Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 



IHl 



making cider for sale, are found only on the sides of the hills and 

 in the vale and forest district. The stocks are planted in the 

 orchard when six or seven feet high, ten or twelve yards asunder 

 on pasture, and sixteen or seventeen on arable lands. A year 

 after planting they are grafted. Sometimes fruit trees are 

 planted in the hedge rows ; hedges are often composed of apple 

 seedlings, raised from the kernels in the cider mast ; and here 

 and there the farmer often leaves a stem to rise above the 

 ^neral height of the he<ige, and grafts it ; frequently also 

 wildings are allowed here and there to rise into trees, ancf their 

 fruit Ls used with that from grafted trees, in crushing for cider. 

 Grafts are inserted in the cleft manner, at seven feet from 

 the ground, two in each stock : if both succeed, one is removed 

 the tbllowing spring, and the stock sloped to the remaining 

 graft, to prevent the lodging of water, and clayed afresh, to 

 facilitate the growth of bark over the wound. After grafting, 

 " braids," that is, inverted wicker baskets, rising about two 

 feet high, are fitted to the stock, which serve at once to guard 

 the grafts, and direct their shoots to a proper form. The stock 

 is next protected from cattle or the plough harness, by four 

 I>osts placed round it, with six tier of rails ; by three posts and 

 six tier of rails ; by two broad posts and rails ; by a bundle of 

 thorn branches; by planting a thorn or briar along with the 

 stock ; or by twisting a shoot of the creeping rose (R6sa arvensis) 

 round the stock. The mode of planting a creeping rose with the 

 stock, and twisting it round the stem, is said to be found the 

 cheapest and best ; but it must evidently impoverish the soil. 

 Pruning is not attended to on young grafted trees, or any 

 others, as it ought to be, nor the removal of moss and misletoe. 

 Grafting the branches of old trees often practised with great suc- 

 cess ; a youngstock grafted will probably not produce a bushel of 

 apples in twenty years, but a branch grafted bears the second 

 year. Dr. Cheston, of Gloucester, practises root grafting, but 

 which is quite unsuitable for tield orchards. Grafted trees bear 

 little till twenty years of age ; their produce increases till 

 fifty years, and is then ten or fifteen bushels ; an apple will 

 bear 100 or more years from this period, and often much 

 longer. A {lear tree at Minsterworth 3(X)years old at least. 



Cider-making. Best orchardists shake off the fruit, and never 

 beat the tree, which destroys the blossom-buds ; limb by limb 

 is shaken by a person in the tree, and those which adhere 

 allowed to remain some time longer to rijien : the horse-mill 

 used by large, and the hand-mill by small farmers ; the cylin- 

 ders of the hand-mill of wood, and fluted; sometimes there 

 are two pair of cylinders, one finer fluted under the first pair. 



and in other cases the cylinders are set wide the first time the 

 apples are passed through, and closer the second ; the other 

 processes as usual. Of the various apples grown, the white- 

 styre of the Forest district makes the strongest and richest 

 cider ; it is often valued equally M'ith foreign wine, and sold at 

 extravagant prices. Ciders from the Hagloe crab, golden pip- 

 pin, and Longney russet, are next in esteem. The white- 

 must, woodcock, and half a dozen others, are fine old fruits, 

 but now going off. 



Perry from the squash pear is esteemed the best ; and next 

 from the Huffcap and sack. 



Tablefruits, where farmers live near canals, pay much better 

 than those of the cider kind ; especially those of the keeping 

 varieties, such as the golden and Moreland pippin, Longney 

 russet, &c. 



10. Woods and Plantations. 



Most extensive on the Cotswolds ; the sorts there beech and 

 ash ; timber sold to dealers, who convert it on the spot to 

 scantling for gun-stocks, saddle-trees, bedsteads, chairs, and 

 other cabinet work, and staves for sugar hogsheads. Some fine 

 old specimens of chestnut, elm, oak, and ash in the vale. 

 Tortworth chestnut, 500 years old, in the time of King John. 

 In the Forest of Dean a considerable quantity of good timber 

 belonging to government, and nearly 3000 acres lately planted 

 with acorns. The method of planting is, first, to mark out the 

 ground ; then taking off about a foot square of turf, to set two 

 or three acorns with a setting-pin ; afterwards to invert the 

 turf upon them, and, by way of raising a fence against harw 

 and rabbits, to plant two or three strong white thorn sets 

 round. They are seldom thinned till they have attained the 

 size of hop poles, and then are left at twelve feet distance from 

 each other, with the view of again thinning them, by taking 

 out every other one, when they are thirty years old, and have 

 attained the size of five or six inches diameter. By growing 

 thick, no side-shoots are thrown out, which supersedes the ne- 

 cessity of pruning ; the young trees which are drawn at the 

 first thinning are transplanted, <md, as it is thought, grow 

 equally well with those that have not been removed, and pro- 

 duce timber as full at the heart, compact, strong, and durable, 

 as " that which is raised immediately from the acorn." The 

 " whitten," or small-leaved lime (Tllia cordata/-.), is found in 

 several coppices on the Welsh side of the Severn ; and, what is 

 singular, ropes for halters, plough traces, cider presses {Ji{;. 

 994.), draw wells, and fishery boats, &c. are made from it as 



in Russia. These ropes are found to contract and expand less 

 from moisture or drought than hempen ropes. The bark is 

 stripped off about Midsummer, dried like hay in the sun, and 

 manufactured on the spot or elsewhere. Many walnut trees 

 in the parish of Arlingham ; the fruit shipped to distant 

 places, and the timber sent to Birmingham for gun-stocks. 



Arlijiciul planlaiiom, to a great extent, made round gentle- 

 men's seats on the Cotswold hills. The osier in beds on the 

 Severn. 



11. Improvements. 



On the lands suljoining the Pevem inundations were fre- 

 ouent ; but a commission of sewers have < rected banks and 

 flood-gates, which protect upwards cf 1'2,000 acres. At other 

 places private banks or floodgates on the rivers or banked 

 ditches are placed, and operate by the a' 

 the tides and accumulated inland waters. 



Draining much practised ; both in the turf, stone, wood, 

 and with Lumbert's plough ; the plough drawn by 

 orked by along lever and axle ('2645.), by 



which one horse ^ains the jiower of thirty. Before thejmole 



: plough IS ".'". 

 sward with the common plough ; then to make the incision for 



draining plough is used, it is a good practice to turn off the 



the drain in the centre of this ; the sward being afterwards 

 turned back to its place, completely covers the aperture, and 

 protects it from the effects of a subsequent dry season. The 

 long-continued drought of the summer of 1806 opened many 

 drains which were cut by Lumbert's plough, so much that the 

 bottom was clearly seen ; while many that have been done by 

 hand have formed still wider chasms, and will probably not 

 answer the purpose intended at all. In both instances there is 

 reason to think, that this would not have happened if the ope- 

 ration had been performed in autumn, ana the surface turf 

 first turned back, as recommended. 



The accumulated rvater of uiulerf;runnd drains raised from low 

 meadows in one parish by a wheel driven by the water of sur. 

 face ditches. 



Paring; and buminf; practised on the Cotswolds ; weeding 

 com general. 



Irrtgiitioti chiefly pursued in the valleys of the Cotswolds, ad- 

 joining rivulets, and esjiecially the Coin and Chum. Carried to 

 greatest perfection in the parish of South Cemey ; first began 

 here under tbe Kev. \V. AV right.who wrote several tracts on the 

 subject. \\ hen the lirst great rains in November bring the 



waters down in a muddy state, it is let into the meadows. In 

 December and January the land is kept sheltered by the waters 

 from the severity of frosty nights ; but every ten days, or 

 thereabouts, the water is let entirely off, to give air and pre- 

 vent the roots from rotting. In February great care is re- 

 quired. If the water now remains long on the meadows, a 

 white scum will generate, which is found to be very injurious 

 to the grass. On the other hand, if it be taken oft", and the 

 land exposed to a severe frosty night, without being previously 

 dried for a whole day, much of the tender grass will be cut off, 

 Towards the middle of this month less water is used than be- 

 fore, keeping the land rather wet than watered. At the be- 

 ginning of March there is generally in such meadows plenty of 

 pasturage for all kinds of stock ; the water, however, should 

 be taken off nearly a week before cattle are turned on, and a 

 little hay at night during the first week is very proper. It is 

 the custom with some to spring-feed with ewes and lambf 

 folded, with a little hay. The meadows, however, must be en- 

 tirely clear of stock by the latter end of April. If May be at all 

 intruded on, the hay crop will be much injured, and the grass 

 become soft and woolly, like latterinath. After spring-feeding 

 the water is let in again for a few days. It is remarked, that 

 autumnal, winter, and spring watering will not occasion rot in 

 sheep ; but if the water be used for a few days in any of th? 

 summer months, the pasturage becomes unsafe for such stock, 

 This is conformable to the general idea of rot ; viz, that it is 

 occasioned by summer moisture, and is seldom known to any 

 considerable extent without a long continuance of warmth and 

 rain. A wet summer, therefore, is always productive of this 

 disease in the vale. The general advantages of watering are, 

 that the land and herbage are continually improving, without 

 manure ; jmd the crop is not only full and certain, but also 

 early. 



Warping might be practised to a considerable extent on the 

 hanks of the Severn, if the commissioners were to direct their 

 attention to the subject. 



12. I. we Stock. 



The dairy the principal obiect with most of the vale farmers. 

 Good milkers preferred, without much regard to perfection of 

 shape. Gloucestershire breed resembles the (ilamorganshire 

 excepting in colour, which is red or brown, bones fine, horns 



" length, white with a black tip at the ends, uddtr 



and large. In the higher vale the improved lurg 



diiiig 

 flesh 



4 D 3 



