Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF HAMPSHIRE. 



1165 



usually given to the cows when the after-grass is consumed j 

 imes ^ 



The large sugar-loaf cabbage has been occasionally 



sometimes given in the spring to cows that have newly 



large sugar-loaf cabbage has been occasionally 



used, when the pastures begin to fail and the after-giass is not 



hie- - " =......- 



calved. 



ready ; a circumstance which frequently happens, especially in 

 dry weather. Turnips are given to the cattle in the winter, 

 while they are feedmg on straw ; and as, at this time, no 

 cheese is made, any objection to their use, from the flavour 

 they give to the milk, is of little consequence. The reporter 

 made enquiries from several farmers, with a view of ascertain- 

 ing whether the stall-teeding of their milch cows might not be 

 continued during the whole year, but he found the general 

 opinion to be against this practice ; though it did not appear 

 that any experiments, sufficient for the decision of the point, 

 had hitherto been made. It was suggestetl to him, how- 

 ever, that it would be an improvement upon the present ma- 

 nagement, to let the cows stand in their houses during the 

 heat of the day in summer, where, by giving them a few 

 cabbages or tares, the milk would continue forming, and the 

 cattle be defended from the gad-fly, which, by tormenting 

 them in the fields, frequently injures both the quantity and 

 quality of the milk. 



Tiniie of calving March and April. At calving-lime the cow - 

 man, or the master, are frequently up two or tluree times in the 

 course of a night, to see whether any thing is amiss. The racks 

 and mangers are every day well cleaned out, while due atten- 

 tion is paid to the appetites of the diiferent beasts, and the 

 quantity of food is governed accordingly. After this is done, 

 the master himselt generally goes round from stall to stall 

 just before bed-time, and adds to or diminishes the quantity of 

 fodder as occasion may require. 



In mukitij' butter the whole of the mi!k and cream is churned 

 together. Cheese made from the whey pressed from the curd 

 used in making cheese. 



Cheese-making has remained stationary in Cheshire for many 

 years ; best size of cheeses sixty pounds. Cows milked during 

 summer at sLx o'clock, morning and evening. " The evening's 

 milk (of suppose twenty cows) having stood all the night in 

 the coolers and brass pans, the cheese-maker, in summer 

 about six o'clock in the morning, carefully skims off the cream 

 from the whole of it, observing first to take off ail the froth 

 and bubbles, which may amount to about a pint : this not being 

 thought proper to be put into the cheese, goes to the cream 

 mug to be churned for butter, and the rest of the cream is put 

 into a brass pan. AVhile the dairy-woman is thus employed, 

 the servants are milking the cows, having previously lighted a 

 fire under the furnace, which is half full oi^ water. As soon as 

 the night's milk is skimmed, it is all carried into the cheese 

 tub, except about three fourths of a brass pan full (three or four 

 gallons), which is immediately placed in the furnace of hot 

 water in the pan, and is made scalding hot ; the half of the 

 milk thus heated in the pan is poured also into the clieese-t\ib, 

 and the other half is added to the cream, which, as before 

 observed, was skimmed into another brass pan- By this means 

 all the cream is liquified and dissolved, so as apparently to form 

 one homogeneous or uniform fluid, and in that state it is 

 poured into the cheesi -tub. But before this is done, several 

 bowls or vessels full of new milk will generally have been 

 poured into the cheese-tuh, or perhaps the whole morning's 

 milk. Care is taken to skim ort' all the air bubbles which 

 may have formed, in pouring the new milk into the cheese-'.ub. 

 The night and morning's milk, and melted cream, being thus 



7815. HAMPSHIRE. A maritime county, which includes also the Isle of Wight: the latter contain* 

 94,0(X) acres, and the continental part of the county 968,150 acres. The climate ot this county being 

 remark 

 crops 



all put into the cheese-tub, it is then ready to receive the 

 rennet and colouring, or, in the terms of the art, to be set 

 together. The rennet and colouring being put into the tub, 

 the whole is well stirred together, a wooden cover is put over 

 the tub, and over that is thrown a linen cloth. The usual 

 time of coming is one hour and a half, during which time it is 

 frequently to be examined : if the cream rises to the surface 

 before the coming takes place, as it often dots, the whole must 

 be stirred together so as to mix again the milk and cream, and 

 this as often as it rises, until the coagulation commences. A 

 few smart strokes on different sides of the tub, with the cheese 

 ladder, &c. will forward the coagulation, if it is found to be too 

 long in forming. 



The curd is in the next place, broke by the knife and hand^ 

 and then left half an hour to subside; then it is gently pressed, 

 the curd broken by the hand, and the whey ladled out of the 

 tub as it drains from the curd. Afterwards, the curd is 

 broken in a brass pan and salted, and next put into the cheese- 

 vat, and pressetl with a sixty pound weight, till all the whey 

 is removed. It is then again broke, washed with warm whey, 

 and finally put in the press under a weight or power of about 

 14 cwt. After being tbrty-eight hours m the press, it is put 

 in the salting tub, where it remains three days covered with 

 salt ; it is then taken out and placed on the salting benches, 

 where it is turned once a d-.y ; it is tlien washed in warrai 

 water with a brush, and wiped dry with a cloth ; in two 

 hours it is smeared over with whey butter, and then put in 

 the warmest part of the cheese-room. In the cheese-room 

 it is well rubbed, to take off the sweat or fermentation which 

 takes place in cheese for a certain time after it is made, and 

 turned daily for seven days, and smeared with whey butter ; 

 afterwards it is turned daily, and rubbed three times a week 

 in summer, and twice in winter. 



The cheese-rooms are commonly placed over the cow-houses ; 

 and this is done with a view to obtain that moderate and 

 necessary degree of temperature so essential to the ripening 

 of cheese, to which the heat arising from the cattle underneath 

 is supposed very much to contribnte. On dairy farms, one 

 woman servant is kept to every ten cows ; these women are 

 employed in winter in carding, spinning, and other house- 

 wifery business ; but in milking, the women, both night and 

 morning, during summer, where large dairies are kept, are 

 assisted by all theother servants, men and boys, except the man 

 who drives the team. 



Sheep little attended to in Cheshire. 



Horses brought from Derbyshire and Leicestershire. 



Hof^'s, a mixture of long and short eared breeds. 



Poultry of the common kind abundant in most farms for 

 their eggs. Geese kept by the cottagers till midsummer or 

 later, and then sold to the farmers, vfho fatten them on their 

 stuhbKs. 



Dees to be found at many of the farm-houses, and at some 

 of the cottages. 



12. Political Economy. 



Roads bad ; various canals ; an extensive commerce of coal 

 and salt, and manufactures of silk, woollen, linen, and cotton. 

 An experimental farm established at Waverham, near North- 

 wich, by some gentlemen and farmers of the neighbourhood, 

 but it was soon found so expensive and losing a concern as to 

 be abandoned. Those on the plan suggested by Bailey (7809.) 

 seem the most likely to be effective and permanent. 



rkably mild, and the soil in many places being calcareous, and consequently warm,^very 

 are produced in some places, and peas grown better than in many districts. 1 he ci 

 county, however, has little to recommend it, either in its tillage or pasturage. Its woods are extensive 

 (A and W. Driver's General View, 1794. Vancouver's General View, 1808. Warner's Isle of Wight 



early arable 



culture of the 



Its woods are extensive. 



1794. Marshal's Review, 1817.) 



1. Geographical State and Circumstances. 



climate generally mild. 



Soil in the central parts a strong flinty calcareous loam 

 other parts generally eravelly, or sandy and calcareous, 

 soil of the Isle of Wlghi 



The 



_ t is partly a clayey and calcareous loam, 

 and in part lii;hter. 



Minerals : none of any consequence ; potter's clay, sand, and 

 btiilding-stone in dilfierent places. 



Water scarce in dry seasons in the chalk districts, where it 

 is preserved in tanks, and drawn up from wells 3(K) or 400 feet 

 deep. In some parishes, after a long dry autumn, there has 

 been more strong beer than water. A good deal of fishing on 

 the coast ; of eels after floods in the smaller streams ; and some 

 fish ponds on Bagshot Heath. 



2. Property. 



Largest estates on the chalky districts; largest 8000/. per 

 annum. Great bulk of the lands held and cultivated by 

 yeomanry ; tenures, copyhold and leasehold, from the superior 

 lords or freeholders. 



3. Buildings. 



Houses of proprietors numerous : farm-houses mostly of great 

 antiquity ; those of the larger kind were formerly grange or 

 manor-bouses ; out -buildings numerous, and generally ruin- 

 ous ; cottages often of mud {pioirin. cot) walls, but better on the 

 whole than in some other counties. Some fanciful rustic struc- 

 tures as shelters or temporary lodges for cattle, in the forest 

 district. ( //A'. 1113.) 



4. Occupation. 



Farms various, rather small. 



5. Implements. 



Hampshire plough, an extraordinary bulky clumsy struc- 

 ture ; the Suffolk plough is used in the southern parts of the 

 county, and in the Isle of Wight. The patent Hampshire 

 waggon is formed by uniting two carts, corresponding with the 

 fore and hind parts of a waggon, by bolting them together. 

 The thrill of the hind part passes under the bed, and rests on 

 the pillow of the fore-cart. The union is simple, yet so com- 

 plete as to render this waggon as strong as the common kind, 

 if not stronger. 



6. Arable Land. 



Tillage difficult and expensive in the chalk district, light 

 and easy in the vale of Avon. Peas a good deal cultivatetl on 



the chalks, especially the Marlborough grey or partridge, the 

 Charlton and pearl ; in warm situations they are drilled and 

 often soyvn before Christmas, or in January. " A considerable 



1113 



mvstery still seems to hang over certain properties of these peas, 

 with regard to their boiling well for soup or porridge; good 

 boilers beinf; sometiines sown upon fields which have never 

 been known to refuse yielding a produce possessing a similar 

 quality, but that effect afterwards ceasing, and a hard indis- 

 soluble pea has been produced that continued for several suc- 

 cess'ive periods; whilst, on the other hand, land that ha<l never 

 been known or even suspected of being able to communicate a 

 boiling quality to its peas, would unexpectedly give to the 

 produce of a hard and almost impenetrable pea all the pro- 

 perties of being excellent boilers. Through all the cedar-co- 

 loured sand and gravelly loams in Devonshire, good boilers are 

 stated to be uniformly produced, and in continued succession. 

 The same kind of soil, and in every respect under similar cir- 

 cumstances, in the Isle of Wight will only occasionally, and 

 by accident as it were, i)roduce good boiling )>eas. Some 

 opinions seem to refer this eflect to a i)eculiarity in the seasons; 

 but this cannot stand against a well known truth, that good 

 boilers are produced every season." 



