340 



Farming of Lincolnshire. 



with sulphuric acid. The usual f3ressing is 3 to 6 bushels of the 

 dissolved bones, from 50 to 70 lbs. of the acid being allowed to 

 the acre, and about 4 cartloads in some cases, or 8 or 10 in 

 others, of yard manure. Many farmers, however, ap^ly the chief 

 bulk of their yard-manure to the barley stubbles for the benefit 

 of the growing seeds and the following wheat crop. The oolite 

 limestone soil is of a different nature to that upon the chalk, so that 

 the raw bones, which are often most suitable for the latter, are 

 not found to answer equally well on the former. A sufficient 

 depth and firmness of soil has been already made, to allow of the 

 bones bemg reserved entirely as a food for the plants. Various 

 manures have been tried, — bones (dry and dissolved), soot, 

 guano, rape-cake, salt, lime, pigeon-manure, urate, gypsum, 

 fish-blubber, &c. ; but the decision of universal practice is in 

 favour of oil-cake yard manure, dissolved bones, and rape-cake. 

 The latter is very much used for wheat, about 5cwt. per acre. 



There is no peculiarity in the mode of preparing the fallows 

 for the root crop : the land is very easy to manage, as it may 

 be worked in almost any weather. No lime or clay, we believe, 

 is ever applied to the heath land. The turnips are generally the 

 white varieties, wnih not more than one-fourth part swedes, the 

 weight per acre being sometimes 30 tons and upwards. This is a 

 breeding district for sheep, and a fine cross between the Leicesters 

 and Lincolns has been long established. Lambs are, however, very 

 commonly brought to the turnips ; and the mode of feeding and 

 time for marketing are simdar to those on the Wolds. The cattle 

 are generally of the improved short-horn breed, some of the best of 

 which are bred at Wellbourn ; but the usual system is to buy 

 beasts in the autumn for the yards, and through the winter they 

 are fed on straw, and supplied with from 3 to 6 lbs. of linseed- 

 cake each per day. 



There is no grass land upon the Heath ; every part of it (with 

 the exception of a few woodlands) is under culture, abounding 

 with spacious well-constructed farm-buildings, strong well-fed 

 working-horses, and immense folds of sheep : the barren sheep- 

 walk and warren have been clothed in fruitfulness, and their rich- 

 ness preserved by unremitting and unstinted weeding and manur- 

 ins;. No underdraining is required, except in the valleys of the 

 southern part of the district ; the surface between Sleaford and 

 Lincoln being rather flat, with a gentle slope eastward from the 

 escarpment, the surface-water passes too freely away through the 

 rock.* The soluble components of manure are here liable to be 

 lost, and the land subject to be dried and parched by the sun, 

 though in v/inter the sandy soil makes a dry and admirable layer 

 for the sheep. Asa peculiarity in the working of the land, we 

 believe that, in sowing wheat after clover, the land after being 



