By the Rev. J. Wilkinson. 



29 



50) the mortality was at the annual rate per cent, of 1*5 in three 

 English districts, 1*6 in fourteen, 17 in forty-seven, 1*8 in eighty- 

 seven districts. That the disadvantageous contrast is owing to our 

 undrained common, there is no reasonable doubt. 



Agricultural Industry. 



The general quality of our land is well adapted for agricultural 

 purposes. It is strong land, the surface soil being deep, with gra- 

 vel or sandy clay for subsoil. There is no brash rock, not even stone 

 to mend the roads with, though much in the immediate neighbour- 

 hood to the north. Some few acres lying near the clay may burn 

 in a dry season, but generally no drought is felt. Our growth is 

 not earty, as in shallower and drier soils, but strong and steady, 

 when it does come. The Monkton pastures used to be of good note 

 in Smithfield, from the very feel of the beasts. There are no more 

 " proofey" fatting grounds in Wilts. " The graziers told me," says 

 John Aubrey, " that the yellow meadowes are by much the better , 

 and those white flowers (ladysmocks, cardamine, ranunculus aquati- 

 cus), are produced by a cold hungry water." All our meadows are 

 yellow with gold cups. 



The number of acres at present arable is about 254, of pasture 

 1207. About 72 acres have been broken up since the Tithe Com- 

 mutation Act. But the appearance of our pasture, in ridge and 

 furrow, the ancient mode of carrying off the surface water, tells the 

 tale of the land having been once under the plough. Our fore- 

 fathers here were evidently corn farmers, while we are dairymen 

 and graziers. Domesday book shows that in Broughton proper 

 there were only 20 acres of grass ground ; while in Monkton there 

 were four acres of meadow and the pasture was five furlongs long 

 and two broad; and this property was increasing in value, while 

 Broughton was decreasing. Wherever we get a glimpse at the 

 condition of the soil, up to the sixteenth century, we find a steady 

 preponderance of arable. There were no means of transport, no 

 passable roads, generally no navigable rivers, no canals. Each 

 district was necessarily self-supporting, raised its own corn, fed 

 its own hogs in the wood, made by women's labour its own 



