Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF OXFORDSHIRE. 



1137 



1 Geographical State and Circumstances. 



Climate colder and more backward than Suffolk ; N. E. 

 winds severelv felt in spring ; salubrity of the air affected by 

 the fens of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire to the extent of 

 5 or 600,000 acres, which lie on the west side of the county. 



Suit* A sandy loam or sand; Kent says, similar and equal 

 in value to that of the Austrian Netherlands. There is a small 

 patch of silt or warp clay on the borders of Lincolnshire, and 

 of rather stiller clay on the borders of Cambridgeshire. 



Water. The sea and rivers for navigation; watering ponds 

 for cattle made at Holkham, each to serve four enclosures, 

 forty-two feet square at bottom, twelve and seven feet deep, 

 bottom and sides well covered with sand ; within a yard of 

 the top, the clav two feet thick, and paved with bricks set on 

 edge. These ponds made by men from Gloucestershire, at two 

 and sixpence per superficial yard. To divide the ponds for four 

 fields, a large stone with a hole wrought in it to receive a post 

 is necessary at the centre, and the post has mortices to receive 

 rails from the sides. 



2. Property. 

 Estates of all sizes ; one of 25,000/. a year ; one of 14,000/. ; 



one of 13,000/ ; two of 10,000/. ; mam of 500O/. Land sells 

 currently at thirty vears' purchase. Tenure by freehold three 

 fifths, church, collegiate, and corporate estates one fifth, and 

 copyhold under lay lords one fifth. 



3. Buildings. 

 Some noble seats of proprietors. Kent says farm buildings 



are on too large a scale ; " they are always crying out for barn- 

 room, though wheat is preserved cheaper and better on stad- 

 dles;" barns on a farm of 100/. a vear that have cost 300/. 

 Coke has expended above 100,000/. on farm-houses; barns 

 at Holkham 1 20 feet long by 30 broad and 50 high, surrounded 

 with sheds for sixty head of cattle ; walls of fine white brick, 

 and roof of blue slate. At Lvderstone an immense barn of 

 Coke's, containing the crop of 140 acres. Seven men neces- 

 sary on the goffor mow, at the unloading of every waggon, and 

 dare not venture to tread the corn for fear of bursting the 

 barn ; farmers fond of immense barns. In building, Coke has 

 substituted milled lead for ridge tiles to the roofs ; copper 

 wards to all locks; front edges of mangers are rollers covered 

 with tin; mangers themselves plated with iron; bottoms of 

 the stall fences of Penryn slate. In building walls not to be 

 roofed, ihey are drawn in to a brick's length at top. Lime-wash 

 used as a preservative to boards, walls, &c : it is composed of 

 lime fresh from the kiln, and clean sharp sand, mixed with hot 

 water, and laid on hot; stirring it up so as always to lay on 

 sand with the lime. An excellent plan. At Holkham a brick 

 manufactory, where bricks of all forms are made, and common 

 bricks are cut, five parts in six, through in various directions, 

 so as to give half and quarter bricks, angles, &c., without break- 

 ing andVaste. This is one of the most complete manufactories 

 in^the kingdom. At Belwy a capital farmery, labourers* cot- 

 tages, and gardens. Sharp clean sand dashed on new paint 

 found to answer the end of imitating stone, &C. A. Young did 

 not see a good farm-yard in the county. 

 Cottages much wanted ; some built of Hint-work. 



4. Occupation. 

 Farms large on the drv soils, and smaller on the wet ones ; 



2000 acres arable, the largest measuring from 400 to 600. 

 Farmers famous for their improvements, excellency of their 

 management, and the hospitable manner in which they live, 

 and receive their friends and strangers. The farming-mind 

 of the co'inty has undergone two revolutions, one between 1730 

 and 1760, when great improvements were made ; and the next 

 about 1790, when drilling began to be introduced. Coke began 

 to promote farming; and the South Down sheep were intro- 

 duced about that time. The great improvements for seventy 

 vears past effected in consequence of twenty-one years' leases. 

 The advantages of leases ably advocated by Kent. Coke ad- 

 heres ste idily to this term, while some others are reducing it 

 to seven and nine years. 



5. lmple?nents. 

 For more than half a century these remained stationary ; 



now improvements making ; Norfolk plough has a high-pitched 

 beam, wheels near to the share, and is reckoned lighter than 

 most wheeled ploughs. 



6. Enclosures. 

 Many since middle of eighteenth century. In planting 



hedges on a loamy soil, the plants being laid in, and the bank 

 over them raised to the usual height, the face of it, and also 

 of the ditch, for one foot or more below the original surface is 

 plastered over with clayey stuff taken out of the bottom of 

 the ditch, to the thickness of two or three inches, or more 

 about the sets. The advantage of this plan is, that this loamy 

 puddle, from the bottom of the ditch, is without the seeds of 

 weeds itself, and by its compactness excluding the air from 

 these in the mould below, it prevents them from germinating ; 



7789. OXFORDSHIRE. An irregular, inland, elevated surface, of 450,000 acres, chiefy "n aration, 

 and in a very backward state as to agriculture. There are rich grass lands, subjected to thj same dairy 

 management as in Buckinghamshire, and some natural wood lands. The principal agriculturist and 

 patriot of the county is Fane, of Wormsley. (Davis's Report, 1794. Arthur Young's Oxfordshire^ 1809. 

 Mars/mi's Review, 1813. Smith's Geological Map, 1823.) 



the consequence is, hedges planted in this manner require 

 little or no weeding for several years. 



7. Arable Land. 



Plough with two or four horses very shallow ; carefully pre- 

 serve the hard basis formed by the sole of the plough, which 

 is called the pan of the land ; breaking this up is said to let 

 down the riches into the hungry subsoil, &c. Culture of tur- 

 nips erroneously stated by Kent to have been introduced from 

 Hanover by Townsend, in the reign of George I. ; — doubtless 

 has increased since that period. Clover very general, and 

 wheat on the clover ley ; turnips all broadcast, or if drilled, 

 never on ridgelets, but on the flat surface ; rotations good, such 

 as turnips, barley, clover, wheat, &c. Turnips fed oil' with 

 sheep, or given to cattle in stalls, or the open yard ; sometimes 

 carted on the sown wheats in February, and eaten off them 

 by sheep or bullocks, the soil being very dry and loose; clover 

 eaten off, or mown for soiling or hay ;— most generally eaten 

 off by ewes and lambs. Wheat dibbled in some places, a prac- 

 tice which originated in this county, and has scarcely been 

 adopted in any other. Carrots not so much cultivated as in 

 Suffolk; a good deal of mustard from March to Wisbeach ; 

 on the rich black lands, four crops of mustard taken in succes- 

 sion, and then wheat ; produce three to four quarters per acre. 

 Hemp and flax cultivated in the spots of ground belonging to 

 houses of industry, and in some other cases, hut to no extent. 

 Saintfoin not much cultivated ; Coke had 400 acres. Lucerne 

 at a few places ; mangold wurzel introduced by Sir MonLuint 

 Martin, who continues to cultivate it. Drilling and dibbling 

 of wheat and peas generally practised on the sandy soils. 

 Coke drills all his corn. Arable culture, in every department, 



greatly improved since 1790 A paper, by Kent, entitled 



Fallowing exploded, has been justly condemned by Marshal, 

 and other men of more general experience in culture: his 

 notions of shallow ploughing, and continual tillage and crop- 

 ping without rest, most erroneous, and contrary to expe- 

 rience. 



8. Grass. 



Very little of natural turf in the county ; transplanting turf 

 recently introduced. (.0715.) 



9. Gat dens and Orchards. 



Orchards to most of the farm-houses ; some public ones near 

 the large towns. Norfolk beefin an excellent apple, and much 

 used for baking dry in ovens, a very particular operation known 

 only to a few bakers. They are repeatedly taken out of the 

 oven, and pressed flat with the hand, and then put in again. 



10. Woods and Plantations. 



Much planting has taken place on the poorer sands; Mar- 

 sham of Stratton, the chief planter, and next Berney of Bracon, 

 Coke, and Windham. From 17S1 to 1801, Coke planted 718 

 acres, with upwards of two millions of trees and shrubs, of 

 more than fifty kinds. Bevan, of Riddlesworth, 966,000 trees. 

 Marquess Townshend feeds cattle, sheep, and deer, with the 

 trimmings of plantations* Sheep are fond of the bark of the 

 Scotch fir and ash. 



11. Improvements. 



A good deal of draining done of late years; very little irri- 

 gation; among the manures are reckoned marl, lime, gyp- 

 sum, oyster shells, sea ouse, sea weeds, pond weeds, burnt 

 earth, sticklebacks, oil cake, rape cake, ashes, soot, malt dust, 

 ploughing in growing buck- wheat, yard dung, leaves, burning 

 stubbles, river mud, and town manure. Marling, or claying 

 as it is called, has been much used for an unknown length or 

 time, and is found of great use on the sands ; laid on at all 

 seasons, but chiefly on the clover leys in autumn, and spread 

 in spring, before ploughing for peas or oats ; quantity, twenty 

 to eighty loads an acre; duration, twenty to fifty years. Sea 

 ouse, a calcareous mud, forty loads per acre. The sea mud 

 is chiefly part of a stratum of rotten timber on the sea-shore, 

 and which is washed out by the tides ; it is perfectly black and 

 rotten, and ten loads manures an acre. Burnt earth is the 

 burnt ant-hills of moovy meadows; ashes of cottagers who burn 

 turf, &c. Leaves raked, stubbles burned, &c. by some. Some 

 judicious and successful embankments made on the Otis' 1 , near 

 "Lynn, by the late Count Bentick, and continued by his son, 

 the present Governor Bentick. 



12. Live Stock. 



Predominant cattle Scotch, bought in every year from the 

 drovers, for feeding. Norfolk black-legged sheep gradually 

 giving way to South Downs; folding on the decline. Poultry 

 good, especially the turkey, owing to the dryness of the soil, and 

 great range of pasture. Decoys, and pigeon houses, formerly 

 numerous, but now on the decline. Rabbits, hares, pheasants, 

 partridges, and rooks abundant. 



13. Political Economy. 



Charles II. observed, that Norfolk should be cut into road* 

 for all the rest of England ; few canals. 



1. Geographical State and Circumstances. 

 Climate cold and bleak. On the Chiltern hills, cold, moist, 



and foggy. 



Soil in three great divisions, red land, stonebrash, and chil- 

 tern, or chalky hills ; the basis of all these soils is calcareous; 

 there is also a considerable portion of loamy soil. 



2. Property. 



Few large estates ; church tenures very common ; one estate 

 of 20,000/. a year, one of 12,000/., one of 7000/., one of 5000/., 

 and so on. 



3. Buildings. 



Blenheim, the noblest in England ; Mavlands' house at 

 Broadeaton, recorded bv Young as a model for houses, which 

 cost about 20,000/. building. In farm buildings the best thing 

 is the coped stone rick and granary stands; farm buildings ge- 

 nerally of stone, covered with stone slate; wretchedly contrived, 

 and badly executed, in most parts of the county. Gardens to 

 most of the cottages. Bishop of Durham has built some very 

 comfortable ones at Mungewell. 



4 



4. Occupation. 



Farms generally smaller than in most other counties; few 

 above 500 acres. Leases of fourteen and twenty-one years not 

 uncommon ; many of seven years. Farmers in general very 

 ignorant, and much prejudice'd against new practices. 



5. Implements. 



The prevailing plough a swing wooden-boarded implement, 

 drawn uy from three to six horses, and incapable of making 

 good work under the guidance of the best ploughman. 



6. Arable Land. 



Very badly managed in general ; on heavy lands two crops 

 and a fallow, but the fallow kept unploughed for the sake of 

 affording couch-grass leaves for the sheep. Davis of Bloxbam, 

 an extensive farmer and land-surveyor, "never saw any land 

 upon which a naked fallow is necessary ; not even on the stiffest 

 soils;" has been in many counties, and emulated on twenty -six 

 commissions of enclosure at the same time I Wheat sown early, 

 and either ploughed in or folded ; often both. A scantlet of 

 lentils cultivated. Turnips in most parts seldom bigger than 



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