On the Farming of Essex. 
35 
furrows, which average from 20 to 40 perches per acre, and are 
dug out with a spade at a cost of \0d. to Is. per score rods, when- 
ever the land is sown with wheat; and the stetch-furrows, at a dis- 
tance of every 7 feet, are also ploughed out deeply after the corn 
is sown, so as to effect a ready passage to the water from the sur- 
face, as it has been found difficult to render land of this descrip- 
tion dry by under-draining, on two accounts : one of which is, that 
the land is so tenacious that it is impervious to the water unless 
the drains are made with cockle-shells or shingle, with or without 
drain-tiles or pipes below the shells ; the other is, that the soil, in 
dry summers, shrinks to such a degree as to form wide fissures or 
cracks from 2 to 3 feet in depth, and thus destroys the drains 
altogether. The system, as pursued by surface- draining, appa- 
rently fully effects its object, as excellent crops are produced, un- 
equalled by any others in the county. 
The prevalence of couch or twitch grass in these lands renders 
it difficult to farm them without clean fallows at least once in six 
years, as it is impossible to eradicate it by short fallows, since it 
extends to such a depth in the subsoil as to require very deep 
ploughing to reach it, which deep ploughings would not be ne- 
cessary for the crop alone. It is customary of late to drill the 
land that has lain through the winter exposed to the pulverizing 
effects of the frost without an additional ploughing, by first scari- 
fying the surface, and then drilling in the barley or oats, for which 
operation a scarifier peculiar to the district is used, that is ad- 
mirably adapted to the purpose. The lands scarified are con- 
sidered to resist weather better, as well as drought, should it 
follow ; and the crops are decidedly superior than from ploughing, 
without entailing that expensive operation upon the occupier. 
Clover generally succeeds well if plants can be obtained, but. 
the difficulty in that respect is even greater on this land than 
upon others in the county, and has of late rendered the returns 
from the wheat crop considerably less on that account. 
The wheat grown in this district is of excellent quality, and 
with genial seasons very productive ; but the uncertainty of a full 
plant, either from prevalence of black grass, or the destructive 
effects produced by the slug, in a great measure counterbalances 
its productiveness. From 1826 to 1832 the slug had been so 
destructive that a vast proportion of the tenants were ruined, and 
many of the farms fell into the landlords' hands. From 1832 to 
1842 a succession of good seasons followed, but the crop of the 
latter year was almost destroyed by the wet seed-time and winter, 
and some farmers barely obtained a return of their seed. I men- 
tion this to show the precarious nature of these lands, although 
they do in some seasons produce from 40 to 50 bushels per acre, 
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