Farming of Dorsetshii'e. 
417 
island since the sale of its commons. Of the sheep we shall have 
to speak by and by. 
The cultivation of the stiff clays on the south of Puibcck de- 
pends very much upon the season. A very wet seed-time and a 
very dry summer are equally deprecated. The course is wheat, 
barley or oats, clover ley, which is often ploughed up after 
wheat-harvest, and is allowed to lie fallow until the following 
autumn, when it is sown to wheat. Many farmers are now alter- 
ing- the old system, and they find a crop of rape, vetches, or mus- 
tard serviceable. The lighter soils are managed on the five-field 
coui»e, admitting of the introduction of turnips among the shifts. 
The second year's ley is ploughed up early in the spring, and a 
crop of turnips taken before wheat. The land between South 
Tyneham and Encombe is of most excellent quality, and is 
capable of grazing. It is said that the clay when dug and 
exposed to the air for a short time becomes covered with mus- 
tard. 
In quitting the chalk district for the clays, we leave a pretty 
uniform system of farming to enter on a countiy where the 
systems are even more diversified than the soils. On the stift' 
unproductive clays near the coast no system is followed because 
the seasons rule the systems. On the rich genial soils, such as 
those of the marlstone in the vicinity of Bridport, no system is 
followed, because, to use the words of a West Dorset farmer, 
they " can grow anything." The most considerable portion of 
the district on which we have entered is the Vale of Blackmoor, 
a fine rich grazing country, which will rear oxen as bulky as the 
red sandstone vales and alluvial marshes of Somerset, and grow 
oaks of 120 cubic feet. This vale is mainly confined to the 
rearing and grazing of beasts, and to dairy husbandry. Although 
there are considerable farms in the vale, yet they are exceptions, 
a considerable portion of it being in small portions on lifeholds 
— one disadvantage of which is the multiplication of fences, 
which of necessity where cow-stock is general must be broad 
and occupy much valuable latid. But the greatest detriment 
produced by the lifehold tenure (and which in the majority of 
cases is expiring without hope of renewal) is the neglect of under 
draining, which on soils so retentive of moisture as are most of 
those of the vale is emphatically the one thing needful, and the 
want of attention to which will in too many parts of this beauti- 
ful vale attract the notice of a stranger. On most of the larger 
properties either lately purchased from ancient owners or in 
hand much of this necessary work has been done, and that scien- 
tifically. It is satisfactory to report progress on this head, for 
it is the cardinal improvement and general desideratum in the 
