452 
Farm Reports. 
The Forest having been recently enclosed, the fences are verj 
uniform and neat ; they are planted in straight lines on the flat, 
and possess an even height of about 4^ feet. They measure 
4 feet across at the base, and are neatly trimmed to an acute 
ridge, reminding one vividly of Eastburn in every particular, 
except that they are not so wide across the water-boughs. The 
trimming is done by the day, and the system is to dig the roots 
whenever the fields that they bound come into fallow. 
As examples of Forest farming, I shall give an outline of the 
practice pursued by Mr. Enoch Hodgkinson at Morton Grange, 
and by Mr. T. Wilkinson at Ranby, both of these farms being 
very well known by repute, and the latter especially as the 
home of the late Mr. Rogers. In addition to these farms, it will 
be interesting to describe the process whereby Mr. Ashton of 
Hodsock Lodge has been enabled to get useful grass-land on very 
unpromising soil, and to notice the salient points of his system, 
although his farm can hardly be said to come within the boun- 
daries of the " Forest." 
Grass-Land. 
Morton Grange measures 759 acres, only 30 of which are 
in permanent grass ; and Ranby Green Mile farm measures 
550 acres, only 20 of which are in grass. They are fair repre- 
sentatives of the " Forest " farms and system of farming. Of the 
small quantity of grass-land at Morton Grange, all but 8 acres 
has been laid down by Mr. Hodgkinson. This was done 30 years 
ago, the seeds having been sown with barley, and the land after- 
wards treated with bones — as much as from 30 to 40 bushels per 
acre, in the aggregate, having been put on it. Large quantities 
of cake and turnips are eaten on it. 
Ranby was very heavily boned by the late Mr. Rogers in the 
earliest days of bone-dressing, when bones were cheap. He was 
not particular as to size or character, and as to quantity he never 
was satisfied. Most of this farm has received as many as 80 
bushels per acre ; and even to this day you may pick up at every 
other step one of " Mr. Rogers's bones." It may be a split 
humerus 8 or 9 inches long, or a horse's tooth, or the mandible 
of a sheep ; but their abundance at this remote date testifies to 
the extraordinary profusion with which they were used. 
At Hodsock, Mr. Ashton has recently laid down 30 acres of 
grass, the seeds having been sown after turnips without a crop. 
After the turnips had been eaten off, the land received a lighter 
preparation than it would have done for barley. It was not 
ploughed so deep, but was rolled more completely. In April 
8 bushels of mixed grass seeds, with 6 or 7 lbs. of white Dutch 
clover, and from 4 to 5 lbs. of rape were sown per acre. The 
