40 
Farming of Cambridgeshire. 
of the parish of Guilden Morden, and Odissy, Litlington, parts of 
Bassingbourne and Kneesworth, Meldrith. Melbourne, Shepreth, 
Foulmire, Foxton, Newton, Hauxton, Harston, Trumpington, 
Cherry Hinton, Bottisham, Swaff ham. Burwell, to Fordham. In 
the five last-mentioned parishes we find a large portion of the 
soil to consist of a good deep, soapy, white loam, lying upon 
chalk or clunch. This is the lower chalk formation, and is ca- 
pable of growing large crops of wheat; in fact, it is as fine wheat 
land as I ever saw. The great objection to this soil is, that it 
poaches when feeding off the turnips with sheep ; but with our 
improved plan of cutting the turnips this great difficulty is 
obnated. The rest of this district consists of a portion of chalk 
land, some very thin-skinned, hungry gravel, and sand, on a dry, 
thirstv. wallinof-stone. Near the rivers and brooks we have occa- 
sionally moory and black sand on a gravelly bottom or subsoil, 
full of springs : some small, tough, tenacious clay spots, mixed 
with a deposit of fine chalk and sand, all of which require drain- 
ing, and most of w hich have been drained. A part of the parish of 
Melbourne, and a small part of the parish of Foulmire adjoining, 
are of a similar description to the white lands of Burwell, &c., 
which lie in a low situation, and are extremely valuable and pro- 
ductive with judicious management. It is on this description of 
soil that a few years ago the much-prized seed wheat, called the 
Burwell wheat, was grown. The whole of this district is farmed 
on the four-course system, with very few variations. Writing 
a Report on the farming of my own county, and being personally 
acquainted with most of the best farmers residing in it, I feel it 
would be inexpedient to treat of any one's farming in particular. 
I shall, therefore, only speak of the svstem and course of cropping 
pursued, and not of individual farming. The cropping generally 
pursued is — 
First vear, fallow for turnip, rape, or mangold-vvurzel. 
Second, barley. 
Third, seeds, tares, or peas. 
Fourth, wheat or oats. 
First Year — Fallow. 
The manner of preparing land for turnips, &c., pursued by 
our best farmers, is as follows : — As soon as anv of the wheat lands 
are cleared in harvest, to commence ploughing them up on those 
parts intended for Swedish turnips and mangold- wurzel ; first 
taking care to have the wheat mown or reaped sufficiently low to 
allow of ploughing immediately after the crop is carried, without 
having to wait for haulming the stubble. This land, as soon as 
time will allow, is again ploughed across, by some, in large flat 
