On the Farming of Huntingdon. 
2G3 
erection. The bringing this farm to its present state must Lave 
been an expensive undertaking ; the cost of drainage, paring, 
road-making, grubbing, &.C., having amounted to at least half the 
value of the fee simple of the land in its natural state, while in 
its present condition it gives satisfactory evidence of the results of 
labour successfully applied, and capital judiciously expended. 
Mr. George preferrecf tlie plan of hiring steam-engines and 
machinery for thrashing, chaff-cutting, i^c, to that of purchasing 
them himself. With fields 120 acres in extent, it might be 
supposed that a more suitable place for the steam plough to 
work could not easily be found ; but even if steam were used, 
a large number of horses must necessarily be kept, as the 
soapy nature of the land renders it necessary to take every 
advantage of weather, and to employ all available strength to 
get the manure on the land at the proper time. Considerable 
quantities of artificial manures are used for the turnip crops. 
Where the land will bear eating off, about one third to one fourth 
of the roots are carted home and consumed by the stock in the 
yards, the remainder being fed on the land, on the IGOO acres. A 
breeding flock of about 1200 well-bred Lincoln ewes is kept. 
After a sufficient number of theaves have been selected to keep 
up the flock, the produce, together with 200 or 300 bought hoggs 
and the draft ewes are sold off to the butcher. A very large 
number of pigs are also fed, and when fat are sold to the Leicester 
and Birmingham butchers ; they are all weighed alive before 
leaving the farmyard, and a certain allowance is made, which 
pretty closely adjusts the charge to the butcher's weight. 
An occupation of such magnitude requires much care to 
direct and control the necessary operations ; but Mr. George, 
Avho was a calculating and thoroughly practical man, was quite 
up to the work, and although well supported by efficient bailiffs, 
they severally took their instructions from himself. This occu- 
pation is a good illustration of what capital and skill are capable 
of performing on the waste lands of not only this, but many other 
counties ; indeed, the land, although only of average quality 
compared with -much that is still in a state of nature, produces 
in its now improved state as much or more stock food than it 
did when in grass, in addition to at least 3 quarters of corn per 
acre annually : — a matter of no small importance to this country. 
The writer has no hesitation in predicting that at the end of 
twenty years the land will be worth double what it was in its 
original condition. 
Mr. William Sisman occupies the Buckdcn Lodge Farm, 549 
acres in extent, of which 130 are in grass. Mr. Sisman is a breeder 
of pure Shorthorns, and a successful exhibitor at many of the local 
shows. He also admires a good hunter, and has taken many 
