Farming  of  Gloucestershire. 
175 
farmer  should  be  removed.  The  greatest  room  for  improvement 
is  amongst  the  smaller  description  of  farmers.  I know  many 
that  are  an  exception,  and  are  as  forward  in  improvements  as 
their  more  wealthy  neighbours;  but  the  number  of  such  is  small 
compared  with  the  total  number  of  farmers  of  the  county.  Many 
of  the  farmers  drill  nearly  all  their  crops,  but  further  advances 
may  be  made  in  this  art,  which  will  enable  them  more  thoroughly 
to  eradicate  weeds  than  is  now  the  custom.  It  is  not  every  farmer 
who  weeds  his  spring  corn — barley  and  oats — which  we  conceive 
ought  to  be  done,  as  well  as  the  weeding  and  hoeing  of  wheat 
and  beans.  I have  seen  many  a crop  of  wheat  reaped  without 
ever  having  had  a hoe  put  amongst  it,  of  course  not  free  from 
thistles,  docks,  &c„  which  after  harvest  have  become  beautifully 
exposed,  teeming  with  seeds  sufficient  to  stock  a whole  parish. 
In  1815,  on  a farm  on  which  in  future  probably  scarcely  a dock 
will  with  impunity  show  itself  again,  I carefully  secured  a flou- 
rishing plant,  and  found  it  to  contain  no  less  than  4000  seeds. 
I mention  this  to  show  what  grievous  folly  it  is  to  allow  things 
of  this  kind  to  flourish  and  take  possession  of  the  soil. 
To  make  the  most  of  the  land  it  should  always  be  cropped 
with  something  or  other ; and  although  this  practice  cannot  literally 
be  accomplished  on  large  farms,  still  a nearer  approach  to  it  is 
requisite.  All  the  stubble,  except  the  portion  intended  for  early 
swedes,  should  produce  a vetch  or  green  crop,  and  be  followed 
the  same  year  with  sw'edes  and  turnips;  and  that  on  which 
swedes  are  intended  to  be  sown  may  often  be  cleaned  immediately 
after  harvest,  and  sown  with  stubble  (stone)  turnips  or  with  tail 
cow  grass,  to  produce  a green  crop  for  lambs  in  the  spring,  which, 
when  consumed,  should  be  ploughed  and  cultivated  for  sw'edes. 
On  heavy  soils  vetches  may  be  sown  and  eaten  off  with  sheep,  and 
afterwards  fallowed  for  wheat,  which  practice  would  be  greatly 
superior  to  an  entire  summer  fallow.  The  growing  of  vetches  on 
light  lands,  and  having  them  consumed  on  the  soil,  and  followed 
the  same  season  by  turnips,  is  an  excellent  practice;  and  some  of 
the  best  farmers  here,  for  the  purpose  of  securing  a crop,  have 
drilled  them  with  ashes  and  guano,  about  1 cwt.  to  the  acre. 
The  most  promising  vetches  I ever  saw  were  drilled  in  this 
manner  on  some  hungry  dead  soil.  They  will  be  folded  off  with 
sheep  in  the  spring,  and  followed  with  turnips  to  be  drilled  with 
bones  and  ashes. 
Shed  and  yard  room  for  the  shelter  of  stock,  and  in  which  to 
consume  the  fodder  and  straw'  of  the  farm,  and  to  insure  its  con- 
version into  manure,  is  still  much  required.  I not  un frequently 
see  cattle  kept  in  fields  all  winter,  and  a little  straw  or  hay,  or 
both,  given  them  by  being  strewed  on  the  sward.  Every  farmer 
has  long  known  the  mischief  done  to  sward-land  by  the  treading 
