156 
Farming  of  Gloucestershire. 
the  rock  beneath,  and  he  loses  his  manure.  It  is  this  that  has 
made  many  a Cotswold  farmer  declare  that  he  would  rather  have 
4 inches  of  good  soil  enriched  by  manure  than  8 or  10  inches  de- 
teriorated, as  it  would  be  by  deep  ploughing  if  it  were  attempted. 
It  is,  I am  aware,  not  only  desirable  but  imperative  on  the 
farmer  to  practice  deep  cultivation ; but  then  he  must  have  a soil 
to  deep-plough,  not  a rock.  There  can  be  scarcely  any  question 
where  there  is  plenty  of  soil,  but  here  we  can  point  out  an  excep- 
tion. It  is  extremely  doubtful  where  the  soil  is  to  be  made,  and 
especially  if  the  farmer  is  to  wait  for  his  return  until  the  rocks 
have  become  disintegrated  and  converted  into  soil.  I advocate 
deep  ploughing ; but  I wish  to  warn  persons  from  hoping  im- 
mediately to  profit  by  it  on  thin  light  soils  resting  on  a hungry 
porous  rubble  or  compact  level  beds  of  slaty  limestone.  Neither 
can  I advise  the  clay  farmer  to  deepen  his  soil  all  at  once,  unless 
he  means  to  stifle-burn.  And  it  is  not  always  that  strong  loams 
are  immediately  benefited  by  it.  An  instance  occurred  on  a 
well-known  farm  in  1845,  which  may  be  cited  as  a case  in  point. 
One  of  the  best  fields  of  land  on  the  farm,  having  5 or  6 inches  of 
good  strong  loam,  on  the  top  of  patches  of  a thin  yellowish  clay 
interspersed  with  limestone  rubble,  was  ploughed  the  usual  depth 
in  autumn  ; and  in  February,  when  being  crossed,  the  ploughs 
were  struck  2 or  3 inches  into  this  yellowish  clay,  turning  it  up  in 
slices  upon  the  surface.  This  clay  became  baked  hard  by  the 
sun.  The  land  was  well  stirred  and  cleaned,  and  the  lumps  of 
clay  mixed  with  the  soil.  The  swedes  were  drilled  with  bones, 
&c.,  on  ridges,  with  a good  dose  of  rotten  farm-yard  dung  depo- 
sited on  the  split  ridges.  The  crop  all  but  failed ; whilst  those 
of  the  neighbourhood  were  as  good  as  usual.  Another  field  was 
served  in  the  same  manner,  but  was  drilled  on  the  flat,  which  was 
a comjdete  failure.  Another  field  was  also  drilled  on  ridges,  with 
bones,  &c.,  having  been  turnips  the  previous  year — it  also  failed. 
The  party  through  whose  management  those  failures  happened 
was  no  doubt  led  by  the  cry  from  without  to  adopt  deep  ploughing 
without  consideration,  and  expected  he  was  about  to  turn  up  a 
mine  of  fertility. 
To  confirm  my  experience,  not  opinions,  I need  only  point  to 
the  practice  of  one  of  the  best  farmers  of  our  county.  In  some 
instances  he  has  not  used  the  plough  for  years.  He  states — 
“ I have  five  fields  upon  which  I practise  the  breast-ploughing  system 
exclusively,  part  of  which  has  been  in  cultivation  eight  years  without  being 
horse-ploughed,  and  without  having  any  other  manure  than  the  ashes  from 
burning  the  surface,  and  the  sheep’s  manure  left  in  eating  off  the  turnips. 
The  land  has  produced  five  quarters  of  wheat  to  the  acre,  five  times  in 
eight  years.  I cultivate  a great  deal  more  land  with  the  breast-plough,  but 
not  exclusively.” 
Mr.  Beman,  the  gentleman  alluded  to,  is  a yearly  competitor 
