AGRICULTURE 



^A GRICULTURE in Dorset passed through many vicissitudes during the nineteenth 



/^L century, and the lot of the agriculturist, bright as were its prospects in the earlier 



/ ^ years, is now cast in very hard places. Indeed, so great has been the change that 



J ^ the farmer of 1800, were he alive now, would scarce recognize his county. The 



number of sheep kept has dwindled, the corn area has become less, dairying is more 



general, the area of permanent and rotation pastures has increased, and many small minor industries 



productive of great profit as they were, have completely died out. The period of depression 



which commenced in 1879 and culminated in 1895 and 1899 has left its mark on the county's 



chief industry, and it is not going too far to say that agriculture in Dorset is by no means in a 



prosperous state. 



Fortunately the ill effects which the period of depression has left behind it have had the 

 contrary effect upon the farmer himself. Whereas at the beginning of the century the Dorset 

 farmer was looked upon by his neighbours as a man slow to change his primitive and antiquated 

 methods of cultivation, there is now no farmer in the land who is so keen to essay improvements or 

 who follows the progress of science in relation to the pursuit of agriculture with greater interest. 

 But the depression has had its ill effect in so far that it caused many farmers to sell their land 

 in order to provide capital for the continuance of their industry ; and so Dorset, which at one time 

 was pre-eminently the county of the yeoman, has seen this most useful class of men almost extin- 

 guished within its borders. In his place has risen an excellent type of tenant farmer. The days of 

 the ' three-bottle ' man are past ; the farmer of to-day is a keen, hard-working, practical man, who 

 by dint of early rising and late retiring, and by constant supervision and close application to his 

 work, manages to snatch a hard-earned livelihood from the land. Conservative he has always been, 

 and this trait of character is exemplified in his attitude towards a new-comer in the county. 

 A practical man is welcomed, but years must pass before he is admitted into the fold of the Dorset 

 farmer. Decades pass before he becomes ' one of them ' ; he is regarded, thought of, spoken of as 

 a ' foreigner.' This is not a charge of inhospitality, and the stranger who makes the acquaintance 

 of the native farmer is pleasurably gratified by the hearty welcome he receives. 



The climate of Dorset is dry and salubrious rather than mild and bland, and the seasons, except 

 in spots very sheltered or possessed of very warm soils, are less forward than those in parts of England 

 not so far south. In the neighbourhood of the coast the rainfall is heavier in the winter than is 

 needed, whilst conversely there is too little rain in the summer. As a necessary concomitant there 

 is very little snow or frost during the winter months. Sea fogs, too, hang over the hills, with, it is 

 suggested, prejudicial effects on the corn. 



Dorset, unlike many, perhaps the majority, of our English counties, shows no one soil so pre- 

 dominant as to constitute a county characteristic. Towards the west on the lowlands it is mostly 

 a deep rich loam ; on the more elevated land it is a sandy loam intermixed with silex. In the 

 northern and western parts, the vale of Blackmoor, 19 miles long and 14 miles broad, 

 contains on various substratal clay foundations, limestone, &c. some fine arable land as well as rich 

 pasturage. Orchards here produce excellent cider. On the south, in the Isle of Portland and most 

 parts of the Isle of Purbeck the soil is a stone brash. In the centre of the county the soil on the 

 lowlands is a deep rich loam. The soil of the downs is generally a light calcareous earth covered 

 by a remarkably fine turf It is difficult to apportion the areas covered by the different soils, but 

 some good judges put the percentages at : — Deep rich loam ten per cent. ; a somewhat cold clay is 

 credited with twenty per cent., and chalk with twenty-five per cent. ; sandy formations occupy 

 about fifteen per cent, and almost uncultivable rock is reckoned at ten percent. This leaves twenty 

 per cent, or one-fifth where the soils are very mixed even in a single parish or for that matter on a 

 single farm. Serious geological disturbances and, geologically speaking, of no very remote date 



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