On  the  Farming  of  Somerset. 
756 
liable  to  be  affected.  The  breaking  up  of  a portion  of  this  land 
would  assist  the  farmer  to  bring  his  cattle  into  condition  before  he 
turned  them  out;  and  if  it  were  found  to  answer,  the  plan  might 
be  carried  further. 
In  all  that  is  said  of  breaking  up  grass-lands,  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  the  grass  which  is  yearly  mown  and  pastured 
by  milch  cows,  unless  it  is  constantly  manured,  is,  despite  of 
covenants  and  twenty-pound  penalties,  in  a steady  course  of 
deterioration,  which  nothing  but  a judicious  expenditure  in  green 
crops  on  the  fields  in  question,  or  on  adjoining  fields,  can  change 
into  improvement. 
It  may  be  safely  assumed  that  out  of  the  .500,000  acres  esti- 
mated as  grass-land  in  Somerset,  there  is  a twentieth  part,  which 
having  been  thus  impoverished  for  a long  course  of  years,  does 
not  yield  a gross  produce  of  2 L 10.s\  per  acre,  and  on  which  not 
more  than  a tenth  of  that  sum,  or  5s.  per  acre,  is  spent  in  wages. 
Supposing  that  5 acres  on  every  dairy  farm  of  100  acres  were 
broken  up,  it  would  be  a low  estimate  to  say  that  the  produce 
would  be  doubled  ; that  is,  that  on  an  average  of  years,  twenty 
bushels  of  wheat  at  5s.,  or  tw'enty  tons  of  roots  at  5s.  per  acre,* 
might  be  expected.  Supposing  that  of  the  additional  produce 
20s.  per  acre  were  spent  in  wages,  there  would  ensue  an  increased 
demand  for  more  than  a thousand  able-bodied  men  in  constant 
work,  at  9s.  6 d.  per  week,  being  at  the  rate  of  more  than  three  out 
of  every  hundred  labourers  over  the  whole  county  ; and  in  the 
event  of  these  lands  being  drained,  which  they  probably  would 
require  to  be,  there  would  be  additional  employment  for  three 
or  four  times  that  number  of  men  during  the  winter  months  for 
several  years. 
Other  suggestions  might  be  made;  but  I proceed  to  state  in 
conclusion  some  facts  which  I believe  will  furnish  at  once  a 
measure  of  the  standard  of  farming  in  the  county,  and  of  the 
demand  for  labour. 
Statistics  of  Green  Crops  and  Meat  produced. — The  facts  I am 
about  to  state  have  been  placed  in  my  hands  in  the  most  kind 
and  liberal  manner, — with  a view  of  testing  our  state  of  forward- 
ness in  the  race  of  agricultural  improvement  by  a comparison  of 
the  quantity  of  meat  annually  produced  on  some  farms  in  Somerset 
with  that  produced  on  some  well-managed  farms  in  other  parts 
of  England. 
If  the  quantity  of  meat  turned  off  a farm  annually  is  large,  it 
may  be  presumed  that  the  grass  and  green  crops  are  good,  that 
the  farm  is  free  from  weeds;  therefore  that  much  labour  is 
employed  if  it  is  in  great  part  arable  ; and  that  a large  quantity  of 
* Hoots  are  frequently  sold  now  at  15s.  per  ton,  or  1».  per  cwt.,  notonly  near  the 
large  towns,  hut  in  other  parts  of  the  Marsh. 
