

AGRICULTURE 



are reared and fed. It is probable that on the average not more than 6</. a 

 gallon all the year round is realized from the sale of milk. This is, however, 

 more profitable than butter-making, since it takes from 2j to 3 gallons of 

 milk to make a pound of butter, which will not sell throughout the year at 

 an average of over is. 



The irrigated meadows that have been formed in the Valley of the 

 Churn and other rivers arc a feature of this district. Since the decline of the 

 flour-milling industry, that coincided with the huge imports of flour from 

 the North American continent, the river banks have in many instances been 

 allowed to fall into disrepair, and from this cause, as well as from the increased 

 abstraction of water for other purposes, the supply has diminished, and the 

 thorough irrigation of the meadows has not been so complete as was formerly 

 the case. The importance, however, of meadows that come into profit in 

 early spring before any other grass is available, and that will afterwards bear 

 a heavy hay crop, can hardly be .over-estimated. As soon as the autumn 

 rains fill the rivers advantage is taken to flood the meadows, which are kept 

 alternately covered with running water and dried, care being taken to prevent 

 the tender grass being injured by severe frost. They are finally dried off, and 

 in April a good bite of young grass is available for the lambs, or for the 

 dairy cows. When this has been eaten off, the meadow is again flooded, and 

 a heavy crop of grass will be ready to cut as soon as the hay has been got 

 together on the upland pastures. Sometimes, though not always, a third 

 flooding is possible, when the grass will again grow rapidly and provide a 

 good lattermath to be grazed, or occasionally a second hay crop. Water 

 meadows are somewhat costly to manage, owing to the numerous hatches 

 that are required to regulate the flow of the water, and the necessity of 

 keeping them, as well as the ditches or water carriers, in good repair; and 

 it must be admitted that although the hay crop produced on these meadows 

 is heavy, it is not of first-rate quality. To a hill farmer, however, an 

 irrigated meadow is a very valuable adjunct, affording an early bite for the 

 lambs at a season when sheep-feed is very scarce. 



The Thames Valley has long been noted for its excellent Shorthorn 

 dairy cattle and for the Oxford Down sheep that are here found in great 

 perfection. 



3. The great vale of the Severn contains about 370,000 acres. It in- 

 cludes the fertile valleys of Evesham, Gloucester, and Berkeley, and contains 

 the most valuable agricultural land in the county. The greater part is situated 

 upon the Lias Clay, but in many places this is overlaid by a red marl or 

 sandy loam of a very fertile nature. In the immediate neighbourhood of 

 the Severn, the productive character of the soil is due to alluvial deposits. 

 Near to the Bristol Coalfield, and in the vale of Berkeley, the New and Old 

 Red Sandstone are met with. 



By far the greater part of the surface of this district is now permanent 

 pasture, for although described by Bravender in 1850 as being arable and 

 pasture in about equal proportions, a great deal of the more tenacious soil 

 was laid down to grass when wheat cultivation on such land became un- 

 remunerative, and only that which is more productive and less expensive 

 to cultivate now remains in arable husbandry. Viewed from the escarp- 

 ment of the Cotswolds the preponderance of pasture, the smaller inclosures, 



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