Farming  of  Gloucestershire. 
135 
thin  in  plant,  from  alternate  frosts  and  thaws  during  the  winter. 
This  was  the  case  last  season.  The  frost  set  in  earlier  than 
usual  and  continued  severe  longer,  which  left  the  wheat  plant 
thin. 
I cannot  better  draw  a comparison  between  the  calcareous 
soils  of  this  district,  which  are  called  light,  and  the  silicious  soils 
of  other  counties,  which  are  also  termed  light,  than  by  supposing  a 
heap  of  slaked  lime  to  represent  one,  and  a heap  of  sand  the 
other.  One  would  be  light  and  hollow,  the  other  close  and 
heavy.  The  specific  gravity  of  the  calcareous  soil  is  lower  than 
is  desirable  ; it  therefore  requires  pressure  and  consolidation  to 
enable  the  roots  of  plants  to  retain  a firm  hold  on  the  land. 
The  specific  gravity  of  the  silicious  is  greater  than  is  desirable, 
and  claims  all  the  skill  of  the  farmer  to  keep  it  hollow  and  porous, 
to  admit  the  air  and  allow  the  roots  to  spread  in  search  of  food. 
This  may  in  some  degree  explain  the  reason  why  a sand-land 
farmer  would  not  succeed  on  the  Cotswolds,  unless  he  adopted 
some  of  the  practices  which  are  peculiar  to  the  district. 
Roots. — Having  digressed  for  a moment,  to  explain  the  pecu- 
liarity of  the  soil  of  this  district,  I will  proceed  to  the  manage- 
ment of  the  usual  crops ; and  first,  as  to  the  different  modes  for 
swedes,  turnips,  and  other  roots.  Roots  usually  succeed  wheat — 
oats,  one  or  two  years  seeds — old  sainfoin  lay,  or  rye  and  vetches, 
fed  off  by  sheep  the  same  year.  After  harvest,  as  soon  as  the 
wheat  stubbles  are  cleared,  and  other  work  will  allow,  the  land  is 
ploughed  moderately  deep,  to  remain  through  the  winter.  It  is 
generally  ploughed  again  in  April,  when  the  weather  is  dry.  It 
is  then  scarified  and  cleaned.  Some  use  the  scarifier  without 
previously  ploughing,  which  will  answer  on  the  dry,  but  not  so 
well  on  the  clayey  souls.  Clay  soils  do  not  often  get  sufficiently 
dry  early  enough  in  the  spring  to  allow  of  the  use  of  the  Scarifier 
to  the  best  advantage.  It  is  the  practice  with  some  to  put  on 
the  farm-yard  manure  in  autumn,  previously  to  ploughing  up  the 
land  against  winter.  Others  only  breast-plough  the  manure  in, 
leaving  it  through  the  winter,  and  horse-plough  the  land  in  the 
spring.  This  is  found  to  answer  well,  for  two  or  three  reasons  : 
the  manure  gets  mixed  up  with  the  soil,  which  is  not  rendered  so 
hollow  as  when  the  manure  is  put  on  immediately  before  planting. 
By  adopting  this  plan  we  lessen  the  work  to  be  performed  at  the 
most  busy  time  of  the  year.  The  manure  being  in  the  soil  in 
autumn  gives  more  time  for  decomposition  to  take  place,  and  is 
in  consequence  more  available  for  the  use  of  the  turnip-crop 
during  its  early  and  most  dangerous  stages  of  growth.  The 
manure  is  often  ploughed  out  in  the  following  spring,  to  all 
appearance,  almost  as  fresh  as  when  first  put  on  the  land,  only  a 
little  drier ; which  indicates  that  the  soil  is  a slow  decomposer  of 
manure  and  vegetable  substances.  Manuring  against  winter 
