1166 



STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 



IV. 



Saintfoin cultivated with success on the chalky soils, aiid very 

 Vroductive. Hops on the borders of Surrev. A vineyard was 

 planted at UnderclitF, in the Isle of VVifiht, by tlse late Sir 

 Richard Worsley, in 1792, and an Anjou vine-dresser brought 

 over to attend it"; the extent was about two and a half acres, 

 and a light wine was made ; but in 1808, when M. Vancouver 

 called to see it, he found the vines had been grubbed up, and 

 the ground changed to a lawn of turf. 



7. Gras< Lands. 



The county famous for water meadows, which are well ma- 



eamest in supporting. Afier a verdict obtained in the Court of 

 Exchequer against the gv-'ntlemen of the inland, Gilibs sold his 

 sh ire for 2000/. to Sir Bois Thelwidl, a page of the king's bed- 

 chamber, who admitted the famous Sir Hugh Middleton to a 

 share. They employed a number of Dutchmen to enclose and 

 recover the haven from the sea. The first fciking of it in cost 

 4000/. and 1000/. more was expended in building a dwelUng- 

 house, bam, water-mill, trenching, quicksetting, and other 

 necessary works ; so that, inclutlini; the original purchase, the 

 total expenditure ttmounted to 7000/. But after all, the value 

 of the ground did not answer the expectuions of the under- 

 takers ; for though that part of it atijoining Brading proved 

 tolerably good, nearly one half of it was found to be a light 

 running sand ; nevertheless, an incontestable evidence ap- 

 peared, by the discovery of a well, cased with stone, near the 

 middle of the haven, that it had tbrmerly been good ground. 

 Sir Hugh IVIiddleton tried a variety of experiments on the land 

 which had been taken in, before he sold his share ; sowing it 

 with wheat, barley, oats, cabbage, and finally with rapestd, 

 which last was alone successful : but the greatest discourage- 

 ment was, that the sea brought up so much ouze, weeds, and 

 sand, which choked up the passage for the discharge of the 

 fresh water. At length, in a wet season, when the inner part 

 of the haven was full of fresh water, and a hii;h spring tide, the 

 waters met under tlie bank, and made a breich. Thus ended 

 this expensive project; and though Sir John Oglander, who 

 lived in the neighbourhood, conf<issed himself a friend to the 

 undertaking, which, besides its principal object, tended to 

 render that part of the country more healthy , he dt clared it as 

 his opinion, that the scheme "could never be resumed to any 

 profitable purpose. 



11. Live Stock. 

 No exclusive breed of cattle. The Sussex, Suffolk, Leicester, 



Hereford, Devon, &c. are indiscriminately met with. Several 

 ox teams. 



Sheep. In the Woodland district the heath sheep, old 

 Hampshire, or Wilts breeds, but most of tlie improved breeds 

 also to l>e met with. 



The horses used in teams generally large, heavy, inactive 

 animals. Small horses bred in vast numters upon "the heaths 

 and forests, and which have not improperly acquired the name 

 of heath croppers. Their ordinary height is about twelve hands. 

 They propagate indiscriminately upon these wastes, where they 

 seek their living throughout the year, and at four years old may 

 generally be purchased at above five pounds. 



T/ie native hogofthis county is a coarse, raw-boned, flat-sided 

 animal, agreeing in no respect with the idea entertained of it 

 in other parts of the kingdom. The great number fed for a tew 

 weeks in the close of autumn, upon the acorns and mast which 

 the forests and other woodlands produce, in the county, and the 

 excellent mode of curin:? hog-meat practised by the house- 

 keepers, have contributed in a far greater degree to establish 

 thit superiority ascribed to Hampshire bacon, than any in- 

 herent excellence in its native breed of hOi;s. Very few, 

 however, of the genuine native hog are to be met with, the 

 common stock being either the native Berkshire breed, or a 

 considerable predominance of that blood m the native swine of 

 the county. 



12. Political Economy. 

 lloads in g';neral good, especially in the New Forest. Several 



canals, and various manufactures and public works at Ports- 

 mouth and other places. The machinery for making blocks 

 (1830) is reckoned the most ingenious and comp ete of" its kind 

 in the kingdom. 



of the other rivers and streams. 



8. Gardens and Orchards. 

 Excellent market gardens near Gosport and Portsmouth ; 



Portsea island noted for its broccoli ; white-washed mud walls, 

 with copings of thatch used as fences, and for wall fruit in some 

 cases ; and fruit walls only half a brick thick, and waving at the 

 rate of one foot in twenty in use. In other cases angular walls 

 are in use, the angles being right angles, and the sides ten feel 

 each. The advanteige in bo:n cases is the saving of bricks ; 

 but it is evident they cannot be carried very high, nor, sub- 

 ject as they are to the driving and drawing of nails, can thev 

 be of great duration. (See Eiicijclopcedia of Gardening, 1567.) " 

 Orcliards in various places,' and cider made both in the 

 coimty and in the Isle of Wight. 



9. Woods and Plantations. 



Extensive beech voods on the chalk district, those of Ditch- 

 am grove very fine ; elm scarce in the count , but abundant in 

 Strathfieldsay Park (now the Duke of AVellington's). Oak 

 abundant in the New Forest district, and many young plant- 

 ations there, and throughout the county. Co'ibett raised a great 

 many American trees of various species at Botley. 'J'here are 

 several considerable forests, viz. the New Forest, Alice Holt, 

 Woolmer, and Bere. 



The Nerv Forest is situated on the south side of Hampshire ; 

 it was formerly bounded on the east by Southampton river, and 

 on the south by the British Channel, being near thirty miles 

 in length, and ninety in circumference ; but, since the dlsatlbr- 

 estations by Henry the Third and Edward the First; its bound- 

 aries are much reduced, and now only extend from Gadshill, 

 on the north west, to the sea, on the south-east, about twenty 

 miles ; and from Hardley, on the east, to Kingwood, on the 

 west, about fifteen miles ; containing within those limits about 

 92,365 acres, the whole of which does not nosv belong to the 

 crown, as several manors and freehold estates, to the amount 

 of 24,797 acres, are private propertv ; about 625 acres are 

 copyhold, belonging to His Majesty's manor of Lyndhurst; 

 1004 acres are leasehold, held under the crown ; 902 acres are 

 encroachments; 1193 acres are held by the master-keepers 

 and groom keepers, attached to their respective lodges ; and 

 the remaining 63,844 acres are the woods and waste lands of 

 the forest. The other forests are of much less extent and interesu 



10. Improvements. 

 Good examples of draining by tapping were exhibited hi 



Elkington, on Cadland Park estate: the strata Iving at a small 

 angle with the horizon, enabled the principles of what is calU'd 

 Elkington's mode of draining to be carried completely into 

 effect. In the eastern part of the Isle of Wight are various 

 tracts of marshy ground, the largest of which, Brading Haven, 

 containing about 900 acres, was granted by James I. to one 

 Gibbs, a groom of the bed-chamber. The owners of the 

 adjoining lands contested this grant, which the king was very 



7816. "WILTSHIRE. 870,000 acres of varied surface, partly chalky downs, and partly rich vale land ; 

 and both a corn and grass county. It produces excellent cheese and butter, fat cattle, pigs, and store 

 sheep. The agricultural report of this county was drawn up by T, Davis, steward to the Marquess of 

 Bath, at Longleat, a man of great experience as a land steward, surveyor, and farmer, and universally 

 respected. He divides the county into two districts, the south-east and north-west ; a very judicious plan 

 for giving correct agricultural information. {Davis's Wiltshire, 1794. Marshal's Review, ISOL'. Edin. 

 Gax. 1829.) 



7817. South Wiltshire. 



Wiltshire downs contain about 600,000 acres of hilly sur- 

 face, mostly unenclosed and in common pasture ; the atmo- 

 sphere cold and sharp, with a chalky soil, seldom varied by 

 patches of loam, sand, or other earths. There is scarcely a 

 river or brook in this district that is not applied in some way or 

 other to the purposes of irrigation. 



1. Property. 

 Neir large towns property is generally subdivided when sold ; 



in this district, when any is sold it is generally bought up by 

 such as are considerable proprietors : hence estates generally 

 large. Shape of the manors shows that many of them were the 

 property of one lord; each borders on or contains a rivulet to 

 supply water and the accompaniment of rivulets in that dis- 

 trict, meadow land, with hill for wood ; or, where these were 

 wanting, they were supplied by a grant of those articles from 

 other property. Proprietors generally resident on their estates. 



2. Buildings. 



Farm-houses generally crowded together in villages, for con- 

 venience of water. Some of late years erected centrical to their 

 farms, by the Earl of Pembroke, and other proprietors; wells 

 and ponds an important article in these erections. 



3. Occupation. 

 Farms of two kinds ; those in severalty, or not subject to 



rights of common, are from 150/. to 500/., and one or two at 

 1000/.. a year; customary tenements, subject to rights of com- 

 mon, are from 25/. to 40/. or 50/. per annum. There are exten- 

 sive sheep commons and cow commons, to which the occupiers 

 of both descriptions of lands have a right to turn in stock, ac- 

 cording to certain fixed and customary regulations. Leases 

 seven, fourteen, or twenty -one years. 



4. Implements. 

 A heavy two- wheel and one- wheel plough in use; the latter 



sometimes with a foot instead of a wheel. 



5. Arable Land. 

 An old error exists, that of over-pulverising the uplands by too 



frequent ploughings, by which the wheats were thrown out dur- 

 ing winter, or if they stood the winter, the March winds blew 

 away the earth from their roots, and " hanging by one leg," and 

 thus not receiving any assistance from the coronal root, the 

 plants are weak in straw, and produce small thin ears. " Many 



modes have been introduced to prevent this evil, by giving a 

 sufficient texture and firmness to the land previous to a wheat 

 crop. The best farmers have made a point of getting their 

 lands clean ploughed by midsummer, and treading it as firm as 

 possible with the sheep-.^old a long time before sowing; while 

 the slovenly farmers have invented, and generally practise, a 

 very short and cheap way of attaining this firmness in the land. 

 Thev rafter the land (as they call it), that is, they plough half 

 of the land, and turn the grass side of the ploughed furrow on 

 the land that is left unploughed. They do this as soon as they 

 can spare the feed of the summer-field, and leave it in that 

 state till near seed-time, when they harrow it down and plough 

 it for sowing. Tills rafter is usually ploughed across the ridges, 

 or what is better, diagonally ; the latter mode being less sub- 

 ject to drive the land up in heaps before the plough. The land 

 thus raftered is sometimes ploughed twice, but more frequently 

 only once, previous to sowing ; and after it is sown they drag it 

 two, three, or four times, and harrow it four, five, or six times. 

 A very heavy kind of drag is used; and as ^Viltshire Down 

 farmers are very cautious of' ploughing their land too much, 

 they make much use of these drags instead of ploughing, and 

 frequently let in their seed-wheat with them. This practice 

 having been found to answer, has been gradually improved 

 upon. The down lands of this district willnot bear fallowing, 

 especially in hot dry weather; they are too thin and light 

 already, and require rest. Two years' rest for wheat is equal to 

 the best coat of dung. Dung may give the quantity, but rest 

 must give the quality. 



The course of crops was formerly fallow, wheat, barley, oats ; 

 but now, evt " .- .j- = i ^ i i 



ed one ye; 

 "heat. Ti 



for 1 



'ops V 



the common fields, is wheat, barley, clover, 

 ._r, and fed two years, till it is necessary to plough 

 .'urnips, Swedes, and rape grown for winter food 

 for sheep, though less necessary than in districts less amply 

 provided with water meadows. Error that of sowing too much 



Gardens near Devizes, Lavington, Warminster, Westbury, &c. 

 Manv families subsist by this kind of husbandry, occupying 

 from two to five acres each as garden ground. The produce 

 supplies the adjacent towns in the district, and Frome and 

 Bath, in the county of Somerset, with cabbage-plants, peas, 

 beans, carrots, turnips, and vast quantities of potatoes. 



Orchards in some places, and cider made ; but as the district 



