THE JOURNAL 



OF THE 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



Vol. XVII. No. 7. 



OCTOBER, 1910. 



THE SCOURING LANDS OF SOMERSET. 



C. T. Gimingham, F.I.C., University of Bristol. 



In certain districts of the centre part of the county of 

 Somerset, pastures occur which produce herbage with the 

 property of causing cattle to scour very seriously indeed. 

 Such scouring pastures are known locally as "teart " or u tart " 

 land. Somerset is essentially a dairy country, and " teart" 

 pastures detract considerably from the value of the land, so 

 that the subject becomes one of considerable economic im- 

 portance. 



Historical. — The peculiarities of scouring land have at- 

 tracted the attention of scientific agriculturists from time to 

 time, but the literature on the subject is scanty. It is some- 

 what surprising to find that there is no mention of this type 

 of land in Mr. John Billingsley's Report to the Board of 

 Agriculture on ''The Agriculture of the County of Somerset," 

 published in 1798, though the district where the "teart" 

 lands now occur is discussed at considerable length. How- 

 ever, a good deal of this land at that time was under arable 

 cultivation. 



The first mention of " teart" land, so far as the writer is 

 aware, is to be found in an essay by Mr. Aubrey Clarke * 

 published in 1855, and the next is a Report by the late Dr. 

 Augustus Voelcker — "On the Scouring Lands of Central 

 Somerset " — who undertook an investigation at the request 

 of the Council of the Bath and West Society in 1862. f This 

 is a most valuable and comprehensive report, and the results 



* Journ. Bath and West Soc, Vol. ill., p. 52, 1855. 

 t Journ. Bath and West Soc, Vol. x., p. 183, 1862. 



