On the banks of the Severn, and the other rivers which flow through the vale, there ate very rich natural meadows and pastures; their fertility principally arises from the mud winch is citiposited upon them during tut inundations. The Avon is said to bring clown the richest deposit from the hills of Warwickshire. The me lows on the banks of the Severn, CO.i1Cleranly below Gloucester, p,rtake of the nature of salt-marshes. 1-(.1 so ne miles above and below that city, the meadows are mowed every year, and the average produce is two tons pci acre, thougo no ma nure is ever laid on them. Su ninn hes been cultivated on the Coteswold hills For upwards of ISO years, and is still a %cry general and uselul crop there : its duration, however, is short, seldom more than ten years. The only other artificial grass fur which ti.is coul,ty is remarkable is Peace's rye grass, which was first selected from the finest meadows in the sallies of the Coteswolds, and is now well known in almost every part of the kingdom. The management of the stall is no Where better attended to than in Gloucestershire. The cattle usually fed are of the I fere fordshire breed ; they are worked till they are 6 or 7 yea' s old : when fat, they are sent eitner to Smithfield or Bristol market. Great attention is also paid to the fattening of calves. The principal breed of sheep in the county is that of the Coteswold, large and coarse in the wool ; at three years old weighing from 30 to 45 lbs. per quartet-, and of a fleece of 9 or 10 lbs. The new Leicester and the south Down are also kept in many parts, and the llyeland in some parts of the forest district. The real fo rest sheep are neat ly extinct; these are very small, finely formed, and with fine wool. Th. re is no peculiar breed of horses in this county. The old Gloucestershire breed of swine are now seldom kept.
We now come to the two most important objects of Gloucestershire husbandry, its cheese and cider. Cheese is made both in the vale of Gloucester and in the vale of -Berkley ; or, as they are sometimes termed, the upper and lower vales: but the management of the two vales differ in one most material article, the quality of the milk. In the lower vale, the milk is run neat from the cow ; in the upper vale, the practice is to set the evenings milk for cream in the morning, and to skim it, and then to add it to the new milk of the morning's meal. The cheese made from this mixture is termed two meal cheese ; that from the neat milk, milk cheese, or best making. There are other differences in the practices of the two vales. In the vale of Gloucester, rye-grass is the predominant and fa vourite grass; in the vale of Berkley, the dog's-tail, with a mixture of rye-grass, the poag and white clover. The Gloucestershire breed of cattle, a variety of the middle horned species, still predominate in both vales for the pur poses of the dairy; though in the higher vale, long-horned cows, from the improved stock of Bakewell, are often kept ; few dairies, however, in either vale, are without admixture. As soon as a " pack" or stock of cows is formed, the first consideration is to mark out those inclo su•es, the herbage of which is most favourable to the pro duction of good milk ; among the plants which are useless or injurious, are white honeysuckle, crowfoot, and garlic. About the first of May the pastures are ready to receive the cows, and soon afterwards cheese-making commences: great care is taken in the selection or preparation of the rennet, and most minute and particular attention is paid to the temperature at which the coagulation takes place most kindly and equally. Previous to adding the rennet, the co
lout ing is put in. In some places, the curd is scalded; where this is not done, a handful of salt is commonly thrown on the curd, immediately after the whey has been taken from it. The next operation consists in crumbling the curd, and pressing it fine in the vat, which is done with great nicety, being turned and salted repeatedly. If the cheese is small, this part of the process is continued only three clays. The cheese is then removed to the shelf, and turned every day for a fortnight; then every other clay for a fortnight more. At the end of this time, it is lit for the cheese loft : here it is turned twice a week, for three weeks ; then the coat is scraped and coloured on the out side, or painted with carnation-red, mixed with water, and rubbed on with flannel. About Michaelmas, the cheese factor examines the cheeses by walking over and treading upon each of them ; those which yield to the tread are said to be heaved, and are unfit for the London market. The cheese of the hundred of Berkley is the most cele brated of all the Gloucestershire cheese ; what in the kingdom at large is termed Gloucester cheese, particularly double Gloucester, is in Gloucestershire called double Berkley, not more on account of the superior quality of the cheese of this district, than because the principal part of the thick cheese of Gloucestershire is made within this hundred. It is calculated that a cheese of 11 lbs. re quires 15 gallons of milk, or one gallon and one-third to one pound of two meal cheese. The year's produce of a cow is estimated at three hundred weight. The vale of Berkley contains 50,000 acres, two-thirds of which are oc cupied by cows, to the number of 7000 or 8000 ; and their annual produce of cheese is from 1000 to 1200 tons. As connected with this subject, the whey-butter of the vale of Berkley may be mentioned, which, if \yell made, and eaten fresh, is superior to the milk-butter of many dis tricts: the produce of whey-butter is estimated at half a pound a cow a week. See DAIRY.
are few orchards on the Coteswold hills, but in the vale and forest districts, they are abundant and valua ble. Of the different kinds of cider made in this county, the Stire cider is deemed the best. The fruit from which it is made, flourishes particularly on the thin lime-stone soils on the margin of the forest of Dean. It is remark ed that the cider made from the Stire apple which grows here, is distinguished by richness, sweetness and fulness of flavour; whereas, the same apple in the vale of Glou cester, a strong, deep, rich soil, affords a liquor, whose predominating qualities are roughness and strength. Theie is nothing peculiar in the mode of manufacturing cider in this county. Of pears, the squash is in much the high est esteem: in the township of Taynton, on the Gloucester shire side of Mayhill, where the soil is a strong brown clay, squashpear perry, of a very superior quality, is made. It is said the perry of this district is the basis of most of the wine sold for Champagne in the metropolis.