FarmiiKj of Northamjjtonsldre. 



GO 



men hired for the month, at wages from 15^. to 21.9. per week, 

 with a daily supply of beer. 



From the great variety of these soils, it is impossi])le to state 

 very accurately the annual produce per acre, but the following 

 estimated average yield may be taken as a fair proportion : 

 wheat, 28 bushels ; barley, 34 bushels ; oats, 40 bushels ; beans, 

 24 bushels ; peas, 24 bushels. Seed vetches are not grown very 

 extensively ; small portions of the crop are sometimes left for 

 seed, and in some districts, favourable for their growth, they are 

 cultivated instead of beans or peas. 



The number and description of stock kept on heavy land is 

 regulated by the quantity of grass or meadow land connected 

 therewith. When but a small portion of grass-land is occupied 

 with a cold arable farm, beasts are generally wintered in the 

 straw-yard on the barley, oat, and bean-straw, and sold again in 

 the spring to the grazier. When no oil-cake or roots are used, 

 the manure thus made is of very inferior quality, and accounts 

 for the very low condition and slight corn-crops on this descrip- 

 tion of soil ; the corn being all sold off the land, and only a team of 

 horses and a few straw-yard beasts kept to supply the annual 

 amount of farm-yard manure. In other cases, where a greater 

 extent of grass-land is occupied with the arable, a breeding flock of 

 sheep is kept, receiving aid from the arable land, by means of the 

 seeds, tares, and a small quantity of turnips, mangold, or cabbages, 

 giving in return the manure from the sheepfold. The lambs 

 reared are sold at Michaelmas, the ewes lying then on the grass 

 land during the winter, and, at the lambing season, they are 

 brought to the fold-yard, and receive some oats, hay, or a daily 

 supply of roots. A dairy of milking-cows is sometimes kept on 

 the grass-land during the summer, and put into the straw-yard 

 in the w inter with a supply of hay. 



In order to increase the quantity and quality of the manure, 

 pig-feeding is resorted to by farmers to a considerable extent. I 

 know several large occupiers who convert a large proportion of 

 their spring corn into pork, and are satisfied if they get the extra 

 manure for the expense of the daily attendance upon the pigs. 



On the Management of the Moory or Peaty Soils, with Gravelly 

 and Clay Subsoils. 



The proportion of this description of land, commonly called in 

 this county " hen mouldy land," is very small, and is princi- 

 pally found in the w^oodland districts and on Burton Wold, 

 with some small plots on the outskirts of the county adjoining 

 Bedfordshire ; from its not being adapted for the growth of pulse 



