On the Farming of Suffolk. 



315 



Loads. Acr(!.s. 



1841. Stephen Oxborough, Capel . , . 3540 Occupation IGOO 



1842. Tiiomas Freeman, Henham . . . 1512 „ 400 



In the fen district clay is used to a large extent, and with con- 

 siderable benefit ; it consolidates the loose peaty soil, by supplying 

 inorganic matter to the vegetable material of the peat, and conse- 

 quently it produces grain of a better quality and stiffer straw, the 

 clay is dug in holes or trenches, and is not such expensive work 

 as claying light sandy land, where the clay has to be carted to a 

 considerable distance. 



Mr. E. Witt, of Fornham, whose name appears so frequently 

 in this list of successful candidates for the prize of claying, has 

 favoured me with an account of his method of claying on his 

 farm in burnt fen, by which plan, during the six years he has 

 held the farm he has dug and spread 51,798 loads (of 24 

 bushels) on 183 acres of arable land, at an expense, the whole 

 being manual labour, of 463/. 65. 9Jc/. ; besides having levelled 

 hills by carting and harrowing, and carted ditch stuff on the 

 same land to the estimated quantity of nearly as much more. 

 Very few instances of the admixture of the subsoil with the sur- 

 face in so short a time will be found to equal this ; by this means 

 he has completely altered the nature and appearance of the soil, 

 has given employment to a great many labourers, and made a 

 permanent improvement for which he will be amply recompensed 

 by the increased quantity and quality of grain grown. The 

 fields being full of hills and holes produced irregular crops; but 

 by removing the hills, and carting them on the black peat of the 

 low parts, the surface has been levelled, and the fields now pro- 

 duce even crops. 



The manner of claying is as follows : — 



Two furrows (d) are opened across the g 



field, at intervals of two rods asunder ; a !d " " " '~ 



man begins at one end of these and digs a 

 hole («) about 3 feet wide by 6 feet long ; 



when he reaches the clay he does not dig j — p , , , n p— 



down perpendicularly, but undermines a 



little, and throws out two loads of clay (24 — 



bushels each), one on each side of the ^ 



hole ; he then digs holes similar to the i — - 



first all the way up the furrow, leaving a 



narrow space {h h) between each to stop the water from running 

 into the hole he is digging, as well as prevent the sides falling in. 



The peat dug from each hole being thrown into the preceding 

 one, he thus partly fills up the holes as he proceeds. The clay, 

 being thrown out on each side of the hole, is spread up to a mark 

 made with the foot across the field^ midway between each row of 



