20 DAIRIES. 



perhaps, in the power it possesses of maintaining 

 a certain degree of moisture ; for without this, the 

 plant can have no power of deriving nutriment 

 from any aliment : it might be planted on a dung- 

 hill ; but if this had no moisture in it, no nutri- 

 ment would be yielded ; but as long as the soil 

 preserves a moisture, either by its own constituent 

 parts, or by means of a retentive substratum, vege- 

 tation goes on. Continue the moisture, and in- 

 crease the aliment, and the plant will flourish in 

 proportion; but let the moisture be denied by 

 soil, substratum, or manure, and vegetation ceases ; 

 for, though certain plants will long subsist by 

 moisture obtained from the air, yet, generally 

 speaking, without a supply by the root, they will 

 languish and fade. 



Our dairy processes, I believe, present nothing 

 deserving of particular notice. From our milk, 

 after being skimmed for butter, we make a thin, 

 poor cheese, rendered at a low price, but for which 

 there is a constant demand. Some of our cold 

 lands, too, yield a kind greatly esteemed for toast- 

 ing; and we likewise manufacture a thicker and 

 better sort, though we do not contend in the market 

 with the productions of North Wilts, or the deeper 

 pastures of Cheshire or Huntingdon. 



The agriculture of a small district like ours 

 affords no great scope to expatiate upon : great 

 deviations from general practice we do not aim at ; 

 experimental husbandry is beyond our means, per- 

 haps our faculties. Local habits, though often the 



