Farming of Cambridgeshire. 
47 
of which are fatted^ being shorn once, and sold when at the age of 
14 to 16 months; these, after the rape is all consumed, have 
turnips cut into troughs, and, I feel confident, the plan of cutting 
turnips for sheep wants only to be tried by those who even now 
object to it, to be bv them most readily adopted. As soon as the 
fleeces are taken off the backs of the hoggets, they are sent to the 
London market. 
Second Year — Barley. 
As the turnips or rape are consumed by the sheep, the lands 
are clean ploughed for barley. Some have of late been in the 
habit of striking the lands on to bouts, and after lying some time 
for the frost to pulverize, they are scarified across and ploughed 
again on the flat in the spring. But I do not think the practice 
is attended with sufficient success to justify the expense. It is a 
well known fact, that ploughing light land does not increase its 
fertility. I do not so much object to this plan on early-sown 
rape, as it prevents the stalks growing through the interstices of 
the ploughed furrows, which is often the case when the land is 
only ploughed once on the flat, and particularly if done by bad 
ploughmen. The lands in the spring are well harrowed, and 
drilled with from three to four bushels of barley per acre. 
The varieties generally sown are Chevalier, Potter's, and the 
Nottingham Long Ear : the latter sort has extended much of late. 
A set of light harrows follows to cover the seed. The small seeds 
are sown with either a wide light drill or a handbarrow ; this is 
done by many at the time of sowing the barley, and by others 
soon after the barley is up, harrowing the seed in with a very light 
set of jingling harrows with wooden teeth. Some people object 
to sowing the seeds the same time as the barley, but by so doing 
we are sure to secure a plant of seeds, which is of the greatest 
importance on this description of soil ; for without a good plant 
we cannot ensure a good plant of wheat. The objection to this 
early sowing is, that the seeds are apt to get up too much in the 
barley, and in a wet harvest prevent its drying so rapidly, thus 
causing some delay in the carting. I agree, that on the heav}" clay 
land it is not advisable to sow thus early, as the above objections 
bear more strongly on such land : lying, too, in small fields, and 
not so much exposed as in our more open part of the country, the 
seeds, especially red clover, grow more luxuriantly on the clays 
than on our dry sterile soils. But on the latter description of 
land, with very large open fields and no hedge- row timber, every 
breath of air comes over the swarths and dries them. The slight 
danger and loss thus sustained in a wet harvest is, in mv opinion, 
more than compensated by the safety and securitv Ave feel in 
regard to our plant of seeds. I consider the two great maxims to 
