Agriculture of Norfolk. 
309 
to the occupiers in tbat proportion. As it is of the greatest 
national importance to remove any clog on the culti\"ation of the 
soil, surely a power might be given to remove such a check as 
this, on amply compensating the party whose particular interest 
may stand in the way. 
As the Society require to know " the state of the drainage," 
and not the details of the manner in which drainage is performed, 
I do not, in the abundance of other matter, dwell on these ; and, 
so much having been recently written on the subject, it seems un- 
necessary to do so. 
FENCES. 
The farmers of Norfolk (as a body) do not excel in the manage- 
ment of hedges, but rather the contrary ; though some of them 
think that Mr. Blakie's remarks, in his work on Hedges, will apply 
with too much truth even at the present time, and that there is much 
land wasted by having a icide ditch added to the large fence on a 
high bank, where in many cases, especially on arable land^ a low 
and narrow fence, on the level, without a ditch, would answer 
every useful purpose, and not be so likely to fill the adjoining land 
with weeds. 
Probably few have passed Mr. Cambridge's farm at South 
Runcton (on the road from Downham Market to Lynn) without 
admiring the neatness of all the hedges on it, which are cut in this 
A form. One which I measured was nine inches wide at the 
top and twenty inches at the bottom. 
Neat hedges may be seen at Acle, Thrigby, Quidenham, and 
other places, but these are the exceptions, not the common fences 
of the county. 
CLA.YING, MARLING, &c. 
The farmers of Norfolk shine most particularly in their im- 
provement of the texture, and therefore of the productive qualities, 
of the soil itself. This may be owing to their having been placed 
under such circumstances as to draw their attention forcibly to 
this important branch of agriculture. There are few soils of so 
happy a texture as not to admit of improvement by a mixture of 
some sort, but, where the faults are not very glaring, our attention 
is not so likely to be devoted to their correction, as when we find 
our onward progress effectually impeded by an evil which must 
be faced and removed before we can make any good progress. 
Thus the occupier of the light blowing sand could not for any 
long period avoid observing its glaring defects, and even if he 
had never heard of a remedy, some chance circumstance would 
point one out, by placing before him an improvement on a small 
scale, which, to a careful and shrewd observer, would be a suffi- 
y 2 
