Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF SUFFOLK. 



1093 



folk one, fencylng the former whiter veal. Tlie Cottenljani 

 cheese ascribed to tlie excellence of tl>e grass, in great |>art 

 Poa aquatica. 



The cow system consists chiefly In suckling of calves and 

 making of butter ; there is not much cheese made, except the 

 noted ones of Soham and Cottenham. Tlie suckling season is 

 from Michaelmas to Lady-day. It requires, on an average, 

 two cows to fatten a calf. The cows, when at a distance from 

 home, are milked in the pasture, and the milk broujjht home 

 by a horse or ass, in tubs, slung across : women could not do 

 this work, the travelling being", after the least rain, very bad, 

 even when there is no water to go through. 'l"he butter is sold 

 rolled up m pieces of a yard long, and about two inches in 

 circumference; this is done for tne conveniency of colleges, 

 where it is cut into pieces, called " parts," and so seni to 

 table ; its quality is no where excelled. 



lliUlocks of various kinds fattaie<l on grass, and when not 

 ready in autumn, put up and finished on corn or oil-cake. 

 Col. Adeane biiys in London at a falling market, and keeps till 

 a rising one before he sells. 



Slieep chiefly as in Huntingdonshire; some Norfolks and 

 South Downs ; folding on the uplands. 



Horses of the cart kind much bred, and considered an article 

 in which the county excels ; they are very large and bony ; 

 b'.ack ; with long hair from the knee to the fetlock trailing on 

 the ground. A cart stallion has cost 255 guineas, and his colts 



have Bold for sixty guineas. Horses kept In the (table tlmMwh- 

 out the year, at a great expense, Ijecause on dry fijod ; herb- 

 age plants, artificial grasses, and roots being neglecUHl, and no 

 soiling practised. 



The deer in Wimpole park attacked by a singular disease, a 

 sort of madness; the diseased animal begins by pursuing the 

 herd, then sequesters himseltj breaks his antlers against the 

 trees, and gnaws large pieces of flesh from his side?, &c. be- 

 comes convulsed, and soon expires. 



Pigeon.housei on almost every farm ; kept in a great measure 

 because if any one were to give them up, he would be obliged 

 to keep the i>igeons of others; destroy thatched roofs, and oblige 

 every farmer to sow more seed than he otherwise would; |>ro- 

 duce sent to London and other parts ; often U)0 dozen \>vt 

 annum from onepigeonry ; dung higlUy priced. 



13. Rural Economy. 



Peat, sedge, or thin turf, and dried cow dung used as fuel. 

 The cow dung is spread on grass, about IJ inch thiok, and 

 cut into pieces, tight or twelve inches square ; there it lies till 

 dry. 



14, Political Economy. 



Koads miserably bad ; canals or navigable cuts in the fens in 

 all/ directions ; a few fairs; a pottery at Ely for coarse iware; 

 excellent white bricks made there, and at Chatteris and.Cam. 

 bridge; lime burned at various places. 



7002. SUFFOLK. A crescent-like flat surface of 800,000 acres, the soil chiefly clay, and the agriculture 

 directed to the growing of corn. The county is, however, famous for its breed of cows, horses, and hogs, 

 and it is one of those in which carrots are a good deal grown. The celebrated Arthur Young was a native 

 yeoman of the county, and farmed his own estate near Bury. ( Young's Suffolk, 1810. Smith's Geologi- 

 cal Map, 1819.) 



. 1. Geographical State and Circumstances. 

 VlinuUe. One of the driest in the kingdom ; the frosts severe ; 

 and the N. E. winds in spring, sharp and prevalent. 



Soil. The predominating a strong loam on a clay-marl bot- 

 tom in the centre of the county, a zone of sand along the coast, 

 and some sand and fen land in the north-west angle; no 

 minerals. 



2. Property. 

 Chiefly in the hands of rich yeomanry, who cultivate their 



own estates of from IQOl. to 40<W. a year; one esUte of 8(XXW. a 

 year ; and two or three of 5000/. 



3. Buildings. 

 Great erections have been made for the convenience of men 



of large fortunes ; but none for those of smaller incomes ; farm 

 houses improved, but still inferior to what they might be ; often 

 of lath and plaster, and wanting requisite repairs ; bams use- 

 lessly large; cottages in general bad habitations; the door 

 generally opens from the external air into the living] room ; 

 reparation bad, and the deHciency of gardens general. 



4. Occupation. 

 Farms generally large; some from "iOl. to 100/. a year; 



fenerally from 150/. to 00/. ; the largest on the sandy districts, 

 icases for'seven, fourteen, and twen^-one years ; much land 

 held at will. 



5. Implements. 

 The Suilblk swing plough, well known as one of the best of 



the old English ploughs; various threshing machines, and 

 other improved imiilements introduced; circuleir ^harrows. 

 (Jig. 776.) 



6. Enclosures. . . , , 

 Suftblk one of the earliest enclosetl counties m England ; a 



few recent enclosures. 



7. Arable Land. .^ ., ,,.^ 

 Plough, with two horses, one acre a day on stiff soils, and 1^ to 



li on sands; ploughmen skilful, and sulmcribe pnze among 

 themselves for such as draw the straightest furrow, &c. Jie- 

 sides all the common crops, a larger proportion ot pe^ 

 grown than is usual in most counties. Hops, cabbages, carrots, 

 lucem, chiccory, and hemp, are grown in a few places. 1 he 

 culture of carrots is, of course, confined to the saiuly districts, 

 nd that of rape for seed, and of hemj>, to the fenny anple ot 

 the county. A. Young seems to have been the chief cultivator 

 of chiccorv, having hadj" ninety acres of it for sheep." Hemp is 

 grown both by cottagers'and farmers, and for the seed as well 

 as fibre, but never on a large scale; five acres is the greatest 

 breadth to be met with. 



%t Grass. 



Pastures coarse and not extensive ; both these and meadows 

 badly managed, overrun with mole and ant hills, bushes, 

 tufts of bad grasses, weeds, itc. Hay-making badly performed. 



9. Gardens and Orchards. 

 Garden walls buUt of the width of a brick, by making them 



wavy. (Eiicyclopaulia qf Gardening, 1567.) 



10. Woods and Plantatiojis. 

 Few, and pay badly ; but large oak timber formerly produced 



in the clay districts. 



11. Improvement?. 

 Wheat substituted for rye. Draining much practised on the 



clays ; bushes, straw, or stubble used tor filling them ; claying 

 and marling the sands practised, but sand laid on clay found M 

 no use, or marl on clav, according to the old adage 



Marie clay, throw all away ; 



Marie sand, and buy land. 

 Some workmen procured from Gloucestershire to execute 

 irrigations in the manner of that county, 



12. Livestock. 

 In cows, horses, and hogs, Suffolk excels. The Suffolk 



breed of cows spread over the whole county. To keejj the 

 breed polled, horned calves are never reared, but sold to the 

 sucklers. Cows in prime give eight gallons of milk per -day, 

 and great part of the season six gallons; best milkers red brin- 

 dle, or yellowish cream colored ; not always the best feeders. 

 Often fed in winter with cabbages. A point of bad management 

 is, that the bulls, when threeyears old, or thereabouts, are either 

 sold or castrated for fatting, by which means, when a good stock- 

 getter is thought to be discovered, when searched for he is no 

 more ; thus no improvement can be made in the breed, but by 

 accident. Cows are allowed to range over turnip fields and 

 eat where they please, and often the same as to cabbages. 

 In some cases they are tied to posts in the open field, littered, 

 and the vegetables brought to them : both barbarous modes of 

 management. Dairy management not particularly good ; wo- 

 men ill general the milkers ; milk generally seven or eight 

 cows an hour ; one for a wager milked thirty in three hours. 

 Quality of milk depends not only on the food, but on the con- 

 dition of the cows as to health and fatness. Chafing dishes of 

 charcoal kept in the dairies during frost, but the cream does 

 not rise so well. Butter generally salted in fitkins. 



The sheep used are the Norfolk breed, or as they ought rather 

 to be called the feuftolk breed, witli which folding is univer- 

 sally and anxiously practised. 



Horses of the best variety found on the sandy soils, as about 

 Lowestolf, Woodbridge, Orford. About the 'middle of last 

 century a considerable spirit of breeding, and teams drawing 

 against teams for large sums, existed. The old breed were 

 ugly, with slouching ears, iirshaj)ed head, and low in the fore 

 end ; a great carcase, short legs and short back ; they could 

 only walk smd diaw, and no more trot than a cow ; of late, by 

 aiming at coach horses, the breed has become handsomer, and 

 one ot the best for draught in England. In the east district, 

 horses are turned out of the stable in winter at night, about 

 eight o'clock, into a yard well litteretl with straw, with plenty 

 of^aien barley straw to eat, but no hay ; so treated, they are 

 found to keep tree from diseases, and work several years longer 

 than if kept constantly in stables. 



The hogs fatten early and at litUe expense, but are not great 

 breeders. 



RulMts. Many warrens in the sand district ; one at Bran- 

 don returns 40,(KX) rabbits in a year ; twenty rabbits per aciB 

 usual produce ; carcase defrays rent and taxes, and the skin 

 profit ; so that no mode of farming can be more profitable to 

 the occupier. 



Poultry. Turkeys generally ciUtivated, but chiefly for home 

 use. 



IHgeont abound on the borders of Cambridgeshire. 



13. Political Economy. 



Roads very good ; matle with flints and gravel; spme canals. 

 Ipswich and Bury excellent markets ; a good deal of fishing on 

 the coast ; spinning and combing wool, and spinning andweav- 

 ing hemp among the cottagers. Sa>s and silk manufactures at 

 Sudbury. Various hundreds in this county incorporated by 

 charter for erecting houses of industry for the poor ; they ma- 

 nufacture netting for the fishers, spin, &c., and cultivate a few 

 acres of land ; they are admirably kept and managed, and the 

 jKxir live like the pensioners in Chelsea college; but these houe 

 of Industry have little t'fi.'ct In lowering the poor 



rat6f. Mar> 



4A 3 



