Norfolk Farming. 285 



result was one of the most level and glorious crops of grain ever 

 seen in Norfolk. The yield of oats was nearly 15 quarters to 

 the acre, and the field on being cleared was as clean as a garden. 

 Last year the same field produced the best crop of swedes hi 

 the county, and the barley which follows now shows signs of 

 over-luxuriance. This is the perfection of farming : to grow 

 such excellent and profitable crops, and yet keep the land free 

 from weeds and increasing in fertility. The usual mode of 

 growing such oats is to clean the wheat-stubbles directly after 

 harvest, and to sow 2 cwt. of guano before the oats are drilled in 

 the spring. A top-dressing of nitrate of soda is often added, for 

 oats will stand plenty of manuring, and the grain, if the crop 

 lodge, is not necessarily spoiled. It is the general practice to 

 take oats after wheat, but it is questionable if barley is not a 

 better grain to grow as a second corn-crop. The quality of 

 wheat-stubble barley is invariably finer than that of the turnip- 

 lands, and oats could be grown after the late swedes when the 

 sheep had consumed an extra quantity of cake, and the land 

 was in too rich a condition to be safe for barley. 



Talking of these corn-crops reminds one of the harvest, which, 

 in Norfolk is generally of shorter duration than in most other 

 counties. The usual mode is to employ a certain number of 

 men, boys, and women to secure the crops, the former of whom 

 are paid a fixed sum per head, be the time they are about it 

 long or short. It naturally follows that these men exert them- 

 selves to finish off the harvest in good time : it rarely extends 

 beyond a month, and is frequently less than three weeks, and the 

 men have of late years received 6/. for their harvest wages. All 

 the corn is cut with the scythe, and the cost to the farmer for 

 securing his crops is from IO5. to 135. per acre, which includes 

 thatching, beer, and all other expenses. The practice of putting 

 out corn by the acre is gaining ground in the south-west, and is 

 common in the fens. The introduction of reaping-machines may 

 probably work quite a revolution in harvest operations and in the 

 mode of paying the labourers. 



Norfolk will always be more of a grazing than of a breeding 

 county. Hardly any cattle are reared ; almost all the vast number 

 of beasts which are grazed every winter are bought in store con- 

 dition on Norwich Hill, or at the various markets and fairs in 

 the county. The Galloway Scots, which many years ago formed 

 the chief supply, are now very inferior in quality and few in 

 quantity ; all the best are grazed north of the Tweed, and a few 

 refuse things that will neither grow nor fatten find their way to 

 Norfolk. St. Faith's fair is the only occasion on which many 

 good Scots are offered. The quality of the short-horns, but espe- 

 cially of the Irish cattle, has wonderfully improved ; indeed, 



