412 



Farming of Lincolnshire. 



live stock, diudi feeding with oil-cake, bruised grain, &c., to enrich 

 the manure, this county is probably inferior to none ; and its 

 imports of guano, and more largely of crushed hones, are a high 

 testimony to its enterprise and liberal expenditure. In the pro- 

 viding of house accommodation for stock, and receptacles for manure, 

 a great deal remains to be done ; in many districts the general 

 want of warmth and shelter, and the wastefulness exhibited in 

 these departments, cannot meet with commendation. The annoy- 

 ances of game, encroaching /e^zces, and hcdge-roic timber are exten- 

 sively felt, but are perhaps much less burdensome than in some other 

 counties. The Lincolnshire implements are of an improved kind ; 

 the wrought-iron ploughshare has not yet given way to that of 

 cast-iron, but most of the larger cultivators and improvers use the 

 latter. The Yorkshire wooden swing-ploughs (substituted in the 

 Fens for the antique one-handled plough) continue general ; the 

 Rutland wheel-ploughs are frequent in some districts ; and iron 

 ploughs are frequently seen upon the hills. One of the larger 

 deficiencies of Lincolnshire agriculture is the lack of fixed steam 

 machinery for thrashing corn and preparing it for market, &c. 

 Horse-power has been commonly employed for knocking out the 

 grain, and the winnowing is universally performed by riddles and 

 hand dressing-machines. Latterly, portable steam-engines for 

 thrashing have very much increased in number ; many occupiers 

 have engines of their own, but the general method is for a 

 machine-man to purchase one and let it out to neighbouring 

 farmers.* They are common in nearly every part of the county, 

 and have effected a great saving of horse labour. Fixed steam- 

 engines, however, are very rare, although increasing in number ; 

 they are found upon some of the larger occupations, where they 

 economise labour and clean the corn into a perfectly equable 

 sample. t 



The " living machines," or farm-horses, are strong and useful, 

 though they have not attained a celebrity like the Suffolk or 

 Clydesdale breeds. Some years ago the Fens were noted for 

 their black cart-horses, which fetched a higher price in the mar- 

 ket than perhaps any others in the kingdom ; but since the inclo- 

 sure comparatively few have been bred. 



* They are often furnished with apparatus for shaking the straw as it falls from the 

 drum beaters. The charges are — heat 2s., barley Is. 6c/., oats lOo?. per quarter; 

 where the cu&tom is for the engine-man to find everything but one man, ne furnishes 

 coals, &c., and " chaffs "or "roughs" the corn once over with a roughing-machine. 

 In some localities, where the straw is long, the usual rate for wheat is 9(i. or 10c?. per 

 quarter, the farmer providing coals, hands, and indeed all that is needful, except one 

 man. 



t At Trusthorpe, in the north-eastern marshes, is a fixed steam-engine, which thrashes 

 and dresses perfectly, with only two men being employed after the feeder, viz., one 

 removing the sacks when filled, and another attending to the winnowing machines. 

 The "blower " is much superior to riddles for "finishing ;" the wind is regular, at sl, 

 constant pitch, so that the excellency of the sample is determined by setting the ma- 

 chine to a certain gauge. 



