USEFUL PROJECTS. 



403 



There is likewise a Norfolk-harrow, 

 very useful for harrowing what are 

 called brush-turnips, or any other 

 turnips, preparatory to their being 

 hoed. I must be allowed, likewise, 

 to mention the drill-roller, which 

 consists of cast-iron rings, made at 

 the Norwich foundry, and slipped 

 on upon a round piece of wood, as 

 an axle-tree. This is one of the 

 best things that has ever been in- 

 troduced, for the preparation of the 

 land for any sort of corn, where the 

 soil will admit of its being used. 

 By the corn being so well deposited, 

 it takes better root, and at least one 

 fourth of the quantity usually sown 

 may be saved. 



The Flemish farm, which I have 

 before mentioned, was so named 

 from an intention at first, of carry- 

 ing onasystem of husbandry similar 

 to that practised in Flanders, which 

 consists of an alternate crop for man 

 and beast: but the soil being strong 

 and cohesive, upon trial, it has been 

 found to answer best under a four- 

 course shift, more like some parts of 

 Gloucestershire; as thus, first year, 

 wheat; second, cabbage or clover; 

 third, oats; fourth, beans. The 

 quantity of arable land on this farm 

 is one hundred and sixty acres, or 

 forty acres in a shift. There are 

 two things observed upon this farm, 

 which may be worth notice: the 

 first is the practice which has for 

 these two years past been adopted, 

 of taking off the tops of the beans 

 just as the blossom is set; this not 

 only improves the quality, but in- 

 creases the quantity, and causes 

 them to ripen sooner, which is a 

 considerable advantage, by giving 

 time to get the succeeding crop of 

 wheat in, perhaps, a fortnight 

 earlier. ITie other is, that of sow- 

 ing clover early in the spring, among 



twenty acres or one half of the 

 wheat, and bush-harrowing and 

 rolling it in. This has produced a 

 very fair crop of clover the next 

 year; and the other half, after the 

 wheat, is winter and spring fal- 

 lowed, and planted with cabbage. 

 There is a double advantage re- 

 sulting from this; that one half of 

 this shift, so managed, becomes a 

 summer crop, and the other half a 

 winter crop; and by observing the 

 next year to change the parts, by 

 sowing the clover where the cab- 

 bage was before, the clover and 

 cabbage do not come round upon the 

 samegroundbut once in eight years. 



Cabbage has been tried several 

 years, but his majesty's husbandmen 

 never got into the right manage- 

 ment of it till this year ; but now 

 the crop is remarkably fine. 



It will not be improper to men- 

 tion, that the drum-headed cabbage 

 is the best sort ; that the seed 

 should be sown in August, the 

 plants first set out in November, 

 and transplanted for good in July. 

 The next thing to be noted is their 

 application : they are certainly in- 

 ferior to turnips for fattening,but su- 

 perior in the increase of mUk, either 

 of cows or ewes, and therefore they 

 are particularly good where there is 

 a dairy or a breeding flock of sheep; 

 and I trust his majesty will,the next 

 yeaning season, try an experiment, 

 of which I have high expectation, 

 which is to slice or quarter the cab- 

 bage, and feed the ewes with them 

 upon such of the meadows as want 

 manuring, which I flatter myself 

 will be of inestimable service to the 

 ewes and lambs, and be the means 

 of increasing the next year's crop of 

 hay considerably. 



The true light of viewing these 

 improvements is to consider them as 



Dd2 



