724 
On  the  Farming  of  Somerset. 
including  Chandler’s  liquid-manure  drill,  with  one  of  Hornsby’s 
drills,  and  the  best  scarifiers,  pressers,  ploughs,  and  harrows. 
Mr.  Salter’s  farm  is  about  700  acres.  He  has  introduced,  on 
a part  of  his  land,  a three-course  rotation  ; two  root-crops  in  suc- 
cession, and  one  wheat-crop.  He  considers  it  most  profitable, 
under  present  circumstances,  to  keep  a dairy,  a large  flock  of 
sheep,  and  to  grow  the  finest  quality  of  grain  alone.  Food  for 
stock  is  therefore  a prime  consideration.  By  bringing  his  cows 
in  early,  he  is  able  to  let  them  at  a higher  price;  the  same  holds 
good  of  the  sale  of  his  breeding  ewes.  The  stubbles  having  been 
broken  up  immediately  after  harvest,  for  vetches,  turnips  and 
swedes  are  sown  with  superphosphate  in  the  summer.  They  are 
consumed  on  the  ground,  and  a crop  of  mangold  follows  with 
little  expense. 
Mr.  Salter  keeps  a fine  dairy  of  40  Devon  cows,  and  about  500 
breeding  ewes,  besides  other  sheep.  His  testimony  to  the  value 
of  the  Dorset  flock  is  very  strong.  Some  years  ago  he  gave  up 
keeping  Dorsets,  and  went  to  considerable  expense  to  raise  a 
Down  flock  from  stock  obtained  from  Mr.  Ellman  and  other 
noted  Sussex  breeders;  but,  after  seven  years’  trial  of  them,  he 
has  returned  to  the  Dorsets,  and  he  is  quite  satisfied  that  they 
pay  best.  His  flock  is  a very  prime  one,  and  commands  high 
prices  at  Weyhill. 
Passing  along  the  Crewkerne  and  Chard  Hills,  and  leaving 
some  good  farms  near  the  latter  place,  we  may  ascend  the 
Black  Down  Hills,  of  the  farming  of  which  little  can  be  said 
that  is  favourable.  The  land  is  in  the  hands  of  men  of  no 
capital,  who  employ  hardly  any  labour.  It  is  famous  for  its  oats, 
a crop  for  which  the  land  below  is  too  good.  Two  corn  crops 
in  succession  are  still  the  rule,  and  not  the  exception  ; and 
the  all-consuming  course  of  wheat,  barley,  oats,  and  clover  cut, 
is  not  yet  a matter  for  the  historian  of  by-gone  tunes.  There 
is,  however,  on  these  hills  one  experiment  which  must  be  viewed 
with  interest.  Mr.  W.  Beadon,  of  Taunton,  who  has  always 
been  a sanguine  believer  in  the  elastic  powers  of  British  agricul- 
ture, has  given  his  friends  an  opportunity  of  testing  his  theory 
by  his  own  practice  in  an  extreme  case. 
The  estate  of  Wyke,  in  the  parish  of  Otterford,  rests  on  the 
greensand,  which  is  covered  with  flints,  rubbly  soil,  thin  clay, 
and  peat.  Fie  is  farming  the  greater  part  of  the  estate  himself, 
occupying  180  acres  of  arable  land,  and  200  of  grass,  a very 
small  part  of  which  is  water-meadow,  but  he  holds  15  acres  of 
meadow  in  the  Yale  to  help  him  in  the  spring.  He  has  added 
to  his  estate  lately  by  the  purchase  of  700  or  800  acres  of 
poor  common,  which  he  is  about  to  reclaim.  Before  he  took 
the  estate  in  hand  it  employed  four  men,  and  there  was  not  one 
