Fanning of Lincolnshire. 



347 



as to hinder tilla2:e. and never too lis-ht and ^i-easv to bear the 

 tread of a horse. And there cannot be a more reasonable way 

 of effecting this than by providing, with a proper implement, a 

 passage downward through that pan of earth which the rain-drops 

 have hitherto been unable thoroughly to pierce and disintegrate. 

 The second objection has little weight; for if a few individuals 

 give up a good practice out of alarm at its cost, that is no reason 

 why others, who are convinced that the lasting amelioration of a 

 piece of clay-land amply repays for ploughing every few years 

 once down every furrow^ should not adopt and persevere in it. 



No general system of husbandry is practised in this part of the 

 district under consideration^ a common practice being to crop 

 as long as the land bear it. A 5-field course is found 



very suitable, viz., 1. turnips; 2. oats; 3. wheat; 4. clover; 

 5. wheat. Clover is produced in great abundance: the prac- 

 tice of growing it being new, the soil is rich for it. Beans and 

 clover are both extensively grown, and form two of the best 

 preparations for wheat that are to be found. A small breadth 

 of mangold-wurzel is grown, but no coleseed ; and there are but 

 few crops of potatoes. Liming has been done to some extent. 

 The sheep and beasts here are all bred in the district. 



The next district coming under notice is that stretching be- 

 tween the chalk hills east, the cliff range west, the Fens south, and 

 the town of Brigg north; and includes the broad tract of drift 

 clay, the narrow reach of Kimmeridge clay, and the green sand 

 formation which, though running parallel with the chalk from 

 near Brigg to its southern extremity, is of too small an area to 

 merit a separate division of this Report. It is proposed to con- 

 sider both sand and clay conjointly under the name of the " Cen- 

 tral District T The red clay belonging to the green-sand forma- 

 tion is, in the neighbourhood of Spilsby, good corn land, — it 

 works easily and yields well. The following is found to be an 

 excellent course of cropping for this kind of soil: — 1. turnips; 

 2. wheat; 3. barley; 4. turnips; 5. oats; 6. wheat; 7. clover; 

 8. oats or wheat. But the most usual rotation is — i. turnips; 

 2. wheat ; 3. barley ; 4. turnips ; 5. barley ; 6. seeds, — if white 

 clover, grazed two years and manured, or mown one year and 

 manured,— then broken up for oats or wheat. Under the best 

 management the seeds are manured both years when grazed ; a 

 practice which ansv.ers well, particularly on the sandy soil, the 

 porosity of which is such that the strength of the manure soaks 

 very quickly away. It is better to lay on 7 loads per acre fre- 

 quently than a heavy dressing all at once at longer intervals. 

 The practice of top-dressing the clover certainly incurs a waste 

 by evaporation ; but the loss by soakage would occasion great 

 injury to the crops growing two or three years after the appli- 



