710 
On  the  Farming  of  Somerset. 
Some  of  the  larger  farmers,  among  whom  Mr.  King,  of  Little- 
ton. near  Compton  Dundon,  is  one  of  the  best  (though  not  alto- 
gether favourably  situated  for  carrying  out  his  plans  fully),  grow 
good  crops  of  mangold,  rape,  and  swedes.  Mr.  King  buys  in  a 
large  number  of  sheep  in  proportion  to  his  acreage;  he  divides 
them  into  several  lots,  and  puts  100  of  them  into  his  green  crops, 
first  to  pick  off  vvliat  they  choose,  giving  them  at  the  same  time  a 
little  hay  and  a small  quantity  of  oats — one  bushel  to  100  sheep; 
and  finds  that  in  this  way  they  get  on  very  fast  at  a moderate 
expense. 
The  moor  is  extremely  subject  to  weed.  The  chick-weed, 
elsewhere  considered  comparatively  harmless,  is  here  quite  a 
plague,  rising  up  to  8 inches  thick  in  a fortnight.  The  land 
is  also  very  liable  to  lamb’s  tongue  and  couch.  For  the  former 
of  these  weeds  there  seems  to  be  no  remedy  but  the  constant  use 
of  the  liorse-hoe,  and  for  the  latter  a better  system  of  cropping. 
Garrett’s  horse-hoe  does  not  seem  to  have  found  its  way  into  the 
moor  yet. 
The  marked  superiority  of  those  parts  of  the  moor  which  have 
received  the  washings  of  the  clay  and  red  inarl  from  the  hills  may 
suggest  to  the  proprietors  the  value  which  would  ensue  from  car- 
rying out  the  clay  to  the  lands  in  the  middle  of  the  moor.  But  a 
thorough  improvement  in  the  drainage  and  the  laying  down  of 
stone  roads  are  the  needful  precursors  of  every  other  improvement. 
North  Moor  and  some  other  low  peat  moors  are  managed 
nearly  in  the  same  way.  The  moor  is  pared  and  burnt  at  a cost 
of  1/.  per  acre ; rape  or  some  other  green  crop  is  then  sown ; after 
which  wheat  and  oats  alternately  for  five  or  six  years,  and  the 
same  course  is  repeated.  Sometimes  extraordinary  crops  are 
grown — sometimes  the  whole  is  lost  by  the  floods. 
West  Sedgemoor  is  chiefly  used  for  young  stock,  bullocks  and 
horses,  to  run  in,  before  and  after  the  hay,  which  is  all  drawn  up 
over  a very  steep  hill  to  distant  farms.  Its  drainage  is  in  a very 
bad  state.  If  this  moor  were  thoroughly  drained,  and  divided 
into  well-arranged  farms  before  it  begins  to  be  racked  out,  it 
would  probably  make  some  of  the  finest  possible  arable  land  ; the 
red  marl  is  close  at  hand  for  its  improvement. 
There  are  tracts  of  arable  land  in  the  Marsh  quite  distinct  in 
their  character  from  the  peat  lands,  remarkable  chiefly  for  their 
extraordinary  value.  Mr.  Poole  told  me  of  an  instance  of  a large 
field  let  on  a lease  for  21  years  at  51.  per  acre.  After  the  expira- 
tion of  the  lease  it  was  let  for  41.  10s.,  and  after  being  in  tillage  for 
30  years,  it  sold  for  701.  per  acre,  and  immediately  let  for  3 1.  10s. 
per  acre.  There  is  land  in  Mark  Moor  which  has  been  known 
to  bear  wheat  for  19  consecutive  years  with  one  fallow.  In 
Westonzoyland  and  some  other  parishes,  which  rise  like  ancient 
