NORFOLK BARLEY 81 



of similar shape to the field, which furrow by furrow 

 he enlarges until he has only got the corners and odd 

 bits to fill in ; or begins at the outside and works in 

 gradually smaller and smaller rounds to a standstill. 

 On these light lands the saving of turnings is an 

 economy and it is desirable to leave the field flat and 

 not in ridge and furrow. On the stronger lands barley 

 is taken after wheat, and so general is it throughout 

 the county to get thus two barley crops in the rotation, 

 that Norfolk is one of the few counties growing a 

 greater acreage of barley than of wheat. In Norfolk 

 in 1909 23 per cent, of the arable land was under 

 barley, the only other counties approaching this pro- 

 portion being Suffolk, with 21, and Lincoln, with 19 

 per cent. With the dry harvest weather that usually 

 prevails (though of late years there have been some 

 signal disappointments), Norfolk expects to obtain fine 

 malting quality, and on some of the land near the sea, 

 where the soil is a little warmer in the early spring, 

 the really fancy barleys which command a special 

 price among the pale-ale brewers are regularly grown. 

 Opinions differ as to how the stubbles should be 

 treated in preparation for roots ; some men like to 

 plough as soon as convenient before the winter, their 

 argument being that thus they collect the winter's 

 rainfall, but one notable farmer with whom we dis- 

 cussed the point only forks out the patches of twitch 

 and ploughs round the headlands where the land may 

 be foul from the hedges, arguing that the most 

 successful take of swedes is obtained by sowing on the 

 fresh-turned plough slice that has not been dried out 

 by successive cultivations. The swedes must not be 

 sown too early, as they are then liable to mildew, and 

 of course a certain proportion of the root-land is also 

 given up to mangolds. The headlands are sown with 



