On the Aijricaltural Iniprovenieiits of Lincolnshire. 307 
while a few trees siiarcd give to the open farm the appearance of 
an arable park. In Lincolnshire, however, perhaps the opposite 
fault of too bare exposvire should be corrected by the plantation 
of screens, and the piercing winds of winter and spring be thus 
mitigated. 
It remains only to inquire how far the methods of farming, so 
successful on light land in Lincolnshire, are apj)licable to other 
counties ; and it so happens tliat the Wolds of that county are but 
a part of the great range of chalk-hills which traverse the south of 
England. Now, one feature of chalk-farms in Lincolnshire is 
that they contain no waste ground. But on our southern chalk- 
hills the furze-bushes, of which we only read on the Wolds, have 
not disappeared. These should clearly be grubbed, and in proof 
that this may be done with success in the South also, I may cite a 
farm of 3G0 acres, at Kingswood, upon the Surrey chalk hills, 
inclosed in 1815, grubbed, pared, and burnt, the ashes ploughed 
in very thinly and chalked, as the tenant informs his landlord, Mr. 
Alcock, and now worth 14s. an acre. " Near Kingswood," how- 
ever, Mr. Alcock states, " there are Banstead and Walton com- 
mons, together between 2000 and 3000 acres of land. I should 
suppose," he adds, " that their annual value is not more than ?)d. 
or per acre, but I do not hesitate to say that if enclosed they 
would be worth 14s. per acre." A larger portion of uncultivated 
surface on our southern chalk-hills is down-land, on which the 
sheep feed by day, but do not remain at night, so that year by 
year the natural strength of this land is thus carried away to more 
favoured fields. All these downs a Lincolnshire farmer would 
bring under the plough ; and though, if downs after ploughing be 
first sown with two or three cro])s of corn in succession, then left 
to casual grass and the sheep, their last state would be worse than 
their former condition, there can be no doubt, on the other hand, 
that if they were handled as in Lincolnshire, with artificial manure, 
their value as property would soon greatly increase, and that this 
new field of employment would much encourage the labourer. It 
may be said that the soil is thin on our downs ; but on these Wolds 
soil not 5 inches deep bears excellent corn. Subject of course to 
exceptions, our downs, I believe, should be broken up ; and a 
tenant should be encouraged to do so, provided he undertook by 
in the whole of the old fences there were a great number of ash-trees which 
are all stocked up, as well as a good part ol'the oak, only leaving a few for 
ornament and shelter. I think the greatest gain in land will be from 
getting rid of the trees. — Conrjer, Nov. 30th, 1843." 
Mr. Keeling, it will be remarked, after the extensive clearance by which 
he has thrown twenty-seven fields into one field of 92 acres, subdivides it 
again into five fields. My own tenants do not generally wish to have more 
lhan one ploughed field on a farm. Ph. P. 
