The Agriculture of the Cotswolds. 
31 
bushels of sainfoin are sown per acre. On the Cotswolds both 
spring corn and roots require rain pretty frequently, especially 
when the early spring has been wet, and it has not been possible 
^ i 1 h ' T Barle ^’ as wel1 as oats, is now generally cut 
with the binder. In order to get an even sample, barley was 
formerly mown with the scythe, laid thinly in swathe, and 
turned so as to expose it all as far as possible to the same 
amount of sun and dew. There are not now enough men in 
the country districts to do this, and few of these know how to 
use a scythe. 
Seeds .—After -harvest the young seeds sown in the spring 
corn are often lightly grazed by the lambs. In a growing 
season, and with a good plant, this does little harm, but it is 
better to keep off sainfoin the first autumn. The young layers 
will be greatly helped if it can be arranged to give them a 
dressing of farmyard manure in the winter to strengthen the 
piant and protect it from frost. Early in June the seeds are 
cut with the machine, after which they are turned with -the 
side delivery rake, put up in small cocks, and stacked in 
ricks usually placed in the turnip fields for consumption by 
he sheep m the following winter. Sainfoin is cut as soon as 
it shows m flower, and requires more time to make than 
ordinary seeds. It is, however, well worth all the trouble that 
can be bestowed on it. 
For some years after the middle of the last century it was 
customary even on the lighter Cotswold soils to plough with 
three horses at length, which required a boy to lead, besides the 
man driving the plough. The lack of boys working on farms 
has led to the general employment of pairs for ploughing, and 
it is found that the work can be got through as easily as with 
three Formerly horses were not so well kept, and were 
unable to do so hard a day’s work. At the present time they 
are generally allowed two bushels of corn a week, and are out 
ot the stable seven hours a day in winter and eight in summer 
but longer at hay time and harvest. They go out in winter at 
«, and are back in the stable at 4, with three quarters of an 
hour s rest standing unfed and often shivering on the headland 
while the men get their lunch and dinner. In summer the 
ordinary hours, except at hay time and harvest, are 7 to 4. In 
many other parts of the country where, when daylight permits 
it is the practice for horses to work from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m with 
two hours rest at midday when they are unharnessed and fed 
more work is done, but on the large arable farms of the 
Cotswolds the fields are often at such a distance from the 
homestead that this could not well be managed. The result 
however, is that while in winter three quarters of an acre may 
sometimes be ploughed in a day, it is very often considerably 
