530 
Spring Park Farm. 
cultivation, and liirge districts of enclosed land of far better quality 
ruinous to the occupiers; and I have not a doubt that to the difference 
in the size of the fields this may be principally if not entirely traced. 
' The following is the history of Spring Park Farm, as derived from 
Mr. Davis by the deputation : — Spring Park Farm, in 1833, when first 
tenanted by Mr. Davis, had been seven months out of cultivation, and 
from 1808 to 1833 had always been in the hands of the wealthy own- 
ers. The late Mr. John Smith was fond of telling that when he bought 
Spring Park, about 1808 (then comprising about 600 acres), he found 
a tenant on it whose rent was 66Z. per annum ; that after two years tha 
tenant failed, and he lost his rent. From that time to 1833 it was never 
let. Since Mr. Davis has rented it he has drained nearly the whole 
4 feet deep; he has also trenched it 15 inches deep, taking out many 
hundred loads of conglomerate gravel that Avas broken up by a plough 
made on purpose. The result of this is, that he grows at least three 
times as much produce as formerlj', and keeps five times the quantity 
of stock ; the seasons are far kinder, and the land admits of winter- 
feeding with sheep, and early sowing. The name of this farm was for- 
merly " Cold Harbour." It was then reckoned the coldest spot in the 
neighbourhood, and consisted principally of a wild heath, full of bogs, 
affording excellent snipe-shooting in the winter, and, as a neighbour 
used humorously to describe it, finding keep in the summer for a lark 
an acre. The late Mr. Maberley, when he bought it, not liking the 
name, re-christened it Spring Park, probably so designating it from 
the quantity of water springing up upon it ; but deep draining and 
high cultivation have strangely changed its character. The forward 
state of the crops shows that it can no longer be fairly called " Cold Har- 
bour," and latterly the springs have been diminishing, till at least half 
of them are stopped altogether, and corn now waves where heath alone 
formerly grew. Still no finmer will envy Mr. Davis his possession of 
such a soil. Much has been done, probably all that art can do, to im- 
prove it, but man cannot change gravel or sand ; by draining he may 
make it dry, and by trenching he may multiply the space for roots to 
range in, and derive nutriment from ; but a gravel or a sand, unlike 
clay, or chalk, or mould, admits of no further change, and to the last 
must ever be a hungry, uncertain bed for corn ; a fast consumer of 
nutriment, much dependent on seasons, and requiring summer rains 
for maintaining continuously its vegetating powers in May and June.' 
The course of cropping I have adopted to obtain the largest 
returns at least cost, is as follows, viz. : I divide my arable land 
yearly into fifths — 
1- .'jth is appropriated to green and cattle crops. 
2- 5ths „ to cereal corn. 
l-5th „ to legumes. 
l-5th „ to hay. 
and in the following rotatioHj viz.: — 
1st year, in three portions, rye, winter barley, and tares. 
These are used for green meat and sheep-feeding in April, May, 
June, and July, and as the ground becomes cleared it is well 
