On tJie Farming of Suffolk. 



275 



the winter to the action of the frosty and no more pk)ughing is 

 given till the seed is drilled in the spring. The ridges are made 

 across the direction the land is stetched up, so that when plough- 

 ing for the following year barley the furrows are laid in a con- 

 trary direction to the ridges of the root-crop ; by this means the 

 manure applied to the roots becomes equally distributed in the 

 soil, and the barley is a level crop and ripens altogether, which 

 would not be the case if the land was ploughed in the direction of 

 the ridges. 



This is undoubtedly the simplest and most effective way of 

 securing a fine tilth for the seed. If weeds vegetate during the 

 winter, they are destroyed by using the scuffler, or horse-hoe, over 

 the land before sowing, and if considered necessary, the ridges 

 are then moulded up with a small double-breasted plough. In 

 that part of the county where this system is adopted, the mangel 

 and swede seed is dibbled : one man will dibble about an acre in 

 a day ; the plants are first singled by hand and then hoed deeply. 

 The shim, or horse-hoe, is used frequently between the ridges. 

 The Rev. Copinger Hill, who adopts and advocates this system, 

 has kindly favoured me with the following memoranda respecting 

 the beet crop which he has grown under this system ; the average 

 of his crops is 20 tons per acre. 



Memorandum of mangel crop, 1843; crop 20 tons per acre. 

 Expenses of pulling up, stripping leaves, drawing, earthing up, 

 and bringing haulm per ton, 7\d. 



Expenses of clearing mangel in 1841 : — 



s. d. 



Pulling, Carting, and Stacking 18 tons per acre 11 0 

 Bringing haulm for two coverings . ..20 

 Earthing up . . . . . ..36 



Total .16 6 



Carrots, — White Belgian carrots are grown by a few farmers : 

 the manner of cultivation is drilling on the ridge or flat without 

 manure, the seed being rubbed and mixed with sand to ensure 

 delivery from the drill. Oats are often sown with the seed to 

 show the rows, so that the hand and horse hoe can be used. 



The subject of growing roots as a fallow crop is of so much 

 importance that, at the risk of being considered prolix, I shall 

 introduce the following description of growing roots, Sic, as 

 practised by Mr. J. C. Downing, of Earl Soham, who advocates 

 the system of ploughing heavy land in 8-furrow stetches, using 

 a whole drill (one that covers a stetch at one movement, the two 

 wheels working in the furrows), and argues that roots may be 

 carted off the land at this width of stetch without injury to the 

 soil, as the stetch exactly fits the width of the wheels, and the 



