42 
On the Farming of Essex. 
upon the eddishes, and upon the land upon which they are grown by 
sheep in fold. The turnips are all sliced, and the sheep are regularly 
fed in troughs, having a new fold every day, and with from ^ lb. to 1 lb. 
each of oil-cake per day. The sheep, for the most part, consist of lambs 
of the last year, and cost from 16*. to 20*. each — these in the following 
spring are shorn and sent to market, and produce from 30*. to 32s. 
each ; the fleeces from the half-bred Leicesters weighing each about 
6^ lbs., and selling from 12c?. to 16c/. per lb. 
Mangold-wurzel is grown upon the clay-land ; the method of cul- 
tivating, elsewhere adverted to, (with one exception, that of growing 
upon -S-feet ridges) is carried out upon this farm, and the roots are 
used in conjunction with the turnips in the manner above stated, 
being all sliced and fed in troughs, and the quantity increased as the 
season advances, and the turnips become diminished. It is by this 
management that the land is maintained in a condition to produce crops 
without clear summer fallowing, and the hoeing becomes thus an im- 
portant item in the farm management and expenditure, which, from 
being well carried out upon this farm, T shall advert to particularly. 
Gangs of boys from ten to fifteen years of age are constantly employed, 
at wages from 4(/. to 8c/. each per day ; with every ten or more boys a 
man is placed, who is made responsible for their properly executing the 
work, and also for their application. Narrow hoes are used in preference 
to wide ones. The wheat, beans, and peas first receive attention, and are 
all thoroughly hoed and weeded at a cost of about 3*. to 4s. per acre ; 
the boys also dibble in the mangold-seed, and single the plants of both 
that and the turnips ready for the hoe, weed all the Lent corn, each 
being furnished with a glove, and then assist in making the hay, shaking 
it out with their hands without using forks; the smallest are then re- 
leased for the month of harvest to follow gleaning, and the largest are 
all kept to various work, such as hoeing and cleaning the turnips, and 
assisting in the harvest-work as required, but always accompanied by 
the man. As the season advances, the pulling and carting of the turnips 
again occupies them, and it is only during the depth of winter that the 
smallest are not employed. Frequently two or three gangs of from ten 
to fifteen in each gang are at work ; the light hoeing is thus executed at 
a less cost than could be effected by men, and the boys are at the same 
time taught early to work and to become industrious. The system pur- 
sued as regards the corn-crops is as follows : — ^The land from which the 
turnips were taken, after having been folded with sheep, is immediately 
})loughed, provided tlie weather is dry enough, and remains until the 
following spring, when it is scarified and drilled with barley. The 
eddishes to which the turnips have been carted are also folded over with 
sheep, and are plouglied early and drilled with oats. The land sown 
with barlev is also sown with clover-seed by a machine of peculiar con- 
struction, but admirably adapted. In the following year tiie land that 
had been in oats is ])loughed two or three times in the autumn, and 
formed into 3-fect ridges, as before described for turnips, manured, and 
drilled v. ith beans, three rows upon each ridge; these are well hoed 
during the summer. The clover succeeding the barley is reserved for 
hay, or fed until the middle of May, and both white and red varieties 
