On the Farming of Su-ffolk. 



279 



practised on the heavy land of Suffolk as in any of the adjoining 

 counties ; but as the reporters of those counties have already given 

 full details of a similar system, I beg to refer to their reports, 

 and to the excellent article of the Rev. Copinger Hill on Suffolk 

 Draining, in the ' Journal,' vol. iv. p. 23. It would be useless 

 to attempt to give a better description than that gentleman has 

 done. I shall merely give a section of the common drains, and a 

 sketch of the narrow spade used in taking out the lower spit, as 

 well as of a spade which is sometimes used in digging the upper 

 spit ; it is half fork half spade. In digging stiff land with this tool, 

 the advantage is in the ease with which it enters the land, and in the 

 soil not adhering as it does to the common spade in wet weather. 



Drains are drawn across the stetches, that is, across the di- 

 rection the land is ploughed, and when new drains are required 

 (the time of renewal depending upon the nature of the soil, 

 though usually from 10 to 20 years) they are cut across the old 

 ones; the materials used in filling up are "haulm" (stubble), 

 straw, scuds" (twisted straw), ling, or bushes; these are all 

 used on the same principle, viz., that of a temporary means of 

 forming an arch, for these substances decaying after a time, leave 

 a passage for the water covered by a solid arch of soil. Plug- 

 draining and the filling with turves, brought from the fens (the 

 latter much used, as they save straw) are means of forming that 



arch at once. Pipes, either circular or this shape (the latter 



preferred because they fit the drain), are getting into use, par- 

 ticularly where supplied by the landowner; the drain is dug in 

 the same manner as for the other filling materials. In putting in 

 the pipes the man begins at the lowest end of the drain, and 

 walks on them as he proceeds in his work. The cost for labour 

 in digging out and filling in the materials, and the soil which has 

 been thrown out, is on the average 4s. per score rods for 30-inch 

 drains ; when pipes are used the cost is rather more. Drains 

 for pipes are sometimes dug 3 feet deep by digging two spits 

 with the broad spade ; this does not much increase the cost for 

 labour, and may be of advantage, as it removes the drain further 

 from the plough; it also admits of subsoiling, which is out of 

 the question in the common method of filling in, as that operation 

 would destroy the arch that had been formed. However, many 

 of the heavy land fields of Suffolk are nearly at a dead level : hence 

 it would be impossible to adopt a very deep system of draining, 

 as a fall of water could not be obtained ; even at the present 

 depth difficulty is sometimes experienced in getting a fall, when 

 the openings of the drains are only just above the level of the 

 water in the ditch into which the di ains run. 



2nd Year, Barley, — On a long fallow the seed- earth is given 



u 2 



