On the Farming of Essex. 
19 
Rich meadow land abounds upon the banks of the rivers, but 
the quantity requisite towards the proper cultivation of the arable 
land is below rather than above the average ; still the defect is well 
supplied bv artificial grasses. Many portions of this division are 
farmed in a very superior manner: many farms, almost entirely 
arable, maintain a sheep to every acre the greater portion of the 
year, with bullocks or cows in projwrtion of from 5 to 10 to every 
100 acres during the winter months. The system of bare fallows 
is almost exploded in this district, except upon the heavier de- 
scriptions of land, unfit for the growth of turnips or green crops. 
The prevailing svstem will be best described by stating the rota- 
tion and application u}X)n a farm already in cultivation, commenc- 
ing after the wheat crop has been taken off. 
Immediately after or during harvest the stubble is collected un- 
less the wheat has been mown, and the land receives one, two, or 
more deep ploughings, if time allows, and if the soil be gravelly. 
Rye is sown upon a very fine tilth, produced by more than one 
ploughing, and sown upon the surface or drilled fleellv, and lightly 
harrowed in ; or if the soil is loamy, tares are sown, mixed with either 
rye or winter oats, or both. The r\"e is jiartly mown for horses 
and cattle early in the spring, being cut into chaff with proportions 
of hay and straw, and a part is fed off with sheep ; the land being 
further improved by carting maugold-wurzel on the field to feed 
with the rye, with the addition of oil-cake or other artificial food. 
The land is again quickiv ploughed once or twice, and well scari- 
fied. A crop of swede or white turnips is then taken, half of 
which is usually drawn, and the rem£iinder fed off with sheep; 
and the land is either ploughed, and sown with w heat, or remains, 
as most usually is the case, until the following spring, when it is 
either ploughed or scarified, and drilled with oats or barley. The 
clover is sown with this crop, and is either mown for hay, and the 
after-crop fed off with sheep, or fed earlv, and left to stand for 
seed, or fed altogether through the summer with horses, pigs, 
and sheep; or, in lieu of the clover, peas or beans are grown, 
which are hoed well as long as weeds can be extracted without 
injury to the crop. If clover has been taken, it is ploughed up in 
October, and the land sown, dibbled, or drilled with wheat, w hich 
is carefully weeded, and reaped or mown at the following hardest, 
when the same mode of cultivation is repeated ; or the land re- 
ceives a partial fallowing in the autumn, and is sown with mangold- 
w urzel. This is succeeded by barley or oats. If clover was taken 
in the previous course, beans or peas are now taken, and wheat 
succeeds; and oats sometimes follow, if the wheat has succeeded 
clover: thus by alternating the crops, giving frequent ploughings 
and manuring, a regular succession is kept up of green cattle 
crops intervening with the grain crops, giving the greatest possible 
c 2 
