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XII. — On the Farming of Suffolk. By Hugh Raynbird. 



Prize Report. 



In offering this report on the farming of Suffolk, I would first 

 observe that there are various causes which render it difficult to 

 communicate much that has not already come before the agricul- 

 tural worldj though at the same time it makes the task of writing 

 a Report easier, ist. The voluminous writings of Arthur Young 

 refer in a great measure to the county in which he resided. 

 2nd. All the neighbouring counties, Norfolk, Essex, and Cam- 

 bridge, have already been described in the Society's Journal. The 

 cultivation of our heavy land resembles that of the adjoining parts 

 of these counties, of our western light land that of the light land 

 of Norfolk^ and of our fens that of the fens of Cambridgeshire. 

 Norfolk and Suffolk may be considered nearly as one county, as 

 they are generally named together ; and indeed Mr. Bacon, in his 

 report of Norfolk, has forestalled much that relates to Suffolk in 

 his able account of the celebrated Suffolk machine-makers, Ran- 

 some, Garrett, and Smyth. 3rd. Many of our countrymen have 

 already described several of the Suffolk practices in the Society's 

 Journal, as Sir Henry Bunbury, on Cottage Allotments ; Hill, 

 Essays on Cottages and on Draining; Rodwell^ on Mowing 

 Wheat and Italian Ryegrass ; Raynbird, on Measure Work and 

 the Cultivation of Beet; Burroughes, White Mustard ; Dobedo, 

 Fatting Cattle; Peirson, on Burning Soil; and Poppy, in various 

 publications on Mangold Wurzel, Burning Clay, &c. These 

 gentlemen have so recently written on the subjects here named, 

 that it would be but a repetition to enter very minutely into them, 

 except where they have omitted giving a full description. 



Extent. — Suffolk presents a level and well-watered surface of a 

 crescent-like form. Its length from E. to W. about 48 miles, 

 and breadth from N. to S. nearly 30 miles. Its extent is reckoned 

 at 918,760 acres. 



It is estimated that there are about 46,000 acres of rich loam, 

 80,000 acres of marsh and fen land, 450,000 acres of a heavy 

 loam or clay, 250,000 of sand of various qualities. 



The climate is one of the driest in the kingdom, hence the fine 

 quality of grain grown ; but the turnip crop frequently becomes 

 mildewed when early sown, from a continuance of dry weather. 

 We have many county meteorologists, from whose observations 

 we may both tell the past seasons, what kind of weather we are 

 to expect in general, and compare the climate as to drought, rain., 

 frost, &c., with other parts of England. 



VOL. VIII. T 



