266 



On the Farming of Suffolk. 



for an essay for the ensuing year, that it can hardly demand much 

 attention in this Report. The farms in the heavy land district 

 seldom exceed 300 acres in extent; they are generally much 

 smaller, and many are found from 30 to 50 acres. There are 

 some large farmers (i. e. those holding several farms) but few 

 large farms, the land being subdivided, and many small landowners 

 farming their own estates. The farms on the light land are 

 much larger, and vary from 300 to 1500 acres. 



Most writers on the farming' of Suffolk have found fault with 

 four practices : — 



1 . Bad management of grass-land, and bad system of making 

 liay. 



2. Want of irrigation, notwithstanding the number of streams 

 suitable for the purpose. 



3. Heavy carts and waggons. 



4. Inconvenient farm-buildings and large barns ; and a stranger 

 travelling through the county would add a 5thj in the number of 

 hedges and hedge-roiv) trees. 



These are, however, no new complaints ; for Arthur Young 

 condemns them all. However, the 1st and 2nd objection is in 

 process of removal by the pasture-land being at the present time 

 in the course of conversion into arable land. The 4th and 5th 

 are faults for which the owners of the soil are rather to be blamed 

 than the occupiers and cultivators ; but, though improvement has 

 been slow in these, yet it has made ample strides in those prac- 

 tices, which at the time Arthur Young wrote his report were 

 deemed much nearer perfection. Among the practices most 

 worthy of notice are — 



1. The system of thorough draining, which there is ample evi- 

 dence to prove has been practised for more than a century. 



2. The system of tillage, — ploughing, harrowing, rolling, drill- 

 ing, horse-hoeing, &c., adopted on heavy land, by which the 

 injurious effects of treading is avoided altogether in these opera- 

 tions. 



3. The universal system of ploughing with two horses^ however 

 stiff the soil may be ; and, as the Suffolk poet says, 



" No wheels support the diving pointed share, 

 No groaning ox is doom'd to labour there, 

 No helpmates teach the docile steed his road, 

 Alike unknown iht plough-boy and his goad ; 

 But, unassisted through each toilsome day, 

 With smiling brow the ploughman cleaves his way." 



Bloomfield's Farmer's Soy, 1798. 



4. The practice of sowing spring crops on a stale furrow^ the 

 action of the elements during the winter being found more 

 effectual in securing a fine tilth than spring cultivation. 



