274 
On the Farming of Huntingdon. 
Mr. Looker farms on tlie four-course sLift ; one quarter fallow, 
one quarter barley, one-eightli beans or peas, one-ei|^lith clover, 
and one quarter wlieat. A portion of the wheat-breaks is seeded 
with Italian ryegrass and grazed until the latter end of May, 
when it is broken up to fallow, and after being exposed to the 
influence of the summer sun and winter frost, it is sown with 
barley early in the following spring. A large number of sheep, 
as well as cattle, are bred and fed on this farm ; 100 tons of best 
linseed-cake being consumed every year ; but scarcely any stock 
is bought, and nothing is ever sold except to the butcher. A large 
quantity of corn, in addition to cake, is consumed, mostly for pig- 
feeding, which is here extensively practised for the Birmingham 
markets : from 1200/. to 1500/. worth of improved Berkshire pigs 
being annually bred on the farm and sold off. The tenant, a 
thoroughly practical man, says that the sheep, which are of the 
improved Lincoln breed, have greatly improved in character and 
nearly doubled in numbers within the last ten years. The land is 
held on yearly tenancy, and any undue advantage being taken of 
the system is seldom or ever heard of. 
Steam-cultivation. — There are upwards of twenty sets of steam- 
cultivating tackle in the county, but as the Society's Commis- 
sioners have already visited the principal steam-cultivated farms, 
and their report is before the public, any details are here un- 
necessary ; suffice it to say that the wheat everywhere on the 
steam-cultivated land looks well. 
Woods. — The woods in the county are of considerable extent ; 
the timber consisting principally of oak and elm, and the under- 
wood of hazel, ash, and willow. Little attention, however, is paid to 
their profitable cultivation. The underwood is periodically cut at 
from fourteen to sixteen years' growth. The price varies ; where 
the timber-trees are numerous the underwood is less valuable. 
The writer saw some on the Duke of Manchester's estate, at 
Kimbolton, which had realised 14/. per acre ; the average price, 
however, is from 6/. to 9/. per acre. The timber is generally 
thinned at the same time that the underwood is cut. There is a 
good demand for sound trees ; but the great difficulty to be en- 
countered generally in dragging timber to the river or railway 
considerably detracts from its value. There are a few ash 
spinnies which, at twenty years' growth, make from 25/. to 30/. 
per acre, the produce being used for hop-poles or converted into 
hurdles. In the valley of the Ouse are many well managed 
osier-beds, producing a rent of from 5/. to 8/. per acre. 
Size of Farms. — Farms vary from 200 to 500 acres in extent ; 
from 200 to 300 being the most common. The principal land- 
owners are the Dukes of jNIanchester and Buccleuch ; the Earls 
of Sandwich, Carrisford, and Harrington ; Marquis of Huntly ; 
