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STATISTICS OF \(iUICUT/rURE. 



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IV. 



7787. SUFFOLK, A crescent-llkc Bat surface <>: BOO.OOO acres, fin- soil chiefly in patches of clay, poor 

 sandy toil, -iii«! rich loam, and the agriculture dlret ted (<• the growing of corn. The county is, however, 

 famous i»>r it* breed of cows, horses, and hogs, and it i* one of those in which carroU Mre a good deal 

 grown. One "i the largest ineep rain in the kingdom i> held at Ipswich, whore it is **id ;u> mar.i -is 

 I3) t 000or 200,000 sheep and lambs have been exposed t'<<r sale. The celebrated Arthur Young was a 

 native yeoman of the county, and tanned his own estate near Bury. [Young'i Snflutk t lBlQ. Smith's 

 Geological Map, i 



1. Geographical State and Circumstances. 



Gftmsff , ' « Km of tiir dried In tin- kingdom ; thi 

 and tlu- N K. wind* m spring, sharp lira prevalent. 



ninaiinga rtraw loam on ■ < lay-marl l»ot- 

 t->n> In the centra of the ■■■ to ocean exteiuiveiy 



u a hi bar* tu in ; a toot of «K ** coast; 



and nnm sand and Has bmd »» the north-west angle; no 

 ii, i i. rale* 



3, Proper ty * . . 



Chteflv In the hands of rich Yeomanry, who cultivate their 

 own est ita of from 1001. lo 400/. r year; one- estate oi 1 jtHW. a 



s. r . and t i Ihxes of lu,oou/. 



; BuUding*. . _ 



Great erections have been made for the ronvenu-m-e of men 

 of large fortune*; but n«.t •-. man) for thoseof smaller incomes; 

 tarm-houses improved, hut -till inferior to what they might l>e ; 

 . tr, n of lath and plaster, and wanting requisite repaint ; barns 

 tmeieteh large; cottages in general bad habitations; the door 

 general!) opens from the external air into the living room; 

 n paration had, and the deficiency of gardens general. 



4 Occupation, 



Farms generally large; some from 20/. to lonr a year; 

 generaJh Born low. to 900/. ; the largest on the sandy districts. 

 Leases far seven, fourteen, and twenty-one years; hut little 

 land bald at will. 



5, Implements. 



The Suffolk sw big plough, though known as one of the lw*t 

 of the old English swing plough*, is now giving way to im- 

 proved forms ; various threshing machine-, and other improved 

 Implements Introduced ; circular harrows [jig. °y0.) were used 

 on the farm of the late celebrated Arthur Young. 



6. Enclosures, 



Suffolk one of the earliest enclosed counties in England; a 

 few recent enclosures. 



7. Arable Land, 



Plough, w itli two bones, one acre a day on stiff soils, and one 

 nod a quarter to one and a half on sands; ploughmen skilful, 



and lubscribe prize* among themselves for such as draw the 



■trabrhtest furrow, fee. Besides all the common crops, n large* 



prouortlon ofpe as grown than Is usual in mo*t counties. Hops, 



• rne, ehiccorv, and hemp, aregruwn in a 



nrw places. The culture of carrots Is, of course, confined to the 



Mndj districts, and thai of rape for seed, and of hemp, to the 



fennj srudeot the county. A.Young teems to have been the 



■ Lor of chiccory, baring had " ninety acres of it for 



ihei )■" II. -mp i, grown both i> cottagers and ormers, and for 



the * «-«l i- well .i- Rbre, but nerex on a large scale; Kre acres 



Is ihe greatest breadth to Ik- met with* 



s Grass, 



Pa turn course and nol extensive; both these and meadows 

 iagi d, "v. nrun with mote and ant hills, bushes, tufts 

 of bail grasses, weeds, flee. Hay<making badbj performed. 



9. Gardens and Orchards. 



Gardl a walbi built of the width of a brick, i*» i.iaking them 

 wavy. [Bncydopttdfa iffdmrfraJag;, 15h'7.) 



10. Wood* a nit Plantations. 



Pew, and pay badly ; but large oak timber fw*w*erly produced 

 in tile dag di-.tr.! ts. 



11. Improvements. 



Wheat substituted for rye. Draining much prartised on the 

 clays; bushes, straw, or stubble used for idling them; claying 



and marling the sand* practised, but sand laid Cfl clay found of 

 no use, or marl on clay, according to the old adage — 



.Mark- clay, throw all a\v,i\ ; 



Marie sand, and buy land. 

 Some workmen procured from (jjoucestershire to execute 

 irrigations in fie manner uf that county. 



12. Live stock. 



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

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

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

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

 and great part of the season six gallon* ; best milkers red brin* 

 die, or yellowish cream coloured ; not always the best feeder*. 

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

 is, that the bull-, when three years old or Ihere.dKiuts, are 

 either sold or castrated for fatung, by which means, when a 

 good stock -getter is thought to be discovered, when search* d for 

 he is no more ; thus no improvement can be made in the breed, 

 hut 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, Uttered. 

 and the vegetables brought to them : l»oth barbarous modes of 

 management. Dairy management not particularly good ; wo- 

 men in general the milkers; milk generally seven or eight 

 cows an hour; one for a wager milked thirtv in three hour*. 

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

 dition of the cow* 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 firkin-. 



The sheep used are ot various breeds, and the practice of 

 folding is universal. 



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

 Lowestoft", Woodbridge, Oxford* About the middle of last 

 century, a considerable spirit of breeding, and team* draw tag 

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

 ugly, with slouching ears, ill shaped head, and low in the fore 

 end"; a great carcass, short leg* and short hack ; they could 

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

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

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

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

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

 ot oaten and barley straw lo eat, but no hay; so treated, they 

 are found to keep free from diseases, and work several years 

 longer than if kept constantly in stables. 



The hogM fatten early and at little expense, but are not great 

 breeders. 



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

 don returns 40,000 rabbits in a year; twenty rabbits per acre 

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

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

 the occupier- 



Poultry. Turkeys generally cultivated, but chiefly for home 

 use. 



Pigeons abound on the borders of Cambridgeshire. 



13. Political Economy. 



Roads very good ; made with flints and gravel ; some canals. 

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

 the coast; spinning and combing wool, and spinning and 

 weaving hemp, among the cottagers. Says and silk manufac- 

 tures at Sudbury. Various hundreds in "this county incorpor- 

 ated by charter for erecting houses of industry for the i»oor ; 

 they manufacture netting for the fishers, spin, &c, ana cul 

 tivate a few acres of land ; they are admirably kept and 

 managed, and the poor live like the pensioners in Chelsea 

 college; but these houses of industry have little effect in lower- 

 ing the poor rates. The best managed are of very expensive 

 tendency, and of equivocal effect as to comfort and morality. 

 Those badly managed are nurseries of idleness and vice, 

 attended with great discomfort and expense. Marshal con- 

 siders them as the grave of morality and independent policy, 

 and as we are informed, by a gentleman who has been a director 

 of one of them for many years, with perfect truth. 



14. Obstacles to Improvement. 



The great abundance of game in the county is such, thai in- 

 stances are given of corn having been injured to the extent of 

 half and three fourths of its value by hares and pheasants, 

 which are common every where, and on the sand district more 

 especially. 



An agricultural society, called the Milford society, meets al- 

 ternately at Milford and "Bury. 



upwards oi hall a century, the- most munificen( of landlords, and the greatest friend to fanners Norfolk 

 m short, \ias formerly reckoned the fines! county in England for agriculture, as Northumberland is at 

 present Maclue'fl nursery at Norwich, the property and under the direction of a lady, is one of the most 

 extensive and best managed of provincial nurseries. {Kent's Norfolk, 1795. Young's Norfolk, 1801. 

 *tan**rs Review, 1813, Dr.Rsgtys HoUfiam, its Agriculture, $c. 1819. Smith** Geological Mop. 

 ibiy. Etltn. Oaz. 1827.) 



