Those are valuable remarks. But they are most particularly applicable to light spungy-soiled sheep walks, like the high downs of Wiltshire; whose prevalent natural plants are mostly of a coarse unpalatable quality; especially in an advanced stage of growth. In that state, they are not merely rejected as pasturage, but become mischievous. encumbrances; by overgrowing, and of course weakening, and rendering less nutritious, the finer grasses and legumes-the favorite food of sheep. On the contrary, sheep-which are naturally mountain animals-will crop almost any highland plant, on its first emersion, Hence, by judicious stocking, early in the spring, the stronger taller-growing plants are kept down, their natural growth checked, and, by perseverance in close pasturing, or mowing them off close to the soil, they may be easily kept. under, if not entirely destroyed; the soil and the swardr becoming in consequence occupied by the roots and the herbage of palatable and nutritious plants. The treading, even of sheep, is no doubt greatly beneficial in bringing about that valuable effect;-particularly by promoting the propagation of the annual poe, and the more delicate legumes; by bedding their seeds firmly in the soil.

After the above observations, however, it will be proper, I to remark, here, that I have known the principle of hardstocking carried to an injurious length, by inexperienced, f sheep-masters heedlessly generalizing the above-recom-..> mended accurate practice, to lower better soiled and naturally better herbaged lands;-thereby converting valuable sheep walks to bare unprofitable commons.

And, after this, another remark is equally proper to be made; namely, that on rich rank-growing marsh lands, under-stocking is a great error in practice; as it operates in a manner similar to that of mowing those and other rich grazing grounds.-See p. 18 aforegoing.

Mr. Davis was a decided and warm opponent to the practice of breaking up the higher, thinner-soiled sheep downs, of Wiltshire. It is a subject which he has rev peatedly brought forward. In the following strictures, more particularly, we see his sentiments developed.,

P. 84. "It is not here meant, that no downs should be ** permitted to be broken up.-A farm may, in some instances, have too much down land, and some part of it, provided the soil is proper, may be broken up to advantage. Reasons will afterwards be given, that one sort of down.. (the strong red land) will pay for breaking, while another (the loose black land) will be ruined by it.-Care should therefore be taken, that on no account land of the latter description should be broke at all; and that even if it should

should happen, that the whole of the down land be of the former description, it should be always remembered, that a farm of mere arable land alone,' is not calculated for Wiltshire downs.

"It may be said, that these arguments are confuted by the plain fact, that even the sweetest and best pasture lands on the downs will yield a greater rent, provided tenants are allowed to break them up; and, therefore, that such breaking up must be an improvement to an estate.' Long experience has shewn, that though this fact cannot be denied, yet the inference deduced from it is exceedingly fallacious.

"The arable land of a Wiltshire down farm, is maintained by the dung of the sheep fed on the sheep down.-Deprive this farm of its down, and how is the arable land to be maintained? It may be answered, by raising artificial grasses on the down land that is broken up.' But will such a land always bear artificial grasses? Undoubtedly it will, for a time, bear good crops;' but downs of that description will soon cease to bear any at all. What is then to become of the arable land? Every unbiassed farmer who has known this district, and observed its husbandry for the last 30 years, can answer this question.

"And in this place it may not be improper to observe, that this error, to which the improper breaking, and the consequent impoverishment of much of the down lands, have been owing, has been a custom of computing the value of them, in their present state, too low, and the arable land, which is supported by them, too high.

"For example, suppose a farm of 200 acres of arable land, and 200 acres of down, and the rent 150l. per annum; viz. 7s. 6d. for each acre. It is very common, in speaking of such a farm, to say the arable is let at 12s. and the down at 3s. per acre; and still more common to say, the arable is let at 15s. and the down given into the bargain; when possibly the truth is, that the down is of more intrinsic value than many parts of the arable land, and only appears poor because all its produce is carried off, and no return of manure made to it.

"An offer of advancing the rent of the down to six shillings per acre, is caught at by the landlord as an improvement, without considering, that his arable land, when deprived of the down, will gradually get worse, and that the farm will, in a few years, be worth much less than it was in its former state *."

MOWING

"There is one striking instance, that shews the real value of down land in its proper light, in the parish of Monkton Deverill. A large

Q

piece

MOWING GROUNDS.-For Mr. D's account of the WATER MEADOWS of Wiltshire, see the article, Irrigation, p. 194, aforegoing.

Haymaking.-P. 89. "The hay-making of South Wiltshire, employs (comparatively speaking) but few hands. It is certainly not thought of so much consequence as it. should be quantity instead of quality, is too often the object. If the resident labourers, with their families, are not sufficient to do it in proper time, it is too often deferred till they are; what is wanting in strength, is too often made up in time.' The consequence is, that neither the quality of the hay, nor the neatness of the ricks, are much attended to. It is in the management of the corn harvest, in which the South Wiltshire farmers shine, and not in hay-making."

LIVESTOCK.

On the general subject of domestic animals, Mr. Davis's sentiments are well grounded. There is a TRUE MEDIUM in most things, which some men cannot, and many men will

not, see.

P. 104. "The errors in stock may be reduced to one general cause, viz. the pride or vanity of possessing large, handsome, animals." "

P. 107. "In summing up the errors in the stock of this. district, it is worthy of remark, that the attempts to improve the breed of sheep, horses and cows, have uniformly been, by enlarging the size of the animal."

CATTLE.-P. 28. Although milch cows have paid so well of late years, and milk and butter are so indispensably necessary, the rage for keeping fine sheep has almost driven cows out of this district; and was there not a necessity of keeping some cows to feed the water-meadows in autumn (when they are not safe for sheep), and to eat the barley straw and make dung in winter, there would soon be very few cows in South Wiltshire. The profit and loss, of this change of stock, will be afterwards en-. quired into. "As

piece of down land called Keesley, has been for time immemorial kept and let for an agistment sheep-sleight. It has no arable land annexed, and therefore nothing is carried off it, the sheep that feed it being folded on it.

"The country that surrounds it is like Wiltshire downs in general, about half arable and half down;' and the sheep fed on the latter are folded on the former: but so little is the improvement, by keeping any part of this land arable, that every acre of the sheep-sleight is lett for nearly as much as an adjoining acre of arable land, with an agre of down annexed to it."

"As they are not a favorite stock, the farmers of course are not very particular about kinds in the corn part of this district."

P. 107. "The cow stock of this district, is not numerous enough to be a subject of much animadversion, with respect to its kind.

"The great error in this stock, is the smallness of the quantity kept, the rage for fine sheep having almost driven the cow stock out of the district.

"South Wiltshire farms are not calculated to keep many cows, but the greater part of them would keep more than they do, especially such as have much down land; and that, if repeated experience may be relied on, without diminishing the sheep stock.

"Where there are water-meadows, cows are indispensably necessary to eat the after-grass; and in winter they are always so, to eat the barley straw, and make dung. There is always as much distant land on a South Wiltshire farm as the sheep-fold can manure. The home arable should be manured with pot dung, and more especially when in preparation for a turnip crop."

DAIRY.-P. 28. "The great farmers frequently let their dairy cows by the year, they finding all the keeping, and supplying fresh cows when necessary. The price is usually from 51. to 67. 10s. per cow.-in 1793.

"In a large part of the south-west skirts of this district, adjoining to Dorsetshire, viz. Sedgehill, Semley, &c. great numbers of cows are kept purposely for making butter; and which, with those parts of Dorsetshire and Somersetshire that lye contiguous, furnish a great part of the butter that is used, not only in Bath and Salisbury, but even in the towns immediately in the neighbourhood of the great cheese dairies, in North Wilts (who seldom make any butter except whey-butter), while this county makes so little cheese, that the towns in its neighbourhood buy the greatest part of their cheese from Somersetshire or North Wiltshire. Whether there is really a particular aptitude in cows of one district to produce more butter, and in the other to produce more cheese; whether it is the peculiar cleverness of the dairy-women in each county in their respective operations, or whether it is only prejudice sanctified by custom, is an object of curiosity, if not of use. butter is an article of more constant, indispensable consumption, than cheese, it is a lucky circumstance for the county of Wilts, that there is a large district of that, and the adjoining counties, who" (whose occupiers) "think that it answers their end to make butter for sale." SHEEP.-General Remarks.-P. 19. The sheep stock

But as

of this district, is an object of the greatest importance. Indeed it may be called the basis of Wiltshire down husbandry.

"The peculiar aptitude of the soil and climate to sheep; the singular use of sheep-folding on arable land naturally light and loose; the necessity of making sheep the carriers of dung, in situations where the distance and the steepness of the bills almost preclude the carrying of dung in any other mode; and particularly the advantages that art has given this district, of getting early grass by means of their numerous watered meadows, whereby they are enabled to breed lambs, both for the supply of their stock, and for the market; are the principal reasons that have contributed to give Wiltshire the high rank it has among the sheepbreeding counties.

"The number of sheep kept in this district cannot be exactly ascertained; but from the best information that can be collected, it appears, that the number of lambs bred yearly is at least one hundred and fifty thousand; and that the whole summer stock of sheep, including lambs, is little (if any) short of five hundred thousand.

"Notwithstanding the seeming immensity of this number, it is an undoubted fact, that the sheep stock of South Wiltshire, has been, for many years, gradually decreasing, and that it is now lower, by many thousands, than it was fifty years ago. On the sand veins, particularly on the rich parts of them in Pewsey Valley, the introduction of a better husbandry, by the abolition of fallows and the raising green crops, has tended to destroy the summer sheep stock; but then, as this husbandry enables them to winter sheep for the down farmers, and that in a much better way than they were heretofore wintered, it may be said to be a gain rather than a loss to this district.

"But on the down part of this district, where the sheepfold is indispensably necessary to the production of corn, a diminution of the sheep stock is a serious evil. That this diminution has really taken place, and that to a great extent, is a fact. But as many of the farmers who see it and feel the effects of it, are puzzled to account for it, the cause is not very obvious; perhaps, indeed, it may be produced by a combination of causes. There are two that

strike every person very forcibly, who has observed the husbandry of the county for the last thirty years. The pride of keeping fine sheep, and the rage there has been of late years for the plowing up of the sheep downs." The former, by flattering the vanity of a farmer, prevents him from seeing his real interest; and the latter, by putting a temporary supply of money in his pocket, makes it his interest