14S 
Farming  of  Gloucestershire. 
Cheltenham  to  Tewkesbury.  The  sheep  were  folded  and  had 
hay  and  corn  the  same  as  on  the  hills,  and  did  well  and  got  fat, 
and  the  land  grew  a fair  crop  of  barley  afterwards.  This  was 
done  by  a farmer  who  a few  years  -previously  considered  it  poison 
to  the  sheep  and  to  his  land  to  allow  them  to  come  on  it  in  the 
winter.  He  continues  the  practice.  This  would  introduce 
another  course  of  cropping  for  the  sandy  portion  of  the  lias 
clay  : — 
1st  year.  Fallow  with  turnips. 
5th 
year.  Fallow  with  vetches. 
2nd  ,,  Barley. 
6th 
„ Wheat. 
3rd  ,,  Clover. 
7th 
,,  Beans. 
4th  „ Wheat. 
8th 
„ Wheat. 
On  the  stiffest  clays  and  worst-farmed  land  there  are  scarcely 
any  vetches  planted  for  sheep,  and  but  few  roots.  The  three- 
crop  and  fallow  is  continued  with  the  land  anything  but  clean. 
In  wet  seasons  with  the  land  undrained  it  is  impossible  to  clean 
it  as  could  be  desired. 
Fallows. — When  a portion  of  the  land  in  fallow  is  sown  with 
vetches  for  feed,  it  is  ploughed  immediately  after  harvest,  and 
from  2 to  3 bushels  per  acre  are  sown  or  drilled  as  soon  as  the 
state  of  the  land  will  permit.  It  is  important  to  get  them  in  as 
early  as  possible,  in  order  that  they  may  be  fed  off  early  in  June, 
to  enable  the  farmer  to  plough,  scarify,  and  clean  the  land  for 
wheat  before  the  busy  time  of  harvest.  That  part  which  is  in- 
tended for  roots  is  also  ploughed  as  early  as  possible,  and  if  the 
state  of  the  weather  is  likely  to  allow  of  partially  cleaning  the 
land  before  winter,  it  is  not  ploughed  very  deep,  because  the 
couch  is  more  easily  forked  out,  and  the  drags  work  with  more 
effect  when  not  too  deeply  ploughed.  It  receives  a deeper  furrow 
afterwards,  and  is  laid  up  through  the  winter.  The  manure  is 
applied  either  in  frosty  weather  or  as  early  as  possible  in  the 
spring.  The  land  is  again  ploughed,  and  the  swedes  are  then 
drilled,  sometimes  as  early  as  April,  but  more  generally  in  May. 
The  land  which  is  intended  to  have  a bare  summer  fallow  does 
not  often  receive  its  first  ploughing  until  spring.  It  is  left  until 
the  bean  land  is  all  ploughed  and  spring  planting  finished. 
When  no  crop  is  intended  to  be  planted,  it  is  considered  prefer- 
able not  to  have  it  ploughed  against  winter.  The  frost  would 
pulverize  it  and  make  it  too  fine  and  dusty.  To  make  a good 
and  clean  summer  fallow  it  should  remain  in  large,  rough,  hard 
clods  through  the  summer.  When  it  has  received  the  first 
furrow,  and  laid  until  it  is  tolerably  dry,  it  is  either  ploughed 
back  again,  which  is  called  turning  the  furrow,  or  it  is  ploughed 
askew,  setting  it  as  rough  as  possible.  It  is  afterwards  moved 
occasionally  with  the  scarifier,  with  the  view  of  well  roasting  it. 
Probably  it  may  require  one  more  ploughing  to  make  a clean 
