152 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



levelling inequalities, filling up hollows and holes, forming the 

 channels, sluices, and dams, it will be considered that a great 

 deal was required in grubbing the land, getting rid of the gorse. 

 and heather, and rubbish, that covered considerable portions of it 

 before the improvement was undertaken ; and, previous to the 

 levelling, the ground was ploughed, and a crop of turnips grown 

 upon it, which were fed off by sheep. This was followed by a 

 crop of barley, and then a second crop of turnips. The improve 

 ments having been completed, and the land levelled, these first 

 crops, which were contemporaneous with the process of improve 

 ment, having been taken, the lands were regularly laid down to 

 grass, and so have remained, requiring now no further manure, 

 and yielding a most abundant product. 



It has been found that the supply of water has been inade 

 quate to the wants of the land in seasons of drought ; and, to 

 remedy this, the proprietor has formed, above the town of Mans 

 field, a reservoir of seventy acres, which is designed to do double 

 duty, being first used to drive some mills in the town, and after 

 wards for the purposes of irrigation. 



The productiveness of these meadows has much exceeded the 

 expectations formed ; and I shall quote from Mr. Denison s in 

 teresting account of them in the Journal of the Agricultural 

 Society, of which I have already to some extent availed myself. 



&quot; These meadows are farmed in the following manner. Early 

 in January, Southdown ewes, with lambs bred early for this 

 purpose, are turned on the meadows. In this early season, they 

 are assisted with cabbages ; but the ewes and lambs always do 

 well on the meadows ; and they appear to be particularly healthy 

 for the lambs, very few dying suddenly, as will often be the 

 case on fresh seeds, [i. e., land newly laid down to grass. 

 H. C.] Ewes are put on with their lambs as they are born, and 

 gain strength, and in this way, from January to the end of March, 

 and in some parts till much later in the spring, even till late in 

 May, they are devoted to ewes and lambs, feeding the lambs 

 fat, which are sold, at that early season, at from 24s. to 30s. 

 each. The land is then shut, some at the beginning of April, 

 other portions later in rotation. The most forward meadows 

 will be ready for cutting green by about the middle of May, and 

 will yield from sixteen to twenty good cart-loads of green fodder 

 per acre, which is carried to cattle in yards. In about six weeks, 



