130 
Farming  of  Gloucestershire. 
1st  year.  Summer  fallow. 
2nd  „ Vetches,  fed  with  sheep. 
3rd  ,,  Oats  and  sown  clover. 
4th  „ Clover;  1st  crop  mown  for  hay,  2nd  crop  fed. 
5th  „ Wheat. 
6th  „ Vetches,  fed  with  sheep. 
7th  „ Wheat. 
Another  portion  of  this  division,  as  has  been  already  stated,  is 
covered  with  oolitic  or  calcareous  gravel.  The  gravel  is  formed 
of  the  debris  of  the  great  and  inferior  oolites.  The  quality  of 
the  soil  varies  very  much,  part  being  a deep  friable  loam  on 
high-coloured  gravel,  and  part  a light,  porous,  moory  soil  on  a 
weak  white  gravel,  having  the  water  stagnant  within  a foot  of  the 
surface  nearly  half  the  year,  for  want  of  the  means  of  escape  to 
the  adjoining  rivers.  The  rotation  of  cropping  is  variable.  The 
four  or  eight  course  is  adopted  on  the  best  land,  and  under  good 
management  produces  good  crops  of  roots,  vetches,  clover,  barley, 
and  wheat.  The  following  mode  of  cropping  is  followed  by  one 
of  our  best  cultivators  : — 
1st  year.  Swedes  on  the  ridge. 
2nd  „ Earley,  drilled. 
3rd  „ Broad  clover. 
4th  „ Wheat,  drilled. 
5th  „ Rye  and  vetches,  fed  off  with  sheep,  and  afterwards  swedes 
and  turnips  drilled  on  the  flat. 
6th  ,,  Barley. 
7th  „ Rye-grass,  hop-clover,  or  rape. 
8th  „ Wheat,  and  on  the  lightest  land  a few  white  peas. 
Some  of  the  lighter  land  is  farmed  on  the  following  seven- 
year  course : — 
1st  year.  Pared  and  burned  for  early  turnips,  which  are  fed  off  with 
sheep. 
2nd  „ Wheat,  and  sown  with  seeds. 
3rd  „ Seeds,  fed. 
4th  ,,  Pared  and  burned  for  turnips,  which  are  fed  off  with  sheep. 
5th  ,,  Barley  sown  with  seeds. 
6th  „ Seeds  which  are  mown  for  hay. 
7th  „ Ditto  fed. 
The  worst  of  the  moory  part,  locally  called  “ Bomer,”  is  not 
considered  capable  of  growing  wheat  to  a profit,  and  produces 
very  thin  samples  even  of  barley  and  oats.  The  Italian  and 
other  rye  grasses  sown  with  barley  are  often  seeded.  These 
crops  are  not  at  all  unlikely  to  be  the  most  profitable  of  the 
course.  After  lying  in  grass  two  or  three  years,  the  land  is 
pared  and  burnt  for  turnips;  but  even  a good  crop  of  turnips  will 
scarcely  keep  sheep  in  good  store  condition.  It  is,  therefore,  not 
accounted  good  stock  land.  Whether  this  is  to  be  attributed 
solely  to  the  poverty  of  the  produce,  or  to  the  damp  and  unhealthy 
state  of  the  land  on  which  the  sheep  are  folded5  has  not  been 
