52 
Farmwrj of Cambridgeshire. 
ends, each point being about 2 feet 6 inches from the end of the 
marker ; at the end of the marker is a chain attached, which 
hooks into the end of the horse's whippletree. This marker is by 
the ploughman turned over at the land's end, and hooked in the 
end of the other whippletree, the ploughman returning in the 
mark previously made by the marker. 
These lands are then ploughed with two horses, and one more 
ploughing is given soon after Michaelmas, the last two furrows 
being ploughed with two horses at length, to prevent any treading 
of the ploughed land. Water-furrows are then drawn. In the 
spring no more ploughing, but a large iron skim covering the 
whole stetch is used, which cuts the loose land previously pul- 
verized by the frost. A set of harrows follows, then the drill ; 
then a set of light harrows covers the seed. The land then lies 
like an onion-bed. How far preferable this plan to the old- 
fashioned one of ploughing the land in the spring, and sowing the 
barley broadcast : not a horse's foot by this plan treads on the 
land, all going in the furrows. The portion of land intended for 
seeds is sown after the barley is up, and either rolled or harrowed 
in with a very light set of harrows, some merely using a hurdle 
with a few bushes drawn through the bars. Red clover is taken 
once in eight or twelve years ; beans, peas, and tares fed off on the 
rest of the seed-shift. 
On this soil the manner of drawing the drains for hollow drain- 
ing is to have them with a fair fall for the water ; and they are 
generally, I might say always, drawn slanting across the lands or 
ridges, and running in parallel lines to each other at distances 
varying from 4 to 7 yards ; but the nearer the drains to each other, 
and the deeper they are put in, the drier the land, and the greater 
the advantage to the occupier. The drains are drawn by some 
with a common foot-plough ; by others with a very large plough 
made for that purpose, with larger and much deeper mould- 
boards or breasts. The ploughman first draws out four furrows, 
leaving a baulk of two furrows, which are thrown out as deep and 
as wide as possible ; then a furrow is taken out of the bottom 
open furrow: thus we get a depth from 8 to 10 inches. The 
mains are then drawn out at the ends of the common drains, and 
an opening to every six or seven score rods of common drain is 
made into the open ditch, which should be well cleaned out 
before operations are commenced. The drainer begins by neck- 
ing in these parts of the main drains, which is done with a 
common trustle-spade about 10 inches deep and 6 wide : two 
spits deep are dug out with this common spade: each drainer has 
a boy with a pail, and a half-pint tin mug fixed in the end of a 
stick, and with this he pours a few drops of water on the edge of 
the spade, which materially assists the workman in cutting his 
