346 



Farming of LincolnsJtvre. 



^'makino;" it. The swarths have been known to lie for weeks 

 unturned, and the ricks are often left untliatched. There are no 

 large towns in the neighbourhood to make the haj valuable, and 

 it is produced in such plenty, that the farmers do not bestow 

 that care and labour upon it which characterise the hay-making 

 in Middlesex, and scarcely ever shake out the grass the same day 

 as mown. The sheep in this district are all of the Lincolnshire 

 longwool breed, the beasts are shorthorns. The average rental 

 per acre is from 305. to 355., but sometimes 6O5. or even 8O5. 

 per acre are given. 



The Marshes are chiefly used as a feeding district for sheep, as 

 from the unsuitableness of the herbage to lambs, and the entire 

 absence of hedge-rows or shelter of any kind, breeding cannot be 

 carried on with success, and the water in the ditches being fre- 

 quently brack is exceedingly dangerous to young cattle. On the 

 Middle marsh are some extensive woodlands and fences of white- 

 thorn, and a pasture better adapted for breeding purposes ; con- 

 sequently, a few beasts and many sheep are there bred and fattened 

 on the grass lands. 



Approaching the Fen-land, the clay-land becomes narrower, 

 and the Marshes extend towards Wainfleet in a tract of remarkably 

 rich grazing-land. On the Middle marsh the proportion of grass 

 is less ; and owing to the extended practice of under-draining, a 

 considerable breadth of turnips are being grown. Dead fallows 

 vv^ere almost universal a few years ago, but by the acti(m of the 

 rain-water and the atm-osphere upon the drained sod the prin- 

 cipal part is now capable of being fallowed with a crop of turnips, 

 swedes being grown on the stronger land, and white turnips on 

 the loamy and lighter soils. The proportion of dead fallow has 

 been much reduced by good sub-soil-drainage ; but why stop 

 there ? Great difficulty is yet experienced in the consumption of 

 the turnips, the land is heavy and very tenacious, horses injure it 

 by the weight of their footsteps, and whatever may be the season 

 it is generally either too wet or too dry to work easily : why, then, 

 should not the stirring of the solid and cohesive sub-soil follow the 

 laying of hollow-drains beneath it, and thus secure a thorough 

 drying and lightening of the land? Two objections have been 

 adduced ; the land is already soft enough in wet weather, and 

 allows the horses to sink in, and those who have tried sub-soil 

 ploughing have gradually relinquished it. Now it is well known 

 that both the softness and hardness of clay arise from the mois- 

 ture within it, the first from its wetness and the latter from the 

 sudden drying of it when wet. It is the presence of too much 

 water that renders clay-land sticky and soft, and makes it set 

 when drying ; but remove this cause of mischief, and the soil 

 will remain generally in a loose and friable state, never so hard 



