Forest Farming. 
453 
rape was eaten off by sheep with a good allowance of linseed cake. 
No artificial manure was used previous to sowing, but I quarter of 
bones per acre was given annually for a few years afterwards, and 
on 20 acres that quantity was also applied at the time of sowing. 
Altogether Mr. Ashton has now more than a hundred acres of 
grass on a farm not more than 376 acres in extent ; but only the 
lighter portion of it is comparable with that on the Forest. This 
latter is grazed by home-bred stock, which are usually sold off at 
2 years old ; but the stronger grass is stocked with older beasts, 
fifteen of which are annually bought for the purpose. The sheep 
which the seeds will not carry are also turned into the pastures 
— generally she-hoggets, draft ewes, and some bought sheep. 
The great feature, however, in the management of the grass-land, 
is the extensive use of bones, which have been applied to it at 
intervals during the last quarter of a century. They are used as 
half-inch and dust as they come from the mill, without any pre- 
paration whatever. ' December and January are considered the 
best months for boning pastures, and immediately after mowing 
the best time for meadows. The first dose given by Mr. Ashton 
was 20 bushels per acre, and in some instances a similar 
quantity was given again after an interval of two years ; and sub- 
sequently, after a greater or less lapse of time, smaller dressings, 
of about one quarter per acre, have been given occasionally, in 
some cases as often as annually for four or five years together. 
After this treatment one can easily credit the statement that the 
grass-land now produces more than twice as much as it did 
formerly. The quality also is better, white Dutch clover and 
plaintain having increased to a very marked extent, while oat- 
grass and cocksfoot have diminished in a corresponding degree. 
If any farmyard manure can be spared, it is put on in February, 
Arable Land. 
The Norfolk 4-course shift generally prevails in the Forest, 
subject, however, to small variations, owing either to the liability 
of the land to become "turnip-sick," the roots then getting 
anbury and "finger and toe;" or to the paucity of the grass ; or, 
lastly, to some of the land being more adapted to growing wheat 
than barley. At Ranby, the first and last of these contingencies 
are thus provided for : — (1) wheat, (2) turnips or potatoes, (3) 
barley or wheat (a small portion), and (4) seeds. At Morton 
Grange the course is exactly the same, but owing to the scarcity of 
grass about 30 acres of seeds are kept two years, and on 9 acres 
of black peaty gravel nothing is grown, as a rule, except man- 
golds, cabbages, and an occasional crop of tares. This practice on 
soil of that character appears to be not unusual in and about the 
