44 
Farming of Cambridgeshire. 
Report on this county in 1806, at page 97: — " A farmer states, 
that he thinks fallows should lie whole all winter, even if intended 
for turnips, and that the first ploughing should not be later than 
May." Many swedes are now sown in May. At page 146 he 
states, " The cultivation of turnips was much confined in the 
county, owing to so great a part of it having been open field, the 
system of cropping which, and the flock-master's right of going 
over the whole fallow-field, precluding it ;" arjd " that turnips 
do not succeed on chalks." The writer of this Report has seen on 
chalks as good swedes as on the red lands ; and had, this year, 
much better swedes on his white land than on his red. I should 
think in Mr. Gooch's time the turnips went off (as he states) for 
the want of manure to make them grow, as I find only muck and 
fold were then used, and those of a bad description, and the seed 
was generally sown broadcast, in a few instances only were they 
drilled ; and one person is named as using light compost ; a 
Mr. Shepherd, of Chippenham, at that time used eight bushels of 
rape-dust per acre, with the drill, for turnips. At page 147, 
Mr. Gooch states, " Hoeing twice ; but as the art is not well 
known by the inhabitants, the work is done by persons who travel 
the country for that purpose, and who make great earnings. It 
cost a farmer in the neighbourhood of Wimpole 25s. per acre in 
the year 1803 for hoeing his turnips by his own people, who 
would not take them by the acre, but did them by the day, and, it 
was thought, wrought hard." The price now, for hoeing twice, is 
about 7s. or 7s. Gd. per acre. Large breadths of rape are grown, 
which do not require sowing until the beginning of July, or to 
the middle of that month. This gives an opportunity of cleaning 
any portion of the fallow shift that has become foul ; and it is 
generally admitted that better swedes are grown by changing the 
shifts, letting swedes succeed the rape and white turnip, and so 
on alternately ; and in fact this point cannot be too much at- 
tended to in every course of cropping — changing of soil and seed. 
The practice of cutting the turnips for sheep is much on the 
increase. Some pull all their turnips by about Christmas, that 
is, those that are intended for fat sheep : those required for early 
feeding are well cleaned, and the tops and tails cut off"; they are 
thrown into heaps of about 20 to 30 bushels, covered with a 
slight coat of straw or haulm and a few moulds. This costs, for 
cleaning and heaping, independent of the covering up, from 6.y. 
to 7s. per acre. Another plan, adopted for those for late feeding, 
is to draw four drills right and left, thus clearing the space ; the 
plough then opens a double furrow, and about seven rows of the 
turnips are put in this furrow, and with the plough covered up 
with four furrows, two on each side the turnips ; this is done 
for about 3s. to 3s. 6c?, per acre, besides the cost of ploughing ; 
I 
