254 AGRICULTURE.CLARIDGE'S DORSETSHIRE. take notice of a disorder peculiar to sheep, which is sometimes fatally experienced in this county, called the Goggles; it attacks them at all ages, and no remedy is at present known for it; the first symptoms is a violent itching, which is very soon succeeded by a dizziness in the head, staggering of gait, and a weakness in the back, as if the spinal marrow. was affected, under which they sometimes languish a few weeks, and this disorder has been known to be fatal to the greatest part of a flock, and is considered as the most calamitous circumstance the sheep owners have to dread; it is very difficult to assign the cause of this disorder, but some of the old fashioned farmers think that as no such disease existed, prior to the introduction of the breed from other counties, consequently its origin may be imputed to this cause; but this is an argument perhaps of prejudice," grounded merely on conjecture, though I own 1 am inclined to give it some credit." I HAVE the less to say, in this place, regarding the QUALIFICATIONS of Mr. STEVENSON, as a Reporter of agricultural information; because I shall have occasion to advert to them, again, in reviewing his Report from SURREY; which, tho priorly sent in to the Board, stands. posteriorly, in a geographical arrangement. In the subjoined "Preface," we have Mr. S.'s own account of his undertaking.-P. v. "As there are some cir cumstances connected with the drawing up of the Agricultural Report of Dorsetshire, different from those which attend the drawing up of the County Reports in general, and which could not well be stated in the title-page to this volume, it may be proper briefly to lay them before the. reader in the preface. "In the year 1810 Mr. Batchelor, author of the Agricul tural Report of Bedfordshire, was employed by the Board of Agriculture to survey Dorsetshire, and draw up an ac count of its agriculture: this he accordingly did, but when his. MS. was put into the hands of some Gentlemen conneeted with the county, it was their opinion that the Report might be rendered more accurate and complete, if another survey were made, and the observations and information collected during that survey, incorporated with Mr. Batchelor's Report. This task was assigned to me; and I accordingly went over the county in the year 1811. "The additions and alterations I have made in Mr. Batchelor's Report, have been derived partly from what I collected during my Survey, and partly from a very useful work published by Mr. Boswell of Dorchester, entitled The Civil Division of the County of Dorset.' This work, besides other statistical information of great local as well as general importance, contains a complete Nomina Villarum. I understand Mr. Boswell has some thoughts of. publishing the Ecclesiastical and the Military divisions of the county if he follow up his design (and no man is better qualified for it) he will render an acceptable service to all connected with Dorsetshire, and set an example to other counties, highly deserving to be followed. "The reader will perceive, that in the first part of the Report, I am much indebted to Mr. Boswell's book; in the other parts of the Report, which are, more strictly speaking, agricultural, I have incorporated the information which was so liberally communicated to me by all I applied to during my survey, with the MS. Report of Mr. Batchelor.. Such parts of his MS. as I deemed irrelevant, I have omitted, and such as were inaccurate I have altered and corrected; but it is but just to him to declare, that on comparing the notes I took with his Report, I found, they agreed in most particulars, and that there was not much necessity to add too, or to alter, the substance of what he had written my business was rather to make it fit for publication.. "Chelsea, August 12, 1812." W. STEVENSON," In this ingenuous declaration, as well as in the work itself, we perceive Mr. Stevenson to be its Editor, rather than its Author. We observe very few passages in it (saving the strings of memorandumbook entries, that almost everywhere meet the eye-after the manner of the Secretary of the Board) which convey the idea of a Survey. And whether these, in whole or in part, were the produce of Mr. Stevenson's or Mr. Batchelor's tour of enquiry, is not evident. The large portion of irrelevant matter, introduced into the volume, is, to an agricultural reader, disgusting. Nearly two sheets of it are filled with civil and ecclesiastical divisions of the County. In those waste pages, not only the several "divisions, bundreds, boroughs, liberties and tithings" are displayed, but the deaneries and churches of Dorsetshire appear; and, after those, are seen curt descriptions of its numerous market towns; such as were wont to be engraved on the corners, margins, and interspaces of old county maps: In Dorsetshire there are only two streams that can be properly denominated rivers; and even these are of the lowest class. Yet we find, under the head, "Waters," descriptions, and derivations! of nearly forty "rivers and brooks" rivulets and rills; the feeble narrative lingering on to the length of ten or twelve pages. Into some of those shallow streams deep learning is thrown. Even the Piddle has not eluded etymological research. The number of pages four hundred and eightyseven; with an index. A map of the County, well divided into districts. SUBJECT THE FIRST. NATURAL ECONOMY. EXTENT XTENT.-P. 3. "In point of size, Dorsetshire may be considered as rather a large county, compared with the other counties in England. It is said, from the best information to be procured, that the county may be arranged in the following manner: Of Arable land Pasture land...... AcresTM 153,588 169,031 73,628 396,247 Commons Acres. Brought forward 396,247 26,916. 31,272 29,979 12,755 2,779 2,620 1,586 8,000 Commons Downs.... Heath land Wood's Copse Plantations........ Waste.... To which add for rivers, water-courses, and roads, land occupied by towns, farm-buildings, &c. ... Total 512,154." We are not informed by whom, or by what means, those nice calculations were made. CLIMATURE.-P. 31. "The air of Dorsetshire is rather, dry and salubrious than mild and bland; and the seasons, except in spots very sheltered, or possessed of a very warm soil, are not nearly so forward as they are in other parts of England not so far to the south. "The air on the hills and downs is keen, as they are exposed, without enclosures, to the winds from the sea. In the neighbourhood of the coast, it rains more in the winter, and less in summer, than is the case in more inland districts; and, as a necessary consequence or concomitant of this, there is comparatively little snow or frost during the winter months. Near the sea, also, it is remarked, that the sea fogs hang on the hills sometimes for a week together." SOIL-Even the proportionate quantities of the several varieties of soils of the County are set down to an acre! P. 35. "Chalk Total (except rivers, towns, &c.) ... 504,014.” The Reporter, however, makes a suitably modest remark, on this bold attempt. P. 35." This statement can only be an approximation to the truth, but it may serve to furnish some idea of the relative quantities of each kind of soil; they are much intermixed S intermixed together in many places, so as to render it a task of some difficulty to ascertain by what name they should be described." ; Indeed, the section, "Soil," throughout, above every other section in the volume, exhibits intelligent, appropriate Report. P. 37. "The soil of the most elevated parts of the chalky district, is a thin loam, incumbent on what are called rubbly chalk stones, below which the chalk becomes more compact." P. 39. The elevated range of hills which runs through the Isle of Purbeck, from Studland to Chilcombe, consists of a barder kind of chalk, approaching almost to the nature of stone, and the surface soil in many places con tains a larger proportion of clay than the downs in the rest of the chalky district." 66 The heaths, which together with the fir plantations, probably occupy 50,000 acres of this district, are in general barren and unimprovable; the surface soil is in many places a gravelly sand, occasionally interspersed with flints; some of the sand is of a black colour, and small portions of a thin peaty soil appear in several places round the ridge of hills, which is included between the Frome and the Piddle, extending from Piddletown many miles toward Wareham," P. 40. The district of clay soils, interspersed with various loams, gravel, and stone brash, occupies a very large proportion of the county." P. 41. “The soil on the coast between Purbeck and Weymouth is mostly a clay loam, on a calcareous basis, and of no very fertile quality. "The coast lands from Weymouth to Burton are, in general, cold tough clays of a very inferior kind, but intermixed with stone brash, and a few spots of a very fertile description. Instances of this sort have been mentioned at Wyke, Abbotsbury, and Bexington." 66 P. 42. The Isle of Porland consists (according to Mr. Parkinson,) of 933 acres of clay, and 1867 acres of stone brash; it is in general a poor soil, but some of it is fertile." The western district is distinguished by the growth of flax and hemp in the vicinity of Bridport and Beaminster, and the intervening parishes to the west of Eggerdon Hill. The soil of this district is a very rich loam, some of which is of a brown colour, and is called fox-mouid. "Westward of Symondsbury is Marshwood Vale," (Valley)" which is chiefly in pasturage, and some of it is a cole clay." P. 43. The soil of the Vale of Blackmoor is very rich |