and minor implements. He does not, however, enter on a description of either of them. MANURE.-Yard Dung.--P. 24. "Among the best farmers, the general custom is, to 'pot-dung' for their wheat crop, and feed off their turnips with sheep; so that each piece of land gets well manured every other year, besides occasional foldings, on the stubbles, as the course is proceeding. "The downs, from the great distance they usually are from the homestall, have but little pot-dung bestowed on them; all their support arises from that quiet, generous animal, the sheep, which periodically bears to its fold, the nourishing means for future crops." Sheep-dung Compost. The following instance of practice, at WINDSOR, is entitled to an entry, here.-P. 66. "Eight hundred Wiltshire wethers are kept as a folding flock on the Norfolk farm, with the assistance of which, the land will be either mucked, or manured, twice in five years; viz. for wheat and turnips. The flock is constantly penned upon the fallows, or some of the meadow land, except when the sheep are foddered, in the hardest part of the winter, and then they are penned in a fixed fold, made large, and divided into two parts; this is generally done, during the months of December, January, and February. This fold, which is pitched in some sheltered spot, and is first laid a foot thick with maiden earth, is daily littered with leaves, moss, fern, stubble, or any litter that can be collected; and the fold is made use of at opposite ends, alternately every other night; hay being given in cribs, which are moved into the respective folds, as used. When the sheep leave this fold, the beginning of March, a layer of lime, chalk, or peat ash, is put upon the top, and the whole being mixed up together, makes excellent manure for the suc ceeding turnip crop. It is astonishing what advantages may be deduced, from a steady adherence to this practice. Six hundred loads of excellent compost, were made the first year of this experiment, in three months, from 600 sheep." Peat Ashes.-The following notice of the NEWBURY PEAT WORKS, tho not so intelligent as might have been expected, is also admissible.-P. 51. "I was informed, by a gentleman, that has concerns in this peat country, that he last *This is a West of England term, for yard dung; which was heretofore, universally, and, in the more hilly parts of Devonshire and Cornwall, is to this day, carried to the land in "dung pots" or panniers, on horseback. In Berkshire it would seem to be used, at present, in contradistinction to sheep's dung, or the fold. last year sold the peat, on one acre of land, for 300 !!! "where the purchaser was limited, "First, to cut no deeper than six feet. "Secondly, to cut and clear off the whole in the course. of the year. "And lastly, he was to pare off the sward, that was on the acre at the time of agreement, and relay it, in a proper manner, on the surface, after he had got out the peat; in order that it might, when returned to the landlord, be in a state for meadow land again. "The reader, unacquainted with the properties of peat, may, with reason, exclaim, for what purposes can this earth be applied, to make it so very valuable? "First-It is, like all other putrid vegetables, an excellent fuel. "Secondly-It has a property, that the peat of no other country has," (?)" in the virtues of its ashes; which in Berkshire, and other parts, are used with great success, in dressing young crops, whether of wheat, barley, oats, or turnips. "It is also an excellent improver of grass lands, particu larly clover lays, and sainfoin; which shew to an inch where the peat-ash has been bestowed on them. The quantity necessary to dress an acre, is reckoned from 15 to 25 bushels, according to the condition of the land, and which may be bought on the spot, from 2d. to 4d. a bushel, according to the strength and goodness of the ash. "This cheap and striking improvement, has not been known in Berkshire more than seventy or eighty years. For a long time, like all other new methods, it had to combat the prejudices and obstinacy of many. But it seems now universally approved, and adopted by every cultivator, who lives within a reasonable distance, to procure the same." TILLAGE.-P. 22. "To facilitate the operations of agriculture, and to adopt a system of economy in its necessary labour, are very material, and obvious advantages, and such as the farmer, for his own sake, ought to listen to, since his interest is highly connected with their adoption. "I cannot, therefore, withhold censuring, not only the plough at present used in Berks, but the mode of working it. Four horses, and two men, employed a whole day, in turning up an acre of land, even if it be a third tilth, is so extravagant, and unnecessary, on land, such as I have described the greater part of Berkshire to consist of, that I cannot but consider it as a NATIONAL DRAWBACK and Loss. I am persuaded, a Norfolk, or Suffolk farmer, would never, in the strongest soil of this county, put more than two horses to a plough, with one man, and he would do as E 4 much much work, if not more, than four horses, and two attendants now do, in many parts of Berkshire." The Reporter, afterward, comments on this extravagant practice; showing its mischievous effects, in a private and in a public point of view. On fallowing, it is no wonder that a pupil of Mr. KENT should speak irreverently;-not only as its being an unprofitable, but as a "slovenly" practice!! p. 26. ARABLE CROPS, and their MANAGEMENT.-On this main branch of Agriculture, the Report under view affords a very scanty portion of information;-either concerning the general works of aration, or the culture of individual crops. The few paragraphs that follow are what I find entitled to extraction. The Times of Sowing Arable Crops.-P. 25. "The wheat sowing, is necessarily very early on the downs, and light land. Some persons put their wheat in, so soon, as the first week in August, and their turnips, in May; but about Old Lammas, is the general time for sowing wheat, in the hill country. The Lent-corn, in the same situations, is got in, during the months of March and April, and unless the season is very backward, is completed before the middle of April, and the turnip sowing, about the middle of June. In the loamy, cohesive, and strong land, the periods of sowing differ, according to the tendency of the soil. The general busy time in these parts for wheat sowing, appears to be, from the middle of September, to the middle of October; and of the barley sowing, from Lady-day, to Mayday." The Quantity of Seed.-P. 25. "The quantity of seed sown on a statute acre, is on an average, in the most parts of the county, nearly as follows: Wheat Beans, or peas 3 Bushels. 4 Bushels. 5 Bushels. 3 Bushels." Harvesting Arable Crops.-P. 35. " From the nature of the soil, it is to be expected, the harvest is forward in most parts of Berkshire; which is generally the case. "The usual practice of the county, is, to let the harvest work by the great; and many of the women are employed in reaping, as well as the other labour, necessary for getting in crops. 66 About Lammas, the reaping of wheat commences." SAINFOIN.-P. 52. "There is another obvious improvement, which, I understand, was introduced many years since into Berkshire; but not much attended to, till of late years; viz. the cultivation of sainfoin. " On "On the downs, and hilly land, where the predominant strata" (stratum)" is chalk, and the surface uot naturally inclined to grass, this most excellent substitute for meadows, flourishes with vigour." Mr. P's theory, concerning the proper species of land for the sainfoin crop is laughably erroneons. GRASS LAND. Had it not been that the Reporter touched on the subject of irrigation, the reader might have been left to conjecture whether or not permanent herbage is a product of Berkshire. The grazing and dairy grounds in the northwest quarter of the County, the sheep downs in its more central parts, and the marginal meadows on the Thames and the Kennet, are not, however, inconsiderable. LIVESTOCK. WHAT we find on this important object, likewise, occu pies only a small portion of this brief Report. Berkshire, it is true, is not a favorable passage of Country in which to study and report the management of grass lands, or the general economy of livestock. It is, emphatically speaking, neither a breeding, nor a fatting County; excepting of sheep and swine; for the latter of which, more particularly, it has long been celebrated, HORSES.-P. 45." The Berkshire farmer considers his profits from horses, no inconsiderable part of his farming, and this, in some degree, accounts for the unnecessary number of horses, we see kept in every part of the county. Some breed their own stock, and others buy in suckers, which they put to work very early; and after using them for two or three years, sell off, to the brewers in London, and the stage waggons, at such high prices, as to make eight, or ten pounds per annum of each horse; considering his work equal to the expence of his keep." CATTLE.-The Dairy is the principal object of cattle keeping. The following is a sketch of the Berkshire practice.-P. 45. "The cows most esteemed in this county, are those of the North country breed; they are excellent milkers, and well adapted for the grass land of the Vale, where the dairy farms are managed, with much skill, and judgment. The dairymen keep up the succession, partly by rearing, and partly by buying heifers in calf, at Lambourn, and other fairs in the county." The fatting of cattle, I believe, is chiefly confined to stall fatting, in the Glocestershire manner, and is chiefly practised in the Glocestershire margin of the County. The Berkshire practice is thus described.-P. 44. "The neat cattle, fatted off in this county, are generally the Herefordshire, Shropshire, Shropshire; Glamorganshire, and other parts of South Wales, bought in at the spring, and fall. The system of fatting with turnips, is not however, much known, and in the grazing part of the White Horse Vale, where a great quantity of beasts are annually stall-fed; they are generally fatted with hay, bean, and barley meal, oil-cake, &c. Lin seed, both dry and steeped, is given by some graziers, and found to answer exceedingly well; but this practice, though a good one, is not common.' P. 48. "The method of stall-feeding cattle is exceedingly well understood in this county; and the plan of forming the stalls, so as to give each beast a separate walk, is worthy of being copied, in all counties, where winter fatting is practised."-For a description of those sheds, and the method of fatting with hay and oil cakes, see my GLOCES TERSHIRE. SHEEP. Breed.-P. 44. " Berkshire has, and ever must have, from the nature of the soil, a great quantity of sheep kept upon it. Its present breed are certainly not only a very useful, but handsome stock, and are in great reputation in the neighbouring counties. They are well adapted for folding; being strong and agile, they travel long ranges during the day, and from their size and weight, are good folding sheep at night." Various are the sizes, and weights, of the Berkshire sheep, so much depending on the breed and keep. A full sized Berkshire sheep, however, thirty months old, when fat, weighs seldom less than 20 lbs. a quarter, and are sometimes increased to 25 lbs. or 30lbs.". "A fleece of 4 lbs. is reckoned a good produce; the general average of the county will not, however, be so high. Eight sheep to a tod of 28 lbs. is about the usual allowance." Fatting and Market of Sheep.-P. 44. "Great numbers are now annually drawn out of the flocks, and fatted off, by the introduction of the turnip system; and a still greater number are bought at Ilsley, to fat in the counties nearer London." The following "observations," on the Improvement of Sheep, I of course consider as judicious.-P. 46. "That "every soil has its own stock,' is an accurate observation of a very judicious and sensible writer on agriculture. Improvements may, no doubt, be effected in the breed, of almost all kinds of sheep; but crosses, where two very opposite breeds are to be combined, can never, in my opinion, be advantageous to either. "A Berkshire sheep, will certainly be improved in its wool, by the cross of a South Down; but perhaps it will not be so good a folding sheep. In short, it appears to me, most |