2b8 
On the Farming of Huntingdon. 
Fourth year. — Wheat is sown after both beans and clover ; 
the clover-brush, whether jjrazed or mown, is usually broken up 
after Midsummer, and worked as a fallow. The seed, at the rate 
of 2h bushels per acre, is always if possible put in with the 
drill ; a good part, however, of the crop of 1867 was sown 
broadcast, in consequence of the wetness of the season. 
Where the land is well drained the six-course is often advan- 
tageously adopted. 1st, fallow; 2nd, barley; 3rd, seeds, mown 
or grazed ; 4th, wheat ; 5th, beans, manured ; 6th, wheat. With 
a liberal application of purchased manure an increased produce 
may thus be reaped, whilst the land need suffer no damage, if 
the soil be of the best kind, and the management good. 
Draining. — Practical men are agreed that drainage has done 
more than anything else to improve the farming of the county. 
The depth of the drains and their distance apart vary according 
to the necessities of the soil ; but there is a growing desire 
amongst the more intelligent class of farmers to go deeper than 
formerly. Amongst others, however, the Government drains are 
always thrown in the teeth of those who advise deep drainage, 
although, as already stated, the Government system failed less 
from the drains being too deep than from their being too far 
apart ; it is nevertheless surprising how some of this land retains 
the water, even when in close proximity to the drain. 
The writer walked over a remarkably tenacious field belonging 
to Mr. Chapman, of Wornditch, which had been drained 3i feet 
deep, and 16 feet apart. Mr. Chapman being dissatisfied with 
the result, had the drains opened, and, to the depth of about one 
foot, straight thorns placed on the top of the pipes, after which the 
soil was again filled in. The field has now a very good plant 
of broad clover upon it, and when I walked over it on the 30th 
of January, 1867, though shortly after a heavy fall of rain, it was 
very sound, having no water standing anywhere in the furrows. 
On some estates the drainage is done at the joint cost of 
landlord and tenant, the landlord finding pipes, and the tenant 
putting them in ; on others, again, the work is done at the sole 
cost of the landlord, the tenant paying interest on the money 
expended. This plan we consider most satisfactory both for the 
owner and occupier, particularly where the land is held on yearly 
tenancy. On large estates, where there is a staff of properly- 
qualified men, the work is invariably better performed than when 
done by the ordinary labourers on the farm ; the county, how- 
ever, is noted for its drainers. A few years ago the writer had 
the honour of officiating as judge at a county draining match, at 
which there were upwards of forty competitors, more than halt 
of whom did not break the ground above eight inches wide, and 
several only seven inches, to go to a depth of four feet. One side 
