378 



Farming of Lincolnshire. 



clay bottom and rather mild soil on the top, drains 4 feet in 

 depth, and at intervals of 12 yards, have been found to answer 

 admirably well. There is about one-third of the clay-land now 

 drained. 



Mr. S. Hutchinson (agent to Earl Brownlow) has introduced 

 a system of ''^ air- drainage the parallel tile-drains, 3 feet in 

 depth, empty into a covered outfall-drain, placed 6 inches lower, 

 and receiving the eyes of all the other drains along the lowest 

 side of the field. Another drain at the upper side of the field 

 joins the other ends of the parallel drains, and is made to com- 

 municate with the open air by means of '"respirators," or gratings, 

 and by opening into the main drains or ditches. By means of 

 the covered outfall drains many ditches are dispensed with, and 

 the liabilities to choking from various causes are greatly avoided; 

 whilst the air-drains effect a complete drying and purification of 

 the sub-soil. The tenants, we believe, pay for the execution of 

 the work, and the landlord furnishes the tiles ; the whole being 

 superintended by a proper person, who sees levels taken, trenches 

 ploughed and dug, tiles laid, and everything completed in accord- 

 ance with the principles and rules explained and recommended 

 in Mr. Hutchinson's pamphlet.* 



The last portion of the county remaining to be described before 

 descending into the Fens, is, the broad tract of oolite hills be- 

 tween Grantham and Bourn, including the narrow band of 

 Oxford clay and drift which borders the fen-land from Deeping 

 nearly up to Lincoln. It is proposed to name this the South- 

 icestern district. As there are few celebrated managers here, and 

 nothing but plain common farming to be observed, this district 

 is in general but little known. On the undulating oolite hills, 

 covered in many localities with beds of drift, the soils may be 

 classed, as regards their culture, into dry barley-land resting 

 immediately on the limestone rock, and cold wet land. There 

 is a large proportion of grass-land, especially upon the latter 

 soil ; much of it rough and rushy, and forming very inferior 

 pasture. The fields are not large, and the fences are of a very 

 different appearance to those of the newer inclosures on the 

 Heath and Wolds. They are generally high, bushy, and strag- 

 gling — by far too many, especially by the road-sides, being made 

 up of briar, bramble, elder, hazel, and almost every wild shrub 

 and plant except whitethorn. There are a vast number of 

 woods, coppices, and covers, and some very extensive parks. 

 Game is, therefore, an enemy to cultivation, which here occasions 

 large losses by its ravages and depredations. The usual course 

 of cropping on the clay land is — 1. fallow; 2, wheat; 3. seeds; 



* Practical Instructions on tlie Drainage of Land," &c. Groombridge and Sons, 

 London. 



