On the Improvements in West Norfolk. 3 



would have taken place ; West Norfolk would still have been 

 considered a district in which wheat could not be grown, and, 

 what would have been a still greater misfortune, Lord Leicester 

 might never have turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. 



The lease having thus expired in 1778, Lord Leicester com- 

 menced farming. He was, however, necessarily ignorant of any 

 of the knowledge necessary to conduct the management of a farm. 

 But he took the only means which could give him the information 

 he required ; he began at once to collect around him practical 

 men, and invited to his house annually a party of farmers, at first 

 only from the neighbouring districts ; at these meetings agricul- 

 tural topics were discussed. Lord Leicester's farm was examined, 

 and his management of it either criticised or approved, and by 

 thus receiving information, and again communicating it to others, 

 not only did Lord Leicester himself arrive at the knowledge of 

 agricultural management, but the practical men who attended 

 these meetings left them better informed than when they came. 

 In the course of time, friends of Lord Leicester came from a dis- 

 tance to attend them, and thus ultimately this small beginning 

 expanded into the far-famed Holkham sheep -shearing. 



As one of the first consequences of these discussions, he adopted 

 a somewhat improved course of cropping ; instead of growing 

 three white crops in succession, he only grew two, and kept the 

 land in pasture for two years in every course. This change ap- 

 pears gradually to have improved the land, and I find from the 

 old accounts of the farm that wheat was first sown upon it in 1 787. 

 This improved course of cropping, though quite essential, was 

 not of itself sufficient to enable him to grow wheat. The land, 

 naturally very weak, was still more impoverished by the exhausting 

 treatment it had received. In order to get it into better condition, 

 it was absolutely necessary greatly to increase the number oi live 

 stock which had hitherto been kept upon it ; but the production 

 of food for them was so small, that it was impossible at first to 

 adopt this mode of improvement to any great degree. The first 

 thing to be done was the purchase of manure. Lord Leicester 

 was induced to try rape- cake as a top dressing, and it answered 

 admirably. Another much more effective source of fertility was 

 adopted, and to a much greater degree than it hitherto had been. 

 The surface-soil of the whole district is a very light sand, but 

 nearly throughout it there is a stratum of rich marl at various 

 depths underneath. Pits were opened, and the marl dug out and 

 laid upon the surface. This not only increased its fertility, but 

 gave to the soil the solidity which is essential to the growth of 

 wheat. By these means clover and other artificial grasses were 

 raised, and the power of keeping more live stock was obtained. 



As has been said, the only live stock then kept were the 



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