Farming of Lincolnsldre. 



411 



tious. On the other hand experiment has shown that the 

 coarser food being so much better and more agreeable, the people 

 eat more of it; and the general practice of those who are inter- 

 ested in spending their own money to the best advantage appears 

 to ratify this conclusion. Economy is doubtless the motive for 

 buying the white bread ; but certainly they who work hard for a 

 living- are entitled to choose their own food, and ouorht to have 

 the best of the plainest fare. In conclusion, much might be said 

 repecting improvidence, intemperance, unthriftiness ; but this 

 article has already occupied a large space, and did not the fear of 

 becoming tedious prevent, the writer could not close without a 

 reference to the extended means of education enjoyed by the 

 humbler classes in this county, and to the respectable appearance 

 presented by Lincolnshire labourers on the Sunday, without ^an 

 observation on the moral benefits accruing from cottage flower- 

 gardens, &c., and without an eulogy on behalf of the poor, on 

 that most useful and inestimable, yet much maligned animal — 

 the hog. 



An apology for the length of this Report in proportion to 

 others in the Journal, is contained in the list of heads" pro- 

 posed by the Society. The Soils of Lincolnshire, especially of its 

 marshes and fens, are too peculiar and important to be passed 

 over with a w'ord; no county possesses so remarkable a feature as 

 the great drainages which have been glanced at w* ith a brevity dis- 

 proportioned to their interest; the Agricultural Management is 

 that of a first-class district, and therefore meriting a conspicuous 

 place before the public attention ; the claims of the Labourer to have 

 his circumstances fully pourtrayed, no person will dispute; and 

 the Live Stock, Green-crops, and Farm-yards have certainly not 

 engrossed too large a share of space. Private opinions and per- 

 sonal allusions regarding the different subjects have been but little 

 indulged in; conjectures with reference to the total rents, pro- 

 ductions, &c., of the county have been mainly avoided ; and this 

 Report is therefore merely a record of facts gathered from personal 

 observation and inquiry, and reduced to shape. 



The extent to which agricultural science has been carried into 

 practice in Lincolnshire has now been investigated ; and the 

 results of the whole inquiry may be comprehended in a short 

 summary. Drainage — the first of all improvements — has been 

 well done over a great part of every district requiring it ; a remark 

 untrue of many English counties. Suhsoil and trench ploughing, 

 however, are rarely found ; and this forms a considerable defect 

 in the heavy land management. The systems of culture are well 

 adapted to the climate, soils, and situation, an alternate course of 

 cropping being the most predominant, marked by a tendency to 

 keep half the land under wheat or other white corn, and by a 

 diminishing of the quantity of bare fallows. In the breeding of 



