348 



Farming of Lincolnshire. 



cation of the manure, if the other plan were followed, — and as 

 it is, the waste is rendered as little as may be by choosing damp 

 weather for the operation, so that the salts and ammonia are 

 washed into the soil. The mown seeds are generally a mixture 

 of rye-grass and clover, the Timothy, or cats'-tail grass, not 

 being grown. Clover is an excellent preparation for wheat on 

 some soils; but here the wheat after it is liable to lose plant. 

 On the sandy land the common course is — 1. turnips; 2. oats; 

 3. wheat; and then either turnips again or clover. The Norfolk 

 4-course shift is not generally but still frequently pursued, no 

 regular system being adopted by all the farmers. White turnips 

 are the chief sort, though many swedes are grown, and all the 

 roots are cut and given to the sheep on the land. The sheep 

 are generally supplied with oil-cake, and great care is taken to 

 feed them (with both cake and turnips) regularly and at the 

 proper rate. Hardly any coleseed is grovvu. Tares are often 

 sown for feeding with sheep, being ploughed up in July and the 

 land sown with turnips. Turnips and cabbages are the principal 

 green crops, the mode of cultivating the latter vegetable being 

 very simple, — the land is ridged with manure just as for turnips, 

 and then the plants are set by spade; the cabbages fill the 

 place of turnips in the rotation. Thus the farmers here have 

 demonstrated by extensive practice what chemistry proves by 

 analysis, viz., the superior nutritive qualities of this useful plant 

 as compared with most others. Very little pulse-corn is grown 

 upon these hills, and the varieties of wheat commonly sown con- 

 sist of more red than white. Wheat is dressed for "^'smut" in 

 various ways, sulphate of copper being commonly used : it is 

 usually drilled in rows 7 to 9 inches apart, the quantity of seed 

 bemg 8, 9, to 10 pecks per acre. The produce of most of the 

 sand district is about 3 or 4 quarters per acre. The working of the 

 land presents few peculiarities, very little scarifying or skeleton- 

 ploughing of the surface being customary ; nor is there any par- 

 ticular disadvantage felt by young cropping, the obnoxious wire- 

 worm not making any grievous ravages. The weeds are very 

 troublesome, especially the wild oat, butter-cup, and ''needle, ' 

 — of course, in addition to that pest of husbandry upon all soils, 

 the ''twitch," or couch. All the grain crops are mown and tied. 

 About one-third of the land on this formation is in pasture, which 

 is grazed by the breeding cattle, or " holding stock," during the 

 summer, the seeds being at the same time stocked with sheep. 

 Very few bullocks are fattened upon the hills ; many farmers 

 winter twice as many beasts as they can summer, buying them 

 in autumn, keeping them in the yards on straw and cake, and 

 then selling them in spring to the grazier. This is not at all a 

 dairying county ; but every farmer keeps from 2 to 4 cows — 



