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XV.— Oh the Agricnlttire of Norfolk. By Bar ugh Alhiack, 
Land Agent. 
I ENTERED Norfolk as a stranger, fully a^Ya^e that h had long been 
considered the best cultivated county in the kingdom ; therefore 
anv impression, from the view presented to me, vi as not so likely 
to be favourable for the district. Yet, in many respects, as the 
abundance and regularity of the crops, the neatness of the drilling, 
the straightness and regularity of the ploughing, my expectations 
were "more than realised; in short, good drilling and good 
ploughing are the '- rules'' of the whole county, — bad drilling, 
or bad ploughing, so much the exception, as scarcely to be seen 
in it. Again, in that very difficult part of farming, the securing 
a good plant of clover where land has been long under the four- 
course system, the farmers of Norfolk seemed to me infinitely 
before any others I had seen : so much so, indeed, that although 
I consequently looked out to detect failures if possible, yet, in riding 
through nearly every part of the whole county, I only observed 
about five or six fields where the clover was decidedly " patch}'," 
and, on inquiry, found these had been treated differently from the 
general plan. Those abundant crops, it must be remembered, 
were growing, in many places, on an entirely artificial soil. The 
recent desert of white blowing sand had been converted into the 
most fruitful land, by the Avell-directed industry of the people; 
the materials for the change not being found on the spot, in some 
cases, but brought from a distance. Indeed, in the permanent 
improvement of the soil, by claying, marling, &c., the people of 
Norfolk are probably not excelled by any, and few will bear a 
comparison with them ; therefore I recommend all who have 
what they consider a barren estate of worthless acres, to take a 
tour through the county, and see for themselves what may be 
done in such cases, if I should fail in explaining it to them. 
Having said thus much in favour of Norfolk farming, I must 
in fairness state that I think there are other counties more 
likely to attract admiration from those who pass through each 
hastily, without possessing practical knowledge of the subject. 
For there is not, generally, so great attention paid to effect and 
neatness of appearance here, as in some districts which I could 
name, if we except the drilling and the ploughing. Thus, the 
corn-ricks show that, whilst the farmers of some other districts 
were thinking how to place and build theirs so as to have the 
neatest appearance, many of the Norfolk farmers were only 
thinking how they should put their corn together in the least 
possible time. 
VOL. V. * Y 
