270 Norfolk Farming. 



selves much good, during cold wintry weather, by eating dirty 

 turnip-tops off the miry soil ; and as to consolidating the land, 

 surely a clod-crusher would do that as well, and could be applied 

 to any crop just when needed, while no amount of treading can 

 possibly supply the lime, which is the chief value of the marl 

 and clay.* As already stated, almost all the roots are removed 

 from the land and consumed in yards by cattle. These roots are 

 of excellent quality, and are mostly grown without any artificial 

 manure. Each fat bullock receives a large quantity of sliced 

 roots daily, perhaps four bushels or upwards, and is also 

 supplied with cake and meal — linseed-cake being decidedly the 

 favourite artificial food. Some of the marshes supply good hay, 

 and the cattle come in for the best of this. Much of the arable 

 land is enriched by the large quantity of fodder and sedge which 

 the low swampy grounds produce. 



The improvements peculiar to the strong lands of Norfolk are 

 not very great. The two principal are a larger extent and better 

 mode of underdraining, and the greater growth of roots, especially 

 of mangold wurtzel. Bush-draining clay soils is a verv ancient 

 practice in Norfolk, and though pipes are now mostly used, the 

 old mode still exists. Draining was formerly 2 or 3 feet deep ; 

 now the general depth is 3^ feet, or from that to 4 feet. The stiff 

 soils of Norfolk are stiff only by comparison ; the clay is not of 

 that wretchedly stubborn nature which is so often found in the 

 midland counties ; and though the ploughing is sometimes very 

 tight work for two horses, yet more are never used for ordinary 

 cultivation. After these lands have been under-drained the 

 narrow ridges are made wider, but never entirely dispensed with. 

 Though the land may be levelled and cross-ploughed in the 

 summer months, yet, during winter, the heaviest soils are made 

 up into 12 or 14 furrow ridges. Tiiese soils are well adapted 

 for the growth of mangold wurtzel. It can be stored early in 

 the autumn, and the land cleared and ploughed up before the 

 heavy rains of winter set in. The farms on these stiff lands 

 are the smallest in Norfolk, and are not occupied by men of 

 large capital. The produce consists almost entirely of corn and 

 beef; and having hardly any breeding-stock, the pressure of 

 low prices is severely felt. They have, however, more grass- 

 land than the occupiers of lighter soils, and generally keep a 

 small dairv ; but the farms are very circumscribed and the rents 



* A moderate percentage of lime is undoubtedly a vahiable ingredient in a 

 dressing of clay or marl, but the lime so applied will, like lime applied in the 

 ordinary way, be gradually washed away by rain and want renewal, whereas the 

 clay itself is a permanent addition to the soil, and if apjjlied in sufficient quantity, 

 confers upon a light sand two valuable properties of which it was previously defi- 

 cient, viz., the power oi' retaininj moisture and retaining tnanure. — H. S. Thompson. 



