State of Agriculture in Northumberland. 



181 



and rape with lime alone, but on old tillage-lands the stimulus is 

 not so effective, and the use of other manures is requisite. In 

 turnip-fallows it is of consequence to have the fold-yard manure 

 in a state of active putrefaction when applied ; for which purpose 

 it is removed at intervals, chiefly in frost, when plouofhing- is laid 

 off, to situations in the fields most convenient for being" taken to 

 the land for which it is intended, and is turned over a few weeks 

 before being applied, except such part as remains in the fold- 

 yards for land near at hand, which is turned up where it lies. 

 Great pains are taken to make the quantity as large as possible 

 by cutting the corn low, and collecting everything to increase the 

 bulk of the dung-heap. Where turnips abound, comparatively 

 little straw is eaten by cattle, and the great proportion being 

 trodden down as litter gives a large return of manure, so that if 

 the straw of the previous corn-crop has been bulky, in many 

 cases sufficient dung is made on the farm to go over the fallow or 

 turnip quarter ; but, generally speaking, the fold-yard manure is 

 applied to lands nearest the offices, and those from which it may 

 be most convenient to draw a considerable portion of the turnip- 

 crop, leaving those which are distant, or steep, or in any way less 

 easily come at, to be done with bones, the portability of which, 

 and their easy application on hill-sides and distant parts where 

 dung cannot readily be conveyed, render them a most valuable 

 accessory to the dung made on the farm, and have had the effect of 

 extending the breadth of turnips, and of cultivation generally, in 

 a considerable degree. Few other adventitious manures besides 

 bones are used in the turnip district, although near the coast those 

 obtained by importation are in partial use. Compost heaps 

 made of the scouring of ditches, road-scrapings, &c., are common 

 here as elsewhere; they are always mixed with lime, and would 

 be much improved by some layers of salt, the chemical combina- 

 tion being highly beneficial. The successful experiments which 

 have been made with nitrate of soda have led to much inquiry 

 respecting it, and its use will next year, I suspect, be greatly in- 

 creased. 



The foregoing remarks and details, though under the head of 

 turnip cultivation, are in so many respects applicable to the 

 stronger soils upon the east coast, that little will require to be 

 said of them, except in as far as the management differs from 

 that hitherto detailed. The implements are the same ; the horses 

 somewhat heavier and slower in their movements ; the breed of 

 cattle is the same, but where the quantity of summer-grazing ex- 

 ceeds the winter keep from want of turnips, cattle are bought in 

 the spring, made fat upon grass, and sold in the autumn. And 

 where land is unsafe for keeping a regular breeding-flock, from 

 its liability to rot, cast-ewes from the higher country are bought 



