762 
Ou  the  Farming  of  Somerset. 
generally  ; and  in  order  to  employ  the  men  in  winter,  drain  wet 
land,  collect  manure,  &c. 
9.  When  lands  are  situated  on  exposed  situations,  improve  the 
climate  by  judicious  plantations. 
To  these  suggestions  I will  only  venture  to  add  the  following 
inquiries : — 
1.  Whether  a greater  quantity  of  green  food  might  not  be 
constantly  produced  if  the  land  were  kept  so  clean  that  the 
stubbles  might  be  regularly  picked  over  in  the  autumn  and 
ploughed  up  for  an  intermediate  winter  crop,  grown  for  spring 
keep,  to  be  followed  on  the  same  land  by  turnips  ? 
2.  Whether  turnips,  as  an  all  but  universal  rule,  might  not  be 
put  in  with  superphosphate  and  a smaller  quantity  of  dung,  the 
spare  dung  being  hauled  out  on  the  young  grass  in  the  autumn? 
3.  Whether  meat  and  manure  might  not  be  produced  in  greater 
quantities  and  at  a cheaper  rate  by  a judicious  admixture  of  roots 
with  other  kinds  of  food,  especially  chaff  and  linseed  or  cake  in 
small  quantities,  and  by  greater  attention  to  the  time  of  feeding 
and  the  comfort  of  the  animals  ? 
4.  Whether  young  stock  ought  to  be  fed  merely  on  straw 
through  the  winter,  or  to  receive  a small  portion  of  roots  and 
cake  regularly,  and  to  be  kept  in  a constantly  growing  state,  so 
as  to  come  to  early  maturity  ? 
5.  Whether  the  best  way  of  saving  liquid-manure  is  not  to 
absorb  it  with  ashes  in  pits,  instead  of  leaving  it  to  run  into  the 
pond,  or  attempting  to  cart  it  over  in  a diluted  state  ? 
6.  W hether  a naked  fallow  on  heavy  clays  may  not  be  dis- 
pensed with,  or  at  least  made  less  frequent,  by  Growing  roots  with 
manure  as  well  as  seed  dibbled,  and  by  using  a portable  railway 
to  get  it  off  the  land  ? 
7.  Whether,  if  the  farms  on  the  peat  moors  were  properly 
arranged,  the  peat  might  not  be  profitably  clayed? 
Conclusion  as  to  Capital. — The  writer  who  ventures  to  suggest 
what  is  to  be  done  to  improve  farming  in  a particular  county  is 
bound  not  to  shrink  from  a practical  answer  to  the  question — 
“ How  is  it  to  be  done  ? ” The  answer  is  a very  simple  one,  but 
I believe  it  is  the  only  true  one  : — “ By  giving  encouragement 
and  security  to  capital.”  Want  of  capital  is  the  cause  which 
most  retards  farming  in  Somersetshire.  There  can  be  no  general 
augmentation  of  the  produce  of  the  land  nor  of  the  demand  for 
labour  until  the  capital  invested  in  the  farms  is  larger  than  it 
usually  is,  or  the  extent  of  each  farmer’s  land  reduced  to  what 
he  can  manage  properly. 
This  can  only  be  the  work  of  time.  It  implies  that  landlords 
shall  have  learned  to  resist  the  temptation  of  accepting  a tenant 
without  capital,  because  he  will  give  a little  more  rent  than 
