On the Cost of Horse-potcer. 459 



work, taking the average of dry and wet with the distance from the stables. 

 Generally 2, sometimes 3 horses are used in a plough." 



(25.) " The soil on the feu farms is very light and non-adhesive ; on the 

 high lands more tenacious and heavy. Many fen farmers break up a good 

 deal of their clean fallow lands with 4 or 6 horses in a large plough, bringing 

 up the subsoil and mixing it with the top soil. They plough from 10 to 14 

 inches deep ; but the usual depth of ploughing is for wheat 5 or 6 inches ; and 

 on the high lands we cultivate from 6 to 8 or 9 inches deep. Two horses 

 easily plough 5 roods a-day on the fen ; on the high lauds early in the season 

 2 horses will plough from 3 to 4 roods per day ; but in winter and spring, 

 when the land gets wet and sticks a good deal, we usually plough with 3 

 horses at length, to avoid treading, and they plough just 3 roods daily." 



(26.) " Three-fourths of the farm is a light chalky soil, the remainder a 

 rather stiff red gravel resting upon the chalk. The wheat stubbles are usually 

 ploughed about 7 inches deep in the autumn by 3 or 4 horses. The average 

 depth for wheat, barley, &c., is about 5 inches. An average day's work is a 

 statute acre, done by a pair of horses abreast." 



(27.) " The soil is a marl on a chalk subsoil ; the depth of cultivation is 

 from 6 to 7 inches. An acre and a quarter to an acre and a half is a day's 

 work — 4 horses to a team." 



(28.) " One hundred and twenty acres a clay mould ; 120 acres peaty, 

 on a sandy subsoil, but damp — reclaimed from swamp ; 55 acres sharp gravel. 

 The ordinary depth of furrow is 8 inches ; if subsoiled, 15 inches." 



(29.) " Soil loamy, with clay subsoil. Ploughing 6 to 7 inches deep. 

 Three roods a-day in winter ; 1 acre in summer by 2 horses." 



(30.) " Soil varying from mere sand to gravelly sand, and in places many 

 boulders. The depth of cultivation varies according to crop from 5 to 7 inches, 

 except one deep ploughing in pi'eparation for turnips from 10 to 11 inches. A 

 day's work at plough varies from 1 acre of hard work to 1^ or even more of 

 light fallow ploughing ; ploughing clover lea for wheat Ij acre per day ; and 

 perhaps the average j^loughingof all sorts is li acre daily, done in 8 or 9 hours 

 — 2 horses to a team." 



(32.) "Soil medium. Lea furrow 6 inches deep. Part ploughed in autumn 

 8 to 11 inches deep, rest say 7 or 8." 



(6.) " Soil, a sand over 140 acres ; a clayey loam over 80 acres ; a light 

 brashy soil over 20 acres. Ploughed from 5 to 10 inches deep, according to 

 the crop." 



Even the extremely various character of the land, and the 

 great differences in the treatment of it, as aliove described, fail, 

 however, to account for the whole of those differences in the 

 price of horse-labour per acre which Table III. describes. There 

 is a large remainder after the amplest deduction on this account, 

 which must be put down either to varying stable management 

 on the one hand, or to varying laboriousness of cultivation on 

 the other. The number of acres cultivated per horse^ — i. e. ex- 

 cluding from the whole acreage of the farm not only the perma- 

 nent pasture-land, but the extent in clovers and grasses — varies 

 exceedingly ; no less, indeed, than from 18 and 15 in the case of 

 Nos. 15 and 27, to 31 and 30 in the case of Nos. 14 and 6. 

 From the accounts which have been given me there does not 

 appear to have been that greater laboriousness of cultivation, 

 either involuntary, arising from the character of the soil, or 



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