Forest Farming. 
455 
absolutely necessary, but wlieat after turnips generally requires 
a good deal, as it is liable to canker. 
Harvest at Ranby and Morton Grange is earlier tban is 
general in the district, and in consequence a large number of 
Irish and other labourers can be easily obtained. Mr. Hodg- 
kinson often puts as many as 90 to 100 men to work at once, 
at prices varying, for different crops and in different seasons, 
from 7s. to 14s. per acre, including mowing, sheafing, raking, 
and cocking the rakings. Carrying is done as day work by 
his own men, and thatching is also done by the day, in conse- 
quence of the difficulty of getting it well done by the piece. 
About six years ago Mr. Hodgkinson bought a reaping machine, 
but he has not cut 20 acres with it, in consequence of the 
abundance of labour at his harvest-time. Were that time 
delayed a fortnight the conditions would be reversed, and labour 
almost impossible to obtain. 
Both wheat and barley are put in long stacks, measuring about 
11 or 12 yards in length, by 4 to 5 in width; they have gable 
ends, and hold about 40 quarters of corn, a quantity sufficient 
for one day's threshing by a steam-engine. The stacks are 
usually pared, and when thatching is done by the piece, as is 
sometimes the case at Ranby, thatching and paring cost from 8s. 
to 10s. per stack. Threshing is generally done by means of a 
portable steam-engine, which, if hired, costs about 28s. per 
stack ( = per diem) ; the farmer finds everything except two men 
to drive and feed the engine, and he gives them their victuals. 
2. Roots. — In the forest a very large proportion of the roots 
consists of swedes, and a correspondingly small breadth of 
white turnips is sown. At Ranby, where the land available for 
this shift measures 130 acres, not less than 100 will be swedes, 
only 10 acres being white turnips, and the remaining 20 potatoes, 
At Morton Grange the course is 170 acres in extent; about 
110 are generally swedes, 30 potatoes, 18 mangolds, and only 
about a dozen white turnips. The system of tillage is to 
clean the stubbles by scarifying, as often as may be required, 
before wheat sowing commences, and to plough in winter, after 
wheat sowing is finished. At Ranby the land is then worked 
down by dragging and harrowing, and afterwards it is cross-cut 
with the plough. Dragging and harrowing is again resorted to, 
and sometimes a third ploughing is given. In the spring the 
land is ridged up, and about 8 loads of farmyard manure, or 
bought Sheffield muck per acre is put in the ridges ; and after 
they have been razed 2 cwt. of guano is sown broadcast. The 
ridges are then split, and the seed drilled alone, at the rate of 
2 lbs. per acre. A portion of the swedes are annually grown on 
the flat, both at Ranby and at Hodsock, in which case the land 
VOL. V. — S. S. 2 H 
