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provinder for horses and hogs.-See the Northern and Midland Departments, under the head Bulbous Rape.

CLOVER-Its History, in Hertfordshire.-P. 115. "This noble plant, the introduction of which has wrought a greater improvement in English agriculture than that of any other, has been cultivated in this county, probably as long, or longer, than in any part of the kingdom; and it yields, from its vicinity to the Capital, a greater profit here than is commonly experienced elsewhere."

P. 116. "Mr. Keate and Mr. Stephenson, at Hatfield, assured me that all that vicinity has cultivated clover so long and so repeatedly, that the soil is, as the farmers say, sick of the plant. It matters not how fine a crop may be in autumn, it dies off in the winter gradually, so that little is left in May, and it dies even so late as in that month. Mr. Keate had a proof of the benefit of not sowing it in one or two courses consecutively."

LUCERNE.-P. 124. "Mr. Doo, at Bygrave, has a field of ten acres broadcast, which is at present ten or twelve years old. He gave the land (a strong loam on a chalk bottom) a complete summer-fallow, on which he sowed barley half seeded, or two bushels an acre, and the lucerne twelve pounds an acre with it: he regularly mows it thrice a year, and feeds 23 horses with it from May-day to Michaelmas. He sows 50 bushels of soot per acre upon it every year, at 1s. per bushel, having previously harrowed it completely in March, with a heavy drag-harrow, as much as six oxen can well draw; and this across the field in various directions, till the field has the appearance of a summer-fallow. He has a very high opinion of it; and esteems it to be excellent for horses, and better than tares, except for a very short time while they are in full bloom: he can drive or ride horses 40 or 50 miles a day on it without any inconvenience. It never gives them a looseness."

TARES. Their History, in Hertfordshire.-P. 125. "In the heavy land districts, I found tares very generally cultivated for soiling the teams; a husbandry that cannot be too much commended. It appears by the writings of Ellis, that this branch of agriculture was common in Hertfordshire above 60 years since, before it was at all practised in many other counties; and I was glad to find it held its place steadily in the management of the present period."

P. 126. "Every farmer, at least nineteen in twenty, have tares for soiling their horses. It is one great feature of Hertfordshire merit, being more general than in any other county with which I am acquainted."

GRASS LANDS.-Extent.-P. 133. "The quantity of grass

Ꭰ Ꮞ

land

laud in the county is extremely small, compared with that of arable land: there is no grass district in it, except a very narrow margin in the south line, in the vicinity of Barnet, which being near to London, is made artificially productive, by means of manures brought back by the hay-carts:"

"Wherever the residence of a gentleman is found (and Hertfordshire abounds with their seats), there is a tract of grass kept artificially productive, whatever may be the soil; the expense of which is not easily ascertained. And on the rivers, the flat bottoms of the vales" (valleys)" in general very narrow, are, as every where else, in natural meadow: hese exceptions being made, the rest is arable."

ORCHARDS.-P. 143. "In the south-west corner of the county, and particularly in the parishes of Rickmersworth, Sarret, King's Langley, and Abbot's Langley, Flaunden, Bovington, and partly in Watford and Aldenham, there are many orchards: apples and cherries are their principal produce. Every farm has an orchard; but the larger the farm the smaller the orchard. Orchards are found chiefly in farms of from 20 to 50 acres. The apples are most profitable; but cherries very beneficial to the poor, in the quantity of employment which they require in gathering the crop, for which the poor are paid from 4d. to 8d. per dozen pounds."

LIVESTOCK.

P. 182. "This subject, which, in so many counties, from the modern improvements made in it, has so greatly occupied the public attention, and claimed the first consideration from the Reporters, is, perhaps, as barren a one in Hertfordshire as any that can be named. It is merely an arable country; and the quantity of clover-hay carried to London is so great, and forms so profitable a husbandry, that live stock must be a very inferior object. I did not neglect to make inquiries, and the reader will find some particulars, which merit his attention."

CATTLE.-Breed.-P. 182. "Hertfordshire having no breed of its own, the cattle kept in it are of various sorts."

Cows.-P. 185. "Mr. Calvert, at Albury, when oil-cake was much cheaper than at present, found it the most advantageous and profitable food that he could give his cows: three cakes a day, with eight or ten pounds of hay, or four cakes and good straw, were the usual allowance; two were given to cows in calf and to growing heifers: he practised this till cake advanced beyond 97. a thousand. How far it may answer at much higher prices, hay and butter having both greatly advanced, careful experiments will alone ascertain,

certain, which he himself should have made; but Swedish turnips being introduced, and answering uncommonly well, he lost the inducement to go on with the other food. Cake gave very good butter; and, at 6l. or 7. a thousand, was the cheapest food that could be given."

Fatting Cattle.-P. 184. "In stall-feeding beasts, Mr. Chapman, of Hitchin, has remarked the advantage of changing the food, for instance, clover-hay for meadow-hay, and meadow for clover-hay; and he is clear in this point.'

SHEEP. What the Reporter has said of the cattle, may be said of the sheep of Hertfordshire. Formerly, the tall, whitefaced, horned breed of Wiltshire, and the large, greyfaced, hornless breed of Berkshire, were prevalent, in Hertfordshire. Of later years, different varieties of the longwooled breeds have been introduced; and, still more recently, the Southdown sort has become fashionable.

Having placed before his readers eight or ten pages of minutes, on the practices and opinions of individuals, none of which is sufficiently interesting to be placed in this register, the Secretary makes the following retrospective remarks.

P. 195. "The most interesting feature of these minutes is the comparison of the Wiltshire and South Down breeds. Amongst very practical and reasonable men, the notion of the former doing best on turnips, and the latter on grass, has gained such ground, that I can scarcely conceive it to be a mere prejudice; and I ought to remark, that I have in other counties, and on various occasions, met with so many instances of Wiltshire wethers paying greatly for turnips, that I am inclined to think there is much truth in the Hertfordshire notion."

DEER.-P. 213. "The Earl of Clarendon, justly considering that there is no more impropriety in converting one animal to profit than another, makes deer an object of husbandry. As soon as the rutting season is over, or usually about the 10th of November, his Lordship selects from the herd the weak ones, some of which would probably die in the the winter, and keeps them in a small yard that has a shed on one side, and a net over the whole against pigeons, &c.; the spot very warm, and well sheltered. Their horns are immediately sawn off, the place is well littered, and they are fed at a very small expense on pea-straw, hay, &c. warmth making up for the want of better food. At times, during the winter, they have clover-hay cut into chaff, and if they do not eat it well, a little salt is added. They have always plenty of water, and are kept perfectly clean: much attention should be paid by the keeper to make himself

familiar

familiar with them, that he may enter the place without disturbing them. The first week in March he gives them oil-cake, about half a cake each a day with chaff, which fattens them so quickly, that all are gone in May. Before killing, they have some green meat given, to take away any ill flavour from the cake, supposing such to be the effect of the food, for it is certain that the venison is exceedingly good."

BERKSHIRE.

BERKSHIRE.

HIS COUNTY is aptly separable into four DISTRICTS. 1. North Berkshire is, in surface, pretty uniformly, a Vale Land District; excepting a range of hillocks, near its northern margin-fragments of the Cotswold hills of Glocestershire.-But it is not such in the nature of its soils. The northwest quarter of the County enjoys a deep rich loam-old grass land-rich grazing or dairy grounds;-naturally, an extension of the vale lands of North Wiltshire; which fortuitously reach within the political limits of Berkshire. The main body of this district is covered with soils of a different description; mostly of a dark color and a fertile nature; arable land of a superior quality.-Some part of North Berkshire goes by the popular name of the "Vale of White Horse." But its limits, I believe, are indeterminate.

2. In the midland part of the County, an extent of Chalk Hill-the easternmost swell of the Marlborough or North Wiltshire Downs-occupy more than one fourth of its area. The Chalk Hill District.

3. Along the southern margin of those hills lies a fertile valley of fat and much of it waterformed lands, among which the Kennet, a calcarious brook of size, with difficulty finds its way.-The vale or valley of Newbery,—or the valley of the Kennet.

4. At the east or lower end of that rich valley, rises East Berkshire,-a peninsular part of the County, mostly a woodland district, or more barren heathlands ;-aptly heathlands;-aptly named the Forest District*. It is bounded on the south by the heathlands of Surrey, and on the east by the vale of

London,

On the northern margin of the last district stands the western termination of the line of Chalk Hills, described in p. 4, aforegoing.

* Windsor_forest forms a part of it.

"GENERAL

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