Norfolk Farming. 279 



declined during the last few years in consequence of its high 

 price. Comparatively little is now used for turnips ; and if the 

 present value of grain be not enhanced, farmers will leave off 

 buying guano at 15/. per ton as long as they continue to sell 

 wheat at hs. per bushel. 



The quantity of salt now used in Norfolk is considerable. The 

 railways have opened the communication with the great salt- 

 works, and there is a good demand for salt, though the price 

 has lately advanced 3s. or 45. per ton. It is applied generally in 

 conjunction with guano, at the rate of from 3 to 5 cwt. per acre 

 for mangolds, being sown on the farmyard manure before the 

 ridges or balks are split back. It certainly very much in- 

 creases both the weight and quality of mangolds, and on light 

 lands appears in seasons of drought to absorb moisture Irom 

 the atmosphere, or else retain what is in the land. Salt 

 is also extensively used with all sorts of top-dressings, as it 

 tends to strengthen the straw, and brighten the sample of the 

 grain. Much is likewise employed to destroy the vitality of 

 couch and other weeds ; and by some farmers it is mixed with 

 the farmyard manure when packed over in the fields. Yarmouth 

 supplies a great quantity of fishery salt in the herring season ; 

 the scales of the herring, as well as all the injured and I'efuse 

 fish, are mixed with the salt, and sold at about 405. per ton. Its 

 value very much depends on the quantity of fish-refuse that is 

 added to the salt. The weight of this addition is generally 

 small, and frequently there is a mixture of what is not much 

 needed in Norfolk, viz. common sand. 



Bones have given way to superphosphate, save that some large 

 farmers buy bones and dissolve them with acid, or decompose 

 them by fermentation. The effect of good superphosphate on 

 the turnip plant is indeed wonderful. Some parts of Norfolk — 

 particularly the white malmy soils — were unkind for turnips. 

 Formerly a good plant on such land was the exception — now it 

 is the invariable rule, and splendid crops of swedes are now 

 grown with certainty, where before only a tiny crop of white 

 turnips was ever expected. On the lighter soils, too, this arti- 

 ficial manure has done wonders. In days gone by rape-cake was 

 the only auxiliary the farmer could command. It was a good 

 sound fertiliser, but not well suited for the tender plant, although 

 excellent for its later growth. Now a little superphosphate is 

 used to start the plant, and hurry it out of the way of the fly. 

 By these and like means, the weight of roots grown on the poor 

 light lands of Norfolk is wonderfully increased. 



Who shall tell of the nameless and numberless manures which 

 now exist? The task would be uninteresting, and the result 

 unprofitable. Numbers of these wonderful productions have 



