420 
Fai-ndnr/ of Dorscf.t:hire. 
pigs sliown at Smithficld Show this jear Avere grazed in the 
ordinary manner upon barley-meal and pollard mixed with 
whey, and for the last month they were kept on bran and Avater, 
as it was feared they were getting- too fat, and might be choked. 
The breeding sows live only on grass in tlie summer, and in the 
winter on grass and roots, excepting when they give suck, when 
they are fed on good food. Tlie j oung ones are weaned wlion 
about 8 weeks old, and are fed for the first two or three months 
upon roots and a few dry beans or barley and Avhey ; afterwards 
they take their chance Avith the store pigs. This breed, Avhich 
has been named " the Improved Dorset," is said to haA C been 
imported from Turkey, and to have been cross%l Avith choice 
specimens of the old Dorset pig. 
Tlie vale of Marshwood rests upon a cold lias clay, dis- 
tinguished above all tlie clays in the county for its stiffness. 
" A terrible rough country, sir," is the character Avhich an in- 
quirer obtains of it. The A ale is principallA' tenanted by d.iiry- 
farmers, and some of the best Dorset butter is supplied from 
this ungenial locality. Tlie arable land has lately l)een drained : 
it produces excellent Avheat, the produce being estimated at 4 
quarters an acre on' the farm of J. Tatchell Bullen, Escj. " There 
is not a stone in the Avhole vale," says a gentleman Avho knows 
it well, "and tliey are obliged to send to Bothenhampton for 
stones to mend their roads." The higher grounds are on the 
upper member of the lias series ; the marlstone and the tops of 
the hills around the A ale are inferior oolite limestone, the escarp- 
ments being: inferior oolite sraid. The river Ciiar runs through 
the lias clay of the A'ale. Pillcsden Pen and Leweston Hill are 
upper greensand resting upon marlstone. Upon the light soils 
-of this series the cultivator disregards all rotations, and groA'/s 
just what he pleases, and practises not only Avith impunity but 
Avith advantage the, in other localities, unprofitable succession — 
tAVo turnip-crops. It is, hoAve\'er, no use on these soils to soav 
barley late ; it is soAvn after swedes, and then the field goes to 
turnips and rape. Clover is soAvn Avith the wheat, the barley 
being so lieaA'y in the straw that cloA'cr soAvn Avitli it is killecl. 
Sometimes the cropping is in this order: Avheat, barley, three 
years' grass. Th.e fold is driven across the Avheat-land, and 
Mr. John Pitfield, of Heap, also fold-treads his turnip-land 
before the seed is drilled ; 30 bushels of Avheat, and 35 or 36 
bushels of barley, are thought an average. All his Avheat is flat- 
hoed. The land is giAcn to couch if not turniped often, and if 
he does not get it clean Avith one crop of roots turnips are soAA^n 
again. 
The timber found in the vale is of Large growth and excellent 
C[uality, and there are perhaps fcAV districts in the kingdom 
