1168 



STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part IV. 



breed of sheep, which bring three lambs in two years ; and for its watered meadows, of which Boswell, of 

 this county, lias given a valuable account {Claridge's General View, 1793. Stevenson's General View, 

 1812. Marshal's Review, 1817. Edin. Gaz. 1829.) 



1. Geographical State and Circumstances. 

 Climate dry and salubrious rather than mild and bland ; 



Soil chiefly chalk, next clay, then sand, and of loam, gravel, 

 &c. nearly equal and moderate portions. Chalky and sandy 

 sjils of the uplands very thin. 



No tnetallic mine* or cauls, but the peninsula of Portland, four 

 miles and a half in length by two in breadth, one entire quarry 

 oi Portland stone, so extensively used, especially in London. 

 P.itters' clay found in various parts of the county. 



2. Property. 



Estates large compared with those of other counties ; some 

 of the principal under the care of land-surveyors, others of 

 liwyers. Tenures chiefly freehold and leasehold. 



3". Buildings. 



Farm buildings as in other counties; generally ill situated, 

 bailt of stone, and covered with reeds or thatch. 



4. Occupation. 



Farms very large, 1500 or 2000 acres of sheep farm being fre- 

 quently to be met with. Many of the proprietors great farmers. 

 Leases of twenty -one years common till the beginning of the 

 present century, now for shorter periods. 



.'). Implements. 



Two sorts of uncooth wheel-plough in use. Small's )jIough 

 tried in one or two places ; from the diflficultv of ploughing flinty 

 soils, wheels are deemed an advantageous appendage to what- 

 ever sort is adopted. Threshing, winnowing, and various other 

 modern implements introduced in a number of places. The 

 wattled hurdles of Dorsetshire consist almost invariably of ten 

 stakes, which the hurdle-makers drive into augur holes, that 

 are made for that purpose in a piece of timber, which is sup- 

 ported at a convenient height from the ground by other pieces 

 of timber, and then the stakes are wattled. Stones set on edge, 

 and rublestone walls used as fences in various parts. 



6. Arable Land. 



Deep ploughing generally less approved of on the chalky 

 soils, and cross ploughing never practised, even for turnips; 

 two or three horses form a team. Fallowing general all along 

 the coast; but what is here termed a summer fallow is, in 

 most cases, no other than a preparation of ley ground for a crop 

 of wheat, by ploug;hing it three or four times, the first plough- 

 ing being given m June or July, and sometimes as late as 

 August. 



Upon the thin chalky soils around Blandford, and upon the 

 hills in the neighbourhood of Abbey Milton, the course of crops 

 with the best farmers is as follows : viz. one seventh of the land 

 Is in saintfoin, and the rest of the arable is cultivated in the 



rotation of one, wheat ; two, rye, winter barley, or winter 

 vetches, to be fed with sheep in the spring, and tlie whole fol- 

 lowed by tumip-s, rape, &c.; three, barley or oats; and four 



and five, artificial grasses, to be followed bv wheat as before. 



Upon the thin chalks and shallow flinty loams, wheat is gene- 

 rally sown on the back of a two years' clover ley ; but, even on 

 those thin soiU, a great deal is sown afier turnips, rape, &c. fed 

 off with sheep early enough to sow it in the same autumn, and 

 in most instances a good crop is produced of a fine sample. On 

 the better sorts of chalky and gravelly soils, the same practice 

 prevails, except upon the ley-ground, which continues in grass 

 out one year instead of two ; the wheat is taken after the first 

 year's ley, and is supposed to answer lietter than it would in the 

 second vear, upon the latter description of soils. Old saintfoin 

 leys broken up without paring and burning. Hemp and flax a 

 good deal cultivated. 



7. Grass. 



300,000 acres, or about three fifths of the county ; 6000 acres 

 of meadow in the chalky district irrigated. -Application of the 

 meadows ; fatting cattle, and of the uplands the dairy. 



8. Gardens and Orchards. 



Both are frequent appendages to farm-houses and cottages ; 

 some of the cottage gardens are small enclosures taken from 

 the sides of the highways. The goosefoot ( Chenop6dium b6nus 

 Henricu*; cultivated by a few persons here, as in Lincolnshire 

 and elsewhsre, and calculations made by Batchelor, to show 

 what would be the expenses and profits of an acre for the 

 London market. The plant is greatly inferior to spinach, but 

 might be used as a substitute for it in spring, as it is a perennial, 

 and very early in leaf. Sea-oale, which grows on the shores 

 near Burton, is now generally introduced into the gardens of 

 farmers. 



Orchards to the extent of 10,000 acres ; application cider, 

 in making which hops are sometimes added to make it keep ; 

 proportion one pound to a hogshead. Twenty bushels of apples 

 will make a hogshead of cider. 



9. Woods and Plantations. 



Timber scarce, and chiefly to be found in parks and hedge- 

 row^s. Many young plantations lately made on the iieath 

 lands. 



10. Improvements. 



Irrigation carried to considerable extent and great perfection. 



and one of the best books on tbe subject is by Boswell of 

 Piddletown. A dry meadow of good quality is worth fortv 

 shillings ; watered, sixty-five shillings per acre ; produce of hay 

 two loads per acre. The streams in Dorset are in general 

 shallow, and have a considerable fall ; the meadows are narrow, 

 and the water is supplied with comparative regularity, in con. 

 sequence of its having to filter through immense masses of 

 chalk previous to its exit at the springs ; jmd hence the process 

 of irrigation is much facilitated. 



The sheep of Dorsetshire are well known as supplying the 

 metropolis with house-lamb at a very early season. Parkinson 

 considers the Dorset ewe as the best horned ewe in the kingdom, 

 those of Somerset excepted ; and they are so nearly alike, that 

 few people, save the natives of the two counties, would know 

 the difference. In the Isle of Portland there is a small breed, 

 which some contend is the true breed of the county. Lowman 

 of Portland observes, it is the practice there to fold these 

 dwarfish animals from Candlemas to Martintide, putting them 

 in late at night, and letting them out early in the morning. 

 The mutton is deemed the best in England, and the wool as 

 good as the South Down kind. Some of them have been pur- 

 chased by sheep-breeders, with a view to obtain a cross be- 

 tween these and the Merinos. Both ewes and wethers are 

 kept, and generally till they are five years old ; sometimes they 

 remain till a greater age, but it is not thought a profitable 

 method. Such as are fatted are put into a common, at the 

 northern part of the island, which is pretty good land, and 

 remain there from the 12th of August to the 5th of November, 

 on which day Portland sheep-fair is held. All the sheep of the 

 island are kept pretty generally upon the commons from No- 

 vember the 21st to Candlemas. The Portland mutton is sold 

 by the quarter in general at ten shillings and sixpence. It is 

 never weighed, but would come to one shilling a pound when 

 common mutton is only seven-pence : it seldom weighs more 

 than ten pounds a quarter. Several flocks of pure Merinos, 

 Down Merinos, and other breeds. 



General management of sheep. The lambs which are b.td for 

 the re^lar supply of the flock are droppetl at Christmas, or 

 soon afterwards, and the couples are kept in the best ewe-!eazes. 



watered meadows, depi 



their sheep there, on the early 



&c. on grass, hay, and turnips, if necessary ; and such as have 



sd n ' ... 



till, 

 sneep go to tola ; Dut sometimes tne two 

 take place as early as Lady-day. The ewes are folded constantly. 



grass, till old May-day, when the lambs are weaned, and the 

 sheep go to fold ; but sometimes the two latter circumstances 



'ya . - 



and kept on the Downs, on artificial grasses and other pastures, 

 till near the ensuing Christmas, at which time they have 

 another crop of lambs, the rams having been put to the fi oi k 

 about the end of July. 



Th re is, urobably, no part of England where the practice 

 of sheep-folding is more admired, or more earnestly pursued, 

 than in the county of Dorset. Fifteen dozen of hurdles, with 

 a like number of stakes and withes to confine them together, 

 will enclose a statute acre of ground, and will contain 1200 or 

 1300 sheep very commodiously . The hurdles are moved every 

 morning; consequently the same number of sheep will manure 

 an acre of land daily. The real value of the fold there is no 

 means of ascertaining; it is undoubtedly very beneficial to 

 the arable land, but it has reduced the Downs to a state of 

 poverty. 



Ewes are generally kept till they are four years and a half 

 old, when they are sold to the dealers. A singular custom 

 prevails of colouring them with ochre, for which no other 

 reason is given than that of being able to distinguish them from 

 the Somerset sheep. 



Asses were formerly kept by some farmers, but are now given 

 up, having been found destructive to hedges, &c. " It ap- 

 peared that six asses would plough as much land of any kind 

 in a given time as thee horses, and four asses were sufficient 

 to plough broken land. It is believed that two asses will per- 

 form as much work as one horse, and they do it more conve- 

 niently in the hillvpart of the county, as they carry their lading 

 in panniers, where it would be difficult to use wheel carriages. 



Geese kept on the com pastures in Purbeck, from an idea that 

 they promote the health of the cattle. 



Dees kept in various places ; does not answer to feed them ; 

 the only way to render them profitable is, after the honey -season 

 to destroy all hives under twenty pounds weight. 



11. Political Economy. 



Roads of flint, and in general good : an iron railway, of three 

 miles and a half, for conveying potters' clay from Norden to a 

 place opposite Poole, where it is shipped for Liverpool. No 

 canals. Manufactures of flax and hemp at Bridport and Bea- 

 minster; upwards of 2000 people employed in making sail- 

 cloth, cordage, sacking, tarpaulin, &c. ; flannel at Shaftesbury, 

 and woollens at Lvme Regis ; twisting and making up raw silk 

 into skeins at Sherbourne and other places ; shirt buttons ex- 

 tensively at Shaftesbury, Blandford, and the surrounding vil- 

 lages; the buttons made of wire and thread ; many thousands 

 of children in this manufacture: wicker baskets, with a small 

 hole at top, called lobster pots, at various places on the coast, 

 and a variety of other articles. Many very imcommon pro- 

 vincial terms used in this county. 



7820. SOMERSETSHIRE. About one million of acres, chiefly of meadow and pasture land, hilly and 

 mountainous in some places, and with marshes and bogs in others, but on the whole, though far behind 

 in artificial culture, celebrated for its natural fertility. The climate is various, in general cold and 

 boisterous on the elevated parts, but almost without a winter near the sea. The county is divided into the 

 north-east, middle, and south-west districts, by its very able reporter, J. Billingsley, Esq. of Ash wick Grove, 

 [Billingsley's General View, 1797. Marshal's Review, 1817.) 



Minerals. I^ad and calomine in the Mendip hills, but little 

 worked, for want of a proper level to cairv off the water. 

 Coal abounds, and is worked for the supply of Bath, AViltshire, 

 and Somersetshire; from 800 to 1000 tons raised weekly. 



Property. Manv large proprietors from 2000/. to 6000/. per 

 annum, but the greater part in the possession of respectable 

 yeomanrv, from 50/. to 500/. a year. 



BuildinfiS. There are many splendid gentlemen s seate. 



7821. North-east District. 



Surface very irregular, intermixe<l with lofty hills and rich 

 fertile plains: climate various ; soil chiefly clay, and in part 

 peat ; application chiefly pasturage ; several thousands of acres 

 overflown by the tide in the river Veo ; 4000 acres protected by 

 a waU of stone and lime, elevated ten feet above the level of the 

 land within, but high tides frequently break over it and make 

 breaches. 



