Rural Economy of the West of England Author:William Marshall General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1805 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million book... more »s for free. Excerpt: DIVISION THE THIRD. AGRICULTURE. This most extensive branch of Rural EcoNomy requires to be examined, in detail; agreeably to the plan which I have hitherto found it requisite to pursue, in registering the practices of other Districts; and conformably tO the ANALYTIC TABLE OF CONTENTS, prefixed to this Volume, FARMS. ; i The NATURAL CHARACTERS of Farms appear, in a great measure, from what has been said of the Natural Characters of the District; and only require to be adduced, here, in order to bring them into one point of view, with the adventitious properties of Farms, at present observable, in this part of the Island. The Climature, in an agricultural point of view, is very uncertain. In a dry summer, the harvest is early, on account of the southerly situation of the District. But, in a moist season, it is sometimes very backward ; owing to incessant drizzling rains, added to the coolness of the sea air. The Surfaces of Farms, notwithstanding the uneven surface of the country at large, are less steep and difficult to work, than the Farms of many other hilly Districts; owing to the circumstance of the steeper sides of vallies being chiefly appropriated to wood. The Quality of the Soil has been described, as being of a slatey nature; mostly abounding with fragments of slate rock and other stones; and generally mixed with a portion of fertile loam. The Quantity or Depth of Soil is greater than the par of upland soils; varying, from five or six, to ten or twelve inches. The Subsoil is generally a rubble, or broken slatey rock ; absorbing water to a great degree; tho an excess of wet weather ma...« less