318 
Agi-iculture of Norfolk. 
travel as far as is now necessary, though free from the restless dis- 
position of the Norfolks, yet are well calculated to thrive on short 
and more heavily stocked pastures ; and, where an equal oppor- 
tunity is given them, they become ready for the butcher at an ear- 
lier period than the Norfolks. New-Leicesters are generally ad- 
mitted to be the best feeders, where the pastures are good, but 
are not considered so well calculated as the South- Downs for the 
light sands of Norfolk, or the downs of Sussex. 
As the cultivation and soil of Norfolk improved, the county 
became more suitable for Leicesters than before, and advantage 
was taken of this change by crossing the South- Down ewe with 
the new Leicester ram. The produce of such cross is now gene- 
rally admitted to be the most profitable sheep in the highly culti- 
vated light soils of Norfolk. Only one cross is taken for the pur- 
pose of fattening it, the flock of ewes remaining of the South- 
Down breed. 
PIGS. 
The old breed of Norfolk pigs thus described by Mr. Young, 
" carcass longj but wants thickness," has been generally improved, 
so that it is rather difficult to find any possessing these peculiari- 
ties of shape to mark their origin. There certainly are some of 
them left, but barely sufficient to prove that the former reporters 
of the county faithfully described such as were common in their 
time. 
The pigs most generally seen in Norfolk now are white, with a 
due thickness of back, a moderate length of leg, and an apparent 
aptitude to fatten ivith good keeping. Tiiey have been greatly improved 
by crossing with the Suffolk pigs, and to these, I believe, they chiefly 
owe their present good qualities. But, although they are probably now 
as well calculated as most breeds for general use, yet, where a little more 
care than ordinary can be bestowed, other crosses are more desirable. 
I saw some, in different parts of the county, the produce of crosses with 
Berkshire, others with ''the improved Essex, "&c. ; but these are the 
exceptions, not the common breed of the county ; which is, as I have 
above stated, the old Norfolk improved by the Suffolk pigs. I observed 
some remarkably good pigs, wiiich I understood were the produce of the 
common sow of the county, crossed by a Neapolitan boar. Captain 
Glasspoole, of Ormsby, near Great Yarmouth, has, I believe, obtained 
more premiums for pigs, at tlie recent agricuUural shows of the 
county, than any other person in it; and he thus describes the breed- 
ing of those with which he was so successful : — " My original stock 
of pigs were Chinese ; they were crossed with a Berkshire boar, and 
that cross with a Nea])olitan boar:" his present stock being the result 
of this last cross. The Captain adds, that " pigs require to be kept 
warm, dry, and clean, which is not sufficiently attended to by farmers 
generally." " Washing theni occasionally with warm soap-suds is very 
beneficial, and they will lie down to be scrubbed as soon as they see 
