604 = 555 
Practical Agriculture. 
turnips after vetches fed off. But on the gravels of the Oxfon 
clay formation and on the sandy soils or gravelly loams of somi 
parts of Oxfordshire, double-cropping is carried on in a perfec 
manner. 
Mr. C. S. Read mentions an instance of three good crops ii 
a year — vetches fed off ; then a crop of mustard which, whei 
folded, was as high as the hurdles ; and then turnips consume( 
by sheep. The next year this was followed by oats. 
Shropshire. Shropshire affords examples of rotations of cropping on ver- 
various soils in a moist western climate ; the southern an» 
western portions of the county being visited by heavy rainfall 
from the influence of their lofty hill ranges and of the stil 
higher mountains of Wales, while the eastern side enjoys a drie 
and warmer atmosphere. 
Wheat-land To the south-east lies the wheat-land district of strong loan 
district. ^j^^ of inferior character, with some tracts of more fertih 
soil. Here the most general course of cropping is, (1) fallow 
(2) wheat, (3) clover, (4) spring corn, (5) fallow, (6) wheat, (7) pea 
or beans. A considerable proportion of the fallow is withou 
a crop ; farmyard-manure being commonly applied to the fallow 
and often a heavy dressing of lime, though this has been prac 
tised less of late years than formerly. Roots are taken upon 
portion, and vetches or rape upon another portion of the fallo\ 
break. In that wet climate and on that soil, easily injured b' 
trampling, it is customary, after the summer working of the land 
to autumn-plough for wheat in narrow ridges of the same breadtl 
as the harrows used upon them ; so that when the wheat has beei 
sown broadcast, the horses in harrowing a seed-bed tread only ii 
the water-furrows. 
Corre Dale. In the fertile Corve Dale, and a limited district in the soutl 
of the county, the rotations vary from (1) roots ; (2) oats, barle) 
or wheat ; (3) seeds for one or two years, alternated with bean 
in the next course ; (4) wheat, on the drier soils ; to (1) fallow 
principally sown with vetches ; (2) wheat ; (3) seeds or beans 
(4) wheat, on the heavy lands. 
Light land. The largest proportion of the area of Shropshire, howevei 
consists of hills and valleys of prevailing light soil, upon sand 
stones, limestones, shales, and gravels, with some smaller tract 
of stony loam upon a marly clay subsoil, some rich red loam 
and belts of peat, and the deep alluvial beds of the Sever) 
valley. Sheep farming is the rule, and the courses of cropping ar' 
commonly the four-field or five-field system, namely, roots 
spring corn, seeds for one or two years, and wheat. On thebes 
and warmest land, green crops, chiefly vetches, sometimes ryt 
precede the swede crop ; and this is followed by spring corn, tli 
next year's crop being peas or beans, and then wheat. 
