324 
Agriculture of Norfolk. 
the team-man. Six -women, or strong youths of fifteen or sixteen years old, spread 
the manui-e with light three-prouged forks, tlie rows being divided into three 
I 1 / equal lengths ; they -work in pairs, 
2 
2 
2 
Women 
Worn en 
Women 
and the ground being equally divided, 
they know the pfirt they have to do. 
Other two similar ploughs follow imme- 
I diately after the spreading of the ina- 
I nure, and plough it in before the gases escape. The drilling of the seed 
I immediately follows that, not rolling Jirst ; but, to prevent the necessity for 
I that, a flat mould-board is attached to the shafts of the drill, and therefore 
I precedes the coulters, taking off the tops of the ridges and moving the clods, 
j if any, into the furrows. Besides the usual quantity of about ten three- 
I horse tumbrels of muck, from ten to fourteen bushels per acre of bones (or 
boues and rape-dust in equal quantities, mixed) are drilled with the seed. 
Care is taken to put the bones, &c., as near the farm-yard muck as pos- 
sible.— — A small fork, /\ , attached behind the drill manure-coulters, slightly 
covers the bones, &c., before the seed is deposited by the other coulters of the same 
drill. The seed is deposited not more than an inch deep, and is covered by a 
loose chain attached to a cross-bar of wood. Mr. Hudson has sowed mangold 
twenty-two years, out of which he drilled twenty, and dibbled two. The latter 
were the only failures ; therefore his mode of sowing it is precisely the same as 
when sowing Swedes or white turnips, in all the particulars I have described ; 
and the only variation is in the time of sowing and the quantity of seed.* His 
practice at Castle Acre is : to sow mangold the last week of April or the 
first week in May. Swedes from the 1st to 20th of June.- Decanter or bell- 
turnips about the 15th of June (being for early consumption by cattle or sheep) ; 
and he would sow white turnips, intended for the lambing season, about the 
Gth of July. Quantities of seed per acre : white turnips, 3 lbs. ; Swedes, 4 lbs. ; 
mangold, Tibs. Mr. Aylmer was surprised to find 18 inches flat heavier as a 
crop, than 27 inches ridye, by 1:^ ton per acre ; the latter looking much the best. 
He describes the soil as loam, and subsoil chalk. Notwithstanding this, Mr. Ayl- 
mer is inclined to ridging ; so that the evidence of his actual experiment is of the 
more importance. Many of the best farmers of the thin soil chalk-districts drill 
their turnips on level at about 18 or 20 inches apart, e.ractljj in the same manner as 
those of the Holds of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Mr. Overman of Buruhara is 
an instance of this, and he is said to be one of the best farmers of the county. Those 
of other districts, who have a geological map to refer to, will find that Burnham is 
on the chalk. This only confirms the opinions of others in different districts, who 
are cultivating similarly thin soil resting on chalk ; and whoever happens to occupy 
such, in whatever part of the kingdom it may be, should bear such evidence as this 
in mind, in order that he may try the experiment if he has not already done so. 
I found the same soil at Massinghani, where the drilling is on the flat. It is the 
same also at Quidenham, where I could have thought myself in a Lincolnshire or a 
Yorksliire turnip-field ; Mr. Coulson's management of his 18-inch flat drilled turnips 
is so similar to the common practice of those counties. Where the soil is deeper, 
and yet not wet, I found the turnips more generally ridged ; but Mr. Hudson of 
Castle Acre, and Mr. Overman of Weasenham, both say they should not ridge on 
wet land. Mr. Tingey of Scoulton says, ." I object to ridging turnips on heavy 
land, because 1 cannot prevent the clods from rolling to the top of the ridge, there- 
fore the seed gets deposited in the clods, and unless there comes a heavy rain soon 
after the seed is sown, the turnips come up very patchy, for if the seed is not covered 
with loose mould it cannot grow." " I also find that, when turnips arc sown on ridges, 
the land becomes flat from hoeing," so that it is often difficult to find a season in 
which the carts can be taken upon the land without becoming a means of injuring 
the barley-crop by compressing the soil so as to turn up, after ploughing, " whole 
* Mr. Milnes had as good mangold as any I saw in tlie county, his manner of 
growing it being very nearly the same as ^ir. Hudson's at Castle .\cre; the rows 
being only one inch wider, and the seed steeped thirty-six hours, and afterwards 
filaced in a moderately warm sun, and dried with sand and a small proportion of 
inie, that it may work easily in the drill. 
