Agriculture of Durham. 101 



on clay soils, I find a <^rcat clifTerence of opinion in the county as 

 to the comparative superiority of bare-fallowing, or the cultiva- 

 tion of green crops. The great arguments in favour of the bare- 

 fallowing is — 1, the stiffness of some of our clay soils, and the 

 necessity of more frequent ploughings and better working than 

 can be given with green crops ; 2, the difficulty of procuring a 

 sufficient quantity of manure ; and, 3, the great tendency of our 

 poor soils to produce weeds, which it is tliought the green crops 

 will increase. To this it may be said that the first objection 

 would be overcome bv draining and the use of clod-crushers and 

 other modern improved implements ; the second is a difficulty 

 more in imagination than reality, for in practice it would soon be 

 found to remove itself — cultivating green crops would enable the 

 farmer to feed more stock, and keeping more stock would pro- 

 duce him more manure ; to remove the third objection a little 

 care and industry would suffice ; and I may certainly say, that so 

 far as my experience of the county goes, the lands on which green 

 crops are most extensively grown are far cleaner than those which 

 are allowed to lie every fourth year in bare fallow. Still there is 

 a very general opinion that a great deal of the poorer clay soils 

 in this county are not calculated to grow green crops ; or as a 

 shrewd old farmer said to me the other day, " all the draining in 

 the world will not make turnip soil out of our stiff clays." But 

 all are not of this gentleman's opinion, for not long after I met 

 with another person, who declared that he never had a single 

 acre of bare fallow, and that he got most excellent crops ; they 

 never failed, and he accounted for it by saying that .he " had 

 good implements, and put the ground into good heart In' good 

 manuring, for which he was fully repaid by good crops." His 

 fields were all drained three feet deep and seven yards apart. I 

 believe draining would settle the whole controversy. If tlie lands 

 were all ])roperly drained, there would l)e found very little even 

 of the stifTest of our clays which would not soon break down and 

 ])ulverise so fine as to be cajiablo of growing turnips. It has 

 been tried and (as I shall state more fully in a little) the experi- 

 ment has answered. Turnips are grown where they never grew 

 before ; and not only would turnips be produced in soil now 

 thought unsuitable, but by draining we should soon see the 

 averaije produce of all kinds of crop increased. A farmer stated 

 not long ago at a ])\iblic meeting of the Darlington l"'armers' 

 (,'lui), that- it was his ojiinion that the l)ulk of the land between 

 Darlington and Newcastle, which was now yieldinix Ironi '2.0 to 

 25 bushels of wheat per acre, would, if properly drained, yield, 

 with less labour and expense, from 30 to 40 bushels. 



Upon the Duke of Cleveland's estates at Kaby (bclorc ;illudcd 

 toj there are some farms in excellent condition, 'i'hcy lie around 



