32 
Agriculture of Nottinghamshire. 
The fences deserve especial notice. They are of hawthorn, 
and nearly the whole of them have been replanted by Mr. Park- 
inson, and have grown up under his eye. They are of splendid 
growth, and form an invaluable shelter to his short-horn beasts, 
being allowed to rise for that purpose on the grass-land. When 
they are cut it is in the Scotch mode, which is becoming general 
throughout the northern part of the county. This work is per- 
formed by very sharp knives made expressly for the purpose, 
light to hand, but very effective from their high temper. The 
stems are cut from the ground obliquely, and care is taken that 
they are all cut upwards, so as not to shatter the top of the stems 
which are left. If a brush is left on the further side no other 
guard is necessary ; but on the side from which the operation is 
performed, when there are cattle, it is necessary to guard it by a 
dead fence for about two years. The grass and weeds are at the 
same time cleared from the roots of the stems, and a perfectly 
new fence springs up, which is thick from the bottom, making 
shoots in a single year of surprising growth. 
The course of cropping followed is similar to the one already 
described as common throughout the district, but with one very 
material improvement; namely, that instead of a bare fallow very 
heavy crops of turnips are grown on the whole farm. Tliese are 
produced, without any artificial manure, in the following manner : — 
During the winter months, men are employed in burning the 
soil from the hedge sides into ashes ; these are mixed with night- 
soil dried until it will admit of being riddled, so that it can be 
drilled as a compost. The seed is thereby quickened into vege- 
tation, and plants are obtained which soon bid defiance to the fly. 
The heaviest crops of swedes are thus grown, which could never 
have had an existence but for a perfect drainage. 
The stock kept on the farm has been increased more than 
five-fold, and the produce of grain has advanced in the same ratio. 
It is almost unnecessary to observe that the manure is here an 
object of especial care. The liquid manure, when such is prac- 
ticable, is conveyed by drains to the nearest grass-land lying on a 
lower level, and by zigzag cuttings serves to irrigate and ehrich 
it. When that cannot be done, it drains into tanks, and is carted 
upon the higher grass-land, which has been thereby converted 
into grazing-land of the best quality, whereas it is by nature a 
poor, cold soil. 
Such are a few of the improvements, very imperfectly sketched, 
which have been carried out at Leyfields by Mr. Parkinson, a 
gentleman of great experience and of no ordinary enterprise. 
These improvements, we may observe in conclusion, are being- 
repeated by him on an estate which he purchased lately at Dray- 
ton ; from which circumstance we think it fair to infer that that 
