30 
The Agriculture of the Cotswolds. 
the end of the year if possible. In spring it is ploughed across, 
rolled, dragged, rolled again, and the seed drilled. Ihe land 
often has 3 or 4 cwt. of salt broadcasted before drilling, and 
about 4 cwt. of superphosphate drilled with the seed. It is 
afterwards top-dressed with 1 cwt. of nitrate of soda. . 
In the seventies of the last century, Professor Wnghtson 
and the members of the Cirencester Chamber of Agriculture 
carried out numerous field experiments on the Cotswold Hills 
on the artificial manuring of swedes and turnips, the results o 
which were communicated to this Journal, and nothing has since 
occurred to cause any alteration in the practice that was then 
found the most successful. About 3 cwt. of superphosphate ot 
lime or about 2 cwt. of superphosphate and 1 cwt. of dissolved 
bones is drilled with the swedes, and somewhat less tor the 
turnips. In this district all roots are drilled on the flat. A 
small acreage of vetches is usually grown, and as lamb keep is 
often short in the late summer, rape or kale and early turnips 
are sown early in May, followed by the swedes for the fatting 
sheep in winter. Later on provision must be made for the 
ewes and lambs, and white swedes (a variety peculiar to the 
Cotswolds), late turnips and kale are drilled with this object. ^ 
Sometimes roots follow sainfoin, as after a field has been m 
this crop some years it is apt to get very foul. In extreme cases 
the land is often baulked, or raftered, in the autumn, that is to 
say, one slice is ploughed from end to end of the bout and the 
next at just double the distance, so that half only of the field is 
thus actually ploughed and the sod is turned over flat on the 
unploughed" portion, the two surfaces touching each other. 
After being left a month or so to rot, it is pulled across with 
heavy drags, cross-ploughed, cleaned, and prepared for roots. 
As soon as the plants show sufficiently they are horse-hoed, 
and this is done three or four times throughout the summer. 
Mangold and swedes are singled and seconded, but turnips 
only°singled. Early in November the mangold are pulled and 
secured in the clamp, after which a proportion of the swede 
crop is pitted, or trenched, in the field to protect it against 
frost 
Barley and Oats . — The plough will have been following 
the sheepfold throughout the autumn and winter, and the land 
is crossploughed in February or March, dragged, rolled, and 
harrowed. When ready for sowing about three bushels of 
barley, or three to four bushels of oats are drilled pei acie, 
harrowed, and lightly rolled in. In April or May the seeds for 
the next year’s hay crop are either drilled across the corn or 
sown with the seed barrow, and lightly harrowed and rolled in. 
About 28 lb. of seeds is usually sown for a two years ley, the 
mixture varying according to circumstances. About four 
