Farming of Kent. 
293 
planters are induced to fatten for the sake of the dung, when 
perhaps there is no prospect of a profit on the cattle being 
realised. 
The implements employed in this district have undergone in 
some instances considerable improvement of late years ; and a 
few new ones have been introduced. The Kentish turn-wrist 
wheel-plough is frequently used for summer working ; but the 
implement generally employed, especially for winter ploughing, is 
the Sussex turn-wrist foot-plough, an instrument upon the whole 
the best adapted to this locality. Wheat land is usually laid ujj in 
ten or twelve furrow ridges of a convex form ; and the double 
furrow-plough, drawn by ibur horses singly, is sometimes employed 
for this purpose, and in favourable seasons it succeeds well. The 
" Cultivator," consisting of a straight, stout iron tram, into which 
are fitted seven loner tines, the whole connected with tlie axle of a 
pair of cart wheels, is a very powerful instrument, requiring five 
or six strong horses, and sometimes more, thoroughly moving the 
ground to the depth of 10 or 12 inches, and bringing to the sur- 
face the roots of all weeds, has of late years been extensively em- 
ployed. It is frequently used with a set of broad-shaie tines on 
the stubbles in autumn, a modern practice highly beneficial, and 
forms an excellent tilth for winter tares. I consider this in- 
strument to have some mechanical disadvantages, and upon the 
whole to be much inferior to the Uley cultivator or Finlayson's 
harrow. Drilling is gradually extending, as is also the cultivation 
of swedes, turnips, mangold, and carrots, heavy crops of which are 
frequently grown. 
Draining is the foundation of all agricultural improvement on 
the wet heavy lands of the Weald ; indeed, even the lighter 
sandy soils of this district are frequently wet and springy, and are 
im.mensely benefited by draining. Hitherto the cost of this opera- 
tion has prevented its general adoption. This district affording no 
stone, wood and bushes have been frequently employed as materials 
for draining, but being of so perishable a nature a permanent 
material at a moderate cost was the sreat desideratum. Mecha- 
nical science has, however, recently come to the aid of the farmer, 
and by means of improved machinery these important agents of 
ameliorating the land have been very much reduced in price. One 
of the latest, and I think upon the whole the most valuable im- 
provement, originated and has been successfully applied in this 
district, I refer to " Hatcher s Benenden Tile Machine,'^ an 
instrument of simple construction, therefore not liable to get out 
of order, easily movable from one place to another, and with a 
small amount of manual labour possessing a great power of pro- 
duction. The public is deeply indebted to Mr. Hodges, of 
Hemsted Place, for his liberality and indefatigable exertions in 
