19« FAHOWlIfCS. 



SECT. II. FALLOWING. 



The grand fallow of Norfolk is the preparation for tur- 

 nips, which will be mentioned under that anicle. The 

 common summer-fallow takes place on strong, wet, and 

 clayey soils ; upon which, however, turnips are too ge- 

 nerally ventured. One fault in the husbandry of the 

 county, and of Norfolk farmers when they move into 

 very different distridls, is that of being wedded too closely 

 to pradtices which derive their chief merit from a right 

 application to very dry or sandy soils. 



Mr. Overman, whose husbandry merits every at- 

 tention, having taken a farm of Mr. Coke, at Michael- 

 mas 1800, and the outgoing tenant possessing a right to 

 sow some layers which were very full of speai-grass, &c. 

 Mr. Overman gave him, to the surprize of his neigh- 

 bours, 5I. los. per acre to desist; not that he might him- 

 self sow those fields, but for the sake of completely fallow- 

 ing them. Some I found had undergone the operation, 

 and were clean ; others were in it, and almost green with 

 couch. He destroys it by mere ploughing and har- 

 rowing, without any raking or burning; conceiving that 

 by well-timed tillage, any land may be made clean ; and 

 that on these sandy soils, a July earth in a hot sun will 

 efFe6l it : but whenever or however done, his objedt, 

 whether with much or little tillage, is sure to be answered ; 

 and as the successive cleanness of the land depends on its 

 being once got perfe6lly free from weeds, his great ex- 

 penses, he expe(5ts, will in the end prove the cheapest way 

 of going to work. He gives four earths in all ; the first 

 before wintei', only two inches deep ; another in the 

 spring ; the third two, or two inches and a half deep, in 

 July, in a hot lime ; the fourth after harvest. 



1803. 



