AGRICULTURE 



and 100 acres of this area would be in swedes, 

 only 10 in white turnips, and 20 in potatoes. 

 These received 8 loads of farmyard manure and 

 2 cwt. of guano per acre. Hoeing twice and 

 singling cost 6s. per acre. Most of the swedes 

 were consumed on the land by sheep with cake, 

 and about a fifth hauled for the feeding beasts. 

 As soon as the roots were off the land was scari- 

 fied, or lightly ploughed to prevent the manure 

 being washed off the surface. Spring ploughing 

 was done from March to the first week in 

 April about 5 in. deep, when nine or ten pecks 

 per acre of Chevalier barley were drilled. Seeds 

 were either sown with the barley or imme- 

 diately after it was in, the mixture for pasture 

 being ii Ib. White Dutch, 3 Ib. trefoil, peck 

 perennial rye-grass to the acre ; the proportion 

 of land sown with red clover being about one- 

 half. 



The sheep generally kept in the forest at this 

 time were half Leicester and half Lincoln, and 

 the number of breeding ewes on the farm de- 

 scribed above was 300 ; and during the winter as 

 many as 1,000 sheep were kept. No cattle were 

 bred on this farm, but between twenty and thirty 

 yearlings were annually bought to graze the seeds, 

 and fed off in stalls as two-year-olds ; and in the 

 autumn a number of beasts were brought to con- 

 sume the straw, 8 Ib. of oil-cake being allowed 

 them per day. There were usually 50 pigs of 

 the small white breed, sold off at a year old, 

 when they weighed 20 stone. 



The first agricultural returns of any value 

 issued by the Board of Trade appeared in 1867, 

 those of 1866 being in one or two respects mis- 

 leading, and by these the total area of statute 

 acres in the county is given as 526,076, of which 

 427,273 were under cultivation ; 282, 124 being 

 arable and 145,149 pasture, the latter excluding 

 heath or mountain land. The number of horses 

 was not stated, but there were 65,574 cattle, 

 319,707 sheep, and 39,273 pigs. 



Farm labourers in the forest in 1868 got from 

 135. to 15*. a week and no extras as a rule, a 

 shepherd 141. a week with a cottage and 

 garden rent-free, and an allowance for potatoes, 

 ji in harvest time, the same for lambing, also 

 2 bushels of malt a year and some milk from 

 the farm-house every day. Some hands were 

 boarded by the foreman, and some in the farm- 

 houses. 



About 1878 the period of agricultural pros- 

 perity which had set in with the gold discoveries 

 of 1849 to I 85i came to an end. The de- 

 cade ending with 1862 was probably the most 

 prosperous ever enjoyed by English farmers, and 

 this halcyon time continued with little abatement 

 for another sixteen years, when the decline de- 

 finitely commenced. Yet until 1883 prices kept 

 up fairly well ; wheat, perhaps the best criterion 

 of farming values, was 41*. jd. in that year; but 

 in 1884 it had fallen to 355. 8</., in 1886 to 



31*., and in 1894 to 22s. lod." 1 Since then it 

 has recovered, but has generally been below 301. 

 a quarter, and the prices of other farm produce 

 have fallen greatly with it. The depression 

 which has now lasted a generation is from its 

 severity and long continuance the worst that has 

 affected British agriculture ; large numbers of 

 landowners and farmers have been ruined, more 

 perhaps of the former, while the labourer on 

 the other hand is better off to-day than he ever 

 was. 



The terrible rains of 1879 and 1880 will 

 long be remembered in the midland, western, 

 and southern counties of England, when the 

 land was utterly water-logged, to the detriment 

 of the herbage, the imperfect maturing of grain, 

 and the prevalence of mould, ergot, and flukes. In 

 Nottinghamshire many of the large flocks on the 

 red gravel and sandy land escaped, but other dis- 

 tricts were not so fortunate. At Kelham, near 

 Newark, all the sheep died or had to be killed 

 owing to flukes. Of a flock grazing on low 

 land at Bulwell regularly flooded by the River 

 Lien not one escaped. These instances on low 

 damp land could be multiplied many times ; but 

 on good dry land there was little rot, and salt 

 and dry food were found most efficacious in 

 staving off the disease. 26 As a whole, however, 

 the county did not suffer as much as many, for 

 in 1878 the number of sheep was returned as 

 279,949, and in June 1880 it was 258,120, no 

 very striking diminution. 27 



The agricultural returns for the year 1880 

 were fuller than in previous years, and give in- 

 teresting figures as to Nottinghamshire. The 

 total area was returned at 526,176 acres, of which 

 450,862 were under crops, bare fallow and grass, 

 a considerable increase since 1867. 



The corn crops consisted of : 



Wheat Barley Oats Rye Beans Peas 



635 8 7 47. 2 39 2 3>45 2 '.4 8 9 8 >77' 4> 62 4 

 a total of 149,162 acres. 



According to these figures there was no change 

 worthy of note in the cultivation of corn in the 

 county since 1878. 



Green crops were : 



Cabbage, Vetches & 



Turnips Se Kohl-rabi other green 



Potatoes Swedes Mangolds Carrots & Rape crops 



6,100 35,791 4,458 214 1,093 4,178 

 a total of 5 1,834 acres. 



Clover, sainfoin, and grasses under rotation 

 occupied 55,771 acres, flax 7, hops 29, bare 

 fallow 24,232, making a grand total of 281,035 



15 In 1877 wheat was (,6s. f)d. a quarter, the last 

 occasion on which it was more than 50*. 



16 ' Report on Liver Rot ' in Roy. Agru. Soe. Journ. 

 (znd Ser.), xvii, 174. 



" Agru. Returns for Great Britain, 1878 and 1880. 



379 



