Oil the Farming of Hwitiiu/don. 
2G9 
of the drain Is cut perpendicularly from the surface to the bottom, 
while the other gradually slopes from the top to the width of 
the pipe at the bottom, each side being as smooth as if cut with 
a plane. The price lor four-feet drains is from 2,s'. to 2s. Ad. 
per chain of 22 yards. 
Stock. — The stock of the district has been not less improved 
than the cultivation of the soil. 
Horses. — A good many horses are bred : the small farmers 
confining themselves principally to cart-horses, which they break 
in to team-work, selling the best of them to the London dealers 
at five years old. The large farmers aim more at breeding good 
weight-carrying hunters ; on most large farms a good half-bred 
brood-mare may be found. 
Cattle. — The cattle are mostly of the Shorthorn breed ; the 
system of weaning is becoming more general, and there are now 
few farms where breeding is not practised. Some few cattle 
are sold as stores, but the greater part are made off fat from the 
field or the fold-yard, at from 2J to 3 years old ; the heifers 
being mostly sold down calving at the same age. 
Sheep. — The breed of sheep most common is the improved 
Lincoln, of which many good flocks have been in the county 
for several years. Rams have been purchased or hired at Peter- 
borough fairs from the flocks of Messrs. Kirkliam, Casswell, 
Williams, and other equally celebrated- breeders, and their use 
has produced the most satisfactory results. On some farms 
the lambs are sold off at weaning time ; they are now, however, 
more generally kept on the grass-land through the winter, and 
occasionally in the yard in bad weather they receive a small 
allowance of mangold or kohl-rabi, with a liberal allowance of 
cake, after which they are sold off to the butcher during the 
summer. On some of the worst land, where only a few ewes are 
kept in the winter, store tegs are purchased in April or May, 
grazed through the summer, and sold about November, to be 
fattened on turnips in Bedfordshire or Northamptonshire. About 
a month before the lambing season begins the ewes are generally 
kept in yards at night, and have a small allowance of corn, and 
plenty of eut chaff. They run on the pastures during the day, 
where they have a few mangolds thrown about for them. 
Pigs. — The rearing and feeding of pigs is carried on to a con- 
siderable extent. The Berkshires are the best adapted for bacon ; 
the Suffolks and Neapolitans for pork ; the smaller variety pro- 
ducing a finer quality of meat. Those intended for bacon 
are generally kept in the yards in summer, and fed on beans, 
wash, and offal : after having gleaned the stubbles they are put up 
and fed on barley-meal, Indian corn, and miller's offals. From 
eleven to sixteen score are the general weights they are fed to. 
