Farming of Cambridgeshire . 51 
the ploughman then splits: thus the ridges, or lands, are made 
one yard wide ; the four furrows thus ploughed out of the middle 
of the stetch then lie two furrows right and left, lapping on to 
the furrow-slices thrown out of the old furrows ; they are then 
called three-furrow ridges, as each ridge is thus made one yard 
wide with three furrows. As soon as the land is quite dry in the 
spring, these lands are struck down by going one bout on each 
land ; this plan stirs that portion of the ridge that was not re- 
moved the previous earth ; they are then well harrowed, and the 
charlock and needles, &c. allowed to vegetate ; again harrowed, 
then the land is ploughed across on large wide lands with three 
horses, one going before two ; and when done in hot dry weather 
(and it is a sign of good husbandry in this district never to plough 
the land in wet weather after winter, as the tieading and poach- 
ing of the horses' feet do more injury than all the after ploughing 
can rectify), the practice of ploughing the land very deep for 
this earth has considerably increased of late, and from my own 
observations I cannot believe it possible to plough too deep. The 
utility of ploughing deep on all retentive soils must be evident to 
all, for if the soil be only ploughed shallow in very wet weather it 
gets unfit for vegetation, the water becomes stagnant, and soluble 
matter in the soil is either washed out or locked up, from 
being so thoroughly soaked as to exclude the air; and when it 
gets dry it is as hard and solid as bricks ready for burning. In 
either case it is almost impossible for any plants to vegetate pro- 
perly, the soil being at one time wet and soft, and at another too 
dry and hard. But when the soil is artificially increased by deep 
ploughing, the rain gradually sinks down the whole depth of the 
furrows into the substratum, thus moved, and from thence into 
the hollow drains, and in hot dry summers the deep-ploughed 
ground will hold, by capillary attraction, a much greater supply 
of moisture for the nourishment of plants. Thus deep plough- 
ing drains off the water during heavy rains, and supplies the 
means of healthy vegetation at all times. It is found by expe- 
rience that the deeper land is ploughed for fallow, the sooner the 
water percolates through the soil into the drains. The depth of 
the staple by these deep ploughings is also increased. After this 
deep ploughing the lands are dragged with a heavy crab-harrow ; 
in about three weeks ploughed back again, a good depth, with 
three horses ; again crab-harrowed and harrowed with common 
harrows ; then with a double-breasted plough the land is marked 
out into lands of the exact width of the drill, and the uniform 
size of each land is preserved by a marker or piece of wood being 
fastened on to the beam of the plough by a bolt going through 
the end, so as to allow its being turned over at the land's end : 
at the end of the marker is a small iron bar, sharpened at both 
E 2 
