166 
Farmin/j of Wiltshire. 
demand for horse-corn. Dibbling at one foot square is the plan 
of sowing : the price of cutting is much the same as with wheat, 
but varies according to the crop. Peas are not extensively culti- 
vated for sale, but chiefly used on tlie farm : being an uncertain 
crop, little attention is paid to the cultivation. DriUmg, at 18 or 
20 inches apart, is the method of sowing : cutting, at from 3s. to 
5s. per acre. Swedes and turnips are grown in all the different 
soils of the county, and are nearly all consumed on the land by 
slieej) ; a few only are carried off, as stall-feeding is not adopted. 
Where artificial manures are used, drilling is the invariable prac- 
tice; but where yard-manure is applied, particularly on the heavy 
lands, broadcast has its advocates. There are very few farmers 
who drill on ridges : drilling on the flat, from 15 to 24 inches 
apart, according to the soil, or the opinion of the grower, is the 
general practice. Horse-hoeing is bv no means general ; neither 
is cutting turnips in the field for sheep, except occasionally for 
young sheep and lambs, or for grazing sheep. Storing of swedes 
is become very general, and the method considered to be the best 
is throwing 7 or 8 bushels in a heap, and covering them with suffi- 
cient earth to keep them dry and exclude frost. Mangold- wurzel 
is only partially cultivated, and on the deepest soils. Rape is a 
favourite green food in autumn with the South Wiltshire farmers, 
and is very extensively cultivated : it is sown by itself, and with 
turnips and vetches. Rye is mostly sown as green food for early 
spring feeding. On some of the light hill or " beak land," which 
is considered too weak to carry wheat, it is occasionally sown for 
seed. Great breadths of vetches are sown in the autumn and 
spring, for feed ; and they are considered a good preparation for 
wheat on the heavy lands. V ery few are ke])t for seed, except in 
seasons when there is an abundance of food for sheep. Potatoes 
are not at all a favourite crop in South Wilts, particularly on the 
large farms. Many farmers let out a small portion of land to 
the labourers, which generally forms the extent of this crop, ex- 
cept on the sand-land, where they are rather more cultivated. 
The artificial grasses sown on the light lands of this division are 
a mixture of hop or trefoil, with rye grass and white clover. Red 
clover is sown on the heavy lands, and such other soils as arc cal- 
culated for its growth. Cow-grass and marl-grass arc found to 
be good substitutes when the land is tired of red clover. A great 
proportion of tlie flinty and chalky soils are found to bear good 
crojis of sainfoin, which is now generally taken advantage of; in- 
deed, sainfoin is indispensable to the slock fanner, being the most 
nutritive grass that is cullivated. Italian rye-grass has lately 
been introduced, and found to be a valuable grass for early spring 
feed on farms where there are no water-meadows. 
Pasture. — As before slated the quantity of jiasture-land in this 
