76 



Farming of Northamptonshire. 



deterioration of the animal exceeds tlie value of the manure. 

 Fold- yards during the winter months are becoming more general ; 

 being kept well littered with straw, and the sheep supplied with 

 hay or chaff, a considerable quantity of manure is made. Folding 

 on the clover seeds during the summer months is often resorted 

 to, the sheep having a daily supply of corn. 



Lime, which can hardly be called manure, is often considered 

 such, and is applied in some localities on the fallow land. I do 

 not think the general use of it has increased of late years. Many 

 farmers who used to apply it to their turnip soils have alto- 

 gether abandoned it ; and on the stiff arable land it is not used 

 extensively. Its operation is most successful on woodland or 

 peaty soils, abounding with vegetable matter. It is burnt in all 

 parts of the county, the greatest quantity at Kingsthorpe. 



A system of claying the red stony land has been adopted by 

 Messrs. David and John Gaudern, on their very excellently culti- 

 vated farm at Earl's Barton. Their plan has been to dig out a 

 clay-pit on the lower part of their farm, and to cart the blue clay 

 on to the turnip fallow in the winter months, leaving it on the 

 surface to be pulverised by the frost, and to be mixed with the 

 surface soil. They speak very satisfactorily of the result, both as 

 regards the return for the expense incurred and the improvement 

 of the land. Mr. Kimbell has also adopted a similar plan in the 

 parish of Irthlingborough. 



Burnt ashes are occasionally used as manure, being drilled in 

 with the turnip seed. In some districts, paring and Ijuming the 

 surface soil, and spreading the ashes on the surface, has been 

 adopted. When this system has been applied to old worn-out 

 pasture land, by being "breast-ploughed" the land has after- 

 wards grown great crops of corn for several years without any 

 extra manure. 



Woollen rags, soot, pigeon and hen-roost dung, and other light 

 dressings, are used, but the limited supply of these kinds of ma- 

 nures prevents their being extensively used. 



It would be almost impossible to enumerate the many portable 

 manures, of a light and artificial kind, continually being presented 

 to the public. Those mostly used in this county are guano, rape- 

 cake, nitrate of soda, superphosphate of lime, bones, and salt, 

 which are nearly exclusively applied to the turnip crop. 



Liquid manure is not used to any considerable extent, very few 

 homesteads having the means of preserving it by tanks. 



On the Management of the Grass Land. 

 The grass land of the county may be divided into three kinds ; 

 viz. — 1, meadow land, irrigated with water; 2, rich pasture or 

 feeding land ; 3, second-rate and inferior grass land. 



