AGRICULTURE 



sowing. On some woodland clays still less tillage was given ; but, where the five years' course 

 was adopted, the land was ploughed four times at least. One-third of the fallow was supposed to 

 be sown with clover. Light-land fallows were ploughed in the winter and four times afterwards, 

 but by the use of the scuffler one ploughing might be avoided. It was not common, in Bedford- 

 shire, to plough more than once immediately before sowing any kind of corn. Open-field formers 

 thought that they diminished the increase of may-weed, scratch-burs, &c., by leaving the soil un- 

 broken into small pieces previous to wheat sowing after summer fallows. But in a dry autumn this 

 necessitated an outlay of from 25. bd. to $s. per acre in breaking the clods with spades, hoes, &c. 

 ■* A great part of the corn is sown by the master himself, on most of the moderate farms of Bedford- 

 shire, and a loss is frequently sustained by entrusting this operation to careless servants.' From two 

 and a half to three bushels of wheat were sown to the acre ; barley four, oats from four to five, 

 beans four bushels, red clover i61b. and white clover lo lb. Hedges, which were estimated to cover 

 on the average one-thirtieth of the form, were cut about every twelve years, and yielded about 120 

 faggots for every fourteen poles in length. The occupier of 150 acres of arable should have not 

 less than ;^400 invested in implements and live stock (horses, sheep, and pigs). 



With reference to the implements in use a century ago, Mr. Batchelor tells us that more 

 than half the ploughs were of a character long in use in the county. This plough had a flat 

 wooden mould-board, placed in a vertical position, often with a wedge nailed to the hinder part, 

 to enable it to turn the furrow. But ploughs of an improved construction were coming into use, 

 notably near Woburn, Harrold, and several other places. In these ploughs the mould-board, though 

 still made of wood, had a considerable curvature. Several gentlemen and farmers had used wheeled- 

 ploughs ; of these the Norfolk plough had, according to Mr. Foster of Bedford, on stiff soils been 

 superseded by the Leicestershire plough. In the stony soils south of Dunstable, the Hertfordshire 

 plough was in general use. This plough generally employed four horses double, and sometimes 

 six or eight ; it was a clumsy implement, the merits of which seemed to depend upon its weight. 

 Two-furrow ploughs were tried, but were soon rejected as they did no more work with four horses 

 than could be done by two double-horse teams. Other variations in ploughs were being introduced. 

 Mr. Arthur Young, in his account of the ploughing trials at the Woburn sheep-shearing of 

 1803, mentions as competing implements the Northumberland plough (to which the Duke of 

 Bedford's bailiff had added a wheel), the double-furrow plough, two Norfolk ploughs, Mr. Barlow's 

 Bedfordshire plough. Dr. Macqueen's Bedfordshire plough, and a one-horse plough with a wheel at 

 its heel, devised by Mr. Salmon of Woburn. 



* The harrows of Bedfordshire,' says Mr. Batchelor, * boast of no peculiar merits unless 

 perhaps those of cheapness, and facility of construction.' ScufHers were not much used in the 

 county. Considerable attention seems to have been given at this period to drill machines. The 

 Rev. Selby Hele of Colmworth had a four-row drill, which after a trial had been laid aside. Mr. 

 Pedley of Great Barford had a two-row, which though superior to the one just mentioned, was 



* not likely to promote the adoption of the drill industry.' 



One-row drill ploughs were occasionally used, near Ampthill, Leighton, &c. ; their principal 

 defect was their slowness. The Rev. Mr. Cook's patent drill was used in the county ; though 

 superior to most of the others, it had its defects. The Rev. H. Y. Smithies of Little Staughton had 

 a machine which was an improvement on Mr. Cook's. Mr. Bicheno of Biggleswade had 

 a machine invented by Mr. McDougal which was a modification of Mr. Cook's, and the Duke of 

 Bedford had a small drill-barrow made also by Mr. Bicheno. At the Park Farm at Woburn was 

 a seven-row drill, called the Northumberland drill, but, says Mr. Batchelor, ' being a heavy 

 unwieldy implement, and incapable of being guided in a straight line, it shares the fate of a great 

 number of agricultural tools, namely it is never used.' A costly drill-machine was in use by 

 Mr. Jennings of Harlington. Duckett's drill-marker, followed by the corn-dropper, was more 

 generally used than any other machine by the bailiffs of the Duke of Bedford, Lord Carteret, and 

 others. This machine was preferred on account of the neatness of its work, but that was said to be 

 the only good property belonging to it. The most notable improvement in drill-machines was the 

 attempt made by Mr. Salmon of Woburn to improve the guiding principle of these machines by 

 making the wheels independent of the motion of the horse. By this invention Mr. Salmon gained 

 the /a I offered by the Duke of Bedford as a premium for the ' best newly-invented implement of 

 husbandry.' 



While hand-hoes were still ' the principal dependence for cleaning hoeing crops in Bedford- 

 shire,' horse-hoes of different makes were coming into use in many parts of the county. Cast-iron 

 rollers, spiked and fluted, were also being adopted. Many of the leading agriculturists had set up 



* thrashing mills,' worked by horses ; and Mr. Batchelor says that ' the merits of thrashing machines 

 must be considered on the whole well established ' ; but he complains that the construction of them 

 is imperfect, that their cost is heavy, and that 'their first principles demand a mature and 

 experimental investigation.' Chaff-cutters were to be met with in different parts of the county, as 



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