vii] THE RISE OF THE SANDS 107 



raised to three and sixpence, and Coke now wanted 

 five shillings. " Mr Brett jeered at the suggestion," 

 continues Mrs Sterling, "and pointed out that the 

 land was not worth the eighteen pence an acre 

 originally paid for it This was sufficient for a man 

 of Coke's temperament, he immediately decided to 

 farm the land himself." 



No adequate history of Coke's agricultural work 

 has been written 1 , but from 1778, when the little 

 incident just mentioned took place, down almost to 

 the time of his death in 1842, he continued to make 

 advances in the management of sandy land and dis- 

 seminated his results at the great annual gatherings, 

 the " sheep shearings," which for 43 years he held at 

 Holkham. Realising the beneficial effects of grass 

 and clover on the land, he left these crops growing 

 for two, three, or even four years, thus adding to the 

 nitrogenous organic matter of the soil, besides getting 

 supplies of hay for the animals. Marl was applied 

 in the first year at the rate of 80 to 100 loads per 

 acre and left to wash into the land as long as the 

 grasses stood there. When the land was ploughed 

 up wheat was sown. Usually the amount of farmyard 

 manure was insufficient for this crop, at any rate in 

 the early days of the improvements, and manure had 

 to be purchased. Rape cake (an old fertiliser in 



1 Some account is given in Dr Rigby's Holkham, itt Agri- 

 culture, etc., 1816. 3rd edition, enlarged, 1819. 



