A HISTORY OF DORSET 



of other crops. In 1873 ^^^ *°*^' of grass-land was 282,515 acres, and with the exception of the 

 )ear 1880, which showed a decrease of about 1,000 acres from the 1879 figures, the total 

 number of acres under grass has steadily increased until it reached its present high figure. In 

 1906 some 122,429 acres, or nearly one-third of the total, were reserved for hay. 



Rotation grasses and clovers form part of every field-course followed in Dorset. Some- 

 times it may be a quarter or an eighth, but there is little doubt that the introduction of one and 

 two years' ley has to some extent saved the rotation grass area from diminishing in even greater 

 ratio than it has done. The decrease in the acreage of bare fallow is to some extent due to the 

 farmer recognizing that more benefit is done to the land by sowing a grass crop than by allowing it 

 to lie uncultivated. Yet there are many instances of farmers sowing grass for one or two years' 

 ley with the intention of forming it into arable land later on and being forced to let the land lie in 

 grass and become permanent pasture on account of the scarcity of labour. In all these reduc- 

 tions, too, the lack of capital is distinctly traceable, the cost of implements, seeds, and manures often 

 being beyond the farmer's means. In 1873 the total number of acres sown with rotation grasses 

 and clovers was 50,401. The bad season of 1897 showed an increase to 52,239 acres, but 

 the following year the acreage went down to 51,656. The year 1885 shows a jump to 52,157, 

 whilst 1886 shows a further increase to 53,285 acres. There the increase ends and the decrease 

 begins. In 1890 only 51,556 acres were sown, whilst in the following year the total was but 

 50,304 acres. The number of acres remained about the same until 1894, and the total of that 

 year shows a decrease of over 4,000 acres on the preceding year's figures. That total remained 

 about the same until 1900, when it was just under 47,000 acres, but the decline in the acreage of 

 rotation grass is steadily continuing, for the 1906 figures give the total as but 42,528 acres. 



A consideration of the total number of acres of permanent pasture in the county of Dorset 

 would infallibly lead one to the conclusion that it was essentially a county in which the breeding 

 and fattening of stock was carried on to a greater extent than any other branch of agriculture. 

 Yet the breeding and fattening of cattle has not been responsible entirely for the increase. When 

 we consider that since the first reliable figures were available over 20,000 acres have gone into 

 permanent pasture every ten years, we can only conclude that there must be a multiplicity of 

 reasons which have been responsible for the change. From 232,114 acres in 1873 to 310,349 

 acres in 1906 is a big jump, and that it is no ephemeral condition is indicated by the steady rate of 

 increase. The figures for 1875 showed the total at 262,427, but the year following saw a 

 reduction to 254,146. However, this was but a temporary drop, and in 1885 we find the total 

 acreage up to 277,503 and the following year up to 280,215 acres. Here, in five years, we have 

 an increase of 23,000 acres. From that year the rate of increase has shown an addition averaging 

 over 1,000 acres a year. The total for 1906 is the highest figure as yet reached in the proportion 

 of permanent pasture to other land in the county. 



In considering the number of horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs in the county during the nineteenth 

 century we have to record an increase in the number of each class with the exception of sheep, and 

 it is sad to notice that Dorset, pre-eminently a sheep county and one which gives its name to two 

 distinct breeds of sheep, is gradually losing place in the first rank of sheep counties. Cattle, on the 

 other hand, have increased by nearly one-third, dairy-farming being chiefly responsible. The number 

 of horses, too, shows an increase of about one-seventh, and the number of pigs has increased by about 

 one-fifth. With the large number of acres of pasture Dorset could carry more stock per acre than 

 it does at present. The diminution in the number of acres of roots cultivated may be to some 

 extent connected with this decline in the number of sheep, but it is certain that the smaller number 

 of stock carried per acre now is not productive of so much good to the land as the larger number 

 carried in years gone by. The reduction in the quantity of manure must be a serious matter, and 

 the use of artificials cannot compensate for the loss of what is the most valuable of all manures. In 

 all the percentages used in the following remarks it must be remembered that ' per acre ' as used 

 in the Board of Agriculture Returns means per 100 acres. 



Dorset as a county has not gone in to a great degree for the breeding of shire horses. As 

 early as 1800 the county surveyor for Dorset of that time referred to the class of horse used as being 

 too light, and said that the breed might be considerably improved. The breed has been considerably 

 improved, but Dorset is not a county in which the breeding of horses is likely to attain to the highest 

 standard. The Compton Stud has done much in the improvement of the horses of the county, and 

 the Blandford Farmers' Club has also assisted in this work by keeping an entire horse for the use of 

 its members at a reduced fee. In 1873 the Returns showed Dorset as possessing 14,604 horses, 

 whilst in 1906 the number had risen to 16,650. This gives a percentage in 1873 °f 3'' ^° ^^e 

 acre and in 1906 of 3-5 to the acre. The percentages are calculated in proportion to the acreage 

 under crops, bare fallow, and grass. The rate of increase in face of these percentages has not been 

 so great in proportion to the number of acres as in proportion to the total number of horses kept. 

 Numerical progress has been steady, with no great fluctuation. In 1875 the total was 15,356 j 



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