358 



Farming of Lincolnshire. 



the carrs and the river Trent, and north of Kirton and Gains- 

 borough ; and this may be denominated the North-western District. 

 The soils being very various, the modes of management show a 

 corresponding diversity; but by comparing the following details 

 with the description of the soils already given, the reader will be 

 enabled to refer each peculiar practice to its own locality without 

 a repetition here of the names of towns and villages there 

 situated. The general course of cropping on the best kind of 

 land is the alternate one of — 1. turnips; 2. barley; 3. red 

 clover for mowing, or white for pasture ; 4. wheat. Upon the 

 tolerably good sands — 1. turnips; 2. barley; 3. seeds for one 

 or two years; 4. oats or rye. And on the inferior — 1. turnips; 

 2. oats or rye, one, two, or three years seeds, and then broken 

 up for turnips again. On the cold clayey loam the course of 

 cropping varies still more: unless the season be favourable it is 

 difficult to get the land in proper order for turnips, yet, as a flock 

 of sheep is an invariable adjunct of every moderately-sized farm, 

 either turnips or rape are grown if possible, followed by barley, 

 seeds, and wheat. But it is often the case,* when a wet or frost- 

 less winter and spring occur, that the land will not work well for 

 barley, and if sown at the usual time this crop will not produce 

 more than 2 quarters per acre ; and the alternative is to wait till 

 the tough clods become thoroughly dried through, and upon the 

 first heavy rain to roll and harrow them down to a friable mould. 

 Sometimes, however, this cannot be accomplished until too late 

 for the crop ; and to avoid such a dou])le dilemma, many farmers 

 take wheat after turnips, followed by seeds, and then beans or 

 wheat for the last crop. By this means one evil is precluded, but 

 another is encountered ; it is but seldom that clover will prosper 

 when sown on wheat, for the soil having- a tendencv to ''run " in 

 the winter and set hard when dry weather comes, the seeds are 

 rendered inferior for grazing, and the succeeding crop thereby in- 

 jured. There are here and there a few isolated disciples of the 

 old school remaining, who follow the primitive course of — 1. fal- 

 low ; 2. wheat ; 3. beans ; and by their personal labour, the 

 greatest economy in the house, and the expenditure of as little as 

 possible on the land, have hitherto contrived to neutralise the im- 

 poverishing effects of the inferior produce of their farms. It was 

 formerly the universal custom to allow the land to remain in seeds 

 for three or even four years, but the period has been gradually 

 shortened of late to only one year.* Another deviation from the 

 general rule has been lately adopted in several localities, viz., that 

 of consuming as many turnips as practicable up to Candlemas, 



* With the present low prices of grain it is not improbable that this period may again 

 be lengthened, especially if grazing promise belter than cropping : many will be 

 anxious to lessen the expense of labour on their land. 



