284 Farming of Hampshire — Valley of the Avon. 
which is indicated by the larger breeding flocks. The farms 
run from 400 to 500 acres. The vale rotation above Ford- 
ingbridge is four-field, with modifications, A stolen green 
crop (rye, tares, trilolium) is taken between the wh(^at and the 
turnips, and beans with turnips are sometimes substituted for 
grass. Of the swedes only half are consumed in the fold, or the 
land would be too strong for barley, and this is a fine barley 
country. Rape is often drilled, every fifth row, between the 
swedes. The seed wheat preferred is White Rough-chaff, Morton's 
Prolific, Spalding's, and Browick (all good wheats to stand), 
and, for late sowing. Nursery. When beans and turnips are 
taken together, the turnip-seed is put in when the beans are 
hoed. The turnips are fed off with sheep, and thus the field is 
dunged for wheat. It may be doubted whether this is good 
farming. There cannot be time to clean the land between the 
turnips and the wheat ; and, if the beans are a good crop, but 
little can be expected of the turnips, to which, however, you run 
a chance of sacrificing your wheat-crop. It is an attempt to do 
too much in the time. This plan used to be followed on Sir 
Wm. Heathcote's home-farm at Hursley, but has been discon- 
tinued under the present steward. Farmyard dung is applied 
liberally, 20 loads per acre, to beans together with turnips, and 
to the clover-leys for wheat; but the swedes have nothing but 
bones or superphosphate, drilled with ashes at the time of sowing, 
again for fear of overdoing the barley. 
Below Fordingbridge the usual system is again the four- 
course. But here also, of late years, there have been modifications 
on the best-managed farms. Of the wheat-stubble, half is put 
to green crop, followed by Swedes or turnips ; half to mangold, 
after a winter's fallow". Of the barley-ground, too, half is put 
to clover, and half to beans or peas. After the barley, the half 
lately in clover will be assigned to swedes or turnips ; the other 
half lately in beans to mangold. The lands are reversed in their 
cropping, when the crops come round again in the rotation. 
The advantage of this variation is, that clover, swedes, man- 
gold, and beans each occur on the same ground but once in 
eight years. 
This is unquestionably a very good rotation, but it requires 
liberal manuring and clean farming, and is pursued on the 
best farms only, such as that of Mr. H. Bone, of Avon. His 
bean-ground, when put to wheat, has no farmyard dung, but 
1 cwt. of guano, which is repeated as a top-dressing in the 
spring, and worked in with Garrett's horsehoe ; the clover-ley 
is manured with dung alone ; the beans are heavily dunged ; 
the swedes have superphosphate and bones in a crude state, at 
a cost of 1/. pi'r acre; the mangold a sack of bones^ 1 cwt. of 
