Farvniig of Dorsctxliire. 
437 
or insects, we know not ; but we have, it is hoped, said enough 
to show tliat the incteoroh)gy of Dorset is invested with consider- 
able importance, and that a fiehl of exploration of the most 
interesting kind is open for any one u lio will diligontly note tlie 
connection between the conditions of the atmosphere and the con- 
ditions of vegetable growth. 
Breaking up of Doiviis. — The extent to which the downs of 
Dorset have been broken up may, without exaggeration, be set 
at tliousands of acres, and every year great cpiantities of such 
land are being converted into arable with infinite advantage alike 
to the landlord and the tenant. In a county where three packs 
of hounds are kept, and where much of the down is very hilly 
and exposed to the sea breezes, the rapid breaking up of downs 
speaks well for the enterprise of those connected with the soil. 
That which in Mr. Claridge's day comprised two-thirds of the 
acreage of the county, and formed its " most striking feature," 
has exchanged its " rough and coarse pastures" for swedes and 
wheat, and barley and clover. The example was set in 182G by 
Lord Portman with his " Shepherd Corner Farm," a very amply 
detailed account of the improvement of which was published in 
the pages of the Royal Agricultural Society's Journal. The 
result of his Lordship's undertaking is that land which then 
Avas " the habitation of foxes and rabbits, producing furze, fern, 
and a scanty portion of sheep-feed, Avith a return of 2s. 6d. an 
acre," is now yielding 11. The face of the whole district between 
Bryanstone and Milton Abbey has been changed, and the former 
furze brakes and heaths are become as fine a district as the 
county presents. Chesilborne — once a sheet of downs — lias been 
brought into excellent cultivation under Lord Rivers. Between 
Dorchester and Blandford there is scarcely a parish in which 
downs have not been broken up. Upon one farm alone the 
occupier said 300 acres had been turned over within his remem- 
brance. In Strickland parish nearly 100 acres went last year, 
and at Houghton about half that number of acres had been broken 
up on one farm in the same period. In the neighbourhood of 
the chalk hills of Cerne the r|uantlty of down land converted 
within the last 10 years is put at 2000 acres, and land then worth 
5^. has now become worth 21., and it is calculated that where 
one shepherd's boy was kept five men are now employed. The 
treatment Avliich doAvns receive would furnish another argument 
for their conversion if one were needed. " We take," said a 
very candid informant of mine, " all Ave can qff^ the downs and 
carry it on to our ai-ahle.'" And yet betAveen Bridport and Dor- 
chester tliere is still down land bearing marks of the plough 
and of ancient hedge-rows — ^clear evidence that they have at one 
time been enclosed and cultivated. Downs are still in faA'our 
