120 YORKSHIRE ARABLE FARMING 



as on the Lincoln Wolds, followed the strict four- 

 course rotation without any variations ; the roots were 

 rape and swedes to be eaten off by the sheep, rarely 

 were mangolds attempted. Barley followed the roots, 

 almost universally some wide-eared variety was taken, 

 and afterwards came the seeds, red clover only at long 

 intervals, but most generally the mixture of alsike and 

 white clovers with trefoil, which we had been seeing 

 everywhere on the uplands since we entered Lincoln. 

 Wheat succeeded the seeds, and in this district even 

 more than in Holderness possessed a gloss and bright- 

 ness, without any trace of the rust that was then so 

 common in the south country. The variety most 

 commonly grown was Browick, and the oats which 

 may take its place or that of the barley were generally 

 Black Tartars. No catch cropping was practised, the 

 seasons being comparatively cold and late. 



The soils are naturally very shallow and are full of 

 fragments of flint, but though the chalk rock is so near 

 that it is brought up by a deep ploughing the land is 

 said to be improved by liming. No great quantity of 

 fertilizer is used, superphosphate for the root crops 

 forms the only supplement to the dung made on the 

 holding. Naturally in this style of farming sheep play 

 an important part, and here for the first time we met 

 with the Leicesters, the aristocrats among British 

 sheep that still show a quality in their looks and 

 action that has been rivalled by no other breed. It 

 was by his work upon the Leicesters that Bakewell 

 first taught his fellow-farmers the principles of stock 

 breeding and selection, and there are few of our other 

 recognized breeds that do not owe something of their 

 excellence, not merely to the example, but to an actual 

 blending with some of the fine Leicester blood. When 

 in condition no other sheep quite so closely approxi- 



