388 



Farming of Lincolnshire. 



entirely unattempted on an efficient, scale. On the friable soil of 

 the Marshes large crops are grown, both of turnips, coleseed, oats, 

 wheat, peas, beans, and potatoes. In some localities bare fallows 

 are still indulged in, and there is generally a want of liberality in 

 the employment of artificial food for stock. While many con- 

 venient farmsteads are to be met wiih, the farm-buildings in 

 general (especially on the smaller holdings) are of a miserable 

 description — the yards totally uncovered by sheds for the cattle, 

 the manure exposed (in addition) to the drippings of the barn 

 and hovel roofs, the stables badly floored and drained, and owing 

 to the age of the buildings (many now in a dilapidated state) 

 there is both a want of arrangment and a scarcity of conve- 

 nient feeding and root-houses. On several properties, as Guy's 

 Hospital estate near the mouth of the Nene, cohsiderable 

 improvements have been made by supplying these defects ; 

 but, as a general rule, the landov/ners are inattentive to them. 

 The hedges and ditches are badly kept, very few of the former 

 being trimmed by the hook, and the latter are cleared once a year 

 from the grass which chokes them, though the more urgent duty 

 of widening and deepening them is too often neglected. The fen 

 dikes produce large crops of tali and stout reeds, which are cut 

 green in summer and used with great advantage for covering 

 down stacks. The roads are bad in wet weather, and from this 

 cause the farmsteads often present a dirty and slovenly appearance. 

 The ploughing, scarifying, and general tillage of the land is good, 

 though it is more frequently broken by harrows than torn up 

 by scufflers and drags ; and the tilting" or shallow working of 

 the stubble-fields is universal. Ridging is extensively practised 

 for the green crops, but no large amount of bones or purchased 

 manure is sown. Hollow-draining has been done to some extent 

 with thorns or wood, and a smaller portion with tiles. The 

 holdings are usually small, and the fields in a similar proportion. 

 In the large parish of Holbeach the farms are more extensive, 

 varying from 200 to 1000 acres. The ownership of South Hol- 

 land is remarkably subdivided between a great number of small 

 proprietors ; and as a whole estate is often comprised in 20 or 30 

 acres of land, with a cottage, barn, hovel, and small yard upon it^ 

 an endless diversity of system and management is practised by the 

 occupiers. There are many w-ell-managed farms ; but, upon the 

 whole, the upland farmer who may have had an exalted opinion 

 of this district will find that it is more remarkable for the produc- 

 tiveness of its soil than for the able manner in which it is culti- 

 vated* 



* The customary Tenant-right which prevails throughout the lowland district need, 

 not be specially dwelt upon : at Lady-day the outgoing tenant is allowed for the seed 

 and labour of the crops sown, and for the spring tillage that has been done j fodder and 



