1142' 



STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part IV 



horned cows of Bikewell and Fowler in most repute. 

 Devons, >Ierefords, =iiid various others in use. Tlie best land 

 toes not always produce the most marketriWe cheese ; often- 

 times the reverse , if it has either bean much manuretl with 

 dun^;, or sheep feeding, the quantity of milk will be increased, 

 but the quility mUerially altered. This is probaljly owini; to 

 the introduction of plants, which did not ixrow there before, 

 or to the destruction of soni that did. The cause does not 

 originate with tte c-mv, but the herbage on which she feeds. 

 The same cow, on two pastures, sei)aratetl only by a hedjje, will 

 give milk of diil'erent qualities : from one shall be made line, 

 rich, and close cheese; while from the other shall be made 

 rank," heaving," hollow, unpleasant to the palate, and unfit 

 for the market. In the parish of Haresfield, two grounds ad- 

 joining each other were alternately used for the pasture of 

 cows : while they were on one, excellent cheese was made; but 

 on the other, it waVdifficult to make any tolerably good. The 

 latter had been lately well dressed with manure, which pro- 

 duced plants unfavourable to the dairy ; and the dairy woman 

 herself remarked, that if the farmer continued to enrich the 

 herbage with dung, she must give up making cheese. It is 

 proper, therufor;-, that milking-cows should not be reinovrf 

 rroin one pasture to another indiscriminately, but that certain 

 jfrounds, in proportion to the stock, should be assigned to tiieir 

 nse ; and this is the practice on many farms where cow 

 )>asture3 have for time immemorial bee-i appropriated exclu- 

 sively to the use of the dairy. The dung of the cow, indeed, 

 bein; of a cooling nature, is the best m inure for cow -pastures. 

 Other aniin lis, such as colts and sheep, may occasiona'ly be let 

 in to eat the refuse grass, but not more than one sheep should 

 be allowed to 4n acre. Among the plants which are useless, 

 or unfavourable to the miking of good cheese, are white 

 clover (TrifMium repens), the dilfeient kinds of crow-foot 



(Raniinculus), and garlic (.4MUum). Wliite clover is brought 

 forward by manure and sheep stock, and is a proof of good 

 land, at least of land in a state of high cultivation ; hence it 

 has a tendency to raise the quality of the milk, and make the 

 cheese heave. 



Chette-making. Best cheese not attemuted while the cows 

 are on hay ; generally commences about May, when the cows 

 are turned into the pastures. Cows milked twice a day, at 

 four in the morning, and at the same hour in the afternoon ; 

 the cheese-factor discovers the " hoved " cheese by treading 

 ojx them. 



Slieep. Principal breed the Cotswolds ; now very much mixed 

 by crosses with the Leicester and South Downs. The liver rot 

 common in the vale, and therefore few bred there. Wiltshires 

 are bought in and fed otf. 



Hones, no particular breed. 



Pigeons, formerly numerous, now on the decrease. 

 13. Political Economy. 



On the hilly districts, where stone abounds, the roads greatly 

 improved of late ; those under M'Adam excellent ; but the 

 vale roads in many places very bad. Manufacture of woollen 

 broad-cloths, chiefly superfine from Spanish wool, extensively 

 carried on in the district called the Bottoms. Carpet weaving 

 and thin stuffs at Cirencester ; stocking frame knitting at 

 Tewkesbury ; wire, cards, rugs, blankets, iron and brass wire, 

 tin plate, pins, writing pauer, felt hats, manufactured at dif- 

 ferent places. Spinning of flax the winter work of women in 

 the vale of Evesham. Extensive iron works in the forest ; the 

 best iron in the kingdom made at Huxley ; nails made at Little- 

 dein. Articles of agricultural commerce, cheese, bacon, cider, 

 penw, grain, and salmon, to the extent of 4000r per annum ; 

 in rnanufacturing commerce, broad-cloths and pins are of the 

 greatest importance. 



7792. WORCESTEllSHIRE. A surface of 431,360 acres, according to the official estimates laid before 

 parliament, though some of the calculations which have been published make it amount to 599,040 acres, 

 distinguished by the two extensive vales of Worcester and Evesham. In the fertility of its soil, and the 

 amenity of its situation, surface, and natural embellishments, very few districts of similar extent are equal 

 to it scarcely one excels it. And its agricultural products are not only more abundant, but more various, 

 than those of other counties ; not corn, cattle, and dairy produce only, but fruits, liquors, and hops, rank 

 among its productions. {Pomeroi/'s Worcestershire, 1794. Pitt's Report, 1807. Marshal's Review, 1818. 

 Edin. Gaz. 1827. ) 



t. Geographical State and Circumstances. 



Climate of the middle, south, and west of the county, re- 

 markably mild, soft, and salubrious; the vales of the Severn, 

 Avon, and Teme, with the contiguous uplands, rising to 150 

 feet above their level, ripen their prlucts from a fortnight to 

 a month earlier than what takes place in elevated counties, 

 even with a similar soil and surface; sixty yards perpendicu- 

 lar = one degree more to the north ; conformably to this idea, 

 early at Worcester, and late at Birmingham. Apparently 

 much less rains falls here, than in counties more elevated and 

 more inward. 



Soil. Ten thousand acres of deep rich sediment deposited by 

 the Severn, and a good deal on the Avon, Teme, and Stour ; half 

 the rest of the county, rich clay and loam : some light sandy soils 

 about Kidderminster, and springy gravel about Bromsgrove. 



Minerals. Brick-clay, gravel, sand, marl,, freestone, coal, at 

 lUamble ; tiuartzem, a siliceous stone, forms the basis of the 

 3Ialvem hills. Extensive lime quarries and coal mines at 

 Dudley ; excellent common salt at Droitwich. 



Water. Kivers, but no lake, pool, or pond formed by nature. 

 Malvern well, a good chalybeate ; it is limpid, without smell 

 or taste. 



Fish in the Severn, salmon, shad, lamprey, and lampem ; 

 the lamjirey grows to twenty-six inches long, and is often three 

 er four pounds in weight ; it leaves the sea in the spring, and 

 is esteemed a great delicacy, but unwholesome when eaten too 

 freely. The lampem goes "to the sea at certain seasons ; is ten 

 or twelve inches long, about the size of a man's finger, and 

 common in Worcester, potted or preserved; vast quantities 

 sold for baits to the cod fishery. 

 2. Property. 



Variously divided among all classes ; many resident families 

 of considerable opulence and fortune. 

 S. Buildings. 



Some magnificent residences ; farm-houses erected at dif- 

 ferent times, and no way remarkable, unless for being badly 

 situ.ited and arranged ; great want of sheds for cattle. (Cot- 

 tages have nothing to recommend them ; often built of timber 

 and plaster, and covered with thatch. Some good stone bridges 

 over the Severn, and an iron one of one arch, 150 feet span and 

 fifty feet rise, at Stourjiort. 



4. Occupation. 



Farms small from 40^ to 400?. a year, bnt some larger; 

 seldom held on lease ; but when a tenant takes a farm on strong 

 laniis, where the course is fallow and three crops, he holds 

 it by custom for four years. Knight, of Lea Castle, farms 

 .^30 "acres in a masterly style; large farmers have a turn for 

 improvement; small ones have seldom an opportunity ; many 

 inventions proposed and introduced, but the sensible farmer 

 unfortunately finds few of them that will answer. 



Picturesque farming In/ Knight. About 200 acres around 

 Lei Castle, formerly in irregular uncouth divisions, with wide 

 slovenly hedges^ are now laid, or laying together, the roads 

 better disposed both for convenience and appearance, and the 

 hedges stocked up ; but the trees, which are in abundance, 

 carefully preserved, to give a park-like appearance ; this is di- 

 vided into lots by temporary hurdles. 



Mititaiy farmir^. The same gentleman, when the volun- 

 teer cavalry were raised, sold bis heavy farm horses, and 

 bought light ones, chiefly Clevelands, on which he mounted ten 

 of his own servants for military service. The horses doing all 

 the farm work, and occasionjdly serving for saddle horses, or to 

 draw his carriage. 



5. Implements. 

 Plough two-wheeled, and drawn by three horses in a line, 



walking in the furrow ; in the vale of Evesham, a heavy swing 

 plough ; these ploughs are seen nowhere else ; they are all 

 wood, ej . . ... . . -.. 



the rows I Jig. 995.), manufactured at Evesham, and used in 

 the neighbourhood. 



6. Arable Land. 



Fallows ploughed four times, which is rather rare in Eng- 

 land ; rotations genera'ly a fallow and two com crops, with 

 an intervening leguminous herbage, or turnip crop. Drilling 

 in use for wheat, in the vale of Evesham and other places; 

 beans commonly dibbled. Turnips cultivated broad-cast ; and 

 Carpenter, author of A Treatise on Practical and Experimental 

 Agriculture, has discovered since he published his book, that 

 the fly is to be prevented or destroyed by steeping the seed in 

 sulphur before sown, and harrowing as soon as the fly is dis- 

 covered ; " then sow eight bushels per acre of dry lime, or fine 

 a.shes, when the dew is on the leaves, so as it may adhere to 

 them." Carrots sown by Knight and others in the neigh- 

 bourhood, where a good deal of seed is raised for the London 

 seedsmen. 



Hops grown to great perfection, and fruit trees generally 

 planted among them, at the rate of forty -eight to an acre; 

 1000 stools of hops are considered an acre, whatever ground 

 they may stand on, and labour is paid for accordingly. Gold- 

 ing-vine, mathon-white, red, nonpareil, and Kentish grape, 

 local names for varieties distinguished by very slender shades. 

 Land stirred between the plants with the plough ; only two 

 poles to a stool ; picking chiefly fiy \\'elsh women. When 

 tithe of hops is taken in kind, the parson may either take 

 every tenth basket when green, or every tenth sack when dried ; 

 in the latter case, allowing 25*. per cwt. for drying, sacking, 

 and duty. The culture of hops having been carrietl too far, 

 the trade here, as elsewhere, is on the decline ; com, on the 

 average of years, is found to pay better. 



Asparagus, cucumbers, and onions, grown in the fields of 

 Evesham, and sent to Birmingham market, though thirty 

 miles distant ; also, poppy-heads for the London druggists. 

 Clover for seed in various parts of the county. 



7. Grass. 



The banks of the rivers chiefly under meadow of the verj 

 richest kind ; employed chiefly in fatting cattle and sheep ; 

 clovers and rye grass cultivated. 



8. Gardens and Orchards. 



Market gardens near most of the principal towns ; produce, 

 besides local consumption, is sent to Bath, Bristol, and Bir- 

 mingham. Orchards, long and successfully cultivated in the 

 middle, south, and western parts of the county ; round 

 towns, villages, and farm-houses ; and all the hedge-rows of a 

 farm often jilanted with fruit trees, and very productive. In 

 a plentiful year, or what is called a " hit of fruit," it will not 

 pay for carriage to market from remote places ; no casks can 

 be got for all the juice. In 1784, cisterns were formed in the 



ground to receive the liquor, but they ran out ; in Pershore, it 

 is said currents of perry ran into the common sewers. Larjje 

 quantities of apples rot, or are devoured by hogs ; cider m 

 such a year sold for 21*. a hogshead, in Worcester market : 

 \, excepting the share and coulter ; very long in the tail, two or three tons of cherries often sold in Worcester market 

 throat, and sideboard ; a load for a team ; the four-wheeled in the morning before five o'clock ; six tons have been sold 

 trolley is a low waggon, usetl for harvest work. Knight uses there in one morning; 2000/. has been paid for the tonnage of 

 improved implements, and ploughs with two horses abreast. fruit on the Trent and Severn canal in one year: canal forty- 

 Various drillt for sowing wheat, and stirring the soil between 1 .six miles long, tonnage li(^ per ton per mile; 7000 tons must 



