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XXI. — On the Agricultural Improvements of Lincolnshire. 
By Ph. Pusey, M.P. 
On a sunny morning in November, 1842, Mr. Handley having 
undcriaken to show me Lincolnshire farming', we passed throua;h 
Sleaford on our road to Lincoln, and soon entered upon a high 
but level tract, presenting a cultivated exuberance such as 1 had 
never seen before. Farm succeeded farm, each appearing to be 
cultivated by the owner for example — not, as was really the case, 
by a teiinnt for profit; an^l so for miles we passed on through 
fields of turnips without a bhinli or a weed, on which thousands 
after thousands of io^lg-^\oolled sheep were feeding in netted folds ; | 
and so large as well as regular Mere the turnips in the narrow 
rows, that the lower halves winch remained in llie ground, when 
the upper part had been consumed, seemed to ]Kive these sheep- 
folds. Every stubble-field was clean and bnglii ; all the hedges 
kejit low, and neatly trimmed; every farm-house \;<dl Innlt. with 
Sjiacious courts, and surrounded by such rows ol high, lung, saddle- 
backed ricks, as showed that die land did not foiget to return in 
August what it had received from the lold ni December, since the 
number of these farm-houses, which might always be seen at one 
view, proved that the size of the farms would not account for the 
extent of the rick-jards. Yet this land, so loaded with roots 
and with corn, showed no mark of natural fertility. On the con- 
trary, it is a fawn-coloured sand about 6 inches deep, lying on a dry, 
thirsty, walllng-stone. At length, as we journeyed on, Mr. Hand- 
ley pointed out to me, standing by the side of the road, a column 
70 teet high. It was a land-lighlhouse, built no longer since than 
the middle of the last century, as a nightly guide lor travellers 
over the dreary waste, which still retains the name of Linc<tln 
Heath, but is now converted into a pattern of larming. This 
Dunslon Pillar, lighted no longer time back for so singular a 
purpose, did appear to me a striking witness of the spirit and 
industry which ni our own days have reared the thriving home- 
steads around it. and spread a mantle of teeming vegetation 
to its very base ; and it was certainly surprising to discover at 
once the finest farming I had ever seen, and the oiilv land-light- 
house that was ever raised. Now that the pillar has ceased to 
cheer the wayfarer, it may serve not only as a mcmuinent of past 
exertions, but as a beacon tti encourage other landowners in con- 
verting their dreary moors into similar scenes of tinning in- 
dustry; within living memory it was by no means useless, for 
Lincoln Heath was not only without culture, but without even a 
road, VVIien the late Lady Robert Manners wislied to visit 
Lincoln from her residence at Bloxholin, a groom was sent hir- 
ward previously, who examined some track, and returned to report 
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