Farming of Lincolnshire. 



377 



In Barkston and other parishes skirting the Heath boundary, a 

 line of sand and red land lies between the heath and a tract of 

 stiff clay which stretches westward to the boundary line of the 

 county. On this line the four-course shift is practised, as on 

 the heath; on the clay the rotation is — 1. dead fallow, for 2. 

 wheat, oats, or barley ; 3. seeds or beans ; 4. wheat, oats, or 

 barley. On the poorer clays a 5-field course is preferred, 

 viz., 1. fallow for 2. spring corn; 3. seeds; then break up for 

 4. oats ; 5- wheat. Better wheat is grown after oats than after 

 seeds, if eaten with linseed-cake. The dead fallow is a dead 

 loss, and considerable efforts have been made by the more enter- 

 prising during the last few years to grow tares on some portion 

 of the clay fallows. These are partly mown off for horses^ but 

 principally eaten on the land with cake-fed sheep. The chief 

 difficulty is in keeping the land clean. Fine turnips can be 

 grown upon the clay ; but the farmers do not know in a wet 

 season what to do with them, as they can neither feed them on, 

 nor cart them off the land to advantage. On the sand land the 

 cultivation of Swedish turnips has much increased of late years, 

 though they are not so extensively grown as white and green-top 

 turnips. The swedes are probably one-fourth of the whole crop. 

 All are drilled, some on the flat, but mostly upon ridges, varying 

 from 18 to 26 inches in distance apart. Swedes of very good 

 quality have been grown on the sand ; the land being ridged, 

 manured with 10 cart-loads of oilcake yard-manure, and 4 cwt. 

 of gypsum, with from 15 to 20 cwt. of turf-ashes drilled in with 

 the seed. The average produce of this part of the district, 

 which is well farmed, is of wheat 4 quarters, barley 5 quarters, 

 oats 6J quarters per acre, and beans and peas for the last 5 

 years have not yielded 3 quarters, and it is thought hardly 2^ 

 quarters per acre. The average rental is about 305. per acre, 

 excluding the environs of Grantham, where the land lets for 

 accommodation at from SI. to 41. per acre. The proportion of 

 grazing and meadow land (not including Syston and Belton 

 parks) is probably not more than one-eighth of the whole sur- 

 face. The clay-lands were shallow-drained to some extent 20 

 or 30 years ago, which was certainly a marked improvement upon 

 no-draining ; but within the last few years a deeper drainage has 

 been tried, tested, and preferred. The drains are now being cut 

 not less than 3 or more than 4 feet deep, except where bogs or 

 springs occur. Pipe-tiles are generally approved of. The 

 labourers were much opposed to the deep-draining at first ; but 

 time and experience have informed them of their error, and it is 

 also generally agreed that the stiffer the soil the closer ought to 

 be the drains. The common distance between them is from 6 to 

 20 yards, according to the nature of the substratum. With a 



