352 



Farming of Lincolnshire. 



furrows only. The latter plan, however, has one advantage over 

 the former, even if the requirement of one or two horses less to 

 work the drill be taken for nothing, viz., that there are one-third 

 fewer furrows in a field, and these being lowest, are generally 

 found to be the most failing places. 



There is a considerable extent of woodland upon the drift 

 hills, and the fences, thoujjh 2"enerallv neat, are not all trimmed 

 by the hook, many being allowed to grow up bushy for the purpose 

 of making long faggots or kids. 



Some beautiful farm premises are found on the larger farms 

 in the central district, but good buildings, though great improve- 

 ments have been made within 20 years, are, notwithstanding, very 

 rare ; and both on the white clay and green-sand hills, the home- 

 steads are usually ill-arranged, badly constructed, and the barns 

 and sheds inadequately proportioned to the size of the farms and 

 the head of stock. A common mode of building hovels, barns, 

 &c., on a small scale, is to fix up a framework of wood, and cover 

 it with plaster. This plaster is the white marl mixed with water, 

 having straw well chopped up amongst it; and, afier standing a 

 week before used, makes a hard and cheap walling for light build- 

 ings. This style of architecture is called mud and siud," and 

 formerly the cottages of the poor were universally erected after 

 the same rude and miserable model. 



There are a few leases in this district. The average rent per 

 acre of the clay is about 245. to 26^., subject, in many cases, to 

 the tithes being paid by the tenants. 



Most farmers marl their own land if they have pits of either 

 v/hite or blue clay upon their farms; but where the sub-soil en- 

 tirely consists of gravel or sandy clay, this means of fertlhty is 

 beyond their reach, or cannot be obtained without incurring too 

 heavy an expense. 



The best and greatest improvement on this clay has been that 

 of under-drainage. It was commenced about 30 years ago with 

 horseshoe tiles and "bats," or soles, which were laid at only 16 

 inches depth. At the present time, however, scarcely any shallow 

 draining is done, the tiles never being put in at less than 3 feet 

 from the surface ; and nearly all that was done during the first 

 20 years has been taken up, and the land re-drained at the above 

 and even much greater depths, it being found that with the 

 shallow system the land was always wet. By this means the 

 whole country in the neighbourhood of Wragby has been greatly 

 dried and improved, and the difficulty which attached to the 

 various operations of husbandry gradually weakened and reduced. 

 But it is on those lands which rest on a white clay sub-soil that 

 draining has oriven rise to the most striking improvement ; the 

 process of claying (as practised in the fens) being here combined 



