On  the  Farming  of  Somerset. 
729 
acre,  drill  in  the  wheat,  tread  it  with  sheep,  harrow  it,  and  tread 
with  sheep  again.  Some  of  the  Mendip  land  is  a peculiarly  light 
black  mould,  which  looks  like  vegetable  peat,  but  leaves  a con- 
siderable ash  when  burnt,  and  requires  a great  deal  of  pressure. 
Mr.  Davis  adopts  a five-field  course,  leaving  the  grass  out  two 
years ; he  sows  his  turnips  with  2 cwt.  of  superphosphate  and  £ cwt. 
of  guano  ; this  is  sometimes  applied  with  a liquid-manure  drill, 
at  the  rate  of  3 hogsheads  of  water  per  acre,  and  sometimes  with 
ashes,  the  latter  with  rather  the  best  effect. 
Mr.  Davis  thinks  it  an  important  point  to  put  in  the  turnip- 
seed  soon  after  ploughing,  when  the  land  is  dry,  and  not  on  a 
stale  furrow,  as  advised  by  Mr.  Graburn  on  the  lias  stonebrash. 
The  climate  is  unfavourable  for  clover,  but  Mr.  Davis  grows 
very  fair  fields  of  rye-grass,  of  which  he  sows  as  much  as  2 bushels 
per  acre. 
He  al  so  finds  great  benefit  conferred  upon  old  grass  by 
spreading  lime  on  it  at  the  rate  of  160  bushels  to  the  acre,  soon 
after  it  is  mown,  one  heap  to  every  perch,  which  is  slaked  at 
once  with  a little  water,  and  brushed  in  while  it  is  hot.  This 
practice  is  mentioned  by  Mr.  Bdlingsley  as  producing  durable 
effects  which  might  be  seen  for  15  or  20  years.  It  also  agrees 
remarkably  with  Mr.  Blake’s  practice  on  a very  different  soil  in 
the  west.  The  turnips  and  grass  were  looking  very  fine  in  the 
fall  of  the  year,  and  about  1500  sheep  on  one  portion  of  the 
farm  in  very  good  condition.  If  his  oats  are  not  well  harvested, 
he  passes  them  through  the  chaff-cutter  (as  Mr.  Smith  intends  to 
do  on  Exmoor),  and  gives  them  as  chaff  with  cake  to  the  sheep. 
Mr.  Davis,  like  all  men  whose  standard  is  a high  one,  is  very 
much  alive  to  the  points  in  which  his  practice  falls  short  of  his 
ideal  ; and  though  he  most  kindly  afforded  me  every  information, 
was  unwilling  that  his  farm  should  be  held  up  as  a model.  Some 
apology  is  perhaps  due  to  him  for  this  crude  account  of  his  es- 
tate ; but  at  a time  when  the  attention  of  landlords  must  be 
turned  to  the  practical  means  of  maintaining  the  cultivation  of 
their  estates,  it  is  a duty  to  draw  attention  to  the  means  by  which 
he  has  brought  wild  Mendip  land  into  good  cultivation,  and, 
assuredly,  a large  part  of  the  hill  must  be  reclaimed  over  again 
before  it  can  be  properly  farmed. 
It  is  a matter  of  no  little  interest  that  some  of  Mr.  Davis’s 
buildings  were  erected  by  Mr.  Billingsley,  and  that  the  horse- 
wheel  of  the  first  threshing-machine  put  up  in  the  county  is  still 
in  use.  Some  of  the  neighbours  say  that  Mr.  Davis  has  been  at 
great  expense  ; that  if  the  estate  were  let  it  would  soon  go  back, 
for  that  Mendip  land  is  proverbial  for  its  “ short  memory.”  In 
the  firs:  place,  I have  ascertained  that  common  report  much  over- 
rates the  expenses  ; in  the  next  place,  if  the  land  have  a short 
