454 



Farming of Herefordshire. 



to ensure a rapid outlet for the waters which would be poured 

 into ihe streams in so much more powerful volumes, if thorough 

 draining- were extensively carried forw ard. Much of the heavy soils 

 on the corn-stones would be greatly improved by drainage. On 

 the loose soils drainage is scarcely thought of. Owing to the 

 great amount of trees growing in Herefordshire, few counties 

 would derive a greater benefit by the amelioration of climate 

 which would be effected in carrying out a thorough system of 

 drainage than Herefordshire. 



Improvements made since the Report of J. Duncomhe in 1805, 

 and to ichat extent still required. — It scarcely admits of doubt that 

 the manufacture of cider and perry has retrograded in this county 

 since Mr. Duncombe's Report appeared, but in all other respects 

 the agriculture of Hereford has improved. To understand the 

 matter better, it will be as well to briefly transcribe a few remarks 

 from Mr. Duncombe's work, under the head of tillage, in which 

 he proceeds to state that " Wheat is the grand dependence of the 

 farmer, who is situated on the stiff clays * with which this 

 county abounds ; but it is conceived that the following course, 

 which formed the old routine of crops on that description of 

 land, is liable, with this management, to serious objections. 

 A good fallow, on a clover-ley, well worked, limed, and manured, 

 produces on an average about 20 bushels of wheat per statute 

 acre. In the following spring it is sown with peas, sometimes 

 beans, after one ploughing, and without manure ; the produce is 

 from 12 to 14 bushels per acre. After two ploughings and a 

 partial dressing, or much more frequently with no dressing what- 

 ever, it is again sown with wheat in October; and if this brush 

 crop, as it is termed, produces somewhat more than half the 

 quantity yielded by the fallow crop the grower is satisfied. In 

 the following spring it is sown with barley and clover seeds after 

 two ploughings, but still without manure, and as may be expected 

 from the exhausted state of the land, it generally affords a very 

 inconsiderable crop." 



" Sheep are turned on the young clover as soon as the barley 

 is removed. Sometimes oats or turnips precede the barley on a 

 small part of the land, and a few winter vetches are occasionally 

 introduced, but still without manure or any preparation other 

 than one or two ploughings. 



" After mowing one crop of clover it is fed with cattle the 

 following*' spring, and afterwards a part remains for seed. The 

 fallowing then recommences, and nearly the same system is 

 repeated. In this manner nearly one-third of the arable land is 



* It has already been noticed that the so-called clays do not contain much alu- 

 minous matter. 



