274 
Farming of Oxfordshire. 
the swedes that remain. Mangolds should last till the latter part 
of May, when the green crops will be ready. 
When a clay pasture is deficient in vegetable matter, the earth 
adheres together in wet weather, and forms a cold, sterile soil, 
producing rushes, hassocks, and carnation grass. Such ground is 
difficult of improvement, but it should not be broken up unless 
there is a certainty --that its permanent productiveness will be 
thereby increased. Its cost under tillage would be great, and 
the return perhaps not equal to the additional expense. But the 
case is not hopeless. First, deepen all the ditches, and open 
water furrows for the more immediate passage of heavy rains 
from the surface. Then well under-drain every other furrow 
three feet deep. Have all the ant-hills and hassocks mattocked up 
and formed into a compost with the admixture of lime, mould, 
&c. Let these be packed over, and when well rotted set about 
the grass. A mixture of perennial rye-grass, Dutch clover, &c., 
may be sown, and afterwards the pasture should be well harrowed 
or bushed. Lastly, let 2 cwt. of Peruvian guano per acre be 
mixed with damp ashes, and carefully sown over the field in 
March or April. Afterwards the ground should be fed with 
sheep and young stock for several years, and nothing should on 
any account he removed from the field at night. A poor clay 
pasture thus treated will soon improve, and the decaying vege- 
table matter and fibrous roots will form a porous soil of sufficient 
depth for the water to sink into the subsoil, and run off by the 
furrow-drains. Cows fed on such a pasture will then give more 
butter and cheese than if fed on a sandy soil of better quality. 
It wonderfully improves poor grass-grounds to remove some of 
the turnips from the arable land to the pastures and fold the 
sheep with them. All the droppings from the cattle should be 
knocked about, and not allowed to remain on one spot. If the 
manure is all dropped in a corner, it is better removed, and taken 
to the yard or compost heap. From want of better attention to 
this, large patches of coarse grass are common. The best way to 
get rid of such spots is to mow the rough herbage and scatter a 
little salt on it ; when it becomes withered the cattle will eat it 
greedily, though they would not touch it while growing. 
The want of some statistical information, with such fluctuating 
markets, was more than ever felt tliis year. One intelligent 
person said he thought throughout the county of Oxford one- 
eifjfhth of the land in course for wheat was not sown in 1852. 
Another well-informed man said he was sure there was 7iot half. 
Perhaps both were right as regarded their respective localities, 
so apt are we to judge of a large district by what we see around 
us. And if so much discrepancy existed in the opinion of prac- 
tical men as to what was the extent of the wheat crop in their 
