abF 9. H. Hill Siibrary ^att\] CTaroltna ^talr This book was presented by lepartment of Agricultural Economics S^eCIAL COLLECTIONS S457 G5K57 v.i This book must not be taken from the Library building. 25M JUNE 58 FORM 2 Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2010 witii funding from NCSU Libraries Iittp://www.arcliive.org/details/ruraleconomyofgl01mars ' THE RURAL ECONOMY Q P Henry C. Taylor. GLOCESTERSHIRE, VOL I, i r THE RURAL ECONOMY O F GLOCESTERSHIRE; INCLUDING ITS DAIRY: TOGETHER WITH THE DAIRY MANAGEMENT F NORTH WILTSHIREj AND THE MANAGEMENT O F ORCHARDS and FRUIT LIOUOR, 1 N HEREFORDSHIRE, By Mr. MARSHALL. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. GLOCESTER: Printed by R. Raikes, For G. Nicol, Pall-Mall, London, m. dcc. lxxxix. , ^ ,-, /7?f ADVERTISEMENT. jD Y MY PRACTICE in Surrey, I became acquainted with the Agri- culture of they3«///^r;z counties. By my refidence in Norfolk, that of the eajlern quarter of the kingdom was ren- dered familiar. By paffing in York- shire the early part of life, by vifiting it repeatedly, and finally reviewing it analytically, that of the northern quar- ter became firongly imprelled on my mind. But, when I left Yorklhire, in 1783*, I was as much unacquainted with the practice of the ivejiern coun- ties, as if I had been a ftranger to the general fubjed:. Having, however, remarked, in the widely differing practices of the three diftant ♦ See advertiferaent to Rural Ecox. of Yorkshire, a 3 vi ADVERTISEMENT. diftant countries I had feen, the vari- ous means of obtaining the fame objedl, and the varying methods of conduvfling the fame operation", I was delirous to become acquainted with the practice of the fourth quarter. I had other motives to it than curio- fity. For though I had yet no hope of executing mv plan on the broad balis I have lince entered upon, I neverthelefs had my reafons for wifliing to be pof- fefTed of a general knowledge of the Rural Economy of the kingdom at large. Befide, in Norfolk, I had made an effay in the art of manufa6luring Cheese, and was defirous to become mailer of it. The management of FRUIT LiQ^JOR, too, was a fubjecft, which, being no where elfe to be ftu- died, was of courfe a farther induce- ment to my vifiting the weftern quarter. Glocestershire I found to be the onlv individual county, which could furniHi me with the requifite informa- tion. Therefore, in the wane of the fummcr ADVERTISEMENT. vil fummer of 1783, I came into this county ; and, agreeably to the plan ori- ginally propofed *, took up my refi- dence in a farm houfe ; — near the cen- ter of the vale of Glocefter : where, and in the vale of Berkeley I remained, until I had exceeded my expectation, with refpedl to the manufacturing of cheefe ; and had obtained a general idea of the rural affairs of the diftrid:, ade- quate to the purpofe I then had in view. But my regifter, in this cafe, as in that of Yorkfhire, was not fufficiently finiflied, for public infpedlion. Nor was it, indeed, fufficiently full to bear the title I wifhed to give it. My ob- fervations had been confined to one fea- fon of the year : whereas to gain a com- plete knowledge of the rural economy of an extent of country, it is proper that its feveral departments fhould pafs under the eye in every feafon. a 4 Therefore, * See Rural Econ. of Norfolk. Addref*, Sec. viii ADVERTISEMENT. Therefore, in the beginning of April laft, immediately on the publication of the Rural Economy of Yorkshire, I returned, without lof^ of time, into Glocestershire : where and in its neighbouring diAricls, I have remained a further time of ibmewhat more than twelve months : a period which has been appropriated, folely, to the work which I am now offering to the public. IN A PREFATORY ADDRESS, aftixed to the Rural Economy of Norfolk, I endeavoured to explain the Plan of the Work I was then entering upon ; and hoped that I had left no ground for mifapprehenfion. Indeed, it appeared, to my own mind, fo fimple and lelfevident, as not to be eafily mifunderftood. Neverthelefs, from a general Objec- TioN which, I underftand has been made againll it, there is fome reafon to fufpedl that I have fallen fhort in my explanation. ADVERTISEMENT. ijc explanation. The objedllon held out is — " that the fame fubjeds are treated of in Yorkshire as in Norfolk." To anfwer this as an objeSiion is im- pofiible : for had it been put — " that nearly the fame fubjedls are treated of in Yorkfhirc as in Norfolk," — the po- rtion would have been fully granted : as being perfectly confonant with the principle on which the plan is raifed. It is indeed, one of the beft evidences that can be offered in its favor : inas- much as it fhows the Plan of the Register to be fuch, as, in its full extent, to admit under the feveral heads, every idea relative to the fubjecSt : for, limilar as the heads really are, in the two fpecimens already given, I found not, in either difl:ri(fl, a fa6t be- longing to the whole circle of rural af- fairs which would not have fallen aptly under them. The OBJECTS and operations of pusBANDRY, are, in number ^ndfpecies, th^ X ADVERTISEMENT. xh^ fame, or nearly the fame, in every quarter of the kingdom. But the me- thods of obtaining the objeds, and of performing the operations, are infinitely various. To catch the variations, "ivhenever they are fufficienlly marked, whether with excellency or defect, is one of the main objedts of the part of the plan I am now executing. Another, ta give pra(5lical defcriptions of fuch par- ticular OBJECTS and operations, as are confined to particular diftricts. And a third, to regirter the excellencies and defects, in the practice of each diftrict, relative to every other depart- ment of Rural Economy. By thus adducing in each llation (were it poiTible) every valuable idea it is pofTefTed of on thefe fubie<5ts ; and by arranging thofe of different flations in regifters formed on the fame, or nearly the fame plan ; the different modes of conducting any particular branch of management may be referred to, and th^ ADVERTISEMENT. xi the feveral pradices be compared. Con- fequently, in the completion cf the plan, may be feen the various practices of the kingdom, relating to any indi- vidual fubjedl. An art fo extenlive, and in many things fo abftrufe, as that of ^^gri- CULTURE, muft remain in a llate of great imperfedion, until the leading fads belonging to it, which are already known, be reduced to a ftate of refe- rence. To raife fchemes of improve- ment, public or private, before this be effedled, muft be an a6t of improvi- dence fimilar to that of fettin^ about the ftudy of chemiftry, or any other branch of philofophy, by experiment, \vithout having previoully become ac- quainted with the fuels that are already afcertained. A man, thus employed, might fpend a lifetime of ingenuity, without brin2:inQ: to VvAit a fingle fad:, which was not intimately known be- fore he began. Such 3di APVERTISEMENT. Such is the leading principle, the MAIN OBJECT, the SUBSTANCE of the plan. But this, as other superstruc- tures, requires a groundwork. Riiraleconomics are founded in na- ture: much of the art depends upon climature, fituation, foil, and a variety of natural circumftances. Hence, not only a geographical description, of the diftriul under furyey, becomes re- quilitej but the three kingdoms of nature, fo far as they are intimately conne^ed with the fubiedt, require to be examined and defcribed, with scien- tific accuracy. Nor are thefe the only requilites. The work, before it be fit to meet the public eye, requires a degree of finilh. It is neceflary that every part (hould be confpicuous. The exxellencies, not being furhciently evident, perhaps, to common obfervation, may require to be relirced; and the defers to be brought out, and fliown in their naked defor- mity ^ ADVERTISEMENT. xiii mity; that their impreffions on the mind may be the flronger and more lafling. Nor does the labour end here. In carrying on a work of this nature, the reflection will be voluntarily employed, in drawing practical inferences; and in filling up deficiencies; not altogether, perhaps, with felfevident or theoretic ideas, arifing out of the fub- jedl in hand ; but with practical KNOWLEDGE, colledcd incidentally, not in any particular diflridl, but in every quarter of the kingdom, and which, being nowhere on record, might be loft to the general defign, if not laid up in this manner.* If * It may be proper to remark here, that, (through various motives) the rural economy of Yorkfhire contains a greater number ofthefe fugitive ideas, than either the Norfolk or the prefent volumes ; which, neverthelefs, have their refpedive (hares. They are frequently throwa into the didacik form ; as being the moft concife, and the XIV ADVERTISEMENT. If the ideas thus offered by the re- fle(flion, do not appear to the judgement fufficiently afcertained, to become evi- dently ufeful in promoting the general intention of the work, they are, with other unafcertained ideas, arifing to the obfervation in the diftridt immediately under furvey, either thrown out as HINTS, and inferted with fuch marks of diffidence J as cannot eafily be mifun- derftood, for the ufe of thofe who are in pra(ftice, and have leifure to afcertain them; or, are entirely rejected. The rural economy of Yorklhire, if duly examined, will be found to be ex- ecuted on thefe principles. Thus, to fpeak in reply to the objeBioTiy which has given rife to thefe explanations, under fuch heads, whether they include general operations, or ordinary objecfls of culture, as were amply treated of in Norfolk, deviations only, whether they arife from cuftom fituation or foil, are brought forward. But, where a crop ADVERTISEMENT. x\? a crop, or an operation, not cultivated or performed in Norfolk, arifes, it be-, comes 2.freJJi fubjedl ; and an additional divifion or fubdivifion is, of courfe, opened for its reception ; and every thing deemed ufeful, refpedling it, re- giflered. Again, where a crop or an operation common to Norfolk, is not found in Yorklhire, the head or com- partment of the regifter, which received it in the former, is, of courfe, dropped in the later. If, in the rural economy of Yorkiliire, I had defcribed the dibbling of wheat, for inftance, or the cultivation of buck- weet; or, in the rural economy of Nor- folk, the Operation of planting potatoes with the plow, or the cultivation of the rape crop ; or had even inflituted heads for thefe fubjeds; I fhould, indeed, have rendered my work liable to objedlion. But, becaufe I had defcribed the ge- neral management of foils and manures; and the general operations of fowing, weeding, x%i ADVERTISEMENT* weeding, and harvefting ; the cultiva-' tion of wheat and barley -, and the ma- nagement of cattle and fhecp; as pradlifed in Norfolk -, were thefe fubjecfts to be pafled without notice, in defcribing the pra(5tice of Yorkfliire ! Or, becaufe a writer, on geography, has defcribed the mountains and rivers of France, for inftance, is he, in giving a defcription of Spain, to pafs over the mountains and rivers unnoticed ! But ill founded as that objedlion (if it will bear the name) evidently is, the making of it implies a degree of difla- tisfadlioi, or, if the word be applica- ble, a degree of difaffedion toward the work ; and I am delirous to render it, were it pofTible, free from difappro- bation. Perhaps the objecflion arofe in mif- apprehenfion. It may be conjecflured, that my flations are unlimited, and my volumes, of courfe, unnumbered; ef- pecially as fome infmuation of this na- ture ADVERTISEMENT. xvn ture was, I underftand, tacked to the objedlion. Left, therefore, fome of my readers, whofe approbation I am delirous of pre- ferving entire, fhould have conceived the fame idea, it becomes requifite to aprize them, that, unlefs I make a re- furvey of the southern counties (thereby completing the five princi- pal STATIONS I have been led to fix in) the rural economy of the midland counties (now preparing for the prefs) will clofe my survey of provincial PRACTICE. The completion of my plan extends no farther than to seven stations : adding, to the five more central, one in the more western counties, of So- merfet, Dorfet, and Devon, and another in the more northern provinces; in- cluding; Northumberland, and the low- o lands of SCOTLAND. At prefent, however, there is little probability of the furvey being extended b to xvm ADVERTISEMENT. to the two latter ftations : and no de- gree of certainty of its being continued to the fouthern counties. This in reply to verbal objedlions. Under a delire a pardonable one I trufl of freeing the work, as faras in the extenfivencfs of its nature it is ca- pable of being freed, from obje<5tions of every kind ; I think it prudent to take notice, here, of fome lefs general obfer- vations: made in a more liberal manner, by a different order of men, and through a different channel of communication, the LITERARY JOURNALS. But, in doing this, I muft neceflarily place myfelf in a fomewhat delicate (itu- ation. The flattering accounts, wliich have been there given of the work (in /;rf inftance flattering indeed !) may fcem to preclude every fpecies of reply ; as I mufl, in making it, place an oppofition of fentiment where gratitude, only, may fecm to have a right. But feeing the very handfome manner, in which the remarks ADVERTISEMENT. xxili the banks being placed at fome diflance from the river, their requifite height for the purpofe intended, is rendered incon- fiderable J: and farther, that, between the Severn and its banics, ozier beds are frequent ; and fhoot, in general, with uncommon luxuriance*. PolTeffed cf thefe, and numerous other fads be- longing to the fubjedt, I had no need of books to affift me in drauang the Jkttchy which is the fabjedt of this re- ply ; and which I drew in Yorkfliire, becaufe I knew no inftance in the other diftridls I had vifited, in which the pradtice was fo applicable, or where the art of draining in difficult cafes is lefs underftood. Groundlefs, however, as the remark replied to mofl afluredly is, I repeat my acknowledgements to the writer who brought it forward. Other readers, equally X See this volume p. 12. note. * See PLANTIKG and orn : card : (publifhed in i^Sj) r- 547- xxiv AD\'ERTISEMENT. equally unacquainted of courfe with the fources of my information, may have ften the pafTage alluded to in the fame point of view. Befide, it affords me an ooportunity, which otherwife I might not have had, of faying ftill far- ther, that, from the commencement of the minutes of agriculture, in 1774, to the prefent time, I have read nothing" on the fubjedt of rural affairs ; exrcpt- in*^ feme few modern publications, which have fallen cafually under my eye*; and excepting that, in the year 1780, I fpsnt fome weeks, or months, in the reading room of the Britilh jMu- feum, looking over and forming a cata- logue of books, formerly written on the fubjed. This • And, among ihc reft, a book written by Mr. Ander- fon ; but whether it contained obfervations on river em- bankments, I have not the fmalleft recolletflion. At the time I read it, river embankment was a fubjeft totally un- interefting to me ; and, fuppofmg that I attended to the article, it is not probable, that any trace of it fliould remaia er. the mind ten or twelve vears. ADVERTISEMENT. xxv This difregard of modern books has not, of late years at leaft, rifen altoge- ther through negledi. I have defignedly refrained from them ; left I might catch ideas, imperceptibly, — and, by inter- weaving thofe of BOOKS with thofe of PROVINCIAL PRACTICE, blend the two parts of the general work, which I wifh to keep perfe6lly diftindt. And I have refrained more particularly from modern books, which have gained a degree of popularity -, left I fliould be led, imper- ceptibly, into controverfies, public or private, which might fwerve me from my main delign. The part of the plan which I have, hitherto, been executing has, in itfelf, been fufficient to engage every hour of my attention. I have purpofely fhut my eyes to every object not immediately conned:ed with it ; under a conviction, that the magnitude of the fubjedt is more than fufficient for any man's attention; and, of courfe, that whatever part of it c (liould xxri ADVERTISEMENT. Ihould be applied to other objecfts would be loft to the main piirfuit. My fources of information are ample; almoll without limitation. The two wide fields of NATURE and science, fo far as they are connected with the fub- je(ft under invefligation ; the estab- lished PRACTICE of the KINGDOM at large, with refpe6t to the three grand branches of rural economics ; the in- dividual practice, and fonietimes the individual opinion, of the superior CLASS of professional MEN 5 together with intcrefting incidents arifing in my OWN practice, have, hitherto, been the obje(fls of my attention. CON. ADVERTISEMENT. XIJC- remarks are conveyed, I may with fafety conclude, they rife from a liberal fource; and that vindication will not be miftaken for controverfy. There are, indeed, only two which require the form of reply. One of them relating to a part of the plan of the work, the other to my own chara(5ter as a public writer.* The firft relates to the botannical ca- talogues of plants given in the rural economy of Yorkfliire. But the remark, in this cafe, arifes evidently through an omiffion, or rather a misjudgement of my own. The objedlion made is, that no proportion of the number or quantity which * Some ftrictures on the inftance of the efFetSl of w hiten- ing grounds arife, evidently, in mifconception : owing, probably, to a want of perfpicuity in the paflage : no con- (lufion whatever was intended to be drawn. And the loofe hints on curled topped potatoes, thrown together in a note, with (as I conceived) every mark of diffidence, which words and printing could give them, are not furely fair objects of criticifm, IVhat motinje could in- duce io very able a pen to condefcend to treat them as fuch jstome altogether inexplicable. b 2 XX ADVERTISEMENT. which each fpecies bears to the other being given, the information becomes, of courle, vague and unfatisfa^ory- The two firft lifts were cautioufly guard- ed in this refped:, by faying that the plants ftood in them agreeably to their degrees of prevalency : an explanation, which I judged unneceflary to be affixed to the other catalogues ; from which the obfervations alluded to have evidently rifen. In the prefent volumes, I have been careful to guard each catalogue. The other remark relates to river em- bankments. In fpeaking of the marlhes or fens, which now lie in an unproduc- tive ftate, by the fide of the river Der- went, 1 have, it feems, propofed a me- thod of draining, fimilar to " direcftions given for the fame purpofe, in Ander- fon*s effays relating to agriculture and rural affiirs, publiihed about twelve years ago." I am happy to find that 1 have fallen into the fame train of thinking, upon any ADVERTISEMENT. xxi any occafion, with Dr. Anderson ; and am fingularly obliged to the inge- nious writer who makes the obfervation : not only on account of the very hand- fome manner in which it is made ; but becaufe it gives me a fair opportunity of explaining, ftill farther, the execution of my plan. The part, which I have hitherto been executing, is drawn from provincial PRACTICE, and my own experience: Or, in other words, is an accumulation of fadts ariling in nature, and prac- tice, or of reflexions aptly refulting from thefe facts. Excepting one inftance, that of in- CLOsuRES, I cannot call to my mind one deviation from this principle.* But that appeared to me a fubjedl of fo much importance, yet fo little underftood, that, feeing the fairnefs of the oppor- tunity, and the materials I. was in pof- feff] on * Unlefs the article orchards in thefe volumes may be deemed Aich. xxii ADVERTISEMENT. felTion of, it would have been wrong to have let flip, unneceflarily, one SefTion of Parliament, before I hid the mate- rials I was poffeffed of, in the beft man- ner I was able, before the public. In the inftance under reply, there is ample proof of the principle, on which the work is condudted. I refer, from the pafTage itfelf, to an inftance, in which the mofl material part of the pra(ftice I recommend is executed, on a large fcale, by raifing the water with draining engines, or marfh mills*. In the fame volume, only a few pages from the pafTage, I give another inftance, on a fmaller fcale, in which the water is got rid of, by finking a counter ditch, only, without the help either of mill or floodgate-f-. And I knew, at the fame time, that the Severn is embanked, and its meadows kept dry, by floodgates, on- ]v: and moreover knew that, in this cafe, the • Sec N our : ECOV : min: ii8. •f Sec York • ft ov • \(j1. >. p. jit. CONTENTS TO THE FIRST VOLUME. Page THE SEVERN and Its vale defcrlbed - x Glocestershire divided into diftri GLOCESTERSHIRE, kc. 7 Among the eaftern divifions we mull there- fore look for proper fubjefts of ftudy for rural ixFORMATiON : and we find three of them en- titled to notice. The vales of Glocester and Evesham, as a rich vale diftrift, equally abundant in grafs and corn. The Cotswold HILLS, as an upland arable dilbid:. And the vale of Berkley as a grafsland dairy country. The Stroudwater hills partake of the Cotl- wolds and the vale jointly.— A lovely plot of country : but not a proper fubject of rural ftudy ; as being a feat of manufadlure. The Southern extremity is various in foil and furface. The Brijiol garter is a fine tradt of country j but lies too near a populous town to be ftudied for general information. The Scuth-jjoldsy a ridge of hill which joins the Stroudwater to the Lanfdown hills, — is in foil, fituation, and ma- nagement, fimilar to the Cotfwolds : the Stroud- ^^•ater hills lying in a dip between them. The vales of Glocefter and Evefham The Cotfwold hills, and The vale of Berkley ; as well as North-Wiltlliire, and He re ford 111 ire ; will be feparately defcribed. B 4 THE i DISTRICT. T H E VALES O F GLOCESTER and EVESHAM. THE VALE which accompanies the Severn, through Glocestershire, has a na- tural infeftion, which divides it into two di- ftri(5ts, very different in produce and rural ma- nagement. Thefe diftricls, in diftinction, I fhall call the upper and the loiver vale ; or the the Vale of Glocester, and the Vale of Berkley. The upper vale, in whole, or in part, is fometimes Ipoken of as belonging to the Vale OF Evesham;— at prefent an maginary di- ftrift, of which no two men have the fame idea. Some include, not only the vale of Glocefter, but a principal part of Worcefterfhire within its limits ! Its natural limits, however, are evident -, VALE OF GLOCESTER. 9 evident ; and appear, from old maps, to have been formerly the received boundaries. The Vale of Evesham belongs to the Avon ; as the vales of Glocefter and Berkley do to the Severn : being included between the river and the Cotfwold hills: expanding fouth- ward to Campden and Morton ; and following the Avon eaflward to Stratford: Evefham being fituated near the midway between its ex- tremities: that is, near the center of the Vale OF Avon ; at the fartheft outfkirts of the Vale OF Severn. The town of Evefiiam flands in Worcefter- fhire -, but much of the vale lies within the boundaries of Glocefterfhire j and, in point of fituation, climature, furface, foil, produce, and niafugcment, may be confidered as a con- tinuation of the vali^ of Glocefter. Thefouth- ern part of Worceilerfhire, likewife enjoys a fimilar fituation and foil, and is fubjedted to a fimilar management. Therefore, in the rural Economy of the Vale of Glocester we fhall gain a general idea of that of a moft fertile and extenfive diftrift : one of the richeft rural gar- dens the ifland has to boaft of. The Id DISTRICT. THE V.\LE OF GLOCESTER Is, in OUTLINE, fomewhat remicircular: the Severn the chord the environing hills the arch: the towns of Glocefter, Tewkibury, and Cheltenham forming a triangle withinits area. Its extent, from the foot of Matfon hill to that of Bredon hill (its outnwfi limit to die north) is about fifteen miles: from the Severn to the foot of Dowdefwell hill, feveo or eight miles. The entire diftrid, there- fore, does not contain a hundred fquare miles. It may be eftimated at fifty to fixt}- thouland acres. The CLIMATURE of this diftridt, like that of the vale of Pickering, is ahcme its natural latitude, (51.^ SS'^ The feafons on this fide of the Severn areav.eek or ten days later than on the opf>ofite banks: owing, probably, to the lame caufe, as that which has been afligned for a fiinilar effeer, the water at that feafon is, I undcrftand, fometimes let into the meadows by flutccs op<'ned for that purpofe ; fo that the meadows ftill rr t ivf a I cncfit from the ficods. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 13 ruinous enemies of huibandry: yet, by proper management, it is, in general, the moft eafy to be overcome. The SOIL of this diftridl is moftly a rich deep loam: fitted, by intrinfic quality, for the production of every vegetable fuited to its fpe- cific nature and the latitude it lies in. But by a redundancy of moifture it is chilled, weak- ened, and rendered much lefs productive than foils, which enjoy equal richnefs and equal depth, generally are. This is in part owing to a want of fufficient fliores, and furface- drains y and in part to the nature of the — Subsoil, which accords with the theory above offered with relpe«fl to climature : being in general fingularly cold and full of water ; ef- pecially towards the center of the vale ; where it appears, in many places, to be compofed of ftone and clay, alternately, in thin ftrata. And here, every ftone pit is a well of limpid water. There are parts of the diftridt, how- ever, which enjoy a more genial foundation ; elpecially round the towns of Glocefter, Tewkf- buiy and Evefliam : fituations admirably well chofen. But no wonder ^ they were fixed upon, or raifed into eminence, by the. clergy -, who, it is 14 DISTRICT. is abundantly evident, were judges of foil and climature. The whole diftrift under notice has been ftrewed with monafteries and other religious places. The ROADS of the vale are fhamefuUy kept. The Pariih roads molUy lie in their natural flat ftate, with the ditches on either fide of theni full of water to the brim. The toll-roads are railed (generally much too high) but even on the fides of theie I have feen full ditches. It would, in principle, be equally wile to fet a fugar loaf in water by way of preferv'ing it, as to fufier water to (land on the fkies of roads whofe foundations are of an earthy nature. For {6 long as they remain in immediate contact with water, they never can acquire the requi- fite degree of firmneis. The foundation is ever a quagmire ; and the fujjerftrucbure, if not made unneceflarily ftrong, is always liable to be prefled into it. Hence the deep, ditch- lilie ruts which are commonly feen in roads of this defcriprion. The road between Glocefler, and Cheltenham (now become one of the mofl public roads in the illand) is fcarccly fit for the meanefl of their Majefbes* Ibbjetts to travel on, — AND PAY FOR J much lefs fuitable for their VALE OF GLOCESTER. 15 their Majefties themfelves, and their amiable family, to truft their own perfons upon. Materials are plentiful, and upon the fpot. The flone of the fubfoil is a blue-and- white limeflone.— Lying, however, in thin ftrata, feparated by thicker feams of clay, the raif- ing of it is fomewhat expenfive, and its du- ration is fhort. But the fhortnefs of the car- riage {lands againft thefe difadvantages. Be- low Glocefter, the roads are made with " flag" copper drofs — and with the ftone of St. Vin- cent's Rock near Briflol. To forty or fifty miles of water-carriage, two or three of land carriage are not unfrequently added ! Townships. The only circumftance no- ticeable, in this place, is the unfrequency of . alehoujes in the townfhips of the vale : a cir- cumftance which reflects much honour on the magiftracy of this count)\ Alehoufes are an intolerable nuifance to hufbandry. They are the nurferies of idlenefs, and every other vice. A virtuous nation could not, perhaps, be de- bauched fooner, or with more certainty, than by planting alehoufes in it : yet we fee them every where planted, as if for the purpofe of J rendering this nation more vicious tlian it al-/ ready i6 DISTRICT. ready is. If a reform of the lower clafs of people be really wifhed for^ the firft flep to- wards it would be, to fhut up die principal part of the petty alehoufes which are, at pre- jent, authorifed by Government to debauch them. Unfortunately, however, for fo defire- able a reform, alehoufes, like lotteries, are opened " for the good of the nation" ! The nation muft be in a tottering ftate, indeed, if it require gambhng and drunkennefs, the two main pillars of vice, to fupport it *. Inclosures. Many of the townfhips of this vale ftill lie in open common field—" com- mon meadow " — and common paftures—pro- vincially " Hams " which are ftinted for cows and other cattle. Perhaps half the vale is un- divided propert)'. In the common arable fields, property is intermixed in a fingular manner. Not with a view * From what will followr it may be faid ihat a want of Silehoufcs cannot prevent drunkennefs. In this country it certainly cannot. Ncverthclefs this dirtrifl is a ftriking evi- dence iliat a fcarcity of alehoufes lelFens the vices which fcl- dom fail of aObciating thenifelves with puhtic drunkeaocfii. There is a kind o{ Ptllt-inian deportment obfervable among the lower clafs of people, in this diftrici, which 1 have not been able to difcover, in any other. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 17 view to general conveniency or an equitable diltribution of the lands to the feveral mefliia- ges of the townfliips they lie in, as in other places they appear to have been j but here the property of two men, perhaps neighbours in the fame hamlet, will be mixed hnd-for-land alternately ; though the foil and the diftance from the melTuages be nearly the fame. A tradition which prevails in the diftri6t re- lates that this intermixture was made inten- tionally ; to prevent the inclofure of the fields ; and the crime is laid to the charge of the " Ba- rons ." The circumflances of intentional intermix- ture is probable ; but the Barons were lefs like- ly to effect fuch an expedient than the Bijhops ; whole monafteries were to be fed from the pro- duce of the countries they feverally flood in. Roads in thofe days were, in all probability, much worfe than they are now j and the bufi- nefs of diftant carriage much more difficult than it is at prefent. * C The * Every monaftery had its barn. Some of thefe barns, which appear to have been generally of immenfe fize, are ftiil remaining. One of them, which I had the opportunity of obferving, is in high prefervation ; and ftill in ufe as a bam. Over one of its porches is a room furnifhed with a fire i8 DISTRICT. The monaftcries being thus fituated, dieir exillencc depended on keeping a due portion of the lands in a ftate of aration. But the lands of this diftrict being better adapted, by the coolnefs of their fituation, to grajs than to corny they were no fooner inclofcd than converted to grafs-lands ; and there appears to have been no other probable means of preventing their in- clofure, than by cutting them into fhreds too fmall for that purpofe, and intermixing them in the manner in which they too evidently ap- pear. Producz — principally com. Befides the open fields, a confiderable Ihare of the inclofures are arable. However, if we include the com- mon meadows and Hinted paftures, nearly half the diftrict may be in grafs. The ivoodland is inconfiderable : not a hundred acres in the di- ftricb. I fpeak of the area of the vale. The Cotfwold cliffs, which overlook it, are parti- ally hungw ith wood. Above Witcomb, on the fouthern limb of the circle, there is a charming; tradl of woodland. If more of this irregular cliff were planted ; efpecially the fteeper iire place and chlmscy \ and opening into a gallery on the infide of the barn ; probally for the conveniency of the iMmHard, in overlooking the workmen. 1. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 19 deeper bolder proje<5lions, which are now in a (late of wafte, the profit eventually might be confiderable to the owner ; while beechen man- tles thrown over the prefent baldnefs of thefe projedtions could not fail of being grateful to the obfervers of rural beauty. 1. ESTATES. THIS DISTRICT includes no large eftate. — Several Noblemen have off eftates within it i but none of them is extenfive. The remainder belongs principally to refident gen- tlemen J and to a pretty numerous yeomanry. The TENURE is moftly fee-ftmple i with fome copyhold -, and a confiderable proportion of Church leafehold. In the vale of Evesham, one third of the landed property is faid to be held by the laft mentioned tenure : — moftly by leaf es for lives ; — two in poffeflion, and two in reverfion : fome by leaf es for a term j as twenty one years, renewable every feven. C 2 THE 28 MANAGEMENT OF ESl'ATES. a. 2. THE GENERAL MANAGEMENT O F ESTATES. THE DISTRICT more immediatdy under obfervation furnilhes little interefting in- formation on this head. There is no large eftate in it to take the lead, and eftablidi a uni- form fyftem of management. ' The TENANCY is various: much of the vale remains at zvilL But leaj'es are now be- jcome common, upon fome of the off eilates. The term — feven, fourteen or twenty one years.* Rent. • III the I'fl/^ «f Ei'cjham, in open-field townfhips, in which three crops and a tallow arc the ellablifhed courfeof hufbandry — leafes for four, eight, or twelve years ; tJiat is lor one two or three courfcs; arc granted. This is a fim- ple, ^, VALE OF GLOCESTER. 21 Rent. The old rent for grafsland 20s. for arable common-field los. an acre: landlord paying land tax ; which, in moft cafes, runs very high in this diftridt. But eftates in gene- ral have been moderately raifed of late years. Grafsland now lets from 20s. to 30s. Common field land los. to 15s. Arable inclofures, and " every years' land " los. to 20s. an acre. Covenants. Landlord builds and repairs. Tenant has the care oi t\it fences : and is, in the cuftom of the country, allowed to lop and top hedgerow timber. Gateftuff is, I under- ftand, pretty generally allowed \ and fometimes plowboot, i^c. In the center of the vale, te- nants are reftrifted from felling firaw -, but, near the towns, they are not under this re- ftridlion. Receiving. The prevaiUng times of re- ceiving are Michaelmas and Ladyday ; land- lords allowing their tenants fix months' credit. C 3 Removal pie, judicious principle of management, which might well be adopted in other arable diftrifts, in which a regular courfe of husbandry is eftablifhed: thus, in Norfolk, fix, twelve, or eighteen years would be a more eligible term of a leafe thetn leven, fourteep or twenty one ; — the prcfent term. 22 MANAGEMENT OF ESTATES. 2. Removals. Ladyday is the ufual time of changing tenants. Outgoing tenant Ibmetimes holding part of the grafs grounds to old May- day; and not uncommonly, I underftand, keeping pofleflion of the barns, &c. until the midfummer twelve-month following ! : — Har- vefting and thralhing out all the corn fown upon the farm previous to his leaving it*. Forms of Leases. The following arc the heads of a leafe in ufe on one of the firft off eftates in the diftrifl. Landlord agrees to lett ; — certain ipc- cified premifes ; from Ladyday ; — for a rent, and during a term, previoufly agreed upon. Also to put the buildings into tenantablc repair j and to keep them in repair during the term of the demife : (except as hereafter) Landlord reserves all mines, quarries, coals, minerals, and metals ; all timber, fruit and other trees, (lores, germins, andfaplings; with • How irntch preferable, in this refpecl, is the Norfolk practice; in which the bufinefs of the farm goci on nearly in the fame manner, in the firft and the laft years of the leafe, as in any intermediate year; and in wliicii the in- coming tenant obtains full pojfijjion, on the day of removal, (fee NoRF: EcoN.) • For the pra(^tice of Cleveland \ a diilridt very fmiilar to this; fee YoRJt: EcOn: vol I. P- 37- 2. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 23 with the lops, tops, and Ihredings thereofj together with all woods and underwoods, cop- pices, hedges, and hedgerows : (except as hereafter) with full liberty to fearch for, cut down, &c. &c. Also the right of hunting, fifhing, and fowling; " and all other royalties whatfoever.'* Also free liberty of viewing the premifes, and doing repairs. Also a liberty of planting timber or fruit trees, in hedgerows, or on " mounds j" that is, ditch banks. Also to inclofc, or to exchange lands, without controul of the tenant; the difference in rental value to be eftimated and fixed by arbitration. Tenant agrees to take ; — and to pay the ftipulated rent, half yearly; within fourteen days after it be due ; — under forfeiture of the leafe. Also to difcharge all tithes, dues, levies, duties, rates, affeffments, taxes, and pay- ments, (the land tax only excepted) whether parliamentary or parochial, impofed, or to be impofed, on the premifes. C 4. Also 24 MAKAGEMINT OF ESTATES. a. Also to do fuit and fervice at the Lord's Court, holden for the manor in which the premiies lie. Also to do all neceflkry carriage for repairs. Also to provide uheaten flra\r, with rods, &c. for thatching. Also to repair, and keep in good order and repair, and to deliver up in fuch condition at the end of the term, the pump, and the win-r dows, belonging to the premifes. Also the " court yards"^-( including the ftraw and dung yards) — ^with the cauleways thereunto belonging. Also to repair, keep and deliver up in good order and repair, the hedges, gates, pales, rails, ftiles, mounds and fences j and to find iron work, Ipikes, and nails ; (landlord pro- i-iding and aUowing rough timber;) for thefe purpofes. Also to fcour and cleanfe the brook, ditches, watercouiies, drains, and f>ools ; and the fame to Weld up at the end of the term in good and fufficient order and repair. Also to occupy,, in himli4f»'Or in his heirs, &c. all and every part of the premifes : and not to aflign, fet-over, or lett, the whole, or any 2. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 25 any parcel of them, (without the licence and confent of the landlord) under forfeiture of the leafe. Also not to plow, dig, or break up any of / the meadow or pafture ground, belonging to ' the premifes ;— under the penalty often pounds an acre, yearly, from the time of breaking up to the termination of the demife. Also to grip, trench, hillock, and drain the grafs lands. Also to fallow the arable land, every third * or fourth year 3 according to the eflablilhed courfe of hufbandry ofthe townfhip it lies in. Also to fold and pen on the premifes, and not elfewhere, all fuch fheep as Ihall be kept thereon. Also not to fow hemp, flax, or rape feed on any part ofthe premifes. Nor, otherwife, to crofs-crop : but to fow the fame corn and grain, from year to year, according to the befl and moll ufual courfe of hufbandry ufed in the felpective townfhips *. Also to rick and houfe upon the premifes, all the corn, grain, and hay grown thereon. And • The aralK^ lands lie chiefly; or wholly in common fields. 26 MANAGEMENT OF ESTATES. i. And to fpend and employ, on the fame, all the ftraw and fodder arifing therefrom, in a hu/bandlike manner. And to ufe on the pre- miles, where moft need fhall require, and not elfewhere, all the muck, dung, foil, and com- port rifing thereon. And not, in thefe or any other aft or a6ls, negligently, wilfulfiilly, or willingly, impoverifh or make barren, the lands under demife. Nor do or commit, or lliffer to be done or committed, any wafte, Ipoil, or deftruAion whatfoever. Also to plant willows, (fix for in- ftance) yearly ; on convenient parts of the pre- mifes; and to defend, and replace them, if neceflary ; under the penalty of 20?. a tree, yearly: landlord allo^^ng rough timber for fencing*. Also to prefei-ve and keep all fuch trees as the landlord (hall plant in the hedge-rows, fromjpcil or damage by cattle (after they have been once well fenced with timber by the land- lord) ♦ Thb is a well concch-ed claufe. In a vale diftrift, deftitutc, in a manner, of woodknds, the m'illow be- comes a moft ufcful tree: fupplying the place of coppice flood, for rails, itake-s Iiandles of tools, edders, witlis, and, particularly in this diftrict, for making a fpecics of cattle crib, whidi will be hereafter defcribed. it. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 27 lord) And in cafe any fuch trees fliall die, by being hurt or Jailed by cattle^ to plant in their ftead the like number, and the fame forts and kinds j and thefe to preferve and keep ; under the penalty of 20s. a tree, yearly*. Also, • This likewlfe, under due limitation, is an admirable claufe. Tempered with the Norfolk regulation in this cafe, it might be extended, 'with propriety , to Plantations, and be rendered highly beneficial to an eftate, without being alarming to the tenants ; though, in every cafe, it muft in its nature be hazardous. A claufe of this kind, — feeing the difficulty of raifing trees on old hedge-banks, — the uncertainty of feafons, and the unflcilfulnefs of. planters in general, — ought to be ftrongly guarded, on the part of the tenant, in the fpecifica- ticn of the damage, for which the penalty fliall be due; confining it folely to damage by cattle or other ftock, or to other negleft, or wilful damage of the tenant. The penalty, in this inftance, appears to me imprudently high. An annual forfeiture of one fliilling a tree would, during the ufual term of a leafe, nuich more than repay the planting, and any increafe of value, wliich could be ex- pefted in that time ; and would be a fufficient cheeky with- out being an obfiachy to a good tenant. My remarks on this claule are the fuller, as I liave not met with it in the leafes of any other diftrifl ; and I am fully perfuaded, that, duly qualified, it would, if gene- rally adopted, be highly advantageous to the landed in- tered. It avails little to plant ; efpecially in the hedgerows ot off eftates ; unlefs the occupier be fomeway intcrefled in the fucccfs of the plantation. aS MANAGEMENT OF ESTATES. 2, Also, in the iafi year of the term, to fow • acres with clover feed (at the rate of I8lb. an acre) And fuffer landlord, or in- coming tenant, to fow the remainder of the barley land of that year, ^^th that or other grafs feeds. And not, after the barley crop be cut, to plow in, or break up, or cut, mow, graze, or eat off the young clover, or any part thereof. Also, in the hft year, to weed, hoe, and cleanfe, and to fuffer landlord, or incoming tenant, to weed, hoe, and cleanfe, the laft, or " going- off crop. Also to rick and houfe, and fpend on the premifes, and not ellewhere, all and every part of the ^^ going-off crop \' and to leave in the courts and yards, all the manure made therefrom, for the ufe and benefit of the land-, lord. Also, /// the laft year, to deliver up, on the twent)' firft day of December, to the land- lord or incoming tenant, acres of the arable land ; ^as a fallow for the enfuing year. Texaxt to be allowed (over and above the rough timber for gates and fences) fuf- ficient 3i. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 29 ficient plow-boot, and fire-boot, neceffary to be uled in the management of the premifes. Also the laft or " going-off crop" of corn and grain, fown on the premifes, in the laft year of the term ; — on fuch land, and in fuch kind and fort, as come, in due courfe of huf- bandr)', to be Ibwn in that year*. Also the ufe of the barns, and part of the out buildings and yards, for thrafhing out the grain, and fpending the fodder of the laft crop, during twelve mondis, after the expiration of the term. FARM * There is no condition made, in this diftrict, nor, I believe, in this quarter of the kingdom, for the outgoiiig tenant to pay the rent and taxes (what in Yorklhire is termed the onftand) for his going-ofFcrop: fo that here (by long cuftom) the outgoing tenant occupies, and receives the profits of, perhaps, three fourtlis of the arable land, after the term of general occupation ceafes ; while tlie in- coming tenant is paying rent ajid taxes for it, without re- ceiving any immediate advantage whatfoever from it. In /i!>/i diftrict, where wheat is (own very late, Autumn, ap- pears to me, evidently, the moft eligible time of removal: And I have leen the copy of a leale, tenninating at Mi- CHABLMAS, in which the tenant agrees to plow the fallow field lands twice, and manure them in a hufbandlike man- ner, in the laft year of the tenn ; and to give up the reft of the arable lands, and a part of the buildings, as foon as the laft crops (hall be off: — a mode of conducling the difagrce- able bufinefs undernotice, greatly preferable, in my opi- nion, tx> that which is in more general practice. 33 F A R M B U I L D I N G S. 3. FARM BUILDINGS. IMPROVEMENTS m rural architec- ture are nor to be exp>e(5led in the diflrift under furvey. Neverthelefs, the leading fadls re- fpefling its FARM buildings require to be regillered ; and fome peculiarities, as well as ibme few modern improvements, are entitled to notice. Materials. Timber appears to have been, formerlvj the prevailing building- ma- terial of the diftrift. Farm buildings, in ge- neral, even to this day, arc of frame-work ; filled up with ftrong laths, interwoven in a peculiar manner, and covered with pUftering; or the ftudwork is covered with weather-boar- der}' alone , efpecially outbuildings. The prefent walling material is hrUk. Some few '■^ clay fiones" dug out of the fub- foil, are ufed ; and, under the hills, "free- ftone" a foft calcarious granate, which is common to the Cotfwold hills, is in ufe. Lime 3. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 31 Lime is here a heavy article of building, — From 6d. to 8d. a bufhel, often gallons level, at the kiln. The ftones, from which it is burnt, are brought by water -carriage to the towns upon the Severn -, either from Briftol, or from Weftbury &:c at the foot of the Foreft of Dean j where the " clayftone " of the fublbil is railed for this purpofe. The kilns are built on the banks of the Severn ; fo that no land carriage of the ftone is requifite. But the lime, notwithftanding the exorbitant price at the kiln is to be conveyed by land into the area of the dillricft. The margin is fupplied with the calcarious granate (which has been mentioned), from the Cotfwold cliffs ; and from Bredon hill i evidently a fragment of the Cotfwolds. Thefe ftones vary much in general appeai- ance and contexture ; and the limes produced from them arenotlefs various in their quahties. The " Briftol ftone " has a fomewhat flint- like appearance -, is of a clofe, hard, and uni- form contexture ; and of a dark redifti colour^ fparkling with fparry particles j and flying under the hammer like glafs : ?io marine ffjell. One 3t FARM Buildings. 3. One hundred grains of it afford forty five grains of air, and ninety feven grains of calca- rious matter ; leaving three grains of refi- duuiTij — a dark-coloured impalpable matter.* The lime produced from this ftone burfts readily in water ; and (like that produced from fpars) is, when fallen, of a light floury nature: white as fnow: co vetted by the plaif- terer j but is confidered by the mafon and bricklayer, as being of a weak qualin.'. The Weftbury-ftone — which is a fufficicnt fpecimen of the " clayftones " found in the fubfoil of mod parts of the diftridl — is in co- lour, contexture, and general appearance, very different from the rock of St. Vincent. It refembles, in every refpcv5l, the marble- like limeflone of the hills of Yorkihire: gene- rally blue at the core with a grey dirty- white cruft: the bafe being of a fmooth, even texture ; interjperjed "ivith marine jhells. When it is frefh raifed out of its watery bed in the area of the vale, it is a foft fubllance, of a fomewhat foaplike appearance j but hardens (or falls to pieces) • In Iglutiou it riles to the furface as a black fpume : on fhc filter it has the appearance of moiftencd loot ; but ad- heres to the paper in drying. 2. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 33 pieces) on being expofed to the atmofphere. One hundred grains of this ftone throw off forty grains of air j and afford ninety one grains of calcarious earth ; leaving a refiduum of nine grains i — an afli-coloured filt. The lime burnt from it is charafterized by ftrength ; and is high in efteem for cement j being found flrong enough, in itfelf, to be ufed in water- work. It falls flowly ; is of a fomewhat brim- ftone colour ; and is diftinguifhed by the name of " brown lime. " * The * Having obferved the reluflance with which th? lime of tliis fpecinien (frefli from the kiln) imbibes water ; while that of the Briftol (lone drinks it with fingular avidity,— I was led to try, by a comparative experiment, whether their powers of imbibing air (that is of regaining their fixed air) were in like proportion. The refult is interefting. One hundred grains of the firft (in one knob) fufpended inapair of fcales, got full five grains in twenty four hours. In a drawer (which was fometimcs open, fometimesfliut) they got, in twenty four hours more, the fame additional weight. In feven days more (wrapped in paper and lying in a drawer) they got twenty three grains: in all thirty three; or about three and a half grains a day : moftly air, with, in all probability, fome portion of water. One hundred grains from the Wcftbury ftone, placed in the drawer increafcd in twenty four hours not quite one grain ! In twenty four hours more, in the fcale, they barely made up a grain and a half! In feven days more they gained Vol. I. D (ia 34 f A R M B U I L D I N G S. 3. The fpccimen of caJcarious granate which I have before me was taken from the middle of a" freeilonequar ", within the " camp ", on Painfwick. hill. It is common to the Cotf- wold and the Lanfdown hills ; and correfponds exactly with the foft limellone granate of Mal- ton in YorkJhire. It varies in fpecific qualit)'. The Bathftone is fofter and lighter tlian the fpecimen under analyfis. One hundred grains of which difcharge fort)' four grains of air ; yielding ninety eight grains of foluble matter ; and two grains of refiduum j a fhuff coloured impalpable matter, f The method oi burning lime in this country has notliing which entitles it to notice j except the (:n the drawer) exaftly nine grains: in all ten and a half grains: not a grain and a quarter a day. Hence we may conceiTc how widely different may be the qualities of lime. Confequenily, how dangerous to draw general conclufions from an experiment, or even experiments, made with one partiailar fpecies. t It i> proper to (ay that thefc experiments were made, and repeated, with great attention, and with cxaclly the Ciine correfpocdent rcTults : nevcrthelcfs the fnfomon e/ air to d-JHitbU matur varies in each fpecimen. lu the Bril- tol itone the proportion is more than forty fix, in the Cotf- wold lefs than forty five, — in the Wcfibury lei's tlian fort) lour, to one hundred. 3. VALE OF GLOCESTFR. 35 the pradlice of riddling and hand-picking the lime as it is drawn -, to take out the afhes, cin- ders, and rubbifli which may have been thrown into the kiln with the ftones or coals. The labour is nor great ; and the work is valuable. Lime as a building material ; efpecially for the plaflerer's ufe ; cannot be too pure. The refi-ife pays the labourer, and the quantity of ftone lime lofes nothing by its abfence.* Timber. The old buildings of this diftrift are full of fine oak j in which the lower lands of Glocefterfhire have heretofore, in all probabi- lity, been fingularly abundant. But at pre- fent the vale is entirely {tripped, and even the foreft of Dean (fome few parts of it ex- cepted) is almoft naked of good cak timber. The vale, however, abounds at this time with elm of uncommon fize and quality. This and foreign timber arr'the ordinary materials in D 1 ufe * The LIMEKILN of this diftrift is noticeable, as being frequently furnifhed with a top, fet upon the walls of the kiln, and contrafted in a funnel-like form ; the materials being carried in at a door in the fide. In oneinftance, the kiln is built within a cone ; in the manner of the brick kilns about London. The principal, if not the fole ufe of thefe tops, is to carry up the fmoke and prevent its becom- ing a nuifance to the neighbourhood of the kilns. 36 FARM BUILDINGS. 3. ufc for farm buildings: oak being ufcd only where durability is more particularly requifite. Covering MATERIALS. An ordinar}' kind o^Jlatdy got out of the fides o( the hills, has formerly been the prevailing covering of the diflrict. At prefent knobbed plain tiles are principally in ufe. The knob is an obvious improvement of the hole and pin j which arc flill ufed about the metropolis. Tbatcb is ftill in ufe for cottages and farm- buildings. A fpecies of thatch ne^d? to the reft of the kingdom is here not unfrequently made ufe of j efpecially near the towns, where wheat ftraw is permitted to be fold. In thefe fituations, not only ricks ; but rcofs ; are thatched with stubble: a material which is found to laft much longer than ftraw ; unlefs this be " helmed " j that is, have the heads cut off before thrafhing, in the Somerferihire manner: a practice which is not common in this countr)'. That ftubble fhould be found to endure is reafonably imagined. It has the advantage of helm (in not being bruifed by the flail) and confift^ of the ftouteft part of the ftems. In many diftricts it would be difficult to be ufed on account of its ftiortneli j but in this VALE OF GLOCESTER. 37 this country, where it is cut eighteen inches or perhaps two feet high, and (in the fituations where it is more frequently ufed) has generally a fufficient quantity of long wirey grafs among it to hold it together ; there is no great difficulty in thatching with it : except in the raking ; which requires a tender hand. It is firft driven up a little with the teeth of the rake i beaten j and then raked gently downward. Flooring materials. Upper floors have heretofore been laid with oak j which is Hill common in the floors and fl:air-cafes of all old houles. Elm has, perhaps, been more recently ufed, and is itill in ufe, for the fame purpofes. Ground floors are not unfrequently of common bricks (a vile material for floors) or of " forefl; flione " — an excellent freeftone grit, railed in the forefl: of Dean. Farmeries. The farm-buildings and yards, of the difliridl under furvey, have not much to recommend them to particular notice. The arrangement has feldom any obvious de- fign. There are however fome few exceptions. The BARNS of the vale are, in fize below par: except the monaftery barns already mentioned. There are few modern barns: the befl:, which D 3 has 38 F A R M B U I L D 1 N G S. 3. has fallen under my obfervation, rneafures thim' fix by eighteen feet on the infide ; — and the plate twelve feet high. The foundation brick. The fhell elm weather-boarding. The covering knobbed plain-tiles, twelve inches by feven ; laid in coarfe mortar ; with four and a half inch gage. The roof, behind, continued down to a plate fix feet high, fupported by polls of elm fet on ftone ; forming an open fhed for cattle to reft under. The BARN' FLOOR of the diftrict is moftly of plank J or oiforeji-jione ; which makes an admi- rable floor for beans j and nor a bad one for barley: even wheat, with due care in keep- ing the ea-s bedded among ftraw, to prevent the flail from breaking the grain, may be thralhed on a ftone floor with propriet}'. Clay floors are here in low efteem. The price of a ftone floor, compleat, is about 5d. a foot. I fee nothing elfe in the farm-buildings of this v^le which is entitled to defcription j ex- cept BULLOCK STALLS, which are here built in what will no doubt be deemed a fuperb ftyle, by thofe who have been accuftomed to lefs coftly buildings for the fame purpofe: and CALF STAGES i an admirable conveniencyi which VALE OF GLOCESTER. 39 which is peculiar, I beheve, to the diflricl j but which ought to be univerlally known -, as it may, in any breeding country, be adopted mth fingular proprict)*. But defcriptions of thefe conveniences will fall better under the articles to which they re- ipedlively belong j namely rearing cattle and FATTING cattle: fubjects which will be duly noticed in their places. The ciDERMiLL HOUSE, an ercttion almofl as necelTary as a barn, upon a Glocefterfhire farm, will likewiie be defcribed under its pro- per head. Stack stages are here very common. Moflly upon ftone pillars and caps. The price i8d. to 2s. a pair. A fmall, but fnug frame, is here inade with five pillars. Four fet quadrangularly, and one in the center. By making the outfide of the frame fomewhat compafTing, round ftacks are conveniently enough let on diefe fquareftages. Yard fences are almofl invariably i/road rails ; the Norfolk battons. Under thefe fences a line of straw-mangers are ufually formed: and, in the area of the yards, cribs of various conflructions are in ufe. D 4 FIELD- 4d FENCES. FIELD-FENCES. OLD LIVEHEDGES are the ordinary fences of the diftrid. The prefent inclofures, if we may judge from the age of their hedges, are probably fome centuries old. In the MANAGEMENT of livc fences, whe- ther young or old, I have met with nothing, here, that is entitled to particular notice. It is, however, obfervable, in this place, that one of the fineft hedges I have feen in the diftrift, grows on a cold unproductive fwell : the land not worth, though inclofcd, los. an an acre : yet, on land worth twice that rent, I have feldom (etn a hedge grow fo lux- uriantly. A fufficient evidence, that, in the -jaliiing of land, hedges cannot be depended upon, as criterions to judge from. The hedge may feed in a fertilizing fubfoil, which corn, or the better grafles, may not be able to reach. The DITCHES, in every part of the vale, are fhamcfully neglefted! A vale diftrid, without deep clean ditches, refledls difgrace on 4. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 41 on the owners, as well as on the occupiers, of its lands. In a diftrid, that, by natural fitu- ation, is too cold and moid, every poflible means ought to be ufed to free it from furface water : which, if it ftand only an hour upon the foil J or in immediate contadt with it; adds, more or lefs, to its natural coldnefs. The ordinary temporary fence is bar hurdles. . Gates are here made low: with a flrons: top-bar, in the Kentilh manner; but want the long upper eye or thimble of the Surrey- Gate*. Stiles are fingularly abundant. They appear frequently to be placed merely as pre- fcrvatives of the hedges; and this may, in many cafes, be good policy. They are fre- quently made to open : the top rail having an iron bolt driven through it, at one end ; the other end falling into a notch in the oppofite poft, making an opening wide enough to pals a carriage through occafionally. HEDGEROW * Hanging Gates. In this diftrifl, it is the invariable pra6lice to drive the hooks into the corner of the ports, and the thimbles into the corner of the hartrec ; which, in this cafe, flr.its within the poft. AZ HEDGEROW TIMBER. HEDGEROW TIMBER. THE HEDGE TREES of the vale arc moflly ELM and v/illow. Few of oak or ash. The MAPLE, which grows unufually large, here, is confidei ed as a timber tree, and is put to many ules for which, in other diftridls, it is not deemed fuitable. But the nature of the foil, or Ae variety which is here cultivated, may ren- der its texture lefs brittle than it generally is, in other diftricls. Hurdles, gates, and even dderprels (krews are made of it. The ELM (chiefly the fine-leaved elm) grows with uncommon luxuriance, and to an unufual fize, in the vale foil. Its progrefs is quickeft on the lighter warmer lands; but here the tfe^s foonefl: decay, and the timber is of the leaft value. In differ, more clayey fituarion, its growth is lefs rapid ; but its tim- ber is of a much better quality : the colour of iron ; and, in fome inftances, almoft as hard. —The 5- VALE OF GLOC£ST£R. 43 — The Briftol fhip-builders have a fupply of keel-pieces from this quarter ; and I know no country, which is fo likely to furnilh good ones. The vales of Glocefterlhire may boaft of three of the mofl remarkable trees in the ifland. Piffe's elm, the Boddington oak, and the ToRTWORTH CHESNUT; — but having def- cribed them fully in another work, I forbear to particularize them here *. Hedgerow timber is univerfally lopped; few, however, are headed low in the poUard manner; except willows; which, as has been faid, are here, confidered in a degree .neceflary to every farm. * See Planting and Ornamental Gardening articles Fag us: Quercus: Ulmus, \s O O D- 44 WOODLANDS. «. 6. WOODLANDS. COPPICES are the only natural wood- lands of the area of the vale. Of thefe there are two or three : one of them, in the center of the vale, is of confiderable extent. Part of this coppice is a common wood ; — appropriated to the meflliages of the townfhip it belongs to, but not divided: foinewhat analogous with common fields and common meadows. A fpecies of property I have not met with elfewhere. It is obfervable that, in a part of this cop- pice, fome flandard oaks are left as timber trees ; which, contrary to common practice, are lopped to the top (as hedgerow trees) every time the coppice wood is cut. This certainly lefTens their hurtfulnefs to the underwood ; but the timber becomes, no doubt, of a very inferior quality. Their crop of fuel, how- ever, every fifteen or t^v•enty years, mufl: be Confiderable. 6. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 45 confiderable. The queftion is whether, on the whole, they are, or are not, more pro- fitable than coppice wood alone: and it ap- pears to me, on reflexion, to be a difputable queftion. It probably hinges on whether the trees feed below or among the roots of the coppice-wood. This patch of woodland is further entitled to notice. — The/oil is an unproduftive clay, mixt with and bottomed by a thin feam of calcarious gravel ; lying on a cold clayey fub- foil; not worth, as arable land, more than 8s. an acre: not eftimated in this country at more than 5s. an acre. The /pedes of wood is principally oak, ajh, and mapky with Come /allow, white-thorny and hazle. The j/es to which it is applyed are principally rails, hurdle-ftuff, — hedging ma- terials, and fuel. The age 0/ felling twenty years. And its eftimated value at that age, twelve to C\keei\ pounds an acre ! Its growth is uncommonly luxuriant : the ftools are thick upon the ground j and, being cut high, afford numerous ftioots. In the latter ftages of its growth, it is the moft impenetrable thicket I hayefeenj while the crops of corn and grafs, which 46 WOODLANDS. 7. which border upon ir, are remarkably weak and unprodudtive. This fhows, in a ftriking manner, the judg- ment requifite in laying out eftates: giving fuch lands to hufbandr}-, as are adapted to its productions ; and converting to woodland, fuch as are naturally prone to wood. /• PLANTING, THE PLANTATIONS of the vale con- fift wholly of fruit-trees. Foreft-trces may be laid to be here in total negleft ; excepting fome few alhen coppices for cider-cafk hoops j a fpecies of plantation common on the He- refordfhire fide of the county. If, however, we may judge from the cop- pice which has been fpoken of above ; and the hedge noticed aforegoing j it is highly pro- bable. 7. VALE OF GLOCESTER. '47 bable, that many of the cold fwells, which oc- cur in different parts of the vale, might be planted with great profit. The timber-oak is, at prefent, almoll en- tirely banifhed from this fide of the Severn ; and although the oppofite banks are, yet, fufficiently wooded ; the prefent woods will, in all probability, be fallen, long before fuch as may be now raifed from the acorn, will be ready for the axe. FARMS. FARMS. 8. FARMS. THE PREVAILING characteristic of farms, in this diftrift, is a mixture of grafs and arable land; in various proportions. Near. the towns of Gloceftcr and Tewkefbun.-, there are fome few large farms, " all green :"-— that is, confifting entirely of grals-land. But this, alone, makes an inconvenient farm ; ef- pecially in a dairy countr}^, where litter and vinter fodder, for dry cow^s and rearing cat- tle, are requifite. The exadl proportion of arable to grafs, however, does not feem to be fixed. Too much sjafs gives afcarcitv offtraw: too much ara- ble interferes with the dairy, or, perhaps, more accurately fpeaking, the dairy interferes with much arable land. Even in harveft, let the weather be what it may, the bufinels of milking and the dairj'' muft be attended to. Hence, 8. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 49 Hence, perhaps, we may conclude, that corn and the dairy ought not to rival each other : one of them ought to be Jubordinate ; ought to be rendered fubfervient to the main OBJECT of management. * In regard to size, the vale farms are of the middle caft. From one to three hiindred acres is, I believe, the mofl prevalent fize. There arefome made-up farms of much higher mag- nitude J but no entire farm, in the area of the vale, lets, I underftand, for more than four hundred pounds a year : not many, I believe, higher than two hundred a year, f Plan. Some of thefe larger farms \ mofl of them " manor" or " court" farms ; or fimply " the farm" with the name of the townfhip affixed to it j (undoubtedly the an- cient * Neverthelefs, a profefTional man, whofe knowledge of the praflice of the diftrict entitles him to be heard with de- ference, gives the following as the beft proportion of a farm, in the vale of Evesham : fifty two acres of ara- ble, (fubjefted to three crops and a fallow) with fixty acres cf pafture ground, and thirty acres of meadow. f The fame fuperior manager is of opinion, that a double farm of the defcription given in the laft note is the beft fize ; and that larger farms are, in the vale, dangerous both to landlord and tenant. Vol. I. E 50 FARMS. 8. cient demefne lands of the townfliips they re- fpeftively lie in) ; are very entire ; and lie well round the homefteads. But farm houfes, in general, ftand in villages ; the lands belong- ing to them being ftill fcattered about in the extraordinary manner which has been defcribed. How wrong in their owners now to continue ; them in that unprofitable (late. The lols falls J wholly on themfelves. They let at a rent ' proportioned to their prelent difadvantages. 9. FARMER S. HUSBANDMEN are much the fame in all diftrids: plain, frugal, pains-taking, clofe, and unintelligible. The lower and middle clafs of farmers, of the dillrift under obferva- tion, moftly anfwer, in a remarkable manner, to this defcription: — while fome few of the fuperior clafs are as ftrongly marked by libe- rality and communicativenefs : — characters which begin to adorn fuperior farmers in every diftrid: ; 9- VALE OF GLOCESTER. 51 diftri extreme drynejs. From die beginning of July to tlie clofe of the year, there has been a continuation of dry weather; excepting two or three days' rain in September. Springs have feldom been known fo low, as they are at prefent (Jan, 1789.) Nature's ftore rooms appear to be exhaufted. Even in this watery vale, furface fprings, in gene- ral, and mod wells, have been dry fome months ; water having been fetched, and cat- tle driven, a confiderable diftance. The re- fervoirs on the fkirts of Matfon hill, for fup- plying the city ofGlocefter with water, have been empty many weeks: a circumllance un- known before. This want of rain, here, is the more remar- kable, as throughout a great part of Wales, not fifty miles diftant, fummer and autumn were rainy, almolt without interruption ! In the middle of October, while the lands of this country were fo dry, diat they could not The weather uiuifually warm. A nrong evidence, that the Avift docs not migrate. It feldom miftakes the fcafon, like the fwallow. \Vc rarely fee a I'wift, before the fpring be confirmed. 13. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 61 not, with any propriety, be worked for wheat; and while, even in Herefordfliire, farmers were breaking the clots with beetles j the farmers in Wales, not twenty miles diftant, had not been able to put a plow into the ground for near a month, owing to the excefllve wetnefs of the feafon ! While in Yorkfhire, having been miffed by the rain of September, which gave a loole to the grafs in this diftrift, the ftinted paftures had been fo bare, the cattle had been foddered in thenn ! Thefe circumftances, lb remarkable, and fo nearly connected with our fubjeft, I could not pals over unnoticed. Showers, or a few days' raiuy not unfrequently fall in a partial manner: — but I never before knew a long- continued rainy Jeajon^ which was not common to the kingdom. GENERAL 62 MANAGEMENT OF FARMS. 14. 14. GENERAL MANAGEMENT O F FARMS. VIEWING the vale as one farm, its ob- jefts of management are the four grand objefts of hufbandry : Corn ; Breeding j The Dairy; Fatting. There are fome few individual farms, ap- plied, principally, to grazing: others chiefly to the dairy : and there may be fome few fmall araifle farms. But upon the larger farms, in general, the four objedls are held in view. The ARABLE CROPS are principally wheat, BARLEY, BEANS ; with fome peaSy and a few cats! Alfo, of late years, fome clover j z'etcbes, and fome few turneps have been cultivated*. It • TuRNEPS. In the center of the vale, there are few or none grown. The rcafon <^ivcn is, they cannot be got oft the land : and, while the country remains witliout roads and 14. VALE OF GLOCESTER, 63 It may, however, be laid, with little latitude, that NATURAL HERBAGE is, in this diflrict, the only subordinate crop. From what has gone before, it may, per- haps, be conceived, that the arable manage- ment of this diilrifb, cannot be entitled to par- ticular notice. This, however, would be de- ciding too rafhly. The rural qnanagement of a country refembles the moral charadler, I have not found one that is perfedt : nor one which does not comprize fome portion of good. The arable management, of the country under furvey, appears to the obfervcr in light and fhadci and exhibits fome traits, which the reader, I think, will not be difplcafed with. Befides, in it, we have a fpecimen of the prac- tice of a clafs of country, which includes a confiderable fhare of the beft lands of this quar- ter and furface drains, this muft necelTarily be the cafe; ef- pecially where the foil is ftrong, tenacious, and cold ; a foil altogether unfit for tumeps. There are, however, lands in the vale, well adapted to this crop ; and its abfence im- plies, either a want of the fpirit of improvement, or no n^tdi oi culti-vatcd hfrbage. In a vale country, abounding with grafs-lands, turneps are of lefs value, than they are ia a hilly countr)-, deftitute oi natural herbage. U arable kcr- i.3^f were wanted in the vale, cabbages would probably be found more eligible than turneps. 64 MANAGEMENT OF FARMS. 14. ter of the ifland: namely arable vale. A Iketch of it appears, to me, cflentially necef- fary, in a register of the present state OF English agriculture. The reader may reft aflured, that, for my own eafe and grati- fication, as well as his, I will not dwell longer on the fubjed:, than the general defign of the work I am executing requires. 15- COURSE OF HUSBANDRY. THE ANCIENT COURSE of the com- mon fields was the fame, here, as in moft other diftridts : namely. Fallow, Wheat, dec. Beans, &c. — And to this an- cient courfe, feveral of the towniliips of the vale ftill adliere. But fome townfhips in ibis vale, and many, I believe, in the vrJe of Eve/bam^ have, of late years, changed the ancient fyftem of ma- nagement J for one, which, fingular as it may appear IS. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 65 appear to thofe, who have been acciiftomed to fallow for wheat, is founded on good princi- ples -y and might well be copied by other ftif- foiled, open-field townlhips: namely. Fallow; Barley ; Beans, or clover; Wheat. The reafons given for this change (this ftriking and fingular effort, this promifing dawn of improvement) arc, — the bean crop> in the old courfe, came round too quick; the wheat did not do fo well, after fallow, as after beans ; — nor the beans fo w^ll, after wheat, as after barley. Some farmers throw in clover, inftead of beans, between the barley and the wheat crops. In the neighbourhood of Gloccfter, are fome extenfive common fields, under an ex- traordinary courfe of management. They have been cropped, year after year, during a centuiy, or perhaps centuries; without one intervening whole year's fallow. Hence they are called " every year's land*." On * Cheltenliam, Decrhuru, and fome few other town- fhips, have hkewife their •' every year's lands." Vol, 1. F 66 COURSE OF HUSBANDRY. 15. On thefe lands no regular succession of crops is oblerved -, except that a " brown and a white crop" — pulfe and corn — are cultivated in alternacy. The inclofed arable lands are under a fimi- lar COURSE of management. 16. SOILS AND TILLAGE. THE SPECIES OF SOILS have been mentioned as various. Near the towns of Glocefterand Tewkefbun.^, a deep rich loam prevails. Round Cheltenham, a deep sand. The rifing grounds ofDeerhurfl are covered with a RED loam ; a remarkable fpecies of foil J common to the hillocks of the over- Severn diflridl:, and to tlic inferior hills of He- refordfhire. It is here called red land/* and refcmbles much the " red hills" of Nottinghamfliire The i6. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 67 The area of the vale is a deep loam ; of Various degrees of richnefs and contexture. In the center of it, a remarkable fpecimen of vale land appears: a patch of calcarious gravel: partaking of the nature of the Cotfwold foil ! The particulars noticeable in the soil pro- cess ofthisdiftrift, relate folely to tillage: nanaely, 1. Breaking up grafs land. 2. Fallowing. 3. Laying up ridges. I. Breaking up grass land. This is not a comnion operation ^ yet it fometimes takes place: At prefent, there are many in- ftances, in which it is much wanted. Old pafture lands, over-run with ant-hills, and the coarfer grafles, are not eafily reclaimed, with- out the powerful afliftance of the plow. The method of performing the operation, in this diftrid, is by no means intended to be held out as a pattern. It has, however, fuf- ficient pretenfions to a place in this regifter. It varies 'in the firft ftages: fometimes the ant-hills are cut ofF, carried into heaps, and mixt with ftraw, &c. as manure for corn land. Sometimes they are dried and burnt. But, F 2 in 6S TILLAGE. i6. in the prevailing pradice of the countn', the fward and ant-hills are plowed up together, in the fpring. In fummer, the laiid has one crois plowing. In autumn the furface is re- duced and levelled; vAxh. the harrow-, fuwn with wheat ; and the feed buried with die plow, among the grafs-roots and ant-hills. The enfuing autumn, — the crop being reaped, and the ftubble mown and raked off, — the foil is turned over, and fown again, (and perhaps a third time), with wheat on one plow- ing ! There has, I am told, been inftances, — there has (I think I am well infonned) been at lead one inftance, of wheat being thus re- peatedly fown (upon a piece of extraordinarily good land) fix years, fuccelTively; the lafl crop being faid to be nearly as good as the firft ! ! ! This, while it difcovers the indifcretion of the farmer, evinces the natural ftrength of the vale lands, and (hows, in a ftriking light, the value of old-paftured turf as a matrice for wheat. II. Quantity of tillage. In the com- mon fields which are under the improved plan of cultivation, — the number of plowings, in the four years round, is fbx. Three in tlie fal- low i6. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 69 low year: one for barley : one for beans: and, generally, one for wheat. The fallow is broken up after barley feed time ; flitting the ridges dowfij by a deep plow- ing. In the firft (lirring, they are gathered up. On this fecond plowing, the manure is fpread ; and plowed under with a fliallow furrow; which is, likewiife, turned upward ; to lay the ridges dry during winter. In the fpring, they are flit down^ for barley -, and, next autumn, gathered up^ for beans ; and the enfuing au- tumn, again plowed npujard, for wheat. Six plov/ings in four yearts, for three crops and a fallow 3 four of them being upward, two down- ward, of the ridges. Sometimes the bean ftubble is pared down very thin, previous to the feed-plowing for wheat. But fometime^ the fallow has only two plowings. With this fm.all quantity of tillage, it is no wonder that even the barley ftubbles fliould be foul i or that the bean crop, notwithfl:anding the extraordinary care which is taken of it, Ihould, in fome feafons, be half fmothered in weeds ; or that the wheat ftubbles, notwith- ftanding the Angular attention which is paid to the crop while growing, fliould, not F 3 unfrequently 70 TILLAGE. 16. unfrequently, be knee-deep in couch and thiftles. Two or three plowings of fuch flubbles are not entitled to the name o( 2i fallow, they are juft fufficient to break the roots of couch grafs and thillles into fets, as it were to propagate and increafe, rather than to lelTen, their num- ber. While feed-weeds, of every genus, are fuffered to mature, and fhed their feeds, be- tween the plowings. A more ingenious way of propagating weeds would be difficult to con- ceive. Fortunately, however, for the character of the vale, as an arable country, this difgraceful management, though prevalent, is not univer- fal. I have feen land, in various parts of it, in a high, (late of tillage, and beautifully clean. But, even for this, I cannot allow an occupier any great fhare o^ merit -y it is little more than his duty as a hufbandman. In keep- ing land clean and in tilth, and taking a crop every year, fkill, as well as induftr)-, is re- quired, and merit is of courfe due. But to keep it in a hufbandly flate, with a whole fum- mer's fallow, every third or fourth year, wants common induftry only : and a man, who with this i6. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 71 this opportunity, fufFers his crops to be im- paired, through a want of fufficient tillage, ought not to be entrufted with the occupation of arable land. If, however, we fee caufe of cenl'ure, in a redundancy of weeds, and want of tillage, in the fields, which are fallowed every third or fourth year, — what fhall we expect to find in the fields, which are never fallowed ? Where barley is looked up to as the cleanfing crop ! I wiih not to exaggerate ; and to defcribe their ftate of foulnels, with accuracy, would be dif- ficult, or impofTible. I will, therefore, only fay, that I have found beans hid among muf- tard feed, growing wild as a weed, but occupy- ing the ground as a crop s — peas, languifh- ing under a canopy of the cornmarigold and the poppies ; — barley, with fcarcely a ftem free from the fetters of the convohoilus ; — and wheat, pining away, plant after plant, in thickets of couch and thiftles. In the language of cenlure I have no grati- fication. But, could I pals over, unnoticed, — or, having feen, could be filent on — manage- ment fo highly blameable, — I fhould be alto- gether unfit for th^ tafk I have undertaken. F 4 It 72 TILLAGE. 16. It is more than probable that one third of the crops, colledlively, of fome of the beft-foiled fields in the diftridb, is every year lojly through a WANT OF SUFFICIENT TILLAGE. Thefe circumftances are mentioned with more readinefs, and with greater freedom ; as every diftri6t of the kingdom lies more or iefs open, to fimilar cenfure i and I make ufe of this opportuity of mentioning them j becaule no other diftrift, I have examined, affords evidences fo ftriking, as thefe which are here produceable. It might not be far wide of the truth to fay, that one fourth of the produce of the arable lands of the kingdom is loft through a want of tillage: yet I find men in every country afraid to make a whole year's fallow, left they Ihould leflen their p]-oduce! But let thofe who are adverfe to fallowing, come here and be convinced of the magnitude of their error. If land be in a ftate of foulnefs, with root- weeds, — as half of the old arable lands of the kingdopn may be faid to be, — a year's fallow is the ftjortefty — the moft cffcftual, — and the chcapeft v/ay of cleanfing it. Tampering with fallow ,6. VALE OF GLOCESTER. /^ fallow crops, in fuch a cafe, is mere quackery. When land is once thoroughly cleanfed, it may, by fallow crops and due attention, be kept clean for a length of years. But unfortunately for the occupiers of the fields which are the more immediate fubject of thefe obfervations, they cannot be fummer fal- lowed; hecauje every occupier cannot be brought into the fame mind in any one year i conlequently, the afTiftance q{ Jheep cannot be conveniently had. A Norfolk man, who has always been ufcd to make his fallows vvith horfes only, without hav^ing perhaps a iingle fheep upon his farm, might well inquire if the farmers of Glocefter- fhire ufe fheep in their plow-teamis. No. But a Glocefterfhire farmer, who has never feen a fallow made, which has not been at the fame time a pafture (and fometimes not a bad one) for fheep, is led to believe, that a fallow can- not be made witiiout them.. — I have heard it lam.ented, by v/ell meaning men, that fuch famous land, as undoubtedly lies in thefe fields, ihould be liable to fuch an inconveniency. But can afTure them, from my own praclice, that, in Siirrey, 74 TILLAGE, i6. Surrey, where fimilar fields are not unfrequent, it is common to make pieces of fallow among corn J and without experiencing any material inconveniency from the abfence oflheep, du- ring the fummer-feafon. If land be lb foul as to require a whole year's fallow, it ought to have no refpite from til- lage ; no time to form a Iheep pafture ! Nor if through want of leilure, or through negleft, it fliould form one, — is it neceflary that it fhould be fed off with fheep. One man we fee plowing in a crop of turneps, buck, or vetches, worth perhaps fome pounds an acre j while another fuffers his land to remain in a ftate of uriproduftivenels, left he fhould plow in a few farthing's worth of fheep feed ! ThegGc^efe^ of fallowing the " every year's land" does not feem to be doubted: — there is, indeed, at this time, evidence, amounting to demonftration, in the center of one of the fields under notice. A plot, which was fum- mer fallowed (by a fuperior manager) four years ago for wheat, was this year (1788) wheat after beans. In the fpring, and during fummer, it diftinguiflied itfelf, evidently by the colour and grolihefs of the blade j and its fuperiority at ?6. VALE OF GLOCESTER, 75 at harveft is not Icfs manifefl. An acre of it is worth four of fome acres in the fame field. (Windmill field near Glocefter.) By obfervation fufEciently minute, I am of opinion that, taking the reft of the field on a par, one acre is worth two: and it is highly probable, that, with the unprecedented care, which, in this countiy, is taken of crops, while grow- ing, — the effecls of the fallow will be feen for rnany years henceforward. I am of opinion that, with the pra«5lices of this country, in the feed and vegetating pro- celTes, which will fall prefently under confide- ration, a whole year's fallow jiidicioiijly made every ten, fifteen, or perhaps twenty years, would be found fufhcient to keep the land in a ftate of cleancfs and tilth. How extremely abfurd, then, to fufFer them to remain in their prefent unprodudlive ftate ! III. Laying up ridges. The high lands of the vale of Evefham, have long been pro- verbial. Thofe of the vale of Glocefter are equally entitled to notorieity. It has been faid of them, hyperbolically, that men on horfc- back, riding in the furrows, could not fee each other over the ridges. This, we may venture to 76 TILLAGE. 16. to fay, was never the cafe ; though heretofore, perhaps, they have been higher than they are at prefent. Not many years ago, there was an inftance of ridges, toward the center of this vale, which were fo high, that two men above the middle fize, (landing in the furrows, could not fee each other's heads : I have, myfelf, flood in the furrow of a wheat flubble ; the tips of which, upon the ridges, rofe to the eye : a man, fomewhat below the middle fize, acci- dentally crofiing them, funk below the fight in every furrow he defcended into. But the ftub- ble, in this inftance, was not lels than eighteen inches high. The height of foil from four ft^^t to four feet three inches : — the width of thefe lands about fifteen yards. — I afterwards mea- fijred a furrow near four feet deep. But an anecdote, relative to the firft-men- tioned ridges, will Ihew thefe extraordinary mo- ments of human induftry in a more ftriking light, than any dimenfions which can be given. The occupier of them had, at a pinch, occa- fion to borrow fome plow-teams of his friends; one of whom called upon liim, in the courfe of the day, to fee them at work, and was diredled to the fidd, where fix or kvcn teams were plowing. i6. VALE OF GLOCESTER. // plowing. He went to the field (a flat inclofure of twelve or fifteen acres) but feeing nothing of the teams, he concluded he had miflaken the direftion, and went back for a frelh one. The faft was, the feveral teams were making up their furrows, and were wholly hid, by the ridges, from his fight. The width of thofe lands was twenty to twenty five yards : but lands in general are narrower, and of courfe lower j the height be- ing, in mod cafes, nearly proportioned to the width. About eight yards wide, and two feet to two feet and a half high, feems to be, at prefent, the flivourite ridge. Thefe dimen- fions, though they may appear moderate upon paper, form, in the field, a fteep-fided ridge. The ORIGIN of high ridges has long been\ confidered, I believe, as one of thofe fecrets,/ which antiquity may call its own. They are \ certainly monuments of human induflry ; but are too lowly to have engaged the attention of I the antiquary ; and tradition, at leaft in this diftrifl, is filent on the fubje6t. They are not peculiar to this, but are com-J mon to moll common field diftridls, in whiclil two crops and a fallow is the eftablifhed courfe) of ;§ TILLAGE. i6. of hufbandn'. Even upon the wolds of York- ftiire, I have obferved the thin light chalky loam, with which they are covered, fcraped \]p together into high ridges. In the vale under confideration, whofe fub- foil is of a nature fo fingularly cold and watery, there is fome reafon to fuppofe, that the foil has been thus heaped up, to render it dry and 'xarm. But this could not be the motive in elevated fituations, where the fubfoil is ab- forbent. Neverthelefs, we may reft afiured, that they have been raifed on principle (true or falfe) as they muft have been raifed with labour and expence. The popular notion, here and in other places, is, that the foil was tlius thrown into heaps, in order to increafe the quantity of furface. I cannot, however, think fo meanly of the penetration of our anceftors, as to give in to this improbable notion. For even fuppofing every part of the fuperficies to be productive, the advantage accruing to ccrn, through fuch an expedient, is inconfiderable. It has no more room to grcju in than it would have if the furface lay flat. Its roots, and its ears when formed, 36. VALE OF GLOCESTER. -9 formed, may gain fome addition of freedom,/ but the ftems rife precifely at the fame dif-/ tance from each other, whether the land lie flat, or is raifed into the higheft ridges. But in this diftridt, where, in winter and wet feafons, each furrow, in many places, is a canal of ftagnant water ; and where, even in places in which the furrows lie above the com- mon fliore, fome yards width of each is a thicket of weeds, without a blade of corn am.ong them j the quantity of produ^ive fur- face is very evidently, and very confiderably, leffened. In every diflrift, and in every fituation, the fkirts of high ridges are weak, and compa- ratively unproductive. For, in proportion as the ridges are raifed, and the depth of foil is there increafed, in the fame proportion the furrows are funk, and the depth of foil there diminifhed j the bottoms of the furrows ge- nerally dipping into a dead infertile lubfoil. Befides, the fkirts of high lands lie under another heavy difadvantage ; efpecially where the foil is of a retentive nature, and the fub- foil cold and watery : in a wet feafon, afiier the upper parts of the lands are faturated, the redundant 83 TILLAGE. 16. redundant water falls down, of courlc, to their bafcs, where, meeting with a repellent fubfoil, it is held in fufpencej keeping the fkirts of the lands, fo long as the wet fealbn continues, in a ftate much too moift and cold for the pur- |X)fes of vegetation. The prefentyear (1788) affords numberleis inHances of this evil effecl. Laft autumn was exceffively wet. At wheat feed time, reten- tive foils were in a ftate of mortar ; and re- mained in that ftate, until late in die fpring. It is probable that, on the lower parts of the lands, much of the feed never vegetated i and the plants, which reached the furface, dwindled awav, as the fpring advanced. In the colder parts of the vale, the fkirts of the lands, in the latter end of May, had the appearance of fal- low-ground: in fome particular fituations, a ftripe upon each ridge, only, was Idft: not half, perhaps not one third of the fui-face fully occupied. Whereas, had the fame foil been judicioufly laid up in narrow lands, widi crofs furrows to take otf the furface water, every foot of furface might have been filled, and ever)' part been rendered equally productive. Bu; i6. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 8i But extremely difadvantageous as high ridges undoubtedly are, while they remain in a date of aration -, they are no longer fo, when laid down to grafs. In this cafe, the furface is indifputably enlarged. Herbage, efpecially when it is paftured, Ipreads every way upon the ground, and does not rife perpendicularly, as corn. Befides, in this cafe, there is a va- riety of herbage, and a variety of foil, fuited to every feafon. If the feafon be moift, the ridges afford a plenty of fweet pafturage, and dry ground for the pafturing flock to reft upon : and I had an opportunity of obferving, in the year 1783, a dry year, that while the ridges, and fiat lands in general, were burnt up with drought, the furrows of high lands continued in full herbage. It is obfervable, however, that in cafes, where the fubfoil is retentive, every furrow fhould have its under- drain ; othervvife the herbage, efpecially in a wet feafon, will be of a very inferior quality. The propriety of reducing high ridges' is a matter in difpute, among men who ftand high in their profefTion. To me there appears no room for argument. If they be intended to remain under a ftate of arable management. Vol. I. G they Si TILLAGE. 16. thc^ ought to be lowered. On tlie contran'', if they be intended for a llate of herbage, they ought to remain in or near their prefcnt form; provided the furrows be fufficiently found, or lie high enough for draining. If not, the ridses oug-ht to be lowered, until the furrows l3e raifcd high enough to lie dry, or to admit of underdraining. In the common fields, no attempts, I be- lieve, have been made to lower them, in any confiderable degree. The pradlice of plowing twice tip'-jjard to once down-'juardy as has been explained above, keeps them at, or nearly at, the ancient llandard. There is indeed a difadvantage attending the reducftion of high ridges, which thofe, who have had no experience in them, may not be aware of. The cores of the ridges ; though they have been formed out of the original top- foil J which, in all human probabihty, was, when buried, of a Angularly fertile nature, are now become inactive, unprodudlive mafles of dead earth. I have oblerved, where one of thefe ridges has been cut acrofs in finking a Hone pit, that the prefent foil forms an arch of dark -coloured rich-looking mould, a foot to i6. VALE OF GLOCESTER. Sj to eighteen inches deep i — under which lies a regularly turned cylinder of ill coloured y«^- foil ; refembling the natural lubfoil of the countr)' lb much, thar, unlefs we had indifpu- table evidence of thefe ridges being the work of art, we fhould be led to conclude that na- ture had moulded them to their prefent form. This appears to me an interefting circumftance, eipecialiy entided to the agricultor's attention. Notwithftanding, however, this difadvan- tage in reducing high ridges, I have had die opportunity of feeing an inflance of practice, in which fome of the higheft in the diftrict have been brought down to the defired pitch ; and, in the only way perhaps, in which the height of arable ridges can be decreafed with propriety: namely that of increafing their number. The fubjefls, in this inftance, were the in- clofure particularly noticed in page 76; and a neighbouring inclofure ^ which, in 1783, was nearly reduced to the defired (late. The other had, in 1783, been recently begun uponj and is now, 1788, in great forwardnefs. The width of the lands in this cafe as has been faid was twenty to twenty five yards j die height G 2 five 84 TILLAGE. i6. tive to fix feet ; the furrows lying much below the furrounding ditches ; fometimes holding water enough " to float a barge" ! The method of reducing them was that of gathering up a new land in each interfurrow of the old ones ; which, by this means, were lowered as the intervening lands were raifed. To guard againft the difad vantage explained above, the whole of the manure which would liave been fpread over the entire furface, was laid upon the crowns of the old or large lands ; it being found that the new lands, being formed entirely of made-earth, were fufficiently fertile, after they got their heads above water, without the addition of manure j and the fides of the large lands were fed from the crowns, by every plowing, and every Ihower. Altogether a great work, executed in a mafterly manner. * In the open fields, wliere the lands lie inter- mixt, this method of lowering them could not be pradtiled. But one equally practicable is obvious : namely that of forming each large land into three ; by raifing a fmall one on either fide of it. Applying the manure as in the above ' By Mr. George PiffeoF Do\vnHatlierly. i6. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 85 above inflance. If a general inclofure be not near at hand, fome of the open-field townfhips might, I Ihould imagine, reap great benefit by fuch a reform. On the contrary, — where an inclofure is likely to take place, and the land is naturally adapted to a ftate oigrajs^ it might be wrong to leffenthe width of the prefent ridges. All in that cafe requifite would be to alter their form ; by reducing them from triangular roofs to "juavesj or fegments of cylinders : a fpecies of furface, for grafsland whofe fubfoil is any way inclined to retentivenefs, which has many ECONOMICAL advantages over a flat bowling- sreen furface. V G 3 MANURE. 86 M A N U R E. ^7- M A N U R E. VALE DISTRICTS, whole foils are ge- nerally deep and naturally fertile^ require lefs manure than thin-foiled upland diftnfts ; which, being -naturaUy infertile (if we may be allowed to fpeak of their original nature) require greater exertions of art, to preferve them in a llate of produiflivenefs. Hence, in diftridts of the latter defcription, we fee hufbandmen anxious about manure ; making the moil of that which the farm itfelf affords \ fetching others from a diftance ; and fearching beneath the foil for more ; — while in countries covered ^vith more generous foil, manures are in lower eflimation : the degree of eflimation var}'ing, however, in different diflricts of this defcription. * In * The rRiCE OF TOWS MAXuKz may bc con fide rcd as CO mean ftandard of the ftatc of hulbandn-, or at Icaft the fpi- rit of hufhandmen, in the neighbourhood of the given town, A man i;. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 8; In the vale under llirvey, there is a confide- rable proportion of grals land. That which is paftured requires little addition of manure. And the grounds which are occafionally mown, have feldom any return made them. While the meadows, being either intrinfically fertile, or liable to be overflowed, pay an annual tri- bute to the dung yard, without expecting any return. The arable lands, therefore, form the only object of melioration -, and dung may be faid to be the only manure made ufe of in meliorating them. Mould is not in ufe, either in the farm yard, or at the dung heap. I have feen it mixed with litter, or very long dung, layer-for-layer; but this is not the common praftice of the di- ilrid. Marl A man whofe intelligence is good, and whofe veracity may be relied on, — has favored me witli the priees of manure in the towns of this dillrict. Glocefter is. 6d. Tewkelbur)' 2S. Upton andWorcefter 2S. 6d. to 3s. Eve(ham4S. to^s. a load, of about a ton. The comparative highnefs of the price at Evesham is chiefly owing to the quantity of garden grounds in the neighbourhoodof that town ; which fupplies Birmingham, and formerly fupplied many other diftant markets, in agreat meafure, witli garden fluff. There are now, it is faid, tw© or three hundred acres under the garden culture. G 4 88 MANURE. 17. Marl is not common to the vale. Weakly calcarious clays are frequent. The inter\'ening ftrataof the (lone of the fublbil are calcarious in a flight degree. The only earth I have found, which can with propriet)' be termed marl, breaks out at the fkirts, and in the roads of the red hills of Deerhurfl j and is, I believe, common to the red lands weft of the Se\'em ; where it is faid to be ufed as a manure ; and it ought to be tried, (if it has not been tried al- ready) in the vale ; though its qualit)' appears by analyiis to be of an inferior degree ; not more than one fifth of it being a pure calcari- ous earth. The fpecimen I tried was taken near Apper- iey. Part of it in the hollow way between the common and the village ; pan from the foot of the hill facing the Severn. The colour a light red, refembling that offalmon-coloured bricks: the contexture inclined to fhaleyj but breaks freely in water. One hundred grains left a refiduum of eighty grains i a cinnamon- coloured flit. Lime has been tried -, and,, in one inflance at leaft, has been found very beneficial to the vale land. But I do not find that the ufc of it has i7. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 89 has in any inftance rifen mto pra^lice. The ar- gument againfl it is, that ftone is expenfive to raife and coals dear. Stones at 2s. a load are certainly dear ; but coals at los. to 12s. a ton are very cheap, compared v.ith their price in many dillrifts where hme is burnt for manure. It may be laid upon the land, here, at a much eafier expence than it is in Cleveland (a fimilar diibicl) to which it is fetched, in the or- dinary practice of hufbandmen, rvvencv or tliir- ty miles by land carriage. But in Cleveland the fpirit of improvement has long been upon the wing: here it might be fiid to be ftill a nefUing. In the MANAGEMENT OF DUNG nothins: claims particular notice; it is ufually piled in the " courts" in fpring ; and, in the common field hufbandry, carried onto the fallows the firft dr)- feafon of fummer. One part in the ordering of dung in this dillricl is, however, reprehenfible : if a dung hill be formed in the field, the carriages are drawn upon it 3 by which means its maturation is veiy much retarded. SeeNoRF. ECON. vol. I. p. 158. SEED 90 SEED PROCESS. , J. 18. SEED PROCESS. IN THE SEED PROCESS, the vale farmers are above equality. Beans and peas, are almoft univerfally set by hand. Barley lands are clodded ; and v/heat " laxd- MEN'DED :" practices -which lower, very con- fiderably, the requifite quantity of seed. \z appears to me probable, that one fourth of the quantity of feed, ufually fo\Mi in mod other diflrifls, is faved in this. The feed of barley excepted. There is a prevailing opinion, backed by common praftice, in the more central parts of tlie vale at leaft, that it is dangerous to/ozv the frejh furro'-j: of ft iff land: which, in this ftate, is tliought to lie ** too hollow T A ftate, which the hufbandmen of the vale feem cau- tioufly to avoid. Hence the wheat ftubble is mown off", for beans, and the bean ftubble drawn, for wheat ; and the land fuffered to lie fome i8. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 91 Ibme time between the plowing and the fow- ino;. Yet the lio;hter foils are fown on the frefh furrow. In Norfolk, a lightland dif- tri<5tj the farmers dread nothing more than their lands being cold and hea\y at the time of lowing. Are thefe pradtices founded in right reafon, or in cuftom ? If in tnjth, — how difficult is the theory of this part of the arable procefs t CORN WEEDS. THE SPECIES of cornweeds, pre- valent in this diftritt, are arranged in the fol- lowing lift agi-eeably to their refpeftive de- grees of prevalency in the " every years' lands," in the neighbourhood of Gloccfter ; or as nearly fo as the intention of the arrangement requires. The firft ten are tlie moft deftruclive. — In fome cafes, any one of the fpecies would be enougli to deftroy a crop, were they not chcckedj, 9ft CORN V/ E E D S. 19. checked, in the manner which will be ex- plained. The laft nine are naturally the inha- bitants of road-fides and hedges ; but, en- couraged by the plow's negledl, have ventured abroad into the fields : even the comnnon reed I have feen waving its panicles, in number, over wheat, growing feveral lands-widths (ron\ its native ditch. LINNEAN NAMES. ENGLISH NAMES*: Triticum repens^ — couch grafs. Serratula arvenfis^ — common thifi:le. Sinapis nigra, — common muftardf. Convolvulus arvenfis, — corn covolvulus. Chenopodium viride, — redjointed goofefoot;}:. Chryjanthemumjegetum, — corn marigold . Fapaver * Provincial names are, in this cafe, neceflarily omit- ted. The namrs ot plants ; even their provincial names; are known to a few intelligent individuals, only ; no one ot whom I Iiave been fortunate enough to meet witli in this diftria. f Common mustard. This is the fpecies which is cultivated in the north of England for its flour. — It is here the mofl common weed : being, in tiiis diflridt, what the wild muftard, or charlock, is in others ^ a circumftance, which is Icfs extraordinary than that of the dirtridl under notice being free from the latter plant. I have not been able to gather a fingle fpecimen in it ! t Redjointed coosefoot. This I have heard called, provinciaJly, — " drought-weed" : an apt name for it. 19. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 93 Papaver Rh^eaSj round fmoothheaded poppy. Papaz'er dubium j'~—\on^ fmoothheaded poppy. Avena fatuay — wild oat*. Equifetum * The \vi LD OA T, a plant unknown in many parts of the ifland, is here, as well as in Yorkfhlre, a moft troublefome weed of corn. In general appearance, this plant refembles exadlythe cultivated oat: in ftem, blade, panicle, chafF, and lume!, they are ihtjarm plant : and, in colour, their feeds arc fubjeft to the fame varieties : namely black, red, white. But, examined botanically, the wild oat differs, in three notable particulars, from Avena fatrva ; which is defcribed by Linneus, as having " calyxes fusc- feeded; {etds poli/bed ; one aivned''' ; whereas the cahces of the wild oat are nvo or three feeded; the feeds covered ivith long fofi bair\ and all of them awned. Nevertlielefs, in one inftance, I found the lower feeds of the panicle nearly fmootb ; this, added to the circumrtance of the Poland oat ^a highly cultivated variety) growing in calices onefeeded, and ii;ubcut any aucKy renders it much more than pro- bable, that the various forts of cultivated oats are no more than CULTIVATED varieties of the wild oat. Be that as it may- --the wild oat appears to be as con firmed a nat'rve of this iiland, as any other arable weed, w hich grows in it ; and is, perhaps of all, the molt ditScult to be extirpated. It will lie a century in the foil, without lofmg its vegetative quality. Ground, which has lain in a ftate of grafs, time immemcrial, both in this county and in Yorkfliire, has, on being broken up, produced it in abundance. It is alio endowed with the fa:n-' inftinfUve choice 94 C O R N W E E D S. 19. Equifetum ai-'enji^ — curn horfctail. Agrcjlis albiiy — creeping bentgrafs. Jlopnurus agrejiis, — field foxtailgrafs. 'feftuca liuriujculay — hard fefciie*. Soiicbus oleraceusy — common rowthillle Artemifia vulgaris, — mugwort. Sinapis alba, — ^white muftard f . Riimex crifpusy — curled dock. Carduus lanceolatuSy — fpear thiltle^ Galium Aparine^ — cleavers. Urtica choice of feafons, and flate of Uie foil, as other feeds of weeds appear to have. This renders it, what it is confidered, a difficult weed to be overcome : for ripening before any €rof, it (heds its feed on the foil ; wliere it probably finds lafety from the birds in the roughnefs of its coat. Fallow- ing ; HoiSG ; — and, where it is prafticahlc, giving a final HAXDW'EEDiNC, aitcr it (hoot its panicle, arc the only means of extirpation. • Hard Fescue. This plant, wliich is one of the greateft pefts in tlie arable lands of feme diftrifts, (under the nanic of black couch) is fcldom met witJi in the plowed lands of this ; notwiihftanding tlicir want of tillage : and notwithftanding it is found, (though not abundantly) in the lurrounding grals lands ! + White mutard. Its feeds in this diftri«5l arc rcd\ fomc of them inclining to a dark mottle ; relembling, m colour, the leeds of the cultivated vetch : none of them lighter than thofe of the common mulbrd ; fmapis nigra ; •fthofe feeds, when in perfection, nc of a bright forrel nd. i<). VALE OF GLOCESTER. 95 Urtica dioica, — common nettle. Shiapis orientalis *. Rumex obtufifoliuSj — broadleaved dock. Anihemis Cottday — maithe-weed. Matricaria fuaveolens, fweetfcented ca- momile. Chryjanthemum z«^?^or/^;//,— weakicented ca- momile. ^ Mentha arvenfis, — corn mint. Centaurea Cyanusy — bluebonnet. Polygonum Perficariaj — common mild per- ficaria. Sonchus arvenjis, — corn fovvthiftle, iMpfana communis^ — nipplewort. Atriplex patula^ — fpreading orach. Tujftlago Farfara^ — coltsfoot. Ranunculus repens^ — creeping crowfoot. Pot^ntilla * SiNAFis ORIENTALIS. A plant which grows here as a troublefome weed of corn, anlwering witli great exaft- nefs, Linneus's defcription of Sinapis orientalis, I have ven- tured to call it by tliat name ; thougli I have not been able to find it, in any lid of Englijh plants. Its ftature is fimilar to that of the white muflard ; to which its general appear- ance has fome affinity ; but, on clofer examination, the af- finity vaniihes. The points, with which its pods and ftem arc thickly let, incline doi.vni-jard ; the body of the pod is long\ and the beak/Jorr; the feeds numerous, fmall, and of a niinin<{ bla:k. qb C O R N" \V E E D S. 19. PcieMtilla a»/erivi7, — filvenveed. Trifolium Melilctus cff,cina'i:Sy — melilot. Achillea MilUfoliufrij — milfoil. Stacbys palnftrisy — clo^s7lsallheal. Vfronica bederifolia^ — i\-)leaved fpeedwell. ScYiecio z'ulgarjjj — groundfeL Jljint tnediai — chickwecd. Tblajpi Burfa-pafioris, — fhepherdspuri'c. yEtbufa Cynapiumy — foolsparfle)^ f. Ceraftium vulgatumj^-comw.on moufear. Fumaria cfficimdis, — common fbmiton'. Pohgonum aviadarfy — hog^veed. Plant age major, — broad plantain. Avena elatior, — rail oatgrals J. Agrcjlis capillaris, — fine bentgrals. Heracleum Sfbondyliunty — cowparlhep. Cent our ea Scahiojay — upland knob weed. Scahioja arvenfiSy — ^upland fcabious. Daucus t FooLSPARSi ET. Thii IS hf rc a Ter)' common field weed (a character I have not feen it in before) but coining late, and not rifing, in this Ctuation, to a great height, its injur)- i> little perceived. \ Tall oatg kais. This is another fallow-T.ced which is partial to particular foils or fituaticns. NotwithfJunding tlic want of tillage in this diiUic^, I h-ve not once feer. it roct< turned up tv the plow . 19. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 97 DaucHS Carotdy — wild carrot. Lychnis d'loica, — common campion. Carduiis crifpuSy — curled thiftle. Lycopfis drvmftSy — corn buglos. • Lamium purpureum^ — dwarf deadnettlc. Galeopfts Tetrabitj-^—wild hemp*. Ranunculus arvenfts, — corn crowfoot. Polygonum pcnfyhanicum, — pale perficaiia. Polygonum Convolvulus^ climbing buck- weed. Antirrhinum Linaria, — common Snapdra- gon- HypGchcfris radicata^ long-rooted hawk-i weed. Euphrafia Odontites'^ — red eyebright. Euphorbia Heliojcopia, — ^fun fpurge. Vioht * Wild hemp. This is another evidence of the fame tai5l. In Yorkfhire it ranks with the more prevailing weeds. In the midland counties it is Hill more prevalent : while here it t.ikes place in the lower part of the catalogue. Thefe obfcrvations wil}, I am aware, be uninterefting to the reader, who is either unacquainted with the individuals Ipoken ot> or is no way interelied in the nature and preva- lency of corn weeds. Neverthelefs, they will, lamper- luaded, be viewed in a dijferent light by the practical far- mer, who is, at the fame tinve, a practical botanift ; and I believe I may add, that every good farmer is a botanift, as far as he is able ; and ought to bt, as far as botany relates to agriculture. Vol. I. H gS C O R N W E E D S. i^ Fiola /r/Vo/rice, and take their choice of buyers ; as well zs to meet each other, and make the requilite bargains between themfelves. Fairs are, in this point of xiew, flill more convenient to the farmer. How fhould a gra- zier or a jobber know that he has flock to dif- pofe of, unlefs he had ibmc means oi publijb- fffg ihem : At the fame time, how conveni- ent 22. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 109 ent are fairs to the grazier, who can there take his choice of ftock j as well as to the breeder, who may there make his eleftion of price. Towns were no doubt aware of thefe things when TOLLS were eftablifhed. But tolls are fetters which all fairs and markets fhould be freed from. They interrupt the bufinefs of the day ; are the caufe of endlefs diipute ; and may, in thefe days, well be confidered as the impofitions of lefs liberal times, which ought to be cleared away. Markets, more efpeciaily, are a univerfal good. Tliey bring the producer and the con- fumer hand to hand. Shopkeepers and huck- fters are middle men, who mufl be paid for their labour ; and whatever profit they receive is fo much loft, either to the farmer or the confumer. Tolls have thefelfsame tendency. Either the feller or the buyer muft pay them ; and each has his plea of complaint. The tolls of Glocefter market are very high — almoft ex- cefTive — 3d. butter — 2d. poultry or eggs. — The market women, of courfe, complain of the hardfhip ; while the town's people are ftilj louder in their complaints -, alleging that the fellers. no MARKETS. M. fellers, taking the advantage of the toll, charge them doubly for it. All taxes, cvenruaDv, fall oft the confumer. This is a fubjecl which has never, I i>elievc, been agitated , but which is certainly entitled to the bigbeji attention. From the obfervations which are here Joofelv thrown together, we may venture to draw, as a conclufion, that all fairs and markets SHOULD BE FREE : And that a reform in the market places and fair-steads ■*" of this kingdom is wan!?ed: not * F^iiR-sTFADS in gmoral, are ftiU iris coiixmodious than market places. They are moftly confined to the firccis (barbarous ulage) and fometimcs every ftreet in the town is a feparate iair-ftead : fo that it is impoffible for a buyer tc know what ftock tiie fair coolifts of. Whea a market is briflc, much of it may be Ibid before he can pof- Cbly have an opportunity of feeing it. 'WTiIle, in other cafes the flreets are fo narrow, and the fair-ftead lo cc«- fined, that the value of iiock cannot be cftimated with fuf- ficient accuracy. A fquare paddock, paled or walled round ; wjih one gate to admit, and another to let out flock; the cattle being placed on the border, p t xip q t y formed to receive them ; and the fbeep-pens m. dhe cmitr, (in the m:tnncr of Smithfieldmarket) would periapt be feondl, iu preference to all others the beft form for a fair-ftead. How eafily might rvery market town be fumifted with fodh a paddock. 22. VALE OF GLOCESTER. m not fo much for the conveniency of towns, as for that of the country. We have no ground of reafoning, however, to expedl that corporations, and lords of ma- nors, will even give up their prefent tolls,- much lefs make the requifite reform, without fome adequate recomipence. The COUNTIES, reipectively, have the care of their gaols, and bridges ; and it flrikes me, that the county-rate would be the propereft fund for defraying the expence of a reform in their markets ; and for afterward keeping in due order, fair-fteads and market-places. A reform in weights and measures has long been fpoken of as a thing defirable. It would be well if fome general reform, in the fairs and markets of thefe kingdoms, could be brought about. While they remain in their prefent barbarous ftate, we cannot have- full claim to the chara6ter of a civilizep NATIOM. WHEAT. 112 W H E A T. 23. W H E A T. THE SPECIES of wheat, in cultivatiof* here, are I. "Cone wheat" or "blue cone": — a variety of triticum ttirgidmn. * The ftraw tall and reedy: the ear long, and of a dufky- purple colour: the chaff downy, with a very long awn, which falls off when fully ripe. The grain brown, tolerably well fkinned, and of a hard flinty contexture ; affording a thirjly flour ; in good elleenm with the miller and ba- ker. This is the prevailing wheat of the di- ftrift i — whofe produce is probably three- fourths of it of this fpecies. 2. " Lammas. * Not, liowever; the variety which is entitled to the dif- tinftion cone ; its ears being remarkably cjl'iudrical. In Northwiltfhire, I met with the true cone — or triticum quadrntum — of Miller : — the bafe of the ear large and fquare (hence it is there called "fquare cared wheat') but the upper part is fomVfl/, tapering to a point. This variety is remark- ably turgid ;— the grains, in the bafe of the car, burfting open the ch.itf, Dcforc harvelt, thowing themfelvcs plainly %i the tfve. 23- VALE OF GLOCESTER. 113 2. "Lammas wheats": — varieties of TRiTicuM hybernum. Every thing that does not bear awns is " lammas" ; — which is di- vided into " red-ilraw" and " white -ilraw" — - or rather into red-chaff zxm^ white-cbaffhmm?LS, Of the latter there are two entirely diftindt forts ; the chaff of one fmooth^ the other ^villous. They frequently grow together in the fame piece, and the diilindtion probably pafles unnoticed. 3. Triticum ceJlivunii-—ov spring wheat: a ipecies which has been pretty freely tried in this diftridl: s but which is not, at prefent, likely to gain an eftablifhment. The CULTIVATION of wheat in this diftricft, cannot, altogether, be offered as a model: neverthelefs it mufl not be paffed over in 11- lence^ It has one excellency, at leaft, which entitles it to the higheft attention. The succESiON has been mentioned. Beans, planted and hoed, may be confidered (except in the old fallow fields) as its common prede- ceffor. Peas cultivated in the fame manner, likewife precede it, on light land : — v^heat be- ing here grown on every fpecies of soil. Vol. L I The 1,4 WHEAT. 23. The SOIL PROCESS, after piilfe, is Ibmetimes fingiilar ; and is entitled to notice. T\itjlub- hle of beans is pretty generally drawn * ; and I have feen, in more than one inftance, the fur- face breaji-plowedy after peas as well as beans, previous to the feed plowing for wheat. This is to me a novel pradice. I have nor, out of this county, feen the breafl plow ufed in any other intention, than tliat of paring off the furface of grafsland, in whole fods. But the operation, in the pradlice under notice, is done with a very different defign. The pa- ring is not attempted to be turned in the na- ture of a fod } the intention is merely that of fevering the roots of weeds beneath the fur- face y in order that they may be harrowed out and deflroyed, before the wheat be fown. This, for the clafs o^ creeping perennial zveedsy f is a ready and effectual mode of exterpation: alfo • For fuel ; citlier by the farmer ; or, more generally I believe, by his labourers' wives and children ; who have the fuel for their labour ; a waggon being generally placed in the field to receive it, as it is drawn. Bean flubblc plowed into the foil is thought to afford refuge for snails; which fometimes do the wheat crop great injury. It is alio thougfit ro keep the/oil too holloiv ! t Sec vork: econ: vol. i. p. 375. 23- VALE OF GLOCESTER. 115 alio xkvt Jlrong-rcoted, and even the 'n-orm-rcoted tribes arc, probably, efientially f/vt^^c-^by this pra<5tice j elpecially as the plow, prefently af- terward, makes another leparation at a greater depth ; fo that their feeding fibres, as ^vell as their foliage, are to be produced afrefh. The only objection to this practice is the expence: namely fix or feven fhillings an acre. In a country, however, where a fingle plowing cofts more money, the expence cannot be deemed excefllve. But, on a foil free from ftones, as the foils of the vale almoft invariably are, the fame or a fimilar effect may be produced, in a much eafier way. For although I had not feen a breaft plow ufed in the operation j the utility and effects of the operation itfelf are familiar to me. In my own practice, in Sui-rey, I pur- fued the operation of sub-plowikg to, perhaps, its fartheft limits: gaining a full \4ew of its merits and defects. The greateft difficulty- lies in getting an implement to work, in all foils, and in ail feafons. A light wheel-plow, — with a broad fharp ihare, and without a mould board, — drawn by one or two horfes, is, I be- lieve, the bell implement which can be ufed in I 2 this ii6 W H E A r. 23. this operation : which, in fome cafes, is very valuable. See min. of agri. dates 16 Auguft, 10 and 20 October 1775, and 16 Auguft 1776. The TIME OF SOWING, November and De- cember ! If a farmer get his feed wheat into the ground before Chriftmas, he is thought to fi- nifli in due feafon. How widely different arc the cuftoms of countries, with refpeft to this important operation. Cuftoms which are, no doubt, founded, in fome degree at leaft, on the experience of ages. This country is nearly a month behind the reft of the kingdom. It is argued, by men of experience, in fupport of this extraordinary practice, that, " late-fown wheats are apt to be better headed" — are more productive of grain — than crops which arc fown more early : and the argument, duly li- mited, may have fome foundation. But it is very probable, that the peculiar latenefs of wheat feed time, in this diftridl, is not effen- tially neceffary to the natural fituation of the vale, or to the nature of its foil, but arifes, in fome degree, out of its prefent peculiarity of management. The unprodu6livenefs of the early fown crops may be, in part, owing to the 23- VALE OF GLOCESTER. 117 the hoft of weeds with which they have to en- counter i while thofe which are fown late, ef- caping the autumnal vegetation, have fewer ' eneniies to contend with, the enfuing fummer. There are two difadvantages evidently at- tend late fowing. The feafon is uncertain, and the requifite quantity of feed is increafcd. Much of it never vegetates, and much of that, which, if fown in due feafon, might have ve- getated, falls unavoidably a prey to vermin of different kinds. Neverthelefs, fuch is the ftrength of the vale lands, and fuch the advantages of hoing, that the quantity of seed fown in this di- ftricl is confiderahly lefs, than that fown, I be- lieve, in any other fart of the kingdom. Even at Chrifimas, the quantity feldom exceeds two buJJoels an acre ! Six pecksj in September— Oftober, would afford as full a fufHciency of plants ; and, in the more early part of the feafon, /d-iwz -pecks ^ fown hroadcajl, is the ufual- quantity of feed ! * I 3 The ♦ SETTING WHEAT. This pra6lice is not licrc In ufe J except onalmall fcale. In the little encroachments round Corfe Lawn (a well foiled and very extenfive common - fheep-walk wcftward of the Severn) I haveobferved feveral patches of wheat, planted in rows, with " fetting pins", in the xnanner beans and peas are plauted in this diftriit. ii8 WHEAT. 23. The meafure, it is true, is large: full nine gallons and a half: fo that the feven pecks contain near feventeen gallons. But, in Nor- folk, three bufhels containing near twenty five gallons, is ufually fown, fome weeks, per- haps, before the feed time commences in this countr}-: two bufhels and a half j about twent)' two gallons, may be taken as the middle quan- tity of feed wheat, throughout the kingdom. But, in the vale of Glocefter, — wheat is UNIVERSALLY HOED: a fa<5t which does ho- nor to English agriculture; and which I enter in this regifter with more than ordinary fatisfaftion. The hoing of wheat is one of thofe valuable operations in hufbandry, which are lefs diffi- cult, and more effectual, in practice than in theory. I have examined it with extraordi- nary attention i and fhall beftow upon it a minute analytical defcription. 1. The number of hoings. 2. The times of hoino:. 3. The width of the hoe." 4. The method of hoing. 5. The price. 6. The advantages. \. The 23. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 119 I. The number of hoings. Two ho- ings are generally fpoken of i but are executed only in the practice of fuperior hufbandmen. One hoing and a handweeding, however, are eflential to good management. Two hoings, the laft likewifc a handweeding, might be deemed perfection. The firft hoing, if given in due time, wiD unavoidably mifs many weeds, which will afterwards run up to feed, and foul fucceeding crops. Sometimes the crop is harrowed early (about the time of the firft hoing) and hoed fome time after\vard. It is likewife not unfre- quendy harrowed prefenting after the firft hoing : a good finifh, which not only loofens the foil, and lets down a fupply of air to the roots of the corn -, but effectually difengages the weeds from the foil ; in which they are liable to be refixed by the feet of the hoers. 1. The times of hoing. The firft hoing is begun in April, or as foon as the fealbn will permit. It ought to be finillied before die plants begin to " branch" ftock — dller— or make their vernal ramifications. The fooner the fecond hoing fucceeds the firft, the lefs difficulty there is in doing it i but the later I 4 it 120 W H E A T. 23. it is given, die more ferviceable it proves ; provided the crop be not immediately injured in the operation. 3. The width of the hoe. It is gene- rally underftood, that the fize of the hoe ought to be proportioned to the fullnefs of the crop : a thin crop requiring a wide hoe — one which is thick upon the ground, a narrow one. The narrowed I have meafured has been three inches ; the wideft five inches. The form is that of the turnep-hoe: except that the corners are, or ought to be, rounded off. 4. The method of hoing. If the plants (land fufficiently wide to admit the hoe be- tween them, the entire furface is ftirred. Where they ftand clofely, and weeds do not appear, they are pafled over. Thus, the tops of high ridges are frequently too rank to admit the hoe, while the fides of the lands are entirely worked over with it. The art of hoing wheat is much lefs difficult than that of hoing turneps ; v.hich require a quick eye and a fteady hand, to fingle them gut at proper diftances: whereas, in hoing wheats the plants, and of courfe the fpaces between 23- VALE OF GLOCESTER. 121 between them, are given j all the hoer has to do, is to cut over the vacant patches, and draw the hoe between the plants j — length way, if the plants will admit of it; if not, and weeds intervene, to force through the end, or the corner : in doing which the plants are not much endangered j unlefs the hoe be very fharp : for the fame hoe, which will ftir the ground, and cut up feedling weeds, will flip over wheat without injuring it. Wheat, root- ing deep, is not eafily eradicated ; and Ihould part, or even the whole of the blades be cut off, they will, provided the crown be left, re-fpring, Hence women and children may, with fufficient fafety, be trufted with hoes among wheat; and, where the foil is tolerably free from root-weeds, foon become fufficiently expert. But if couch grafs abound among wheat, which it too frequently does, not only more labour, but greater fkill is requifite, Couch grafs bears the fame affinity to wheat, as the wild rnuftard does to turneps ; an adept will generally diftinguifh the plants with fufEcient readinefsi but in fome cafes_, they refemble each 122 W H E A T. 23. each other (o nearly, as to be eafily miftaken for one another, by the inexperienced. Be- fkks, in this cafe the hoe is obliged to be kept with a fharp edge -, otherwile it \vill not take the couch : this, of courfe, renders it a more dangerous implement in the hands of the inadept. Therefore, under thefe difgraceful circumflances, men ought to be, and fre- quently are, on the every years lands, em- ployed in the hoing of wheat. This, however, does not operate againft the general principle of hoin-g wheat by WOMEN' AND CHILDREN. No man, who has any regard for his intereft, or to his character as a hufbandman, attempts to cultivate wheat in a bed of couchgrafs. The requifite diftance between the plants, depends on the fpecies of wheat, and the (late of the foil. Cone wheat is found to branch nnore than lammas. j and either of them will fpread wider on a rich, than on an impove- rifhed foil. If the plants be ftrong, ten or twelve inches is not deemed too great a diftance. It might, however, be WTong to fct-out clofe-growing plants at that diflance : plants mav 23- VALE OF GLOCESTER. 123 may acquire, during the auaimn and winter^ habits agreeable to their refpe6live fituations: the fingle plants to fpread, — thofe in groups to run upward ; and it might be injurious, in the Ipring, to place them in new fituations. Neverthelefs, it is probable that, in many cafes, the crop would be improved, if the underling plants, which rank wheat generally abounds with, were in due time removed. Crouded plants produce feeble ftraw, and puny imperfeft grain : and, from die atten- tion I have paid this fubjed, I am of opi- nion, that a five- inch hoe might be ufed^ freely, in the fulleft crop. I do not mean in fetting the plants out, fingly, like thole of turneps ; but merely in lefTening their number ; thereby giving thole which were left a fufficiency of air and headroom.. A turnep requires room at the root -, wheat at tlie ear : and it is a thing of no great confequence, per- haps, whether a given fquare foot of atmof- phere be filled with ears from one, two, or a greater number of roots. 5. Price. The ordinary price is half a crown an acre, for the firft hoing. But the requifite 124- WHEAT. 23. requifite labour varies with the (late of the cropj and the nature of the foil. A full clean crop, on a free foil, wants little labour. Nor on fuch a foil, though foul with feed-weeds, is the labour difficult; provided the crop has not been fufFered to run up and hide the fur- face. On the contrary, a thin tall crop, foul with couchgrafs, on a flubborn foil, in a dry feafon, requires more labour than is ever paid for. I have feen a man hoing wheat under the laft mentioned circumflanccs, at 2^. an acre. But he bai-ely earned day-wages ; yet did not half do his work. If the foil be tole- rably free, the fealbn kind, and the crop taken in a proper ftate as to growth, notwithftand- ing it may be foul with feed weeds, there are women who will hoe half an acre a day. Sucli a crop is not unfrequently done at 2S. an acre. The fecond hoing is frequently more te- dious than the firft ; by reafon of the crops, hiding the ground, and being in the way of the hoe. 6. The ADVAN'TACEs of hoing are many. The feed weeds are cut off; tiie root weeds checked j and the crufl of the foil broken. By 23. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 125 By thus giving the roots a full fupply* of air^ and the plants themfelves the full poffefTion of the furfacc, — they acquire a vigorous habit, and are induced to branch out, Ipread over the furface, and fill up every vacancy j by that means increafing their own llrength, and keeping their enenaies under. If a fimile might be ufed on this occaficn, we might fay^, that the foil is a country contended for ; the corn and the weeds contending armies : — By deftroying, or checking the advancement of one, we give the other an opportunity of gain- ing full polTefTion. Befides the advantages to the growing crop, thofe of future crops ought to be confidered. The hoe deftroys, in the firft hoing, a clafs of weeds, which handweeding feldom, if ever Iloops to. Indeed, before that operation ufu- ally takes place, they are fhrunk beneath no- tice : they flourifh, however, at a critical time i — the time of branching y — and are pro- bably the caufe of greater mifchief, than rifes to common obfervation. The fpecies which come moft particularly within this clafs are the ivykaved Jpeedwell or winter-iveedy — chickweedy and groundfil: while hairoughy one of the worii weed ,26 WHEAT. ■6' weed of wheat, falls an eafy victim to the hoe. The fhepberdspurfey— common ^ndjcorpion moitje- sarsy fumitory, hogiveedy and other low-grow- ing weeds, are cut off imperceptibly in hoing ; but are feldom the objedts of handweedikg : confequently, fhed their feeds upon the foil, and remain, from year to year, a nuifance to the growing crop. In the HARVESTING of wheat, we find no- thing particularly noticeable; except the practices of letting it ftand until it be unrea- fonably ripe, — of cutting it very high, — and of binding it in remarkably fmall (heaves. The lafl: requires fome attention. The fizeof the flieaf is here proportioned. In a great meafure, to the height of the crop. The (heaves being invariably bound with one length of ftraw. The prad:ice of making double bands — a practice common to the fou- thern, eaftern, northern, and midland coun- ties, appears to be unknown in this diftricl. This year, the ftraw being fomewhat (hort, the (heaves (if fuch they may be deemed) are mere handfuls — many of them may be grafped with the fingers. — PVw of them are equal to half a common Iheaf; three or four of fome of 23. VALE OF GLOCESTER. nj of them (elpecially in the ever}- years fields, where, perhaps, there are more weeds than com to bind up) would not make a iheai" of fome diflrids. The advantages and inconveniences of this cxtraordinar)^ practice require examination. The inconveniences arile chiefly from the number of (heaves. The crop takes more binding. — The trouble of band-making, ho\v- ever is evaded. But it is certainly more tedi- ous to ftook, pitch, load, unload, flack ^c. 6cc. than it would be if bound in larger Iheaves ; and, in thefe operations, without any obvious counter advantage. The practice, neverthelels, has its advan- tages. Small iheaves require lefs field room, as it is termed ; that is lefs time between the cutting and the carr^-ing ; than large Iheaves do. And, what is equally valuable, if they be caught in wet weather, they are much fooner dried again: confequendy, the danger ot gro\sing is not fo great as when the crop is bound in large Iheaves ; which frequendy re- quire opening, when a fmall one may be got dry \vithout that tedious and dangerous expe- dient. The 128 \y H E ^ r. n- The practices of cutting high and binding with fingle bands, have probably arifcn, like that of hoing wheat, out of a kind ofnecefllty on the tvtry year's lands ; on which if the weeds as well as the wheat were to be reaped, by cutting the latter low ; and the whole bound up together in large fh eaves ; — fcarcely any length of time would cure tliem to the center. The great length of cone wheat may have af- fifted in eftablifhing the practice. The fize of Iheaves, uninterefting as it may appear to tliofe who are unpradbiced in the mi- nutix of hufbandn.', is a fubjecb of fome impor- tance. — That the Iheaves of wheat are made much too large in many diftridls, and perhaps in general, is as evident as that, in this diftricl, many of them are made fmaller than any good purpofe can require. The difficulty lies in af- certaining the happy medium. AVe may ven- ture to fay, N\ithout rifque, that the fize ought to bear fome proportion to the (late of the crop. At prelent, it may be faid to vary from a hand- ful to an armful. How far it ought to var)^, and what the proper fizes of the two extremes are, I dare not, here, take upon me to deter- mine. The 23. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 129 The STUBBLE and weeds are generally mown ofFinfwaths, foon after harveft, for litter. It is not unulual to fell the flubble on the ground. The price fometimes fo high as 5s. an acre ; off which perhaps the buyer will carry a full waggon load ! A quantity, perhaps, equal to that carried off in fheaves at harveft. The PRODUCE of wheat, in this diftri(rr, is below par : notwithftanding the fuperior qua- lity of the foil. The par produceof the diftrift is laid at eighteen buihels an acre (the meafure large). I have heard men talk gravely of t'uuehe bufhels j even in the fallow fields. I have myfelf feen, in one of the every year's fields, not lefs perhaps than tw-enty, perhaps not lefs than forty acres, which could not be laid at miore than eight bufhels an acre ! I do not mention thefe things to expofe the hufbandmen of the vale of Glocefter — I have no motive whatever to lead me to fuch a con- duct — nor do I, on any occafion, I truft, fuf- fer any motive whatever to lead me to cen- fure, other dian the facts which appearbefore me. I have no partiality to this or that diflridl. To enable me to profecute with greater dili- gence the defign I have entered upon, I en- Voi.. I. K 4^avour I30 W H E A 1 . 23 deavour to view each diftrici as my ou:» : and wifh to fee the feveral parcels of my wide do- main i or, — in language more fuitable to the fubjeft, — the feveral cultivated diftricts of this ifland, on a par as to cultivation ; and as near perfe(ftion as the prefent ftate of the art is capable of raifing them. On the prefent occa- fion, I wiih to prove, by the mod fubftantial evidence, the neceflity of a change of ma- nagement. The diftricb contains, without difpute, fome plots of cold unprodudlive foil. Ever}- acre of it, which lies out of the water's w^ay, may neverthelefs be faid to be wheat land. Three fourths of it is land of fuch a quality that it ought never to be fown with wheat, without a fair probability of three to four QUARTERS AN ACRE. The prcfent unproduc- tivenefs is a lofs to the communit)" ; and re- fle<5ls equal difgrace on its owner and its occu- piers. There mufl: be fome caufe or caufes of this ftriking deficiency of produce ; and it behoves the landowners to afcertain and remove them : their interefl: is the mod materially concerned. If 23- VALE OP' GLOCESTLR. 131 If the deficiency be owing to the open fields being worn down by arable crops, (which I be- lieve is one ver)'' great caufe of it) — why let them remain in their prefent unprofitable (late ? Why not indole them, and let the lands be laid to grals ? If the deficiency be caufed by the land's be- ing chilled with furface water (as much of the central parts of the vale undoubtedly is) why not obtain an acl of Ihores : and under it keep them, as they may undoubtedly be kept, fuf- ficiently free from it. If the coldnels of the fubfoil be the caufe, (as it may be in feme places) encourage under- draining. If, on examination, the caufe of a deficiency of produce fhould appear to be principally owing to a deficiiency of tillage (as in the every year's lands it alTuredly is) — giVe due encou- ragement to fallowing j and check, by ever\' other pofTible mean?, the prefent difgracefui pra»ftice of growing eight bulhcls of wheat an acre, on land which is by nature enabled to bear four times that quantity. The reform which is here offered is wanted in rarious other diilridts of the kingdom ; in K 2 which 132 WHEAT. 23. which the wheat crop, by injudicious manage- ment, is too frequently difgraceful to Englifh hufbandry. The wheat crop, above all others, fhould not be rijqued. No man ought to fow wheat where he has not, with a common fea- Ibn, a moral certainty of a crop. BARLEY. THE QUANTITY of barley grown in this vale is very coniiderable. For, notwith- ftanding the uncommon coldnefs of much of the vale lands, this is the only fpring com which is cultivated on them. The only species that I have feen cultivated in the dilbict is the common long -eared barley: h o r d e u m zeocritcn. In the CULTIVATION of bailey, onecircum- fiance, only, is noticeable: namely that ofite being made ufe of, on the e\ ery year's lands, as the cUanfijig crop. It 24. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 133 It appears to be n leading article of faith, among the occupiers of thefe lands, that if a week or ten days fine weather, in the ipring, can be had for the operation of harrowing out couch i and if, after this, a full crop of barley fucceed ; efpecially if it fhould be fortunate enough to take a reclining pofture i the bufi- nth o{ fallowing is effeftually done : — the foil being thus raifed to a degree of cleannefs and tilth fufficient to laft it through a fcries of fuc- ceeding crops. Hence, to catch a few fine days to fallow in, barley is fown, on thefe lands, very late : — the middle of May — fometimes the latter end of May — fometimes the beginning of June — this year (an aukward feafon) barley was fown towards the middle of June. — And, to obtain a full crop, three to four bufhels an acre is invariably fown j under the idea that a full crop of barley, efpecially if it lodge, fmoothcrs all forts of weeds ; even coucli grafs itfelf. And true it is, that under lodged barley the foil grows mellow, and weeds get weak. Neverthelefs, I mean not to recommend a practice which is already too prevalent j not in K 3 this 134 BARLEY. 24. this diftrift, only, but in others : where we fee naen catching at a barley fallow, as a twig which will keep their com above the weeds a few crops longer. The confequence is, the barley crop, by being fown out of feafon, is ot an inferior value, and fucceeding crops, by having a hoft of weeds to ftruggle with, are rendered equally unproductive. If the land be tolerably clean, and the fea- fon favourable, a barley fallow may no doubt be of efiential ferxnce. But there is not one year in five, in which, even land which is to- lerably clean, can be fown in leafon and at the fame time be much benefitted by it for future crops. I am well aware that even land which is. foul with couchgrafs, may, by harrowing, raking and handpicking, at an unlimited ex- pence, and fowing the barley' fome weeks be- hind its time, be made to appear, to the eye, perfectly clean at barley feed time j but whoe\^er vnW examine it after har\-eft, or the enfuing fpring, and compare its ftate then, with that of land which has had a turnep or a whole year's fallow, will fcarcely be- ftow the labour of harrowing, and raking, and 24. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 135 and picking ; and rifque the lofs of his bar- ley cropj a fecond time. * I have faid the more on this fubjeft, becaufe it is an important one. I know no pradlice fo popular, and at the fame time Co deftrudive of good hufbandry, as that of tantalizing foul land with a barley fallow. And I offer my fentiments upon it, in this place, becaufe I hope I fhall never have a more fuitable oppor- tunit)% Barley is harvested loofe: mown with the naked fithe ; lies in fwath till the day of carrying J and is cocked with common hay forks. The MARKETS for barley are Glocefter and Tewkefbury. The buyers, malfters of the di- ftrid:, and fadlors who buy for the Briftol brew- ers. The PRODUCE, on a par, three quarters an acre : the meafure very large. K 4 The • I fpeak, here, of land which is kept under a courfe of arable crops ; rather than of that which is occafionally bro- ken up from grafs, and laid down again, when two or three crops of corn have been taken: a pradice which I may haveoccafion to (peak of fully, in another place. 136 BARLEY. 24, The QUALITY of the vale barley is fuch as recommends it to the maUler, in preference to hill barley that affords a more fighdy fample. But there feems to be a quality in the foils of thefe vales whJch gives ftrength and richrtefs to every article of theu- produce. 25. O A T S. OATS, it has been faid, are not a produce of this diftxicti at leaft none of the cultivated varieties are: the wild oat grows every where with unufual ftrength and productivenefs. — Many lafts of it are, every year, no doubt pro- duced. I have never however yet feen 2 low-firu- ated, ftrong-foiled, cold-bottomed country, which has not been found, on experience, to be better adapted to oats than to barley. And I have not, in this diftrift, met with any experi- ence, or indeed mxh any reaioning, which at- tempts 25. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 137 tempts to prove the contrar\'. Cuilom alone is pleaded. * This exclufion of the oat crop from the lands of the vale, — extraordinary as it appears at firft fight, — may perhaps be accounted for in this way. The monks preferred ale to oaten cake: barley of courfe became the favorite crop: the monafteries were numerous: the lighter lands were not adequate to the demand: — the barley crop, therefore, was neceffarily extended to the ftrong lands. The monafteries, it is true, have long been diflblved ; but the fpirit of im- provement * Since writing this article, I have received, (from very refpciftable authority) in anfwerto a query on this fubjedl, that •* the vale land is natural to oats ; which, if once Town and fhed their feed, will remain in the land for ever ;" that is, will become a weed to future crops : and further, tliat under this idea, " few oats are given, in the vale of Eve- Iham to farm hodes (ufing beans in their ftead) as they arc fuppofedto pafs through them in a vegetative ftate." Thefe fears, however, appear, to me, to be groundlefs. I have not, in any diftritft, found the culti'vated oat lie \ongcTthaa one winter in the land : nor have I, in this diftrict, found a culii'-jated oat in the cbaraiSter of a weed : for although I have difcovered fome few individuals whh the grains of the lower part of the panicle, nearly fmooth ; yet the upper parts of the panicle have always evinced them, plainly epough, to be the genuine 'i»Ud oat : the ::^^\:R^l. SPECIES. 133 OAT S. 25. provement (excepting a partial reform which has lately taken place in fome of the fallow fidds) has flept ever fince. The prefentf\i- tem of management (of the arable land at kaft) was probably formed under the influence of the monafteries ; and has fallen thro' fuc- ceeding generations, without receiving any material change. This, however, by the way. I do not mean to cenfure the vale hufbandmen for not lowing oats, in preference to barley. I have had no opporrunity of comparing their pro- duce. Neverthelefs, I would wilh to recom- mend a trial of oats, on the flronger colder lands, in the area of the vale. Thele lands ain feldom be got fufficiently fjie for barley. Much feed muft even- year be buried in them. I have feen barley fown over a furface on which ibme men would have been afraid to truft oats. The clotting beetle, it is true, fines the im- mediate furface, and gives relief to many grains which lie near it : neverthelefs thofe which fall down the deeper fifTures mufl, in the tender nature of feedling barley, be irre- trievably loft. On 25. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 139 On the contrary, oats might, almoft in any year, be ibwn without hazard or difficulty ; and, in the fallow fields, might be got in foon enough to break up the fallows, without fix or feven horfes to one plow. Befides, in a dairy country, the fodder from oats, if che fort were well chofen, would be found of much more value — more of it — and of a better quality — than that of barley. While the produce of grain, — if theory and comparifon may in any cafe be trufled, — would more than over-bal- lance, in quantit)^, the comparative difference, in price: more efpecially as oats would be a crop new to the vale land. See york: econ: vol: II. p. 21. PULSE. 14^ PULSE. 16. 26. P U L S E. A T length we have pafTed the ground of cenfure ; and are now entering on a fubjecl of praife, to whiish it will be difRcult to do juflice : fo mixed is the management of this in^ terefting diftricl. Irs cultivators might be calied, \^ithout incurring a paradox, the best AND THE WORST FARMERS IN THE KINGDOM. Were they as attentive to the soil, in freeing it from Juperfluoifs ivater, and from the roots and Jctdj of weeds, as they are in freeing the CROPS from the herbage of weeds — they might well be ft)-led the firft hufbandmen in Europe. Pllse, whether beans or PEAS, feparate or mixed, are, in ihe. ordinary practice of the di- ilrict, PLANTED BY WOMEN, and HOED BY WO- ifZN AND CHILDREN, once, twicc, and fome- rimes thrice i giving the crop, when the foil is fufticiently free from root weeds, a gardenly appearance, which is beautiful to look on, in the 26. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 141 the former part of the fummer i and which, at harveft, if the feafon prove favorable, fel- dom fails of affording the cultivator more fub- ftantial gratification: while the foil, under this pradice duly performed, is left in a flate extremely well adapted to future crops ; parti- cularly the wheat crop. The SPECIES of pulfe in cultivation, here, are 1. BEANS — ^the large hog-bean: a variety ofviciA/^^^. 2. GREY PEAS ; and J. WHITE PEAS : varieties of vicia pja. 4. PEABEANS ; namely a mixture of beans and grey peas j in various proportions. Generally, a few peas among a large proportion of beans: I have however feen, on the lighter lands, a few beans among peas 3 by way, I fup- pofe, of natural rods to the crop. The CULTIVATION of pulfe in this diftricl requires to be regiftered in detail. I. Succession. Pulfe fucceeds invaria- bly a corn crop : namely, wheat in the old fal- low field courfe i barley in the new y — either wheat or barley on the every year's lands. Soil. 142 PULSE. 26. II. Soil. Every fpecies. The ftronger foils beans, or beans and peas mixed ; — the mid- dle foils generally the fame ; the lighter foils in the neighbourhoods ofGlocefter and Chel- tenham, peas, of various forts. Bur, in the area of the vale, few peas are grown ; except among beans -, which are, throughout, the prevailing crop j and which, alone, are en- titled to particular attention. III. Tillage. Begin plowing as foon af- ter Chriftmas as the feafon will permit ; fetch- ing up the foil as deep as the plow will turn it: — nine, tenor more inches deep; and let it lie in whole furrow " to take the froft." IV. Manure. The bean crop, in the common practice of the diftrid:, is fcldom manured for. V. Seed process. This will require to be particularized. I. The time OF SETTING. Begin about Candlemas ; or as foon after that time as the land can be got upon with the harrows, to break the plits and level the furface for the fet- ters. The foils of this vale are moftly of fuch a nature that, after being frozen, they fall like lime ; once going over with the harrows being 26. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 143 being on the colder foils fufficient to reduce the furface to powder as fine as afhes ; leaving not the trace of a whole furrow. 2. The METHOD OF SETTING varies indif- ferent parts of the diftria:. In the central and fouthern quarters, the prevailing pradice is to fet acrofs the ridges, by the eye, without a line ! About Cheltenham and along the nor- thern border, it is a pra6lice, equally preva- lent, to fet lengthway of the ridges, by a line. While about Tewkefbury, and towards Deer- hurft, it is common to fet by a line, acrofs the ridges. In theory, a line appears to be neceflary. In pradice, however, it is otherwife. Wo- men, who have been long in the habit of fetting without one, are able to go on, pretty regularly, by the eye alone; and the young ones are trained up, by putting one of them between tw'o who are experienced. Upon the whole, however, a line appears to have its ufes. The foil becomes, in all pro- bability, more evenly occupied by the roots ; and the plants are fomewhat more conve- niently hoed J — when the feed is planted in ftraight lines, with equidiftant intervals. Each 144 PULSE. 26. Each fetter is fumifhed with a ** fetting pin," and a " tuckin;" namely, a fatchd (hung before, by a firing round the waift) to carry the beans in. The Jetting fin refeni- bles the gardener's dibble : with, in general, however, a valuable improvement : a crofs pin, or half crutch, near the top, to reft the palm upon j with a groove on each fide of the main pin to receive the forefinger and the thumb. The length of the dibble (which is about two inches fquare in the middle ta- pering conically, to a Iharp point) is about eight inches j of the handle, about four. \xi Jetting, the women walk fideway, to the right J viith their faces toward the ground which is fet: the laft row, therefore, is im- mediately under the eye, and the difficulty of fetting another row, nearly parallel with it, is readily overcome by practice. An expert hand will fet with almofl inconceivable ra- pidity. The dijiance between the rows varies from ten to fourteen "inches. Twelve inches may be confidered as the prevailing width through- out the diftricl. The diflance, in the rows, about two inches ; making the holes as clofc as 26. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 145 as can well be done, without their interfering with each other , — and about two inches deepj dropping one bean in each hole *. 3. The QUAXTiTY OF SEJED — from two and a half to three bufhels an acre. 4. The PRICE OF SETTING fixtccn to eighteen pence a bulliel : colling from 3s. 6d. to 4s. 6d. an acre. The prafbice of fetting by the bujhely ap- pears to be, in one particular at leaft, very inju- dicious. Inflead of a fingle bean being afligned to each hole, two and fometimes more, are put in ; — that the bulhel may be Iboner emp- tied : for the fame purpofe, and with the fame difhoneft intention, a handful will not unfre- quently be thruft into a hole, and covered up . with mould. The only danger, in fetting by the acre J would be that of the feed's being put in ♦ In the Cheltenham quarter of the diflricl, I have ob- ferved a fingular method of fetting peas ;— not in continued lines ; but in clumps ; making the holes eight or ten inches from each other ; putting a number of peas in each hole. This is called " bunfting" them. The hoe has, un- doubtedly, in this cafe, greater freedom : all the danger arifing from the pra^ice is, that the foil is not fo evenly and fully occupied by the roots in this cafe, as they are when the plants are diflributed in continued lines. Vol. I. L 146 PULSE. 26. in too tliln. But it being a notorious facfl, that beans, which Hand thin, are (under the fame circumftances) invariably Better podded, than thofe, which (land in a clofe crouded ftate; — it is highly probable that, of the two evils, fetting by the acre would be found the leaft. 5. The COVERING is generally done with tined harrows, drawn once in a place. If, however, the foil be in fo light, fo floury a ftate, that the tines pull up the beans, a thorn harrow is generally made ufe of for the pur- pofe of covering the feed. VI. Vegetating process. Prefently af- ter the beans are above ground, the furface is fometimes loofened with the harrow ; pre- vious to the HOING. Time of hoing. The firft hoing is given as foon as the plants are free from the danger of being buried by the hoe. They ought, if die weather permit, to be begun upon, be- fore they be a hand high. The method of hoing is the common one, which is pradifcd by gardeners, in hoing drilled crops. The intervaJs are cut-over, as clofe to the plants as can be done with fafety : and, if a gap or vacancy occur in the row, the 26. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 147 the hoe is drawnthrou2;h it : the hoer takino- two, and rometimes three intervals at once. The WIDTH OF THE HOE for beans, I be- lieve, is invariably five inches. In this cafe, the corners may be kept on, and the edge kept fharp, with little fear of injury. The SECOND HoiNG is, or ought to be, deferred as long as it can be with fafety. It is, however, or ought to be, always finifhed before the beans bemn to blow : it beins con- fidered very injurious to the crop, to hoe it when the " blows are on." The fecond hoing is ftill flat, — as the firft. I have hot feen an inftance in this diflridl, of beans being earthed up. In the fecond hoing, the rows are, or ought to be, carefully hand-weeded. Not a weed fhould be left ftanding. Beans cannot blow among weeds : and every one now left, fur- nifhes the foil with a frefh fupply of feeds for the annoyance of future crops. General observations on hoing. The fecond hoing is effentially neceflary to com- mon good management. Without it, the firft is of little avail : it may loofen the foil, and give a temporary relief to the young L 2 plants i ,4$ PULSE. 26. plants j but the number of weeds, at barveft, will be nearly the fame, as if it were not to take place ; for though, no doubt, it deftroys numbers, it unlocks the feeds of others, which rife up in their Head, — high enough to injure the growing crop ; and to give a fupply of feeds to the foil. Weeds injure beans, and all pulfe, in a way, in which they have it not in their power to hurt corn. Corn bears its feed on the fum- mit of its flem. The weeds muft be afpiring, indeed, if it cannot blow in defiance of them. Nor, during the maturation, is the grain (in ordinary cafes) liable to be over-lhaddowed and crouded by weeds. On the contrary, beans throw out their feed from the fides of the ftems ; down to within a few inches of the ground j provided they have room, air, and fun enough to encourage them to throw out bloflToms, and to enable them to bring the pods to due perfection. And it is obfervable, that a crop of beans feldom turns out produc- tive, unlefs the pods form low on the ftems. Hence the utility of the firft hoing; — to pre- vent the weeds from crouding the beans i and thereby give them a tendency to run upward i as 26. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 149 as well as prevent them effectually from forming the neceffar\' rudiments below : and of the fecond j — to give the beans an oppor- tunity of blowing ; as well as of maturing their pods without the interference of weeds. Hence, likewife, the unproduftivenefs of a thick -Handing rank crop ; which, by draw- ing up the individuals, tall and (lender, forms a fhade below, and prevents a due circulation of air ; the plants, in this cafe, operating as weeds to each other. And hence the ufe of THixNiN-G a rank crop of beans, whenever they fhow a tendency to draw each other up tall and "rammelly;" — a fpecies of crop, which, it is well underftood in this diftrict, fills the rick-yard, but not the granar)--*. The PRICE OF HoiNG, is generally fix {hil- lings an acre, for the two hoings and the " handpulling ;" — more or lefs, according to the nature of the foil, the height of the crop, and its degree offoulnefsf. L 3 6. Har- * Topping, if done in due feafon, aflifis in the fame intention. t The HORSE HOiKG of beans is not in any degree of practice ; the only inftance of deviation from the common practice of handhoing, was one, in which an ass was made ufe 15© PULSE. 26. VII. Harvestivg. The method of har- vefting varies uith the length of the crop. A fhort low-podded crop is neceflarily mown; — ufually with a naked fithe; — letting the plants drop upon their roots. Having lain lome time to wither, in this fcattered ftate, they are gathered, with common forks, into fwath-like rows, on the fides of the lands : where, having lain a fiirther time, propor- tioned to their ripenefs, their weedinefs, and the ftate of the weather, they are made up into wads or bundles, with the fame imple- ment, and let upon the ridges of the lands j and there remain, in that ftate, until they be fit for hauling. If the crop be ftouter, it is fometimes bound after the fithe, and dried in fhuck. • But tall beans are ufually cut with a reap- ing hook, and a hooked ftick ; with which, inftead of the hand, they are gathered. Reaping beans. The larger end, or han- dle, of the gathering hook is eighteen inches long lifeqf in this operation! Seeing the fmallnefs of the feer, and the narrownefs of the tread of this animal, it appears to be fmcularly adapted, on fre- lighrf foils, to th; ope- ration. 26. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 151 long, the fliorter end, or hook, twelve inches j its point Handing out about twelve inches from the handle. The reaping hook in this operation, is ufed in a fingular way j Jiriking with it beneath the gathering hook j making a fweep as with a fithe -, driving the cut beans forward, until about half a mioderate fheaf be collected. In this cafe, they are left awhile to wither in open reaps, and are afterward either bound in fheaves and fet up in Hooks ; or, much more ufually, are fet up in what are termed " HACKLES :" — finglets of unufual fize ; and of a conftrudion fufficiently fingular to merit defcription. The reaps are generally gathered up by two boys j who, taking them in their arms, fingly, adjuft their butts 3 by letting them fall upon them i thereby giving a level even bafe. Three or four of thefe reaps (about half a fheaf each) are fet up in a hollow cone- like form ; as flax is fometimes fet up after being rated ; or as hop poles are fometimes piled. A man follows, and ties a band, made of three or four bean flems — a length of peaf- halm, or a twilled rope of long grafs, — near L 4 the 152 PULSE, 20. the top of the hackle, as it (lands : and, to fecure it ftill more from the wind, as well as to prevent its yet leafy broom- like top from catching driving fhowers, and conveying the rain water down into the body of the hackle, — he draws a fmgle ftem from the middle of it, until only a few inches of its butt remain ; or enters one which he finds loofe, a fimilar depth : then, taking the whole top in his hand, with the long ftem in the center of it^ twifts it round in a fpiral manner j thus making the hackle a perfe<3: cone; its apex refembling the point of a fnail-lhell ; and fixes it in this form, by winding the fingle ftem round the top ; burying its end within the hackle. The crop remains in this ftate, until it be taken up by the carriages i — the Glccejlcrjhire hackle not being rebound, like the 2'orkjhire gait, previous to the carn^ing; the band and the twift at the top hold them together, until they be got onto the waggon, at leaft. In " baulutg," it is cuftomary for boys or others (employed by the farmer) to pick up the fcattered beans, by hand, after the waggon. 7. In 26. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 153 VIII. In the center of the vale, bean HAL.\f is thrown into the horfe rack, and the offal ftrewed about the yard as litter. About Glo- cefter, great quantities of it (as well as fome ftraw) are bought up at a potafh manufac- tory-, and burnt for the afhes ! IX. The MARKETS for beans are the market towns of the diftricli at which they are bought for horfes and for hogs, (of which they are here a principal article of fatcing:) and Brif- tol } whofe factors buy up great quantities for the inns ; (beans being throughout this divi- fion of the kingdom flill ufed as a provender of horfes) and for the Guinea Ihips; as food for the negroes, in their paflage from Africa to the Weft Indies. X. The PRODUCE of beans, on a par of years and crops, is about three quarters an acre. Four quarters — that is, about thirty eight Winchefter bufhels, are not a very ex^ traordinary crop ; though much ot the land which produces them has borne beans every 3d year, and fome of it, perhaps, every fecond year, during a fucceflion of ages. Something may be due to management, and much to the nature of this plants which appears to flourifh. 15+ PULSE. 26. fiourifli, unabatingly, on ftrong, deep land. The reft may be owing to the natural rich- nefs and peculiar depth of the vale foils. — Beans ftrike deep, and probably feed, in fome meafure at leaft, beneath the ordinary paf- ture of plants. 2 " CULTIVATED GRASSES. IX A COUVTRY, whofe lands lie chiefly in common arable field, or in old grafs inclo- fures, — the cuLTrvATiov of grasses, either as temfcrary or as fernmalXfyy is, ofcourfe, confined within narrow limits : neverthelels, the two fpecies of cultivation require to be noticed in this place. I. Temporary ley. Pafture lands are too abundant, and hay too cheap, to require much temporary ley to be made. In the improved courfe of the fallow-field land, fmall pieces are, however, not unfi-equently fown wiiji CLOVER (common red clover) inftead of beans J 27- VALE OF GLOCESTER. 155 beans ; by way of green herbage for farm- hoi ics J and fometimes larger pieces s for feed clover. The quantity of clover herbage, which fome of the vale lands throw out, is extraor- dinar}'. The lighter lands are thought to be " too free for clover !" Running it too much to halm J which trails upon the ground like that of peas! It will not, it is faid, anfwer on this foil, either for foiling or for feed; for if mown, even twice, the third crop will be rotten before the feed be ripe ! But the ftrongcr lands produce a more up- i-ight clover-like crop; — generally, however, of uncommon luxuriance. It is ufually mown, as green herbage^ three times in the courfe of the fummer. If made into hay, the quality is found to be extremely good. If cut in due feafon, and properly m.ade, it is thought to be equal to meadow hay, as an article of fatting for oxen. Such is the value of the clover crop on frejb lands ^ — on lands which are new to it : and fuch, we may fairly add, is the natural Jirength of the lands of this diftricl. How truly abfurd, then, to fuffer the common fields 156 CULTIVATED GRASSES. 27. fields to remain in their prefcnt unproduflive Hate. Not clover, only, but every other fpe- cies of CULTIVATED HERBAGE, adapted to die feveral foik, would, no doubt, be pro- du(flive. In the fame unprofitable Hate lay the lands of the vale of Pickering*. They had borne grain until they would barely pay for the la- bour of cultivation. The yeomanry ftarved on their own lands. They were not worth, as arable lands, los. an acre. But, having been inclofed and kept in a ftate of herb age y they now, many of them let from 30 to 40s. an acre. It muft: be allowed, that fome confiderable cxpence attends the inclofure of open lands j and that it is fome years before the herbage arrives at its moll profitable ftate. In the cafe here inftanced, the land lay feveral years nearly in a ftate of wafte f. But it does not follow, that, in thefe more enlightened days, the fame method of leying ftiould be prac- ticed. They might, now, on a certaint)'^, be rendered • Sec York. Econ. I. 291. 7 S^cYoRi. ECON. II. ?i. 27- VALE OF GLOCESTER. 157 rendered produ<5live from the day of inclofure. But of this in the next fe6lion. In the managennentof SEED clover, I have met with nothing worthy of notice j except the practice of thrafhing it in frofty weather : or rather the idea of giving the preference to fuch weather for thrafhing it in. The ad- vantage is evident, when the idea is known ; but it does not feem to have flruck univer- fally : I therefore give it a place in this re- gifler. II. Perennial leys. The recent at- tennpts at laying down arable land to grafs, in this diflricft, have been made principally on the lands mentioned aforegoing, as being broken up from a flate of rough pafhire, and fown repeatedly with wheat (fee page 67.) — But thefe attempts, I believe, have generally been unfuccefsful. The foil reduced to a ftate of foulneis, by repeatedly cropping it on fingle plowings, had no other cleanfing, per- haps, than a barley fallow ; and, in this foul ftate, was probably rendered ftill fouler, by fowing over it the feeds of weeds, under the name of " hay feeds." — No wonder that land laid down to grafs, in this manner, fhould, in 158 CULTIVATED GRASSES. 27. in a few years, require to be given up again to corn. Hay seeds, however, is an indefinite term. Seeds collecfled from known hay, of a well herbaged ground, cut young, (hook or thrafhed upon a floor, and fifted through fine fieves, to take out the large feeds of weeds, with which all old grafslands abound, might be eligible enough j provided flill purer feeds could not be had. But what is generally thrown upon land, under the denomination of " hay feeds," is a collection of the feeds of the ranker weeds, with few or none of thofe of the finer grafles. ^ One of the fined grafs grounds, I have feen in the vale, was laid down with hay feeds, about five and twenty vears 82:0 : but it was with feeds of the former defcription; and the management in every other refpeft equally judicious. The land had been in bad hands, and was become extremely foul with couch j it was, therefore, fummer fallowed. But the feafon proving unfavourable, it was deemed, the enfuing fpring, not yet fufficiently clean. It had, therefore, a fecond year's fallow! — By repeated plowings and harrowings, acrofs the 27- VALE OF GLOCESTER. 159 the ridges, they were pulled down from from roofs to waves. The next enluing Ipring, it was fown with barley and hay feeds : the mofl y^/r/7/?\ing about, to the annoyance of the neighbourhood. And this, I am afraid, may be taken as a fpecimen of the prefent method of laying land down to grafsy in the vale of Glocefter. The only realbn given for perfevering in this unpardonable practice is, that no better leedsare to be had ; raygrass being " ruin- ous to the vale lands" I — " Smothering every thing: and impoverilhing the foil, until it will grow nothing"! In the next article, it will appear, by the catalogues there given, that the predominant herbage of the old grals lands of the vale is RAVGRASs. But Icll the general account which will there be given of the grafles fhould not be thought fufEciendy conclulive, I will here copy a feries of memoranda, made on the fubjecl, in the autumn of 1783: before I be- came acquainted with the rooted antipathy, which I have fince found to be formed, againil raygrafs. ^^ Hatberleyy 10 Sept: lyi J. Obferving in a fmall inclofure, which has been lately laid down 27» VALE OF GLOCESTER. i6i down (or more accurately fpeaking is laying itfelt down) to grafs, fome green fwardy patches beginning to make their appearance through a carpet of couch and other foulnefs, I examined the fpecies which were thus em- ployed in rendering the land, in defpite of bad management, ufeful to the occupier ; and found them to confift wholly of raygrafs and white clover. This led me to a more minute examination of the adjoining ground, efteemed the beft piece of grafsland in the neighbour- hood, and, from the feed flem.s which are now remaining in the ftale patches, I find the bladegrafs to be chiefly raygrafs, with fome dogstail, and a little foftgrafs." *' Sept: II. In my ftroll this morning, in the center of the vale, I met with an extenfive fuite of cow-grounds (by the fide of the Chelt in Boddington) the foil five or fix feet deep. The herbage white clover and raygrafs: the young fhoots of the raygrafs as fweet as fugarl Much fweeter than any I have before exa- mined, Thefe grounds (late Long's) are, it feems, very good ones for grazing -, but are difficult to make cheefe from." Vol. I. M " I have i62 CULTIVATED GRASSES. <2;. " I have no longer a doubt about the .her- bage of church ground confifling at prefent (the middle of Sept.) in a manner wholly of ray grafs and white clover > for in my walk this evening, I carefully examined feveral plants of raygrafs, which had both feedllems and blades belonging to them j and, on examining the blades with a glafs, and comparing them with the turf of this field, I find they are identi- cally the fame. In tajle^ however, the diffe- rent fpecimens vary confiderably ; znd perhaps the talle of raygrafs might be taken as a cri- teiion of foils ; and perbapSy with the afllllance of a glafs, not only this but any other grafs may be known, with certainty, by the blade alone." " Sepi: 15. Tewkelbury lodge, a charming grafsland farm : a bold fwell covered with a rich warm foil , occupied by a luxuriant herbage ; chiefly raygrafs! Some white clover; and fome other of the finer bladegraffes. " All green": not afoot of plowed land!" " Below Apperley, — an extenfive whole year's common, ftocked with horfes, young cattle, fhcep and geefe ; the fite a dead level, fubjecl to be overflowed -, the foil a redilh loam ; die herbage raygrafs — (faccharine in a fuperior degree — literally as fweet as fugar !) — with 27- VALE OF GLOCESTER. 163 with fome white clover, and from what I can judge by its growth, fome marlh bent. It is eaten down fo level and fo bare, that the geefe, one would fuppofe, could fcarcelyget a mouth- full ; yet the young cattle are as (leek as moles : it is efteemed, I underftand, without excep- tion, the beft piece of land in the country." In proof, however, of raygrafs being wholly unfit for the vale lands, I have been fhown a piece which was laid down with " rye- grafs:" and, certainly, a more fhameful piece of ley was never jfhown. Perceiving, how- ever, from the rubbilli upon it, that the feeds of rubbifh, not thole of raygrafs, muft have been fown, I made enquiry into the complec- tion of the feed, and found that it was brome- grafs~lob— loggerheads— fetched from the hills, where that grafs abounds, which had " fmo- thered every thing" (even the ray grafs which might have been fown among it) except a few of the ranker weeds . And fimilar evidences of the ruinous naaire of " rye grafs" I have met with in other diftri(5ts. The bromegrafs and other weeds, which have been fown hitherto under the name of rye grafs, are certainly improper for the vale M 2 foils i 26+ CULTIVATED GRASSES. 27. foils ; and it is poflible that even the variety of real ray^grafs which is cultivated may not be eligible. In Yorkfhire, I found a variety (in a garden) which had evidently a conchy habit. But how eafy to coUefb the native species, which abounds on the old grafslands ; and thus raifc a new variety, adapted, on a certainty, to the vale land. The difficulty of doing it would vanifh the moment it were fet about : it only wants a little exertion: a fmall fhare of indolence to be fhook off. If real raygrafs has ever been tried alone and without luccefs, it has probably arilen from too great a quantity having been fown. Be it raygrafs or rubbilh, I underftand, feldom lefs than a fackfull an acre is thrown on : whereas ONE GALLON an acrc, of clean-winnowed REAL R A YCR ASS-SEED, is abundandy fufficient, on fuch foil as the vale in general is covered with. Or perhaps the mifcarriages have arilen in the flrcngth of the vale lands; in their being naturally affected by raygrafs, and in the want of thefe valuable qualities being duly tempered by proper management. (See vork: econ: vol. ii. p. 89.) The 27- VALE OF GLOCESTER. 165 Hh-t forcing quality of the firft Tpiing of grafs feems to be, here, well underftood. " No matter how fhort the grafs at this time of the year, fo the cattle can get hold of it ; — they arefure to thrive amain." The reafon is obvious : there is not, at that feafon, a blade of any other grafs than ray grafs: no alloy to lower its value: it has then full fcope i and, in this cafe, the Glocefter- vale graziers experience its ufe, as fenfibly as the Norfolk farmers: thefe, however, are grateful y becaufe they know the cffefl pro- ceeds from raygrafs: but thofe, unaware of the gratitude they owe, Hand foremoft to re- vile its chara6ler. In Norfolk, and on the Cotfwold hills, the lands are comparatively weak, and have per- haps long been ufed to ray grafs : the graziers, there, find no difficulty in keeping it down in the fpring. Here, on the contrary, the land is rich, is peculiarly affected by raygrafs, has much of it lain, for ages, in a (late of aration, and is of courfe peculiarly prone to the grafles. The graziers, it is highly probable, are not aware of the flock it will carry, for a few weeks M 3 ia i66 CULTIVATED GRASSES. 27. in the fpring ; twice, perhaps three times, as much as their old grafs grounds. Some men lenfible of the mifchievoufnefs pf foul " hayfeeds", — and believing in the diabo- lical influence of raygrajsy have laid down lands with white clover alone ; or with a mixnireof white clover and TREFOIL ; without any bladegrafs v/hatcver. This is certainly preferable to fouling the turf with weeds ; but it is returning one ftep back to the obfolete cuftom of letting land lay down in its own way. There is a certain lofs of nutritious herbage in the outlet \ — and the weeds, already in the foil, willofcourfe occu- py, in fome degree, the vacancies which would be better filled by blade grailes. That land may be leyed without blade grafles is certainiy true: I have long ago prac- tifed this method of leying. (See min-utes of AGRICULTURE, date 20. May 1775) But it was before I had feen the extraordinary effects ofraygrafs, when properly managed, in tJie eftablifhed pradice of Norfolk, See vorf: ECON. vol. i. p. 303.) It is equally true, that moft excellent grafs land may be obtained, without fowing any feed 27- VALE OF GLOCESTER. 167 feed whatever. (See york: ecox: vol. ii. p. 84.) The impropriety of the pradice is, however, evident. And fowing one clafs only appears to be, no more than a middle way between that and good management. Who would not wifh to fee the herbage of his leys, the firft year, refemble the better herbage of his old grafslands, without their weeds ? It is evident, that the prevailing herbage of the beft grafs grounds of this diftrift is com- pofedof raygrafs and white clover. In Spring and Autumn, the furface is in a manner wholly occupied by them. All that the art of leying wants, to make itperfe(5l, is a summer blade GRASS, to fupply the place of the natural fum- mer graifes of thq old fward. But if we are unable to reach perfeftion, there is no reafon why we fhould not approach it as nearly as we can. A nutritious bite, in fpring and autumn, is certainly better than a want of it at thefe times. By fowing 2ijmall quantity of raygrafs, and keeping this clojely faftured in the fpringy — the fummer grafles, natural to the given foil, have little more impe- M 4 pediment i68 CULTIVATED GRASSES. j;. diment to their rifing, than they would have, if no raygra&were Town. If, inftead of a gallon of clean raygrajsy a Jackful of rubbijh be fown, or if even a gallon of clean raygrafs be fown and the herbage be fufFered to run away wild in the fpring, and get poflefiion of the furface, its evil effects can- not be faid to be owing to the nature of the plant, but to a want of judgment in the growers of it. Under proper management, it can do no harm: it can fmcfber nothing but the bones of the cattle that eat it; — nor exbauji any thing, but the pockets of their purchafers. I have been induced to fay more on this fubjedt, and to exprefs my ideas in (Ironger language, as fome of the leading men of this di- ilri(5b are afraid to cultivate raygrals j and one, more panicularly, whofe management is de- fervedly looked up to, is an open enemy to it. All I have to fay farther on the fubjeft is, that, I verily hdirvf, I have no undue affedtior^ for any particular fpecies of grals. My lead- ing principle of conduct, throughout the irk- fome undertaking I have engaged in, is to ftand with all my ftrength againft false-grounded PARTIALITIES \ 27. VALE OF GLOCE5TER. 169 Partialities : whether I perceive them in myltlf, or obferve them in others. The fubieit before us is of the firft impor- tance, in rural economics : converting worn- out arable lands to a ftate of profitable fward is one of the moft important operations in huf- bandry ; and is, perhaps, of all the other ope- rations in it, the leafl underftood. The di- ftricl under furvey contains twent}' thoufand acres of land, which ought to undergo this change, with all convenient Ipeed. And, whenever it take place, ten to fifteen thoufand pounds a year, for fome years aften;v-ard, will depend on whether it be iudicioudy, or injudi- cioufly -conducted. NATURAL 170 NATURAL GRASSES. 28. 28. NATURAL GRASSES. THE OLD GRASSLANDS ofthisdi^ ftricb fall moitly within the fpecies lowland GRASS and middleland grass. The up- land it contains is too inconfiderable to claim particular notice ; confifting merely of the marginal flopes ; and the fides and contrafted fummits of the hillocks which are fcattered on its area. L Lowland grass. This confills moftly of COMMON MOWING GROUNDS, — ^provincially "meadows" *: in part, of common pasture GROUNDS; — provincially " hams'* f. Some inclofed • ^t isobfervablelhattheGLOCE5TER«HiiiE meadows do not lieinlong/rn^/^j, astliofe cf the Yorkshire incs, "but in iTjuare />/£-/!, marked by boundary ftoncs. The hat :s private property, but the aftfrgrass is generally common to the townfhip ; either without ftint ; or is ftinted \)y the " yard lands" of the common fields. t Hams arc moftly ftlnted paftures : one, near Glocefter, li hov/evcrcn excertion. 28. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 171 inclofed property likewile comes within this divifion of grafslands: which, it is obfarva- ble, are uniformly found and fully fwarded; their levelled furface rifing in fome places twelve or fifteen (tct above the level of dead water. No feiiSy or ivatery marjhesy mix in the lowlands of the vale of Glocefler. By NATURAL SITUATION, howcvcr, thefc lands are fubje(5l to be overflowed ; either by the Severn, or by the rivulets which crofs the vale i and owe no doubt the prefent elevation and levelnefs of furface to the fediment of floods. In the immediate neighbourhood of Glocef- ter, there are not lefs than a thoufand acres of this defcription of grafsland ; moflly of a ricli produflive qualit)\ The Isle of Alney (a holm, or river-ifland, formed by a divarica- tion of the Severn) confifls whoUy of it. It is not, however, peculiar to the Severn ; but accompanies, on a more contracted fcale, the Chelt and other brooks and rivulets, into the area of the vale. The SOIL of thefe lowlands is invariably deep : and of the fam.e quality and contexture at different depths. That of the ifle of Alney^^ and 172 NATURAL GRASSES. 28. and the other meadows near Gloceftcr, is about fix feet deep j an uniform mafs of fomewhat redifh loam. It is obfervable, however, that the quality of this loam varies in difi'erent fituations. At the upper point of the ifland it inclines to a coarfe fand ; while toward the lower extremit}-, it is fine almofl as filt. It is alfo obfervable that the furface lies higher in that than in this fituation. But thefe circumftances are ftriflly agreeable to the general effeds of floods: that is, of foul water in a current ftate. Another obfervable circumftance relative to the foil of thefe meadows is, that it is uniformly CALCARious, in the degree of about five grains to a hundred j except near the furface i in the immediate Jphere of vegetation ; in which it dif- covers no figns of calcariofity ! A circum- ftance that appears to me extremely interefting. Near Glocefter, this bed of loam is ufed as BRrcKEARTH : and, without any admixture, affords bricks of an excellent quality. A new county jail, on the Howardian principle of fe- parate cells, and on a very extenfive fcale, is now building with bricks made from this earth J one hundred grains of which, in the fi- tuation. 28. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 173 tuation, from which the earth of thefe bricks is taken, affords, by analyfis, five grains of calcarious earth, twelve grains of fand, and eighty three grains of filt. Another obfervable circumftance relative to this foil is, that it refembles, in colour, the waters of the Severn in the time of floods. The waters of rivers, in general, are, in the time of flood (during frefhes or land-floods as they are ufually called) of a light brown, or ftone colour. But thofe of the Severn, in their paflTage through this part of Glocefter- fhire, are moflJy a light red, or what is ge- neraUy underftood by a cinnamon colour ; owing, moft probably, to particles of the red foils, weft of the Severn, being fufpended among thofe wafhed from the vales of Glo- cefter and Evefham : the colour varying as the rain, which caufed the fwell, fell more or lefs, on the redland country. The banks of the Avon and the Chelt are free from this rednefs; as are the rifing orounds ' DO on either fide of the Severn meadows in this neighbourhood : fadls which, to my mind, demonftrate, that thefe meadows are a crea- tion of the floods of the Severn, fince the rifing 174 NATCRAL GRASSES. 28. fifing grounds received their prelVnt form: con- fequendy, that the extenfive flat, tchich they now occupy, was heretofore (and, perhaps, not many centuries ago) a wash ; over which the tide flowed j in the manner in which it ftill flows, over a yet more extenfive tract of furface in the neighbourhood of Newnham.. A tradt of liirface, which (Hll remains in ai> unprofitable (latej but which, may we not venture to fuggeft, might polTibly be re- claimed. The nature of the subsoil, likewife favors the above pofition. Beneath the mais of loam, which I have termed the foil, lies a ftratum of earth, of a fomewhat lighter colour, but evi- dently partaking of the nature of the foil, which refls upon itj beneath this, a yet lighter coloured filt, exacUy refembling the mud, which is ftill brought up from the iea, or from banks formed in the lower parts of the Severn, and left in quantity by every tide, wherever it can find a lodgement : and beneath this bed of mud (nruxed in fome places with a coarler fandy earth) lies, in red and white ftrata, the Ttatural fithfoil of the csuntrr. — the oricfnal SURFACE y — as lefr by nature, or the convul- Cons a8. VALE OF GLOCESTER. '/:> fions ofnature, which appear evidently to have thrown the earth's iurface into its prefent form. This original furface would be covered by the tides with filt from the fea, long before the lands, lying above it, were brought into an ARABLE STATE i to fumifh the river- floods with materials to give much addition to the covering; and yet a longer time before art aflifted (as in all human probability it has) in raifing the furface to its prefent height*. The • By obfervations during a flood, while the general le- vel was co%'ered, a part near its center (the town ham, Sec) appeared fome two feet above the water. This part, in much probability, was the original isle of Alney : an ancient name, which the pre(ent holm bearing that appel- lation, was the lefs likely to obtain, as tradition relates that the minor divifion of the Severn, which now winds by the kays of Glocefter, was originally a cut, made for the con - veniency of navigation : a circumftance that is corroborated by the plan of an ancient fortification, which appears to have extended confiderably beyond the prefent river ; and whofe foundation, probably, is now buried, among tlie accumulation of foil, fome feet- below the prefent furface. Thefe obfervations, I acknowledge, are not eflential tp a regifter of the prefent ftate of rural affairs : never^elefs it is interclting to obferve the changes which the face of na- ture, and with it rural afFairs, have undergone : not in this inftance only ; but in various others of a Gmiiar nature, in every quarter of the ifland. i;6 NATURAL GRASSES. 28. The HERBAGE, witli which the floods, time, and other circumftances have fumiihed thefe lowlands, varies with the manner in which they have been occupied. The herbage of the " hams" — or commons is, (as has already been intimated) in the fpring, and in autumn more particularly, one continuous mat of raygrass and white clo- ver, with a portion of the crested dogs- tail : the bladegrafles being of a fuperior qualit)' ; faccharine in the fijft degree : par- ticularly thofe of the commons that are fed with fheep i which keeping down the weeds, the finer grafles are in full poflfeflion. But the fuperior quality and produclivenefs of rhefe paflu re grounds are not matters of furprize: — for, befides the annual tribute of the floods, they have had the whole of their own produce regularly returned to them : while the mowing grounds have been annually robbed of a prin- cipal part of their produce ; without having, perhaps, in general, had any return whatever made. The herbage of the " meadows" appears in the following lift ; the individuals of which were collected in the I He of Alney, and other divifions 28. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 177 divifions of the extenfive flat, which has been more particularly noticed. Thev are arranged agreeably to their degrees of fre- quency in thofe meadows ; or as nearly fo as the intention of the arrangement requires. UK^'EA^■. ENGLISH. Lolium perennCi — raygrafs, Trifolium repens, — creeping trefoil (a). Trifolium procumbens^ ^procumbent tre- foil (b). Hordeiim murinum^ — common barleygrafs. Pbleum nodojum, — bulbous catstailgrafs. Cynofurus criJiatiiSy — crefted dogstailgrafs. Car ices i — fedges . Anthoxanthum odoratuin^ — vernal. Alopecurus pratenfis, — meadow foxtailgrafs. Fejiuca fluitans, — floating fefcue. Fejiuca elatior^ — tall fefcue. Agroftis albay — creeping bentgrafs. Agrojiis capillarisy — fine bentgrafs. Alopecurus getiiculatus^ — marfli foxtailgrafs. Holcus lanatusy — meadow foftgrafs. Bromus (a) Creeping trefoil; or ivbite clo'ver. •• (ij Procumbent trefoil; or trefoil. Vol. I. N 178 NATURAL GRASSES. 28. Bromus mollis, — Ibft bromegrafs. Bromus — fmooth bromegrafs Avena flavejcens, — yellow oatgrafs. Poa trhialisj — common poe. Poa pratenfiSy — meadow poe. Foa annua, — dwarf poe. Sanguijorba officinalis, — meadow burnet. Lathyrus -pratenfis, — meadow vetchling. Trifoiium pratenje, — meadow trefoil (c) Lotus corniculatus, — birdsfoot trefoil. Ranunculus repens, — creeping crowfoot*. Cbryjanthemum Leucanthemuni, ox-eye daifey. Ceniaurea nigra, — common knob weed. Achillea Millefolium, — common milfoil. Ruinex Acetcifa,- — forrel. Rumex crijpus, — curled dock. Rumex fcj Meapow trefoil,- or red clover. • Creeping crowfoot; provincially "creeping crazcy" is here erteemed as a valuable fpeci^s ol her- bage , while the common and tlie bulbous fpecies, of this genus of plants, are confidered as extremely pernicious ; efpccially among hay. This is a diftinclion, Vhich docs the attention of the vale farmers great credit. The fadt appears to be, on examination, that the two latter arc ex- tremely acrid, and probably have a caullic effect on the mouths of the cattle, which eat it: while the firft is per- feftly mild and agreeable to tlic j^alate. A «.irciimftancc, that is not generally undcrHood. 28. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 179 Rumex ohtufifolhis^ — broadleaved dock. Leontodon Taraxacum j— common dandelion-j- Hypocb^ris radicata^ longrooted hawk- weed Galium -jerum, — yellow bedftraw. Ranunculus Ficariay — pilewort. Bellis perennis, — common daifey. DaSfylis glomerata^ — orchardgrafs. Briza media, — tremblingrafs. Aira ccejpitoja, — haflbck airgrafs. Avena elatior, — tall oatgrafs. Feftuca duriujcida, — hard fefcue. Juncus articulatus, — -jointed rulh. Scirpus co^jpitojus? — fluted clubrufh ? Peucedanum Silaus, — meadow faxifrase. Oenanthe pimpinelloides ? — meadow drop- wort ? Heracleum Sphondylium, — cowparfnep. Carduus palujiris, — marfli thiflle. Serratula arvenfis, — common thiltle. Urtica dioica, — common nettle. Vicia cracca, — bluetufted vetch. Phalaris arundinacea, — reed canarygrafs. N 2 Cardamine t The Glocefterfliire dairymen have alfo obferved, that cows have an averfion to the " bitter grafles"— (the dan- delion and Hawkweed tribes) but that fhecp are parti- cularly partial to them ; eating even their " blows." i8o NATURAL GRASSES. 28. Cardamine fatenfiSy — common hd}'smock. Senecio aquaticuSy — marfh rag^vort. Spir^a Uimaria, — meadowfweet. Lychnis Fios-cuculiy — meadow campion. Ranunculus acrisy — common crowfoot. Ranunculus bulhojusy — bulbous crowfoot. Paft'macajativay — wild parfnep. Achillea Ptarmicay — goofetongue. Potent ill a Anjerina^ — fil ve rsveed, Potentilla reptans^ — creeping cinquefoil. Cerajlium vulgatuniy — common moufear. Galium palujire, — marfh bedftraw. Prunella vulgaris, — felfheal. Ajuga reptansy — meadow bugle. Myojotis JcorpioideSy — fcorpion moufear. Plantago mediay — middle plantain. Plant ago lanceolatay — narrow plantain. Rhinanthus Crifta-galliy — yellow rattle. Colchicum autumnaky — autumnal crocus. Allium vineaky — crow garlic. TragcpDgon pratenjcy — goatsbeard. Thali5lrum Jlazumy — meadow rue. *Tanacetum vulgarcy — common tanfcy*. Cerajlium • Tassey. a very common plant, in this diftriifl ; par- ticularly on tlie banks of the Severn. 2S. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 181 Cerajiiiim aquaticumy — marfh moufear. Galium MollugOy — baflard madder. Antirrhinum Linariaj— common fnapdragon. Geranium pratenfey— crowfoot cranefbill. Valeriana dioicci, — marfh velerian. Orchis maculatay — fported orchis. Polygonum Perficariay — common pcrficaria. Lytbrum Salicariay — ipiked willowherb. Symphytum officinaky — common comfrey. Ranunculus Flammulay — common fpearwort. Caltha palujlrisy — marfh marigold. Alentha hirjutay — ^velvet mint. Sijymbriumfyhejlrey — water rocket. Sijymhrium amphibiumy — ^water radifh. Sparganium ereSfumy — common burfiag. Poa aquaticay — water poe. The PRODUCE of thefe meadows varies: near Gloceller they are occafionally manured, with afhes and fweepings of different kinds. The par produce, in a midling year, is, I underftand, about a ton and a half an acre ; not unfrequeiitly two tons. The hay of 3 fine quahty. II. MiDDLELAND GRASS. The principal part of the grafslands of the diflrid: belongs to this clafs. The meadows and hams, tho' N 3 extenfive, iSi NATURAL GRASSES. 28. extenfive, are not equal, in quantity of fur- face, to the " grounds:" of ^'hich fome of the inclofed townfhips principally confift i and which ought, indifputably, to form the prin- cipal part of every townlhip within the dif- trid : the area of the lower vale is in a man- ner wholly occupied by this fpecies of grafs- land. The SOIL is the fame as that of the arable lands. Almoft every acre of it having, here- tofore, been under the plow: lying in ridge and furrow, like the lands of the common fields. In the parifli of Churchdown, there are grafslands which lie in high fharp ridges, with fides nearly as fteep as thofe of a modern pitch-roof In general, however, they ap- pear to have been fomewhat lowered, pre- vious to their being laid down, or fuffered to lie down, to grafs. Toward Glocefter the lands in general are narrower, and fome oi them nearly flat. On examining the foil of a ground, which is defervedly efteemed the beft piece of land in the neighbourhood it lies in (Down Ha- therley) ; and which, though a rifing ground, bears no veftige of the plow ; — I found it as follows : 28. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 183 follows : — The firft fix inches, a ftrong loam (a mixture of clay and fand) free from calca- rious matter: — from fix to nine inches, a dark brown clay, very weakly calcarious : at twelve inches, a fimilar foil, but fomewhat more ftrongly calcarious : — from fifteen to eighteen, a fi:ronger bluifii clay fl:ill more fi:rongly calcarious : a foil, or rather a fubfoil, which probably runs a confiderable d tpth The firfl: fix inches I found thickly inter- woven with fibres ; which lefi^ened in number as the depth increafed j but, even at eighteen inches, the fubfoil appeared to be full of them. Hence appears the value of a rich fubfoil to grafsland. This piece has never been plowed j becaufe, perhaps, it never required plowing j its fward never failed itj continuing in full vigour through fucceffive generations. It is obfervable, however, that the ground under notice does not Ihoot early in the fpring ; but its fap once in motion its growth is uncom- monly rapid. The HERBAGE of the grounds varies much with the nature of the foil ; or, perhaps, more accurately fpeaking, with the qualicy of the SUBSOIL. The colder clayey fwells (fome N 4 of i84 NATURAL GRASSES. 28. of which are fhamefully neglected) naturally run to an almofl worthlefs herbage : the wood fe/cue, the coltsfoot^ the ftlver'xcedy xhefleabane, the common fcabiouSj and the Jedgesy are too frequently fuffered to occupy their furfaces : while the boggy tumours, which rife at the feet of the hills, and bulge out by the fides of rivulets ; and the fwampy bottoms which the rivulets too frequently are obliged to ooze through i — are nurferies of the whole paluf- trean tribe. The herbage of the grounds, in general, is however, of a fuperior quality. The pas- tures, in fpring and autumn, are (as has been mentioned) covered with carpets thickly woven with a few of the fineft grafles. In fummer, however, the mowing grounds dif- play a moft ample variety. The individuals, which form it, are arranged in the following lift, agreeably to their degrees of prevalency ; or as nearly fo as the intention of the arrange- ment requires. tlNNEAN. ENGLISH. Lolium peremjCy — raygrafs. Trifolium repensy — creeping trefoil. Cynojurus cri/iarus,-'-CTc{icd dogstailgrafs. Tn/olium 28. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 185 'Trifolium prateiife^ — meadow trefoil. Poa IrivialiSy — common poe. Trifolium p-ocumbens^ — procumbent trefoil. Lathyrus pratenfis^ — meadow vetchling. Lotus comiculatusj — birdsfoot trefoil. Bromus mollis , — foft bromegrafs. Bromus , — fmooth bromegrafs. Hordeum murinuniy — common barleygrafs. Pbleum nodofumy — bulbous catstailgrals. Avena elatioTy — tall oatgrafs. Anthoxanthum odoratuniy — vernal. Agrofiis alba, — creeping bentgrafs. Agrojiis capillarisy — fine bentgrafs. Fca ayinudy — dwarf poe. Fejiuca fylvaticay — wood fefcue *. Ranunculus repensj — creeping crowfoot. Ranunculus hulbojus^ — bulbous cro'vv-foot f Ranunculus acrisy — common crowfoot. Achillea Millefoliuniy — coaimon milfoil. Centaurea * Wood FESCUE. Very common on the cohifivells ; and ever\' whce on ant-hills : an interefting circumftance. t The BULBOUS CROwyooT is fingularly prevalent in this diftri(fl. In the middle of May, fome of the grounds near Glocefter, were hid under its flowers. The leaves of this (pecies are more acrid even than thofe of the com- mon fort. i86 NATURAL GRASSES. -28. Centaurea n'lgray — common knobwced. Heracleum Sphodylium, — cowparfncp. Paftinacajativa, — wild parfnep. Serratula arvenfiSy — common thifUe. Rhina7itbus Crijia-galliy — yellow rattle J. Euphrafia OdontiteSy — red eyebright. LeoKtodon hispidum, — rough dandelion. LeoKtodon Taraxacum^ — common dandelion. Hypoch<£ris radicafa, — longrooted hawk- weed. Galium verum, — ^yellow bedllraw. PotentiUa rep(a?2s j— creeping cinquefoil. Plant ago media^ — middle plantain. Plant ago lanceolata, — narrow plantain. Ranunculus Picaria^ — pilewort. Bellis perenyiis-t — common daifey. Dactylis glomc^atay — orchardgrafs. Holciis lanatusj — meadow foftgrafs. Briza media J — common tremblingrafs. Alopecurus prat.-^nfiSy — meadow foxtailgrafs. Avenaflavefcensy — yellow oatgrafs. Poapratenjisy — nieadow poe. Fejiuca elatiory — tall fefcue. yfira ccefpetojay — halTock airgrafs. Ahpecurus X Yellow rattle. For ctfervations on this plaat fee forward. 28. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 187 Alcpecurus geniculatus, — marfh foxtailgrafs. Juncus articulatusj — -jointed rulh. Chryjantbemun Leucantb :'—oxtyt daifey. Peucedanum SilaiiSj — meadow faxifrage. Runiex crifpusy— curled dock. Rumex Acetoja^ — forrel. Rumex obtuftfolius^ — broadleaved dock, Carduus lanceolatus^ — fpear thifUe. Urtica dioica,— common nettle. Cerafiium fulgatum j—~common moufear. Stellaria graminea^ — meadow ftarflower Plantago major, — broad plantain. Prunella -vulgaris y — felf heal. Primula i' been done, and with sood iutcel.^. 192 NATURAL GRASSES. 28- anthill fcfcue : a ftage of diftemper which no- thing but the plow can cure. Some of thefe lands, it has been faid, have been given up to tillage. The reft have a right to undergo the fame fahitar}' operation. It is voluntary wafte, in their owners, — to let them lie in their prefent ftate ; and that, too, without being repaid in any counter gratifica- tion. An oak-wood may be an objed: o/i pride to its owner i and grows venerable as it grows old : but a rough grafs-ground is an eye-fore ; a fcab which disfigures the face of a country; and grows offenfive with age. Their motive, however, for fuffering thefe grounds to remain under circumftances lb dif- graceful, may be more pardonable than may appear at firft fight. It may proceed fix)m the evident ill ufage of thole which have been per- mitted to be broken up. But this only leffens, and does not wholly wipe away the crime of keeping them in an unproductive ftate. If they have not been properly laid down again to grafs, the negk^ is their own. See york: ECON : vol. ii. p. 94. 3. Dressing. Molehills and dung are here fpread with common hay-forks j ufed -with the 28. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 193 the back downward j fwinging them riglit and left : tolerable implements for the purpofe. Sometimes a bufli-harrow is drawn over the lurface of the mowing grounds ; which are fometimes rolled ; elpecially thofe which have been foddered on, and trodden up by the cat- tle. No moulding hedge, nor any thing ade- quate to it, is here in ufe j though it would be obvioufly ufeful. The fledge which is now in common ufe for carrying hedging thorns &c. might, with a little alteration, be made to an- fwerboth purpofes. (See vork: econ: vol. i. p. 279.) One particular in the practice ofdrefling meadows, here, is noticeable. If a mowing ground be fed late in the fpring, lb as to ren- der it doubtful whether, if the dungbe Ipread, it would be wafhed down below the cut of the fithe before mowing time, it is picked off the ground and carried to the dunghill. 4. Weeding GRASSLANDS. With refpedt to the eradication of weeds, I have met with nothing praife-worthy in this diftricl. Some of the meadows are fliamefully o\'errun with decks -y while the hams, being unappropri- ated, are too frequently occupied by thijiles Vol, I, O which 1^ NATURAL GRASSES. 28. which I have feen growing in beds of an acre each. Bur N^nth refpect to the tcffing of weeds, in the inclofed pafhire-grounds, the vale merits fmgular praife. It is the only diftrict, in which I have obferved this piece of good hufbandr)-, in any thing like common practice. Here, not only weeds ofpafture-grounds are topped, generally once (about midfummer) and fome- times twice j but the grafs of the furrows is mown, and the broken grafs of the ridges fweptofffor hay. Several loads of good fod- der will fometimes be got from a ground by this pracdce. A practice which ought to be adopted in every diftricl. Befides the loads of fodder which are obtained, — feveral acres of autumnal pafturage are probably gained:— or in other words a frelh ground is added to the farm — by the operation. See xorf: econ: min. 7. and york: econ*: vol. ii. p. 150. 5. Mavuring. The manuring of grafs- lands will, I belie^'e, fcarcely admit of being called a practice offbis vale. The lowlands in general are configned to the benevolence of the floods: cowgrounds, which are e\'ery year pafhired, require no manure -, and mowing grounds 28. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 195 grounds are feldom, I believe, afforded any. The arable lands, alone, require more than the diftrift produces. However, by bottom- ing the courts with mould, to abforb and re- tain that v.'hich now runs walle out of them, a confiderable quantity of grafsland manure might annually be obtained, without robbing the arable lands of a fingle load of their prefent quantity of dung. See york: econ: i. 405. This deprivation of manure may account in fome meafure for the unprodu6i;ivenefs, com- pared with the intrinfic quality, of fome of the vale lands ; which may not, perhaps, have re- ceived any other melioration than the teathe of pafturing cattle, and perhaps fome good effed: from being foddered on in the winter, fince the time they were converted into grafslands. 6. Watering. The watering of grafs- lands, on the modern principle of float-and- drain, is not the pra6lice of either of the vales of Glocefterlhire. I have not feen even a fin- gle inftance in either of them ; though there are many fituations which would admit of its introduftion. This circumftance is the more remarkable, as in Northwiltlhire, a neigh- bouring diftridt, it is in common pradlice. In O 2 the 196 NATURAL GRASSES. 28. tlie more weftern counties it is, I underftand, ilill more prevalent. This is another inftance of the flagnant (late of the hufbandr\' of thefe vales. It is highly probable, that, at the time of the diflblution of the monafteries, they ftood pre-eminent in EngUfli Hufbandiy. But, through an evi- dent neglecl of modern improvements, they are now left, in many relpedts, beneath the reft of the kingdom. This appears to me a circumftance well entitled to the atten- tion of the landed intercft of thefe vales. The OBJECTS of the gral'sland management are bay and pajlurage. It feems to be well underftood here, that grounds ought to be mown and paftured al- ternately J and in fome inftances the principle may be attended to in practice. But it is generally convenient to have the " cow- grounds" near the milking yard. The diftant grounds are of courfe more convenient as *' mowing grounds :** they are, however, " grazed" occafionally by fatting cattle. It is obferved here, and is obfervable almoft every where, that if grafs land be mown every year it is liable to be overrun with the yel- low 28. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 197 LOW RATTLE (Rhinanthus) which, being a biennial plant that fheds its feed early in the fpring, is increafed by mowing. But paftur- ing the ground, even one year, is found to check it. The reafon is obvious : the major part of the plants, being eaten off with the other Jierbage, are prevented from feeding. Pafturing two years, fucceflively, and care- fully fweeping off the ftale herbage, when this plant appears in full blow, would go near to extirpation. The MANAGEMENT of 1. Mowing grounds, 2. Failure grounds. I. Mowing grounds. I. Spring management 1. Hay. 3. Aftergrafs. I. Spring management of mowing GROUNDS. In this diftria, where grafslands var)' much as to their times of vegetating in the fpring, the time of Ihutting up the in- clcjed grounds for hay, provincially " hain- " ing" them, is regulated by the nature of the land. Cold backward lands are feidom eaten in the fpring: while the free-growing- O 3 more 198 NATURAL GRASSES. 28. more early grounds are paftured till the be- ginning of May. This diftinclion is a maf- terftroke of management, which I have not obferved in the ordinar}' practice of any other dillricl. The time of fhutting up meadozvs is guided by cuftom. Some Candlemas, others Lady- day, others May-day. A very extenfive mea- dow, immediately below the town of Glo- cefler, is, by ancient privilege, paftured, even with ftieep, until the middle of May. The confequence of this cuftom is, that in cafe the fpring fet in droughty, the crop of hay is in a manner loft. This year (1788) the worm-cafts were not hid, until the latter end of June ! But injudicious as that relick of ancient LORDLINESS may now be, viewed in a gene- ral light, another, in its tendency abundant- ly more mifchevous, is preferved in a meadow of fome hundred acres, in the fame neigh- bourhood. Over this valuable tra(5t of mow- ing ground, two horfes range at large, ijsbik the crcp is groni/ig ! ! ! with, of courfe, the privilege of doing all the mifchief to which tlie wantonnefs of horfts turned loofe in \o lar2[e 28. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 199 large a paflure can ftifnulate. The reader, I am afraid, will fcarcely give me credit for what I am relating. No other authority than my own fight could, I confefs, have induced me to believe, that an evil fo great — an ab- furdity fo glaring — could, in thefe enlightened and liberalized times, have exifled in the rural economy of this country. Tradition fays, that ftallions, alone, were formerly entitled to this diabolical priviledge ; but, at prefent, any two horfes are admitted to it. What- ever may have been its origin, it would be doing injuftice to the prefent laws of England to fuppofe them capable of giving counte- nance to any adt whofe main tendency is the wanton deftruecies of mo>\'ing ground, which, formerly, was common to this and mod other countries. There are, however, in this diftri<5b, men who are well aware of the advantages of early cutting ; — who know, from exf>erience in grazing, the value of the aftergrafs of early mown grounds ; as well as the fatting quality of hav, which has been mown in the fullnefs of fap. Hence we find in this country, more ad- vocates for early cutting, than in moll others, where the fatting of cattle on hay is not a prac- tice. There is, in an ordinary feafon, much grafs cut, in different parts of the diftrict, at fix crjrjen "iVeeh old. In mcwingy it is obferv^able, the Glocefter- ftiire labourers cut remarkably leveL In fome cafes not a (Iroke, or fcarcely a fwath-balk, is difcoverable. This is chiefly owing to the narro^^Tiefs of the fwath-width, and the fhort- nefs of the fithe, in ufe in this country. The mowers of Glocederfhire and thofe of York- (hire work in opp>ofite extremes of the art. The 28.. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 201 The Yorkfhireman drives a width of nine or ten feet before him, the Glocefterfliireman of fix or feven feet only. I have meafured acrofs a feries of fwaths which, one v/ith another, have not meafured fix feet wide. The one makes the operation unnecefllirily laborious, and caufes, almoft unavoidably, a wafle of herbage, — the other renders it unnecefTarily te- dious. A good workman m.ay take half a rod (eight feet and a quarter) with fufficienteafe to himfelf, and at the famx time leave his work fufticiently level. It is prudent, however, on tlie part of his employer to fee that he keeps within due bounds j and, generally, that he does not exceed the medium width. The making of hay is an inexhauftible fub- je6t. Every diftrid:, if we defcend to minu- tiae, has its fhades of difference. The practice of this diftrift refembles very much the prac- tices of Yorkfhire ; not only in the firft ftages, but in the remarkable expedient of forming the hay into ftacklets (here called " v/ind- cocks") previous to its being put into Itack. But the practice is here carried a ftage farther ; the hay being fometim.es made into fmall ftacks, of feveral loads each, in the flack: yard i 2:2 NATURAL GRASSES. iS. yard ; and, while yet perhaps in a degree of heat almofl fufFocating to work among, is made over again into one large (lack. The fame reafons are given for this practice, here, as in Yorkfhire : namely that of being able to make it fuller of fap in this way than it can be by the ordinary method- There ieems, however, to be an additional motive to it in this country : namely that of being en- abled, by this means, to make it into very large jlacks — of fifty or perhaps a hundred loads each. Such ftacks are fafliionable. They are fpoken of with pride: and it feems proba- ble that the pride of great ricks has fome fhare, at leaft, in the practice of giving hay a double heat. Be this as it may, however, it is a fact, well afcertained, that the hay of thefc vales is of a fuperior quality. It is. found to bring on fatting cattle nearly as faft as the green herbage from which it is made, pafling thro' them with the fame appearances. And the produce of butter from hay in this diflricl:, is extraordinary. But whetiier thjs fuperior qua- lity be owing, in part, to the method of miking it, or whoBy to die foil and the her- bace 28. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 203 bage from which it is made, is by no means well afcertained. That there is zfoineihing in the foils of thefe vales, which gives a pecuhar richnefs to whatever they produce, is to me evident j and to endeavour to prefer ve in hay, as much as poiTible of this richnefs, is indil- putably, good management. The degree of heat, which hay ought to be fubjefled to, is an interefting fubjed, which is feldom agitated, and little underftoodj even in this country, where fome little attention is paid to it. Something may depend on the fpecies of flock it is intended for. The pre- vailing opinion, here, feems to be that, for fatting cattle, it ought to be moderately or fomewhat confiderably heated. For cows, however, there are dairymen, who fay it fhould have little or no heat j giving for a reafon, — that " heated hay dries up their milk." — Thefe, however, I m>ention merely as opinions. They may be well grounded. If not, they may excite a ipirit of enquiry into a fubjeft of fome importance in a grafsland country. The expenditure of bay in this diftrift is chicfiy on cows and fatting cattle ; to which it 204 NATURAL GRASSES. 28. it is given either in fheds — yards — foddering grounds — or the ground it grev,- on ; — in the mznner, which will be mentioned in the arti- cles cows, and fattimg cattle. 3. Aftergrass. I find no regular ma- nagement of it here. The unftinted mea- dows are frequently turned into, the inftant the hay is off the ground; and fometimes while no inconfiderable fhare of it remains in the meadow ! Horfes, cows, fheep, fatting- cattle, and haycocks beins: mixed in a man- ner fufficiently grotefque for the purpofe of the painter J but in a way rather difgufting to thofe, who are aware of the wafte they are committing : not of the hay, but of the after- grafs. In eight and forty hours after the whole of the hay is out, the meadow, thus mifufcd, has the appearance of a fheep com- mon in winter: not a bite of green herbage to be feen; the whole being nibbled out by the fheep and horfes, or trodden into the ground by cattle : nothing but the fbjbble, or dead flumps of feed flems, being left to cover the foil. Thefe meadows, however, being irtt of gro^vth, fheep, and even horfes, may con- tinue to get a living on them -, and cattle may bcf 28. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 205 be kept from ftarving ; — but cannot bring home any advantage to their owners*. Nor is this illjudged praftice confined within tlie unftinted meadows ; but is frequently ex- tended to inclofed grounds. A full bite of aftergrafs is (this year at leaft) a rare fight in the country : I have feen very little fit for the reception either of cows or fatting cattle. The line of right management is frequently difficult to draw. Different direftions have their advantao;es and their inconveniences. By turning into mowing grounds as foon as the hay is out of them, the Glocellerfhire farmer gives a loofe to his paflure grounds : it is a }nov^ for his cattle : and if he would for- bear a few weeks, to let his aftergrafs rife to a fufficient bite, his management v/ould, in my judgment, be much preferable to the York- Ihire practice i in which the cattle are kept in the paflure grounds, without moving, un- til the aftergrafs be overgrown. See York : EcoN. article aftergp.ass. II. Pasture • This, however, is not general. Some of them, by ancient cuftom, are kept till the middle of September, be- lore they be broken. 2o6 NATURAL GRASSES. iS. IL Pasture grounds. 1. Spring management. 2. Stocking. 3. Summer management. r. Spring MANAGEMENT. The hams and inclofed pafture grounds are fhut up at dif- ferent times, and opened about Old May- day. Some of the hams much too late : thereby encumbering the furface, unneccf- farily, with weeds and ftale grafs ; and lefTen- ing, of courfe, the quantity of paflurable land*. 2. Stocking. It feems to be a prevail- ing cuftom to mix a few ^eep, in the pafture grounds, whether with cowsy or fatting cattle, 3. Summer management. This appears in what has gone before. They are fwept, and fometimes mown ; and have a refpite from ftock, while the ftubbles of the mowing grounds are picked over. See York: Eco:< : ii. 149. HORSES, ^9- VALE OF GLQCESTER. 207 29. H O Pv S E S. THE BREEDING OF HORSES for fale is not, here, a pradice. Mod farmers rear their own plow-horfes ; and a few faddle- horfes are alfo bred: but I have met with nothing in the pra<5lice of breeding horfes, in this diftricl, which requires to be regiflered. The farm horfes are of the fen breed : — but very ufeful ones of that fort : fhort and thick in the barrel i and low on their legs. — Colour moftly black, inclinable to a tan- colour. The price of a fix-year old cart hoi-fe, of this breed, is twenty five to thirty five pounds f SHEEP, tog S H E E ?. 30. SHEEP. THE SHEEP is a mountain- animal. Even in its prefent cultivated ftate, hills are its \atural element. Uplands (or ver)" found dry middlelands) are the loweft (lage on which fheep can be kepty with any degree of fafety to them; or with any degree of certainty to their owner. Vale lands, in general, are, without great caution, certain ruin to both. Formerly, fome confiderable flocks were kept, or attempted to be kept, in this vale : even breeding flocks were not uncommon in it. But the wet fummer of 1782, fwept the country of them. One farmer, who had, for three or four years back, been recruiting his fiock, and got it up to eight or nine fcore, had not, I was informed, in the autumn of 1783, more than three individuals left! The low fituation of this vale, — the Angular retentivenefs of its fubP.rata, — and the wa- terincfs a8. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 209 terinefs of its foils, through a want of fur- face-draining, — confpire to render it, — what, from experience, it is too well known to be, fingularly fatal to fheep. How unaccountable, then, is the condu6l of thofe, who attempt to keep ftore flocks in it ? Nothing but the common error, which pervades almoll every diftrid, — that fheep are eflential to farming, — can account for it. At prefent, however, the vale, fully con- vinced of the folly of attempting to keep ftore flocks, changes its ftock of flieep every year. This fpecies of ftock, now, confifts chiefly of ewes, bought in autumn, and, having fatted their lambs in the fpring, are themfelves fi- nifhed in the courfe of the enfuing fummer. I. The SPECIES of ftiecp ufed in this prac- tice are moftly the Ryland^ and the Cotjwold i bodi of which will be defcribed in the courfe of thefe volumes. II. Some little folding was formerly done in the fallow fields: " but all die folding flocks are dead of the rot"! What folly! What cruelty-^x.0 drive this animal from its native heights j and force it into a fituation, where it muft inevitably become a prey to dif- VOL. I. p ,^^|^. 210 SHEEP. 3c. eafe ; and at length, (if not relealed by the hunnanity of a butcher), fall a victim to folly, by a loathfome, tedious, lingering death. III. In a diftri<5l fo notorious as this for the ROTTING OF SHEEP, foiTie accuratc ideas of this fatal diforder were of courfe enquired af- ter. An experienced hufbandman, on open- ing a fheep which he had killed for his own fa- mily, and finding a collection of water within it, pronounced the reft of his flock to be tainted. Water he has always found to be the firft ftage of the dilbrder: a " white fcum" upon the liver the next: the laft flukes. From thefe circumftances, and from all the obfervations I have myfelf been hitherto able to make on this fubjedl, it appears to me pro ^ habkj — that an unnatural redundancy of lA^-aier '—unavoidably taken in with the food — is the caufe of the diforder. CATTLE. 31. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 211 31- CATTLE. CATTLE are the natural inhabitants of a vale country ; and in this vale we find every defcription of them abound: — cows j — rear- ing STOCK, i FATTING CATTLE ^-^and Cach of thefe of various fpecies, or breeds. Formerly, and perhaps not long ago, ens breed of cattle might be faid to polTefs the vale j a breed which ftill predominates in fome parts of it. It is known by the name of the glo- CESTERSHiRE BREED ; and has, I undetftand, been common to the diftridl time immemo- rial. Welch cattle, no doubt, may have long been brought into the diftridl, zs fatting cattle ; and of late years fome confiderable number of Herefordshire oxen have been fatted in it. But ftill the cows and rearing cattle were of the Glocefterfhire breed. Of ftill later date, however, an alien breed of cows has been introduced : the long-horned P 2 breed 212 CATTLE. 31. breed of StafFordfhire and the other midland counties ;~by the name ofthe " north-coun- try SORT." A breed, that, in a few years, has made rapid advances ; and is likely to difpofTcfs, in no great length of time, the na- turalized fpecies. In 1783, dairies were moft- ly of the Glocefterfhire breed: in fome, a mixture of the longhorned fort was obferva- ble J — and, in the lower vale, a few dairies were moftly of that breed. Now (1788) few- dairies are left without admixture ; and, even in the upper vale, are fome entire dairies of the longhorned breed. In general, however, they are an unfightly mixture of the two fpe- cies i with, not unfrequently, a third fort, a mongrel kind, reared from an aukward crols between them. In the fairs and markets of the vale, fcarcely any other than the north- country fort and this mule breed are to be feen. Ofthe LONGHORNED CATTLE of the mid- land counties I mean to fpeak fully at a Riture time, Welch cattle are extremely vari- ous: every province of the principality feems to fend out a feparate breed. They are invari- ably of the middlehorned fpecies 3 but in re- gard 31. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 213 gard to fize they vary, in regular gradation, from the largeft ox to the loweft Welch runt. The Herefordshire breed will be fpo- ken of under the head FATTING cattle; and in the article Herefordshire, toward the dole of thefe volumes. The Glocefterfliire, therefore, is the only breed which requires to be delcribed in this place. The glocestershire breed of cattle is a variety of the middle horned species. (See York: econ: article cattle.) In fize, it forms a mean between the Norfolk and the Herefordjhire hrttds. (See NORF:EcoN:art: cattle.) The head moftly fmall ^ neck long ; fhoulder fine -, and all of them generally clean. The carcafe moftly long, with the ribs full and the barrel large in proportion to the cheft and hind-quarters. The huckle of due width j but the nache frequently narrow. The bone, in general fine ; the hide thin and the hair fliort. The charafteriftic colour, dark red, — provincially " brown" i — with the face and neck inclining to black ; and with an ir- regular line of white along the back. The horns fine and rather long ; but, in fome indi- viduals, placed aukwardly high on tJie fore- P 3 headj 214 CATTLE. 31. head, and near at the roots : in others, how- ever, they ftand low and wide ; winding with a double bend, in the middle-horn manner. The principal objections to tJie Glocefter- fhire breed of cattle are, a deficiency in the chine, and too great length of leg ; giving the individuals of this defcription, an auk- ward, uncouth appearance. But no wonder. The breed has not had a fair chance of excelling. I have heard of only one man, within memory, who ever paid any efpecial attention to it ; and this one man, * by fome election ftrife (a curfe in every count)') was driven out of the vale about feven years ago : fo that, at prcfent, it may be faid to lie in a ilate of negled. Neverthelefs, it ftill contains individuals which are unobjedion- able i — particularly the remains of the Bod- DiNGTON BREED; and. With a little attention, might, in my opinion, be rendered a very valuable breed of cattle. For dairy cows, I have not, in my own judgement, ktn a better form. It is argued, however. * -Ml . Long ot Boddington. 31. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 215 liowever, that the northcountry cows, being hardier J ftand the winter better in the ftraw- vard ; and/j/ more kindly when they are dried off. It fhould be recollefled, however, that Glocefterfhire is a dairy country : and remem- bered that it was the Glocefterfhire breed which raifed the Glocefterfhire dairy to its greateft height. Befide, the breed has long been naturalized to the foil and fituation ; — and certainly ought not to be fupplanted, without fome evident advantage ; fome clear gain, in the outfet ; nor even then, without mature deliberation ; leaft fome unfeen difad- vantage Ihould bring caufe of repentance in future. The three clafies, enumerated at the head of this article, now require to be feparately confidered. I. Cows. This being a dairy country, the procuring of cows, and t\itfize of dairies i as well as the treatment^ the application^ and the dijpojal of cows, will require to be fhewn feparately. I. Procuring. Dairymen in general rear their own cows : fome, however, purchaje the whole, and others part, of their dairies. P 4 The ai6 C O W S. 3r. The point of a milch cow which is here principaUy attended to, — and which, no doubt, is the main objed: of attention, — is a large THiN-SKixxED bag: I have, however, heard a large tail fpoken of, in the true tone of fu- perftition. The following are the dimenfions of a cow of the Boddington breed. A genuine, and a fair fpecimen, as to form ; but not as to fize : the cows of that celebrated breed were, in ge- neral, confiderably larger. As a milker Ihe has had few equals j and, in my eyes, fhe is, or rather was, one of the handfomeft and raoft defireable dairy cows I have yet feen. Thefe dimenfions were taken when flie was five years old, off ; flie being then feveral montlis gone with her fourth calf. Height at the withers four feet three inches, of the fore dug twenty one inches. Smaliefl: girt fix feet and half an inch. Created girt feven feet eleven inches. Length from fhoulder-knob to huckle four feet one inch. from the huckle to the out of the nache twenty inches. Width at the huckle tv,enty dvo inches. Width SI- VALE OF GLOCESTER. 217 Width at the nache fourteen inches. Length of the horn twelve inches. The eye full and bright. The ears remarkably large. The head fine and chap clean. The bofom deep ; and the brifket broad, and projecting forward. . The fhoulders thin with the points fnug. The thigh likewife thin, notwithftanding the great width at the nache. The bag large and hanging backv/ard ; being leathery and loofe to the bearing. The teats of the middle fize 3 gives much milk, and holds it long. The tail large, the hide thin, and the bone remarkably fine. The colour a " dark brown" ; marked with white along the back and about the ud- der i with the legs, chap, and head, of a full, glofl'y, dark, chocolate colour. The horns a polillied white ; tipped with black. The reafons given, by the daiiymen of this diftridl, for rearing their own cows are, " that they Ihould foon be beggared if they had their cows to buy"i and " that they know what they breedj ii8 COWS. 3,. breed, but do not know what they buy." The latter has much the mod reafon in it ; for, as they obferv'e,. it a heifer is not likely to turn out well, they fell her: on the contrarv", if they went to market for their cows they mufi: buy the outcafts of other breeders. Befkles, they endeavour to breed from known good milkers ; fuch as milk well, not only prefently after calving ; but will hold their milky through the fummer, and the lattermath months: whereas in the market they are fubjeft to chance, and the deceptions of drovers: the mofl they have to judge from is t\\^fize of the bag at the timiC of the purchace. In fuitable fituarions, there can be little doubt of the pro- priety of every dain-'man's rearing his own cows. The place of pirchnjcy in this diilricl, is chiefly the market of Glocefter, held every Saturday ; to which, in the fpring, from fifty to a hundred cows, of different breeds, iDitb calves by their fides, are brought j by dair)'- men and drovers ; -but principally longhorned cows, brought from a diftance by the latter. In the Ladyday fair at Glocefter, there were not Icfs tlian four hundred cows. Some 31. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 219 Some of the larger dairymen go themfelvc^ into the midland counties, to purchafe cov/s. But feldom, perhaps, with much advantage ; the expence of the journey ; the time loft i and the danger of a long drift, by unfkilflil hands, probably, more than over-balance the dealer's profit. In cafes, in which ftock is required to be transferred from one diftrici to another, dealers become a ufeful clafs of men. The price of a cow and calf of the Glocel^ terftiire breed, has been for the laft ten years eight to ten or eleven pounds j of the north country fort ten to twelve or thirteen pounds. 2. The size of dairies. In tbis vale dairies are not very large : twenty or thirty cows are a full fized dairy. Forty, I believe, the higheft*. But farms are fmall, and of courfe numerous J and the number of cows kept are collefti^'ely very confiderable. 3. Treatment of cows. Notwithftand- ing, however, the number of cows which are kept in this diftrict, and the length of time which it has been celebrated as a dairy coun- try, * In the VALE OF Evesham dairies are larger; fifty, fixty, feventy, and one or two of eighty cows each. 223 CATTLE. 31. try, I have met with few particulars in its management of cows, that are entitled to a place in this regifter. Thcjummer management confifts chiefly in turning them out, in the beginning of May, fooner or later, according to the feafon and the nature of the foil, — into a ground, or fuite of grounds lying open to each other, — and there letting them remain until fome after- grafs be ready to receive them. The Jkifting of cows, from pafture to pafture, is fpoken of, and may be fometimes practifed by a few in- dividuals i but it is not the general practice of the countr}'. The winter management v^aries with the charafleriftic of the farm, as to grafs and ara- ble. On farms which have much plowland belonging to them, the dry cows are kqDt in the ftraw yard, until near calving j when they are put to hay in a feparate yard, or a foddering ground. On farms which are prin- cipally " green," they are kept all winter at hay ; in the open air, or under loofe fheds ; the practice of houfing catde in winter, in the north-of-England manner, being, it may be fdid, unknown, in this quiirter of die kingtlom. 4. Tlic 31. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 221 4. The APPLICATION of milk in this diftricft, is to calves, butter -^ cheeje\ princi- pally to the latter ; which forms no inconfi- derable part of the produce of a vale farmi and the dairy management becomes, in this cafe, too important a fubjecft to be con- fined, as heretofore, within a fubdivifion of the article cattle ; requiring, in the prefent volumes, a feparate leclion. (fee the next general head). 5. Disposal of cows. Dairy coivs arc fold, 'Li-ith cahes at their fides , in the manner which has been mentioned. Heifers which mifs the bull, or do not anlwer for the pail ; v^(o young cozls that pals their bulling j and aged ccdus, which are ufually thrown up at eight or nine years old, are, in the ordinary pradlice of the countr)% fatted on the farmy (in the way which will prefently be defcribed) and fold to the country butchers. Thus, we find the dairymen of the vale of Glocefter, not only rearing their cows from their own Hock, but continuing them in their own grounds, after they have done their work as dairy cows, until they be fit for the flaugh- ter: — a fyftem of management, which is pleafing 211 REARING CATTLE. 31. pleafing to the obfervation ; and which, by realbn of its fimplicity and perfection as a whole, affords the rcfle<5lion equal pleafure and fatisfaclion. There may be fituations, which will not admit of this practice, in its full extent ; but, in moil cafes, there can be no doubt of its eligibility. II. Rearing cattle. Breeding is here confined, in a manner wholly, to heifers for the dain.'. The number reared from a certain number of cows varies with circumftances ; fometimes it may depend on the number oi# cow calves dropped within the fealbn of rearing; the demand for young cattle ; the circumftances of the farm ; and the individual opinion of the dainiTnan, — likcwife influence the prof)ortional num.ber. The firft breeder in the vale, fei- dom reared more than ten or twelve calves from forty cows ; — while another judicious dain.'man reared nine or ten from twenty cows. In giving a fketch of the management of young cattle, in this diftri(ft, it will be proper to feparate the three diilindions : namely. Calves. Yearlings. Two-year-olds. I. The 31. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 223 I. Calves. Tht/eafcn cf-u^eanhig lafts from Chriftmas toLadyday: feidom longer: late- weaned calves interfere with the dair}% The method of rearing is pretty uniform : at kaft in the outline. The calf is ufually taken from the cow at two or three days old, and put to heated milk. The degree of heat, how- ever, varies. In the practice of the firft breeder in the vale, the milk was given to the cz\yts Jcalding hot ! as hot as the dairy- girl could bear her hand in it. Thehps of the calves were not unfrequently injured by it* His reafons for this pradtice were, that the heat of the milk prevented the calves from fcouring; made them thrive ^ and enabled him to put his rearing calves to fkim milk, immediately from their being taken from the cow, at two or three days old. They never tailed " beft milk" after they were taken from the teat at that aore ! o This is an interelling inftance of praftice ; and merits a few moments' reflection. Na- ture has evidently prepared milk of a pecu- liar quality for the infant calf ^ and this milk is ufelefs in the dairy : it is therefore doubly good management to fuffer the calf to remain at 224 REARING CATTLE. 31, at the teat, until the milk becomes ufefiil in the dairy} which it ufually does in two or three days. But although it becomes, to ge- neral appearance, fimilar to that of a cow whicli has been longer in milk, it is highly probable, that it isjiill fingularly adapted to the yet infant (late of the calf. In iht/uckiiiig houfes, round the metropolis, it is well under- ftood, that putting a young calf to a cow, which is old in milk, will throw it into a fcouring. It, no doubt, requires a degree of correcStion to render it fully acceptable to the ftomach of the calf, at fo early an age : and, if we may venture to judge from this inftance of practice, Jiifficiently authenticated^ fcalding the milk, very highly, gives it the due cor- reftion. Befides the fcalded milk, this judicious manager allowed his calves fplit begins, oats, and cut hay. When they took to eat thefe freely, water was, by degrees, added to the milk. In the fpring they were turned into a large well hcrbaged ground; allowing them fogood a pafture, tliat it was . generally mown after them : and, during the whole of the firft fummer 3t. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 225 fummcr, they had the firft bite wherever they went. " Calf-stages." The calf-pen of this dif- tri6l is of an admirable conftniftion: extremely fimplc } yet fingiilarly well adapted to its in- tention. Young calves, — fatting calves more cfpecially — require to be kept narrowly con- fined : quietnefs is, in a degree, effential to their thriving. A loofe pen, or a long halter, gives freedom to their natural fears, and a loofe to their playfulnefs. Cleanlinefs, and a due degree of warmth, are likewife requifite in the right management of calves. A ftage which holds feven, or occafionally eight calves, is of the following defcription. — ■ The houfe or room-ftead, in which it is placed, meafures twelve feet by eight. Four feet of its width are occupied by the ftage j — and one foot by a trough placed on its front ; leaving three feet as a gangway ; into the middle of which the door opens. The floor of the ftage is formed of laths, about two inches IquarCj lying lengthway of the ftage, and one inch afunder. The front fence is of ftaves, an inch and a half diameter, nine inches from middle to middle, and three feec Vol. I. Q^ high: 226 REARING CATTLE. 3' high : entered at the bottom into the front bearer of the floor ; (from which crofs joifts pafs into the back wall) and fteadied at the top by a rail ; which, as well as the bottom piece, is entered at each end into the end wall. The holes in the upper rail are wide enough to permit the flaves to be lifted up and taken out^ to give admifTion to tlie calves: one of which is faftened to every fecond ftave^ by means of two rings of iron joined by a fwivel ; one ring playing upon the ftave, the other receiving a broad leathern collar, buckled round the neck of the calf. The trough is for barley-meal, chalk, 6cc. and to reft the pails on. Two calves drink out of one pail; putting their heads through between the ftaves. The height of the floor of tlie ftage from the floor of the room is about one foot. It is thought to be wrong to hang it higher, left, by the wind drawing under it, the calves fhould be too cold in fcvere weather: this, howevei, might be eafily prevented by litter, or long ftrawy dung thruft beneath it. It is obfervable, that thefe ftages are fit only for calves, uhich are fed- with the pail i not for calves which fuck the cow. Fatting 31. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 227 Fatting calves are here kept on the ftages, until they be fold : rearing calves until they be three weeks or a month old 3 or until they begin to pick a little hay ; when they are re- moved to a rack, and allowed greater freedom. 2. Yearlings. The firft winter they are ufually allowed the beft hay on the farm : and the enfuing fummer, fuch a paflure as con- veniency affigns them. A diftant rough ground, if fuch a one belong to the farm, is generally their fummer pafture. 3. Two-year-olds. The fecond winter, heifers are generally kept at ftrawi except they have had the bull the preceding fummer j in which cafe they are wintered on hay. But the moft prevalent praftice is to keep them from the bull until the enfuing fummer j bring- hig them into milkj at three years old. III. Fatting cattle. The diftridl un- der furvey, does not anfwer fully the defcrip- tion of a grazing country : the dairy forms its grand charafteriftic. Nevenhelefs, there are numbers of cattle annually fatted within it. There are two diftind fpecies of grazing carried on in this vale. The one natural to 0^2 a dairy 228 FATTING CATTLE. 31. a dairy country : namely that of fatting barren and aged cows : a fpecies of grazing, which is purfued by dairymen ^nd fanners in general: the other is tliat wliich more particularly cha- racterizes a grazing country : namely, the practice of purchafing cattle for die imme- diate purpofe of fatting : a fpecies of grazing, which is here carried on by a few opulent in- dividuals only. Some of them, however, purfue it on an extenfive fcale ; and in a manner, which entitles it to particular at- tention. Thefe two fpecies of grazing require to be examined feparately. They are not only profecuted by two diftindt orders of men i but the food — the cattle — the method of fatting — and the market of each is different. In one, the cattle are generally finifhed in yards or foddering grounds, abroad, in the open air, on hay alone. In the other they are moftly finiflied mjlallsy on hay and oil cake. I. Favting in the yard. Th^ feeds y or fatting materials, in this cafe, are foiely grass and HAY. Sometimes the cattle, in this mode of fatting, are freihened with fummer grafs, and tinilhcd with lattermath j but, more frequcnthv 31. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 229 frequently, they are brought foi"ward with grafs, and finifhed with hay -, which, of this country, if well got, is found to force them on nearly as faft as grafs. Befides the cullings of the dairy, a confidcrable number of Welch cattle, of the fmaller kinds, and generally cows or hei- fers ; and fome few Herefordshire oxen; are fatted in this way. The principal place of pur chafe of the Welch cattle is Glocefter market; to which, every Saturday, in the fummer, the autumn, and the winter months, confiderable numbers are brought. The fummer management of this clafs of fat- ting ftock is no way extraordinary, nor par- ticularly inflruftive. A diftant ground is generally afTigned them, for the double pur- pofe of keeping them from the bull, and of giving the dairy cows the grounds which lie more conveniently to the yard. The winter management is entitled to more attention. It commences in the field, wliile the cattle are yet at grafs ; they being fod- dered, there, with hay, as foon as the grafs begins to fhrink; or fharp weather fets in, CL3 The 230 FATTING CATTING. 31. The grafs done, or the ^vcather becoming fe- vere, — they are either brought into a Jmall dry grafs inclofurcj (near the homeftall) — pro- vincially a " foddering ground" — ^where they have their fill of hay, given them three times a day, in round rodden cribs*, which are rolled * Rodden cribs. Thefe are a kind of large bafket; made of the topwood of willow pollards. A utcnfil com- mon to this country and to Lincolnfliire ; though fituated on oppofite fides of the ifland : but they are alike grafsland countries, wherein cattle are fatted on hay. They are about fix feet diameter. The height of the bafket-work is two feet and a half ; of the flakes three feet and a half; their heads rifing about a foot above the rim of the bafket. The widtli between the flakes twelve to fourteen inches. The fize, that of large hedge ftakes. The fizc of the rods vary from that of a hedge (lake, down to a well-fized edder. In making thefe hay bafkets, — the flakes are firfl driven, in a ring of the required fize, firmly into the ground. Some of the larger rods are then wound in at the bottom, in the bafket work manner. Upon thefe the fmaller rods are wound; the middle part of the work requiring the leafl ftrengtii ; refcrving the largcft for the top. In the winding and due binding of thofc, the principal part of the art of ** withy cub making" refls. Some makers warm thefe thick rods in burning flraw : others wind them cold ; one man drawing them in with a rope ; while another beats them at the flake with a wooden beetle, until they acquire a degree of fupplenefs. They are moflly made by men, who go about the country ; and who, by pradlicc, make them 31. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 231 rolled upon the ridges of the lands, as the ground gets foul or poachy ; — or in y^rds — provincially " courts" — in which the hay is given to them in mangers, formed by a rodded hedge, running parallel with the outfide fence; or in cribs — provincially " cubs" — of differ- ent forts and defcriptions, placed in the area of the yard. Out of thefe cribs and mangers the cattle not unfrequently feed ro their knees in dirt ; having perhaps an open fhed to reft under ; or perhaps only a fmall portion of the yard littered for that purpofe : yet fuch is the fa- gacity and cleanlinefs of this fpecies of ani- mal, that when they are at liberty to make choice of their bed, they will, if pofTible, choofe it warm and clean. I have feen half 0^4 a dozen them very completely ; winding in the top - rods fo firmly and fo regularly, that it is difficult to know, which has been the laft put in. In ufe, the cattle lay their necks between the tops of the ftakes.. Each being thus kept in its place, the raafter cattle are, in a degree, prevented from running round, and driving away the underlings. The clofeneis of thefc cribs prevents a wafte ot hay, eith:;r by the wind, or by the cattle. On the whole, they are ufeful, fiinple, cheap ; and, if veil made, will laft feveral years. 232 FATTING CATTING. 31. a dozen fine oxen, worth, at the time I re- peatedly obfervcd them, twenty to thirty pounds a piece, fatting on hay, actually to their knees in dung j with only a comer of the fmall yard they were penned in, littered with fhibble i and this corner lb fmail there ap- peared to be fcarcely room for the fix to lie down together : neverthelefs, their coats were always clean; and, if one might judge from the condition they were in, and the appear- ance of health and good habit they wore, they were perfectly fatisficd with their fituation. A fad which appears to me extremely inte- refting. The yard in this cafe was entirely open, (excepting fome trees which overhung it) but was well fheltered from the north arid eaft. The progress of this clafs of fatting cattle depends much on the given fize. The Welch fort, if purchafed early in fummer, will gene- rally get fufficiently fat, with grafs alone j and fome cows the fame : but in general thefe are finifhed with hay. If cows, which are put to lattermath, do not get fat on hay, by Mayday, they are fomt tines fold, as forward (lock, to graziers of this or odier dif- tricfls. 31. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 233 trifts. The oxen are not expeded to be finifhed completely in lefs than ten or twelve months. The fur chafers of this clafs (the oxen ge- nerally excepted) are the butchers of the dif- trid. In eftimating the value of fat cattle, here, the butcher s allowance of profit, on a cow of ten or twelve pounds price, is from one to two guineas. The ^rco/" expefted from this clafs of cat- tle, at head keep, is — Welch cows is, 6d. to IS. dairy cows 2s. to 3s. oxen 3s. to 3s. 6d. a week, at grafs s and fomewhat confiderably more at hay. •■^i'.'*" Stall fatting. This may be confi- deredas a modern pradice, in the rural eco- nomy OF England. Grass is the natural food of fatting cat- tle. Hay was probably firft in ufe for win- ter fatting. Corn has probably been ufed, on a fmall fcale, time immemorial, for the fame purpofe. TuRNEPsmay have been ap- plied to this purpofe, in Norfolk, about a cen- tury. But OILCAKES, the reiiduum or bran of linfeed from which oil has been exprefied, (the 234 FATTING CATTLE. 31. (the grand material made uCe of in the pra6lice under notice) has not perhaps been uled, in this intention, more than half that period. They have not in this dillridl been ufed, in quantity, more than 20 to 30 years. At prefent they are become a ftaple article of food, for winter fatting, in various parts of the ifland j but in no one of the five widely diflant ftations, I have obferved in, are they ufed on fo ample a fcale as in the diilri(5t now under furvey. There are two individuals fi- nifh, annually, from one hundred to one hun- dred and fifty head of large bullocks each. And a third, who fats aftill greater number: not however on oilcakes, alone j but on the foods, and in the manner, which will be men- tioned. In giving a detail of this pra6lice, it will be proper to take a feparate view of 1. The fituation and foil of the diftrid:. 2. The foods or materials of fatting. 3. The breed, fex, and age, of the cattle fatted. 4. The places of purchafe and the obfer- vable points. The fummer management. 6. The 31. VALE OF,GLOCESTER. 235 6. The winter management. 7. The market. 8. The produce. I. Situation. This fpecies of " grazing" is confined chiePiy to the vicinities of Glocefter, Tewkefbiiry, and Upton. The/oily whether of upland or m.eadow, is moftly rich, found, and early. The upgrounds affording pafturage, and the meadows hay, of the firft quality. If we except the margins of fait marlhes, few fitu- ations are better adapted to fummer grazing ; and the navis-ation of the Severn is favourable to winter fatting. — We may add to thefe ad- vantages, the circumftances of one of the finefc breeds of cattle, the ifland affords, being reared on one hand ; while the market of the metro- polis is within a moderate diftance on the other.^ 2. The foods in ufe for flail fatting are HAY, CORN, " cakes", LINSEED. Hay is a flanding article of food in the flails ; being ufedjointly with one or more of the other articles -, mollly, I believe, in its natural flate ; feldom, I underfland, cut with frraw into what is termed chaff ; a praftice in fome other di- flrifts. The 236 FATTING CATTLE. 31. The fpecies of com in ufe are barley and beans, ground, and given dr)', alone. But this is not a common material of fatting in the dif1:ri(5t under notice, where Oilcake^ as has been faid, is, next to hay, the main article of itall fatting. But the price of this article is at length become fo exorbitant, that it no longer, I am afraid, leaves an ade- quate profit to the confumer. Some years back, I recolleft, it was the idea of m.en of experience, that it could not be ufed profitably as an article of fatting for cattle, at a higher price than three pounds a ton. Now (1788) it is, in fome places, more than twice that price. The lowell price, at the more diftant mills, is, I am well informed, five pounds ; at Berkeley mills, fix pounds \ at Eveiham, fix guineas j at Stratford, fix pounds ten fhil- lings a ton. -f- This extravagant price of the cakes has in- duced fome fpirited individuals to try the lin- Js^di itfelf^ boiled to a jelly, and mixed with flour. f. Thefe prices fluftuating, from lime to time, fo much as jcs. a ton. Some few years ago the price was higher than it is at prefent. 31. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 237 flour, bran or chaff ; and, from the informa- tion I have had, with favorable fuccefs. * This novel pradlice requires a few minutes refledtion. From the prefent fcarcity and dear- nefs of cakes, it may be inferred that the de- mand is greater than the quantity in the mar- kets. If, therefore, the feed can be profita- bly ufed ; though with only a fmall increafe of profit, and with this even on a contrafted fcale ; the ufe of it may operate very beneficially ; by leflening the demand, and thereby lowering the preient exorbitant price, of the cakes. It is highly probable, however, that it m.ay be ufed with much greater advantage than cakes at their prefent price. I have by me a fample of American feed, (nearly equal to the bed Dutch feed I have feen), which may now be imported for 38 to 40s. a quarter, of eight winchefter bufhels. Suppofing the bufhel to weigh 5olb, the price of this prime feed is not twelve pounds a ton. Ordinary feed might be had cheaper. It is hnhtr pj'obabli that the fuperiorkind of nutriment, which the cakes afford, proceeds from * InHerefordfhirc, llnfeed o'ltf I am tolJ, is ufed in a fi- mJlar manner. 438 FATTING CATTING. 31. from the unexprefled oil they contain, rather than from the hufks of the feed of which they appear to confift. This being admitted, and feeing the excefllve power which is iifed in ex- tracting the oil, we may without rifque con- clude that a ton of feed contains more than twice {perhaps five times) the nourifhment which remains in a ton of cakes. * Viewing the prefent fubject in a partial light, it might be faid, that an unlimited and excef- five * LiNSEED-jELLV. The principal objection to this ma- terial is tlie trouble of preparing it. In an inftance in which it was ufed withfuccefs, the method of preparing was this. The proportion of water to feed was about feven to one. Having been fteeped, in part of the water, eight and forty hours, previous to the boiling, the remainder was added, cold ; — and the whole boiled, gently, about two hours ; keeping it in motion during the operation, to prevent its burning to the boiler J thus reducing the whole to a jelly- like, or rather a gluey or ropy confidence. Cooled in tubs : given, inthisinftance, with a mixture of barley meal, bran, and cut chaff ; each bullock being allowed about two quarts of the jelly a day ; or fomewhat more than one quart of feed in four djys : that is, in Ihis cale, about one fixteenth of the medium allowance of cake. This however is thrown out as a general idea ; not drawn as an inference : the comparative effcft of thefe two ma- terials of fatting forms an important fubjeiTt for the dccifion of experiment. 31. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 239 five iile of a foreign article of fatting for cat- tle, might lefien the demand, and thereby- lower the value of our own productions, ap- plicable to the fame purpofe j to the injury of the landed interell. If, however, we confider that, by the ufe of foreign linfeed, an influx of the firft vegetable manure we are acquainted with would be difilifed over the foils of this country j and that wheat may be exported at a price more than equivalent to the prefent price of linfeed ; the landed intereft would feem to have no caufe of alarm ; — while in a more general point of view, the importation of lin- leedfrom America might be a national good. I underftand from intelligence of the firft autho- rity, that fomeof the fineft provinces of that dif- ftrefsful country, are in a manner deftitute of marketable returns, for the produce and ma- nufadlures of this kingdom j and further, that linfeed, which can there be grown in unlimited quantities, is at prefent a drug in the Ameri- can markets. But this by the way, flax seed cannot yet be confidcred as an eftabliflied article of food for cattle, in this diftrift j in which grass^ HAV, and OILCAKE are the prevailing foods of 240 FATTING CATTLE. 31. of the fpecies of fatting cattle now under con- fideration ; and to thofe, only, I fhall confine myfclfin the following remarks. 3. The cattle which are fubjefted to this mode of fatting are chiefly Herefordshire OXEN, which have been worked in the breed- ing country, and thrown up after barley feed- time, in working condition ; or have been kept over the fummer, and fold " frefh" — that is forward in flefh — to tlie graziers in autumn. Befides thefe, feme of the larger breed of oxen of South-Wales particularly of Glamor- ganfhirej alfo of Wyefide of Gloceflerlhire, as well as round the forell of Dean, and in the over-Severn diftridl ; alfo fome Somerfetfhire, and fome few Devonfliire oxen are fatted here ; but thefe, collectively, are few in proportion to thofe of the Herefordfliire breed j which, alone, I lliall confider as the objeds of ftall* fatting, in this diftrifb. The AGE at which thefe oxen are ufually fatted \% fix years old ! I do not mean to ccnfurc the workers of thefe oxen, for throwing them up in their prime as beads of draught j much lefs to blame the graziers for fatting them, or the butchers 31. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 241 butchers for flaughteririg tliem in that ufeful Itage of life ; but I cannot help exprelTing my regret, on feeing animals lb fingularly well adapted to the cultivation of the lands of thefe kingdoms, as are the principal part of the fix- year-old oxenof Herefordfhire, profcribed and cut off in the fulnefs of their llrength and ufe- fulnefs. The graziers, indeed, confidered merely as fuch, do not, in this cafe, come within the reach of cenfure. They know from experi- ence that the cattle under obfervation gene- nerally leave them the moil profit at that age. Some few individuals, however, will, it is faid, grow fthat is, fpread out in carcafe) as 'well as fat (the two things defireable to the grazier) at feven years old. But after thole ages, having ceafed to grow^ they pay iox fatting only *. It is, however, allowed that a full-aged ox tallows better than a young growing ox. But, • * I have met with an idea, in tliis diltritil, that a gummy, thick-thighcd, hard-flc(hed ox fhould not only be kept to a greater age than one of the oppofite dei'cription ; but fhouJd be worked down low in fielh, previous to Ills being finally thrown up tor tlitting. Vol. I. R 242 FATTING CATTLE. 31, But, on the other hand, it is argued that oxen which are hardly worked and hardly kept, be- come flat-fided, lofe the laxity of their fibres, and do not, on being fatted, fill up fo well in their points, as younger oxen, which have been lefs hardly uled. This, however, is not good argument againft the general pofition: oxen, whether young or old, fhould never be worked down into a ftate of poverty of carcal'c: but ought, at all times, to be kept as full of flefli as their adiivity will permit. If horles pay for being kept up in carcafe, while they are worked, how much more amply would oxen pay for a fimilar treatment. But argument becomes fuperfluous where facts are produceable. There is one inllance mentioned in this diflridt, in which an ox was worked until he was fifteen years old, and then fatted " tolerably well". — And a ftill more valuable incident than this occurred in the practice of the firft grazier within the di- Itrict immediately under obfervation * ; in which inftance three oxen "wtTtfiniJIoed in the ufual time allowed for fix-year-old oxen; which ' Mr. Darks of Brcdon. 31. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 243 which three oxen were eighteen- years old ; a fact that I have fingular fatisfa'flion in regil- tering. f 4. Purchaje a.nd points. The places cfpu'r- chafe are the fairs of Herefordfhire : held at the different towns of the county, in almoft every month of the year ; and thofe who purfue this fpecies of grazing, on a large fcale, may be fiid to purchafe the year round. But fpring and autumn, as has been intimated, are the prin- cipal times of purchafe. Lean in the fpring, for fummer grazing ; and fonvard, in autumn, for more immediate ftall fattino-. o The favorite points^ by which graziers make choice of the indiv^iduals of this breed of cattle, 2iTQ fimilar to i\io(t which are obferved in other diftricts ; yet they are not altogether tYicfame. In different diftridts I find graziers, in their choice of cattle, not only particularly obfervant of different points ; but have, in fome meafure, diftind: criterions to judge by: and I am of opinion that diff'erent breeds or varieties of cattle require fuch a difference of judgement. R 2 Every t Thefe oxen were bred and kept to that age, by Mr. Cook of the Moor, near Hereford^ 244 FATTING CATTLE. 31. Every variety of cattle has a tendency to degenerate j and each appears to have its pe- culiar propenfity in degenerating. Thus the Glocefterfhire breed become^ under neglecl, narrow in the cheft, light in the hind quarters, and long upon the legs. The Herefordlhire breed, — get a kimpiihnefs of carcafe and a heavinels of the limbs. The long-horned breed, on the contrary become gaunt in the carcafe, coarfe in the forehand, and thick in the hide. While the Holdernefs breed tend to a gumminefs of the hind-quarters and a hard- nefsof flelh. Thefe obfervations, however, are, at pre- fent, offered incidentally j to endeavour to reconcile the jarring opinions of profeflional men on this fubjedt. I perceive a captiouf- nefs, in every diltrift, among men who ftand high in their profefTion ; arifing from a parti- ality toward the particular breed they are moft converfant with j and from a want of a more general knowledge of the feveral breeds of the ifland at large. The profits of grazing reft, in a great mca- fure, on the proper choice of the individuals to be fitted -, be the fpecies or the variety what 31. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 245 what it may. And although a quick and ac- curate judgement, in this cafe, as in almoft every other, can be matured by pra6tice, only ; yet the groundwork is certainly reduceable to Ibience. If from men of experience, and fu- perior judgement, we can afcer tain the criteri- ons of good and bad qualities of the feveral breeds of the animals to be fatted, the ftudent will be enabled to acquire the requifite judge- m.ent muchfoo?ier than he could without fuch afllftance. From my own obfervations, corre6led and made more full and perfect by thofe whofe ex- perience has rendered them adequate judges of the fubjed, I am fully authorized, I trull, to fet down the following as defireable qualities in the Herefordfhire breed of oxen. Qualities defireable in a Herefordihire ox, intended for grazing. T\\t general appearance full of health and vigour i and wearing the marks of fufficient maturity ; — provincially "oxey" — not " fteer- ifli" — or flill in too groijjmg a ftate to fat: The countenance pleafant ; chearful i open ; the forehead broad : The eye full and hvely : R 3 The 246 FATTING CATTLE. 31. The horns hnghx, taper, and fprcading: The beadfm3\]y and the chap clean: The neck long and tapering: The cbej} deep ; the bofom broad *, and proiecling forv^-ard. f The JhcuUer-bone thin, flat ; no way pro- tuberant, in bone -, but full and mellow, in flefh. The chine full. The loin broad. The hips {landing wide ; and level with the fpine. The quarters long ; and wide at the nache. The rump even with the general level of the back : not drooping i nor (landing high and fharp above the quarters. The tail (lender, and neatly haired. The ^^rr ratively, unnoticed. In a working cx, it i?, efpecially id harnefs, a very great fault. 31. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 249 The rump drooping y — " gooierumped ;" — or the tail fet on too high ^ (landing above the level of the fpine. The quarters fhort, falling, and narrow at the nache. The bcrrel contradled upward ; the ribs dropping flat from the chine — " flatfided ;" — forcing the intrails downward — " cowbellied." The ribs narrow, and placed at a diftance from each other j leaving vacancies between them i throwing the furface of the barrel into ridge and furrow. The round-hoyies large i bulging out wide in proportion to the hips. The haunches flelhy; — " brawny." The limbs in general large and unwieldy. The hind-legs crooked inward at the gam- brels i or the fore legs at the knees *. T\it jhank long and thick. T\itfeet large i with the claws fpreading. The cod flaccid ; with the point hard and knobby. T\it flank thin, fingle. The • This is a defeft, amounting, in fome cafes, to an in- firmity. I have obferved it, in an inferior degree, in other breeds; efpccially in the forelegs. In a working ox, it is an infurmountable obieftion. 250 FATTING CATTLE. 31. Thtflejlj, on the chine and ribs, hard. The hide harl"h, thick, and flicking to the carcafe. The coat ftaring, — " fctt," — not lying clofe ; appearing dead ; faded ; not alive and glov/ing : — fynnptoms, thefe, of a difeafed habit. 5. Summer management. The management of grazing, in this diftrift, has been repre- fented, aforegoing, as not being fufficicntly interefting to require to be detailed: nor do I, in this department of it, find any particu- lars entitled to efpecial notice. In faying this, however, I do not mean to intimate, that it is more reprehenfible, than that of other grazing diftriifls. Indeed it is not, in this cafe, the main object of pra(5lice i being only ufed as a preparation to stall fatting. 6. Winter management. This, for reafons already given above, will require to be ana- lyzed ; and each part to be defcribed in detail. And previous to this detail, it will be requi- fite to defcribe the building in ufe, here, for winter- fattincr. "Ox-stalls." What characterizes the bul- lock fheds of this diftridt, and diftinguifhes them 31. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 251 them from thofe of every other, I have ob- ferved in, is the circumflance of each bullock having a houfe and a j^r^to himfelf; in which he goes loofe i occupying them by turns, as appetite or amufement direfts him ; having a manger and a drinking trough to go to at pleafure. He, of courfe, eats when he is hungry, and drinks when he is thirfty. He is alfo at liberty to rub, or to lick himfelf ; ^ well as to keep his body in a degree of temperature, as to heat and cold. Theory could not readily fuggeft more rational prin- ciples. The conftru6lion of thefe flails varies in the minutiae. The water trough, for inftance, is fometimes placed by the manger, in the hovel or fhed : — fometimes in the open pen. Other lefs noticeable variations may be ictn in different buildings. The plan and dimenfions, which, at pre- fent, feem to ftand higheft in efteemj and on which feveral eredions of this nature have been made within the laft fifteen or twenty years; are the following. The building fifteen to fifteen i(:tt and a half wide within, and of a length proportioned to 252 FATTING CATTLE. 31. to the number of flails required. The height of the plates fix feet to fix feet four inches; fupported on the fide to the north or eaft by clofe walling ; on that to the fouth or weft by pofts, fet on ftone pedeftals. The gables walling. The covering plain tiles, on a fingle pitch-roof Againft the back wall is a gangway, three and a half to four feet wide, formed by a length of mangers, three feet to three and .-y half feet wide, from out to out, at the top „ narrowing to about fifteen inches within, at the bottom. The perpendicular depth fourteen or fifteen inches ; the height of the top rail from the ground, about two feet nine inches. The materials two-inch plank; ftayed and fupported by pofts and crofs pieces ; and ftif- fcned by ftrong top-rails. The dimenfions of the area of the covered ftalls, about eight feet three inches fquare ; of the open pens, the fame. The partitions between the ftalls are of broad rails, pafling from the outer pillars to fniiilar pofts, rifing on the inner or ftall fide of rhe manger ; and ftcadied at the top by (lender beams, reaching acrofs the building ; each 31. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 253 each ftall, or each partition, having a beam and a pair of principals. The partitions of the pens are gates, reach- ing from the pillars to the boundary wall ; and likewiie from pillar to pillar. When they are fixed in that Iituation, each bullock has his ftall and his little yard. When in this each is fliut up in his ftall ; the yards forming a lane, or driftway, for taking in, oi» turning out, any individual. The boundary wall of the pens is about four feet high ; coped with blocks of copper- drofs. On the outer fide of it is a receptacle for manure. On the inner a range of water troughs ; with a channel of communication for the conveniency of filling them. The • materials of the troughs, ftone*i of the chan- nel, gutter bricks, covered with flabs. The ♦ Stone TROUGHS. Thefe tronglis, which are ahour fourteen inches by two feet fix inches within, — have a con- veniency in their conftrucflion, which is entitled to notice. Inftead of the fides and the ends being all of them pecked down to an angle, fquarc with the bottom, one of the ends is left bevelling, Hoping, making a very obtiife angle wirii the bottom. This fimple variation renders them eafy m be cleaned ; eitlier with the fhovcl, or the broom. 254 FATTING CATTLE. 31. The floor is paved with hard-burnt bricks, laid edge-way in mortar ; being formed with a fteep defcent from the wall to a channel, fome three or four feet from it ; and with a gentle fall from the manger to the fame chan- nel ; which becomes the general drain for rain water and urine. At one end of the pens is a pump (where a natural rill cannot be had) for fupplying the troughs with water ; and, at tlie other, a flack of ftubble for litter ; which is ufed in the flail only ; the yard being left unlittered. At one end of the building is a cake-houfe, at the other, the rickyard ; with a door at each end of the gangway to receive the hay and the cake. In one or more inflances, I have feen a double range of Halls on this plan ; the area between them being the common receptacle for the dung. When a number of flails, as twenty or thirty, are required, this arrange- ment brings them within a convenient com- pafs ; and the two ranges, with a proper af- pe6l, become fhelter to each other. Befide thefe loofe flails, there are others, built nearly on the fame plan, but without gates, 31. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 255 gates, and on a fomewhat fmaller fcale, in which the cattle are fajlened to the mano-er, or the partition polls, with a long chain, which gives them liberty to rub and lick themfelves, ajid move about in their flails. In tliis cafe, a water trough is generally placed at the end of every fecond partition, level with the ♦manger, with a general pipe of communication to fill themj each trough fupplying two bullocks. This plan lelTens the expence in fome degree, and prevents the bullocks from fouling their mansers. There are individuals in the diflrict, who have fifty, or more, of one or the other of thefe flails, on their refpeclive premifes. The number of oxen to a given quantity of hay. The requifite attendance. Thefeafon of flail fatting. The Hated times of feeding. The quantity of cake eaten in a day. The manner of feeding with hay. The progrcfs of oxen at cakes, and Putting them from dry meat to grafs, — are fubjedts, which now require to bq fepa- rately handled, A. TJ.c 256 FATTING CATTLE. ^t. A. The NUMBER OF OXEN requifite to a certain quantity of hay laid up, depends on their fize, on their ftate as to forwardnefs, and on the quantity of cake intended to be con- fumed with it. In places, where hav is a dear article, cake is the principal food ; a fmall quantity of hay, cut with wheat ftraw, being given them between the meais of cake ; by wav of what i^ termed cleaning their mouths, as well as to corredt the over-rich- nefs of the cake. On the contrary, in this diftrid, where hay is generally plentiful and cheap, cake becomes, in moft cafes, fecon- dary; hay being confidered as the principal material of fatting. A man, whofe practice is extenfive -, and whofe character, as a gra- zier, is of the firft call j eilimates a fulifized bullock to confume, in fix months, two tons of hay J being allowed, in that time, fifteen hundred weight of oilcake. B. The requifite quantity of attendance depends, in fome degree, on circumilances. The general calculation is one man to about twenty head of oxen :— % in this di-. ftrid, are Calves Milk butter Chcefe Whey butter Swine. But 32. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 263 But previous to an account of the manage- ment of each objeft, individually, it will be proper to notice fome fubjefts, which have a general relation to the whole. Thefe are 1. Dairy-women. 2. Dairy-room. 3. Utenfils. 4. Milking. I. Dairywomen. The management or immediate fuperintendance of a large dairy, efpecially one of which cheefe is the principal objed, is not a light concern. It requires much thought, and much labour. The whole of the former, and m.uch of the latter, necef- farily falls on the immediate fuperintendant j )vho, though fhe m.ay have her afliilants, fees or ought to fee, herfelf, to every ftage of the bufinefs ; and performs, or ought to perform, the more difficult operations. This arduous department is generally under- taken by the mistress of the dairy ; efpeci- ally on middlefized and fmall farms. In fome cafes, an experienced dairy maid is die often- fible manager. S 4 There 264 DAIRY MANAGEMENT. 32. There are three things principally requifite in the management of a dairy: Skill, Indiiflry, Cleanlinefs. Without the firfl, the two latter may be ufcd in vain: and a want of the laft implies a defici- ency in the other two. Cleanlinefs may indeed be confidered as the firjl qualification of a dairywoman ; for, without it, fhe cannot have a fair claim to cither fl>e ftandard pound of this dif- trict (iSoz;) nieafures more than thirt>' four inches (34. 25.) The half pound fomewhat more than feventeen inches. Hence a ha' f pound print or pat of butter exactly four inches m diameter ought (it well worked ar.d honcftly weighed) to Hieafure exadly 1.362S inches in deptli. A meafure, of fonic regular figure, as a cube, accurately fcrnied, oatJKfe princ:nle5, would bt the bcflftandard for a market 32. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 283 If the print does not " looie" freely, the hand is placed," carefully and firmly, againfc the fide of the pat ; thereby gaining a degree of purchafe to pull againft. If the butter be found to adhere in any degree to the wood, the print is fcalded, faked and brufhed, unt'd it loofen. freely ; without the indelicacy of klozving in the nnanner praclifed in moft places. The pats remain fome length of time, gene- rally one night, upon the board to fliffenj and, in the morning, are placed in cold water, previous to their being put into the bafkets, in which they are carried to market. 5. Markets. The butter markets of the upper vale are chiefly Ghcefier^ Chelten- bam J T^ewkejbury, and Evefia-m. That of Glocefter is the lars-eft and the neatefi butter- market I have an\'^vhere obferved. The but- ter is all brought in half-pound pats or prints, packed market inqueft ; as it w'ould not only check the weight xh\x\ the purity of the butter alfo ; provided due care were obfer- ved in pi effing itclofely uito the gauge ; thereby freeing it from the redundant mciflore, which dairy-women, who are fkiliull and lionefl, extraci: before they take it to market ; but which the flovenly and the defigning fell at the price of butter. See Norfolk, min : icg. 2^4 DAIRY MANAGEMENT. 32. packed up in fquare bafkets, in a manner ^vhich merits defcrlption. The bafkets are invariably of one form: long-fquare j with a bow-handle acrofs the middle ; and with two lids, hingeing upon a crofs piece under the bow. The dimenfions of an ordinary bafket are 18 by 14 inches within J and about 10 inches deep. This balket holds twelve prints (four by three) in one layer or tire. When the butter is firm, three layers or i81b. are put in each bafket; when foft two tires or 1 2 lb. One of a larger fize meafures 18 by 23 inches within; carrying twenty half pounds in each tire; or 30 lb. in the three tires. The bafket is put into a kind of open wallet ; with generally a fmaller baf- ket or other counterpois at the oppofite end of the wallet ; which being ftrapt tightly to the faddle (judicioufly made for this purpofe) with the heavy end on the off fide of the horfe, the dairymaid mounts, and, with her own ^•eight, preferves the balance. The bafket being lafhed on in fuch a manner as to ride perfedlly level, die prints are preferved fron-i bruifing. In 32. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 285 In fummer, the butter is invariably packed in green leaves : generally in what the dairy- "women call " butter leaves": namely the leaves of the Atriplex hortenfis^ or garden orach j which dairywomen in general few in their gardens, annually, for this purpole. They are fufficiently large ; of a fine texture ; and a delicate pale-green colour. For want of thefe, vine leaves, and thofe of kidney- beans &c. are ufed. In packing a butter bafket, the bottom is bedded with a thick cloth, folded two or three times. On this is fpread a fine thin gauze-like cloth, which has been dipped in cold water ; and on this is placed the prints j with a large leaf beneath, and a fmaller upon the center of each. The bottom tire adjufted, a fold of the cloth is fpread over it, and another tire fet in, in a fimilar manner. At market, the cloth is removed ; and the prints, partially covered with leaves, fhown in all their neatnefs. The leaves are ufeful as well as pleafing to the eye. They ferve as guards to the prints. The but- ter is taken out of the bafl'^et, as well as put in to it, without being touched, or the prints disfigured. III. Cheese. 286 DAIRY MANAGEMENT. 32. III. Cheese. The art of making gloces- TERSHiRE CHEESE wos Originally one of the principal obje<5ls which induced me to make choice of Glocefterfliire as a station'. My praftice in Norfolk* had fhown me that, in the quality of cheefe, although much may depend upon SOIL and herbage, much is certainly due to MANAGEMENT. Glocestershire has long been celebrated for its excellency in this art: and where fhall we ftudy an art with fo much propriety as in the place where it excels ? It may be proper to add, that altho' my own experience had not led me to perfe(5bion, it had fufficiently enabled me to make accurate obfervations on the prac- tices of others. An analytical arrange- ment, of the feveral departments and flages of the art, was a guard againft my fuffering any material part to efcapc my notice ; and the thermometer a certain guide in thofe difficult palTages, in which an accuracy of judgement, is more peculiarly requifite. ♦ Sec RURAL ECONOMY OF NORFOLK. MIN : icS. Tlie 32. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 287 The objedls of my attention have beeji Soils Management of the Water curd Herbage Management of the Cows cheefe ^ality of milk Defeds and Excel- Colouring lencies Rennets Markets Method of running Produce. The management of the two vales under furvey differ in one moil material aiticle ; the quality of the milk. In the lower vale, the milk is run neat from the cow (or nearly lb). In the upper vale, it has been already faid, the prevailing praftice is to fet the even- ing's meal for cream j in the morning to fkim it i and then to add it to the new milk of the morning's meal. The cheefe made from this mixture is termed " tv»'o-meal cheese": that from the neat milk, " one-meal cheefe" or " BEST MAKING." Befides this difference in produce, or spe- cies OF cheese, there are other differences in the pradices of the two vales. It will there- fore be proper to rcgifter them feparately; left by mixing them, the perfpicuity, which is requifite 288 DAIRY MANAGEMENT. 32. requifite in delcribing the minutise of an art fo complex and difficult as tliis under confidera- tion, fhould be deftroyed. Of the UPPER VALE the foil, the her If age, and the co-w have been already mentioned : the lubjedls which remain to be noticed in this place are 1. The feafon of making 2. The quality of the milk J. Colouring 4. Rennets 5. Running 6. Management of the curd 7. Management of the cheefe 8. Markets. 1. The season of making. From the beginning of May to the latter end of Odober, including feven months, may be coniidered as the feafon of cheefmalcing, in this diftrid:. 2. The quality of the milk. The mixture for twomeal cheefe has been men- tioned, in general terms, to be one part fkim milk (namely milk v/hich has flood one meal for cream) and one part new milk, neat from the cow. But this is feldom, I apprehend, ftiiclly the cale. A Ikile frau^ is, 1 am afraid, frenerallv 3a. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 289 generally pra6lifed. A greater or lefs propor- tion of the nnorning's meal is fet for cream, and returned the next morning to the cheefe cowl, — robbed of its better part. This is a trick played upon the cheefe factor: but he being aware of the pradlice, little advantage, probably, is got by it. However, where the foil is fuperiorly rich, a fmall proportion may 'be " kept out", and the cheefe, neverthelefs, be of a/ondon market ; where it is probably fold under the denomination of Warwickfhire cheefe : and fome is faid to go to foreign markets. The Jize moflly " tens" — that is, ten to the hundred weight j or ii to I2lb. each. The price of twomeal cheefe varies with that of ne\%Tnilk cheefe. At Barton fair, in i/Sj*, the "befl m.aking" fold from 34s. (to * Bartos fair, a fair held anRual!y on the 28th of September, in Barton -ftreef, Glocefter. It has long bee-n the 32. VALE OF GLOCESTER. 31^ (to the factors by the waggon load together) to 36s. (to families who bought by die liun- dred weight). " Two-meal," from 28s. to 29s. 6d. by the cwt. of ii2lb. In 1788, " belt making" 30s. down to 27s. " Two- meal" 25s. down to a guinea. Prices, which have not been heard of for many years pad. IV. Whey butter. It is the invariable pradlice of this diftrift to fet whey for cream. The lower clafs of People eat fcarcely any other than whey butter. With due cleanli- nefs and proper management, it may be made perfeftly palatable; and, in every refpect, preferable (while quite frelh) to the milk but- ter of fome lean-foiled diftridls. The whey is, here, generally fet in one large tub : not parcelled out, thin, like milk. The the principal cheefe fair of the diftriifl. Formerly a princi- pal part of the cheefe, made in the two vales, was brought to this fair. At prefent, it is moflly bought up bv factors previous to the fair. In 1783, tliere were about twenty waggon loads (befides a number of horfe loads) expofed for fale in the fair. Some bought by factors ; but jirinci- pally, I believe, by the houfe-keepers, and the retail dealers of the neighbourhood. In 1788, the quantity in the market was much greater ; about forty loads ; cheefe being then a dru^. ^i6 DAIRY MANAGEMENT. 32. The management of whey butter is fimilar to that of milk butter. The price about two thirds of that of milk butter in the fame market. 33- S W^ I X E, I. BREED. The tall, long, ^•Z'// 6d. to 8d. a day> and drink; , in corn harvell, is. a day, to Chofe who will work : but women in this coun- try, as in moft others, prefer " leafing" to reaping. See York. Econ% i^ 387. TAKEN WORK. Bread plowing a pea flubble, 6s. an acre« Setting beans i6d. to i8d. a bulhel. Hoing about 6s. an acre. Hoing wheat, 2s. to 4s. an acre. Vol. I. Y Reaping ^22 L I 5 T O F R A T E S. Reaping wheat about 5 s. an acre and drink. Mowing barley ; according to the crop. Thrafhing wheat, 3d. to 4^ a buihel (9!. gallons.) , barley, 2d. to 3d. Beans about ifd. Mowing upgrounds i8d. and drink. Mowing meadows i6d. to i8d. Agiftment price, in the hanas, for one horfe, er tw'o cows, cr fix flieep, 25 to 30s. From Mayday to Michaelmas, or later. The ha- zard of floods is certainly an additional price : neverthelefs, confidering the fuperior quality of die land, it is low in the extreme. PRO- GLOCESTERSHIRE. 323 PROVINCIALISMS OF THE VALE of GLOC ESTE R. THE VERBAL PROVINCIALISMS of this diftrid appear to be lefs numerous than thofe of many other provinces. I have, how- ever, had lefs converfation with mere provin- cialifts, in this, than in other diftricts 'I have redded in. Befides, it is obfervable, the lower clafs of people, here, are lefs communicative than they are, perhaps, in any other province: poireffing a fingular refervednefs toward flran- gers J accompanied with a guardednefs of ex- prefTion, bordering almoft on duplicity: af- fording thofe who are obfervant of men and manners, in the lower walks of life, fubjeft for refle6lion. Words, which relate immediately to ru- ral AFFAIRS, I have endeavoured to colle<5t. Y 2 But j24 PROVINCIALISM S* But I find they are few in number, compared \%'ith thofe collected in Norfolk and Yorkfliire on the fame fubject. Indeed, a lift of techni- cal terms require a length of time, or the im- mediate fuperintendance of workmen, to ren- der it complete. Befide the deviations which are merely '■jerbal, this quarter of the ifland affords, among others, one ftriking deviation in GRAMMAR j — in thc ufc, or abufe, of the pronouns. The perfonal pronouns are feldom ufed in their accepted fenfe : the nominative and the accufative cafes being generally re- verfed. Thus her is almoft invariably ufed ioT flje J — as " her faid fo" — " her would do it": f^metimes he for fte y — as " he was bulled" — " he calved" i and almoft invaria- bly for ;'/ i — all things inanimate being of the mafculine gender. Befide thele and various other mifapplications (as they for them — /for met i^c.) an extra pronoun is here in ufe -, — cu: a pronoun of the lingular number; — analogous with the plural they ; — being applied either in a mafculine, a feminine, or a neuter fenfe. Thus " ou vsoill" exprelTes either he will, Jfje will, or it will. This GLOCESTERSHIRE. 325 This mifufe of the pronouns is common to the wefteqi counties of England and to Wales : a circumftantial evidence, that the inhabitants of the weftern fide of the ifland are defcended from one common origin. But in another ftriking deviation j the pronounciation of the CONSONANTS ; their propcnfitics of fpeech are fo diametrically oppofite ; and fo different from any tendency of utterance, obfervable in the reft of the ifland ; one might almoft de- clare them defcendants of two diftincl colo- nies. In Glocefterlhire, Wiltfhire, Somerfet- Ihire &c, the asperate confonants are pro- nounced with vocal positions: thus j be- comes z i fj V I tj dy f^ b ^c. On the contrary, in Wales, the confonants, which, in the eftabhfhed pronounciation, are accom- panied with vocal positions, are there as- peratep : hence 2: becomes s\ b^ p; d, t i^c j — the mouth of the Severn being the boun- dary between thefe two remarkable propen- fities of fpeech. In the PRONOUNCIATION of VOWELS this diftridt, as Yorkllr.re, has fome regular devi- ation from the eftablifhed language ; but dif- Y 3 fering 326 PROVINCIALISMS. fering, almoft totally, from thofe which are there obfervable : thus the a flender becomes / or aoy ; as hay, " high" or " aoy" ; Jiay, " fty" or " zdoy" ; fair " fire" or " voir" j Jiare " ftire" or " zdoir" &c. The LOWS ; bloflbms of beans &c. To BOLT ; to trufs ftraw. BOLTING ; a truls of ftraw. BRAIDS; pronounced "brides;" fee vol. ii.p. 283. BROWN CROPS ; pulfe ; as beans, peas, &c. GUTTER LEAVES; fee p. 285. C, CALFSTAGES; fee p. 225. CARNATION GRASS ; aira ccefpltofa; haflbck or turfy air grafs ; tufTock grafs. CHARLOCK ; fmapis nigra ; the common muf- tard, in the character of a weed. CHEESE LADDER ; fee p. 268. CLAYS TONE ; a blue and white limeftone, dug out of the fubfoil of the vale. COURT ; yard ; particularly the yards, in which cattle are penned in winter. COWGROUND ; cow pafture. COWL ; milk cooler ; cheefe-tub. CRAZEY ; the ranwiculus or crowfoot tribe. SeCi note p. 178. CREAIVl SLICE ; fee p. 269. CUB i a cattle crib. Y 4 DAIRY-. 328 PROVINCIALISMS. D. DAIRYHOUSE, or deyhouse, pronouncc<| DYE-HOUSE ; (from dey an old word for milk, and hcufe) ; — the milk houfe, ordairyroom. DILL ; er-jum hirfutum j two-feeded tare s ^hich has been cultivated (on the Cotfwold hills at leaft) time unmemorial ! principally for hay. E. ELBOWS ; the flioulder points of cattle. EVERS (that is heavers) ; opening ftiles. Seep. 41, EVERY YEAR'S LAND s fee p. 65. F. FALLOW FIELD ; common field, which is occa- fionally fallowed : in diftinclion to " every year's land." • FODDERING GROUND j fee p. 23c. GREEN ; grafsland : *' all green" — all grafs ; no plowland. GROUND ; a grafsland inclofure, lying out of the Tk'ay of floods ; contradiflini&r)', and prefator)' obfervations concerning the provincial language of Eaft Yorit(hire.