Farming  of  Gloucestershire. 
149 
job;  but  if  the  first  ploughing  be  sufficiently  deep  and  well  exe- 
cuted, it  will  rarely  require  more  than  the  use  of  the  scarifier  to 
fully  clean  and  put  it  into  a healthy  condition  for  the  course.  If 
the  summer  be  dry,  this  condition  will  be  sure  to  be  obtained  ; but 
if  wet,  a rough  fallow  is  more  likely  to  be  cleaned  than  it  would 
be  if  in  a finely  divided  state.  Much  more  soil  would  be  ex- 
posed to  the  action  of  the  air,  and  the  evaporation  from  it  would 
be  greater.  Where  the  land  is  undrained  in  very  wet  summers, 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  clean  it  by  the  usual  methods  adopted. 
Towards  the  end  of  the  summer  the  manure  is  applied  and 
ploughed  in  to  remain  until  the  wheat-planting  season,  or  through 
the  winter  in  cases  where  the  land  is  intended  for  barley.  The 
plough  in  general  use  for  common  work  is  a very  long  wooden 
swing  plough,  which  is  drawn  with  three,  four,  five,  and  some- 
times six  horses  at  length.  The  most  general  team  is  four  or 
five;  but  I have  often  seen  six  horses  and  two  drivers. 
Barley. — The  land  which  has  been  fallowed  for  barley  and  left 
during  winter,  receives  one  ploughing  in  the  spring,  and  is  then 
drilled,  as  early  as  the  season  will  permit,  with  about  4 bushels  per 
acre.  The  produce  varies  from  3 to  8 quarters  per  acre,  depend- 
ing very  much  on  the  season.  The  barley  of  the  Vale  is  generally 
of  a good  malting  quality,  and  is  preferred  to  that  of  the  Cots- 
wolds. 
Clover  and  Beans. — One-half  of  the  barley  land  is  sown  with 
broad  clover  and  trefoil  mixed,  at  the  rate  of  12  to  14  lbs.  of  the 
former  to  4 or  5 lbs.  of  the  latter  per  acre.  The  first  crop  is 
mown  for  hay,  the  second  sometimes  left  for  seed,  and  sometimes 
cut  for  hay.  The  farmers  not  keeping  very  large  flocks  of  sheep, 
the  clover  is  seldom  fed  off.  A portion  is  mown  and  carried 
home  for  the  cart-horses.  In  the  northern  part  of  the  county  and 
adjoining  the  county  of  Worcester,  clover  is  fed  off  on  the  land  by 
horses.  The  horses  are  tethered  by  the  fore  leg ; their  range 
being  limited,  hungry  animals  are  compelled  to  make  clean  work. 
Clover  grown  for  the  purpose  of  seed  is  a very  uncertain  crop, 
sometimes  scarcely  worth  the  cost  of  thrashing,  at  other  times  the 
produce  is  from  3 to  5 bushels  per  acre.  The  thrashing  and 
preparation  for  the  market  creates  a good  deal  of  labour,  and  is 
probably  on  an  average  more  beneficial  to  the  labourer  than  the 
grower,  hence  the  adage  “ A seeding  farmer  never  gets  rich.” 
The  land  intended  for  beans  is  ploughed  deep  in  the  winter 
months.  In  general  it  is  cast  down;  and  in  autumn,  after  the 
beans  are  off,  it  is  ridged  up  for  the  succeeding  crop  of  wheat. 
This  is  the  season  when  the  long  teams  are  seen  moving  almost  im- 
perceptibly along , ploughing  from  half  an  acre  to  three-quarters  a 
team  per  day  of  7 hours,  being  at  work  from  daylight  to  3 o’clock 
in  the  afternoon.  If  the  land  be  all  ploughed  by  Christmas,  it 
