The Agriculture of the Cotswolds. 27 
be met with as an object of antiquarian interest in remote 
villages, is a paring iron fixed on a wooden shaft with a 
crossbar. This was held with both hands, and the labourer 
pushed it into the ground from his thighs, which were protected 
by two narrow boards, cutting a thin slice, about 2 in. thick, 
which he turned over by moving the cross-handle When dry, 
the turves were stifle-burned, being gathered up in small heaps 
regularly distributed over the field, with a handful of straw in 
the centre, which was set on fire, and when properly alight all 
the apertures were closed, wherever smoke was observed to 
issue a clod being immediately placed upon the spot. If the fire 
was too brisk the earth came out hard and in lumps, but when 
done properly it resulted in a fine powder, which, when spread 
over the field, ensured a good crop of turnips, with a saving 
of at least half the usual dressing and sometimes without any 
manure. This operation not only destroyed weeds, but also the 
grubs of wireworm and larvae of other insects inimical to crops, 
and besides providing a fertilizer, the fine ashes were useful in 
getting a fine tilth to absorb and retain the moisture in the soil, 
without which the turnip seed would not vegetate. Although 
the rubbish in foul land is still burnt, the preceding cultivations 
are now effected by horse-drawn implements. The breast- 
plough was also often used to turn in the manure behind the 
sheepfold on the root land, which was believed to prevent loss 
of manure by evaporation, and to keep the soil moist for the 
barley crop to a greater extent than if it had been ploughed in 
according to the present practice. Breast-ploughing, however, 
was an expensive operation, even in the days of low-priced 
labour, and when labourers became less numerous and wages 
rose, it dropped out of practice. It is, however, considered by 
the older generation of farmers that since the breast-plough 
and ox team ceased to be employed it has been more difficult 
to get a plant of turnips than before. 
Arthur Young riding over the Cotswolds in 1773, wrote of 
them as follows : — 
“ The crops were generally very poor, and mostly full 
of weeds — a strong proof of bad husbandry ; and another 
yet more so, is their fallows being the same. About 
Burford and Sherborn their courses of crops are various. 
1, some fallow for wheat ; 2, dibbled pease ; 3, barley. 
Others vary it : 1, wheat ; 2, beans dibbled or barley ; 3, 
pease. This is in the low lands about Sherborn, but on 
the Cotswold Hills they take a crop, and lay down with 
ray-grass and clover. They use all foot ploughs with one 
wheel, and four horses in length ; plough about one acre 
a day. The open fields on the hills let in general for 
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