22 . DAIRIES. 



The real goodness of a soil consists principally, per- 

 haps, in the power it possesses of maintaining a certain 

 degree of moisture ; for without this, the plant could 

 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 nutriment 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, 

 vegetation goes on. Continue the moisture, ana in- 

 crease the aliment, and the plant will flourish in pro- 

 portion ; but let the moisture be denied by soil, suLstra- 

 tum, 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 de- 

 serving of particular notice. From our milk, after be- 

 ing 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 toasting; and we likewise manu- 

 facture a thicker and better sort, though we do not con- 

 tend 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 hus- 

 bandry is beyond our means, perhaps our faculties. 

 Local habits, though often the subject of censure, are 

 frequently such as the " genius of the soil " and situa- 

 tion render necessary, and the experience of years has 

 proved most advantageous. 



Our grass in the pastures of the clay lands, in the 

 mowing season, which, from late feeding in the spring 

 and coldness in the soil, is always late,* presents a 



* In 1826, the herbage on some of our clay lands designed for 

 owing was, by reason of its tardy growth, and the dryness of the 

 season, in such small quantities, that the owners let it grow untouch- 

 ed until after the corn harvest, in order to obtain some bottom grass, 

 and, in consequence, our haymaking, as it was called, was not over 

 until the last week in September. 



