl] putmraat; several thousands of acres 

 overflown bv the tide in the river Veo; 4000 acres prot.ct tl by 

 a wall of stone and lime, elevated ten feet above the li 

 land within, but high tides frequently break over it and make 



breaches. 



Jtf.neru/.. Lead and calomine in the Mendip Mils, but little 

 worked, tor want of a proper level to carrv olf '".;"'«• 

 i oil ..hoi inds, and is worked for the supply of Bath, Wiltshire, 

 and Somersetshire; from 800 to 1000 itom raised weekly. 



/'roper?.,- Manv large proprietors from '20001. to bOtHK. per 

 annum, but ihe ereater part in the possession ot respectaDle 

 .eomanrv.from MIL to 5(10/. a year. 

 ' /iui/.(i«gi. There are many splendid gentlemen s seats. 



