NEW 
u TO IMPROVE THE SOIL AND THE MIND.” 
SERIES. 
VOL. II. 
ALBANY, SEPTEMBER, 1845. 
No. 9. 
THE CULTIVATOR 
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.foreign Correspondence. 
MR. NORTON’S LETTERS—No. XV. 
Laboratory of Ag. Chem. Association, ? 
Edinburgh, July 15, 1845. S 
L. Tucker, Esq.—During- the last month, my changes* 
of habitation were so frequent, in the course of various 
journeys through the eastern part of England, that I did 
not find time to write you. My object in visiting Eng¬ 
land was to attend the annual meeting of the British As-! 
sociation for the Advancement of Science, held this year; 
at Cambridge. At the close of this meeting, Prof. John¬ 
ston and myself determined to take a short agricultural 
tour through Norfolk and Lincoln. We were so fortu¬ 
nate as to meet with companions well acquainted with! 
every branch of farming as practiced in that section. 
Mr. Breckenridge, one of these gentlemen, is an agent 
for extensive estates in Yorkshire and Northumberland, 
and the other, Mr. Johnson, a Yorkshire farmer, who 
has lately won the prize for the best farm in that county. 
We found posting the most convenient way of travel¬ 
ing, as we could then stop when and where we pleased, 
or turn olf from the main road in any direction. 
From Cambridge to Newmarket was our first stage. 
The road is nearly the whole distance upon a low 
ridge, elevated above the fenny hollows. The soil near 
the road seemed thin and light, and many fields, in 
the failure of grass, were overrun with weeds. The 
soil of the fens is much better, but there is a difficulty in 
draining, as some of them are nearly on a level with the 
sea. I am inclined to think, however, that this is not 
insuperable, and am sure that the higher levels can be 
perfectly drained. The water from each level is carried 
round the edge of that below it. 
Some miles before reaching Newmarket, we passed 
from the oalite limestone formation to the chalk, and 
after leaving that place, we found in a field where they 
w ere plowing, the chalk about 6 inches from the surface. 
The furrow was four inches in depth. The plow was 
of a very antiquated construction, having but one handle 
and a wooden mold-board. Much of the farming upon 
these thin chalk soils is very bad; they are afraid to go 
down, and keep on skimming the five or six inches of 
surface soil year after year, without any attempt to deepen 
it. Their name for barn-yard manure is muck, and they 
never put it upon this light land. The rotation upon one 
of these farms was thus given us. It was near Thetford, 
on the borders of Suffolk. 1, turneps; 2, rye; 3,4, and 
5, any grass that will grow. This completes the rota¬ 
tion; and then come turneps again. No muck is applied, 
but occasionally a dressing of marl. I do not give this 
as a type of Suffolk farming, but as showing what may 
easily and frequently be found there. On the better 
farms we noticed many fine fields of trefoil and sainfoin, 
they growing more readily and stronger than clover. 
We now entered Norfolk, and kept almost directly 
north to Walton, passing through some wretched farms. 
Here we saw the Norfolk plow, a very singular imple¬ 
ment, having a pair of wheels three or four feet in diame¬ 
ter, with the plow beam rising above their axle, and 
fastened in a kind of rack by a chain. It looks very 
awkward, and I should not think that it had much 
power. 
From Walton to Deerham, we noticed a very decided 
improvement, especially in the wheat and grasses. The 
sheep from Newmarket to Walton were almost starving 
in the pastures. The dry weather of last summer was 
fatal to immense quantities of the seeds, sown for mow¬ 
ing and pastures. About Deerham the country became 
rich and beautiful; the village itself is one of the pretti¬ 
est I have seen in this country. 
A few miles on our way to Fakenham, we stopped 1® 
visit the farm of Mr. Hastings, where we again found a 
rather light soil on the largest part of his farm. Some 
of his land however is clay, and this he has drained in a 
way which is called herring-bone draining. Deep main 
1 drains run down the slope, and short drains slanting across 
the fields enter into them on each side, like the small 
bones of a fish into its back bone, whence the name. 
This method has not proved effective, either here or on 
| several other farms where we found it in use; wet spots 
are left, and the ground not dried so quickly as it ought 
to be. We astonished Mr. Hastings by saying, that much 
of his light land also required draining. “ Why,” said 
he, “it is too dry already.” Our reasons were these; he 
plows from 4 to 5 inches deep, and under that, in some 
fields, is a hard, concrete mass of sand cemented by iron; 
no root can enter it, and when the roots of the grain 
reach it, the plant suddenly stops growing, and a erbp 
which promises at first to yield 30 bushels of wheat per 
acre falls off to 20. Now, drains put into this land, would 
not be to carry off water, but to purify the subsoil, from 
which, broken up by the subsoil plow, the rains would 
gradually wash down into the drains the iron, leaving a 
wholesome soil for the roots to descend into; being thus 
able to go down, they would also better resist drouth; 
this assumption experience has amply confirmed in Scot¬ 
land, within the last two years. Before leaving Mr. 
Hastings, it is due to him to say that his farm is well 
worked, his implements are excellent, and his manuring 
very liberal. He clays his light soils quite heavily. 
Since taking the farm he has laid at least 200 cubic yards 
per acre, over many fields. 
From this place we proceeded to Fakenham; and 
thence to Holkham, for the night. Holkham Hall is a 
magnificent place of the Earl of Leicester’s, and the home 
farm of about 1200 acres, has been quite celebrated in 
former years. At present there is nothing worthy of 
much note in the cultivation. The implement sheds 
contained a greater display than I have ever before seen 
on one farm. 
