over the land, sowed it with wheat and ploughed them in, and the crop produced thereby was so rank as to be intirely laid before harvest."

For Sheepfold, see Sheep, ensuing.

ARABLE CROPS.-Produce.-P. 48. "The produce of the county may be thus estimated: 250,000 acres, supposed to be in tillage are divided annually nearly as follows: 35,000 acres of wheat, at 18 bushels to an acre, 75,000 ditto barley, at 30 ditto

50,000 ditto beans, pease, oats and vetches, at 30 ditto, 36,000 ditto fallow and turnips.

78,750 quarters. 281,250 ditto. 187,500 ditto.

53,000 tons. 35,208 stone wt."

53,000 ditto clover, lay and sainfoin, at 1 ton ditto, 1,000 ditto flax and hemp, producing WHEAT.-P. 19. "An average weight for wheat grown, here, is twelve score, which is two hundred and forty pounds weight per sack, or sixty pounds per bushel." (8 gallons,) "Some farmers in the more open parts of the county think eleven score and a half is a better average weight per sack."

會 1

BARLEY.-P. 19. "The growth of barley affords a large produce. A great deal of malt is made for the internal consumption of the county, particularly in the article of strong beer, which is much used. The malt is generally dried with Welch coals. From ten to fourteen bushels of malt per hogshead of sixty-three gallons, with Farnham hops, makes the beer so much esteemed here, which is kept eighteen months or two years before it is drank; and in some of the towns, ten or twelve thousand bushels of malt are made annually."

FLAX.-P. 26. “The growth of flax and hemp, and particularly the former, is of great importance in the agriculture of Dorsetshire, and in the neighbourhood of Bridport in particular; and about the village of Bradpole and towards Beminster, the greatest proportion of it is grown."

P. 27. "It is frequently let to a middle man, (between the farmer and the manufacturer) called a flax jobber, who pays the farmer a neat sum of four or five pounds an acre he manages the crop, finds the seed and labour, and expects nothing from the farmer but ploughing, and the discharge of parochial taxes."

ORCHARDS.-P. 25. "There are a considerable quantity. of orchards in the vale of Blackmoor, and on the Somersetshire and Devonshire side of the county, and the cyder made, is mostly of the Devonshire sorts. It is chiefly used for home consumption, and I heard of no plantations sufficiently extensive, where the grower could sell to other counties, to make any considerable return."

GRASS LANDS.-Chalk Downs.-After discribing the Norfolk husbandry, and recommending something like it,

on

on "some rough pastures of the Downs or Ewe Leas,' which are now overrun with bushes and furze," Mr. C. observes, with true discrimination, p. 21. "I do not mean, however, to recommend the breaking up of any of the best of the downs, as they are valuable in their present The land in Norfolk is of that dry sandy nature, that it will not convert into pasture, and therefore lays down in grass seeds seldom more than two years; but the case is very different in Dorsetshire, where the finest verdure is often found on the tops of the hills, and the land almost every where inclined to become good pasturage."

Vale of Blackmoor.-P. 13. "The vale of Blackmoor extends from north to south about nineteen miles from. Gillingham and Silton, to Dantish and May Powder; and from east to west, from Compton and Sutton, about fourteen miles, to North Wotton and Long Burton, and contains upwards of one hundred and seventy thousand acres of very rich land, chiefly grazing, dairying, and about one tenth part in arable, with some plantations of orchards."" P. 13. "Some of the land upon the side of this river,' (Stour)" is rich enough for an acre and a quarter to carry a full sized Devonshire ox through the summer.

*

Most of the hay in this vale is of an excellent quality, and beasts thrive well through the winter upon it, without any other food."

CATTLE.-Breed.-P. 12. " As the cattle are very much used in dairies in this county, very little attention is paid to the size of the beast, or to shape or colour, but if likely to make a good milker, it seems all that is necessary, and is worth from eight to ten guineas, to come into the dairy. at a proper age.'

Fatting Cattle.-P. 13. "The oxen chiefly fed in the county, are of the Devonshire breed, and go when fat to Smithfield market, and are said to be the finest grained meat in the kingdom." These "are mostly fed in the vale of Blackmoor."

"The other cattle grazed here, are either home breds, or heifers, brought from Ringwood and other Hampshire fairs, and when fat, supply the home market, and sometimes are sent to Salisbury."

"There is a shew of cattle and some sheep at Stalbridge, in this vale, every Monday fortnight, through the year, which is the best market for fat cattle in the county, and about one hundred and twenty in number are bought and sold here, one market day with another."

DAIRY-Letting.-P. 14. "The dairies extend all over the county, cow-calves, in general are reared, and bullcalves afford a supply of veal. The management of the dairy, as every where practised in Dorsetshire, is unknown to many other parts of the kingdom. The cows are all let

out

out by the farmer, to a dairy-man, at a fixed price for each cow, according to the quality of the land and produce of the beast. In some of the poorest parts of the county as low as fifty shillings or three pounds per head, per annum, and in others, as high as six pounds ten shillings, or seven pounds; and in one parish near Beminster, called Broad Windsor, as high as eight pounds; but I believe the general average throughout the county, will be about six pounds for a cow of full growth; four pounds for heifers, and four pounds ten shillings, or five pounds, for three years old. "The usual plan for letting a dairy is this: the farmer finds the dairy-man a certain number of cows for one year, commencing at Candlemas, at a fixed sum agreed on. feeds, fodders and supports the specific number throughout the year; he finds a house for the dairy-man and his family' to live in, and allows him to keep as many pigs and poultry as he thinks proper, and the keep of a mare to carry out his butter, &c. which by producing a foal yearly, is considered a material advantage to the dairy-man, who perhaps sells it when weaned in November from eight to ten pounds. If the farmer is inclined to let his dairy to another man, he gives the dairy-man notice before All Saint's Day, and by custom the quarter of a year from November to February, is deemed sufficient, and the dairy-man quits the house and gives up his bargain the ensuing Candlemas.

"The dairies in general are inanaged by making all the cream into butter, and from the skimmed milk, an inferior sort of cheese."

SWINE.-P. 14. "The breed of pigs in this county is not. so good in shape, as either the Hampshire, Berkshire, or Hertfordshire sort; they are of a light colour, feed to about nine or ten score on an average for bacon, and are worth about six shillings and sixpence, or seven shillings per score. As there are so many dairies, an improvement in the breed of this animal might be made by the introduction of the sorts before described."

SHEEP.-Number.-P. 7. "The advantage derived from sheep, in the county of Dorset, is very considerable, and it is undoubtedly its greatest object as an agricultural resource; indeed of so much real importance, as to be productive of great national benefit. The number of sheep kept in the county, from the best enquiry and computation I have been able to make, amount to upwards of 800,000; and the number sold annually and sent out of the county, amount to upwards of 150,000.”

P. 11. "The number of wethers sold, 50,000; the number of ewes, 100,000; the number reared, 450,000; and the home consumption, 200,000."

Breed

Breed and Management.-P. 7. «The greatest adván tages are derived from them, as well from the profit upon the fleece and carcase, as from the quantity of ground manured by them, which I shall endeavour hereafter more minutely to point out

"In one particular instance the sheep owners excel alt other parts of the kingdom, which is in providing ewes to yean at a remarkably early season, in the midland counties," (!) "which supply the metropolis with fat lambs.In order to shew the principle on which this mode of grazing is carried on, I shall venture to give a detail of their process and management, as far as it has fallen under my observation.

To describe the true Dorset sheep may be difficult, as to its size and shape, but I apprehend, that if the face and nose are white, and the claws or feet without any mixture of colour, the forehead woolly, and the face long and broad, the horn round and bold, and projecting rather forward, a broad shoulder, straight back, broad loin, deep carcase and short in the leg, it is the nearest to the true description of a Dorset sheep. This attention to have the sheep without colour, is considered of material consequence by the breeders of early lambs, as they are said to be of more value for the London market, on account of the extreme delicacy of the

meat.

"The season for putting the most forward ewes to the ram, is the last week in April, for such as are to be sold the following Autumn. And for the flock (which are to be kept) about Midsummer.

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The lambing season therefore for the forward ewes, is about the middle of September, and they are sold about a fortnight before this time at the fairs near London, from twenty-six to thirty-two shillings each. The lambs pro duced from these ewes are suckled in the house, on many farms round the metropolis, which makes the house-lamb fit for the table as early as Christmas. The other part of the flock less forward, do not yean till the beginning of December, but those yield a considerable profit, by their lambs being fattened upon grass, very early in the spring near London, and produce what is called the earliest grass, lamb. The lambs kept in the hands of the breeders are always taken from the ewes in May."

P. 9. "There are no ram fairs, or farmers who let out rams for hire for the season, in this county. But they are. chiefly bred from the farmer's own stock, are put with the ewes at about a year and a half old, and the better sort of them, are not esteemed of a higher value, than three or four guineas per head."

P. 10. It is generally understood that the original breed of the Dorset sheep is very scarce to be met with, as most of the farmers have crossed their flocks, with the breed of the Hants, Wilts and Somersetshire sheep, which have certainly improved them as to size."

"The sheep are constantly attended by a shepherd the whole day, whose wages is six shillings per week: a great coat yearly, and a breakfast on a Sunday: A dog is found and maintained by the shepherd, and the master has the skins of the dead sheep."

P. 11. Besides the sheep peculiar to Dorsetshire, there is another very small breed in the county, in the neighbour, hood of Weymouth, in the Isle of Portland, the Isle of Pur beck, and about Wareham and Poole, which are inferior in size to Welch sheep: when fat will weight not more than eight or nine pounds per quarter, and the best of the ewes to yean, not worth more than fifteen or sixteen shillings per head." 9. "The wool produced in this county, is short and fine, of a close texture, and the quality of it is highly esteemed in the manufactory of that staple commodity called broad cloth. It is sold here by weys or weights of thirty-one pounds standing, and the average price, is ten-pence or ten-pence halfpenny per pound;" (in 1793.) "lambs wool produces about an halfpenny, or a penny per pound less."

Folding.-P. 9. "The wether sheep are constantly folded all the year round, running over the ewe leas or downs by day, and are penned on the tillage by night; they are penned late in the evening, and let out from the fold before sunrise in the winter, and not later than six o'clock in the summer. The ewes are folded only in summer, that is, when they have no lambs.

"The mode of penning sheep indeed, varies in some parts of the county, as well as the size of the hurdle, but in general the size of the hurdle is about four feet six inches long, and three feet six inches high, made chiefly of hazle, with ten upright sticks; and fifteen dozen of them, with a like number of stakes and wriths, to confine them together, will inclose a statute acre of ground, and will contain twelve or thirteen hundred sheep therein very commodiously.The hurdles are moved every morning, consequently the same number of sheep will manure an acre of land daily. One penning is never estimated worth less than half a guinea, or twelve shillings per acre, and two at a guinea. The hurdles are worth seven shillings and sixpence per dozen, including stakes."

Diseases of Sheep.-P. 11. It is incumbent on me to

take