The Husbandry of the Period. 247 



in April. Notwithstanding these processes, it was probably 

 yielding in May a thick crop of weeds, which on a further 

 ploughing would be covered in and destroyed. An occasional 

 harrowing up to the end of the first week in June produced 

 that fine tilth without which the turnip cannot luxuriate. 

 The manure was then carted straight from the yard and 

 ploughed under before any loss of its virtues was occasioned 

 by the rays of the midsummer sun. A quart of the great 

 round variety of turnip seed was sown to the acre, this being 

 sufficient to cover the losses sustained by the ravages of the 

 fly, as well as failures in germination during a droughty 

 summer. Young does not tell us whether his turnips were 

 planted on the ridge or flat, or if the double-breast plough 

 was used in covering the manure and seed ; but, in the absence 

 of any such information, we may conclude that he had in his 

 mind a later modification of Tull's horse-hoeing system ap- 

 plicable to turnip culture on the flat. 



The chief source of profit from the Norfolk husbandry no 

 doubt was and is the sheep. Few authors before Young had 

 afforded their countrymen any information on the manage- 

 ment of the flock ; but we must not omit to mention an im- 

 portant treatise written by William Ellis, a Hertfordshire 

 farmer, about 1750. He appears to have known quite as much 

 as, if not more than. Young about the management of the fold, 

 thoiigh his neighbours did not approve of his practice. He 

 was greatly in favour of consuming turnips on the ground by 

 sheep, especially on light land ; and he was quite aware that, 

 in order to cure rot, the flock must be removed to drier herbage 

 and allowed salt. Perhaps the best advice to the farmer in 

 the whole 383 pages is where he recommends a lame shepherd 

 and a lazy dog as the only suitable attendants of the flock.^ 



Young was an advocate of folding throughout the winter. 

 He does not, however, seem to have recognised that the flock is 

 never so healthy as when on arable land. " On those farms," 

 he says, " which have a perfectly dry gravelly pasture or two, 



^ A Complete System of Experienced Improvements made on Sheep, 

 Grass Lambs, and House Lambs, etc., etc. Will. Ellis, circa 1750. 



