Light- Land Farming. 
121 
crop in sprinfr. As soon as tlio earliest portions of the crop are 
fed off or mown the land should be scarified and sown with 
rape or mustard for further keep for sheep ; and if both the vetch 
and subsequent crop be ate off by sheep the land will be so 
enriched as to be able to grow a crop of wheat — the second 
during the rotation. 
Potato Crop. — This crop is seldom grown in Norfolk, but in 
many sandy districts may be cultivated very profitably. The best 
mode of doing so in these dry sandy soils is as follows : — The 
land is ploughed and half dunged in winter, cross-ploughed and 
worked fine early in spring, then laid off into bh or 6 yard 
stctches by single furrow lines ; along these lines a half manuring, 
say 6 tons of manure, are deposited in small heaps. The land is 
then ploughed, and the dung and potato sets placed in every 
third furrow. Three ploughs work after each other, 4 women, 
having each an equal length of land, place the sets, and an equal 
number, similarly placed, carry the manure from the heaps and 
spread it above. The next bout of the ploughs covers all up, 
and so the work proceeds with great regularity and expedition. 
About a week before the plants are expected to come to the 
surface the land is well harrowed, which loosens and kills all 
surface weeds. The subsequent working consists in horse-hoeing, 
hand-hoeing, and earthing up. 
Pea Crop. — The cultivation of peas need not be particularised 
here, as it consists in preparing the land as for vetches, and. 
drilling the seed in 16-inch rows. As soon as the crop is 
removed the land should be scarified and cleaned. 
Oats. — If oats follow any part of the land after mangold, 
potatoes, or peas, it is best to sow them after the latter. The 
cultivation is the same as for barley, and the best sorts to sow 
upon light sandy land in an arid climate are what are called 
common or late oats by Scotch farmers. The best of these is 
the late Angus variety, which yields a large bulk of straw and 
has a large and rather coarse grain, very well adapted for 
feeding horses with. Tartarian oats are much cultivated on 
the light soils of England, but we prefer the late Avhite sorts, 
Avhich are less affected by drought and do not easily shed their 
seeds in high winds. This grain crop completes the six-course 
rotation, and, if well managed, the land will both be clean and 
in good condition. When that portion of it which was in 
mangold, vetches, &c., comes round for the same crops again, the 
mangold should be grown in that part occupied by the vetches, 
&c., and vice versa. By this means, if one half of this division 
only is in mangold, this crop Avill not recur oftcner than every 
twelve years upon the same portion. 
It is often very difficult to change a rotation from fours to 
