COKE OF NORFOLK 219 



especially of Shorthorns among cattle and of the New Leicester's 

 and Merinos among sheep, he adopted Devons and Southdowns. 

 His efforts were not confined to the home-farm. Early and late 

 he worked in his smock-frock, assisting tenants to improve their 

 flocks and herds. Grass lands, till he gave them his attention, 

 were wholly neglected in the district. If meadow or pasture 

 wanted renewal, or arable land was to be laid down in grass, farmers 

 either allowed it to tumble down, or threw indiscriminately on 

 the ground a quantity of seed drawn at haphazard from their own 

 or their neighbour's ricks, containing as much rank weed as nutri- 

 tious herbage. It was a mere chance whether the sour or the sweet 

 grasses were aided in their struggle for existence. Stilling- 

 fleet, in 1760, had distinguished the good and bad herbage by 

 excellent illustrations of the kinds best calculated to produce the 

 richest hay and sweetest pasture. The Society of Arts, Manu- 

 facture and Commerce had offered premiums for the best collections 

 of the best kinds, and in Edinburgh the Lawsons were experimenting 

 on grasses. But Coke was the first landlord who appreciated the 

 value of the distinctions by applying them to his own land. In 

 May and June, when the grasses were in bloom, he gave his simple 

 botanical lessons to the children of his tenantry, who scoured the 

 country to procure his stocks of seed. 



Impressed with the community of interest among owners, occu- 

 piers, and labourers, Coke stimulated the enterprise of his tenants, 

 encouraged them to put more money and more labour into the land, 

 and assisted them to take advantage of every new invention and 

 discovery. Experiments with drill husbandry on 3,000 acres of 

 corn land convinced him of its value in economy of time, in saving 

 of seed, in securing an equal depth of sowing, and in facilitating the 

 cleaning of the land. He calculated that he saved in seed a bushel 

 and a half per acre, and increased the yield per acre by twelve 

 bushels. As with the drill, so with other innovations. He tested 

 every novelty himself, and offered to his neighbours only the results 

 of his own successful experience. It was thus that the practice of 

 drilling turnips and wheat, and the value of sainfoin, swedes, mangel- 

 wurzel, and potatoes were forced on the notice of Norfolk farmers. 

 His farm-buildings, dwelling-houses, and cottages were models to 

 other landlords. On them he spared no reasonable expense. 

 They cost him, during his tenure of the property, more than hah* 

 a million of money. By offering long leases of twenty-one years, 



