19 io.] The Scouring Lands of Somerset. 



53i 



running through Butleigh, Street, Walton, Edington, to 

 Cossington. If we refer to the geological map of Somerset, it 

 will be noticed that this line also marks approximately the 

 boundaries of the Lower Lias formation, and it is here that 

 the "teart" land is found. 



There are also a number of smaller areas in the midst of 

 sound land, mostly lying to the north of the main area in- 

 dicated above, e.g., the districts of Meare, Mark, Stone 

 Easton ; and a tract of land immediately to the south of 

 Bristol, surrounding Dundry Hill, where the land un- 

 doubtedly has a tendency to scour, though it is not here a 

 very serious matter. Thus a considerable part of mid- 

 Somerset is involved; at a rough computation the whole 

 area may be put down at about 20,000 acres ; and though 

 by no means every pasture in these districts is "teart," yet 

 so much of the land at certain seasons is unfit for feeding 

 cattle that the value of the great majority of the farms is, 

 very seriously lessened. 



Variability . — It is not always a simple matter to define- 

 what should be called "teart" land. In many cases the effect 

 on cattle is only too obvious, but there are numerous fields 

 just on the border line which in one district would be 

 considered "teart" and in another quite sound, depending 

 on the degree of "teartness" in the vicinity. In some places 

 scouring and sound pastures occur side by side, and there 

 is a sharp change from one to the other; but elsewhere there 

 is a gradual transition from sound to scouring land, andi 

 then there is difficulty in determining where the one stops - - 

 and the other begins. Again, one can find land undoubtedly 

 producing herbage with a scouring tendency, and therefore 

 "teart " in a mild degree, but yet not bad enough to affect the 

 health of cattle seriously; whereas in some places it is quite 

 impossible to graze yearlings or dairy cows or to rear a calf. 

 Briefly, it may be said that there are a few localities where 

 the "teart" land is so bad that it is impossible to keep cattle 

 of any kind in the pastures at certain times of the year with- 

 out risk of permanent injury to them ; while over a consider- 

 able area the animals never do well, and it is only possible to 

 prevent them from "going back" by feeding with cotton- 

 cake and hay. 



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