ioo LINCOLN HEATH AND WOLD 



The whole farm afforded a very good example of 

 the old strict style of farming. Only corn and meat 

 were sold off the holding; everything else was con- 

 sumed and came back to the soil, and the land was 

 kept wonderfully clean, being probably the cleanest 

 large area we had seen during that very weedy year. 

 Even more than on Lincoln Heath we were struck 

 by the brightness and gloss on the corn crops 

 wheat and barley especially. The oats were not so 

 good, and our host also had the idea that oats had 

 been grown too frequently on the land during recent 

 years. His sheep were the typical Lincolns, at that 

 time on the clover leys, and he also bred the other 

 live stock of the county Lincoln Red Shorthorns 

 for which he had some grass fields in the deep little 

 valley that had there been cut into the Wold. He 

 also bred a few horses, keeping for that purpose some 

 exceptionally fine teams of working mares. From 

 what we heard and saw our host's style of farming 

 was very typical of the whole of the high Wolds ; it is 

 the strict four course pursued with rigour and thorough- 

 ness, very conservative in its methods, and neither 

 spending much upon nor taking very much out of the 

 land. Of course the farms must run large in order to 

 yield a living on such a plan, for the rents are high for 

 the class of land 2os. to 305. an acre but the farming 

 is good, and is adapted to the comparative distance from 

 all large centres of population. For on these Lincoln 

 Wolds you feel that you are really remote from the 

 towns ; the land is neither wild nor picturesque ; it is 

 in fact highly cultivated everywhere ; but for that very 

 reason there is the less suggestion of the residential 

 and holiday-making element that colours the country- 

 side in so many parts of England. It represents 

 agriculture, and nothing but agriculture. 



