278 
Farming of Hampshire. 
.all ; 20 pigs, 4 cart horses, and a horse lor odd jobs. His ordinary 
staff lor manual labour is 7 men, 4 women, 2 boys, or •! per acre.* 
I have remarked elsewhere that the improving farmers in 
Hants are for the most part new men, coming from other parts. 
The tenant of the Lower Toothill farm on the Broadlands estate 
is a pleasing exception. This farm has been in the hands of the 
same family for some generations, and the present tenant, Mr. 
Richard Withers, jun., pursues the same system of good manage- 
ment as his father and grandfather before him. At his own 
expense, without any lease, he has now nearly completed the 
chalking of the whole farm. His management is a good example 
of the old style. He begins well by a deep ploughing ; keeps his 
land clean, though his wheat be broadcasted ; gets good crops ; 
has no clubbing in his turnips ; buys in half-bred Hants ewes ; 
fats out the lambs and mothers, and generally follows the custom 
of the country, but with an eye open to any new lights which 
may be offered to his notice. Such a tenant is properly appre- 
ciated by his landlord, who has drained the farm and is now 
erecting on it a new farmhouse and buildings, which will render 
it one of the most complete little farms in this part of the county. 
Most of Lord Palmerston's farms are well supplied with cot- 
tages handy to the labourers' work. His arrangements for letting 
them differ somewhat from those mentioned elsewhere. The 
farmer nominates his own servants as the tenants ; but their con- 
nection, when once in the cottage, is direct with the landlord 
himself, who receives the rents, and, if necessary, gives the notice 
of removal. Practically this division of authority works well. 
The farmer is careful in the selection of Lis men, and the landlord 
and the farmer do not differ as to causes of change in the occu- 
pation of the cottages. 
Still further to the south in this district, and almost bordering 
on the Forest, is a very pretty farm, with a loamy surface-soil on 
a gravelly subsoil, at Testwood, kept in hand and well managed 
by its owner. It was extensively drained, and the well-planned 
farm-buildings were designed by Mr. J. Chalmers Morton, of 
Whitfield. 
3. In the New Forest the oldest plantations, the first-fruits of 
culture, are those of William III. Authority was then given to 
plant 6000 acres. The next are Phillipson's, 1756, then Pitt's, 
1776. In 1808 a new system arose. A commission of three 
was appointed, and the Surveyor-General of Woods and Forests 
became the chief commissioner. Planting then first began on 
* Certain particulars of Mr. Blundeli's farming have appeared in the Society's 
Journal, but I have purposely avoided referring to them in writing this account, 
■whicli is derived solely from what I saw at liursledon, and from conversations 
and communications with Mr. Blundell. 
