FARMING IN 1850. 27 



But, with the exception of the more general The 



change in 



use of steam-power, and of the reaping machine the last 



thirty years 



and steam-plough, and other implements and more in 



the general 



machines, there is really little that is new in the diffusion of 



improved 



practice of the last quarter of a century. The 



" 



present system of drainage was previously well 

 understood. Bones, guano, and nitrate of soda 

 were fully appreciated by those who then used ysems. 

 them. Covered buildings and autumn cultiva- 

 tion had been introduced. Mr. Hudson, of 

 Castleacre, in Norfolk, then manured his land 

 for every crop. In running my eye over the 

 account which I wrote of English agriculture 

 in 1850, I find descriptions of good farming 

 in nearly every part of the country, the details 

 of which differ very little from the practice of 

 the present day. Mr. Pusey and Sir John 

 Conroy in Berkshire ; Mr. Thomas in Bedford- 

 shire ; Mr. Beasley in Northampton ; Mr. Paget 

 in Notts ; Mr. Torr in Lincoln ; Mr. Mechi, Mr. 

 Fisher Hobbs, and Mr. Hutley, in Essex ; Mr. 

 Huxtable in Dorset ; Jonas Webb in Cambridge- 

 shire ; Mr. Morton in Gloucestershire ; the Messrs. 

 Wells and Outhwaite in Yorkshire ; Mr. Fleming 



