140 
Farming  of  Gloucestershire. 
Sainfoin  should  not  be  fed  much  in  the  autumn,  immediately 
after  being  sown,  and  not  very  often  the  first  year;  the  usual 
practice  being  to  seed  the  first  crop,  and  sometimes  to  mow  it 
for  hay.  It  should  be  mown  for  hay  as  soon  as  it  begins  to 
flower.  The  earlier  it  is  cut  the  more  valuable  the  hay,  and 
the  better  the  aftermath.  When  mown  it  is  left  in  swath  for 
two  or  three  days,  and  then  turned  over,  and  at  the  end  of  other 
two  or  three  days  turned  again.  It  takes  a long  time  to  dry,  yet 
ought  not  to  be  moved  about  much ; still  it  requires  to  be  made 
dry  or  it  will  heat,  and  if  it  gets  heated  much  it  is  spoiled. 
When  a very  thick  crop,  it  is  occasionally  tedded  and  put  up  in 
small  wisps  and  left  for  two  or  three  days,  and  then  made  into 
button  or  small  cock ; after  which,  in  two  or  three  days,  it  is  fit 
to  carry.  The  aftermath  should  not  be  turned  in  upon,  as  is  the 
custom  on  old  grass-land  in  Gloucestershire,  immediately  after 
the  hay  is  off.  It  should  be  reserved  to  wean  lambs  upon,  being 
the  best  crop  grown  for  the  purpose.  After  the  lambs  have 
settled  down  to  their  pasture,  young  stock  of  any  kind  may  be 
turned  into  the  field.  Sheep  and  lambs  are  apt  to  have  the  scour 
on  grass  and  seeds,  and  it  often  proves  fatal.  A change  of  pas- 
ture is  reckoned  a good  thing,  but  the  best  remedy  I know  is  to 
turn  them  into  a field  of  sainfoin  aftermath.  It  invariably  stops 
the  scour,  and  I have  known  it  do  so  ichen  nothing  else  would. 
Sainfoin  hay  is  sometimes  stacked  in  the  turnip-fields  to  be 
consumed  by  sheep  while  eating  oft’  the  turnips ; it  is  often  cut 
into  chaff,  placed  in  cribs,  and  given  to  the  ewes  in  yeaning 
season.  The  hay  when  cut  early,  as  it  ought  to  be,  is  very  good, 
and  relished  and  eaten  by  all  kinds  of  stock  ; but  I have  seen  it 
neglected  and  all  but  run  to  seed  before  being  cut,  which  very 
materially  injures  it.  The  stems  become  woody  and  the  leaves 
drop  off.  After  remaining  down  five,  six,  or  seven  years,  it 
becomes  rvhat  is  termed  “ old  sainfoin  leg,"  which  is  usually 
broken  up  again  in  February  by  being  breast-ploughed  and 
burnt  and  succeeded  by  turnips,  or  rist-baulk  ploughed  and 
burnt,  and  afterwards  cultivated  and  sown  with  turnips. 
Wheat. — When  the  preparation  for  wheat  commences,  a skim 
coulter  is  fixed  to  the  plough  for  the  purpose  of  burying  the  turf 
as  much  as  possible.  A stale  furrow  being  best  for  wheat,  the 
longer  in  season  it  is  ploughed  before  planting  the  better  and 
firmer  the  land  is  for  the  purpose.  Wheat  is  not  planted  so 
early  as  it  was  in  the  time  of  Fudge.  hi  e do  not  plant  so  early 
as  July.  The  middle  of  September  is  considered  soon  enough 
to  begin.  It  is  usually  sown  earlier  on  weak  lands  and  in  very 
exposed  situations.  Drilling  with  the  Suffolk  drill  is  the  general 
mode  of  planting,  but  broadcast  is  not  wholly  extinct.  Dibbling 
has  lately  been  tried  by  several  farmers  with  Newberry’s  dibbling- 
