Account of S/icji/icrd's Corner Farm. 
89 
of squares of equal size, acconlin<? to a plan pivcn to my foreman, 
and affixed a price to he ]>aid for digging each square, payahle 
only when eacli was fmislied, allowing lahourers from any parish 
in the magisterial division of I>landford to come and go as they 
pleased, and to finish the square by themselves or by deputies : at 
times I had above 100 men at work, at times not more than 5, 
according to the demand for labour in the division. I followed uj> 
this system until the five fields were dug; the sixth field was 
treated differently, as the pressure on the laljourers had passed 
away. I built cottages, a barn, sheds, sufficient for the occupa- 
tion of that land when attached to another farm, made a pond, 
planted quick-fences, and formed a road as each became requisite. 
I occupied the old field No. 7 to facilitate my scheme. The 
greatest difficulty with which I have had to contend has been the 
repeated failure of the turnip crop* and the consequent impossi- 
bility of giving the land as much of the benefit of the treading and 
folding of sheep as I could have wished. The crops which have 
flourished best have been grasses of any kind, vetches, oats, and 
potatoes. The quantity of wheat has been abundant, but the 
quality rough. I have managed this farm quite distinctly from 
my home farm, excepting so far as sending sheep thereirom as 
occasion required, to consume the crops and to fold the land on 
the new farm; and I must mention that but for the facility of 
moving the sheep from time to time to the home farm, no regular 
stock could have been kept on the new land. I have endeavoured 
to manage the land, as far as possible, without the use of means 
which could not be accessible to a renting farmer, and I have 
separated as carefully as I could in the accounts, the expenses 
which I incurred as owner and as occupier. The statements sent 
herewith are extracted from the books kept specially for the 
management of this land. I must observe that on that part of the 
farm where the surface-soil was not deeply buried, the crops were 
least good for several years, but now they are equal to tliose on 
the rest of the land. Exposure to the air and the largest appli- 
cation of chalk were absolutely essential to fertilize the new 
surface-soil ; but the gradual intermixture of the old and new 
surface-soil by a deepening of the ploughing and by the operations 
of nature have rendered it productive. Field No. 6 shows the 
system which has paid the best,t but the difference of cost between 
* Mr. WalkJen informs me that a gentleman at Elston, who farms his 
own estate largely, lost his turnips after subsoiling down-land. — Pn. Pusey. 
t This field was pared and burnt, ploughed without digging, and the 
first crop was not corn, but turnips. It appears to have produced very 
good crops from tlie outset, without any expense beyond that of common 
farming. — Ph. Pusey. 
