282 Norfolk Farming/. 



pear rather slow in adopting new and improved implements. They 

 do not largely patronise a novelty until its merits are pretty well 

 appreciated elsewhere : and if any implement is in good repute 

 in Norfolk it may be considered to have perfectly established its 

 character for utility and durability. But because it does not 

 succeed at first, it by no means follows that the invention is 

 worthless. Norfolk is the best county for testing any new manure, 

 or fresh feeding-stuff; but considering the advance of its agri- 

 culture, it is the worst starting-place for any novel implement. 

 To account for this it may be observed that the old Norfolk im- 

 plements were good in principle, much a-head of the times in 

 which they were invented, and admirably suited for the light 

 soils of the county. The labourers have used them so long 

 and so well, that it is a difficult matter to make them take to 

 any new implement, and the masters, being satisfied with the 

 good work of their old machines, are not disposed to invest much 

 money in new ones. Some of the drills which were made 40 

 years ago are still used on the Holkham estate, and the wonder 

 is that machines so ancient and dilapidated can make such 

 straight and regular work. In other parts of the kingdom in 

 which drilling is not so well understood, their appearance would 

 at once condemn thein. One-horse carts are not extensively 

 used ; waggons are still the favourites, though they are not so 

 light and elegant in make as those of the midland counties. A 

 sort of hybrid carriage, having the form of the Berkshire waggon, 

 with all the Norfolk conveniences for locking, has become general 

 on some of the best farms of the west. Last year there were 

 two exhibitions of steam-ploughing in Norfolk ; the traction 

 engine performed near Thetford, and the stationary one in 

 Holkham Park. Neither of them convinced the spectators that 

 steam was 7/et an economical substitute for horse ploughing, but 

 the verdict of the Norfolk farmers was decidedly in favour of the 

 stationary engine and its wire ropes. 



There is still a class of modern implements which has not 

 been mentioned, viz. the combined parers, cultivators, and 

 grubbers. In olden time Norfolk had some capital scarifiers ; 

 some of them are still in use ; but these cheap and efficient 

 implements were intended only to work in loose land, Avhich 

 they stirred well, bringing the root-weeds to the surface. They 

 did not pretend to pare or break up stubbles, or to move all the 

 ground. Biddell's great implement first came forth for this 

 purpose, and answered famously, with the exception that it 

 required too much horse-power. Subsequently Bentall's broad- 

 share rose into notice, and was patronized by many farmers ; but 

 recently Coleman's scarifier has appeared, and is decidedly the 

 best implement of the kind, and the one most used in Norfolk, Its 



