The Express.
London, England, 1850-04-09 00:00:00

THE AGRICULTURAL DISTRICTS.

SWINDON, WILTS, APRIL 3.
SlR,—Leaving London by the Great Western Rail-
way this morning, and alter passing the seven or
eight ini.es of cold grass land, from which on this side
of the metropolis you emerge into that fine friable
tract which extends from Hanwell to Didcot, I was
struck with the forward appearance of the wheat
crops, the garden-like state of the land, and its gene-
rally good cultivation. The numbers of sheep feeding
off turnips, and the size of the turnip-fields, tell that
the land is generally occupied by men of capital,
while the farm-houses and homesteads are usually of
a superior kind. Confined as I have been, during
the present year, to the colder soils, I was not pre-
pared to see the wheats so forward es they are in
many parts of this fertile tract ; so much is
this the case that in several places I
observed flocks of sheep feeding down the
wheat. Indeed everything is here • fortnight
in advance of the districts north and east of Loudon.
Throughout the district all the larger farmers seem to
hold a large quantity of wheat, more I should think
than they usually have at this season. This, which I
have reason to believe is not confined to the district
I am now referring to, will have considerable influ-
ence on prices; and should the iest of the season
until harvest prove as propitious as it has hitherto
been, we must expect to obtain during the ensuing
year very moderate money returns from our wheat
crepe. To farmer", who are unable or unwilling to
withdraw their too exclusive reliance on the " hern-
iae'," this will be a cause of difficulty, but its effect
ea husbandry and farmers in general will, I am satis-
fied, be in the end mos: beneficial. After l)idcot, we
pas into strong land, not remarkably well managed,
but on which the wheats are looking healthy and
well. At the Wantsge-road station, we get
into the grass-lard district of the Vale of
White Horse, which presents at this sea-
son little to comment upon. Here there are
few if any signs of improvement—no draining, no
increase of building", and in several places even at
this early period the cattle were turned into the mea-
dows to destroy by their footsteps the future crop
and to shiver in discomfort under hedges. I was well
acquainted with this dairy-land district from Faring-
don to Swindon twenty years ago, and I thought that
with the exception of considerable improvement in
the character of their cows, which have now a strong
dash of short-horn blood, I did not perceive any
alterations. The fields and little hovels which con
stitute their farm buildings remain; as they have been
for generations. The amendment in iho character of
the stock shows, however, that even the dairy farmers
—a somewhat stationary race—do improve, where
improvement lies exclusively within their own power,
as is thecae, with their stock; but the owners of dairy
land are of all landowners the least ready to assist
their tenants' efforts by making landlords' improve-
ments. They receive comparatively high rents ; for
the dairy Winer managing his business
it *mall expense, gives 113 immense pro-
portion of the gross produce of the
land to his landlord, so that until dairy land pro-
prietors find some difficulty in retaining their old
tenants 'or in obtaining new ones without making
improvements, they will never improve. This is the
rule I that there are some exceptions, the following
sesoant of a farm in North Wiltshire, which it was
part of my bagmen in the West of England to visit,
will seedently prove.
Perhaps soma 01 your readers will recollect a
salltileasat short-berm ox which obtained
1) one of the
int prises at the Smithfield Club show, "elaber

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hatotad which was bred sad fed by Mr. Richard
Stratton, of Selthrop farm, Lear Swiodos. TINIte
was so beast ia the yard at Baker-etreet which in-
dicated Minn the oesibnation of pool bl od, with
strength of orastitstiou sad round usefulness than
Mr. Strattoses cx. 1 no.ed this at the time, and
regarded his herd as sae from which a draft might
be aseful'y made by other breeders. Oa visiting the
Ilarm 1 toms Wad that Mr. Strata' is a master is
his craft, aad that the high qualities of Ms stock are
do
to the pediment and discriatinatisa with which
he manages his herd.
Wile some proresaiosal breeders. Mr. Billittss is
a good farmer as well as breeder. Ma tam, which
consists cf sins hundred acme of excellent land, lies
partly on the secondary nage of hills which succeed
the high chalk hills of the North Wiltshire downs,
and partly i t the vele. The upper land, about four
kindred acn a, is all arable, and coneikts of a strong
marl, which, when well masaged, is most produc-
tive. The house and home s'ead are on the hill, and
the multitude and sirs of the wheat stacks whisk fill
the rickyard tell both of the fertility of the land and
the well-doing of the occupier. Here there is one large
putd and several smaller ones occupied by brectz
buffers, each of which has a pen to herself, one
covered over.

The greater part of the herd, however, is in the
vale, where Mr. Stratton holds 300 acres of grass
land. This part of the farm is managed as a dairy
farm with the strictest regard to profit; the breeding
department is made, not exactly subservient
to, but entirely consistent with, the profitableness
of the dairy. 'lts management, which 1 will proceed
to detail, is worthy of imitation by dairy farmers. It
should be temaaked that so good a system could not
be followed cat where the farmer has no arable land.
The whole of the surplus renew grown on the bill
beyond what is used for the stuck at the ho.msetead is
brought down into the vale and used as litter; and
the large quantity of manure thus made is all applied
to the grass land. The fertility of the arable land is
well kept up by feeding off roots and green crop
with fatting sheep bought for the purpose, as Mr.
Stratton does not keep • breeding flock. He divides
his herd into an ordinary herd and • selected m.o.
The former is kept at the dairy, and consists at pre-
sent of thirty-four cows, which are kept in • yard
divided into four or five compartments, each division
having &shed for abetter. The yard is enclosed all
ronnkand alt the liqu'd manure is preserved. Above the
hill there're some 12 or 14 heifer*, which beloog to the
ordinary herd, which therefore contains altogether
about 50 cows. Attached to this yard there are
several warm and roomy sheds with outlets for
calves, as Mr. Stratton rears all his eilves, making
steers of each of them as he does not consider good
enough to keep for bulls. The selected herd is kept
in a separate yard half a mile front the dairy, and
coasia's et shout 40 cows and heifers, with calves.
Here are all the select calves, the 'ming bulls, and
the feeding beasts ; and each animal has a separate
pen half covered, and a spring of beautifully clear
water is carried through every pen, so that each has
a constant supply of fresh water. The principal
yard has the sheds round three sides, being opea
towards the svuth, and there it is protected
by • high than hedge, kept high but well
pruned, for the express purpose of affadirg
shelter to this yard. Though the accommodation
here afforded' is very complete, there is nothing
very exp-nsive, and even without the landlord's as-
sistance each a yard might be made on moat dairy
farms with a litue management and at a moderate
expense by the tenants. The select herd also contri-
bute to the dairy, and the large and well-filled cheese
room gives evidence that the herd does its duty. The
select bend is composed of first-rate stock, all bred by
Mr. Stratton ; and their size, shape, touch, coats, and
milking qualities, all show accuracy of judgment.
Mr. Stratton never keeps a cow unless she is a good
milker ; and he has also attained all the shape and
feeding qualities to which many breeders sacrifice
milk-givieg power. This is unwise, and is quite
nneeoessary. The position Mr. Stratton has at-
tained as a breeder, the number of prises he wins
every year sufficiently' proves; and he has done all
this in the comparatively short period of twelve years.
Bat what to my mind is still more important,
he has dons it at comparatively little
expense and be means which are within the reach of
most dairy farmers. I mean, of course, that observa-
tion to be subject to the condition that equal judg-
ment and perseverance with that displayed by Mr.
Stratton be exercised.

Now Mr. Stratton has never bought expensive
cows. He has kept up his ordinary herd by the pur-
chase of the best heifers he can meet, with at the
different fairs, but he has always been most careful
in the selection of his bulls, and in purchasing them
Ito doss net spare his purse. His plan, when he
wants a buil, is to spend a month or six weeks In
looking over the herds of different breeders and
selecting an animal likely to suit his purpose. Mr.
Stratton is not so particular in buying a bull of
great beauty and symmetry as he is in regardiog
the character and purity of its blood, and he especially
requires that its sire and dam shall be good animals.
He is at present using a splendid beast called the
Red Duke and a white bull purchased from Earl
Lucie.

From his ordinary herd thus managed he obtains
every year rcansiderable number of heifer calves,wluch
are taken into the selected herd, and if they turnout to
be good milkers, and prove by the calves they produce
that they are worthy of the promotion, they are there
continued. I here as one fine roan cow, now ten
years old, from which many of the best herd are
desc'nded, and a two year-old roan heifer, of which
she is the dam, is certainly one of the most perfect
animals I ever saw. Her last calf, a roan ball, now
about two months old, promises to be something
extraordinary. In short, Stratton's herd deserves
to be resorted to by breeders, as indeed it largeiy is ;
while the smallest dairy farmer may apply to a con-
siderable extent to his own farm the general economy
of Mr. Stratton's management. His neighbours are
very pcerally availing themselves of the means his
bird affords for improving their stock; and, in fact,
the value of well-bred abort-horns in the dairy is now
very generally adm;tted in this district.
Mr. Stratton's efforts are seconded, as they deserve
to be, by his landlord, Mr. Parkinson, of Lion's-
inn-fields, who is the active trustee and osten-
sible owner of the property ; which, with other
considerable farms adjoining, has, within the
last few years, been purchased by, or rather
on behalf of some unknown person. The tenants
have not the sliAtest notion who is their
landlord. If, however, they are all dealt with as Mr.
Parkinson deals with Mr. Stratton, they need not be
very carious to inquire further for a landlord. He is
gloat to build on Mr. Stratton's farm extensive addi-
tional accommodation for his stock, and to drain
yearly 2SO acres of bia farm. This is as it should be.
Mr. Stratton has jut taken as additional farm at
Broad Hinton from Mr. Parkinson, on which LOOK
is at once to be laid oat by the landlord. The farm,
which years ago I knew very well, is a large and
good one, extending to 11,000 acres, Its situation is
precisely similar to Saltbrop farm, being about two
miles to the west on the same range of hills, and con-
sists of very similar proportions of arable land above
the hill, and grass land in the vale. That his enter-
prise will be as successful on this farm as at Salthrop
I have no doubt, for Mr. Stratton is one of those men
who command sums, and he has a landlord able
and willing to bear his own share of the adventure.
Is what a different position would English farmers
be placed, if landlords generally did so; how differ-
rent would be the state of English agriculture.
I have been led into giving full details of Mr. Strat-
ton'. management of his dairy land, bemuse it is so
truly practical and adapted to the means and pon-
toon of tenant farmers; and the dairy farmers, as a
close, have not taken farms beyond their available
capitals in anything like the same proportion as the
arable land farmers have done. Consequently, if
seconded by their landlords, they would be in better
eoodition than many grain farmers, who can only
thrive by giving up part of their land or going
into smaller farms. Bat efficient improvement of
dairy farms will regain) considerable outlay by the
landlords, as they are required to be drained through-
out, and to have proper yards and buildings erected
for accommodating their stock. And dairy farm
tenants 'could well afford to pay interest on such out-
lay, in addition to their present rents ; for when the
land has been draiced, and proper buildings supplied,
from one-fifth to one-third mere stook might be kept.
This is on the aasuroptioe that the land la all to Do-
main in pasture as at present, though in most cases
the inferior and second-rats pastures should be broken
up. Th,e, however, won, scarcely be acceptable to
may Of provost moo et dairy_ farasers.—l am,
&09 A MIDLAND 001,1=15 PARBOIL