54 Management of strong wet Loams 



the buildings^ &c. in perfect repair. I then sold it for six 

 thousand five hundred pounds. The gross produce per 

 acre of these old sour grass lands could not exceed twenty 

 shillings; and little or nothing was expended on productive 

 labour. Ever since they have been converted mto tillage 

 double the former gross income must have been expended 

 for labour, and the aggregate produce at least six pounds 

 and six shillings on every acre, including the whole rota- 

 tion of crops. You have here, gentlemen, one strong 

 proof of the utility of converting certain portions of grass 

 lands into tillage. This farm is now in such a high state of 

 cultivation, that any part of it might be converted into mea- 

 dow land by the mode recommended in my former chapter, 

 and would be worth two pounds per acre, as I shall demon- 

 strate from actual experiments on rather inferior, though 

 somewhat similar, soils. 



When first I became rector of in the county of 



there were two fields of fifteen acres much impo- 

 verished by constant cropping and tillage, valued in that 

 state at sixteen shillings per acre; soil a strong loam, and 

 very wet. These fields I drained, to take off the surface 

 water, as recommended in my first chapter; then fallowed 

 and dressed them, sowing the hay seeds, &:c. in August. 

 The produce the first year \\ as estimated by many farmers 

 at four tons per acre ; it was so stout that the mowers had 

 double their usual wages, and it was impossible to spread it 

 on the land. I ha,ve ever since, viz. for eight or nine years, 

 let these lauds at two pounds two shillings per acre. As 

 the tenants have betjn frequently changed, the lands have 

 been mown almost every year, and are now somewhat ex- 

 hausted, but may be made as good as ever by a dressing, 

 9nd by being fed with sheep one sunnner; or, if ploughed, 

 would produce abundant crops for eight or ten vears, and 

 might then be converted into meadow by the process I 

 have before recommended : the course of crops will be 

 found at the end of this essay as best adapted to clayed 

 loams. By the mode of cropping there recommended, a 

 farmer may continue sowing wheat in any season. If too 

 wet to work his pea, bean, or vetch land, his clover lands 

 will be in order ; if too dry for the latter, the former will 

 work well, and he may be sure of putting in his seed in 

 good time. It will be obvious, that when clover is sown 

 with the spring corn, the three feet ridges, on which the 

 turnips or cabbages grew, must be levelled, and five or ten 

 feet ridges formed. The clover seed should be sown imme-f 

 diately before the last horsc-hocing. I could bring proofs 



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