THE RURAL ECONOMY O F NORFOLK^ COMPRISING THE Management of Landed Eftates, AND THE PRESENT PRACTICE of HUSBANDRY IN THAT COUNTY. By Mr. MARSHAL L, (Author of MINUTES OF AGRICULTURE, &c.) RESIDENT upwards of Two Years in NORFOLK. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON: Printed for T. C A D E L L, in the STRAND. M,DCC,LXXXVII. D D R E S S T O T-H E READER. IN regiftering the practice of this Dif- tricl:, I purfued a two- fold method. Such eftablifhed rules of management as are generally obferved in common practice, I committedto a SYSTEMATIZED REGISTER, as they occurred to my obfervation. But fuch particular operations, and peculiari- ties of management, as required an accu- rate detail of circumftances -, alfo fuch complex obfervations, as included a plu- rality of fubjecls ; alfo fuch inftances of practice and opinion, as I found peculiar to individuals j I reduced to MINUTES, in ieries, with thofe on my own pra&ice. A 2 In 2GOG8-10 iv ADDRESS In preparing thefe materials for publi- cation I was defirous, on the principle of fimplicity, to have united the two regif- ters : that is, to have incorporated the MINUTES with the fyflematized matter. But this I found entirely incompatible with the fimplicity I was feeking. Many of the individual minutes pertaining to a. variety of diflinct fubjects, would not aflimilate with any one of them 3 while others were, in flrictnefs, foreign to the fyftem of practice prevalent in the Diflrict -, being upon incidents in my own practice, and upon obfervations and reflec- tions on fubjects not efpecially connected with the rural affairs of Norfolk, but equally relative to the rural economy of the Ifland at large. Thus, feeing the neceffity of keeping the two regifters diflinct, in fome degree, I thought it right to let them remain (with a few exceptions) in the manner in which they were written : but, in order tp connect them as intimately as the nature of TO THE READER. * of them would admit of, I digefted the fubjects of the MINUTES, andfufpended them to their correfponding fubjects in the SYSTEM ; through which means the two regifters may be read together, or fepa- rately, at the option of the reader. I was induced to adopt this method, with lefs hefitation, as I am ftill more and more convinced that PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE is never conveyed more forci* bly than in MINUTES, made while the MINUTIAE of practice are frem in the memory, and the attendant CIRCUM- STANCES are frill prefent to the imagina- tion. Nor am I fingular in this opinion. A mafterly writer conveys the fame fen- timent, in more elegant language. " It mutt," fays he, " be acknowledged, that the methods of difquifition and teaching may be fometimes different, and on very good reafon undoubtedly; but, for my part, I am convinced that the method of teaching which approaches moft nearly to the method of inveftigation, is incompa- A 3 rably ti ADDRESS rably the beft; fince, not content with ferving up a few barren and lifelefs truths, it leads to the flock on which they grew ; it tends to fet the reader himfelf in the track of invention, and to direct him in- to thofe paths in which the author has made his own difcovery, if he mould be fo happy as to have made any that are va- luable." I will place this fubjecl: in a light com- parative with two of the learned profef- iions. MINUTES, in rural economy, are as CASES in phyfic and furgery, and as REPORTS in law. They are all, and equally, if equally authentic, PRACTICE IN ITS BEST FORM. For an agricultor cannot regifler an incident, a furgeon, a cafe, nor a lawyer, the proceedings and decifion of a court, with any degree of accuracy and perfpicuoufnefs, until he has afcertained, and fct before him, the facls and attendant circumflances refpecl:- ing it 5 and has revolved in his mind the caufe, the operation, and the effect. In TO THE READER, vu fn doing this, he not only finds it neceflary to afcertain minutial fadts and circum- fiances, which, otherwife, he would have overlooked -, but is led on, by reflexion, to inferences which, otherwife, would not have occurred to him : and, if he regiftcr fully and faithfully, he knows no more of the given fubjedr, when he has finifhed his regifter, than the perfon who may, afterwards, have read it. Confe- quently, he not only thereby renders his practice more valuable to himfelf ; but, by reading his report, his minute, or his cafe, the fludent gains full pofleffion of the practice of a practitioner. Hence, principally, a barrifter is enabled to ftep into court, and a phyfician into a fick room, without the afliftance of felf-prac- tice. I will place thefe fubjedls in another point of view. The attorney, the apothe- cary, and the common farmer, are enabled to carry on their refpedive profeflions, or callings, without thofe fcientific helps* A 4 The viii ADDRESS The former depend upon the practice of their- inaftsrs, and their own pra&ice, during their clerkfhip, or apprenticeship; as the farmer does upon that of his father, and the country he happens to be bred in. But why do we, in difficulties, fly from the apothecary to the phyfician, and from the attorney to the counfellor ? Becaufc they have ftudied their profeffions fcienti- -fically, have obtained a general know- ledge, .and taken compreheniive views, of their refpeclive fubje&s ; as well as of the fciences and fubjects which are allied to them; and, added to thefe fcientific aids, haye made themfelves rnafters of the prac- tice, and the opinions, of the able prac- titioners who have gone before them ; as Wcllasof COTEMPORARY PRACTITIONERS. With refpectto the following MINUTES, it only remains necerfary to fay, that they were written in an adtive fcene, and that more attention was paid to circumftances . than to language. Tliofe on hulbandry ,were written, as I conceive all minutes on the TO THE READER. ix the fubjecl: ought to be written, in the FAMILIAR LANGUAGE OF FARMING; and, many of them, in the provincial phrafeology of the Diftrid: they were written in. I confefs, however, that, in revifing them for publication, I thought it prudent to do away fome of the FAMILIARISMS of the original Minutes. If, in the prefent form, they furnim fuch PRACTICAL DATA and NATURAL FACTS as may, in the end, be ferviceable to the main defign, and, in the inftant, be ac- ceptable to PRACTITIONERS, and ufeful to the STUDENT, the intention of publifhing them will be fully obtained. London, Feb. i, 1787. CONTENTS O F T H E SECOND VOLUME MINUTES. 1780. No. H E meafurement of - 1. /T^ 2. X 2. The Norfolk method of - underdrawing. 3. Steeping the feed, and -- refowing turneps. 4. The Norfolk method of exchanging lands. 1781. 5. On tenants -- pruning hedgerow timber. 6. An inftance of -- --- burning ant-hills. 7. On the practice and profit of - mowing pajlures. 8. Incidents on ----- mixing cattle andjheep. 9. On planting Ivy againft -- fea-Jione fence-walls. 10. Effedb of -- Jhwelings of a faepfold on grafdand. AUGUST. 12. Obfervations on the -- titrnep-caterpUIar. 13. On the evil effects of die . . . btrbtry plant. CONTENTS. 14. An inftance of ----- mwjir.g ivkeat. 15. The method of laying - clay hay-chamler-f.cors . 16. Experiments and obfervations on --- weld. I". ---- on -- putting e^ves to rcms. 1 8. -------- on -- manures for wheat. 19. -- - on the mode of -- fowing wheat. 20. Obf. on the Anbury and other enemies of turneps. 21. Inftance of fheep-fold checking the turnep-fly. SEPTEMBER. 2.2. Obfervations on the caufe of the --- Anbury. 23. The rife and practice of --- dibbling wheat, OCTOBER. 24. Inftance of -- --- fowlng clover in autumn. 25. Obfervations on the ---- peaks of gables. 26. Further obfervations on - dibbling wheat. 27. Obfervations on the - buttock-fair of St. Faith'' 's. 28. Further obfervations on --- dibbling wheat. 29. Sundry experiments with ---- - . lime. NOVEMBER. 30. Reflelions on ----- furze-food. 31. -- on the -- unproduStiuenefs of a fair-Read* 32. The Norfolk method of -- thatching with reed. 33. A fecure way of -- -- laying pantiles. 34. Obfervations on the time of cutting hedge-Wood. 35. On the utility and the height cf check-beams. 36. Obfervations and incidents on - tapping oaks. . 37. Inftance of fuccefs in - tranfplanting oaks. 38. Obfervations on the proper foil, &c. for - the ajh. 39. Description of ------ Holt fair. 40. On the profitablenefs of the Ijk-of-Sky-ScoU. Dz- CONTENTS. DECEMBER. 41, On laying up wheat-lands among phtafan;s. 4-2. A regulation for the frefervatfon of hedges. 43. Incident on filing wheat between-fiirrcw. 44. The Norfolk method of opening drains. 45. Obfervations on making ditches on hill-fides. 1782. 46. Mr. Bayfield's obfervation on rearing catik. 47. Reflections on the time of receiving rents. 48. Obfervations on laying pantiles. 49. On the Norfolk farmers partiality for arable land. 50. The method of t. Inftance of damage to roofs by a - high f)2. Obfervations on the - rejidence of workmen. 9 3. The effect of fevere weather on bullocks at turners. 94. Obfervations on Aylejham fair* 95. Incident and obfervations on weeding plantations. APRIL. 96. On Mr. Horflcy's management of his meadows. 97. Obfervations on two Jots of ~ bullocks at turntpf. 98. Inftance of fmall expence of - farming in Norfolk, 99. Inftance of - cutting ridgih. 100. On the alcrtnefs of the Norfolk farm workmen* MAY. 101. Obfervations on Norwich - clover-feed market. 102. Inftance of bullocks fold at --- Smhhjield. . --- Calculation of profit of - -- bullock: at turneps. 103. Inftance of the bad conftruclion ofNorf. ditches. 1 04. On furze- fkreens and method of -/owing furze -feed. J05- Obfervations on - . ---- Waljhamfatr. je6. Obfervations in the - Fleg hundreds. 107. Obfervations on --- War/lead fair. 1 08. Experience in . --- . - cheefe-making. jog. Experience in ---- making butter. j 10. Obfervations on two lots of bullocks at turneps. , --- Obfervations on -- - buying bullocks. Hi. Obf. on felling bullocks and on Smithficld-market. ji2. Obf. on the -i -- Eajiern coajl and Ingham fair. JUNE. JI3- Obf. on two lots of bullocks fent to Smith field. . --- General obfervations on - buying bullocks. i --- Obfervations on - . bullocks at grafs, 114. In- CONTENTS. 1 14. Inftance of improper management of a wet fell. 115. Obf. on the height of farm-yard fence-walls. lib. Obf. on carrying up fea-jlone walls. li 7. on the pay-day of a Smitbfield drover. ' on the uncertainty of Smith field-market. 1 1 8. .. the . Bioivfield hundred and Yarmoutb-marfoes. 119. the fale and profit of homebred bullocks. ' 1 2O. Inftance of burning the furface of a dunghill. 121. . -. of wet weather injuring fcalds. AUGUST. 122. Obfervations on the ' * turnep-caterpillar. 123- Cawjion Jbeep-Jhow. 124. Further obfervations on the turnep Tentbredo. SEPTEMBER. 125. Inftance of a backward feafon. Regifter of the advancement of fpring. 126. Incident of a depopulated hive of btes. 127. Experiment on the time of manuring grafsland. 128.' Incident relative to another difbarked ajh. 129. Further obfervations on the turnep Tentbredo. 130. Reflections on the . Midfummer JJjoot. 131. Defcription of a cheap * - ' hog-ciftern. 132. Final obfervations on the " turnep Tentbredo, OCTOBER. 133. Experiment on wheat with a berbery plant. 134. Obfervations of the bullock-fair of St. Faith. 335. Defcription of a furze-faggot fence. 136. The cxpence of marling by water-carriage. 137. Particulars relative to Felbrig inclofure. PROVINCIALISMS -. page 373 MINUTES. M I N U T E S 1 N NORFOLK I. 1780. SfiPTEM-rT^HIS morning, meafured MANURE. BER 22d. a fheepfold, fet out for 600 fheep, confifting of ewes, wedders, and grown lambs. It meafures eight by five-and-a-half rods, or forty-four fquare ftatute rods; which is fomewhat more than feven rods to a hundred, br two yards to a Iheep. SHEEP. 2. OCTOBER 27th. A few weeks ago a tenant afked for foine top-wood to under- drain part of a clofe of arable land ; which part being cold and fpringy, fcarcely ever pro- duced a crop ; and, this morning, I have been to fee the procefs of under-draining in this coun- try. Having from feveral years obfervation mark- ed the fpringy parts, he began by circumfcrib- VOL. II, B ing DRAINING. 2 MINUTES OCT. 2. ing them with a drain, made as hereafter de- DRAINING. fcribed, and then drew others within it in fuch directions as he knew from obfervation (not methodically) would convey the fuperfluous moifture from the wet parts to a main drain and outlet. The drains were formed by two men, each of them having a tapering fpade, and a hook- ed fcoop. The firft man took out a fpit, with a iquare-pointed fpade ten inches long, feven inches wide at the tread, and five inches at the point; and, to make a fmooth footing for the next man to Hand upon, drew out the crumbs with a five- inch fcoop. The other man funk it about eight inches deeper with around-pointed fpade, eight inches long, five inches wide at the tread, and three inches near the point; clearing out the bottom with a narrow-mouthed fcoop , namely, two inches and a half to three inches wide : the drain, when finifhed, being a foot to fourteen inches wide at the top; from eighteen to twenty inches deep ; and about three inches wide at the bottom. Thefe drains were filled with oak and alder boughs in this manner : The fpray being ftript off, the woody parts (from an inch and a half to three inches dia- meter) 1780. NORFOLK. meter) were laid in the bottom of the drain. 3. If crooked, they had a chop given them in DRAINING the elbow, and then prcficd down to the bot- tom with the foot. If large, one, if fmallj two or three of thefe flicks were laid at the bottom ; upon thefe the fpray, with the leaves on ; and upon this a covering of heath. The whole, when trodden down, appeared to fill the drain within a few inches of the top; 7'he mould was then laid on and ridged up over the drain. A roller pafled along and finifhed the opera- tion. The land was immediately plowed for wheat. The quantity of land drained is about three acres : The expence about five pounds, or one pound thirteen {hillings and four pence an acre, viz. Opening and filling in 184 rods at 3d. - .260 Three loads of boughs (given him by his landlord) fuppofe - i 10 o Two loads of heath i^s. carriage los. i 40 B 2 He MINUTES Nov. 2. Fie has repeatedly experienced this method DRAINING. of draining, and has found it anfvver his ex- pectations. He is a cautious judicious hufband- man, and would not lay out /. los. without a moral certainty of gain. TURNEPS. NOVEMBER 8. An experienced farmer in this neighbourhood fays he has frequently found that fleeping old turnep-feed in water, and letting it lie a few hours in the fun before fowing, has brought it up much fooner than fowing it dry. He adds, that this year, having neglected to deep it, he had turnep-feed lay three weeks in the ground before it came up. He was advifed to plow in the few ftraggling plants which appeared foon after fowing, under an idea that the fly had eaten off the remainder : but he judged from experience that the principal part of the feed was flill in the ground ; he accordingly waited until rain fell, and has now, I fee, a very fine crop of turneps. This is a valuable incident ; for it is highly probable, that in the beginning of the feafon, when old feed is obliged to be fown, many crops of turneps have been prevented by plowing the ground prematurely. No- 1780. NORFOLK. 4- 4. NOVEMBER n. A. and B. having feve- EXCHANGE ral fmall pieces of land lying intermixed with each other's eftates, agreed upon an ex- change by arbitration. The particular lands to be exchanged, and the general outline of the agreement having been previoufly determined upon ; and each party having made choice of a referee , arti- cles of agreement for exchange were figned. The matters left to reference were thefe : ill. The rental value of the refpetive lands in exchange. 2d. To determine which of the timber-trees growing on the premifes fhould be taken down by the then prefent owners (and removed off the premifes before July next enfuing) and which fhould be left Handing. 3d. The value of the timber, ftands, pollards, and (tub-wood, which the arbitrators fhould judge proper to be left (tanding on the premifes. 4th. A principal part of B.'s land lying at a diitance from any of ./f.'s farms, except one which is let on a leafe that has fix years to run, during which time it remains at the option of the tenant whether or not he will B 3 rent 6 M I N U T E S Nov. 4. rent thcfe lands -, it was agreed that each party EXCHANGE fhall, if required, hold his own land (or find OF LANDS. . . . f a proper tenant; during the laid term ot fix years, at fuch rent, and under fuch covenants, as the arbitrators fhould fix on. On Monday the 6th inftant, the arbitrators met ; and having preinoufly named an umpire, or third perfon, in cafe they fhould difagree in their award, entered upon the bufinefs , which was thus conducted. Having firft taken a cnrfory view of the fe- vcral pieces to be exchanged ; and having fet- tled between themfelves the mode and rate of valuing the wood; they took the whole before them in this manner : The arbitrators, both of them men of fuperi- or abilities in the bufinefs they had undertaken, wentfirft; pointing out \vhich of the trees fhould {land, and which be taken down : the latter were marked by chopping off a piece of the bark with an adze. The pollards and ftub-wood deemed fit to (land were valued and minuted by the arbitrators themfelves; and the timber-trees meafurcd by two carpen- ters (one chofcn by each party), an account being minuted by an affiilant ; by whom like- wiiethe number of ftands were taken. The 1780. NORFOLK. The arbitrators, as they paffed along, caft 4. their eyes upon the land, and feparately put EXCHANGE OF LAN, s. their private valuations upon it. The lands having been prcvioufly furveyed by two furve} ors (one for each party) and the rate of valuation of the timber and other woods to be left {landing on the prcmifes hav- y ing been previoufly fixed upon by the referees, it now remained to afcertain the value of the fevcral parcels of land ; for which purpofe a fpecial meeting was appointed and held, yefterday. To fimplify this important part of the bufi- ncfs, and to render it as little liable to unne- ceffary cavil as poffible, it was agreed that the difference of rental value, whatever it might happen to be, fhould be calculated at twenty- five years purchafe. The rental value of the refpedtive pieces therefore now remained the almoft only thing in fufpence. But in this they had differed widely in their valuations : in fome pieces fo much as four {hillings an acre. Argument having been tried without effed: to reconcile the differences, it was propofed by one of the referees to leave the matter to the umpire. B 4 Finding I N U T E S 4-' EXCHANGE OF LANDS. RENT. Finding things in this ftate, I ventured to propofe a mode of fettlement which appeared to me not only brief but equitable. This was, to lay afide intirely the particularized efti- mates ; and, after fetting a part which was tythe-free againft a part of an inferionr qua- lity, to exchange acre for acre. It was agreed to by all parties. There being a balance in the quantity of land under exchange of about four acres and a half, the buiinefs was now to fix a fair rental value upon this furplus. After fome conver- fation it was fixed at fifteen Ihillings an acre. The rent of the land for the next fix years was alfo fixed at the fame rate ; and the princi- pal covenants entered into were, that the feve- ral pieces fhould be left, as to crops, &c, in the fame ftate in which they now are. Laftly, the value of the wood to be left upon the premifes being afcertained by calculation, the bufinefs was ended. The referees had put down in their efti- mates the rent of the land at twelve to fixteen {hillings an acre *. * The quality of the lands in exchange are, confidered colledtively, fomewhat above the par of lands in this diftrift. The 1780. NORFOLK. The oak timber they valued at eighteen pence, and the afh timbers one milling a foot, mcafuring all above fix inches timber- girt *. Thejtands, one with another, at a {hilling a piece (lefs than fix inches a ftand, more than fix a timber tree). The pollards principally from one to three fliillings a-piece fome few at four Ihil- lings. T^s Jhtb -wood in proportion to the pollards. 5- TIMBER. FIREWOOD. 1781. MAYS. It is imprudent to truft, in any degree, to tenants, in the pruning of timber-trees. This feafon I took unufual pains to inflruft a young man, whofe farm is unmercifully loaded with wood, in what manner he fhould fet up fome trees which were particularly injurious to his crops (namely, to' take off the fmall boughs clofe to the ftem, and to leave live growingtwigs upon the large ones, to draw the fap, and thereby keep the flumps alive) ; never- thelefs the havock committed on his farm is ,-ihameful. * The timber in general coarfe. It HEDGEROW TIMBER. I N U T E S MAY HEDGEROW TIMfctR. ANT-HILLS. It is true, he blames his men ; but this 15 no excufe : he promifcd to attend minutely to the bufmefs himlelf. I pointed out the boughs which were proper to be taken off: but for one I pointed out, he has taken off three. Nor is he the only one who has made the fame wilful miftake ; and it is a want of com- mon prudence to leave to a tenant a bufmefs of fo much importance to an eftate as the pruning of timber-trees ; for he has a double intereil in abufing his truft :- he difencumbers his farm, and fills his wood-yard. In future, when I fee it ncceffary that timber- trees Ihould be lightened of their low-hang ng boughs whether for the prefervation of the hedge, or the relief of the crops, I will fend a wood-man to do it in a proper manner ; and charge the faggots at a fair price to the farmer *. 6. MAY ro. Some time ago, gave a tenant leave to cut and burn ant-hills off a dole be* longing to his farm, upon 'a common. * This rule I afterwards obferved ; and found it not only beneficial to the eftate, -but agreeable to the tenant ; for under this regulation he found more of this neceflary work take place, upon his farm, than he hud theretofore been able to get done. His 1781. NORFOLK. ii GRASSLAND. His motive is the improvement of his farm 6. by the afhes ; and his pretext the improvement MANURE. of the common : both of which good purpofes will probably be obtained. He is to level the ground, and rake in grafs- feeds. His procefs is to cut them up with a heart- ihaped fliarp fpade or {hovel, in irregular lumps of ten to fifteen inches diameter, and two to five or fix inches thick. Thefe are turned grafs-downward, until the mould-fide be thoroughly dry, and then fet up grafs-out- ward until they are dry enough to burn. The fire is kindled with brufli-wood, and kept fmothcring, by laying the fods or lumps on gradually as the fire breaks out, until ten to fifteen or twenty loads of afhes are raifed in one heap. The workmen have agreed to com- plete the procefs for a fhilling each load of afhes. This is a cheap way of raifing manure; be- sides, at the fame time, removing a nuifance : and no man having fuch an opportunity in his power ought to neglect making at lead an ex< periment. On fome foils afhes are found in themfelves an excellent manure ; and, perhaps generally, aihes railed in this way would be found highly advantageous as bottoming for farm-yards and dunghills. 12 MINUTES JUNE 7- 7 . GRASSLAND. J UNE 2 8. The herbage of the dairy paf- tures (lee GRASSLAND, vol. I. alfo MIN. 107.) confifting of rye-grafs, white clover, and a few of the taller graffes, having run up in patches to feed, I had it fwept over with the fithe ; partly to improve the feed, which would foon have been much incumbered by the dry flrawlike bents ; and partly for the fodder, this year of fcarcity of grafs for hay. Shut them up for a few days to frefhen : gave one {hilling an acre for mowing ; and to- day have finilhed carrying fourteen jags (about nine or ten tons) of hay off forty-feven acres. The hay is more than tolerable ; for the pailures not having been too hard flocked, there was a fine bottom of white clover ; which mixed with the frelh ftalks of the blade-grafles, like- \viie cut in the fulnefs of fap, and the whole made flowly in fmall cocks, the hay is green and fweet to a great degree ; and will next winter no doubt be worth from fifty {hillings to three pounds a ton. Nine tons of hay at 55*. - - . 24 15 o Mowing 47 acres .2 7 Making and carrying, about ---27 4140 Neat profit j. 20 o o befides 1781. NORFOLK. bcfides the fightlinefs ; the improvement of the feed; and the prevention of thirties and other weeds from feeding on the ground, and being blown about the neighbourhood. 8. JULY 10. Perhaps cattle and fheep fliould be kept feparate. While the dairy paftures were fwept (fee laft MIN.) the cows were fhifted into a grazing ground ; but, nptwithftanding there was a good bite, and the grafs apparently of a defirable quality, they did not fill thcmfelves, nor milk fo well as they did before they were put in, and after they were taken out ; though their pafture afterwards was apparently of a worfe quality. But in the grazing ground were a flock of fheep ; whilft the dairy paftures had nothing in them except the cows and a few hor'fes, Mr. Thomas Baldwin, of North Walfham, fays, that having ihcepfokkd apiece of ground, which, a drought fetting in, he could not, as intended, break up ; a good bite of grafs came up where the fliccp-toid had flood. He put his GRASSLAND. STOCKING PASTURES. CATTLE. SHEEP, 9- SHLEP. MINUTES JULV his cows in to feed it off : they would not touch it : he turned his horfes to it, and they eat it into the very ground. WALLS. JULY 21. Perhaps plant ivy aga'mR fea ftone walh to prevent their burfling. Part of a wail before a cottage at Thorp is overgrown with ivy, part of it naked : the for- mer is firm and upright the latter burft in many places; fo as not to be made flrong again without a coniiderable part of it being taken down and rebuilt. 10, JULY 21. In December lafl, fomc Iho- vellings of a iheepfold were fet experimen- tally upon a piece of grafsland : this hay- time I obferve the fvvath there is nearly dou- ble to that in any other part of the piece. The foil a good fandy loam. I I. SHEEPFOLD. JULY 29. Mr. Samuel Barber has, upon his Staninghall farm, a piece of olland * barley, * CWtfff MINUTES Auo. j8. From thcfe data, the value of fheepfold, in. SHEEPFOLD. tkis cafe, may be calculated. By Mi N. i. it appears that one hundred fheep manured feven fquare rods daily. But the fe- cond folding was thinner ; fuppofe nine rods, this is, on a par of the two foldings, eight rods a day ea c h folding. The dung could not be worth lefs than half a crown a load ; and the carriage and fpreading ten Ihillings an acre ; together, fifty (hillings an acre ; which quantity of land the hundred fheep teathed twice over in forty days. Suppofing them to be folded the year round, they would, at this rate^ fold nine acres annu- ally ; which, at fifty {hillings an acre, is twen- ty two pounds ten Ihillings a hundred or four Ihillings and fix pence*a head. In fome parts of the iiland the fame quantity of dung would be worth five pounds an acre, which would raife the value of the teathe to nine fhillings a head ; which, at two pence a head a week, is more than the whole year's keep of the Iheep. It does not follow, however, that all lands would have received equal benefit with the piece in confideration ; which, perhaps, had not been folded upon for many years ; perhaps never 1781. NORFOLK. Ji never before; and fheepfold, like other ma- 1 8. nures, may become lefs efficacious the longer SHEEPFOLD. it is ufed on a given piece of land. 19. AUGUST 20. In the above-mentioned piece -^ of wheat, I made a comparative experiment on the mode of fowing. Part was plowed-in, agreeably to the com- mon practice of the Diftrict, laying up the foil in narrow ridges : part fown on the lafl plow- ing, and harrowed in : part put in with Mr. Duckett's drill-plow; which, from fome practical knowledge of it, I had confidered to be well adapted to the Norfolk foil. The fowings being made acrofs the manur- ings, the two experiments became diflinct ; and the refults clear and decifive. The time of lowing the gift of October. The refult of this experiment was not fo ftriking as that of the lafl. The part fown over the furrow of the plow, and harrowed in, is however, very perceptibly, the worfl ; but on comparing the part plowed in with the part drilled, no obvious difference is to be perceived. Had the drills been nine inches inftead of twelve inches apart, I am of opinion they M I N U T E S AUG. SOWING WHEAT. SEED- PROCESS. they would have gained a preference ; bur, from this experiment, there does not appear to me to be any advantage to be expected from the drill worth changing the cuftom of the country for. Laft fpring I made fimilar experiments on the ule of this implement with peas and barley. During the fummer the drills feemed to gain a preference ; but, at harveft, it is a moot point whether the drill or the common plow has the preference : and although thefe feveral experiments were feen and attended to by fome good farmers of the neighbourhood, I do not find that any of them are fo much {truck with the refult as to be inclined to give up their prefent practice : neverthelefs I am of opinion IMPLEMENT, that this ingenious implement merits further trial. Barley appears to be the crop for which it is mod efpecially adapted in this country. N. B. In November laft, I attempted to try the fix-rowed, or winter-barley, againft the common barley, as a winter crop ; (owing fome of each fort above ; fome under ; and fome in drills : but the pheafants, rooks, hares, and other vermin, fubverted the experiment, and nearly deftroyed the crop : therefore, to fave it from difgrace, the fcattered remains were plowed up in the fpring, and the land fown with common barley. AUGUST X 7 8r. NORFOLK. 33 2O. 20. AUGUST 31. What a variety of enemies have turneps in this country ! The " fly," the kc canker," the " maggot" fat the root) and the " anbury," have this year already deftroyed myriads. The fy took them in their infant ftate ; the grub and eater-pillar whilll their tops were yet fmall ; and, now, when their tops have ai- med got their full fize, they are hourly dwin- dling with the anbury. The grub in itfelf would not perhaps be fa- tal ; but the rooks, in order to come at it, pull up not only the plants which are attacked, but thofe alfo which are free from itj and by this means clear them as they goi The anlury is a large excrefcence, which forms itfelf below the apple. It grows, it feems,to the fize of both the hands; and, as foon as the hard weather fets in, or it is, by its own nature, brought to maturity, it becomes pu- trid, and fmells very offenfively. Atprefent, the ftateof three fpecimens which I have taken up, and examined attentively, is this : The apples of the turneps are juft forming (about the fize of walnuts in the hulk) while the anburies are already as big as the egg of a VOL. II. D goofe. 34 MINUTES AUG. 20. goofe. They arc irregular and uncouth in their TURNEPS. form, with inferior excrefcences frefembling the races of ginger) hanging to them. On cut- ting them, their general appearance is that of a hard turnep , but on examining them through a magnifier, there are veins, or itring-like vef- fels, difperfed among the pulp. The fmell and talle fomewhat refembie thofe of turneps ; but without their mildnefs ; having an auftere and fomewhat difagreeable flavour, refcmbling that of an old flringy turnep. The tops of thofe which are much affefted turn yellow, and flag with the heat of the fun ; fo that, in the day- time, they are obvioufly diftinguifhable from thofe which are healthy. It feems to be an idea among farmers, that the caufe of the anbury is the foil's being tired of turneps , owing to their having been too often fown on the fame land. This, however, Fpofi- tively erroneous ; for the piece from which I drew thefe fpecimens was an old orchard, and never before bore turneps in the memory of man. Quere Is it not caufed by the above-men- tioned or fome other grub, that, wounding the veflcls of the tap-root, diverts the conrfe of the fap ; which, inftead of forming the ap- ple, forms this excrefcence ? AUGUST 1781. NORFOLK. 21. AUGUST 31. One fide of an eighteen acre piece of turneps was folded upon ; the reft of the piece manured with dung. The part iheepfdlded efcaped the devaftation of the " fly" obvioufly better than the part dunged. Quere Were the flies increafcd by the dung, or were they trodden to death, or fhut up and fuffocated in their burrowSj by the feet of th6 fheep ? 22. SEPTEMBER 8. Mr. Thomas Drurey, ofEr- pingham, a man whbfe opinion is valuable in matters of hulbandry, fays, that marl is a cer- tain preventative of the anbury. He is alfo of opinion, with other judicious hufbandmen, that teathing the barley-ltubble which is intended for turneps, will caufc the anbury : his landj he fays, although it be old-marled land, is by this precaution in general free from anburied turneps. 21. TURNEPS; SHEEPFOLIX TURNEPS. SEPTEMBER 12. Mr. William Barnard, of DIBBLING Bradfkld, who was born (and refided until WHEAT> D 2 about 36 MINUTES SEPT. 23. about three years ago) at Great Ellingham, DIBBLING near Artleborough, gives the following ac- count of the rife and practice of the dibbling of ivbeat. The dibbling of peas, he fays, has been a cuf- tom of that part of Norfolk time immemorial ; but the practice has not been extended to wheat above eighteen or twenty years ; nor has it been in any degree general for more than ten years. The practice of dibbling wheat probably arofe in this manner. At Deepham, an adjoin- ing parifh to Ellingham, lived one James Stone, a labouring man, who was, in that neighbourhood, a noted dibbler of peas, and who cultivated for himlelf a few acres which he rented with his cottage. He had three chil- dren, who were as expert at " dropping" as the father was at " dabbing ;" and having tome acre or two of clover- lay, which came in courfe for wheat, he conceived the idea of dibbling in the feed ; probably thinking that he mould thereby keep his children from idlenefs, and fave them, at the fame time, an unexpected fupply of bread. He accordingly fet about putting Us fibtine in execution, and prefenrly brought his neigh- bours 1781. NORFOLK. 37 hours about him. Some of them fmiled, and 23. others laughed at his experiment ; he never- thelefs proceeded with his little corps, and finiflied his parch. The land being in good condition, and the work being done inamafterly manner, the plants came up fo ftrong and beautiful as to draw the eyes not only of his fellow-panfhioners, but of the whole neighbourhood. Mr. Barnard well recollects the circumftance; for he pafTed the clofe (which lay by the fide of a public road) every day in his way to and from ichool : and fays, that he has frequently feen the neighbouring farmers, in their way to market, light at the gate, and go into the piece, to view the crop, which was now become popular. At harveft the crop proved extraordinarily good ; and the dibbling of wheat has, from that time, been more or lefs praclifed in this circleof the county : the only one in- which the practice is, even yet, become general among farmers. Enquiring of Mr. B. the proportion which dibbled wheat in that country bears to the wheat knvn broad-call; he fays, there is as much dibbled as there can be hands got to put it in ; and apprehends that one-half of the wheat D 3 about 3$ MINUTES SEPT. 23. about Wyndham and Attleborough is dibbled * n adding, that when wheat is dear the work r people are engaged fome months before-hand ; and frequently, when they are paid off for dib- bling peas in JV!arch ? they are engaged for the wheat- feed-time. SucceQion. A clover- lay once plowed is what is generally made ufe of for dibbling ; it has however been tried, with a confiderable (hare of fuccefs, on fallow ground. Manure. The common practice is to fpread the dung, or. qther manure, prefently before the ground be plowed. Some lay it on after the feed is in by way pf top drefling. But Mr. B. is of opinion, that fetting on the manure in July, and letting it wafh into the foil before plowing, is the molt eligible way of manuring tor dibbled wheat. Soil procefs. It" the foil be light and the wea- ther dry, the plowman keeps pace with the dib- blers : the holes wil\ nototherwife fland ; the land running in and filling them up. The furrow provincially " flags" fhould be cut about ten inches wide, and be turned over flat and even ; and, to make them lay ftill fmoother and firmer, they are rolled pretty hard before flibblicg. 1781. NORFOLK. 39 The dibbles made ufe of in this operation are 23. of iron. The ading part is an egg-fliaped DIBBLING knob of iron or fteel fomewhat larger than a pigeon's egg. The fmaller end forms the point of the dibble ; whilft from the larger riles a firing of iron, about half an inch fquare, and two feet and a half long. The head of it is received into a crofs piece of wood (refembling the crutch of a fpade or (hovel) which forms the handle. The dibbkr makes ufe of two of thefe tools ; one in each hand ; and, bending over them, walks backward upon the flags ; making two rows of holes in each. The rows are uiually made about four inches apart, and the diftance in the rows from two and a half to three inches ; namely, four holes in each length of the foot of the dibbler. The great art in making the holes lies in leaving them fmooth and firm on the fides ; fo that the loofe mould do not run in to fill them up before the feeds are deposited. This is done by a circular motion of the hand and wrift , which make a femi-revolution every ftroke : the circular motion beginning as the bit enters, and continues until it is clearly dif- engaged from the mould. The dibbles muft D 4 come 40 MINUTES SEPT. 23. come out clean, and wear bright, or the ope- DIBBLING ration is not perfect. WHEAT. Another difficulty in dibbling is to make the holes 'at equal diftances ; more efpecially to keep the two rows ftraight- and parallel with, each other : for the dibbles being two di- flinct inftruments, it requires fome practice to guide them with precifion ; fo as to pierce the flag in the exact point required. To re- medy this, couples have been invented to keep the dibbles at a given diftance -, but this ren- ders the implement complex, and prevents the learner from ever being able to ufe them fingly. A man muft be aukward indeed if he does not in a few days without this incumbrance make himfelf a tolerable mafter of dibbling. A middling workman will make two mo- tions, or four holes, in a fecond. One dibbkr employs three droppers ; there- fore one man and three children are called a fet. Each dibbler takes three flags, which he performs upon by ftages thus : He firft takes an outfide flag, and having gone fome yards upon that, he returns ; not upon the next flag, but upon the other outfide flag of the three ; and then finifhes his flage by taking the middle one. T}m is done to keep his three droppers fully J7 8r. NORFOLK, 41 fully employed, and at the fame time to pre- 23. vent his filling up the holes with his feet be- minuxG fore the feeds are depofited. Were he to carry but one flag with him', the droppers would have to pafs each other repeatedly, and have three times the ground to walk over; whereas by the above contrivance they are always uniformly progreflive, and each child fmiflies its own flag. 'The droppers keep up with their dibbler, putting two or three grains of wheat in each hole (but of peas only one); the girls carry the feed in their aprons, the boys in their hats or other contrivaace. Out of thofe they take , about half a handful, and deliver the feed in- to the holes through an aperture made be. tween the firft and fecond ringers. Much time and patience is neceflary to teach a child to perform this petty bufinefs with propriety and difpatch. be prefent price of dibbling a free light foil is nine (hillings an acre and beer. It for- merly was half a guinea. If the foil be ftiff or ftooy, it is now worth more than that money. The dibbler is a fort of matter of his fet ; for if he has not children of his own, he hires his (hoppers', giving them fixpence a day each if expert 42 MINUTES SEPT. 23. expert hands, or threepence a day if learners; DIBBLING two of them being employed on one flag, each 7 * taking one row of holes : fo that he pays for dropping, threepence a day for each row of holes. An expert dibbler will " hole" half an acre a day, which at nine millings is four and fixpence, out of which he pays one milling and tfxpence to his droppers : but one-third of an acre is reckoned a fair day's work ; which at nine millings an acre is three millings ; out of which paying one milling and iixpence, he has one milling and fixpence left for his own day's work. Quantity of feed. One bumel to fix pecks an acre; and, if the flags crack much in plowing, fome throw on half a peck or a peck an acre, broad-caft, before rolling. Covering the feed. This is ufually done by going twice in a place with a bum-harrow, made by drawing thorns into a gate or a large hurdle. Either of thefe however Mr. B. fays, and with reafon, makes too large an Implement ; for in fo large a fpace as this covers at once, there will be protuberances which it will lay hold of too much, and probably pull up, and hollows which it will wholly mifs.- He has ufually 1781. NORFOLK. 43 ufually preferred a waggon ladder, which does 23. not cover more than four or five flags at once; and to finim this bufinefs more completely, he always carries a fort of broom in his own hand, when overlooking the work-people ; in order to cover more effectually any part which may be paitially miffed. The advantages held out. There is a faving of about a bufhel and a half of feed; which, when wheat is fix fhiilings or upwards, is alone an equivalent to the extra expence of dibbling. The rolling and treading is efleemed highly ferviceable to the light lands of this country. The edges of the flags being intimately united by the rolling and the trampling, and the re- maining fiffures being filled up by the harrow, the graffes are thereby thought to be kept un- der ; and fhould feed-weeds appear in the fpring, the hoe has free admifiion between double row and double row, to extirpate them; an opera- tion, however, which I underftand feldom takes place. The feed being wholly buried in the body of the flag, there is no " under-corn" ; the plants are uniformly vigorous ; the flraw, collectively, is confequently ftouter, and the grain more even, than that which is ufually produced from (owing 44 M I N U T E S SEPT. 23. lowing the feed broad-caft over the rough flag. For in th ' s cal ~ c ' P art of the fced falls trough between the flags, and being there too deeply buried by the harrows, the young plants are longer in reaching the furface than are thofe from the feed which happens to fall in a more favourable fituation ; and which thereby gain an afcendancy they never lofe : hence a number of underling plants, and hence the fmall Ihri- velled grains, which render the fample un- fightly and unfaleable. Another good effedt remains to be noticed, the employment of the poor; and whether we view this in a moral, a political, or a private point of view, it is equally defirable. For the poor's rates of a country village fall principally on the farmer ; and if he docs not employ the poor, he mult fupport them in idlenefs ; more efpecially children. Mr. B. fays, that in the circle above-mentioned wheat feed-time is con- fidered, by the poor man, as a fecond harveft. Mr. Smith, of Heavingham, gives a fomewhat different account refpedting the ad- vantages of dibbling wheat. He fays, that he has frequently had eight or ten acres of dib- bled wheat in a year; that he has ufually made the holes as thick as they could ftand, ib 1781. NORFOLK. 45 fo as not to disfigure or interfere with one an- 23 other ; and has dropped two bufliels, at the ex- pence of twelve or fourteen millings an acre. He is clearly of opinion, that dibbling wheat makes the land foul ; efpecially if it is not dibbled thick ; and gives a very good reafon for this opinion ; namely, where corn is thin weeds will be thick. He is pofitive that the grafs gets up more among wheat which is dibbled than among that which is fown broad- caft over the rough flag of one plowing : add- ing, that after dibbled wheat he has ufually been obliged to fow turneps the next year, inftead of firft taking a crop of barley; the common practice of this part of the country. He however acknowledges fully, that the draw of dibbled wheat is ftouter, and the grain evenner, and of a better quality, than that from wheat fown broad-cafl after any procefs whatever. Mr. John Baker, of Southreps, fpirited and judicious as he is in matters of hufbandry, has never had a fufficiemly good opinion of dib- bling wheat to give it a trial ; not even by way of experiment. His chief objection to it is, that in this country, where the foil is mallow, and the lays generally grarTy, wheat cannot be fown in any manner with propriety on oae plowing. 46 MINUTES SEPT. 23. has tried it two or three DIBBLING different times : the firfl trial was on a piece of WHEAT, good land, with about three pecks of feed an acre : the crop good, and flood when moil of the wheats in the county were lodged. . The laft was on a light fhallow foil : it proved greatly too thin : not half a crop. From the fum of this information the dib- bling of wheat appears to be peculiarly adapted to rich deep foils ; on which three or four pecks an acre dibbled early, may fpread fufficiently for a full crop : whereas light, weak, fhal- low foils, which have lain two or three years^ and have become grarly, require an additional quantity of feed, and consequently an addition of labour, otherwife the plants are not able to teach each other ; and the graites of courfe find their way up between them ; by which means the crop is injured, and the foil rendered foul. Dropping being the mofl difficult part of the bufmefs, it feems to be ineligible to begin with wheat ; the grains of which being fmall and ir- regular, are, to a learner, difficult and dif- agreeable to feparate ; whereas thofe of peas, being larger round and flipper}', arc more agree- able to the touch, and more eafily parted iri the hand ; fo as to drop one or any other given humber into each hole; it 1781. O R F O L K. It further feems ineligible to fend children into the field, in any cafe, until they have prac- tifed, at home, in the art of feparating the feeds ; by which precaution a wafte of feed, and a disfigurement at lead of the crop, may be prevented. For the fame reafon it feems pro- per, that a young dibbler Ihould be exercifed on fallow or other frefh-plowed ground notin- icnded to be dibbled, before he be admitted in- to the field of pradlice. 24. OCTOBER 10. Laft year Mr. John Joy, of North walftiam, having a piece of turnep-ground which miffed, he fowed it with wheat ; and, to keep his land in courfe, laid it down with clo- ver, the feed of which he fowed in autumn, pre- lently after lowing the wheat. I faw the feedling plants early in winter; when they looked remarkably healthy. To- wards fpring I faw them again ; but fome feverc frofts had cut them entirely down, fo as to make it doubtful whether they would recover or not. I defired Mr. Joy to acquaint me with the re* fult; and yefterday we walked over one of the fined fets of clover that ever grew : not having been DIBBLING WHEAT. SOW I WC CLOViiR., 24. SOWING CLOVER. MINUTES OCT: been yet fed, the heads of the plants now (land above the ftubble ; but for which a fine fwath of clover-hay might be mown. '} his is the firft inftance 1 have met with of fowing clover-feed over wheat in autumn. 25- BUILDINGS. OCTOBER 10. Formerly, a ridiculous prac- tice has prevailed in this country of running up the peaks of gables above the roof of the houfe. In many old houfes the coping of the gable Hands eighteen inches, perhaps two feet above the thatch or tiling, The efTe& of it is, the water of driving rains is collected by this un- neceflary elevation of the wall, and either drains through between the gable and the roof, or, if an offset be made to prevent this, foaks into the wall itfelf. An old-fafhioned " flue" rotted by this means, was the other day, upon this cftate, thrown down by a guft of wind. I mention the circumftance the rather, as this abfurd cuftom is not yet altogether laid afide ; though the flues are now made much lower than formerly. In flricl: propriety, the coping of the gable ought to be level with the cover- For 1781. NORFOLK. For common buildings, when the covering is of tile or flare; moreefpecially for a lean-to liable to the drip of the m an roof; the belt way is to continue the covering over the gable or end-wall ; which is thereby effectually pre- krved at an eafy expence* 49 BUILDINGS. 26. OCTOBER 18. This morning rode to Wit- ton to fee ibme labourers from the Attleborough fide of the county dibble wheat. They had finished. Mr. Elmer {hewed me what they had done for him : the plants come up very ftrong, and look healthy. The quantity of feed, fix pecks an acre ; dropping four or five grains in a hole. Mr. E. mentioned one advantage which did not occur to me before : the feedage of the lays from July to Odoben DIBBLIXC WHEAT. 2 7 . OCTOBER 25. On Wcdnefday i;th inftant MARKETS, went to the firft day of the Fair of St. Faith's ; a village near Norwich, where one of the largeft fairs in the kingdom is held annually on that day for cheefe, butter, and a variety of wares ; but mod efpecially the firft; which is brought : in great quantities out of Suffolk to fupply this VOL. 1L E country MINUTES OCT. 27. CHEESE. CATTLE. FATTING CATTLE. country during the winter months; when a Norfolk cheefe is not to be purchafed in this part of the county. The firft day of this fair alfo draws together a good mow of cattle , principally " home- breds;" either for (lore, or for fatting on turneps the enfuing winter : for which purpofe, a fhow of Scotch bullocks are alfo exhibited upon a rifing ground at a fmall diftance from the Fair- field. The fale of Scotch cattle continues for a fortnight, or longer time, until this quarter of the county be fupplied with that fpecies of flock. (See BULLOCKS, Vol. I ) Yefterday, attended the bullock fair. There are fewer cattle this year than has been known for ibme years pad (about four hundred upon the Hill yeflcrday), owing chiefly to a great many having been killed by contract for the Navy ; a thing not praftifed before in Scotland ; and there were yefterday a greater number of buyers in the market than ufual (about fifty of the principal farmers in the county); fo that the Scotchmen had the game in their own hands. The principal drovers are Tate, Wigglel- worth (Lord Galloway's fteward), MofTatt, Campbell, Stewart. It 1781. NORFOLK. 51 It is atfonifhing to fee the flare and condition 27. of the cattle: they look as frefli and as fleck * AIR F * ST. FAITH'S. as if they had not travelled a mile from home : fome of them tolerable beef. Even fo high as eleven pounds a piece was afked for fome bul- locks ; it was however to choofe four out of a large drove : but teri pounds was alked to draw- fifteen or twenty. Mr. John Baker bought fix fpayed heifers, which he drew out df a lot of thirty, at y/. 15^. a head ; and another neighbour drew twenty- one of the remainder df the lot at 7/. a-piece i he afterwards bought fcven of an inferior qua- lity at 6/. There were half a fcore in the fair fo low as 4/. but the price in general ran from 61: td 9/< a head; for cattle which will fat to from forty to fixty ftone ; but high as ttiefe prices are, Mr. Tate (the oldeft drover) fays, he has known them fome years ago twenty or thirty ftiilHngs a head dearer than they are even this year. Each drover hires meadows or grazing* grounds in proportion to his quantity of cattle ; the farmers in the neighbourhood preferving for the purpofea full bite of grafs ; for which the Scotchmen pay very amply. The charges on fale muft run high. The number of E ^ at- MINUTES OCT. FAIR OF ST.JFAITH'S. DIBBLING tt'HEAT. attendants, the high price of grafs, and treat- ing the farmers, " to the amount perhaps of a couple of guineas a day," muft lower the neat proceeds very confidcrably, even of each bul- lock taken feparately *. The drovers do not bring their whole flock on to the " Bullock Hill" at once ; but let them remain in the paftures until they are wanted ; nor do they bring very large droves at once into the country ; but keep them back in Lincolnshire, or perhaps in Scotland, until they fee how the demand is likely to prove. I did not learn the annual demand on a par of years ; but was told that Tatc alone brings ibme thoufands every year into this country. The larger bullocks are principally of the Galloway polled breed, and moft of. them very handfome ; in general four or five years old ; Jiioilly black, Ibme brindled, foine dun, and ibme few red. (See article BULLOCKS, Vol. I.) 28. OCTOBER 27. This morning rode again to Witton to fee fome work-people dibble wheat ; and fortunately found them at work. * The charges of drift from Scotland to Norfolk are, I have been told, from five {hillings to fifteen fliillingi a head, according to the fizc of the bullock. One j-Si. NORFOLK. 53 One man and one young woman dibbled, 28. \vhile three women and three girls dropped. DISBMVC They proceeded thus : the man carried three flags, the women two. The man was followed by one woman, taking the firft flag, and three girls taking among them the remaining two. The woman was followed by the other two women, each of them taking one flag. When the weather holds fair, the fet do about three quarters of an acre a day, at ten Ihiilings and fixpence an acre. The man, the woman dibbler, and the two wo- men " head- droppers," come from the Suffolk fide of the county : the other woman and the girls are of this country; this being their firft feafon^ One of them drops very badly; fometimes putting fix or feven " kernels" in a hole ; befides fcattering a great many upon the furface. This fhews the impropriety of fuffering children to come untutored into the field. The head-drop- pers do it - very quick and very neatly ; dropping two, three or four kernels in each hole; and about five pecks an acre. The diftance of the holes, and the method .of dibbling and dropping (except the arrange- ment of the droppers), exactly the fame as de- E 3 fcribed 54 MINUTES OCT. 28. fcribed by Mr. Barnard ; whofe account is, I am now ^ u ^ convinced, a very faithful one, The feed was brined and limed. The droppers carried their feeds in boys hats fewed up about half way acrofs, leaving an opening fufficient for the hand, with a firing by way of a bow or handle, J\ bufhel with the feed flood in the middle of the clofe ; out of this they replenifhed their hats, every time they paffed it. The foil lightilh loam (too light I am afraid to be dibbled with wheat), but had been marled lafl year. It is a fecond year's lay, and was paftured this fummer. It is plowed fleet, and very badly, the flags being much broken, and very uneven : were it plowed a little deeper, which I apprehend it might be with fafety, the flags would not break fo much, and there would be a better bed for the feed. The dibbiers are obliged to keep a lie;ht hand, and make their holes lhallow, left otherwife they fhouid flrike their dibbles quite through the flags. The flags are rolled before and " buflied" af- ter dibbling ; the latter with a harrow made of a ftrong large hurdle, covering better than half a rod at once. The 1781. NORFOLK. 55 DIBBLING \VIIfAT. MANURE. The plow and roller keep time with the dib- 28, bles ; for if much rain fall upon the flags they daub, "and are difficult to dibble ; if the wea- ther prove dry, the fand runs in and fills up the holes as fail as they are made. 29. OCTOBER 28. In May laft I made an ex- periment with lime for turneps, by fpreading a chaldron of lime (at the rate of three chaldrons an acre) acrofs each of two pieces of turnep TURNEPS. fallow, and marked the ftripes with flumps. No apparent benefit arofe from the lime un- til the late heavy rains fell ; fince which the plants have flourimed, and the good effedt of the lime is become evident. In March laft I alfo made a (imilar experi- ment with lime for barley ; but the crop did BARLEY. not, in any ftage, receive apparent benefit from it. The fummer, until after the barley had iinilhed its growth, was dry. In the experiment with lime for wheat (fee WHEAT. MIN. 1 8.) the crop received no apparent benefit from the lime until the foil had been moiftened with fummer rains. From thefe and other observations I am of LIME - opinion, that lime does not aft as a manure un- E 4 til 5 6 MINUTES OCT. 20. til it has been thoroughly flaked in the foil ; LIME. and, f rom the laft mentioned incident, it feems as if the rains of fummer were neceffary to pro- mote its operation. 3' FURZE- NOVEMBER 6. In a furze-ground, in which a large plot was cut down lad winter, there is now a crqp of young fhoots from two to two and a half feet high : if thefc were now mown (which if , the ftubs be cut tolerably level they might be with great cafe,) there would be I. apprehend two load of tender fucculent herb- age an acre. If furze-tops be that hearty and wholefome food they are represented to be, how eaiily and with what advantage they might .be in this manner collecled : Cut the flubs low and level; mow; and bruife the herbage with a broad wooden wheel in the cyder-mill manner. Lands which will afford no other crop will produce furze j and although poor lands would not throw up fnoots like thofe alluded to, the crop might, no doubt, be mown, and the fhoots, if very fhort, be collected in a re- ceptacle at the heel of the lithe. " men- N O R F O L K. 57 I mention this incident, and communicate 30. my rcfledions upon it, the rather, as I have {^' not met, cither in theory or practice, with the idea of collecting furze-food with the tithe * the only thing wanted, perhaps, to bring it into common ufe. NOVEMBER 10. The Bullock Hill at St. Faith's MANURE. is laid to receive no benefit from the teatbe of the bullocks which every year are fliewn upon it daily, during a fortnight or three weeks. This year it was wheat; and if one may judge from the flubble (notwithftanding the wheat was dunged for), the crop was a very in- different one. The foil a lightifh fandy loam. This is an interefting fact. It is faid to be owing to the worthlefsnefs of the teathe of " drove bullocks." This I much doubt, how- ever ; for the bullocks being many of them in high cafe, and kept in grazing-grounds about St. Faith's, fome of them perhaps within * quarter of a mile of the Hill, the driving is little more than the driving of fheep to a fold. Some of them may, no doubt, come on to the Hill immediately from Scotland ; and they are all of them of courfe driven more or lefs ; and there may be fome truth in this opinion. That MINUTES Nov. YAIRSTEAD. TAIIi. MANURE. That the teathe of lean flock, and more par- ticularly of cows, is much inferior to that of fatting bullocks, is a fal univerfally acknow- ledged throughout this county; and this may in fome meafure be accounted for from the oleaginous matter carried off by the milk of cows, and imbibed by the vafcular carcafes of lean {lock in general. On the fame principle, if flock be hard driven, and much exhaufted by perfpi- ration, and want of regular nourifhmcnt, their teathe may become infipid and of little ufe to land ; confequently this reafoning may in part be applicable to the Bullock Hill at St. Faith's : but, as before has been obferved, there are numbers that come in good condition, and from good paflures, at a very fmall diftance from the Fair-hill, and there is no obvious rea- fon why the teathe of thofe fhould not be nearly equal to that of other fatting cattle : therefore, upon the whole, it feems probable that driving alone docs not produce this interelling fact. May we not venture to think it poffible that land may be fatiated, or tired, even of the dung of cattle ? The Hill in queflion has been the lite of a large fair for cattle during time irru memorial : perhaps, were the fair removed and the foil manured with lime, marl, or fuch other 1781, NORFOLK. 59 other new manure as experience would point our, it might continue to throw out great crops for many years. This is a fubject worth inveftigating; for upon old grazing grounds, which have been fed and teathed with cattle during a length of time, the dung which falls from them cannot, on this hypothefis, be of any ufe to the land ; confe- quently the ftpck may, without injury to the pafturc, be driven off in the night-time totcathe fome arable land ; or the dung may,, with ad- vantage, be collected and carried off; whilfl by mould, afhes, foot, &c. the grafsland may re- ceive improvement. 32. NOVEMBER 17. To-day compleated the *' roofing" of a reeded barn. I have attended particularly to the method of laying the reed, and of fetting on the " roof- ing" of this building. The method of laying reed is this: No laths being made ufe of, a little of the longeft and flouteft of the reed is fcattered ir- regularly acrofsthe naked fpars, as afoundatioa to lay the main coat upon : this partial gauze- like covering is called the " fleaking." Oa MANURE. GRASSLAND, THATCHING WITH REED. M I N U T E S Nov. 3 2 ' On this fleakiog the main covering is hid, an< ^ fa ^ ene ^ down to the fpars bv means of long rods provincial])-, " fways" hid acrofs the middle of the reed, and tied to the fpars with rope yarn ; or with " bramble bonds -," which, formerly, were much in ufc ; but which arc now pretty much laid afide, cfpccially for new roofs. Reed is not laid on in longitudinal courfes, in the manner that ftraw-thatch is ufually put On, nor is the whole eaves fet at once. The workman begins at the lower corner of the roof, on' his right .hand for inftance, and keeps an irregular diagonal line, or face, until he reach the upper corner to his left. A narrow eaves-board being nailed acrofs the feet of the fpars, and fome fleaking fcattered on, the thatcher begins to " fet his eaves," by laying a coat of reed^ eight or ten inches thick, with the heads refting upon the fleaking, and the butts upon the eaves-board. He then lays on his fway (a rod about the fize of a fmall edder ) about fix or eight inches from the lower points of the reed ; \vhilft his affiftant, on the infide, runs a needle, threaded with rope yarn, clofe to the fpar; and, in this cafe, clofe to the upper edge of the eaves-board. The thatcher 1781. NORFOLK. 61 thatcher draws it through on one fiue of the 32. fway, and enters it again on tlie contrary fide, both of the fway and of the fpar : the afilftant draws it through ; unthreads it; and, with the two ends of the yarn, makes a knot round the fpar , thereby drawing the fway, and confe- quently the reed, tight down to the roof: whilft the thatcher above, beating the fway and prefling it down, afiifts in making the work the firmer. The aiTutant having made good the knot below, he proceeds with another length of thread to the next fpar ; and fo on till the fway be bound down the whole length ; name- ly, eight or ten feet. Another ftratum of reed is now laid on up- on the nrft, fo as to make the entire coat eighteen or twenty inches thick at the butts; and another fway laid along, and bound down, about twelve inches above the fir ft. The caves being thus completely fet, they are adjufted and formed , not fquare with the fpars, but nearly horizontal : nor are they formed by cutting ; but by " driving" them with a " legget ;" a tool made of a board eight or nine inches fquare, with a handle two feet long, fixed upon the back of it, oblique- ly, in the manner of the tool ufed by gar- deners 6a MINUTES Nor 32. deners in beating turf. The face of the leg- LAYING get is fet with large-headed nails to render it rough, and make it lay hold of the butts of the reed. Another layer of reed is laid on, and bound down by another fvvay^ fomewhat Ihorter thart the laft i and placed eighteen or twenty inches above it; and above this another and another^ continuing to fhorten the fways until they be brought off to nothing, and a triangular corner of thatching formed. After this the fways are ufed their whold length* whatever it happens to be, uhtil the workman arrives at the finilhing corner. By proceeding in this irregular manner feams between the courfes are prevented ; and unne- ceffary ihifting of ladders avoided. The face of the roof is formed and adjufted^ like the eaves, by driving the reed with the legget ; which operation, if performed by a good workman, not only gives the roof a beau- tiful polilhed furface^ but at the fame time fattens the reed ; which, being thickefl to- wards the buttSj becomes, like a tapering pinj the tighter the farther it is driven. Reed running from four to fix or eight feet long, the heads meet at the ridge of the roof-r whilft NORFOLK. whilft the butts arc ilill at a. diftance from each other. For this realbn, as well as for that of the wear being lefs toward the ridge, the fhorteft (which is generally the worft) reed is laved for the upper part of the roof. But even fuppoling the uppermofl courfes to be only four feet long, and that the heads (belonging to the two fides) be interwoven in fome degree with each other, the butts will flill remain fix or fcven feet afunder ; and the ridge of the roof confequently be left in a great meafure expofed to the weather. To remedy this inconveniency, and to give a finifh to the ridge, a cap provincial!)', a " roof" of draw is fet on in a mafterly, but in an expenfive manner. In this operation, the workman begins by bringing the roof to an angle with ftraw laid long-way upon the ridge, in the fame manner a rick is topt up ; and to render it firm, to keep it in its place, and to prevent the wind from blowing it off, or ruffling ir, he pegs it down ilightly with " double broaches" ; namely, cleft twigs, two feet long, and as thiek as the finger, ftiarpened at both ends, bent double ; perhaps with a twiil in the crown ; and per- haps barbed, by partial chops on the fides, to make them hold in the better. This LAYI.VG KEED. SETTI \GOJf ROOFLtT*. 64 MINUTES Nov. 32. This done, the workman lays a coat of SETTING ON ftraight ftra-vv, fix or eight inches thick, acrofs the ridge ; beginning, on either fide, at the up* permoft butts of the reed, and finifliing with, ftraight handfuls laid evenly acrofs the top of the ridge. Having laid a length of about four feet in this manner, he proceeds to fatten it firmly down, fo as to render it proof againft wind and rain. This is done by laying a " broachen Jigger" (a quarter- cleft rod as thick as the finger, and four feet in length) along the mid- dle of the ridge, pegging it down at every four inches with a double broach, which is firft thruft down with the hands, and afterwards driven with the legget, or with a mallet ufcd for this purpofe. The middle Jigger being firmly laid, the thatcher fmooths down the draw with a rake and his hands, about eight or nine inches on one fide, and, at fix inches from the firft, lays another ligger, and pegs it down with a fimilar number of double broaches : thus proceeding to fmooth the ft raw, and to foften on Jiggers at every fix inches, until he reach the bottom of the cap. One fide flmih- ed, the other is treated in the fame manner ; and the firft length being completed, another and another length is laid, and finiihed as the firft; i 7 8r. NORFOLK, SETTING OK ROGFLETS. BUILDINGS. firft; until the other end of the ridge be 32. reached. He then cuts off the tails of the ftraw, fquare and neatly with a pair of ihears, level with the uppermoft butts of the reed; above which the cap (or molt properly the ROOFLET) fliews an cave?, of about fix inches thick. Laftly^ he fweeps the fides of the main roof with a bough of holly ; and the work is com- pleted. (For the expence, fee BUILD INGS and REPAIRS, Vol. I.) 33- NOVEMBER 17. A very fecure way of laying pan-tiles is fometimes practiled in this country. Having nailed on the pan-tile laths, the ti- ler diflributes reeds, fo as juft to touch each dther, between the pantile- laths -, and, to keep them in their place^ inferts one end of a piece of old plaftering lath or other fplinter, under the ty ling- lath ; prefles it down upon the reed ; and inferts the other end under the next lath ; weaving, a$ it were, thefe fplinters between the pan-tile laths and the reed. Upon the reed he fpreads a coat of mortar, and on this lays the tiles. For dairy or other lean-to's, and for common garrets, the reed is covered on the infide with VOL. II. F a coat 66 MINUTES Nov. 33 LAYING PAN-TILES. a coat of plaftering ; which, with the fpars, ER. The alder, on the contrary, is obferved to make the ground it grows on flill more rotten and boggy : it ought therefore, for two rea- fons, never to be planted ; namely, the injury to the land, and its own worthleffnefs. 39- MARKETS. NOVEMBER 26. This morning took a ride to fee Holt Fair. This is a fair for " homcbreds," or Norfolk flock only ; no Scotch drovers frequenting it. A neighbour bought nine three-year-olds (coming), five of them fleers, four fpayed heifers, forward in flefh, at 4/. ys. 6d. a piece. A farmer in the neighbourhood bought two of the lame age, but lean, though larger, and not out of condition, for //. Some kind-growing two-year-olds (coming) were afked fifty-five fhillings a piece for. Cows and calves fell very low in Norfolk. They were fold to-day from about fifty-five fhil- lings to three pounds ten fhillings a couple. It is alfo obfei vable, that lean flock "flraw- r^cks" fell very low in this country, at this time 1781. NORFOLK. time of the year ; while fnch as are forward 'enough to be finished with turners, or with the addition of a little fpring-grafs, fo as to be got early to market, fetch aftonifhing prices. Witncfs the forward cattle to-day, and the bul- locks at St, Faith's. The reafon is this : A farmer has fo many more acres of turneps than he wants for his prcfcnt ftock ; he mud therefore either run the rifque of felling his turneps, or buy ftock which he can finifli in the fpring, oiherwife he will be ovcrftocked the next year. It is obfervable that the heifers (of the nine above-mentioned) are forwarder than the fleers; infomuch that thepurchafer hopes to finiih them with turneps ; but the fleers he expects will require fome grafs at the fpring of the year. It was an obfervation made, and agreed to, that the grazing - grounds about Foulfham (where thefe came from) fatten heifers fafler than they do fleers. In corroboration, a by- ftander faid, that he this year fent a parcel of young ftock to thefe grounds ; the heifers came home almoft meat, the fleers little better than when they went. This, if a fad, is highly interefting. 73 39- HOL.T FAIR. CATTLE. GRASSLAND. NOVEMBER 74 MINUTES Nov. 40- 40. FATTING NOVEMBER 28. How profitable are the lit> tie IJle-of-Sky Scots to the Norfolk farmer, who has rough meadows for them to run in ? had eleven bought laft Hempton- green fair (juft twelve months ago) for three ' guineas a piece. They were kept entirely on flrawand rufhy grafs, which nothing elfe would have eaten, until the month of May ; when they were turned into fome Norfolk meadows, (worth about ten fhillings an acre) where they remained until September : fmce when they have been at good latter math. They are now fome of them quite fat, and the reft nearly fo ; one with another, they are worth about fix pounds a piece. Suppofing each occupied an acre of meadow, which (with town charges) reckon at - - o 12 o Straw over and above the dung - - o 50 Ten weeks lattermath, at 10 Shillings (the price for fuch cattle) - - o 10 o i 70 A neighbouring farmer bought a parcel at the fame time, and at the fame price; alfo fome refufe ones fo low as ftve-and-twenty fhillings NORFOLK. 75 fhillings a piece ; two of which he fold a few 40. days ago for eleven pounds four Ihillings. CATTU^ Thefe, however, were followers atturnepsthe firft winter. In fummer they were fent to a grazing-ground : fince harveft they have been in the ftubble and " rowens,"at good keep. His other bullocks had nothing but ftraw in winter ; were fhifted about in the meadows du- ring fummer; fince harveft they have been in the ftubbles; and are now at turneps. They have grown very much, and are now getting on very faft. It is obfervable, however, that all thefe Scots were bought in very cheap. 41. DECEMBER i. A prudent farmer in this WHEAT. Diftrid: makes a very proper diftinction between laying up "wheat-riggs" where there are phea- GAME. fants, and where there are none. In a part of his farm tolerably free from game, he lays it up in fix-furrow work ; but towards the covers, in wide flat beds ; having found by experience that pheafants always begin to fcrape on the fides of the furrows, where they can eafily come at the grain ; the mould being there loofe, and eafily falls back into the furrows : therefore, the MINUTES Dtc. 41. PLOWING for PHEASANTS. HEDGES. the fewer inter-furrows the lefs mifchk-f they are capable of doing : for while they fcrapc upon a fiat furfacc, " they bury two grains by fcraping up one ; ? * bcfides its being a work of much greater labour to come at them. He fays he always u lays" to lofe the two outfide furrows or drills ; if therefore he laid his land in fix-furrow ridges, one-third of his crop muft be inevitably loft, at feed-time; bc- fides the depredations he is liable to, during the winter, and at the approach of harveft. 42. DECEMBER 6. The mal-treatment of hedges in this country is painful to look upon ; and there appears to be only one way of prevent- ing a Norfolk farmer from deftroying them. UnnecefTary reductions I confefs are hateful ; but to fuffer unncceflary deftruction of things fo cffcntial to an inclofcd eftate as are live hedges, would be equally unpardonable ; and I am determined henceforward to ftem, if pG/jible, the vile practices, fo prevalent in this country, of " outholling" and " cutting kid* :" '* Outholling" fcourinp; out the ditch provincially, the *' holl ' fr manure, \virh-ut returning any part of" the r.iould to the roots of the quvk. - " Cutting kid" V.-:i''A-;g off the kwer boughs of tall hedges ; leaving vrlde NORFOLK. 77 A regulation of this kind will not be taking from the farmers the privilege of cutting kids for their " par-yards," nor of collecting mould for their yards and dunghills; but it will be obliging them, while they furnifli themfclvcs with thefe two neccfiary articles, todojuftice to their fences. Under this regulation the farmer will not calculate how few rods of ditching he can make fhift with; but how many loads of mould and hundreds of kid he fhall be in want of. Thus the intereft of the tenant and that of the land- lord will become intimately connected. 42. HEDGES. 43- DECEMBER 14. This autumn I met with a fingular inftance of fowing xb:ai after turneps by i-wo furrcii'iiig. (See SOIL PROCESS.) The firft plow fkimmcd the furface, and threw it into the lad-made trench ; on this farrow the feed was fown, and covered with the bottom furrow brought up by the fecond plow; the wide- fp reading tops, to over-hang the young- (hoots, and {mother the underling phnts ; rendering, of courtc, the bottom open and fcncelefs ; whilft the roots of the l\u- viving tree-like plants being left naked of. mould, thefe in length of time dwindled away for \v.iiit of a proper fupply of nouriihment. See art. HEDGES, vol.1. feed fm an SOWIN'G WHEAT. I N U T E S SOWING WHEAT. 43. feedfman always keeping between the plows, and fowing the feed by hand between the furrows. The plits being taken off very thin, the two reached only a mean depth ; fo that no frclh ioil was brought up. Two plows and one feedfman finifhed from an acre to five roods a day. The harrow was juftrun over to break the furface, and let the feedling plants freely out. The land is laid in- to warps, not into ridges. This method is fomewhat tedious ; but the plants come up beautifully even, and the fur- face, of courfe, is free from rubbifh. The plants do not come up in drills, but pro- mifcuoufly ; occupying the whole furface. This the Norfolk farmers feem to think preferable to their ftanding in rows : and, no doubt, the foil in this cafe is the mod uniformly occu- pied by the plants. 44, MEADOWS. DECEMBER 17. The "water-workers" in Norfolk have a very expeditious way of fcour- ing-out old drains which are grown up with grafs and iilt. They firft mark out the edges of the drain tvith a fharp fpade, or other inftmment, cut- ting 1781. NORFOLK. 79 ting through the depth of the mud. If the drain be wide, they make another cut along the middle, and then crofs ir, fo as to fcparate the whole into large fquare pieces of three or four fpits each. The workman then takes a large hook, with three flat prongs, and a (lout long wooden han- dle provincial!}-, a " mud-croorn," and, (landing by the fide of the drain, draws out the "tuflucks;" placing them regularly on either fide ; and, laftly, with a (harp (hovel, forms the bottom of the drain, and (hovels out the loofe mould. 44. SCOURING DRAIXb. 4-5- DECEMBER 18. In my ride this morning I obfervcd two or three inftances of young hedges which are ruined through the bank being fet injudicioufly on the upper fide of the ditch. Ditches on hill fides (hould be made to face up-hill; efpecially where the fub- foil is fpringy. For if the fprings work through, under the bank, they foon undermine and let down the face, together with the layer, into the ditch. The outfide of the ditch (hoot- ing in is of much lefs confequence. HEDGES. 46. I N U T E S REARING CATTLE. 4 6. 1782. JANUARY 9. Obfervirig, to a good huf- bandman, that his three-year-olds were rather fmall ; he faid, Yes, they are ; adding, that his turneps were but indifferent lad year; and that he was too eager after bullocks ; but he now \vifhed he had clone better by his ftore beafts : for he always found that they paid beft for " grazing -."that is, for good keeping. This was the obfefvation of a fcnfiblc, el- derly, judicious, capital farther; and came im- mediately from experience, 47- REST-DAYS. JANUARY 9. The times of the year for the receiving of rents mould be regulated by the produce of the country, and the objects of the farmer's culture. He ought not to be obliged to difpofc of his produce to a difadvantage, nor fell it under the market-price. Nor ought he$ after his money is received or due, to have too great indulgence ; left he may be tempted to fpeculations which, in the end, might hurt both himfelf and his landlord* In a corn-country, Chriftmas is of all others the molt improper time for the farmer to pay his 1782. NORFOLK. ?i his rent at : he has juft time enough to do 47. himfelf all the injury poffible. Stimulated RENT-DAYS. by an honeft pride of carrying the whole ba- lance ; or fearful of the frowns of his landlord ; he hurries out his corn, unmindful of the low- nefs of the price, or the wafte he is commit- ting on his " ftover." Were he called upon at Michaelmas, he could not commit this unpardonable wafte : if at Lady -day, he could have no temptation to do it. Befides, at Chriftmas, tithe, tradefmen's bills, the land-tax, and other quarterly rates come upon him ; and it is not the lofs of the (lover only, but the mealmen and maltfters> knowing his fuuation, take their advantages. This year furniflics a ftrikinginftance of the impropriety of receiving at Chriftmas in Nor- folk. We have not yet had fcarcely fo much as a hoar froft, nor one flake of fnow , cattle in many places are even yet abroad, at grafs ; yet the major part of the tenants of this neighbour- hood have already thrafhed out threes-fourths of their corn. Many of their yards are fcveral feet thick with ftraw, with fcarcely any in- termixture of teathe ; and fome of them without being fo much as trodden. ' VOL. II. G There 82 MINUTES JAN'. 47. There is another evil confequence, in Nor- KEXT-DAYS. folk, of receiving rents at Chriftmas : it is full as much as the poor farmer can do, with all his mifchief, to raife mpney for his landlord : he dare not lay out a fhilling on bullocks to feed off his turneps j which he is of courfe obliged to fell at fuch a price as he can get, and have them eaten off when and in what manner beft fuits the purchafer ; whereas, had he time to thrafh out his corn deliberately, he would find money to buy bullocks, and to pay his landlord. Suppofing the farmer to have paid his laft fhilling to his harveft-men (which God knows is at prefent the cafe with farmers in general) his only refource is confequently his crop. He firft begins upon his wheat, in order to raife money for his fervants wages, and the parifli- rates, at Michaelmas. His feed-wheat muft next be tbrafhed out, or purchafed : a few bul- locks is probably wanted; and the next quarter's rates, tithe, and tradefmen's bills muft be paid at Chriftmas. Thus without opening one Iheaf for his landlord, he muft do confiderable in- jury to his ftover. What then muft be the con- fequence, if, in the fame time, he thrafh one in addition thereto more than his halt-year's rent ? How i7?2. NORFOLK. 83 How differently this matter would ftandj were 47. tenants indulged until the latter end of Fe- RENT-DAYS. bruary or the beginning of March. The bufinefs of the barn would then take its natural and regular courfe : the fervants wages and Michaelmas rates being difcharged,and the feed-wheat and fome bullocks being provided, the farmer would, about the beginning or mid- dle of December, get his ftock into his yards, and begin in earneil upon his barley. By Chriftmas he would find no difficulty in difcharging his tithe, tradefmen's bills and pa- riih-rates ; and would have the two principal months for thrashing before him (befides per- haps a furplus in hand,) to raife money for his landlord. His rent being cleared up to Michaelmas, and his flails ftill being of courfe kept going, hisEafterand Lady-day rates wduld be regularly paid ; befides a fufficient overplus for the pur- chafe of fuch clover or other feeds as might be wanted during the fpring feed-time; In April and May his bullocks travel to market^ and, by the beginning of June, his purfe begins again to overflow ; but after this his receipts are trifling. The beginning of June^ therefore, is the time when he ought to pay to his landlord * G 2 much M I N U T E S JAX. 47- *ENT-DAYS- much money on account of the current year's rent as 'would leave him a fufficiency (with his dairy and other fmall receipts) to pay his Mid- fummer rates and get in his harveft. The firft of March and the firft of June have one peculiar advantage as rent-days ; not only in Norfolk, but in every other country ; they do not interfere with quarter-days; and, in Norfolk particularly, they are leifure-times of the year. BUILDING. JANUARY 10. It is economical to lay tiles on mortar, or ceil the room they cover; they are otherwife fubject to every guft of wind ; not from its action upon the outfide, but from finding, when pent up on the infide, an eafy paflage through the covering. An inilance occurred the other day : afarm- houfe had two or three yards fquare of tiling blown off by the late winds ; not on the wind- ward, but on the leeward fide of the houfe ; and from over the only room about it which is not ceiled. 49- JANUARY 10. How ftrong and lafling is the current of cuftom ! The Norfolk farmers, while ,. NORFOLK. while corn fold high, were affiduous to culti- vate every inch the plow could reach : old marl-pits were levelled : nooks and corners grubbed, and broken up : and even bogs were converted into arable land. Grafsland, of courfe, became wholly out of fafhion, and to- tally neglected : and now, when corn is low, the fame practice ftill prevails : fcraps of arable land are flill purchafed at more labour than they are fometimes worth; while the meadows are fuffered to remain a difgrace to* the country ; notwithflanding they would pay trebly for improvement. 49- GEN. MAN. FARMERS. JANUARY n. The other day, I obferved MEADOWS. in the practice of a fuperior hufbandman the following method of deftroying ant bills. With a common fpade, ground fomewhat lharp, he divided the hill into four quarters. With the fame inftrument he then pared off the fward of the quarters, an inch to two inches thick ; leaving the triangular turves pared off faft at their bafes, folding them back upon the adjoining fward. This done, he dug out the core of the hill ; chopping and fpreading the mould abroad ; and leaving a hollow bafon where G 3 the MINUTES JAM, $o. the hill flood, in order to collect the winter's AKT-HH.LS, rains, and thereby effed a radical cure. Laftly, the folds of fward were returned as a cover to the excavation, leaving the furface graffy, nearly level, and fcarcely difcernible from the furrounding fward. This operation is aptly called "gelding;" and, though not univerfal, is a mofl excellent practice. Between Michaelmas and Chriftmas is the proper time for performing it; for then the excavated mould becomes tempered by the winter's rains and frofls ; and the folds of fward have time to unite with the foil before the fummer's drought fet in. MEADOWS. GEN T . MAN. FARMERS. JANUARY 13. What a difgrace, and what a field for improvement, are the meadows of this county ! The farmers hire marfhes and grazing- grounds at the diflance of twenty or thirty miles, and give high prices, when at the fame time many farmers might, with a common ihare of attention and management, have them at a much cheaper rate within the limits of tjieir own farms. But, 1782. NORFOLK. ^EN. MAN*. OF FARMS. But cuftom and prejudice are doughty champions to deal with : whilft a Norfolk farmer is bellowing more " coft" upon his arable land than, at the prefent prices of corn, he can ever regain from it, he is " doing rarely well by his land ;'* but the moment the foot of improvement fteps on to his grafs- lands, be it even to open a few gripes to let off the furface-water, the eyes of the country are upon him , for he is " buying his mea- dows." Were he to carry a Joad of muck from his par-yard on to his meadow-land, a ilatute of lunacy would be the probable con- fequence. Prejudice, however, is not the only thing MEADOWS. againft the improvement of the Norfolk mea- dows. A want of knowledge in the art of draining is a fifter.caufe ; for of the few who attempt to drain their meadows, fcarcely any arc acquainted with the method of performing it property. They make their drains much too fmall, too numerous, and cut them in improper directions ; nor do they ever go to a proper depth to do the work effectually ; for fhould they chance to dip to a bed of gravel they have done won- ders, and there they (lop ; for their fpades and " mud-crooms" can go no farther. G 4 Nor MINUTES JAN, 5'- MEADOWS. ALDER. Nor is the method of draining the only part of the mifmanagement of the Norfolk farmers in regard to their meadows, they do not feem to be aware that preffitre is a main im- provement of boggy moory land. I have never feen nor heard of a roller being drawn over a meadow fince I came into Norfolk ! There are, however, fome few exceptions to this general mal-treatment of meadows to be met with. The Rev. Mr. Horiley of Sway field has drained his meadows in a capital ftyle, and Mr. Samuel Barber of Stanninghall is manur- ing his with foot, &c. and clearing them from ant-hills, furze, alders, and other incum- brances. This laft is a great nuifance in meadows ; an alder not only encumbers the fpot it ftands on, but is allowed on all hands to render moory foil ftill more rotten. It is a vile inhabitant of or in the neighbourhood of a meadow ; for the feeds being blown about by the wind, they are trodden by cattle into the foil over the area of the meadow ; where, fpringing up among the herbage, the young plants embitter the grafs, and render it altogether impalatable to flock. In improving meadowy, the main objeft is to dilengagethe mould from' collected moifture : for 1782. NORFOLK. 89 for while any part of the black moory peat- 5 1 . bog foil lies in contact with water, the whole MEADOWS. will, like a fpongc, be filled with moiiture : and it is in vain to attempt to render the fur- face dry, while the bottom remains in water. Therefore, drains deeper than the bed of moor are cflfentially neceiTary. Meadows have generally a rivulet running through them : this, although it may have worn itfelf down to the gravel, Ihould neverthelefs (as it in general may) be confiderably deepened; enough to low r cr the furface of the water below the moor ; and {till enough more to allow for a defcent in the drains to be laid into it. The rivulet ihould be deepened (as fhould all "water-work" be performed) in autumn; when the foil is in its firmeft Hate : not in the fpring (as is the almoft univerfal practice), when the moor is fopped with water, and the quick- fands all alive. The rivulet, or other common Ihore, being lowered , and the fand OF gravel (if any) fpread over the adjoining moor (or, if a bad mould, uied to level the inequality), and the furface- water (if any) let off into the fhore ; the mea- dows ought to remain in this ftate until the cnfuing autumn j by which time the lower mar- gins, 90 MINUTES JAK. 5 1 , gi ns j towards the main drain, will have acquired MEADOWS. a degree of firmnefs, perhaps, iufficicnt to ad- mit of the lateral drains being cut to their full depth. Very rotten meadows, lying on a blowing oozy quick-fand, cannot however, with any propriety, be finiftied the next year : therefore, in thefe, the upper moory ftratum alone fliould be raifed; laying it as far from the edge off the drains as the arm and fpade can reach. In the courfe of the enfuing fummer the mould ought to be turned over to forward its digeftion ; and to bury the weeds, which never fail to grow upon it in great abundance ; and which being turned under in the fulnefs of fap, are very beneficial in promoting the digeftion of the whole mafs, In autumn the drains ought to be finiftied the inequalities done away, and the manure fpread over the furface ; provided this can be yet done with fafcty. But fliould the quiek-fand be ftill fo ftrong as to endanger the fides of the drains, go no deeper the third year than can be done with fafety; deferring the finishing fpit until another, or even another, fummer has rendered the fub.~ foil firm, and the fprings are cfteclually killed. This 1782. NORFOLK. 91 This is dividing the expenrc ; doing the 51. bufmcfs erTc&ually ; and treading fnre ground. MEADOWS. The drains fhould not be cut, as is generally the cafe, perpendicular to the rivulet; but either parallel with it, or, if their mouths be laid into it, in an oblique direction ; in order that they may aft more effectually upon the fub. foil ; as well as to clear their mouths the better at the rivulet. Norlhould the open drains be too numerous : for by that means the roller and carriages arc prevented from being turned between them. Above all, the drains ought to be made of a fufficient fire : their depth mould be regulated by the depth of the moor and its fubftratum of quick fand, and confequently by the rivulet, which ought to follow the workman a confidcr- able way up the new-made drains. Their width ought to be fufficient to deter (lock from at' tempting to crofs them ; otherwife the fides are foon trodden in, and the Hock endangered. Nothing is more common than to hear of (lock being fmothered in the meadow-drains : laft fummcr, a horfe was fmothered in a fuite of meadows, which for a trifling expence might be made firm enough to bear any ftock, and lay feveral weeks before he was found. The 92 MINUTES JAN-. rj^ The utility of large wide drains is obvious MEADOWS. in a meadow adjoining to the fuite abovcmen- tioned ; a drain fix or eight feet wide, and five or fix deep, lays dry a meadow of eight or ten acres : a carriage might, .even now, pafs with fafety by the fide of it. If the beds be made lefs than twenty yards wide there is not, as has been obferved, room to turn a roller or waggon with fafety upon them ; if, therefore, the open drains, at that diftance, be not furHcient to make beds of that xvidth fufficiently dry and firm, under-drains Ihould be laid into them. If the beds be made wider than thirty yards, a carriage will be wanted to fet about the mould, which rifes out of the new-made drains, and which will afterwards arife from the parings of the fides, and the fhovellings of the bottoms. But if they be made within that width, a ma* will be able to manure the whole without that additional expence ; for if the mould be caft, in the firft inftance, as far as may be from the drains, and be afterwards, in turning it over, removed ftill farther from them, the farthefl {hovel -full will not require to be caft more than ten yards. It is obvious that, in draining a meadow in this manner, the paltry gripes and \vater- furrow 1782. NORFOLK. $ furrow with which meadows in general abound, 51. would become uielefs ; and would require to MEADOWS. - be filled up with alders, other rubbifh, and dead mould, dug out of the new drains. The furface mould however ought, as above inti- mated, to be referred for a better purpofe ; namely, to be fpread over the finifhed beds as a manure. Its erTecls on a meadow which laft year I had frequent opportunities of obferving, was ftriking ; it appeared to kill the rufhes and other aquatics ; and brought up a thick matt of white clover, and other luxuriant grades. 52- JANUARY 19. A fingular inftance of fat- ting fwine now occurs in this neighbourhood. The other day, Mr. S. of C. had thirty or forty bacon-hogs at peas; put into long open troughs, in the middle of the yard. Now, he has fifty or fixty porkers at barley and oats. The pigs look healthy and well, and, Mr. S. fays, fat apace. He keeps the yard weil- littered, and they have water to go to. He fold fifty laft week at the Hill at Nor- wich at nineteen Ihillings and fixpence, and fifty more this week at home at feventeen (hil- lings. 94 MINUTES 52. lings. He bought them a few weeks ago at about hal f a guinea a head, He fhewed me one which he had killed for XValfham market : the meat was peculiarly de- licate, and quite fat enough ; it weighed four ^one, valued at four fhillings to four fhilHngs 4ind fixpence a ftone. Mr. Si fays, he not only finds that they fat \ 7 ery faft; but that the drovers are particu- larly fond of pigs fatted in this manner j they travel better than fty-fed hogs ; and do not fhrink fo much with their journey* They are making him a valuable yard of dung, with very little attendance, and without the expence of houfe-room. There is a cart-fhed in the yard, under which they liiay run in bad weathen Mr. S. argues in favour of his plan, that pigs never do better than when they help themfelves, as in flubbles, or at a barley- rick : give a pig acorns, he fays, in a fty, and they are wafted upon him ; but let him pick them up himfelf under the oak, and he will get fat. Mr. S. mixes one builiel of oats to a coomb of barley; in order that the pigs may grind the barley, and thereby prevent its paffing through them 1782. NORFOLK. 95 52 them whole. It has the defired and, indeed, a (Inking effect. Mr. S. broke feveral parcels of dung, but not the trace of a whole grain of barley in the yard. The oats not being a favourite food, prevent the pigs from eating the barley too greedily ; as well as being hufky, they require a longer time to be chewed. Mr, S. treats buck in the fame manner, with the fame effect : peas I find are not unfrequently put among buck for the fame purpofe. This is to me a new idea. Mixing chaff with oats for hories, to promote the maftica- tion of the latter, is an old, and now almoft univerfal, cuftom ; and mixing different forts of food for hogs, in order to obtain the fame valuable effect, is felf-cvidemly judicious. 53. JANUARY 24. Mr. S. of W. a fteady mo- CALVhJJ. ney-getting farmer, rears his calves in this man- ner. (See REARING CATTLE, Vol. I.) He begins about Michaelmas, and continues till about Candlemas. Their food is Hum-milk with a little wheat- 'fiour. They have alfo chopped turneps in a trough and hay in a rack. As foon as they learn to eat turneps freely, the pail is entirely left offj the turneps afford- ing 96 M I K U T S JAK-. 53. i'ng them both meat arid drink; thefe with a REARING little hay being their only fuftenance. Some farmers give them oats and bran ; but Mr. S. efteems them dear feeding. The time of their taking to turneps is un- certain : where there are older calves that have learnt to eat turneps plentifully, the young ones readily learn, by picking up the crumbs made by the old ones *. About March, the firft-reared are turned out among the fatting bullocks, in the day-time j and in a few'days, if the weather permit, are turned out altogether. During Cummer they are kept in the clo* Vers, or at other high keep ; and by next au- tumn are flout enough to ftand the par-yardi This is efteemed a main advantage of rearing calves early in the feafon ; for thofe reared late in the fpring want two years nurfing. The price of calves, about ten days old, is eight or ten millings 3 and of buds or yearlings* from twenty to thirty fliillings -, fo that twenty (hillings is an out-fide produce of a reared calf j fifteen fhillings, perhaps, is nearer the pan * Breaking the turneps with a mallet has been found to induce calves to take to them fooner than when thcy are cut with a {harp-edged tool. Perhaps, pounding them, and mixing the pulp with milk, would be ftill better. This i 7 *2. NORFOLK; 97 This cannot be adequate to twelve months ex- ^ 3. traordinary care, expence, and hazard i efpeci- GEN. MAN. OF CATlLt. ally to a large farmer, who has, at preferit, more material objects to attend to. Mr. B. of the fame place, convinced of tKis, rears no calves' : lie finds that he can at pre- fent buy young home-breds and Scots cheaper than he can rear his own flock. But Mr. B. is a good judge of ftock. For a fmall farmer, or for any one not thoroughly converfant in the bufinefs of buying and felling, it may be more prudent, and certain, to bring up his own calves : for, having learned from experience, how much ftock his farm will carry, he goes cm mechani- cally ; fo many cows fo many three-year-olds an equal number of two-year-olds and the fame number of buds with every year nearly the fame quantity of turneps and clover to feed and fat them on. If his turneps prove under par; he fells part of his three-year-olds; if above, fells part of his turneps ; and this feems to be the natural lafis of the Norfolk huU bandry. VOL. II. H 54. 9 8 M I N U T E S JAN. 54- 54- FENS. JANUARY 24. The following is an accu- rate account of the peat-grounds of the fens. The " turf-man" pays for rent .040 For cutting from is. 6d. to 2s. 019 For " chimneying" (that is, piling them lattice-wife to dry) 006 For boating to the ftaith 6d. to is. o o 9 7 Profit and hazard (great quantities are fometimesfwept away by the floods) o i 6 The felling price per thoufand .08 6 The peats, when cut, are about four inches fquare (but dry to about three inches and a quarter) ; and from two to three feet long, or of a length equal to the depth of the moor ; every foot of which, therefore, affords nine peats: each yard 81 : each rod 2,450^: and each acre 392,040 : which, at 4^. per thou- fand amounts to the turn of .78 8/. 2tt. an acre : belides the additional advantage of having un- covered a ftratum of earth, which, in many parts, produces reed, fpontaneoufly ; and on which, it is highly probable, that valuable aquatic might on every part be propagated. JANUART 1782. NORFOLK. 99 55- JANUARY 25. The farmers of Woodbaft- wick, in the fouthern part of this Diftrict, have their marl chiefly from Norwich in boats round by Yarmouth, forty or fifty miles. Some- times they bring it by way of back-carriage from Thorp-next-Ndrwich, about fix miles ; at other times from Horftead, and other neigh- bouring pits, convenient for back-carriage : none within five or fix miles. The ufual quantity fet on is eight or ten middling loads an acre. At Norwich they pay one ihilling at Horflead eighteen pence a load, uncallowed. The carriage (as back- carriage) is reckoned worth about three millings or three fhillings and fixpence ; fo that it cofts them about four to five ftiillings a load ; or fifty Ihillings to three pound an acre. The marl brought by the wherries is worth at the ftaith about four Shillings the middling load. 56. JANUARY 25. Mr of Woodbaftwick has eleven large Scotch bullocks (from fifty to H 2 feventy 55' MARL. CATTLt. 100 MINUTES JAN. 56. BULLOCKS IN YARDS. fcventy Hone) at turneps in the yard. They eat nearly two load a day fix would eat about a load. They are given to them whole (except the tails, which are cut off in the field) with their tops on ; in double bins ; with flraw fcattered about the yard j ferving them both as fodder and litter. Thefe bullocks cofi the latter end of October orie with another about yl. los. ahead. Sup- pofe they weigh by the latter end of April fix- ty (lone on a par, and fell for fooir fhillings at (lone ; the produce, deducting the expence of fale, will be about 4/< at 4*. 6d. a (lone, $1. ioj. at 5/. a ftone, jL If fix bullocks eat a load of turneps a day,- one bullock would eat thirty loads in fix months. Twenty loads an acre is efteemed a fair crop. Therefore, at four (hillings a ftone^ thefe bullocks will pay 2/. 135. 4^. an acre ; at 4;. 6d. a ftone, 3/. 13^. 4^. ; and at 55. a (lone, 4/. 13^. 4d. an acre for the turneps, ftraw, and attendance : fuppofmg them to take fix months at turneps to bring them to fixty ftone Ahead; which, I apprehend, is near the truth* FATTING CATTLE ABROAD. 57- JANUARY 2.~ Mr. Samuel Earbef, whofe accuracy may be depended on, fays, that twelve acre* 1782. NORFOLK. 101 BULLOCKS. ABROAD. acres of turneps upon his Stanninghall farm, 57, have carried thirty-five fatting bullocks, fol- lowed by forty-five cows, Highlanders, and other lean (lock, together with fourfcore fat- ting fheep, five weeks and three days ; that is, reckoning eight fticep to one bullock, forty- five fatting, and forty-five lean bullocks j from forty to fifty (lone each. In fix months thefe bullocks would not eat, at this rate, quite fixty acres : but the turneps are very " thight" and very good. Mr. Barber attributes the good proof of his TURNEPS. turneps this year on his Stanninghall farm chiefly to their " thightnefs." He fays he never minds how clofe the hoers leave the plants, fo that they draw their hoes between them. He fays he has fuffercd fome pounds this year, on his Baflwick farm, through the hoers, in his abfence, being fuffered to hack them out too thin *. The fame judicious hulbandman fays,he treats his Stanninghall farm (a light dry fqilj for tur- neps, and for olland barley, in this manner : thefirft plowings, whether they be two. or three, * Mr. Baker of Southrcps, whofe opinioa in this cafe is equally valuable, holds out the fame ideas ; faying-, that he is always attentive to his hoers, to fee that they do not fee out the plants too thin. H 3 he. SOIL- PROCESS. MINUTES 57- SOIL- PRO- CtSS. TURNEPS. BARLEY. FARMERS, he gives very fleet, and fetches the foil up the laft plowing a full pitch ; by which means he fows his feed amongft a mould which has never beenexpofedtothedroughtj and, confequently, contains a degree of moifture very favourable to the feedling plants. To this management he attributes, in fome meafure, his great fuccefs in turneps this year, They are indeed the beft in the country, and on a foil whereon turneps have not grown, with any degree of fuccefs, for many years. For olland barley, he endeavours to break the flag as little as poffible, fo that the grafs be killed: he therefore would chufe not to break up his olland till after Chriftmas. With this, procefs he fows the barley above-furrow. 58- JANUARY 29. In a converfation, to-day, with two of the firft farmers in the county, a comparifon between the prefent times and thofe of fifteen to twenty years ago, became the fub- jeft. The price of barley was, then, from five millings to feven millings a coomb ; of wheat, from ten millings to fourteen millings; and Ijeef three millings and fixpence a ftone. Now, barley 1782, NORFOLK. 103 barley is eight Ihillings, wheat twenty-two fhil- 58, lings, and beef four (hillings to four fhillings FARMERS. and fixpence ; yet, in thofe days, farmers had plenty of money, and actually increafed in riches -, whereas, now, they are moneylefs, and arc every year finking in poverty. To explain this paradox feemed difficult ; the price of day-labour is fomewhat decreafed ; fervants wages the fame, now, as then ; houfe- keeping fomewhat more expenfive, as to the price of its particular articles ; but, upon the whole, it is not more fo ; for farmers, principal farmers, now keep lefs company than they did in thofe times. One of them obferved, that he pays the fame price for a coat, and the fame for a fhirt, he did formerly ; and as to market and other perfonal expences, he is .clear that among capital farmers they are lefs now than they were then. The poor's rate, it is true, falls heavy at prefent; but he fays that he pays only fourteen pounds now for what he then paid ten pounds : this therefore is not of material confe- quence ; and this excellent hufbandman, fenfi- ble and well-informed as he is, feemed willing to affign the caufe to fome inexplicable hid- den myftcry. H 4 At i4 MINUTES JAX, 58. At length, however, he produced an idea FARMERS. which goes a great way towards explaining the apparent riches of former, and the apparent poverty of the prefent,, times. In every corner there are moneyed men : for- merly they diffufed their riches through the neighbourhood they lived in : it was no un- common circumftance for a farmer even to be afked to take money; whereas, now, through a want of private credit and moneyed faith be- tween man and man, and (till more through the prefent high rate of intereft to be made on go- vernment fecurity, the monies which were dif- perfed in the country among farmers and tradef- men are now all called in, This explains very fully the apparent riches of former times and the apparent poverty of the prefent : but it does not explain why farmers formerly grew rich, but now grow poor. The late rife of rents at once fully developed the whole myftery. For although the ufurer's money might affift the farmer in purchasing flock, &c. to an advantage ; yet this advantage was in great meafure cancelled by the intereft which he had annually to pay for it : whereas the money anting from the comparative low- nefs of rent required neither intereft nor even principal to be repaid. Thus, 1782. NORFOLK. 105 Thus, fuppofing farms to be raifed thirty 58, per cent, within the laft fifteen or twenty years ; RISE OF and fuppofing that, among middling farmers, the rife in the poor's rates, and the extra ex- pence of houfe-keeping, is adequate to the ad- vance of produce; the farmer whonowjuft makes ends meet on a farm of one hundred and thirty pounds a year, had formerly a furplus of thirty pounds left in his pocket to buy flock, &c. at the bcfl market *. This, even the fecond year of his leafe, he found of great advantage ; but the third year, the thirty became fixty; the fourth, ninety, or perhaps one hundred pounds ; for the intereft, or a proper management of the money, had in- creafcd his flock ; fo that by intereft upon in- tereft, or by other advantages made of the mo- ney, a careful, induflrious, fortunate man found himfelf, at the end of his twenty-one years leafe, to be worth eight hundred or one thoufand pounds ; and confequently got, very defervedly, the name of being a rich farmer. * A ftrikiag inftance of the Iof3 arifing from a want of loofc money to buy flock when the markets are low, occurs this year : at Kipping and Kenninghall fheep-fhowi (a few months ago) the lame lambs might have been bought for five (hillings and fixpence, which are note worth half-a.guinea a head. But jo6 -M I N U T E S JAN. 58. But the cafe of the man who now takes a farm of a hundred and thirty pounds a year, is ii.ii K IS* very different. Let us fuppofe him to have a capital juft fufficient to ftock it, and help him through the extra expences of the firft year. His crops turn out tolerably, and having common good luck with live ftock, the neat produce of his farm juft clears its expences, buys him a new coat, and pays his landlord : but this done, he finds himlelf without a fixpence left in his pocket for manure, or to go to a cheap market with. This however is not all. In the courfe of the year, he lofes a cow, perhaps a horfe. What is to be done ? He is pennylefs, and cannot bor- row a milling in the whole country. Why, he muft either do without, to the great prejudice of his farm, or fell fome other part of his ftock to replace them with. The next year his wheat or his turnep-crop fails him. He has not a milling before-hand to carry him over the difficulty ; he confe- quently becomes in arrear with his landlord ; his fpirits are broken ; his, land not only wants manure, but even labour and teathe , for he is glad to fell his bullocks before Chriftmas ta keep iy82. NORFOLK. 107 keep his landlord in temper : the confequence 58. need not be traced. Thus it appears that the poverty of prefent FARMERS.* farmers, more particularly of middling and fmall farmers, refults in fome meafure from an advance in the expences of houfe- keeping and an advance in the parifh-rates ; but principally from the prefent fcarcity of money, and from the late rife of rents. 59- FEBRUARY 5. In finking a well near Gun- TUB ton-Houfe, the workmen it feems traced the tap-root of an oak, through an uniformly white fand, to the depth, I think, of twenty feet. The tree was neverthelefs uncommonly healthy and beautiful. This ihews that a ftrong foil is not neceffary to the production of fine oaks. There might, however, be one circumftance favourable to this oak. The ftratum which it grew in might be impregnated with the drain- age of the houfe and offices ; for of fo abfor* bent a nature is this bottomlefs bed of fand, that it drinks up the whole drip of the houfe, together with the overflowings, and wafte wa- ter, and filt of every denomination. Nor *o8 MINUTES FEB. 59. Nor is this a fingular inftance of the ab- SUBSOIL. forbency of the Norfolk foil ; for of a fimilar nature is the moft frequent fubfoil of the county : dig a marl-pit through to the fand, the water immediately vaniihes. 60. REPAIRS. FEBRUARY 5. Bvttrejfts, to flay-up old buildings, are very aukward, very expenfive, and very fubject to decay, if not well fecured from the drip of the building they fupport : yet, if walls lofe their upright, fomething is neceffary. Buttrefles, however, may frequently be avoided, by thickening the foundation, and forming an arch-like foot or underpinning to the whole part affedted. Witnefs a tall fence- wall at Northreps; and a dwelling-houfe at Bradfield ; where a buttrefs, in the front of a good houfe, would have been very unfightly. 1\\tfpring or width at the bale, as alfo the height, Ihould be in proportion to the degree and height of the bulge to be fecured. Where the whole wall has given way and pverhangs much, a tall buttrefs may be ne- ceffary ; though even in this cafe, fupporting the beams and rebuilding the wall from the foundation NORFOLK. 109 foundation is generally more prudent : a large buttrefs fwallows up a great quantity of brick and mortar ; and, when railed, is but a tem- porary relief* A large blue Hate forms an admirable roof for a buttrefs : an inflance occurs upon Ari- tingham-hall farm. 61. FEBRUARY 5. A neighbouring farmer having one fide of a clofe of turneps which he could not get off faft enough to be fowri with wheat, he cut off their tops with a fpade^ gave the tops to his cows, carted the bottoms into a new-made adjoining ditch, fbacking the cart and tipping them in) and covered them over with a little ftraw j and, over this^ with bramble-kids, to keep the flock from them. Here they lay until wanted in a froft, when' the cart was again backed to the ditch, and the turneps loaded with a fork. He fays, tliat his bcafts eat them as well or better than frefh-drawn turneps ; and that in general they came out as found as when they went in. Had the tops been depoficed With the ro'ots, they would probably have brought 60. BUTTRESSES. PRESERVING TUKNEPS. MINUTES FEE, brought on a fermentation, and have fpoilcd the whole de P flt - Might not this practice be extended to the prefer vat ion of turneps in the fpring? Turneps, this yearj began to run the be- ginning of January : they have now, in ge- neral, got fpring fhoots five or fix inches long , and, if the prefent open weather con- tinue, the roots muflbe confiderably exhaufled^ and the land very much drawn, long before bullocks in general are finifhed, or grafs be- gins to grow. But if they were now (when labour is cheap and plentiful) topped and carted into dry ditches, or formed into flacks with ftraw *, their goodnefs might be pre- ferved, and the land be got into forwardnefs for barley. If they were Hacked in dr near the yard^ there would not, for fhed or ftraw-yard bul- locks, be any labour loft. Whether, after this remarkably mild win- ter, the fpring prove very mild, or very fe- Vere, they would, by this means, be removed but of harm's way. 61. THE ASH. FEBRUARY 7. There is, in a grove at Gun- ton, a large afh, Cat leaft a load of timber in * Perhaps hurdles, fet chequer-wife, would be found convenient receptacles. it) NORFOLK. in it) which is dijbarked entirely round the ftcm, 62* about a foot from the ground* On one fide THE ASH - the upper and lower barks are feparated about a foot from each other -, on the other fide not more than three or four inches : they fcem to be drawing towards each other, and may in a few years unite. This tree was probably dilbarked by VEGETABLE 1 J ECON'OMY, deer, from five to ten years ago j yet it is not only alive, but apparently as growing and healthy' as any tree in the grove* 630 FEBRUARY 7. I have frequently obferved ncr-' I that the face of a ditch over which ivy has fpread itfelf, ftands invariably* Perhaps, on a fandy foil, where the face of the bank is perpetually running down like an hour-glafs, plant or fow a drill of ivy near th<3 feet of new-made ditches* 64* FEBRUARY 7. Thereof out of repair, the REPAIRS. whole fabric is in danger. Not only the fpars, but the " phnfher," nay, even the ground- ii2 MINUTES FfB. 64^ ground-floor, I have feen rotten through a IMPAIRS, bad roof. Perhaps fend a thatcher and bricklayer round to each farm annually : if nothing be wanted upon it, there may no doubt be half a day's-la- bour loft ; but if there is, a few millings laid out in time may, in a courfe of years, produce a confiderable faving. If the landlord take care of the roofs and foundations the tenants will, for their own conveniency, be ready enough to remind him of the repairs wanted on the infide. 6 5 . MEADOWS. FEBRUARY 7. A ftriking inftance of the fhanieful management of mcadowland iri Nor- folk occurs upon the church-farm at- . The late tenant was afraid to truft his flock in one of his meadows '. he has loft feveral cattle and horfes in it the fkeleton of a horfe now lies there; The prefent tenant could not get his flock into it, until, at a confiderable expence of heath and land, he made a gangway. To hint (who has taken it for only One year certain) I could not value it at more than five fhillings an acre : yet I will venture to fay, that for the trifling 1782. NORFOLK. 113 trifling expence of twenty (hillings an acre, pro- 65. perly laid out in the coiirfe of next fummer, it MEADOWS. would, in two or three years time, be worth from twelve to fifteen (hillings an acre. I will give an eftimate of the expence, to ihew the real improvement which the mea- dow-lands of Norfolk are capable of. This meadow' is a parallelogram lying on a flat, and contains five acres, two roods, feven perches. A rivulet runs on one fide of it, upon a bed of gravel, and fiveor fix feet below the furface of the meadow. Acrofs the meadow, perpen- dicular to the rivulet, are two drains, grownup with haflbcks, and trod in by caftle ; and round it is a watery ditch, alib full of ^ afs and mud. There are about eighty flatute i ds of ditch- ing, and about forty ftatute rods oK 1 raining. The ditches might be fcoured for V (hilling, the drains be opened for fixpence, the long rod. 80 flatute is about fixty-three long rods, at u. - 3 3 o 40 ditto, about thirty-one, at 6d. 0156 3 18 6 But the drains could not be opened level with the rivulet for that money j nor could VOL, II. I theVj iH MINUTES FEB. 65. they, for that, be made fences : for one ihil- MEADOWS. ling a rod they might, I apprehend, be done effectually, which is an addition of- 0156 4 H Nor could the ditches, perhaps, be carried round level with the rivulet (which they ought to be, the workmen leading a dead water all round) for one fhilling a rod : for fourteen-pence I be- lieve they might : this is a further ad- dition of - - o 10 6 5 4 6 Befides this three trunks, or arches, would be wanted as an entrance, and for communica- tions between the beds ; the fluff, too, would require to be fet about : thefe, however, come under the idea of annual and ordinary expences ; we may therefore fay, that for the inconfider- able purchafe of five guineas an improvement worth fifty or fixty pounds might be obtained, perhaps when a meadow is fo fituated that the rivulet can-not be funk below the moor, lay the main drains into wells, dug at a convenient diftance from the rivulet, and pump the re- maining water into it. One length of tree would do, and a man would pump out a great quan- tity of water in a day ; and what are a few days works 1782. NORFOLK. 115 works compared with the difference between a drained and an undrained meadow ? Perhaps a ftubborn quickfand might be overcome by digging a well near it. 66. FEBRUARY 8. It is an excellent cuftom of the Norfolk farmer to erect rubbing-poft* in the different parts of the inclofure he is feeding of teathing ; they keep the flock from the fences, and furnifh them no doubt with an agreeable^ and perhaps a falutary, amufement. Some I fee draw the crown of a tree; with the lower part of the boughs left on, into the middle of the clofe : this is lefs trouble than putting down a poft, is eafily rolled out of the way of the plow, and feems to be ftill rriore agreeable to the cattle. 67- FEBRUARY 9. Mr. Arthur Bayfield (whofe good fenfe and judicious management have re- peatedly engaged my attention) fows the prin- cipal part of his wheat in four-furrow work, with this peculiarity : He fows only half the feed before the plbws. (See WHEAT, Vol. I.) The firft plowman fets out a very wide *' back"; fo that the tops of the firft two fuc- I 2 TOW 65. DRAINING- OUICKSAXD. RUBBING- WHEAT. MINUTES FEB. 67, SOWING WHEAT. rows do but barely touch each other. The feedfman follows, and fows the remaining half of the feed in the trenches made by the firft plow. Another plowman follows, and, with a neat narrow furrow, covers the feed and makes up the ridges. It was on my obferving to him, the other day, the evennefs with which his wheat comes up, that he told me his method of putting in the feed. . Farmers in general he thinks fow too much of their feed on the warps, by which means the tops of the ridges have more than their propor- tion of feed ; unlefs the ridges be made very narrow, which occafions a lofs of labour. Mr. B.'s four-furrow work is nearly as wide as the fix-furrow ridges of fome farmers ; end it is impoffible for wheat to come up more beautifully than his does this year. TURNEPS. 68. FEBRUARY 9. Lafl year, there were turneps fold as high as 5/. an acre ; a price fcldom, if ever, before known in Norfolk, At the begin- ning of this feafon, four pounds ten {hillings* fome fay four guineas and a half, an acre was re-* 1782. NORFOLK. 117 refufed for turneps The fame turneps are now 68. worth about three pounds. Good turneps are fold for fifty Ihillings, tolerable ones for forty {hillings. The reafon for this rapid fall of turneps is twofold : the opcnnefs of the winter, and the fcarcity of bullocks, this year ; owing to their high price at Michaelmas, and to the poverty of the farmers. A. gives forty fhillings for tolerable ones, and is allowed to bring fome home ; but he pulls and tends the reft himfelf {A. fays pull- ing and ftraw is worth twenty fhillings). B. took in lean three-year-olds at two Ail- lings a week, but their owner would not con- tinue : B. therefore fold him the turneps at fifty millings an acre (middling) ; B. to pujl and tend ; but the purchafer to find ftraw (B. reckons pulling, &c. worth ten fhillings an acre. ) C. agreed (early in the feafon) with P. at three pounds ; P. to pull, tend, and find ftraw ; which C. reckons at fifteen millings, viz., five millings the ftraw, and ten millings the attend- ajace. I 3 69. ii8 MINUTES FEB. 69- 69. AT FEBRUARY a. It is a general obfervation, TURNEPS. .'...' 11, r> i that in this remarkably warm open winter, Ihed- bullocks have done very badly ; while bullocks abroad have done extremely well. A perfon who is a competent judge in this matter in- itances fome bullocks, which he faw the other day, that have fcarcely got any thing during feveral weeks they have been at turneps : his remark was, tint they fweat out as much as they lay on ; that their coats are continually wet ; tbeir backs being covered with drops of fweat. In cold winters, bullocks are obferved to do beft in (heds ; but they do not travel fo yvell to market as bullocks fatted abroad or in the open yard. This being an interefting fubjedt, and of great importance to this and every other light land Diflrict, I have collected the particular praclice of fuch individuals as bufmefs, or other circumftance, has thrown in my way. Mr. Barber, at Baftwick, (a fomewhat tender foil) gives his bullocks turneps in bins in the open yard. AtStanninghall,(a dry firm foil) he keeps them wholly abroad, fhifting them every day, or every two or three days, giving them draw in a moveable four-wheeled ftraw-rack. Mr. 1782. NORFOLK. 11 Mr. Thomas Seago, of Hanworth, throws 69. the beginning of the ieatbn, and afterwards BULLOCKS chops the turneps, and gives them in bins in TURNERS. the ftraw-yard. Mr. JohnHylton, of Felmingham, fats them abroad. Mr. Arthur Bay field, of Antingham Abroad in the day ; and, if near home, puts them into the ftraw-yard at night ; but rather than drive them any diftance, backward and forward, keeps them abroad altogether, with very little flraw. Says, that his land being light requires to be trodden. Thinksthat bullocks kept wholly in the yard fhould have their turneps in cover- ed bins,- a kind of double narrow flied acrofs the yard ; for in cafe of froft and fnowy weather, the turneps given them over-night, in open bins, are frequently left untouched, and are obliged to be taken out, and replaced with frefh ones, the next morning. Mr. Robins Cook, of Feltmngham Abroad in the day; in the ftraw-yard at night; no turneps in the yard, nor draw in the field. Says, they eat the ftraw greedily on their coming into the yard in the evening : ufed to ^ive them ftraw upon the headlands ,* not feat. I 4 tered lao MINUTES FE. 69. tered about thin, but all in one place, fo as to BULLOCKS be able to make a little manure; but this was TURNEPS. only becaufe he had not a fpare yard to " ftow"> them in. At Albro' (a more tender foil) he ufed gene- rally to gra^e half a dozen bullocks in the houfe : he attended them himfelf, chopping all their turneps. They eat, he fays, (contrary to common opinion J as many turneps in. the houfe as they do, abroad : fix of them more than a load a day. Four o'clock in the af- ternoon, he fays, is their principal hour of eating :- ufecl to rack them, up with the tops : the offal thrown to the buds. Mrs. Swan, of Suffield, fats them abroad. Mr. Forfter, of Bradfield Abroad ;; with ilraw fcattered under the hedges. Mr. Jonathan Bond, of Walfham- Fourteen abroad. Mr. Henry Helfden, of Antingham, fats them at two' years old'. has no meadows, and cannot keep them till three years old. Has them always at " high keep :" being from the time they are dropt either at turneps, clover, or in the flubbles : fats them abroad. Mr. James Helfden, of Suffield Sixteen abroad. Mr. 1782. NORFOLK. Mr.F.LeNeve, of Bradfidd, has ten abroad; 6-9: TURNEPS. BREED QF CATTiE. and two cpws by the head."-Why keep the BULLOCKS n. t j i T> cows in the houfe and the reft abroad ? " Bc- " caufc the co'.vs are backyarder than the " other, and I fliall be able to bring them " forward by good tending in the fhed." Mr. John Jov, of Waifham, has five Scots; one four year-old home-bred ; eight three-year- old ditto-, one two-year-old ditto ; andtwo cows with their calves by their fides. The four-year-old home-bred is a beautiful bullock, and very fprward : the three- year- olds, being more given to growing, do not fat fo fad. Mr. Joy is clearly of opinion, that a four-year-old home-bred will beat any Scot. The cows and calves are quite new to me; though Mr. Joy fays, that " running calves" a,re, and have been, very common things in this country. They are fent up to London with the cows, and !v,ve been known to fetch as high as fix or feven pounds a piece *. The cows are very old ; yet notwithstanding the calves draw * I was afterwards told that a ger.tlem.rn near Nor- wich fold a year-and-half-old calf for ten pounds ! It wa offered to the butcher at nine pounds, or at live {hillings a {tone : he accepted the latter. On weighing it, the four quarters weighed forty flonc ! But it feems to be well un- ,derftood that " running calves weigh like lead." them, CALVES. 122 MINUTES FEB. 69. RUNNIXG CALVES. REARING CATlLi. BULLOCKS AT FATTING CATTLE. them, the wonderful effeft of turneps is fuch that they are getting fat apace : one of the calves (a heifer) is as fleek as a mole ; and has already dropt a dug of confiderable fize : the other is not fo forward ; its mother being very old, and gives little milk. The calves eat turneps as freely as the reft of the cattle. What an admirable end is this for old cows ! Some of the three-year-olds, and the two- year-old, are fnayed heifers ; but, through the negligence of the cutter, fome of them have not been clean fpayed, and are frequently running to bull , a circumftance which is of great hin- drance to their fatting. Mr. Joy keeps his bullocks entirely abroad; giving them ftraw fcattered over the clofe , or, in hard weather, under the hedges : he never puts them into the yard at night; thinking that driving them backward and forward is prejudicial to their fatting. Mr. Jonathan Bond, of South-Reps, has eight two-year-olds at turneps; generally grazing two- year-olds ; this year they are rather backward ; but expeds they will reach about thirty ftone a piece with about iix weeks grafs. Two-year- olds he allows do not ftnifli fo early as the three- year-olds ;-,but, if they be kept well from the time 1782. NORFOLK. 123 time they are dropt, they pay very well. It is obfervable that the heifers are not only for- warder but larger than the fleers, though dropt at the fame time : they are open, and had the bull about Chriftmas. Mr. William Mann, of Bradfield, has fix two- year-olds at turncps ; they are doing very well ; and, with a little grafs, will be very good meat. They were early calves (between Michaelmas and Chriftmas) and have a mixture of the Suf- folk breed in them. One of them (a dun y but bornej} will weigh upwards of forty ftone : this is one inftance in favour of the Suffolk breed. Mr. Baker of South-Reps keeps his beauti- ful heifers bought at St. Faith's (See MIN. 27.) entirely abroad ; giving draw under the hedges ; and fiiifting them every day : they have thus far done well indeed. 70. FEBRUARY 9. In riding over the eftate, I have alfo made a point of collecting informa- tion reflecting the rearing of calves, a fubject .of considerable importance in every county. Mr. Barber rears none : he fats his calves, and kills them for the Pad-market at Norwich. (See CATTLE, Vol. I.) Mr. Thomas Shepherd, of North-Reps, rears none : but fhrewdly obferves, that he cares not how 6 9 . FATTING CATTLE. BRF.ED OF CATTLE. BULLOCKS AT TURNEPS. REARING CALVES. * MINUTES .FEB. 70. how many his neighbours rear. Mr. S. (as LV XG WC * 1 as ^ r? **') ' s a J uc *g e f ft ck > ancl a frequenter of fairs and markets ; and finds, no doubt, he can buy young Hock cheaper than he can rear them. Mr. , of , gives milk once a day (look hut indifferently") with turnep-tops and oats and "bran mixed together in a trough, and hay in a rack (the hay bad) : begins about Chriftmas. Says, that one early calf is worth two backward ones; andinftances it fromlaft year's experience. Mr. William Barnard Milk twice a day with bran qnly (look well) : gives neither tur- reps nor tops, till they are a month or five weeks old. Mr. John Hylton rears twelve to fifteen (he has a marfh)- reared three this feafon in Au- guft ; they are now almoft as large as yearlings. Theie had milk four months ; in common he gives millc twice a day, with turnep-rops, for two months j and once a day for as much lon- ger as he has milk : if milk be ibarce, he makes milk-porridge. Mr. William Sewell rears eight or nine. Says, that he has had calves get quite fat on tur- ncps and hay, when he has had bullocks in the yard; and the calves have been, of courfe, well tended ; 1782. NORFOLK. fajj tended : much, he fays, depends upon attend- 70. Mr. Rcbins Cook rears about twelve ; keeps them at the teat twice a day, till three or four weeks old ; and once a day, till three or four weeks older : then offers them the pail ; but* if they refufe, or are difficult to learn to drink at that age, he leaves them to take their chance at turneps, hay, and water. Generally lofes three or four a year in the gargut *. Mr. Arthur Bay field rears twelve to fifteen ; ufed to rear eighteen or twenty, Takes them off the cow at a fortnight or three weeks old : finds no difficulty in learning them to drink at that age : keeps them at milk twice a day, until ten or twelve weeks old ; with turneps, turncp-tops and hav; but no bran,&c. Cuts the turnep-tops, to prevent their being littered about. Mr. Jonathan Bond, of North-Walfham, keeps eight cows ; rears ten calves : buys them chiefly of the drovers : -drove calves very dear this year; from twelve to fifteen * ** Gargut," or " murrain," taken fuddcnly : a fort of mortification between the fkin and the flefli : the fldn upon the part is faid to be "as hard and Kjrfii'as th- crackling of roaft pork*" (hillings RF.AUIN'O CALVIiS. 126 MINUTES FEB. REARING CALVES. GEN. MAN. OF CATTLE. Shillings at a fortnight old. Gives them tur- neps, hay, and about three pints of milk, once a day. Says, that too much milk makes them neglect the turneps ; but keep them mort of milk, and they foon take to them : turns them to grafs about the middle of April j by which time he reckons they coft him about twenty {hillings a head ; and fays, that a bud of a year old may be bought for twenty-five {hil- lings. But he adds, that 'bringing them up within himfelf, he does not mifs the charge of them. Generally lofes two or three every year by the gargur. Mr. James Helfden, of Suffield Eight cows: rears about ten calves ; fats fixteen to twenty bullocks (his farm of the middle fize) : gives his calves hay, turneps, and milk twice a day, while young; after ten weeks or three months, onqe a day : begins about the middle of March to put his oldeil out into a piece of turneps, three or four hours in the middle of the day, to play about and eat the turnep-tops. Mr. keeps eight cows ; ufually rears eight calves; but turneps being fcarce, he rears none this year, meaning to buy eight or ten buds at the fales* Mr. 1782. NORFOLK. 127 70. RF.ARIN'G CALVES. Mr. John Waller brings up fix : takes them off at two or three days or a week old : milk twice a day as long as he can give it j and then once a day as long as he has it ; gives alfo hay, turneps, and bran ; but no oats. Mr. John Joy takes them off at about a fort- night old : milk twice a day for about a month, and once a day for a month or fix weeks lon- ger ; until they can be turned out in the fpring into a pightle of turneps : alfo gives them tur- neps, hay, and barley-flraw, which, by way of a change, they eat as well as hay. Mr. Joy generally lofes fome every year in the gargut. GARGUT. He fays, as foon as they are dead there is a jel- ly formed between the fkin and the flefh : they are taken fuddenly, and die prefently after being taken : fome bleed and rowel them with "gar- gut-root" (btlleborus fanidus) in their tail or dewlap , feldom recover. Mr. , of South-Reps, begins between Michaelmas and Chriftmas. Takes them from the cow about three weeks or a month old, and endeavours to make them "lufty;" gives them about half a pint of milk once a day, with hay, oats, and bran ; but no turneps. I alked him why ? He gave me for anfwer, that his father, mother, himfelf, nor any of the family, had ia3 MINUTES F.EB; TO. had ever given their calves turneps : he added FATTING however, that oats and bran are heartier food ; CATTLE. and that the milk is enough for them without turneps : his calves, no doubt, leok well, and fo do his buds and two-year-bids. Afked hirri if he did no't find oats and bran expenfive. He faid, that the fix which he has now, have eaten about three bufhels of oats, and two bufliels of bran, in about fix weeks; which time they have been from the cows ; they being now about ten weeks old. This is no great expcnce j not being above three-pence a head a week (// he be accurate]. He fpeaks in raptures of oats for calves. He keeps them at milk until the tur- neps are gone; when he begins to make cheefe. Mr. William Mann, of Bradfield, has already eleven this year : begins between Michaelmas and Ch rift mas : lets them fuck ten days : milk twice a day for a month or five weeks after- wards ; and once a day until they do well upon hay and turneps; or until he can turn them but a few hours in the day into a turnep-clofe. Thinks that the milk is of little ufe to them, after they begin to eat turneps well : gives them the turneps whole ; only tailing them, and freeing them a little from dirt : gives no oats- 1782. NORFOLK. dats nor bran : he is remarkable for fine young ftock : he is very affiduous in keeping his calves well-littered. Mr. Henry Helfdeh. of Antingham, begins before Chriftrrias : takes ttierri off at a fortnight old ; fbmetimes at three weeks ; b'y which ; time they get ts rarely ftrong", but do hot take to the pail fo well : gives them new milk twice a day for about a fortnight ; and flammed twice a day for a fortnight longer , and about three pints or two quarts once a day afterward; until the weather be warm eno'Ugh to turn' therri out entirely to turneps : gives them the turneps in the houfe, whole, thrown upon the litter : learns them by cutting off the crown, breaking up the furface, and pouring milk into the ine- qualities. If hay be fcarce or bad, gives a few oats and bran : look very well; ,. 7' REARING' CALVES. 16. Young Swann, of Sufficld, had, the winter before this, fome of the beft turneps in the country. Seeing him,' laftfum- mer, fowing fome in what appeared to me a flo- venly manner, the furface being covered with chick-weed, grodridfel, charlock, and other fubbilh pulled up by the harrows, I afked him VOL; II. K why SHOWING TURNEPS. MINUTES FEB. SOWING IURNEPS. why he did not give his land another earth be- fore he fowed it. He anfwered, that the land was not foul; and that he, purpofely, let the feed-weeds get to a head : having found, from the experience of two or three years back, that his turneps fucceeded beft when the feed was fown in that manner : faying, that he be- lieved the " wreck" lhaded the young plants, and kept the fly from them. I afked him if the rubbifh was not in the way of the hoe : he faid, not much j for being young, and ten- der, it withers away to little or nothing, be- fore the plants be fit for the hoe. Two or three days ago, I examined this clofe of turneps ; the plants are thinner than one would wifli, (perhaps owing to their being bad- ly hoed) but there is not a " filially patch" in the whole piece. There may be two advantages arifing from letting the foil lie fome time before the laft plowing r it acquires a degree of texture, and moiftnefs, favourable to the infant plants ; and is prevented, by the dead weeds, from being, afterwards, run together by heavy rains. CATTLE AT 72. EEBRUARY 10. Afking Mr. A. Bayfield, if his cattle were not fometimes ehoaked wkh turneps ; 1782, O R F O L turneps ; he faid no ; he never loft but one in his life. I afked him if he ufed a rope : he faid he had one ; but never ufed it^ except the time he loft his cow. If fait and water will not cure them* he pours down a hornful of fait and fneltedgreafe ; fuch as hog's-lard or any kind of common greafe. This he never (except the once) found fail. This is an idea worth preferring : warm oil and fait would perhaps have the fame effect. Mr. Bayfieldi who may be called one of the moft orthodox farmers in Eaft Norfolk, is clear in that a tbree-year-old " homebred" will fat as kindly as a four -year-old " marfhlander" or "Scot." He inftanced it, to day, in a tnree-y ear-old of his own bringing up, which he bought^ when a ealfj of the ealf-drovers ; and which evidently difcovers a nestr felatiorifhip tb the ihort-horned breed; He is now at turneps with the reft of the three-year-old Norfolk flock ; bur, riotwith- flanding he was at hea'd keep all laft film- rner, he is neverthelefs ftill a rawboned grow- ing fleer ; while the Noffolks are as foft as molesi and fevefal of them begin to dropi their pointSi The Norfolks will fat to from forty to forty-four flone ; the Lincolnfhire, if K a hs 72, CATTI.F. AT TURN EPS. ikkkb o j CATTLE. MINUTES FEK. BREED OF CATTLE. he were to be kept another year, would reach at leaft feventy. But this peculiar quality of the Norfolk flock does not depend on fize ; for Mr. B. fays, that a three-year-old Scot (flill fmaller perhaps) is as difficult to fat as a three-year-old marfh- lander. He fays, it is bad management to attempt it ; but keep them on until they be four years old, and they will make famous " over- year" bullocks : adding, that at that age they will generally pay for keeping over-year. FARM-YARD MANAGEM. 73- FEBRUARY 10. It feems to be a received idea among the Norfolk farmers, that the draw which is eaten by cattle is in a manner wafted as to manure. Mr. S. I remember, as an argu- ment in favour of his plan of fatting pigs loofe in the open yard, faid what a rare parcel of muck they make, compared with what neat beafls would have made from the fame ftraw. " A parcel of lean hungry flock, fays he, come " into a yard and eat up all the flraw : fee there *' lies a bundle of draw as big as aman can carry." Mr. B. the other day, intimated the fame idea : however, on putting the queflion, he ac- knowledged 1782. NORFOLK. knowledged that a little dung and a little trod- 73. den flraw do well together. FARM-YARD M ANAGtM. In the north of England the farmers make their cattle eat almoft every blade of their ftraw, fo that they have fcarcely any left to lit- ter their flails with. Give a Yorkshire and a Norfolk farmer equal quantities of flraw, the Yorkmireman would keep more cattle, and carry out his dung at a lefs expence ; whilft the Norfolkman would make more muck. But quere, Whether is the manure better or worfe ? and quere, Which of the two, upon the whole, is the better management ? Much perhaps may depend on the quality of the foil to be manured, A large quantity of long dung would, perhaps, for fliffcold land, be better than a fmaller quantity of fhort. But perhaps, for zloamy foil, fliort dung is the beft. 74- FEBRUARY 12. In my rides, this winter, I CATTLE, have endeavoured to inform myfelf refpe&ing the winter-management of ft ore-cat tie. Mr. A. Bayfield's yearlings and milch-cows follow his bullocks, and lie in the par-yard at night : his two-year-olds, and dry cows, go abroad in the meadows, &c. in the day, and are K 3 put 134 MINUTES Frs. 74. put into the par at night : they have not yet WINTER had a turnep. Mr. B. fays, however, he fhall MAN. o? . * . ' '* \ CATTLE. now begin to give them lome ; tor if young flock are fhirved in the fpring, they are dinted for the whole year. Cows in calf, he alfo juftly obferves, will do with lefs keep than any other flock, until within a few weeks o.f their calv- ! Mr. John Hylton. His turneps failing, he has few bullocks this year ; and thefe he buys turneps for ; and brings home fome for his cows. Neither his two-year-olds, nor even his buds, have yet broken a turnep this year; he ^having the principal part of the few turneps he grew {till upon the ground; faying, that he fhould be diffracted if he had not a plenty of feed in the fpring ; fo as to be able to favour , his ol lands, until they got a good bite, and the ground covered. A good farmer never flarves his flock. Mr. Jonathan Bond, of Walfham, make$ three divifions in his par-yard : his buds ; his two-year-olds ; and his cows. Says, that the gargut, ibme people think, comes from the buds being '? horned" by the larger cattle 5 but fays, he does not believe that there is any thing in it ; for notwithflanding his precaution, he has loft three this year by the gargut. Mr. 1782. NORFOLK. Mr.JamesHelfdcn,of Suffield, flows his buds in a battoncd flack-yard, at the end of a barn. He always takes care to place fuch corn in this Hacking-place, as will require to be " barned" the beginning of the fcafon ; fo that he has it every year free in time enough for a " calves par" (a good plan). Mr. John Joy, of Walfham, has now fix or eight cows, ten two-year-olds, and eleven buds follow his bullocks: his young flock had no tur- neps till after Chriflmas. Mr. Edward Bird, of Plumflead, has his two- year-olds out at keep as followers at one Ihil- ling a week : they have plenty of turneps, and go into a par-yard at night, Mr. William Mann, of Bradfield, has eight buds out at keep for ten-pence halfpenny a head a week. They have their fill of frefli tur- neps, every day ; going " at head ;" not as fol- lowers. He grazes his two-year-olds, this year : in general he fells them in the fpring to be kept over-year; but this year they being for- ward he fats them himfelf, and they are doing xtremcly well. 74' WINTER MAN. OF CATTLE. WINTER KEEP ON TURNtPS. FEB. 75.- GEN. MAN. of BREED OF SHEEP. 75- FEBRUARY 12. Every foil feems to have it pwn ftock. In Lincolnfhire the foil is rich ; the grafs long and foft ; and the fheep there are large and in- active : In Norfolk the foil is lefs productive ; the grafs fhort and hard ; and the fheep light and active. A fheep- walk, in this neighbourhood, flocked jointly with thefe two varieties of fheep, con- tains alfo a variety of foil : one part, lying low, is a rich, moift foil j bearing a foft rich grafs : another lies high, and is a drier lighter foil ; bearing a hard benty grafs. The prefent ftock were principally bred in this ground ; and, whether Norfolk or JLincoln- fhire, were many of them perhaps dropt near the fame fppt on the fame day ; neverthelefs turn them milcellaneoufly into this ground and they will, in a fhort time, feparate themfelves, even to a fheep ; the Lincolnfhires * drawing off to the Lincolnfhire foil ; and the Norfolks to their own dry fandy loam : and, whilft there continues a plenty of grafs in both parts, the two breeds will keep themfelves as diftindt and feparate as rooks and pigeons. * Including a mixture of the Huntingdon and Leiceller- (hire breeds. 1782. NORFOLK, '37 BREED DI- SHED. M/|N. OF SHEEP. 76. 76- FEBRUARY 12. The long-wooled ewes (fee laft MIN.) have lambed with great difficulty, this year. The fhepherd has been obliged to aflift the major part of them. Ihefe ewes were therefore kept at grafs until $fter they had dropt their lambs ; the {hep- herd having been taught by experience that ewes 9t turneps are liable to mortify, upon receiving tl>e fmalleft injury in lambing; much more liable than at grafs. 77- FEBRUARY 12. There feems to be fome- SOIL - thing peculiar either tp the air or the foil of this county. The face of a ditch, though formed of a dead ill -coloured fubftratum of mould, becomes, in a few years, black and rich in a high degree ; fo as to be coveted by the farmer almoft as much as dung. When he re-makes his fence he carefully faves this rich, or rather enriched, mould (for according to the cuftom of ditchers the face is always made of the worft mould) : or, if he throw down a fence, he as afiiduoufly preferves both the face and the back for the bottoms of his farm-yard or dung-hills. Does not this incident afford us an idea ap- plicable to the enrichment of the foil in gene- ral ? MINUTES FEU. 77- SOIL-PRO. CLSS. MAN. OF SHEEP. ral ? Is it not highly probable, that by ridg- ing up a fallow fo as to referable the banks of ditches, or as nearly as could be done with im- plements and horfes, the foil would thereby be meliorated ? It might certainly be done in this way : with a common plow, gather up the foil into four-furrow or fix-furrow ridges, and after- wards, with a heavy double-mould-board plow and a ftrong team, force up thewhole, by degrees, into high, fharp, angular ridges ; which, in due time, might be reverfed in a fimilar manner *. 7 8. FEBRUARY 16. Laft night being uncom- monly fevere, by wind froft and fnow, I roic early this morning, to obferve the effects of fuch unufual feverity upon the young lambs. I expected to have found them fhivering and fetting up their backs, pinched through with cold : inftead of which they were prancing againfl the trees, and running races in a flack- yard upon fome hay which the ewes had pulled out, as if the fun had fhone out in the middle , * This would likewife gfvean opportunity of deepening the foil ; and of forming, if practicable, a frefh fan. (&eSoii., Vol. I ). f 1782. NORFOLK. 39 of April ! not one pitiful tone, nor a crooked back, among near a hundred and fifty. The ewes have been well-kept all winter -, and have now plenty of turneps and a rough hay-flack to run to. This fhews the effed: of good keep : the Ihepherd very properly ob- ferved, that let lambs have plenty of milk, and they neither fear nor care for any weather. What a pleafure, and how profitable, to do well by flock! Had thefc ewes been ill-kept, numbers of lambs mufl have been loft during the laft fortnight of fevere weather; whereas, with their prefent flufh of milk, fcarcely one pf feven or eight fcore has fuffered by it, 79- FEBRUARY 23. A confiderable part of a farm which lies toward the coaft, being hilly and very badly foiled more efpecially the tops and fides of the hills, which have always been full of rabbits in fpite of all endeavours to de- ilroy them- the tenants laft year applied for leave to convert this part, about ninety acres, into a rabbit-warren. Leave was given, and an allowance made them of half the eftimated ex- pence of raifing a fodwall fence round thcfe pinery acres. The 78. MAN. OF SHEtP. RABBIT. WARREN, 140 MINUTES Fm. 79. The fence is nearly finiftied, and the warren nas tm ' s Y ear turned out beyond expectation : it is valued, by one who ought to be the beft judge of its worth, at forty pounds a year; which is nine (hillings an acre. As the part of a farm, thefe ninety acres arc not worth five (hillings an acre : at the prefent price of barley,, they are not worth more than four ftiillings an acre. Thus, for ten pound a real improvement of twenty pound a year has been made and fc- cured ; for the warrener will, through necef- fity, hereafter keep the fence in repair. The fence is made about four feet high, and three feet thick ; faced with green-fvvard ; and capped with furze, fo as to project eight or ten inches over the face. Some of it was done for a {hilling a rod ; but the fpring putting in, fourteen or fifteen pence a rod of feven yards was obliged to be given. A neighbouring warrener, this winter, gives nine-pence for the wall, without the capping -, which he does not mean to put on till the wall be thoroughly fettled. This is very judicious: feveral rods of that abovementioned Ihot down in different places. There are feveral patches in the vallies and fome on the tops of the hills which have ufually been 1782. NORFOLK. 141 been tilled. Some of thefe were laft year, and fome of them ought to be every year, culti- vated for the rabbits : thus, when the grafs gets foul or mofiy, plow it up ; fallow ; fow turncp-feed for prefent feed (they will not let rape get up), and to prepare the foil for barley and grafs-feed the enfuing year. Thus a re- gular fucceflion of feed might be kept up. The way the Norfolk warreners take to de- ftroy eagles, kites, and other birds of prey is natural and fimple. Thefe birds are ftiy and fufpicious : they like to fettle where they can have a clear view round them for fome di- ftance : a naked ftump or a hillock is their fa- vourite refting-place. The warreners, therefore, raife mounds of earth of a conical form in dif- ferent parts of the warren, and place fteel traps upon the points of thofe artificial hil- locks. 80. FEBRUARY 28. About two 'months ago I took a fample of wheat to North-Walfham market ; with an intent to make myfelf ac- quainted with the bufmefs of the corn-markets in this country. North- Walfham is an afternoon-market (fee MARKETS, Vol. I.) ; corn all fold by fample; fome 79- RABBIT- WARRliM. MARKETS. 142 MINUTES FEB. 80. foirre" in the market-place; but chiefly at the N.WALSHAM Inns. CORN-MARK, Having made my election or a miller, and finding that he " quartered" at the Bear, I went to his room (he was not in till near fix,) and fhcwedhim my fample; namely* about two handfulls, put in a piece of brown paper; which, agreeable to the faftiion of the country, was gathered up in the hand, and tied with a ftring, in the manner of a pounce-bag. He aiked the price ; I told him the beft he gave that day : he faid a guinea was the higheft : I had previoufly tinderftood that a guinea was " the top of the market/* and fold it him at that price. He afked how much there was of it ; I told him about fifteen coombs; He marked the name, the quantity, and the price upon the bulge of the paper, and the bulmcls was done* His room was fet round with farmers, who> the converfation being audible, were witneffes to the bargain. Another fample I took to his mill j wifhing to fee the conduction and economy of a Nor- folk mill ; and afterwards fold him the re- mainder of the quantity ; namely, about thirty coombs. Not 1782. NORFOLK. 143 Not having received for the two former par- 80. eels, he defired I would give him a week's no- N.WALSHAM i r T 11 J \- f v. CORN-MARK. tice before I called upon him for the money. Laft week I gave him notice, and this even*, ing I have been to receive it. His room was full of farmers, fmoaking their pipes, and drinking punch ; excepting one, with \vhom he was doing bufinefs at a fide-table. My turn prefently fucceeded ; and we agreed the account thus : 1)82. Jan. 10. 15 Co. 3 Bs. " bare ;" or 15 Co. full meafure, at 2 1 s. a coomb, or 2i/. a laft of 21 Co. - 15 15 o 26. 16 Co. 3. at 2 1/. IQS. -if 2 ii Feb. 9. 15 Co. 3. at 22/. los. - 16 17 6 16. 14 Co. 3. at ditto - 15 16 i 63 Coombs bare . 65 1 1 6 From which he deducted is. a laft (of 21 Co.) for what he called "car- riage," being a perquifice to his fer- vants, - -030 .65 8 6 Having received the amount, figned a re- ceipt, and thrown down a fhilling towards the liquor, the bufinefs was finally concluded. 144 MINUTES FEB, 81. PLANNING. BREEDING 81. FEBRUARY 28. Mr. A. Bayfield afldng me if I would not have fome " wood-layer" put into the places where the pollards (oaken pol- lards) were taking out againftSnffield Common, I told him yes, he might have a little oak-layer. " Why," fays he, with his ufual coolnefs and good fenfe, "would not a little aihen-layer think " you, Sir, be better? I have known afhes thrive " rarely well after oaks, but have feldom known " oak-layer take where an oaken timber or " pollard has been taken down." This is a valuable obfervation. It has long been obferved, that an old orchard feldom bears planting as an orchard a fecond time ; ftor is wheat after wheat, equal to pulfe or grafs, after wheat; or wheat after pulfe or grafs. 82. MARCH i. In drawing off fome mixt-breed hoggards for fale, it is obfervable, that thofe between long-wooled ewes and a Norfolk ram are handfomer (lock, and forwarder, than tho'fe which have been bred from Norfolk ewes by a Leicefterfhire ram ; and that in this cafe the ewes have always great difficulty in lambing. NORFOLK. J45 83- 3- MARCH 2. Afkinga fenfible intelligent far- TURNEPS. mer, who rears a large proportion of calves to the number of cows he keeps, how he gets milk for his calves, he anfvvered, " turneps give the cows fuch a flufh of milk the calves feldom want/* Turneps, he fays, are fine things for cows : cows. they fcour and cleanfe them, and fet them for- ward in the fpring, when they come to be turned out to grafs ; adding, that cows kept at dry meat, not only lofe their milk in winter^ but the beft part of the fpring-grafs is gone before they get to the full of their milk. This may be one reafon why cows which have no turneps do fo badly in this country; whofe hay is dry and ftrawy ; and the grafs far frem being of a fucculent quality. 8 4 . MARCH 3. This morning I flood a con(i- derable time to fee fome fatting heifers " break" their turneps. Being all at feed, they let me ftand among them unnoticed; and having been about four months at this employment, they performed it with a dexterity, which af- forded me confiderable entertainment. VOL. II. L In BULLOCKS BREAKING TURNEPS. 146 MINUTES MAR. 84. In theory, it feems difficult for an animal, dc- BULLOCKS flitute of paws, and with teeth only in one jaw. 'BREAKING . . . . , TURNEPS. to get to pieces a turnep, which he cannot con- tain in his mouth ; more efpecially when it is thrown loofe upon hard ground : one is led to imagine, that it would roll or flide away from him, as he attempted to bite it; but no fuch thing happens. I faw feveral turneps begun and fmifhed without being moved an inch from the place they fell in from the cart. Had the bullocks been furnimed with paws, or even hands, to hold them with, they could not have clone it more dexteroufly. Having fmelled out a turnep they like, they prefs it hard againft the ground with the gums of the upper jaw, applied upon the top of the turnep, toward the fide which lies fartheft from them, fleadying it with the upper lip : then inferting their teeth on the oppofitc -fide and biting fomewhat upward, they take off a fmall piece, proportioned, in fome meafure, to the fize of the turnep. Having tailed the firft bite, and fmelt at the broken part, they take another flice ; perhaps not thicker or larger than a crown-piece : and thus continue to take off, or rather fcoop out, flice after flice until nothing is left but the tail of the turnep,. and a fliell jyb'2. NORFOLK. 147 a Ihcll of rind, in the fhape of a fleeting difh,' 84. and of a fimilar thicknefs ; carefully fmelling, BULLOCKS J! & BRtAKIXCi between the bites^ at the part they intend next to take off. The crdwn and upper part of the rind they eat, but feem ftudioufly to leave the tail, and the under part of the rind, which had flood in contact with the foil. If a bullock break off a larger piece than he can gather up with his tongue as his head hangs' downwards, he lifts up his head, and fhoots out his nofe and neck^ horizontally, until he gets' it between his grinders. Crowns, and very fmall turneps, he treats in the fame way. This part of the bufmefs, however; he per- forms fomewhat clumfily ; and it is, probably,- in this act that a fmall turnep, or a piece of a large one, glancing from between the teeth, gets' into the throat and caufes fufflation, or u choak- ing". The tongue of a bullock is lefs flexible, and \vorfe adapted to the purpofe of turning over and adjnfting a morfel of folid aliment, than are the tongues df carnivorous animals, or thofe of the human fpecies. The natural food of graminivorous animals is foft, and no way liable to flip from between the teeth in grind- L 2 ing j i 4 8 MINUTES MAR. 84. BULLOCKS BREAKING TURNEPS. ing ; their tongues being adapted to the pur- pofe of gathering up their aliment, rather than to that of aflifting them in chewing it. 85- TIMBER. MARCH 3. In thinning timber-trees, whe- ther in hedges, or in open grounds, it is gene- rally advifable, when two trees grow amicably together, their branches intermixing, and their tops of equal height, forming as it were one top, to leave them both {landing : for, if one of them be taken away, the beauty of the other is fpoilt, and its atmofphere changed : the evil effect of this treatment I have frequently ob- ferved. But when one of them has got the fuperiori- ty fo far as to overhang the other, it is general- ly right to take the underling away, and there- by add beauty and ftrengrh to the mafter-plant. Twin timbers, however, more particularly double (terns growing from the fame flub, are dangerous to horned cattle. I have lately heard of more than one accident by trees grow- ing fo near together that cattle could 'juft get their horns through between them ; and having got them there could not find the fame way to ex- 1782. NORFOLK. 149 extricate them ; but falling down in the ftrug- 85. ele, were ftraneled. I have fince heard of a' HEDGEROW TIMBER. horfe being loft in a iimilar manner *. 86. MARCH 5. Mr. John Waller, of Antingham, S B * \ E P OF ihewed me, to-day, feven ewes with fourteen lambs by their fides : and a fifteenth, which he gave to his boy, is alfo alive. Laft year he had nine lambs from three ewes ; eight of which he actually reared, and are now alive ; namely, fix with the ewes, and two " cotts" or " cotties" (a name for lambs reared by hand; a common practice here). His fheep are, in appearance, of the true Nor- folk breed. He fays he has had the breed eight or nine years, and they have feldom had lefs than two lambs a piece. He keeps them well. The Norfolk ewes, in general, bring but one lamb. * A ftill more fingular accident occurred to my own knowledge. A mare, probably in fighting with the flies, ftruck her hind-foot into a cleft between two ftems of white- thorn, open at the bottom but narrowing upward ; and being a high-bred, fpirited mare, ftruggled until fhe tore her foot off; leaving it behind her in the cleft ! L 3 87. 15 MINUTES MAR. 87. 8 7 . MARCH 5. When the white-thorn is dead thro* HEDGES. age or improper treatment, or from being over r hung by trees or Hub-wood, it is difficult to get young layer to " take" in the old banjc. There are two things againft it ; the drynefs of the bank ; and its having been already cropped. Thefe two objections are in a great meafure removed, with little inconveniency, or addi- tional expence, by throwing the bank entirely > down, about Michaelmas; letting it lie fallow all winter ; tabling the new ditch the latter end of February ; and putting in the layer, and fihifhing the fence, the beginning of March : for, by this means, the mould gets a thorough drenching, and receives the benefit of a winter's expofure to the froft and fnow. There are generally roots and flubs in an old ditch-bank fufficient to pay (in this county) for the labour of throwing it down ; and the difference between making a new ditch and vamping up the old one, is not more than two- pence a rod. This Alinutearifcs from a tenant's being defirous to remake a ditch, which is loaded with ftub- vvood of forty or fifty years growth ; and which hag 1782. NORFOLK. has fo totally dcftroyed the quick, that freih layer would be wanted from end to end. On examining the bank I found that, from the cover of the pollards and ftub-wood, it is >; even now, as dry as chalk ; and entirely occu- pied by roots and fibres of various forts. I therefore advifed him to let it remain until Michaelmas, and treat it in the manner above defcribed. He acceded to this the rather, as it is a plan which is far from being theoretical in Norfolk, being, I find, frequently pra&ifed. 88. MARCH 5. Riding acrofs Felmingham Heath, to-day, I obferved a piece of new ditch-bank, out of the face of which young furzes were {hooting, in the place where quick- fets are ufually put in ; but without any being amongft them. Looking round, I perceived that this was not a mere experiment ; for the neighbouring hedges Cof a fort of an encroachment) were of the fame Ihrub ; and many of them invulner- able fences ; even againft the heath llock. One which had been recently cut in the face (with a few left on the top as a blindj was as L 4 thigh t RENEWING HEDGBS. FURZE- HEDGES. 152 MINUTES MAR. 88. thight as a wall. In general, however, they FURZE- were getting much too old -, fome of them dy- iiLDGES. ing j and others thin at the bottom. I am neverthelefs fully convinced that a furze- hedge, with proper treatment, is, upon a light unproductive foil, a fufficient and eligible fence. 89. THATCH. MARCH 7, This morning, went to fee ibe method of cutting reed. The time of cutting reed does not commence until Chriftmas ; and continues till the young flioots begin to appear : the fap is now begin- ning to rife ; the ftems, below the water, being already green. The cutters have a boat to carry them from the banks to the " reed-rond"; which, in this cafe, lies at a fmall diftance from the fhore. Some they cut {landing in the boat ; fome ftanding on a plank, laid partially, or wholly, upon the mud and roots of reed, matted in- timately together. The workmen cut it upwards, gathering the reed in the left hand and arm under-handed, with ficklcs (reaping-hooks are too flippery for the reed) as much below tine water, confc- quently 1782. NORFOLK. '53 quently as near the root, as may be; it being 89. an idea, even unto a proverb, that one inch CUTTING REED. below the water is worth two above.it; for the part which now appears green changes to a blackifh-brown, and becomes as hard as horn ; whereas that which grows above the water is brittle, and of a more perilhable nature. Having encumbered their boat they pufh it to the fbore, and make up the reed into fheaves (with thumbands made of ftraw) of fuch a fize that five of them will make a fa- thom of fix feet in circumference : (fome- times the fheaves are made fix to a fathom) fixty of thofe fathoms are a load ; and a hun- dred and twenty are termed a hundred of reed ; worth about three pounds. The matts of roots frequently feparate in cutting the reed, and float about the water, ftill propagating reeds in fmall clumps ; not larger, perhaps, at firft than the top of a bufhel. This feems to be the fpeediefl way of propa- PROPAGAT. gating reed ; namely, feparate the beds of roots; drag them to different parts of the water ; and fatten them with flakes, until the roots get hold of the bottom. The ftarlings have done confiderable da- mage to this patch of reed : the outfides look fair ; OF REZD. M I N U T. E S MAR. STARLINGS EN'EMlfcS TOREKD. . fair ; but the infidcs of the clumps are very much broken down, by their roofting among it; more particularly while it was green, be- fore it had received a firmnefs of Hem to bear them. I have feen thoufands at once light among it. In the fens, the reed- men are great enemies to thefe birds; and (if one may judge from the proportional damage they have done in Snffield-pond) with great reafon. HEDGES. HEDGE ROW TIMBhR. 9. MARCH 8, I have at length nearly finiflied fetting out this year's wood and ditching. In the courfe of the feafon I have made the following obfervations, and have endea- voured to adhere to the following rules re- fpecting timber-trees and pollards in hedges. In regard, to TIMBER-TREES, however, I have not been able to purfue entirely the line of conduct I have laid down from this and laft year's experience : it may, neve-rthelefs, be right, while the fubjedt is full and frefh in my mind, to minute my prefent ideas on this important department of rural economy. I am clearly of opinion, that all fuch tim- ber-trees as are now decaying , alfo fuch as are full-grown, though not yet decaying, but are fo fitnated as to overhang or otherwife CTQWfk 17*2. NORFOLK. 15$ crowd the neighbouring ffands or timbcrlings, go. or the young timber-trees which are in a mo- e HEDGE ROW 'I I \I B F R youthful and growing {late ; alfo fuch part of the growing timbers themfelves, as, by {land- ing too clofe, crowd and check each other, iliould be marked and fold at the prefent mar- ket-prices ; though thefe prices may be fome- what below par. For if to the intercft of the money, which would arife from fuch fale, be added the de- creafe of value, or the injury incurred by fuf- fering timber of the above defcription to re- main {landing, the proprietor of fuch timber is lofing annually from five to ten per cent. of its prefent value, by fuch improper con- (dudl. Thus fuppofe an eftate has five thou- fand pounds worth ot timber upon it, bear- ing the above defcription ; its proprietor is loiing from three to five hundred pounds a year by fuffering it to remain {landing. Whenever the price {hall hereafter rife to what may be efleemed a fair felling price, then, but not till then, falls ought to be made of all full-grown timbers ; alfo of fuch grow- ing trees as, from their fituation, are or may foon become injurious to each other. Much, no doubt, depends on embracing the lucky moment of falc ; nevcrthclefs, perhaps, more money J56 M I N U T E S MAR. 90. money has been loft than gained, by fpecu- BEDGEROW lating nicely in this delicate matter. The dead wood and hanging boughs of all timber-trees left {landing ought to be removed ; and the younger timberings trained in fuch manner as will induce them to take the de- fired outline, and rife in the mofl profitable form. Oaks in hedges naturally grow low and fpreading, doing more injury to the hedge and the adjoining inclofures than their own value, in that form, can ever repay ; whereas tall well-headed oaks are at once ornamental and valuable to an eftate ; without being, in any confiderable degree, injurious to the occu- pier. Being fully convinced of this, from almoft daily obfervation, I am clearly of opinion, that every opportunity ought to be taken to propa- gate oaks in hedges ; not by putting in young plants where old trees have been taken down ; but by fearching for, and preferving, young feedling plants (more efpecially where a hedge is cut down), and carefully training them up wherever a vacancy will admit them : Or, if fuch do not rife naturally, by putting in tranf- planted plants in vacant hedge-banks and wafte corners , at the fame time dibbling acorns round them, in order that, in the courfe of a few 178*. NORFOLK. few years, the woodman may have his election of the propereft plant to be trained. This however is not the bufmefs of a day, nor of one year, but requires an annual atten- tion ; embracing convenient times, and favor- able opportunities, as the bufinefs of the eftate is profecuted ; confidering this as one of the mo'ft material objects belonging to its manage- ment. With refpedt to the POLLARDS, I have fol- lowed thcfe rules : Such as were not likely to throw out, in twenty or twenty-five years, a top equal to the prefent value of their Items, I valued to the tenants as fire-wood. Thus fuppofing the body of an old pollard to be worth, as fire-wood, two Ihillings ; but from the appearance of the prefent top, when compared with thofe of the neighbouring pol- lards, it was not likely to throw out, in twenty or twenty-five years time, another top of two {hillings value, I marked it to come down, and charged the tenant two (hillings for it, over and above the value of its prefent top : for the intereft of the money will, at the end of that time, be more than the top-wood would have been had it been left (landing; befide the mould- 90. TIMBER. HEDGE ROTI POLLARDS. 15* MINUTES MAR, 90. mouldering and wafle of its own body, and HEDGEROW the iiicumbrancc it would have been to the I'Ol LARDS. eftate. Such, alfo, as flood particularly in the te- nant's way, or which crowded a young ftand or timber, or where they flood too thick, I took down, valuing them to the tenant as fire-wood ; but with this invariable provifo, that if, on cutting off their butts, they proved found, they were to be taken for the ufe of the landlord , the tenant having a dednftory al- lowance made for the quantity of firing-blocks fo taken. Alfo, if a pollard, of a proper fize, appeared to be at prefent found enough for a gate-poft (more particularly if gate-pofls were wanting upon the farm they flood on), but which from its prefent appearance it would not be at the time the ditch would want to be made the next time, I marked it to come down : for a good hanging-pofl is worth five fhillings ; whereas a firing-pollard of the fame fize is not worth more than one milling. But fuch thriving pollards as did not ftand particularly in the way of the fence or the te- nant, and fuch as were not wanted for any particular ufe ; alfo fuch as were likely to throw out 1782. NORFOLK. '59 out another top, and flood well upon the bank, fo as not to injure materially either the tenant or the fence, I invariably left Handing : for, al- though coals may at prefent be plentiful, and coafting-veflels fufficiently numerous, and have an unobftrufted paflage from Newcaftle to Cromer; yet who can foreknow the revolu- tions in nature and nations which may here- after take place ? and who will be hardy enough to fay that Eaft-Norfolk cannot experience a want of materials for firing ? The face of the country is no doubt at prefent too much encumbered with pollards, to the great inconveniency of its prefent occupiers : but it may be well to leflen their number with a prudent hand , left, by fvveeping them away indifcriminately, we may entail on pofterity a {lill greater inconveniency. 90. HFDGEROW POLLARDS. 91. MARCH 14. On Monday evening laft, about eight o'clock, the wind rofe very high ; blowed hard all night ; continued blow- ing all day on Tuefday ; and in the evening blew a violent gale. There REPAIRS. 166 1 N U T E S MAR* 91* There has fcarcely one thatched roof upon REPAIRS. this eftate efcapedj entirely, its fury. Many of them however are only ruffled ; but great numbers (an hundred at lead) are broken, more or lefs ; fome of the breaches confiderable : whilft the tiled roofs have efcaped without any confiderable injury. Had the practice propofed in MIN. 63. been adopted a few years ago, perhaps not a breach Would have happened ; for where the roofs have been overlooked in the courfe of the laft year, even the thatched ones are hardly ruffled ; whereas, in the flate in which feveral of them Hill remained, there is three or four months work of a thatcher to repair them. THATCH. Reed in particular ought to be driven or relaid whenever it begins to flip, or the bind- ings begin to decay : it is the reed-roofs in general which have fuffered. REED. There is one advantage in reed, however ; it may mod of it be gathered up and re-* laid. REPAIRS. MARCH 14. The bricklayer and thatcher employed upon this eftate live at a diftance. This 1782. NORFOLK. 161 This inconvenicncy I have frequently ex- perienced, but never fo much as now, when fuch a number of petty, but exigent, jobs have been created by the late high winds : the tenants are folicitous to have their furniture and their corn fecured from the wet, and I cannot give orders to the thatcher or brick- layer without riding or fending two or three miles to them, or their coming as far out of their way to me; Upon a large eftate^ a matter or foreman carpenter, matter bricklayer, thatcher, and blackfmith, ought to live in the immediate neighbourhood of the manager. 92. REPAIRS. GEN. MAN. OF ESTATES. 93- MARCH 16. Since the late fevere weather fet in, it has been remarked that bullocks abroad have done uniifually ill ; whilft thofe in flieds have done well. (See MiN; 69.) Are not thefe a fufficient hints to farmers to keep their bullocks abroad in warm weather, and take them up, or at leaft par them, in fevere weather ? Whilft they are buds and two- year-olds, they are nurfed in a warm well kidded par-yard; but, at a time when they are en- Voi.. II. M titled BULLOCKS AT TURNEPS. i6* MINUTES MAR. 93. titled to every indulgence the farmer can give BULLOCKS them, they are expofed to the weather, be it ever fo inclement ; with fcarcely a hedge to flicker them : their only Ihelter being too frequently nothing better than a row of naked " buck-ftalled thornen bulls." No wonder, then, that after the remarkably mild weather we had at the beginning of winter, the late fudden change mould give a check to fuch as have been expofed abroad * ; deftitute of fhelter, and, confequently, deftitnte of that tempera- ture of mind as well as of body, which, perhaps, is effential to their thriving. Mr. Cook, of Felmingham, whofe opinion in this cafe is valuable, corroborates thefe ob- fervations ; fo far, at leaft, as they relate to the temperature of the body. A good lodging. he fays, is a great thing to a bullock: his expreffion was, " it keeps them warm within ; *< and when they get up they ftretch them- " felves, fhooting out their hind legs as if " they meant to leave them behind in the par- " yard." Whereas after having lain upon the cold ground, more efpecially if it be wtt % * l they become cold on the infide; and, on " riling, flick up their backs, with their four * Homebreds are here fpokcrt of, " feet 1782. NORFOLK. 163 " feet drawn together, as if they were afraid to *' move them from the place they ftand in.*' Cold weather,he fays> no doubt checks bullocks which go abroad very much ; more efpecially if it be wet ; adding, that " if their backs be dry "they do not fo much mind the cold." 94. MARCH 25. AYLSHAM FAIR. This feems to be a fair appropriated to dealings between farmer and farmer, rather than to drovers and profeflional dealers. It is chiefly noted for plow-horfes ; which, at this feafon of the year, become valuable to the Norfolk farmer ; every hand and hoof becoming bufily employed againft barley feed-tirnej. It is, however, upon the whole, a fmall fair ; and the fairftead un- commonly fmall and incommodious. To-day the number of cattle were very few : not more than one hundred head in the fair : and thofe in general of a refufe kind. It feems to be a fact, univerfally underflood, that the quantity of flock in this county, has of late years very much declined. There have, it is generally allowed, been fewer young cat- tle reared of late than there were formerly : owing, it is thought, to the lownefs of price ; M 2 arifing BULLOCKS AT TURNEPS. MARKETS, CATTLE. .164 MINUTES MAR. 94. FAIR OF AYLSHAM. CATTLE. HORSES. arifing probably from a fcarcity of money, and from the failure of the turnep-crops for fome years back. The few which were in the fair to-day fecmed principally to confift of fuch as had been at turneps ; and had got a little flefhy ; but flill required a confiderable time, and good keep, to finifh them. There were alfo a few cows and calves, and a little young flock. The number of horfes was confiderable (perhaps a hundred) fet up againft rails, placed on a rifing ground, to ihew their fore-hands to advantage. Ten to twelve pounds the highefl prices; even for young horfes. 95- PLANTING. MARCH 26. This morning marked out the weedling-plants of a plantation, made by the late Sir William Harbord twenty-five to thirty years ago *. It confifts of th< Oaks, Afli, Beech, Chefnut, following fpecies of trees : Scorch Fir, Larch, Alder. Hornbeam. * On counting the rings of different fpedes, I found the number to be thirty or thirty- one. The 1782. NORFOLK. 165 The Scotch fir has outgrown every other 95. fpecies ; and the plants, though few, are be- PLANTING. come a burden to the grove. The wood being of quick growth, the plants have not only out- topped the reft, but have, in general, had time enough to furnifh themfclves with boughs on every fide ; fo as to cripple the beautiful oaks and beeches which ftand near th? m. If there- fore Scotch firs be planted in a grove, by way of variegation, they ought to be kept trim- med below ; which would check their growth, and in fome meafure prevent their doing mifchief : but, even with this reftriction, they ought to be admitted into fociety with a fpar- ing hand. The larches, too, where they (land free from the Scotch firs, are of a confiderable fize ; but they are not equally mifchievous withthofe; their boughs being lefs extenfive, and more rotted off below: they are, neverthelefs, injuri- ous to their deciduous neighbours. Where they ftand thick, among the firs, they are drawn up. ftrikingly tall and flend,er, or are fo. much over-hung as to be crippled, or entirely (mothered. Marked great numbers that were dead or dying. The oaks are many of them beautiful plants ; but are either entirely crippled by the firs and M 3 larches, i6 MINUTES MAR, 95. larches, or, where there is any head-room, arc PLANTING. drawn up much too tall and flender. The fame may be faid of the beeches ; and it is curious, though painful, to fee how they ftruggle for the light, wherever they can fee a peep-hole. The a/bes, too, where they ftand among the firs and larches, are either fmothered outright, or are drawn up much too tall and flender. In a part where they ftand alone, without any ad- mixture except a few alders, there are fome moft beautiful plants. The cbefnufs, if one may judge from this inr {lance, is totally unfit for a mifcellaneous grove. There is fcarcely one of this fpecies enjoys the fmallefl portion of fun-fhine : the few which flill exift are chiefly underlings; and fome of them not much larger than when they were planted. It muft be obfervcd, however, that much may depend on the foil. This plantation di- vides a rank moory meadow from a good, {bund, upland foil ; fome parts of it partaking of the former, fome of the latter quality, i The larches and the chefnuts, obvioufly, do beft on the dry foil. The Scotch firs, too, feerri to have gone off upon the moory foil ; there 1782. NORFOLK. 167 there being fome, but very few, left upon it; nr. and thofe coarfe and ftunted. The alhes do re- PLANTING. markably well on the moory parts. In one parti- cular place ; not the wetteft ; there is a parcel of perhaps the moft beautiful plants that ever grew their fkin as fmooth and clean as that of the beech ; and, though not more than twenty-one inches in circumference, they are not lefs than forty feet in height ; and as ftraight as gun-barrels. The oaks, beeches, and a few hornbeams, thrive wherever they have been planted, and can get their heads out. They do not, however, feem to have been planted on the very wet parts. The larger! of the firs meafure in circum- ference, at five feet high, - 39 inches. Larches, - 36 Chefnuts, r - 28 Beeches, 32 Alders, - 32 Aflies, 21 Oaks, 28 Hornbeams, - The greateft collective height of the planta- tion is about forty feet. This plantation furnilhes a ftriking inftance of the mifchiefs enfuing from the want of a proper attention to infant-groves. M 4 In x68 MINUTES MA*. 95. In this cafe, judicious thinnings would, PI^NT^ evidently, have been highly advantageous. xiONg. Great numbers of plants have perifhed, and come entirely to wafte; and, of the two hun- dred and eighty which I have now marked, one hundred are dead, or nearly fo. This, however, is the fmalleft fhare of the lofs j for thofe Hill remaining are drawn up too tall and Gender ; and with tops too fmall and infignificant, to make due progrefs to- wards large timber-trees. In point of profit, the beft method now to proceed by would be, to take down all, or the greatefl part, of the Scotch firs ; trimming up the few, which perhaps might be .left with propriety ; and thinning very confiderably, but by degrees^ the larches, and fuch of the other fpecies as might require it. But, in point of ornament , this, for a few years, might be injurious : however, in the end, both ornament and utility would, beyond a doubt, be increafed by it , and the immediate acquifition of materials for repairs would be yery confiderable. How many entire roofs of cottages, lean-to's, and other out-buildings ; and what a fupply of rails, common ladders, and rough fcantling mieht 1782. NORFOLK. 169 TIONS. might be drawn from this fmall plantation : 95. enough to keep the common buildings of the WEEDING eftate in repair for fome years : and this, too, with a trifling expence of fawing, compared with that which is necefiary to the redu&ion of grown timbers into fmall icantling*. 96, APRIL 3, Spent the afternoon with the Rev. Mr. Horfelcy, of Swayfield ; and walked with him over his improved meadows. They are the only meadows in the county (at leaft that have fallen under my obfervation) which have been managed with any degree of fpirit or judgment. Mr. Horfeley fays, that when he purchafcd them (fome eight or ten years ago) they were a mere morafs : fo very rotten that it was dif- ficult even for a man to walk acrofs them; producing very little herbage fuperior to rufhes and mofs. They are, now, (even after this uncommonly wet fcafon) firm enough to bear the largeft cattle; and are covered with a turf equal in appearance to the richefl grafsland. * I flatter myfelf nn apology is neceflary for the length of this Minute : planting is an important branch of rural affairs ; and it is in tall plantations, rather than in the nurfery, we ought to ftudy the great principle! of ihe art. Mr, MEADOWS, 170 MINUTES MAR. 96. Mr. H.'s plan of improvement was this : MEADOWS. Having lowered a rivulet, which runs through them, fo as to fmk the furface of the water about four fcet below the furface of the meadow, he cut drains, feven feet wide, and four feet deep, parallel to the rivulet ; and, with the excavated mould, filled up the fmall drains which had formerly been cut ; and levelled the other inequalities ; fo as to render the furface fmoath jmd even. Thefe drains were at firft made at about twenty or thirty yards diftance from each other ; but Mr. H, is now filling the major part of them up ; they having performed the office of laying the ground dry ; and he is of opinion, that the rivulet and the fence-drains, alone, will be fufficient to keep it fo, Thefe meadows confift of eighteen acres ; divided at prefent into four " Ihifts," by the rivulet and two parallel main drains; whicfc are barely feven feet wide ; but the cattle fome-r times attempt them ; and eight feet -fay half a rod is the lenft width that fence-drains ought to be made. The rulhes were fubdued by the fithe, thje mofsby manure, and the herbage improved by the fwecping of the hay- chamber fcattered on in 1782. NORFOLK. in the fpring. Neither the harrow nor thp 96. roller has yet been introduced. M Mr. H's method of treating his meadows, now in their improved flate, is, to feed them every year, and to Ihift his ftock repeatedly , beginning at one end, and proceeding regu- larly, fq as to make two or three revolutions in the courfc of the fummer : and, whenever he t..Kes his flock out of one of his pieces, he makes a point of fweeping down the weeds and rough grafs. An admirable practice ; by which a frefh rowen-like bite is prepared againft the return of the {lock ; befides the weeds being thereby effectually kept under. Mr. H. fays, that he has fatted both Iheep and bullocks on (his improved morafs ; and that they fat very kindly. He further fays, that it gives cows a great flow of milk ; and Mrs. H, fays, that the butter from it is per- fectly good. Enquiring of Mr. Horfeley, if he had kept an account of his expences fmce his firft purchafe ; he faid, no ; but was clear in the main fact ; namely, that the improvement greatly exceeds the expence of improving : adding, that he could have fold the land in its improved ftate fpr twice the amount of the pur chafe-money. It M I N U T E 5 APR. 96. It h as every appearance of being now worth MEADOWS. from twenty to twenty-five {hillings an acre. BULLOCKS AT TURNUPS. 97- APRIL 14. I have given particular atten- tion to the management and progrefs of the two lots of bullocks, which I was prefent at the buying of, at St. Faith's fair. (SeeMiN. 27.) It is a finking and interefting fact, that, not- withftanding there was only fifteen {hillings a head difference in the purchafe-money of thefe two lots, there is not lefs than forty (hillings a piece difference in their prefent value. A great advantage, no doubt, arifes, to a juelge of cattle, from having the choice of a drove; drawing out only a few of the head bullocks. But in this cafe the drove was fmall ; and I remember Mr. B. was dubious in his choice of the laft two or three of his lot : the dii'parity, therefore, at the time of pur- chafe was not very great ; being, in fome in- dividuals, fcarceiy perceptible to the eye of a judge. From thefe and other circumftances, I am convinced that much depends upon the ma- nagement of bullocks at uirneps, as well as upon I 7 82. NORFOLK. upon judgment in purchafing them: for, of 97. fcveral parcels of fatting bullocks, which 1 BULLOCKS have had an opportunity of making my obfer- TURXLPS. vations upon this winter, none have done equally to Mr. B's lot of heifers. His turneps, no doubt, are good ; and fo are thofe of many of his neighbours ; and the fuperiority of management appears to lie in letting them have plenty of frefh turneps; with plenty of followers ; and in their being regularly Ihifted every day. 9 8. APRIL 14. What a trifling expencc of la- bour has been incurred by farm, from Michaelmas 1780, to Michaelmas 1781. It contains near four hundred acres of arable land; with about fifty acres of meadow. The whole expence of workman's wages, the harveft month included, is no more than - . 186 2 -j{- To which muft be added, the bai- liff's falary S5 GEN T . MAV. OF FARMS. .221 2 7* Thus the whole expence of labour and houfe- keeping (for the bailiff and all the men boarded themfelves and drank their own beer) is not nearly I H U T E S APR* 9?. LABOUR, RENT* LABOUR. SOIL-PROC. nearly equal to the rent of the land : for this farm, if freed from game> is worth from two hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds a year. A farm of the fame magnitude in Surrey or Kent could not have been managed for twice the money. And this accounts for the high price which land bears in Norfolk. Land which lets here for fifteen Shillings an acre, would not in Surrey or Kent fat twenty miles diftance from LondonJ let for more than half the money. The lownefs of day^wages * the quick dif- patch of bufmefs ; and, moft efpecially, the practice of plowing with two horfes, and going two journies a day ; account in a great meafure for the difparity. 99' SHEEP. APRIL 16* The ftiepherd telling me that a cutter in the neighbourhood could extract the concealed tefticles of ridgil lambs; and he having laft year experienced the inconveniency of three or four of thefe troublefome and dangerous animals, I let him fend for him. This morning he has cut three ; the whole number, it feems, this year. They are now from fix to eight weeks old. Having 1782. NORFOLK. 175 Having cut off the end of the bag, and 99. drawn the tefticle contained in it, he proceeded CUTTING to'take the other out of the fide oppofite to that LAMBS. on which the palpable tefticle lay*. The lamb was laid flat on its fide, upon the ground ; one man holding it by its neck and fore legs , and another ftretching it out, by drawing its hind legs back ; both of them at the fame time preffing their hands hard to the ground ; fo that the lamb had no liberty to ftruggle. The cutter then dipt off a patch of wool, about the fize and fliape of a duck's egg, clofe below the loin, and about half way betweea- the huckle and the Ihort ribs. ' He then made an incifion wide enough to admit, freely, his fore finger ; with which ho fearched for the ftone, and prefendy brought it out; and, difentangling it very dexteroufly from the film with his knife, drew out the firing. He immediately fowed up the orifice, and coated over the wound with cart-greafe. It is remarkable that the concealed tefticles * It increafes the difficulty in cutting ridgils, when the palpable tefticle has been priorly extracted ; as the ocera- tor, then, knows not which fide to cut on ; and is fre- quently obliged to out both iides before he finds the con- cealed tefticle. 176 MINUTES APR; 9p. all lay on the fame fide , namely, the right fide; CUTTING the contrary fide to that on which females are LAMBS. cut. This made the operation rather awkward to his hard ; he never thelefs performed the bu- finefs fo fkilfully, and with fo much dexterity^ that he extracted the two firft in a few minutes. But the laft was a remarkably difficult cafe ; the tefticle being very fmall, and braced up clofe to the vertebras ; and it is obfervable, he could fcarcely draw the palpable tefticle of this lamb out of its bag : the punifhment to the animal feemed full ap much in one opera- tion as the other. The price of cutting^ a Hulling a piece. APRIL 22. The wind being cold, kept them in the houfe all night : tut the cutter, though the wind continued very pinching, thought it proper for them to go out in the day-time for the fake of exercife : they got very {tiff for fome days, but are now doing very well. APRIL 30. One of them, neverthelefs, is iince dead : owing, I apprehend, entirely to their being too much expofed to an unufually piercing eafterly wind. 100. N O R F b L k; 177 too. ioo. APRIL 20. There is an alerthefs in the fer- WORKMEN. vants and labourers of Norfolk, which I have not obferved in any other diftrict. That " cuftom is fecond nature" is verified every hour. How quick and alert are the tradef- people and handicraftmen in London ! They will difpatch as much buiinefs in a given time as the very fame people, had they been bred in Tome parts of the country, would have done in twice that time. The cafe is fimilar with the Norfolk hufbandman. Whilft a boy, he is ac- ciiftomed to run by the fide of the hbrfes while they trot with the harrows. When he becomes a plowman, he is accuftbmed to ft'ep out at the rate of three or four miles an hour : and, if he drive ah empty team, he either does it Handing upright in his carriage, with a peculiarity of air, and with a feeming pride and fatisfaclibn, or runs by the fide of his horfes, while they are bowling away at full t: . Thus both his body and his mind become adtive : and if he go to mow, reap, or other employment, his habit of activity accompanies him ; and is obvious even in his air, his man- ner and his gait. VOL. II. N On MINUTES MAY loo. WORKMEN. On the contrary, a Kentifh plowman, accu- flomed from his infancy to walk, whether at harrow, plow, or cart, about a mile-and-a- half or two miles an hour, preferves the fame fluggifh flep even in his holidays ; and is the fame flow, dull, heavy animal in every thing he does. That the Norfolk farm-labourers difpatch more work than thofe of other countries is an undoubted fact; and in this may be fully accounted for. way, I think, it IOI. MARKETS. MAY 4. Went this morning to fee the clover-feed market at Norwich. The feeds are brought chiefly from Suffolk. and the Suffolk fide of Norfolk. Many of them are in the hands of the growers them- felves ; fome in thofe of jobbers, who collect them of the farmers. They are principally contained in coomb facks, containing four bufhels, of fixty-fix pounds each, together with two pound a bufhel for over-weight; fothat a bufhel is only a term ufed for fixty -eight pound of clover-feed, at Norwich market : or for fixty- fix pound, in other parts of the county. The feeds are principally brought into mar- ket in thefe coomb facks; in which feveral hundred 1782. NORFOLK. 179 hundred bufliels may be feen {landing: and 101. in -the middle of the market are a pair of large fcales, adapted to the weighing of a whole fack, or a lefs quantity ; the farmers paying fo much a draft for the uie of them. Betide what are thus brought into market, the dealers have quantities at their refpe&ive warehoufes * ; and great quantities are alib fold by corn merchants, and even bankers, by fample. Indeed, at this feafon of the year, almoft every man of bufinefs, who has got a little loofe money, is a dealer in clover-feed. The market, however, does not confift wholly of red clover-feed : there are pro* portional quantities of " fuckling" (white clover) ; alfo of " hulled Nonfuch" (trefoil) ; alfo of " black Nonfuch" (trefoil in the hufkj ; alfo of 1 Lelfingham '<< Hempftead jjf | Palling Waxham LHorfey very good ditto ditto ditto ditto, with marfties ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto, and very flat Mr. ditto ditto Winterton light, but rich pafiable | Ormefby ^ Kaitter *H i Yarmouth | Maltby LFilby jg 3 f Burrow t* ^ Rollefby 7 a rich loam, with com- 7 .. i mon fields 5 ditto ditto ditto ditto, with marihes ditto 7 furroimded by low 7 J ground, and xvater [ almoft a11 C0ramon rich loam, with commons nothing extraordinary ditto, and broads pafiuble rich loam ditta ditto ditto ditto, with common fields ditt* f Potter Hayham do. with marines & broadsJitto $ | Catficld ditto, with low grounds ditto ^ ) Sutton ftill fl.tttifh ditto c^, Staitiam good ftrong land good K j Brunfted ftill ftrong J very good (^Eaft Ru^on yet friable \ excellent ^ fRedlington ftrong good loam ditto 8 \ \Vitton ditto, fome lighter good "i 1 Edenthorp ditto ditto ^ LBackton a charming foil ditto Knapton to Thorp fee abave From MINUTES MAY 1 06* DISTRICT, THE FLEG HUNDREDS. THE FLEG H US BAN- DRY. From a general view of this detail, the hun- dred of HAppaNG (and not the hundreds of Fleg} (lands higheft on the fcale of hufbandry : and, as I fet out without prejudice, I could have no other bias to my opinion than that Xvhich I received from the objects which ft ruck me. Tat foil of the FLEG HUNDREDS is rich; forne parts of it being naturally fertile, in a very high degree ; and the reft rendered fo by clay, marl, and " Yarmouth muck/' The arable parts are here fpoken of. But there are in thefe hundreds large tracts which are covered with water, or occupied by reed and other aquatics ; and others which are frequently overflowed in winter, but afford in fummer extenfive marfhes, or grazing- grounds, for lean Scots and young cattle. Thofe are another fource of riches to the arable lands ; on which the marfh-ftock is kept, and generally fatted on turneps, during the winter months ; betides great quantities of manure being alfo raifed from fedge and other litter cut out of thefe fens and marines. We called upon Mr. Ferrier, of Hemfby, who occupies his own eftate, and is univerfally acknowledged as one of the beft farmers in Fleg." I72. NORFOLK. 191 except one piece or two, which are of a more fandy nature. A piece near his houfe is pecularly fertile : he never knew it to fail producing a valuable crop. A recently- made ditch gave mean opportunity of examin- ing it. It is one uniform mafs of rich black loam, for more than two feet deep ; and under this lies a brick earth; a foil, this, capable of producing madder, woad, hemp, or any other vegetable of our climate which requires a rich deep foil. The principal part of his eftate, how- iffcs. NORFOLK. 193 however, is of a much ihallowerfoil, not deeper 106. than the plow goes , and its prefent very FLEG CLAY. amazing fertility he afcribes in a great meafure, to his having clayed it. Indeed to this fpecies of improvement the fertility of the Fleg Hun* dred is allowed to be principally owing* Mr. F. gave me an opportunity of examin- ing his clay-pit ; which is very commodious; the Uncallow is trifling, and the depth of the bed or jam he has not been able to afcertaim It is worked, at prefent, about ten or twelve feet deep. The colour of the foffil, when moift, is a dark-brown, interfperfed with fpecks of white ; and dries to a colour lighter than that of ful- ler's earth ; on being expofed to the air it breaks into fmall die- like pieces. From Mr. F.'s account of the manner of its afting, and more particularly from its ap- pearance, I judged it to be & brown marl, rather than a clay ; and, on trying it in acid, it proves to be ftrongly calcareous; eifervefcing, and hiding, more violently than moft of the white marls of this neighbourhood : and what is flill more interefting, the Hemsby clay is equally turbulent in acid, as the Norwich marl; which is VOL. II. O brought, T94 N U T E S TOD. ILEG CLAY. THE FLF.G WOK.K.MLN'. brought, by water, forty miles into this coun- try, at the excefiive expcnce of four millings a load upon the tfaith ; bcfides the land-car- riage. (But fee MARL, Vol. I.) It is fomewhat extraordinary that Mr. F. fcE 1 - fible and intelligent as he is, iho-uldbe entirety unacquainted with this quality of his clay ; a circumftancc, however, the lefsto be wonderetl lit, as the Norfolk farmers, in general, are equally uninformed of the nature and proper- ties of marl. The quantity fet on by Mr. F. was about forty middling loads an acre, about twenty years ago : it is now beginning to wear our; and he is of opinion his land will not bear claying a fecorvd time. For want of mould he is fometimes obliged to ufe forae clay for the bottoms of his dung- hills ; but he does not much approve of it, preferring good mould when he can get it. The Fleg farmers are noted for their quick difpatch of bnfinefs j and for the great quan- tity of work they get done by a given number of fervants and labourers. Mr. F. made the obfervation, which is corroborated by Mr. E. (formerly of Fleg)w'ho gives for inlbnce, that has had twenty loads of tough fedgy liuck 1*82. NORFOLK. muck filled) daily, by a common day -la- 106. bourer ! FI.EGSOIL. Mr. FerrLer gave a ilriking inftance of the fertility of the Hemfby foil. He has known a farm driven by a beggarly tenant, who has been fucceeded by another, who has Hill con- tinued to drive It ; yet, after all, it has re- tained its prolific qualities ; and has flill con- tinued to throw out abundant crops ; efpeci- ally if a full crop of clover can be obtained ; a CLOVEa thing which Mr. F. fpeaks of as an improve- ment almoft equal to that of a coat of muck. Mr. F.'s management of his turneps is very T'-RXEPS judicious. He begins with thofe which lie farthefl from home ; throwing them abroad in the adjoining flubbles and lays; but in winter he brings his cattle into the yard ; which is a very convenient one ; and is, I believe, efteemed the firtl in the country. It confiils of a large fquare : on one fide of it (land the barns ; and, on the oppofite fide, a long range of troughs .or mangers ; behind which is a gangway for the feeder ; and be- hind this (out of the yard) the turnep-houfe. The turneps are tailed, and freed from the principal part of the dirt, and put into the troughs entire ; which Mr. F. efteenas, upon O 2 the 19* MINUTES MAY ic6. the whole, a better practice than chopping TURNEPS them. IX FLEG. The troughs ftand on the higheft fide of the yard, upon a rifing ground ; fo that the bullocks always ftand clean to feed, while the urine fettles down among the ilraw in the lower parts of the yard. The pofts which fupport the manger run up fence-height, and have a fingle rail pafiing from one to another, to prevent the bullocks from clambering over the troughs. (A fried under which the bullocks could feed and lie down warm and comfortable in rainy cold weather, would be a great improvement to this yard). Turneps being now run up tobloflbm Mr. F. mows off the tops with a fithe, giving thefe alone to his fatting bullocks ; while his cows and lean flock have the bottoms given them entire. This judicious management has two good effe&s : the bullocks inftead of re- ceiving a check, as they are apt to do, when turneps are in this ftate, are puflied on, per- haps, fafter than when the bottoms are in full perfection; and the flock-cattle, by not having had a tafte of the tops, eat up the bottoms the cleaner. How 1782. NORFOLK. 197 How much preferable is this management 106. to that of his neighbour 'Squire , who TURNEPS having turned twenty fine bullocks into a clofe of charming turneps, (fuch as would have been worth in this part of the country three or four pounds an acre) they have licked off the bloflbms, and the better parts of the tops, and are now pining over the (talks and bot- toms. This piece of turncps, as well as the re- mains of Mr. Ferrier's, and the other remain- ing pieces in the neighbourhood, mew what noble crops of this valuable root are grown in the Fleg Hundreds. Thefe and a thoufand other circumftances are undeniable proofs of the richnefs of the Fleg foil : whilft the univerfal foulnefs which overruns the crops of wheat and clover are proofs equally evident of the unckanlinefs of Fleg farmers : from our leaving Happifbro', Hempftead, &c. until our return to Stalham and Brunftead, we faw very few pieces either of wheat or of clover which did the owners any degree of credit. Fences. In this neceflary piece of hufbandry HEDGES the Fleg huibundmen excel j while the hedges of flapping and Tunftead, either from the nature O 3 of FLEG SOIL. FLEG HUS- BANDRY. MINUTES MAY I6. of the air and foil, or from rnifmanagement, or* Sc P&b$ps by old age, are greatly below par; the fences being mere mud-walls, with here and there an old Hunted thorn. Near the coaft the fea air may have fome influence; but in Fleg, equally near to the fea, the hedges are flourifhing and beautiful in a high degree. The Fleg farmers feem fully mailers of the fubject of liye hedges. They plant the layer at a moderate height, and are aware of the utility of cutting it down to the flub at four or five years old ; facing and backing the ditch, and fetting on a new hedge. This fc- cures them a fence in perpetuity ; for before the fecond dead hedge begins to fail, the quick is fciecome a perfect fence. Another good prac- tice is that of trimming off the young fhoots which fprawl over the ditch ; by which means their hedges become thick at the bottom. Add to this, they do not fuffer their quick to ftand too long before they cut it down to the flub ; fo that an old overgrown hedge, or row of timber-like " bulls," is fcarcely to be feen. Their method pf felling them, too, is much preferable to the practice of this part of the'country; where the flubs arc ui'ually cutoff ftnack-fmooth with the face of the bank, and NORFOLK. 19$ 106. SHEEP. many of them frequently buried in ir, fo as to be totally deflroycd : whereas, in Fleg, the Hubs, univerfally, whether young or old, Hand fix or eight inches out of the face of the ditch ; by which means a number of flioots is produced. The lately raifed fences have moft of them furze growing on the backs of the banks. Feeding wheat. Throughout the journey, FF.EDIXQ. " \VHKAT. the wheat appeared to be almoft univcrfally fed hy ftock of every denomination; flicep ex- cepred - r of which flock we did not fee a (core either in the Kapping or the Fleg Hundreds ! but calves, young ftock, cows, and even fat bullocks, and horfcs, were ftill to be feen in almoft every clofe of wheat we paflcd. The fprjng of this year, hp-.vever, is remarkably late , the turneps are gone, and the grafs noj yet come to a bite ; fp that wheat?, this year, arc more univcrfaily fed, and fed later, rh:m perhaps was ever known. Mr. Fcrricr feems almoft the only exception to the practice : he never feeds his wheat, from a general idea that " the fir ft fruits are the bcft.' ? It is obfervable, that let the Norfolk foil be ever fo ftrong, it is not flubborn ; and let it be evenfoddened by heavy rains, and rendered cold O 4 and THE SOIL OF NOKiUi.K. 200 MINUTES NORFOLK SOIL. Io6. and livery by laying flat, it is no fooner ex- pofcd to the air than it becomes mellow and friable. This peculiar quality is faid to be principally owing to marl (or clay) ; by the fertilizing quality of which, land that is fufficiently flrong for wheat, is rendered fuffi- ciently tender for turneps and barley. Before the ufe of marl and clay the Fleg farmers ':ould not grow turneps ; whereas now they excel in that valuable crop. Mr, Ferrier, in one of the ftiffeft of his pieces, put his toe upon a clod to {hew me this excellent property j and with a flight preffure of his foot burft it to an aU mofl impalpable powder. This friability of ftrong land is, perhaps, one of the belt crite- rions of a good foil. FARMERS. Mr. B-3^3**^" Tne character of this man (7 is fo very extraordinary, that I cannot refrain from Sketching fome of its principal features. He was, I believe, bred in the army ; ferved fome time in the militia; has fought two or three (duels ; quarrelled with moft of the gentlemen of the county ; and, coming to a good paternal eftate, discharged his tenants and commenced farmer. He is now an occupier of ijooL a year yet Jie has ne'iLhcr Reward nor ey en bailiff to affift him ' I78ju NORFOLK. 201 him ; no wonder, then, he abufes and receives Jo6. abufe from his work-people; or that he fonic- FARMERS. times frightens them away; his harvett, perhaps, (landing {till, until his neighbours have finiihed. He attends fairs and markets fells his own corn and his own bullocks ; and even finds time to attend to the taking in gift ftock upon a very extenfive marfh and this without any af fiftance ; fave that of his lady, who keeps his accounts, My fellow-traveller lacing acquainted with him we rode through his farm-yard, and found him looking over fome young cattle which had been brought up for his mfpc&ion. His perfon is grofs and his appearance bacchanalian his drefs that of a flovenly gentleman. There is a politcnefs in his manner ; and his convcrfation bcfpeaks a fenfible intelligent mind ; borne away, however, by a wildnefs and ferocity which is obvious in his countenance, and dif- covers itfelf in every word and action. Nevcr- thelcfs, it is laid, that, in a polite circle, Mr. B. fan excel in politcncfs. The parifliof Wax ham is principally in his own hands ; and the adjoining little parifh of Horfey is entirely in his occupation. The country round him is exceedingly flat 2nd low, being nearly on a level with the fea at 202 MINUTES MAY 106. FARMERS. MARRAM BANK.S. high -water, and defended from it only by the Marram Banks, which are broken into gaps at every two or three hundred yards ; fo that in ftormy weather the fea rufhes through, and fre- quently does confiderable damage by overflow- ing the country. Mr. B. told us, that he had four acres of very fine cole-feed fvvept down daring the late tempefluous weather. His land, however, which lies out of the water's way, is rich and fertile in a high degree ; and Mr. B. it is fa id, gets exceedingly fine crops from it ; fo that it is probable, notwith- ilanding the irregularity with which his affairs are conducted, and that want of attention to minutiae which mud necefTarily occur in fuch a boundlefs fceije of bufmefs, Mr. B. does not injure his fortune by farming; for it feems generally allowed that no farmer gets his work done/0 eberp as Mr. B. Marram Banks. The country towards the coaft from Happingfbro* to Winterton, about tea miles, is a dead fiat; and, to the eye, appears to lie lower than the fea at high water. B/ the fide of the beach runs a range of broken, irregular hillocks, from five to fifteen or twenty feet high, and from fifty to upwards of a hundred yards in width at the bale ; com- J7S2. NORFOLK. 203 pofed entirely of Tea fand ; which, in fome 106. place-?, is pretty well overgrown, and bound MARRAM together by a rulh-like vegetable called, in that neighbourhood, " marram" (the arutido (irenaria of LiNNvtus) which the poor people cut and fell for thatch. Thcfe hillocks, however, do not ferve the purpofe of a fecure embankment againft the fea; they being, in many places, divided down to their bales, by fluices of different widths ; ' namely, from five to fifteen or perhaps twenty yards wide, Through thefe inlets, in boifterous weather, and with an eafterly wind, the fea rufhcs, and overflows the country. The hills have a pi&urefque, though dreary appearance, and afford a romantic ride : the traveller may in general pafs either on the beach or the land fide ; winding through the openings at pleafure. The manner in which thefe banks have been originally formed appears at fir ft fight myfterious : how the fand iliould be blown up into heaps, and not fcattered flat over the face of the adjoining country, feems inexplicable. The marram, it is true, may have aflifted ; but this, alone, feems unequal to the tafk. Until we had pnffed Mr. B e's marlhes, the beach MINUTES, MAY beach lay open to the country ; fo that the MAJRRAM ftock have free egrefs to the fea j on the edge of which they delight to lie in the heat of the fummer; when they lie cool and free from the flies, with which the marlhes are greatly peftered. But, having palled Mr. B 's grounds, the proprietors of the next marfhes are under the neceffity of fencing againft the beach ; left their cattle Ihould flray into Mr. B 's liberty, who is lord of the manor. This is done by placing rows of faggots in the gaps, between the fand-hills ; which, being deep on the fide towards the fea, are of themfelves a fence, The eifcdt of thefe faggot-fences are ftrik- ing ; for the fand being blown upon the beach in a fimilar manner to fnow, it drifts in the fame way ; and, in fome places, th* 4 tops of the faggots are only to be feen ; the fand having drifted on both fides ; more particularly on the fide towards the country ; fo that the cattle might now almoft walk over them : and it me very forcibly, that from fences, to the marfh cattle from ftraying away upon the beach, have originated the Marram Banks. But whether this is the fact or not, I am fully convinced that by faggots, or fome other more tyBa. NORFOLK. 205 more fubftantial fencing, Marram Banks might, j 06. at a trifling cxpencc, be converted into a barrier MARRAM not to be broken by the fea : for, notwith- ftanding the long and violent eafterly winds which have lately blown, fuch as to violence and continuance has fcarcely been known be- fore, there is only one place in which the fea has been able to move even thefe bramble- faggots ; and this has happened in a gap which is wider than ordinary : the faggots, here, being forced out and fcattered over the marfhes. From the curfory view I have had, the moil eligible way of joining the hillocks, fo as to form a regular embankment, feems to be this : Make a double fence in each gap ; placing the two fences at, perhaps, twenty or thirty yards diftance from each other; or, more generally fpcaking, at five to ten yards within the "ikirts of the prefent bank. As foon as the hollow fpace between the firft pair of fences be filled up with fand, raifc another pair, a few yards within the firft ; and above thefe another, and another, until the gap be filled up, or be raifed to a fufficient height ; and then, on the top, propagate the marram plant. Two rows of faggots might be fufficient for the narrow gaps ; and for the larger ones ihip- wreck, 306 MINUTES MAV 106. MARRAM BANKS. CEN. MAN. OF -tSTATIS. wreck, or other old Ihip-timber, might be ufed ; more efpecially for the foundation courfe. If the fea mould hereafter gain upon the banks, fo.as, in procefs of time, to endanger the whole, raife a fence on the land-fide at fome cliftance from the old banks, to catch the fand blown over them , and thus from the wreck of one embankment another might be railed, and the country kept in perpetual fafety. Mr. B e has attempted to make the em- bankment a public matter ; but has not fuc- ceeded. It Itrikcs me, however, that it would be well worth his while to defend his own coaft at his own cxpence : but he fays, <* It " is not for me to attack the German Ocean ' fingle-handed." Mr. Anfon has hit off a very great improve- ment upon his eftate near Yarmouth. On the Suffolk fide of the river, oppofite the Key of Yarmouth, were fome low grounds, let, I believe, as marfli-land. Thefe grounds have lately been divided into lots, and let on building leafes of ninety-nine years, at the greatly improved rent of feven pounds an acre ; befides the advantage which will ac- crue at the expiration of the term. Such. 17&2. NORFOLK. 207 Such a ftroke as this is a real improvement of an efta-te; and there are few extenfive eftates which will nor, if properly attended to, admit of being advanced, without fending the farmer to jail, or the cottager to the poor-houfe. 106. MAY 12. WORSTEAD FAiR.This fair MARKETS. is held on Old May-Day, and is called " May Fair." It has for many years been noted for fat bullocks. This year, however, there were not more than a hundred bullocks in the fair, and not twenty of thofe which were fat. There were about three hundred head of cattle; chiefly two-year-olds, and cows and calves, with fome few buds. The Norwich butchers were the principal chapmen for bullocks. 108* MAY 17. Laft year, to render my reft- cows, dence more commodious, as well as to gain fome information on the fubjeft of chcefe- making an art I was then a ftranger to I rented a fmall dairy of cows. I took them the rather as I had then in my fervice an ex- cellent 20$ M I N IT T S MAY 1 08. celknt Wiltshire dairy-woman ; who, I was in CHEESE. hopes, might be able to make fome improvc- mc-nt on the Norfolk method of making cheefe; which, I had been given to under- fland, was execrable. Having long confidered this interefting fub- jet as being allied to experimental philofophy, I placed it in that light, and paid as much attention to the different proccffes as an acYivc iccne of employment would permit me. What I have been able to do is only an effay ; but it is lufficicnt to convince me, that with leifurc and application, much might be done towards bringing this, at prefent myfterious, but im- portant fubject to fome certain and fixed prin- ciples. In regiftering the information I have been able to obtain, it will be proper to digeft it under the following heads : 1. The preparation of the rennet. 2. The coagulation of the milk. 3. The management of the curd. -' 4. The management of the cheefe. Z *. & i. Rennet. The curd which happens to be contained in the ftomach of the calf when butchered, together with the hairs and dirt which are infeparable from it, are ufed by the dairy- 1782* NORFOLK. 209 dairy- wo lien of this country to coagulate their ioS. milk : hence, probably ^ the rancid flavor of CHEESE. the Norfolk cheefe 5 perfectly refcmbling in fcent \keparent curd ; and this, as nearly as may be, its more matured f elf . The rennet which I made life of was pre- pared in the following manner. Take a calf *s bag, maw, or ftomach ; and j having taken out the curd contained therein, wafh it clean, and fait it thoroughly^ infide and out, leaving a white coat of fait over every part of it. Put it into ah earthen jar, or other veflel, and let it ftand three or four days in which time it will have formed the fait and its own natural juices into a pickle. Take it out of the jar j and hang it up for two or three days to let the pickle drain from it ; refalt it; place it again in a jar \ cover it tight down with a paper pierced with a large pin ; and in this flare let it remain until it be wanted for ufe^ In this flate it ought to be kept twelve months : it may however, in cafe of neeefiky, be ufed a few days after it has received the fecond fak- ing ; but it will not be fo ftrong as if kept a longer time, To prepare the rennet for ufc ; take a hand- full of the leaves of fweet- briar, -the fame VOL. II. P quantity 213 M I N U T E S MAY 1 08. quantity of the leaves of the dog rofe, and the CHEESE. like quantity of bramble leaves ; boil them in a gallon of water, with three or four handfulls of fait, about a quarter of an hour ; ftrain off the liquor, and, having let it ftand until per- fectly cool, put it into an earthen vcffel, and add to it the maw, prepared as above. To this is added a found good lemon, fluck round with about a quarter of an ounce of cloves ; which give the rennet an agreeable flavor. The longer the bag remains ia the liquor, the ftronger of courfe will be the rennet : the quantity, therefore, requifrte to turn a given quantity of milk, can only be afcertained by daily ufe and obfervation. When the rennet is fufficiently ftrong take out the bag ; hang it up two or three days for the rennet to drain from it ; refalt it; put it down again into the jar; and thus continue to treat it, until its virtues are exhaufted ; which will not be until it has been uled fevcral times. By differing one or more bags to remain in the liquor, the rennet thus prepared may be raifed to a very high degree of ftrcngth, as will appear in the following obfervations. The leaves and the fpice, it is probable, have no other effort than that of doing away the f'jti. NORFOLK. 211 the ill flavor of the maw; which, if ever fo icS*, well cleaned, retains a faint difagreeable fmell , CHEESE. whereas the rennet prepared as above, is per- fectly well flavored. It is, ho-.veyer, I find, an idea among the Wiltlhire dairy-women, that the leaves cor reel any ranknefs or evil quality in the milk,arifing from a ranknefs of pafture : they being further of opinion, that different paftures require dif- ferent forts of herbs to correct them ; and fome of them, it feems, are, or pretend to bej fo deeply vcrfed in this art, that they will un- dertake to correct any milk, fo as to prevent the riling " heaving" or " blowing" of the cheefes made from it ; and, confequently, rhe ranciclnefs which ufuallf accompanies a porous cheefe; This is, no doubr, a grand object of cheefe- makers.; but it is not, I apprehend, to be ob- tained -by fo fmall a proportion of vegetable juices as pafs with the rennet into fo large a pro- portion of milk. Nevcrthelefs, it appears to me highly probable, that this grand defidera- tum lies within the reach of the chemical art j and that, by a courfe of judicious experiments^ fome vegetable or mineral preparation ade- quate to this valuable purpofe, may be dif- 2. Coagulation. 212 MINUTES MAY 1 08. 2. Coagulation. Next to the art of correct- CHEESE. ing the milk (an art as yet in its infancy) this feems to claim the attention of the experimen- talift. It is known, from daily experience, that the warmer the milk is, when the rennet is put to it, the fooner it will coagulate, with a given quantity of rennet of a given ftrength. It is equally well known that the cooler the milk, and the longer it is in coagulating, the more tender and delicate the curd becomes : on the contrary, if the milk be too hot, and the coagulation takes place too rapidly, the curd proves tough and harfli. But it feems to be a fact, equally well efla- blifhed, that a cheefe made from milk, which has been cooly and ilowly coagulated, is lon- ger before it become marketable than one made from milk which has undergone a lefs deliberate coagulation; and which, being drier, and of a harflier texture, fooner become s " cheefey," and fit for the tafter. Therefore, the great art in this ftage of the procefs lies in The degree of warmth of the milk when fet; that is, when the rennet is put to it ; or, in The 3782. NORFOLK. 213 The degree of heat retained by the curd 108. when it comes ; that is, when the coagulation has CHEESE. fufficiently taken place ; or, in The length of time between the fetting and the coming. Which length of time may be re- gulated either By the degree of the warmth of the milk when fet ; or By the (late of warmth in which it is kept during the time of coagulation ; or By the quantity and flrength (taken jointly) of the rennet. To endeavour to gain fome information-on this fubjecl, I made the following obfervations. 1 7 8 1 . June 5. Twenty-three gallons of milk, heated to ninety-fix degrees of Farenhcit's fcale, with two tea-cup-fulls of weakifh rennet, came in one hour; the curd delicate and good. June 6. The fame quantity of milk, of the fame heat, with the fame quantity of rennet, came in nearly the fame time ; the curd fome- what tough ; owing, probably, to the milk having been " burnt to the kettle" in which it was heated. June 7. Twenty-feven gallons of milk, heated to ninety-four degrees, with the fame quantity of rennet, came in about two hours ; the curd very good. P 3 June 214- MINUTES MAY ! 08 f June 8. Twenty- fix gallons of milk, heated to onc hundred and two degrees, with one tea- cup-full of rennet, came in two hours and a Jiu'f; curd very good, June 9. Twenty- five gallons of milk, he.ued to one hundred degrees, with a tea-cup- full and a half of rennet, came in about one hour and a half; the curd good, but fome- what tough ; owing, perhaps, to the milk be- ing kept too warm in the cheefe-tub, by being covered up clofe with a thick cloth. Note, On the feventh and eighth, the whey retained a heat of about eighty-eight degrees, whereas the whey this morning was ninety*two degrees ; fo that, perhaps, it is not the heat when it is fef, but the heat when it comes, which gives the quality of the curd. June 10. Twenty-iive gallons : ninety-fix degrees : two cups : uncovered : came in, two hours and a quarter : whey eighty- feven degrees : curd very tender. Jane ji. Twenty-three gallons: one hun- dred degrees ; more than a tea^cup : uncovered: did not come in two hours ; owing to the ren- net being lower in ftrength than before : there- fore, added in a little more rennet ; which Brought it in about three hours from firft fet- NORFOLK. ting : the whey cighty-fevcn degrees : the curd 108. uncommonly delicate. CHEESI. June 12. Twenty-four gallons of milk: one hundred degrees : two cups of rennet : uncovered : came in two hours : whey eighty- nine degrees : curd uncommonly tender. Juue 13. Twenty-eight gallons of milk : ninety-two degrees : three cups (fay ftrongly renneted) : covered up with a coarfe linen cloth : came in one hour and a half: whey eighty-fix degrees : curd very good, and of a very fine colour; though perhaps would have handled tenderer, if it had not flood fome time after it came before it was broke up. Perhaps much depends on its being broke up in the critical minute. June 14. Twenty-eight gallons : one hun- dred degrees : two cup-fulls : uncovered : came in one hour and a quarter ; whey ninety-four degrees : curd fome what harfh, but of a good colour. The change of colour is therefore owing to the change of pafture. Note, The milk fhould be covered to make it come together : this came and grew hard at the bottom, half an hour before it was fet at the top. P 4 MINUTES MAY- y//^ 15. Twenty-eight gallons : milk heated to ninety-five degrees : with two cups of ren- net; and covered after it had flood three quarters of an hour : came in one hour and a half : whey ^ eighty-nine degrees (the morning warm): curd very good and tender. "June 1 6. Thirty gallons of milk: heated to one hundred and three degrees ; but lowered by two pails-full of cold water to ninety-fix degrees ^ with two cups and a half of rennet ; and kept clofe covered : came in one hour : whey ninety rfour degrees: curd pretty good but not fufficiently tender. June 17. Twenty-eight gallons ; ninety-feven degrees : two and one-half cups : covered but not clofe : came in one hour and a half: whey not tried : curd forrjcwhat tough. Note, the tough nefs is owing, perhaps, to fome milk of a new-calven cow being among it. Note alfi) to try the exact heat of milk im- mediately frpm the cow, immerged a difli in, the pail while milking. After it had lain, long pnough to repeive a degree of heat equal to that pf the milk in the pail, emptied it, and imme- diately milked into it from the teat (the covy jySi. NORFOLK. 217 being at this time about half milked) ; the heat 1 08. ninety-five degrees. CUEESE. Note alfo, the cheefes of yefterday (the l6th of June) prefs remarkably elaftic, and fpungy (like a fungus) : perhaps owing to the milk's coming too hot ; or perhaps to two or three of the cows being then a-bulling * ; or ; perhaps^ being made thicker than ufual, the prefs was not heavy enough for them; or per- haps this ill quality is owing to the cold water being put into the milk. June 1 8, Thirty gallons : ninety-five degrees: covered : came in one hour and a half: whey ninety-two degrees : curd pretty good. Juneig. Thirty gallons : ninety-two degrees : two cups covered : curd very good. June 21. Thirty gallons: ninety-eight degrees; lowered by half a pail of cold water to ninety- five degrees : the curd good ; but the cbecfes like thofe of the j6th prefs, hollow and fpungy. * I afterwards found that the milk of a cow, on the day of amour, retained, after having flood fome time in the puil after milking, ninety-eight degrees of heat. This fhews that the flate if not the quality of the milk is altered by the heat of the cow ; and a cautious dairy-woman always en- to keep fuch milk out of her cheefe-tub. Mere- 2i8 MINUTES MAY 1 08. 1'kerefore, it is proballe, from thcfc two inci- CHEESE. dents, that lowering the heat of the milk, with cold water, has an evil effect. June 23. (Evening,) Fifteen gallons of new milk warm from the cow, retaining a heat of ninety-two degrees, with two cups and a half of new weak runnet, and clofely covered, came in three quarters of an hour : whey eighty-eight degrees : curd very delicate and good. June 25. Forty gallons of balf-Jkim milk, heated to eighty-fevcn degrees, with three cups of rennet, ilightly covered, came in three quar- ters of an hour : whey feventy-nine degrees: curd remarkably good of this fort. Sept. 8. In obferving the effect of fome re- markably ilrong rennet, I found that an ordi- nary tea-cup-full coagulated fufficiently up. wards of forty gallons of milk, heated to only eighty-eight degrees, in thirty-five minutes. From thefe obfervations it appears, that curd of a good quality may be obtained from milk heated from 87 to 103 degrees of Fahren- heit^ thermometer ; provided the rennet be fo proportioned, that the time of coagulation be from three quarters of an hour to two hours and a half; and provided the milk be kept properly covered during the procefs of coagulation. And 1782. NORFOLK. 219 And from thefe as well as from a variety of 1 08. other obfervations, which I made in the CHEESE - courfe of the fummcr, but which are not mi- nuted, it" appears to me, at prefent, that from 85 to 90 arc the proper degrees of heat ; that from one to two hours is the proper time of coagulation ; and that the milk ought to be covered fo as to lofe in the procefs about 5 degrees of its original heat. But climature, fcafons, the weather^ and the pafture, may require that thefe bounds fhould fomctimes be broken. A few obferva- tions, made in one feafon, and in one place, how accurately foever they may have been taken, are by no means adequate to the entire illuftration of this very abftrufe fubject. 3. The curd. In Norfolk this ftage of the procefs is very Ihort. Part of the whey being laded off, the remainder, with the curd, is poured into a cloth : the whey drains through ; the curd is Ihook in the cloth ; kneaded down into a vat; put under a light prcfs, or perhaps under a Hone ; the cloth once changed , the curd once turned ; and lo ! a Norfolk cheefe appears. The cows are milked and the cheefe compleated in ten or twelve hours. The 220 M I N U T E S MAY 108. The practice in my dairy has been uniformly this. As foon as the curd is come at the fop, firm enough to difcharge its whey, the dairy- woman tucks up her fleeves, plunges her hands to the bottom of the vefTcl, and, with a wooden ciifli, ftirs the curd and whey brifldy about : Hie then lets go the dim, and, by a circular motion of her hands and arms, violently agi- tates the whole ; carefully breaking every part of the curd ; and, at intervals, {lirs it hard to the bottom with the dim ; fo that not a piece of curd remains unbroken larger than a hazel- nut. This is done to prevent what is called " flip-curd*' (that is, lumps of curd which have flipped unbroken through the dairy- woman's hands), which, by retaining its whey, does not prefs uniformly with the other curd, but in a few days (if it happen to be fituated toward the rind) turns livid and jelly-like, and foon becomes faulty and rotten. This operation takes about five or ten minutes j or, if the quantity of curd be large, a quarter of an hour. In a few minutes the curd fubfides, leaving the whey clear upon the top. The dairy- woman now takes her difh, and lades off the whey into a pail ; which fhe empties into a milk- 1782. NORFOLK. 221 milk-lead to fland for cream, to be churned 108. for whey butter *. CHEESE. Having laded off all the whey fhc can, with- out gathering up the final 1 pieces of loofe curd floating near the bottom of the vcflel, {he ip reads a ftraining-cloth over her checfe- tongs, and drains the whey through it, return- ing the curd retained in the cloth into the cheefe-tub. When {he has got all the whey {he can, by prefling the curd with her hand and the lading-difli, flie takes a knife and cuts it into fquare pieces, about two or three, inches fquare. This lets out more of the whey, and makes the curd handy to be taken up, in order to be broken into the vats f . * This is a practice peculiar to the chcefc .countu?, and forms no inconiiderable part of the profit of a dairy in thofe counties. In Norfolk, the whey, even from newr milk, patfes from the cheefe-vcflels immediately to the hog-tub. f A dairy fliould be plentifully furniflied with vats, nnd fome of them of different fizes ; for when three or four chcefes are made at each meal, a number of vats be- come actually in ufc ; and if there are not ftill a number empty, the dairy-woman becomes confined in her choice, and cannot proportion exactly her vats to the quantity of curd (lie happens to find in her cheefe-tub ; and keeping a little overplus cxird from meal to meal frequently ipoils a whole cheefe, Having 222 MINUTES MAY 1 08. Having made choice of a vat or vats, pro- CHEESE. portioned to the quantity of curd, .fo that the checfc, when fully preffed, fliall neither over nor under fill the vat, ihe fprcads a cheefe^ cloth loofely over the vat ; into which me re- breaks the curd ; carefully fqueezing every part of it in her hands ; and, having filled the vat heaped up and rounded above its top, folds over the cloth, and places it in the prefs *. In autumn, when the weather got cool and moift, the curd was fcalded, " to make the (( cheefe come quicker to hand," (that is, fooner faleable) and to prevent a white woolley coat from rifmg. It is done thus : If front * Much depends on the confrru&ion and powef of the prefs. The excellency of conftru&ion. depends upon its preffmg level : if it has too miKU play, fo as to incline and become tottering or leaning one way or another, and do not full perpendicular upon the cheefe-board, one fide of a cheefe will frequently be thicker than another ; and, what is ftill worfe, one fuie will be thoroughly prcfled while the other is left loft and fpongy. Its power may be given by a fcrew, by a lever or by a dead weight, and ought to be proporti .,ned to the thicknefs of the cheefe. I had one conftrufted on the above principles ; th power, a dead weight of {tones, contained in a cubical box, moving in g:ooves fo as to kcrp its bottom horizon- tal ; the medium weight, i cwt. 2 qrs. but regulated, by the ftones, agreeably to the thicknefs of the cheefe or cheefes to be prefled. new 1782. NORFOLK. new milk, fcalding water (boiling water with io3. a fmall quantity of cold whey mixed with ir) CHEESE. is poured over the whole furface of the curd as it lies at the bottom of the cheefe-tub : If from fkimmcd or other inferior milk, the out- fides only are fcalded, after the curd is in the vat, by firft pouring the fcalding -water on one fide, and then, turning the cheefeling, pouring it on the other. For if in this cafe the curd, were to be fcalded, it would render it hard, and fpoil the tafte and texture of the cheefe. In fcalding the cheefeliag, the curd is firft put into the bare naked vat,- and the upper part fcalded : the cheefe-cloth is then fpread over it, and the vat being turned, the curd falls into the cloth : the curd, with the cloth under it, is then put into the vat ; the outer edgca pared off; the parings broke, and rounded up in the middle ; and the fcalding water'poured upon- it as before; the folds of the cloth laid over, and the vat fet in the prefs. The whey, being pretty well prefied out, and the cheefeling (whether it has been fcalded or not) having got firm enough to handle, which it will be in about half an hour, the dairy-woman takes it out of tte vat; waihcs the cloth in a pail of clean cold water; fpreads it 224. MINUTES MAY 1 08. it over the vat; turns the checfeling upon it; CHEESE. fqueczcs it gently into the vat; folds over the cloth j tucks in the corner with a wooden cheefe-knife j and replaces the vat in the prefs. Suppofmg the c&eefeling to be made in the morning, it now remains in the prefs, un- touched, until the evening; when it is taken out, falted, put into a frefli dry cloth, and left in the prefs all night. The method of faking is this : The fait being well bruifed, and the lumps thoroughly broken, it is fpread plentifully on each fide of the cheefeling, fo as wholly to cover it, about one-tenth of an inch in thicknefs, more or lefs, in proportion to the thicknefs of the cheefe. If this be of a considerable thicknefs, as fuppofe three inches and upwards, fome fait is put into the middle of it, by flopping when the vat is half rilled with curd, ftrewing on the fait, and on this putting the remainder of the curd. Next morning, if the curd be rich, or has been cold-run, the cheefeling is turned into another dry cloth, and left in the prefs till evening : but if on the contrary the curd be from poor milk, or from milk which before fetting 1782. NORFOLK. -75 fetting had acquired any degree of fourncfs, 108. or if it has been run hot and quick, the cheef- ling mould in the morning be " bare-vattcd ;" that is, be put into the vat without a cloth round it, arid be put again into the prcfs until evening. The ufe of bare-vatting is id take out the marks of the cloth, and thereby etade a wafte of labour in bringing the cheefe to a fmooth glofly coat. The reafon for the above diftinc- tion is, therefore, obvious ; for the harder the curd, the longer the marks of the cloth are in prefling out; In the evening, that which was turned into the dry cloth in the morning, is now bare- vattcd ; and that which was bare-vatted in the morning, is now turned in the vat ; and, having flood in the prefs until morning, tlie procefs is' finished. The cBeefes are taken out b'f the vats; and placed upon the fnelf. Thus, fuppofing the ch'ecflirig to be made on Monday fnbrnirig, feven o'clock, it i$, be- tween eight and nine, taken out of the vat ; the cloth warned ; and immediately placed in the prefs again. On Monday evening, it is falted and, if wanted, pared * ; put into a dry * A cheefling fliould never, in ftritf propriety, be pared c'fter it has been bare-vatted. VOL. II, Q cloth j 2* MINUTES .MAY To8. cloth ; and replaced in the prefs. On Tuefday CHEESE. morning it is bare-vatted, or the cloth changed } the cheeiling, in either cafe, being turned, and again put into the prefs. On Tuefday evening it is again turned ; and on Wednefday morning finally taken out of the vat and prefs. 4. The cheefe. The objects of this moft laborious department of cheefemaking are, to preferve the cheefe found in itfelf, and to give it fuch an appearance as will recommend it to a purchafer. Cheefes newly made, naturally acquire a white fcurfy coat ; which, befides hiding, if not caufmg, the defects of the cheefe, is at leaft un- fightly, and is a certain mark of the flovenli- nefs of its maker. This fcurf arifcs more plen- tifully on a poor than on a rich cheefe. Cold moift weather encourages it; but, in warm weather, the oily exudation of a rich and well- made cheefe goes near of itfelf to eradicate the white, and bring on that deiirable blue coat, which is at once a criterion of the goodnefs of the cheefe and of the fkilfulnefs of the dairy, woman. The Norfolk dairy-woman, however t pays little regard to appearances ; and, to fpeak truly of her, is equally ambitious to pleafc the eye 782. NORFOLK. 2 and the palate. Her method is this: the 108. cheefe (or rather as yet a bundle of curd) being CHEESE. taken out of the prefs, is falted upon a large earthen platter, in the fame manner a piece of beef or pork is falted ; and, having lain fome time in fait, it is put upon a fhelf to dry and ftiffen. Being in a mariner unprefled ; never cleaned ; and but feldom turned ; it is no wonder, that in a fhort time the white fcurfy coat gets full poflefTion of it ; or that its furface Ihould ap- pear bloated and wrinkled ; or that its rind flibuid be divided by innumerable mTurcs ; or that ife appearance, altogether, Ihould be that of a fugared plumb-cake, rather than of a cheefe. However, with refpecl to appearances, the Norfolk dairy-woman may plead in excufe that heir cufto'rriers are familiarized to the ftgbts which Ihe prepares for them : but when Ihe follows a practice which fubjedts her produce^ if not fold off while yet in an unripe ftate, to almoft inevitable deftruftion, Ihe is highly culpable. Cheefes made in this country are attacked by an enemy little dreadecl, or wholly unknown, in the <;heef and a narrow ring round each fide, ever retain the polifhed yellow hue. When the cheefes were properly coated, and their edges, had got fuflkiently firm, they were placed , MINUTES. MAY 108. placed on edge in a chccfe-rack *,-and, without further care, (except once a week moving them a little round, ami now and then wiping their edges) there remained until the time they were fcnt to market, which was yeflcrday. The foil from which thefc cheefes were made is a fandy loam, but lies cooler, and is of a bet- ter quality than are Norfolk foils in general. The herbage principally rye grafs (lolium ptrcnni), oat grafs (bromus mollis), and white clover ( trifolium repent}, being princi- pally new-lays of three to five years old. * Cljetfi-racks fave labour in turning, collect the checfe into a fmall compafs, - and put it out of the way of vermin. They may be >arioufly coaftrufted. The plate-rack, with fgu-r or Jive tier one above another, fccms to be the be ft form. If the cheefes be nearly of one iize, the rack fliould bt made the fame width at the top as the bottom : but if they be of different lizes, it ought to be made narrower at the top than at the bottom ; and if they be of different .thickntfTes as well as of dift?rcnt diameters, the fpaces for the refpective cheefcs fliould likewife be varied. A fmall rack may be Hung with a rope and pullies at each end \ fa as be to dravyn up and lowered down at pleafure : but a large one is difficult to flingy in a common room, in that manner ; it ought therefore to ftand on legs about two feet high, with a broad bale-board projecting over the legs, foas to prevent vermin from climbing up into the rack. Mine was on. the latter conftruclion. 1782. NORFOLK. The cows of die Lancafhire breed*, and of ic3. different ages. CHEESE. The cbeeff, in quality and appearance, re- fcmbles very much that of inferior Warwick-; ihire, or the two-meal cheefe of Glouccfter- fhire ; being lean and dry, cpnfidering the fpecics of milk ; which was; neat, or nearly neat, from the cow. This inferior quality is probably owing, in a great meafurc, to the quality of the foil ; and perhaps, in fome degree, to the method made ufe of in feparatin.g the whey. With refpeft to the fy t not one cheefe in a hundred (after the mifchief was firft difco- veredj fuffered from it. There cannot be a greater proof of the eligibility of the method in tfcis cafe praUTiR. chilled with cold water before the cream be put into it, and ihould be placed in a cool fituation : if cold, fcald the churn with boiling water, and endeavour to churn in a warm room. If in cither cafe thefe be not fufficient, add hot or cold water to the cream during the time of churning. If the cream be inclined to get frothy in the churn, open its mouth for a few minutes, to let in the air, and give the froth time to diffipate ; and the butter will generally come fooner than it would have done had the agitation been con- tinued : for, while the cream is in a (late of frothinefs, the butter will not feparate. Rever- ling the motion has fometimes a good effeift *. * It is this ftate of frotbinefs, (fermentation it cannot be called) which fometimes gives inexperienced dairy- ivoinen much fatigue of body, and anxiety of mind. In the d:iys of witchcraft thecaufe ivas readily afcribcd; and the witch was often fuccefsfully burnt-out, with a red- hot poker. The devil, to this day, is now and then fub- jefted to a fimilar treatment ; and with equal fucccfs : for while the poker is heating the froth fublides ; and, in cold weather, the warmth communicated to the cream renders this ftroke of heroinifm doubly efficacious. There may be other caufes (than the frothinefs of tho cream) of that obftinate delay which not unfrequently happens in this im- portant operation ; which well defcrves a philofophical in,- Yeftigation. If 17*2. NORFOLK. 245 If the butter come in fmall particles which 109. are flow in uniting, {train off part of the but- BUTTER, ter-milk ; and the butter in general will fooner gather. Reverfing the motion generally gathers the butter quickeft -f-. 5. Making up the butter. When the butter is fufficiently gathered in the churn, which is known by the largenefs of the lumps, and the cleannefs of the dajhers, it is taken out; kneaded in a bowl, or other fhallow vefiel, to let out the butter-milk ; fpread thin over the infide of the bowl, and clean cold water poured over it; kneaded, broken, and re-fpread in the water ; the water poured off; the butter beaten, in large lumps or handfulls of three or four pounds, againft the fide of the bowl ; re-fpread ; faked ; the fait worked in ; re- \vafhed ; and re-beaten, until the water come . off unfullied ; which it will do after two or three wafhings. It is then broken jnto pound- lumps ; re-beaten againfl the bowl; and printed, or otherwife made up. But before the dairy-woman begins to take the butter out of the churn, Ihe firft fcalds, and then plunges immediately into cold water, every vefiel and thing which fhe is about to make ufe of; in order to prevent the butter t A horizontal or barrel-churn is here to be underftood. R 3 from. 246 MINUTES 109. from flicking to them. In fummcr, when the BUTTER. butter is very foft, it is fometimes necefTary to rub them after fcalding with fait, which greatly aflifts the wood in retaining the moiflure. She alfo puts her own hands into the hottefl water Ihe can bear them in ; rubs them with fait ; and immediately plunges them into cold water : this flie repeats as often as Ihe finds the butter flick to them. There is a Jini/hing operation, which is fome- times given in the neighbourhood of the me- tropolis, and perhaps in fome few provincial diflridts : in general however this excellent finifh is omitted ; either through want of knowledge, or want of induftry, or through polity : for its ufe being to give not only firm- nefs and a wax-like evennefs of texture to the butter, but to extract from it entirely the but- ter-milk and the water in which it has been warned, the quantity is thereby leflened; for fo many ounces of milk and water extracted, fo many ounces fewer of butter go to market : this however is the beft proof of its utility; and butter cannot flrictly be faid to be market- able, until it has undergone this operation: whiph is thus performed. The bowl or tray being wetted to prevent the butter from flicking to it j and a cheefe- cloth 1782. NORFOLK, 247 cloth flraincr or other cloth being walhed in 109. clean cold water and wrung as dry as poffible ; BUTTZR. a pound-lump of butter is placed in the bowl ; and, with a ftroke of the hand proportioned to the ftiffnefs of the butter, is beaten with the cloth. As the pat of butter becomes flat and thin, it is rolled up with the cloth, (by a kind of dexterity which can only be acquired by practice) and again beaten flat ; the dairy, woman, every three or four flrokes, rolling up either one fide or the other of the pat, and moving it about in the bo'.vl to prevent its (lick- ing. As the cloth fills with moifture (which it extracts from the butter and imbibes in the manner of a fpunge) it is wrung and re-wafhed in clean cold water. Each pound of butter requires in cool weather four or five minutes to be beaten thoroughly, but two minutes are at any time of effential fervice. In warm weather it is well to beat it two or three times over ; as the coolnefs of the cloth affifts in giving firmnefs to the butter *. * 1781, JULY 23. Weighed a lump of butter before and after being beaten with a cloth. Before beating it weighed lixteen ounces and a quarter ; after beating fifteen ounces and three quarters ; juft half an ounce of butter- milk and water being abforbed by the cloth, during about three minutes beating. The cloJR was wrung equally hard before and after the operation : a confiderable quantity of, milk and water was wrung out of it. K 4 6. Putting 24? MINUTES MAY 109. 6. Putting down. The more pure the butter is when put down, and the more perfectly it is afterwards kept from a communication with the outward air, the longer it will retain a ftate of perfedr/KW//**/}. The purity of butter confifts in its being free from internal air, moifture, filth, and a. ranknefs of flavour. The prefervation of butter therefore depends principally on the pa/lure and the method of making. If the pafture be rank, whether through foil, manure 9 or herbage, it is generally injudicious to put down butter from it. But if the pafture be fvveet ; and the cows be properly milked, the milk judicioufly fet, the cream carefully kept, and properly churned ; and the butter well worked up, with an additional quantity of fait ; there is little art neceflary in putting it 'down to as to preferve it fvveet for feveral months : neverthelefs the more judicioufly it is put down, the longer it will retain its fweetnefs. There are various vcffels ufed for putting down butter. When a length of carriage is neceflary, wooden firkins are the fafeft : gla- red earthen-ware, however, is preferable when it can be made ufe of with fafety and conveni- ency : for, out of this, the external air may be entirely fecluded. The 1782. NORFOLK. : The figure or fhape of a butter jar fhould be 1 09. that of the lower fruflum of a cone ; namely, BUTTER, wider at the bottom than the top : refembling the (landing or upright churn : the top of it being made fufficiently wide to admit of its be- ing filled conveniently j but not wider. This form prevents the butter from rifing in thejar, and effectually prevents the air from in- fmuating itfelf between the jar and the butter ; whofe natural elafticity preffes it, in this cafe, {lill clofer to the fides of the containing veflel : fcut, were the form of this reverfed, the fame propenfity of expanfion in the butter would feparate it from the fides of the jar, fo that to- wards the top a knife might (as it frequently may) be drawn round between them, and the air of courfe have free admifilon. The method of putting it down is this : The butter having lain in pound-lumps twenty- four hours, the dairy-woman takes two or three of the lumps, joins them together, and kneads them in the manner in which pafle is kneaded. This brings out a confiderable quantity of wa- tery brine ; which being poured out of the bowl, the butter is beaten with a cloth as be- fore 5 and the jar having been previously foiled, or otherwife thoroughly fcalded, and having MINUTES MAY 109. having flood to be perfectly cool and dry, the butter is thrown into it, and kneaded down as ck>fe and firm as- poffible, with the knuckles and the cloth alternately ; being careful not to leave any hollow cell or vacuity for the air to lodge in ; more particularly round the out- fides, between the butter and the jar : and for this purpofe fhe repeatedly draws her finger round by the fides of the jar ; preffing the butter hard, and thereby uniting intimately the jar and butter. It is fortunate when the jar can be filled at one churning ; but when this cannot be done conveniently, the top is left level ; and, when the next churning of butter is added, the furface is raifcd into inequalities, and the two churnings united into one mafs. The jar being filled with butter to within two or three inches of the top, it is filled up with brine ; made by boiling fait and water (in the proportion of a handful to a pint) ten mi- nutes or a quarter. of an hour ; ftraining it intq a cooling vefTel ; and, when perfectly cool, putting it upon the butter, about one and a half or two inches thick. If a wooden bung be put upon this, and a bladder tied over the mouth of the jar, butter thus preferred, from a good palhire 1782. NORFOLK. af paftarc, will remain perfectly fweet for almoft 109. any length of time; provided the ^ars be BUTTER. placed in a dry and cool fituatioa. I 10. MAY 18, (See MIN. 97.). There is not BULLOCKS now lefs than four pounds a head difference between thefe two parcels of bullocks ! yet Mr. is defervedly reckoned a good farmer ; and has treated his heifers in the common way of throwing turneps to them ; firft on his wheat flubbles, and afterwards on his ollands. There was one thing, it is true, very much againft Mr. : his beft piece of tur- neps lay detached from his farm ; except from a part which was too wet to be thrown upon; and although he got a neighbour to let him throw upon an adjoining piece of young clo- ver (giving him the teathe for the conveniency) yet he had no other " fhift" than that of his turnep-clofcitfelf; drawing from one part and throwing upon the part already bared ; and this fpring being unmercifully wet and cold, the bullocks flood to their dew-claws in dirt ; and, what was worfe, had no other place to lay dov/n pn. This was undoubtedly againft them. Ne- 35* MINUTES llo. Nevcrthelefs it is obfervable, that bullocks BULLOCKS in general, this year, have not done better than thefc. Mr. 's have not done better ; he had three under-done ones " turned out" of Smithfield laft Monday : and Mr. . is not an inferior grazier. Yet notwithflandingthe badnefs of the feafon, and the much-complained-of badnefs of tur- neps, this year, Mr. Baker's heifers have done extremely well. For, although they were bought-in on very high terms, they will, if they meet with a fair market, nearly double their firft coll. I have flill continued to attend particularly to the fatting of thefe heifers ; which was thus conducted. They have had plenty of turneps and a " clean trencher" every day ; with plenty of followers to lick up the crumbs ; fo that the fatting bullocks only picked and chofe the prime of the turneps : and in this feems to con- iift the excellency of the management. For thefe heifers were fatted abroad, where they remained night and day; with ftraw fcattered under the hedge. Toward the fpring, however, when the turneps began to lole their goodnels^ they had bay inftead of flraw. This pvaclicc, which is not peculiar to Mr. J$. is very judicious; for the bullocks are thereby i ? 8a. NORFOLK. 255 thereby led on from turneps to grafs, without receiving a check between them. The above is not the only inftance of Mr. B.'s fkill in grazing. Laft year, he fold two Galloway Scots for near fifty pounds. Thefe however he had kept " over-year ;" that is, from Odober 1779, to May or June 1781 ; eighteen or nineteen months. But, a few years ago, he fold five Scots, in May-June, which he had bought in, at St. Faith's fair, the preceding Odober, for twenty pounds a piece. The lot confided of ten : the other five he fold at feventeen, eigh- teen, and nineteen, pounds each. This half fcore did not cod him quite nine pound ten {hillings a head ; fo that, in about feven months, he doubled his money. But what is ftill more, about four or five years ago, he bought nine Irijb bullocks at St. Faith's ; namely, feven at feven guineas each, and two at fix pound fifteen fhillings each. Thefe he finifhed by the beginning of June, and fold (in Smithfield) four of the fmalleft at fixteen pounds a piece ; the remainder at eighteen pounds or upwards. This is pro- bably the greateft grazing that ever happened in the cotintv. 1 10. BULLOCKS AT TURN EPS. BRF.FD OF CAT ILK. Much, 254- MINUTES MAT rid. Much, however, may depend on the choice BULLOCKS ^ a Bullock f r feeing- The Norfolk farmers know, or pretend to know, whether a bullock will grow during the time of his fatting ; and it is the bullock which grows and fats at the fame time, which leaves mod profit to the grazier. If one may judge from Mr. B -'s fuccefs in grazing, he is deeply verfed in this myftery ; indeed, the heifers before-mentioned are a ftriking proof of his judgment in this par- ticular. For they have grown very confider- able, as well as fatted kindly ; whillt the prin- cipal part of Mr. --- 's, out of which thofe were drafted, feem, as to carcafs^ the fame as they were laft October. A thick ihin is a favourite point in a High- land Scot ; and there may be other points fymptomatic of a growing bullock ; but I am apprehenfive that a good grazier forms his iudgment from general appearances, and from inruitive impreffions, rather than from parti- cular marks and figns : and I am of opinion, nothing but continued practice and clofe at- tention can make a man a judicious grazier.- in. MAY 25. Yefterday Mr. -- mewed me another account for eleven more of his heifers, 1782. NORFOLK. 255 SMITHFIELD MARKET. heifers, which happened to go up to a good in. market laft week. They neated 1047. i-js. BULLOCKS lod. f, or p/. i is. ahead. They cofl about TURXEPS. 6/. i$s. and therefore left a profit of 2/. i6s. a piece, only; but, confuieringthe high price at which they were bought-in, and the untoward- nefs of the feafon, they have not done amifs. He may thank, however, the fluctuation of Smithfield market. The preceding week there was an uncom- monly full market. Smith alone drove feven fcore. The demand was glutted and the prices low. (A farmer in the neighbourhood fent up three, which were fold for what he had ex- pedled for two of them !). This frightened the grazier ; fo that, laft week, the market was thin, and they fold well. A week or two at the finifhtng of the tur- neps feems to be an injudicious time to fend bullocks to Smithfield and St. Ive's : there is generally a glut about that time. If, there- fore, bullocks are fit, they ought to be fent off a week or two before j if not, they ought, if poflible, to be kept two or three weeks longer. 1 12. MINUTES MAY 112. DISTRICT. SEA- CLIFFS. J 12. MAY 28. Yeiterday morning, fet out, early, for Ingham fair by way of the fca-coaft. Made the coaft at Munfley, and kept it to Haibro'; fometimes riding above, fometimes below cliff. There being a large fleet of fhips, clofe in land, {leering to the northward, with a gentle breeze upon the quarter, and the morning mild and pleafant, the ride became delightful ; though fometimes rendered awful by the height of the cliff, and the narrownefs of the path immediately upon the brink of it ; more efpe- cially as the cliff itfelf is of an earthy crumb- ling texture, and liable to " fhoots/' \\ hereby many acres are every year fwailowed up by the fea/ Mr. Baker (who rode with me) fhcwed me the remains of a field, which men, now living, remember to have been twelve acres ; of which there is now only a corner of two or three acres remaining. Had this piece lain parallel with the line of the cliff, every rod of it mii ft have long fince difappeared. The lofs is the greater, as the foil is rich and prolific in afuperior degree. Noble crops rife 1782. NORFOLK. 257 rife clofe to the edge of the cliff; except in 112. fome places where the fea-fand is blown up in SEA-CLIFFS. too great quantities ; which it is, moft parti- cularly toward Muniley, where the cliff is not Icfs than one hundred feet high ; more than at Hafbro',where it does not rife ten feet from the beach. In going above-cliff we faw two large heaps MARL. of marl, which have been got out of the face of the cliff. This, it fcems, is a common practice of the farmers whofe lands lie next the coaft. It is fometimes drawri up by a wince, which they call " davying" it up; or elfe run up in wheelbarrows, in oblique paths, made in the face of the cliff; in which manner thefe heaps appear to have been got up : but neither the place where it has been dug from, nor even the path or gangway, except juft at the very top, are now to be feen the whole having, in a few weeks, crumbled into the ocean 1 . Further along the coaft, towards Hafbro', the farmers throw up a clay, out of the face of the cliff, which is here very low : and near the village of Hafbro* is found a white brick- earth efteemed the beft in the county. VOL, II, S I have MINUTES MAY 112, COAST- MARL. COAST. CLAY. BRICK- EARTH OF THE COAST. COAST HUSB. I have examined the three different earths, and tried them in acid. The " marl " is a white gritty chalky Norfolk marl ; cfFervefcing very flrongly. The ' clay" is of a browner darker colour, but interfperfed with fpecks of a white chalky fubftance : this effervefces very confiderably, but not fo violently as the marl. The " brick-earth " is of a dufky-white, or flone-colour. It is lefs harlh than the other two fpecimens ; eafily burfling between the fingers to a fmooth impalpable powder ; and effervefces ftrongly in acid. This did not fur- prife me, as I had enquired particularly into whether it was " good for the land ;" for I have not yet found a clay which has been fet on as a manure with fuccefs, which has not been ftrongly calcareous. I had, however, con- ceived that bricks could not be made from a calcareous earth. But the fact is, that this earth is calcareous, and that the Walfliam brickmakers give 31. a load for it upon the fpot, and carry it fix or feven miles, to make white bricks and pavements of. The farmer knowing, with a degree of mo- ral certainty, that his land next the fea will fhoot down into it, why does he not, at once, cart 1782. NORFOLK; MARRAM. cart away the rich top-mould for bottoms of H2. dunghills, &c. andcaft, at his cafe, the marl COAST HUSB. or clay which lies beneath it ? 1 faw no trace of a regular plan of this kind, either in this ride, or in the journey to Yarmouth. Going below- cliff gave me an opportunity of feeing more fully the nature of the marram plant. The leaves proceed from a fmall crown, from whence, downward, proceeds a long fimple hollow root, with verticils of fibres at different diftances,- according to the depth ; the upper ones being only two or three^ but the lower Ones eight or ten inches, afunder. I meafured one root eight feet long, and I apprehend the length is generally equal to the depth of the fand-bank. In mowing marram for thatch, the workmen keep their fithes an inch or more under the furface of the fand. Marram upon a cultivated foil (a ditch bank) grows with a broad flat blade, and does not take that rulhlike form which it appears in upon the fand* banks. Norfolk Hujbandty. In a large inclo'fure near ingham were thirty fine Scotch bullocks (be- longing to a capital grazier in that neighbour- hood) ; fome fat, others fatting ; weighing from fifty to fixty ftone a bullock ; confequently S i worth. NORFOLK HUSBAN0, MINUTES MAY 112. MARKETS. YATTING CATTLE. worth from three to four hundred pounds. What a fight is this in an arable country ! Ingham Fair. There were three or four hun- dred head of cattle, and more fat bullocks than there were at Walmam and Worflead jointly ; and thefe, too, finilhed in a fuperior ftyle. The farmers in that country are, like their foil, ftrong in hand ; and even now, bad as times are, are faid to be getting money. There were a good many buyers ; but the fellers were unreafonable in their demands. They did not afk lefs than five {hillings a (tone for beafts that were tolerable meat. There might be from fifty to one hundred fold. Very little young {lock I apprehend \vas fold. There is indeed very little in the coun- ty; and now the farmers having, from the wet- nefs of the feafon, a profpect of grafs, they are unwilling to fell, except at extraordinary prices. A farmer of South-Reps fold eight, two-year- olds, forward in flefli, and very pretty ones, for 5/. ioj. a head. This is paying him very well, though they have been at full keep ever fince they were dropt. It may be faid that fatting cattle at two years old is nipping bullocks in the bud j fo it may 5 but 1782. NORFOLK. but if this farmer, for inftance, were to keep his bullocks till three years old, he would bring up calves in proportion ; fo that from a given quantity of land the community has the fame or a fimilar quantity of beef. Jngham fair reaches four or five miles round on every fide. We breajcfafted at Hafbro'j baited at Ingham, and dined at Brun- ftead ; a circuit which Mr. B. and his friends take every year among their relations and ac- quaintances. This fpecies of fociability and hofpitality is not peculiar to Ingham : Wal- fham, Worftead, South-Reps, Alboro', St. Faith's, &c. &c. have their fairs, more famed for their hofpitality than the bufinefs tranfa&ed at them j except the laft, which is one of the Jargefl fairs in the kingdom. Yorkfhire has \tsfeafts; other countries their wakes; and Norfolk its fairs. 112, FATTINQ- CATTLE, NORFOLK "3- JUNE j. This morning went tp fee Mr. Baker's fix heifers go off for Smithfield-market, with five under-done fleers of Mr. D. The heifers are beautiful one of them more efpecially : (he is '* full every-where" no point higher finilhed than another ; and is, to ufe the grazier's phrafe, as firm as wax, and s 3 ap- SELLING BULLOCKS, MINUTES MAT SELLING BULLOCKS, PUYTNG BULLOCKS. appears fo compleatly fluffed within, that fhe feems to walk with difficulty. There is another appears, to the eye, to be fatter than this ; but Ihe bandies locfe ; and will probably wafle much jn traveHing j wherej.s Mr. B. has no doubt (and he fpeaks from experience) but that the former \v\\l /jew her ptints better in Smithfield- market than fhe does now ; adding, that a " right-fat bullock does not Ihrink in travel- " ling nearly fo much as one which is only " meaty." Enquiring, of the drover, as to who has fent up the befl bullocks this year; he faid, that Mr. iW^bf R-^ 23 Hall, had fent the beft lot he had driven this year. Ah ! fays Mr. B , " Peter always buys a good bullock. If a man " don't buy a good thing, he can never expedl " to have any thing capital ; he does not mind f< a few {hillings at St. Faith's :" adding, that ^ we think nothing of a difference, at this time " of the year, of three or four pounds a bul- " lock ; but look as much at Ihiliings on Fay's-r ^ Hill, as we do at pounds in Smithfield.'* This dropt fpontaneoufly from Mr. B. and is, no doubt, the principle and grand bafis of his own practice. For he always buys the bed bullocks he can lay his hands on; and he is, and 1782. NORFOLK. 263 and has been for fome years, efteemed very juftly the beft grazier in this neighbourhood. It is obfervable that bullocks have got on very faft at grafs this fpring. Mr. B. gives for a reafon, that the weather is cool ; and altho* it has been wet, rainy weather does not hurt bullocks fo much as it does Iheep. Hoc weather, he fays, is theworft for bullocks ; " it ' fets them a-gadding; makes them cock their "tails and run about the clofes; and nothing " checks them more." BULLOCKS AT CRASS. JUNE i. Howhelplefs are the Norfolk far- mers on a wet foil ! If the water do not run through it like a fieve, they are at a ftand : if it lodge on the furface, they are loft. This uncommonly wet fpring has embarrafled them. Mr. -, one of the oldeft and beft arable farmers in the neighbourhood, came to me the other morning to defire I would let him have a little wood to " bum-drain" a piece of land, which he wanted to fow with barley ; but which he could not get on to ; it being under water! ^ I reafoned wi^ him on the impropriety of under-draining a piece of land while it lies S 4 fopped NORFOLK HUSBAND. a6* MINUTES JUVE 1 14. Topped in wet, and which was to be immediately HVsBAND trodden with the plow and harrow-horfes. I could not, however, convince him of his error; and, hoping that it might hereafter be of fome ufe, as well as to prevent a clamour, I this morning went and fet him out fome alders (juft broken into leaf !) and went to fee his operations ; which are in fome forwardnefs. The clofe is nearly a fquare of ten acres ; lying with a mpft defirable gentle defcent ; and the little quantity of water which flood upon it was towards the bottom of the piece ; in the place where the water-furrow is ufually jnade; but where he is making a trench for a fub-drain ! The foil is a ftrongiih fendy loam ; lying on g ^ iL a perfectly found abforbent brick earth ; but PROCESS xvhich, from three or four months continual rain, had become fatiated : and all that could be poffibly wanted, at prefent, was a furface> drain to carry off the fuperfluous water. His fon, who I found was a principal in thebufmefs, though defervedly efteemed one of the be{l huibandmen of his years in the county, went with us. He feemed to think that the water might have been got off, but then how were they to have plowed and harrowed without 1782. NORFOLK. without filling up the drain? I told him, 114. that if he had put oae horfe in a plow and SOIL PRO- CESS. ' drawn each furrow (the foil lying in five-pace warps), and afterwards had taken two and cut a deep crofs-furrow ; then fet on one man to fhovel out the crumbs, 2nd another to open the eyes of the interfurrows with a hoe, every drop of the {landing water might in a few hours have been got rid of: and the land having lain in this ftate until a dayor two of fine weather came if he had then began to plow on the upper fide of the clofe, and worked towards the outlet, at the lower end of the crofs-furrpw, he could have had no more trouble with the furface-water. JUNE 7. Fence-walls, carried to a prpper FENCES A ** height, are warmer and more durable than battens ; the cuftomary farm-yard fence of this country. (See BUILD, and REPAIRS, Vol. I.). But, if walls are not raifed to a proper height, they afford little Ihelter, and arc con- tinually liable to be uncoped by the cattle. The yard of Antingham-Hall farm is a fufficien,t jnftance of the former, and various inftances of *66 MINUTES ifi YARD- HRLDING3. of the latter occur on different parts of this eftate. A fence-wall to a farm-yard fhould not be leis than fix feet high ; the coping is then out of the reach of the flock. Where dung is laid againft it, the height ought to be ftill greater. Battening is very expenfi ve, and frequently out of repair. Fofts, rails, and kids are, in many points of Vievv ? preferable. 116. JUNE 8. It is very dangerous to run up fea-ftone walls too quick. Mr. had one Ihot down the other day at Antingham, and nearly killed one of the workmen. The wea- ther was wet, and the bricklayer run up the wall, at once, without flopping, at intervals, to let it fettle. The ftones, being already faturated with wet, could notabforb the moifture of the mortar j the air being alfo moift, the mortar, of courfe, remained pappy ; and fea- ftones, being globular, have no other bond or flay than the mortar ; which being unable to hold them together, the fuper-incumbent weight crufhed down the whole. Had jf8s. NORFOLK. 167 Had the bricklayer proceeded by ftages, let- 1 1 6, ting the lower parts gee fufBciently firm before SEA-STON$ the upper parts had been laid on, the mortar would have had time to ftiffen, and the wall would have flood. If the (lones and air be dry, one halt, when the wall is a few feet above the foundation, is generally found fufRcient. *7. TUNE 13. This afternoon, ivent to fee the SELLING Smithfield drover pay off his " mafters," at his chamber, at the Angel, at Walfham (Market- day Thurfday). The room was full of ~3 "tJ ~3 "= E trfi^J | _-3 DISTRICT* *j *; SKI 11 < ' C? S liflHl i^ I'll 11 III fill Slilijlia-All. wanton elm. ice. i . !, 1 1 I C .^ r. * e B B t 1 1 1 1 e iS o^ 6 I ditto light good wheat lo EIUO arious, and c itto and ditt< 1 | g a 1 H | good wheat 1 1 various, and ( wfceat land, a wheat land 111 all . !. If 51 ^*^cS s?S_sl .ll ilgl.Sl ill I !!'- i o2 :-aSw ts-^:5>j= i/>"3 S 2 .5 -i l .= Jj 33, i ^ 4j j sceq^gg, e g. fif P Jl^ 272 MINUTES JUNE 118. SOIL OF SLOWflELD. MANURES OF BLOWFIELD HOPS IN BLOWFIELD The foil moft prevalent in the BLOWFIELD HUNDRED is a rich dark-coloured loam, of a good depth ; the farmers plowing from five to feven or eight inches deep ; and affect to laugh at the fhallow plowing practifed by farmers in this part of the county. There is no marl in the Hundred ; but, the river Yare running by the fide of it, the farmers get marl very reafonably from Nor- wich ; and fet on about ten loads an acre: Dung they alfo get by water from Yarmouth and Norwich. The firfl thing which firuck me in Blow- field Hundred was a tolerably large hop garden. We called upon a perfon in the village of Blowfield ; who is owner of this and two or three more patches ; he being the principal grower in the parilh. Enquiring as to the quantity of hops grown in this neighbourhood, he faid that, three or four years ago, there were ten acres of hops in the parilh of Blowfield ; which, he add- cd^ is more than can be collected in the reft of the county. At prefent, however, there are not more than five acres, and the quantity is every year declining. Hops have lately been low, and the crops have notanfwered the expence. There are two or three dryinghoufes in the town, but they are, except one, going to decay. 17*2. NORFOLK. ,273 The principal crops of the Blowfield Hun- 118. dred are wheat,- barley, peas, and firft-year's ARA;>,:.K ;> l MAV. OF clover. The Wbtats are in general very promifmg, and mark the good ne Is of the foil, and the plentifulncfs of the manure of Norwich and Yarmouth: Saw feveral pieces of dibbled wheat, which made an uncommonly beautiful appearance : but the practice is by no means general. The Barleys havealfo a promifing appearance; and The Peas, which it feems are ten-fold more numerous this year than ufual (owing to the prefent low price of barley), are luxuriant and very forward,- confidering the feafori. A large proportion of them < Morton was pleufed to mew the no NORFOLK. 3'3 AUGUST 24. Being ftruck with the before- 1 22. mentioned incident of the fly living fcvcral TENTHREDO hours without its head, I this morning, (Sat.) a THETURNI quarter before feven, cut off the head of a female fly, which appeared very brifk and ftrong, di- viding the neck clofe to the head, fo as to leave the two black appendages fixed to the body, without maiming the legs. The body imme- diately recovered its legs, and Rood as firmly and to appearance as free from pain as if its head had been ftill joined to it. I turned it on its back in order to view the different parts of it, and left it lying on its fide ; bu;: it prefently fprungupon its legs, and began to adjuft and clean its wings with as much dexterity as if nothing had happened to it > continuing in that ad for feveral minutes ; and, when it left off, placed its legs regularly, firm, and upright as ufual. Mr. John Baker faw it at nine o'clock {landing in this pofition ; and the Rev, Mr, Parkinfon favoring me with a call between twelve and one, faw the fame. It had, however, by this them to Sir Jofeph Banks, (Proficient of the Royal Society) and, through Sir Jofeph's liberality and difmterefleJnefs, the letter has the honor of appearing in the Philofophical Trunfaftiom, Vol. LXXUl. Purt I. for 1783, page 317. time JI4 M I N U T S Auo . 122. time moved a few paces from its fir ft Handing- ENTHREDO place, and got its head and antenna, which lay by it, under its body ! It continued upon its legs all day, and at bed-time I left it Handing. On Sunday morning, found it in the very fame pofture. In the courfe of the morning it had a regular difcharge of the faces. Want- ing the fond of the microfcopc on which it flood, I made it walk on to a piece of writing- paper. This it performed without a ftumble; and the inftrument by which I urged it forward having ruffled its wings, it with the urmoft pro- priety and compofureadjufted them, and too* its (land as before, Between four and five on Sunday afternoon, Billing to move it more into the middle of the paper on which it flood, and being wiUm* ro try its ftrength, I put a large needle under its body, to lift it from the paper : it imme- diately laid hold of the needle with all its legs, and not only hung to it, but kept itfelf perfect y "Fight, and mighr? Tied to any diftance. Replaced it on the paper when it took its Hand as ufual. In the clofe of the evening it began to drop >dy nearer to the paper, refting its tail vpn it : but on examining the o.ther flies. in, I 7 8a, NORFOLK. 31$ the evening, I find that to be the very pofture J22. in which they all repofe themfelvcs in the TENTHREDO night! Monday morning, fix o'clock.=-^In the fame pofture ; but had moved upon the paper in the night. In the day> it Hood on its legs as ufual ! At two in the afternoon Mr. Samuel Barber faw it. About five, it cleaned its wings ; and this afternoon feemed more alert than it had been fince its hpad had been taken off, Tuefday morning As much alive as before. About nine it cleaned its wings, and feemed remarkably brifk. About two, I found it upon its back ; -endeavoured to place if upon its legs ; but it could not expand them, though it was ftill evidently alive. Nine in the evening, it appears to be quite dead. But, afto,nifhing to reflect op, this fly has lived upwards of three days without its head ! during which time feveraj of its cotempo- raries have died with their heads on \ fo that it may be a moot point, whether cutting off its head ihortened or lengthened its days ! Its life mult have been merely vegetative ; and the care of its wings pure inftindl *. * \\~ednefJay morning, the whole dead, except live or x, Thurfdny morning, not one alive ! 316 M I N U T E S AUG. i 22. AUGUST 25. This morning, to my great fa- tisfa&ion, I at laft faw another female depofitt OF THE TURNEP and in a different direction to that in which I had formerly feen them. The fly had her tail di- rected towards me ^ -the only direction I could fee her in. In this point of view I could not fee her draw her fting, its edge being towards rnc ; but faw the end of the cafe open, and, at firft, Hand expanded ; but, as the inftru- mcnt entered the edge of the turnep-leaf, (which fhe ftrode) the fheath began to clofe; and, having reached her f ulleft depth, became entirely ihut. Having remained a while in this poflure, fhe, with great deliberation, drew out her inftrument ; and, having refheathed it, {load motionlefs for fome tiroe, as if overcome \vith fatigue. She was not lefs than iwo minutes in the operation, owing, I believe, to the age and ftuntednefs of the turnep. I faw her withdraw her inftrument very evi- dently ; but, in the direction of my eye, it appeared fingie ; whereas, in a fide-view, it had appeared double. AUGUST 26. On Thurfday the twenty- firft, gathered ten or twelve caterpillars, one or twa vi them remarkably long, namely, iix-tenths or more, NORFOLK: ,317 more. All eat till Sunday the twenty-fifth. One 1 22. left off about noon. Placed it on a piece of TENTHREDO OF paper, and covered it up with a little dry mould ; it crawled out not apparently by de- lign ; but it feemed to want more mould to root in : covered it half an inch thick with moifter mould, taken from the garden (the weather moift) : it kept moving under the mould for fome time, but in lefs than half an hour the motion was not perceptible. This morning the mould ,ftill undifturbcd* About four o'clock in the afternoon, fearched for it among the mould with the point of a needle, and found it (licking to the paper: blew away the loofe mould, which now was become dry, and faw the coat perfectly formed, and ad- hering firmly to the paper. AUGUST 27. On Sunday afternoon, 25th of Auguft, put three caterpillars to the live turncp in the garden-pot; two black, one blue. One of the black ones foon mounted the turncp, but the other feemed neither to have fight nor in- ftinft towards it. Perceiving the blue 6ne near the root of the turncp, in an upright pofture, I apprehended it was alfo going to feed; but on obfervino; it more clofely, I found that, inftead of the head being 3*8 MINUTES AUG.- 122. being afcending, as I had thought, towards the TENTHREDO plant, its head and part of its body was bu- THETURNEP lied in the mould ; and, by the motion of the part in fight, I found that it was in the adl of burrowing. In about half an hour it had com- pleatly buried itfelf ; and had clofed up the mouth of the hole fo judicioufly, that no trace f it rerfiairied on the furface of the mould. Yeftcrday morning, eight o'clock,placed three more blue caterpillars on the mould in the gar- den-pot : they had remained in a fmall clofe- ihutting tin-box until they were as wet as moi- fture could make them, and feerhed to be al- mofl in a ftate of diflblution ; fo that I was afraid to touch them with the pliers. One of them, however, the livelieft, immediately took to the mould, and buried itfelf in Icfs than an hour ; the other two appeared fickly , but at twelve o'clock they had got a considerable way Into the ground. About one, their tails were only to be teen : before four o'clock in the afternoon they had cortiplcatly buried them* felves. AUGUST 28. Yefterday morning examining the nature of the female instruments more atten-- tively, I difcovered four hanger^like divffions \ nor 1782. NORFOLK. 319 not only in a fly which I then differed for the 122. purpofe of further invcftigation ; but in the very TENTHREDO fubject from which I wrote the above defcrip- THETURNCT tion, and which I had preferved ; one of the three being double. They are fo extremely thin and tranfparent, that without a good light and a ftrong mag- nifier, it is difficult to diftinguifh between a double and a fingle blade. I am now, however, fully fatisfied as to their number and fituation. * By put- ting the point of a fine needle into the ori- fice of the pubcs, and drawing it towards the point of the tail, I fcparated the com-* pound instrument into two extremely fine laiv ceolated lamina?, each of wlrch are evidently divifible into two fomewhat hanger-like in- ftruments, making in the whole four; one of which is placed on each fide the pubcs, and the other two on its lower margin towards the tail : when united, they tr.kc the form of a lancet. By cutting off the lower part of the abdo- men juft above the pubcs, and drawing the- part on to the point of a very large needle, ihe fting fpring 5 out of the fheath, and is 320 MINUTES 122. TEXTHREDO OF THETURXEP eafily feparated in the manner above-men- tioned. The two fides of the meath are not united at the back, as I had imagined, but are two diftindb valves or piccesj until they incorpo- rate with the coats of the abdomen. N. B. I have repeatedly difTedted the fe- male inftrument (by drawing the lower part of the abdomen on to the point of a pair of com- pafles) for my own fatisfaftidn, as well as that of my friends, and have always found them exactly as above defcribed; MARKETS. At*ci:sT r.S. CAW.TON-SHEEP.SHOW. This fair is held the laft Wednefday in Auguft, for meep, folcly -, principally lambs, brought by the Weft- Norfolk breeders, and bought up by the Eaft-Norfolk " graziers j" in order to pick among their fumraerlies/ and their ilubbles, after Harveft j to follow their bullocks in winter; and to be finifhed the next funimer on clover^ or the enfuing winter on turneps; The Weft-Norfolk ewe-flock farmers alfo bring their crones to this fair ; which the Eaft- Norfolk men buy to put to the ram ; and, hav- ing followed the bullocks and fatted their lambs, 1781. NORFOLK. 3 lambs, are themfelves fmifhed for " harvcft 122. beef.'* To-day, there was. alfo. feveral pens CAWSTON * of fiieerling-wedders, brought by the Weft- Norfolk farmers, who keep what are called wedder-flocks (that is, buy wedder-lambs one year, and fell them as fheerlings the next), to be bought by the eaftern or weltern farmers, to finiih with turneps the enfuing winter : alfo conftderable quantities of flock-ewes, two and three fheer ; brought by thofe who are over- ftocked, or are throwing up their ewe-flock, and bought by thofe who are increafing, or *' fetting" a ewe-flock. Sheep of all forts were very dear nearly dou- ble the prices they were laft year, at this fair* Laft year good lambs were bought for five (hillings and fixpence, or fix Shillings a head : this year, ten to twelve pounds a fcore was the current price. Mr. Durfgate, who is now, fince Mr. Mallet's death, efleemed the richeft farmer in the county (having, it is faid, made thirty thoufand pounds by farming), was bade twelve fhillings a piece for his whole pen (about three or four hundred) : but he rcfufed the offer. His and Mr. Martin's (alfo a capi. tal Weft- Norfolk farmer) were the " top of " the fair;" and they both of them afked VOL. II. Y fourteen $22 MINUTES Arc, 12J. fourteen pounds. Seven and eiglit Shillings were a ^ ec ^ ^ or tiie diminutive " heath-lambs" (from the Brandon fide of the county), not much larger than rabbits. Laft year they were fold at three, or three and a half, four the out- iide price. Notwithftanding, however, the high prices this year, a principal part of the lambs were fold. There are feveral reafons for the high price of Norfolk lambs this year : the low price which they have borne for fome years back has greatly reduced the fize and number of ewe-flocks : another, there being no market for long wool, while Norfolk wool bears a high price, the Lincolnihire farmers are get- ting into the fhort-wooled breed of Iheep ; and have, it is faid, bought up confiderable numbers of Norfolk lambs, and dock-ewes, this fummer : and another reafon, the firfl fowirig of turneps having been cut off by the caterpillar, the fecond fovving will produce better food for Iheep than for bullocks. Stock-ewes were fold from twelve to fifteoa ihillings a head ; fheerling-wedders fourteen or fifteen Ihillings ; and even a parcel of crones were fold fo high as twelve millings, but they were fingularly good ones ; in gene- ral, 1782. NORFOLK. 323 ral, about feven to nine pounds a fcore : laft 121. year they were bought for four to five CAWSTON SHthP-SHOVV pounds. Sheerling-wedders were the cheapeft, and lambs the deareft flock. How a farmer could bid twelve fhillings for lambs, when he might have bought wedders, of almoft twice the fize, for fourteen fhillings, is fomewhat remark- able *. This is entirely a fair of bufinefs : fcarcely a woman or a townfman to be feen in ir. Many of the firft farmers in Norfolk were there to-day ; this being, I believe, the greateft " fheep-lhow " in the county. 124. AUGUST 30. On Sunday the 4th inftant TENTHREDO put one black and one blue caterpillar into a THETURNEP box with a turnep-leaf: the black one died ; the blue one laid itfelf up in a fold of the leaf, which it fixed to the bottom of the box. Laft Sunday, the 25th, I fancied I could fee the antennas of the fly playing at one end of the chryfalis ; and not being able to fee it af- * My rcafons for giving the minutiae of the bufinefs of fairs appear at the cJofc of the article MARKETS, Vol. I. Y 2 terwards, #>4 M. I N U T E S AUG. 124. forwards, or to difcover any progrcfs which TEXTHREDO was made, I began to fear that the leaf was THETURNEP too tou gh for the % to difengage itfelf: I therefore, yeflerday morning, wetted it with dew, and fet it in the fun ; but in the even- ing, perceiving no appearance of life, I cut the chryfalis from the box, and found the animal perfectly alive : not in the ftate of a fly, but to all appearance in the very ftate in which it 1/id itfelf up. The part of the leaf which lay between its body and the bottom of the box was converted into a fine tranfparent lami- na, and fo faft glued to the box that I was obliged to feparate them with the edge of a knife; or rather, to cut off the chryfalis coat clofe to the box (with which the chryfaline matter fcems to be incorporated), making a hole in the bottom of the coat. Replaced it as nearly as I could in the pofition I had taken it from. This morning, I find, it has got its tail out of the coat, and has given me a full oppor- tunity of examining it. It is ftill the fame blue caterpillar with a black ftreak down its back ; appears quite healthy ; and indeed re- markably plump and -fleek. I am afraid, however, that by laying open the cell prema- turely, .1784. NORFOLK. 3^5 .turely, I have caufed an abortion : it is never- 124. thelefs a fatisfaftion to know the exad ftate in TBKTHREDO which they appear after having been laid up TH * T1 near a month. AUGUST 31. On Thurfday the 29th procured a frefh parcel of flies. Yefterday put a group .of young turnep-planrs into a garden-pot. To- day put the flies under the glafs- receiver. Being nearly an equal number of males and females, and having been (hut up in a dark .box for two days, they began, on being placed .in a hottim fun, to copulate with a degree of lafcivioufnefs I had not before obferved. The males not only remained longer in the aft (from one to two minutes), but neglecting to .drefs themfelves, in the manner I had before noticed, flew from embrace to embrace, with very little intermifiion. Three or four couple were generally engaged at once, and the females which did not happen to be in the aft were venting their fury on their more fortunate filler- hood ; half a dozen of them, fome double fome fingle, being frequently engaged at once in battle-royal. Their furor lafted about an hour ; after which they appeared flat and Ipiritlefs. I now put three of the females upon the Y 3 young 326 MINUTES AUG. 124. young turnep-plants, and foon found my ex- TENTHREDO pectation gratified in the fulleft extent ; for THETURXEP the plants being fucculent and tender (the rough leaves about an inch in diameter > and the feedling- leaves fliil remaining), they imme- diately began to depofit their eggs. I had put the glafs over them, left they fliould fly away ; but this was unneceflary : I therefore took it off, and made my obfervations without re- ftraint. The leaves were thin and tranfparent ; the fun fhone full upon them ; and the flies were fo tame that I could obferve the opera- tion in any point of view I pleafed : even touching them gently while in the act did not difturb them. I faw not lefs than twelve or fifteen depofits ; and Mr. Robert Bartram call- ing upon bufmefs, while I was obferving them, alfo law three or four. I put them upon the plants between nine and ten o'clock in the morning ; and leaving them between ten and eleven, did not return until pafl one, when I found them ftill bufy in the act of depofiting. My worthy and fenfible friend, Mr. Parkinfon, calling at that time, obferved two or three operations. They ,. foon afterwards, however, began to droop, and entirely left the plants. I have now no longer any doubt as to the opera" 1782. NORFOLK. 327 operation. Having tried the texture of the 124. leaf, and its fitnefs for her purpofe (by piercing TENTHREDO it repeatedly with the point of her inftrument), THE TURNEP- and having chcfl-n fome convenient part on its edge (the choice of which feems frequently to puzzle her), the female adjufts hcrfclf for the operation, by placing one, two, or three of her feet on the upper, and the reft on the under, fide of the leaf ; but always clafping it with her hindmoft legs, without which fhe cannot, with any degree of conveniency, perform the act. Having taken her Hand, fhe begins to feel for the middle of the edge of the leaf, which fhe finds by the help of her fheath, placing one of its valves on one fide, and the other on the oppofite fide ; by which means the point of her inftrument eafily hits the mid- die way. She then fplits the edge of the leaf, and having made a lhallow fiflurc about twice the breadth of her inftrument, fhe begins to infinuate this downward, into the margin of the leaf; not in a line perpendicular to the edge, but obliquely backward ; feldom making an angle of more than 458. with the line of the edge, and frequently of lefs than 20?. running it almoft parallel with it. Having got the inftrument to near its fulleft depth, fhe Y 4 begins 3*8 MINUTES Auo, 124, begins to defcribe a fcgment of a circle, bring- TENTHREDO ing it round with a fweep until it almoft reaches the margin of the leaf on the oppofite fide of the orifice ; and thus, cleaving the leaf, forms a purfe-like nidus within it. This creates a work of confiderable labour, in executing which {he employs her four in* flruments with a {kill and dexterity which is delightful to look on, but difficult to defcribe. The two in front {he makes ufe of as hand- faws ; while the two hinder ones are employed as fprings to impel them forward, and make them lay hold of the work* What feems to make the operation go on fmoothly and plea- fantly to the eye, and with apparent cafe to the animal, is, the manner in which {he works her front inftruments ; which are not drawn up and pumed down together, but alternately, and feparately, one of them rifing while the other is preffed downward ; as is evidently feen by their wrinkles or ferratures ; efpecially if viewed through a delicate tranfparent leaf, held between a good glafs and a ftrong light, The nidus being formed, the fly lets her inftruments recede towards its center, where they remain motionlefs until the time of labour Carries op; which is generally many feconds, often 1782. NORFOLK. 3f often half a minute, after the nidus is finiflied: 124. but the body having undergone a fpafm-like TENTHREDO' agitation, the orifices of the pubes and the THETURNEP nidus, which are now intimately connected, become fwelled out with a femi-tranfparent whitifh matter, which is feen to glide flowly down between two lamina (feparated and formed into a funnel-like pipe) until having got near to their points, it drops from between them, and falls deliberately to the bottom of the nidus ; where it plainly fliews itfelf of an oval form. The points of the inflruments be- ing ftill carried farther backward, until they are fafely freed from the ovum, they are care- fully and leifurely withdrawn (nearly in the direction in which they were infinuated)jfheath- ed ; and the operation compleated. SEPTEMBER i. To make myfelf completely matter of this fubject, I put a fly, this morn- ing, upon the fame plants I had obferved from yefterday ; and finding her fo tame that I could place her on any leaf I pleafed, and even turn it to the light while fhe was in the act, I cut offone of the tenderefl leaves, took it between the finger and thumb, placed the fly upon it, and holding them between tha glafs 330 MINUTES SEPT. 1 24. glafs and the light, faw five or fix compleat depofits in about twenty minutes : all exadtly in the manner a bove defcribed. If the fly diflike the part of the leaf fhe has begun to work upon, ihe withdraws her inftru- ments, and feeks for a more commodious part. Sometimes I have feen her begin at an angle, where fhe had not room for a nidus ; at others, the leaf being curled, fhe has found her mftru- ments getting too near one fide of it ; and again, have feen her begin fo near a former nidus that her inftrument has broke into it: in either of thefe cafes fhe defifted from going any farther. It is very obfervable, that fhe refufed entirely the fmboth tender feedling-leaves, for thofe which are rough and apparently more difficult to work upon : but inflind:, no doubt, and not eafe, directs her in the choice ; for the feedling- leaves are of fhort duration, and would proba- bly wither before the caterpillar became per- Jetted. To-day, looking carefully to fee if I eould perceive any progrefs made in an egg which I faw depofited, lafl Sunday, in the edge of the live turnep-leaf, and which I then marked, I obferved, to my great fatisfaclion, a young caterpillar feeding on the under- fide 1782. NORFOLK. 331 fide of the leaf; and, on examining the edge, 124. attentively, found a number of nidufes ; from TENTHREDO three or four of which the animals had obvi- THETURNEP oufly efcaped ; they being empty, with a hole on their under-fide, proportioned to the fize of the young animal j and looking diligently on the under-furface of the other leaves, I found four more infant caterpillars, Jn the afternoon, I difcovercd a fixth cater- pillar, which, I apprehend, had efcaped in the courfe of the day. The flies, I find, were put upon the leaves the twenty-firfl of Auguft, and it is probable that fome of the young cater- pillars were perfected, and left their nidufes, ycf- terday; fo that they remained ten days in the egg-flate. Their form is that of the full-grown cater- pillars : their fize, one-tenth of an inch iqi length : their thicknefs in proportion : their colour, a dirty white ; except the head, which is of a jetty fhining black. They begin to feed on the undcr-furface of the leaf, as foon, I apprehend, as they elcape from their confinement ; and fome of them were, this afternoon, ftout enough to accom- pli fh a perforation. Being femi-tranfparent, their food may be plainly fcen paffing through their bodies ; their vifcera 332 MINUTES 124. vifcera appearing to confift of one flraight TENTHREDO paffage from the mouth to the anus. THETWNEP They feem to have a perfect ufe of all their limbs and faculties , and cling fo clofe to the leaf that it is difficult to lhake them off. SEPTEMBER 2. Yefterday, to try whether it be, a univerfal faculty belonging to flies in general to live in a ftate of difcapitation, or whether it be peculiar to the Tenthredo of the turnep, I feparated the head of a common large blue houfe-fly, about a -quarter before two o'clock. It immediately rofe upon its wings, two or three inches high, and falling upon its back, fpun round for fome time : lifted it up by its legs, and letting it fall, it made ufe of its wings and lighted upon its feet, on which it now flood motionlefs. About fevcn it was ftill alive. Neglefted to obfcrve it later. This morning it is dead. Thus it feems probable, that all flies have a faculty of living fome length' of time without the head ; but that fome flies will furvive the decapitation much longer than others. SEPTEMBER 2. To-day, put a female fly on to a fucculent leaf of rape (braftca napus). She tried it over and over, both on the fide and on the edge; but would not attempt to infi- nuate 17*2. NORFOLK. 333 nuate her inftrument ; and flew away from it. 124, Put her, immediately, on to a young tnrnep-leaf: TENTHREDO in three minutes fhe made a depofit. Replaced THETURNE* her on the rape-leaf : ihc appeared to be dif- gufted ; and would not offer to make a nidus : but furTering her to walk on to the turnep. leaf again, fhe feemed much pleafed ; and there being a large perforation, (he put one foot through the hole, and made a depofir -, the firfl I had feen made on the margin of a hole in the leaf. She feemed to (land aukwardly for the operation ; but, neverthelefs, twifted her inftrument in fuch a manner as to hit the middle of the leaf very accurately. Saw the fame fly, afterwards, make three feparate depofits in the edge of a fmooth fced- ling-leaf; but, perhaps, the edges of the rough leaves were already occupied. Placed a caterpillar upon the rape-leaf; but it immediately walked off : put it on again, and Ihut them up in a box; it eat very freely. SEPTEMBER 5. The caterpillar lived upon this leaf until yefterday noon, when the leaf was become dry. Put it on to the live turnep to pall its hun- ger ; and then fhut it up in a box with two very 334 MINUTES SEPT. 1 24. very tender leaves of fow-thiflle (fonchus ok~ TENTHREDO ra cms}. THETURNEP This morning untouched, except a flight rafure on each leaf. Returned it to the tur- nep-leaf -, it eat immediately. SEPTEMBER 6. Yefterday, put two leaves of garden-muftard and two of garden -crefs (fmall fallading) into a box with a caterpillar, covering it up with the crefs-leaves, and lay- ing thofe of the muftard at a diftance. In the evening it had left the crefs untouched, and had got upon the muftard. This morn- ing found it refting itfelf upon one of the muftard-Ieaves; but it had not eaten any percep- tible part of it. Put it on to the live turnep ; it eat a little, but did not quite finilh one per- foration ; it having, I apprehend, almoft done feeding : this experiment, therefore, is not quite deciiive. SEPTEMBER 6. This morning, obferving the (late of the nidus which I marked the twenty- fifth of Augufl, I perceived the young cater- pillar hadjuft come forth ; its tail ftill upon the nidus. This, therefore, laid in the egg-date eleven days. The nidus appears fmall, comparatively with the animal ; which mult lie ceiled up in a very eom- NORFOLK; 335 TENTHREDO OF THE TURNEf. compact manner. The body nearly white, and 124, the head, except the eyes, alfo whitifh. SEPTEMBER. 7. This morning I find nvo of the oldeft of the young caterpillars have Ihed their exuvix ; having left them fixed to the leaf of the ttirnep. What fuipriied me much was, to find them of a deeper black than they were before they caft their firil coatj which had, within this day or two, become blackilh; but this fecond coat is almoft a jetty black. One of them feemed but juft difengnged from its Hough; yet was remarkably lively, and appeared to be feeding ; but, on touching the leaf fomewhat roughly, it fell to the ground. This fomewhat furprifed me : becaufe, before they flied their coats, it was almoft im- poflible to lhake them off. Small as it yet is, however, it had activity enough to regain the plant in lefs than ten minutes. They are now fix days old ; one of them three-twentieths the other four-twentieths of an inch long. 125. SEPTEMBER 7. The feafons, during the laft SEASONS, nine months, have been much behind the fun. Autumn lafted until the middle of January ; Winter 33$ MINUTES 1 25. Winter till the beginning of May ; Spring un- SEASONS. til the month of July ; and, now, we are in the height of Summer ! I have been ftrolling about the neighbourhood this morning, and find the farmers in the throng of wheat-harveft [ They did not begin, in general, until about, a week ago. Stock remained in the ftubbles and pan 1 urcs until after Old Chriftmas ; fome until February : indeed, the grafs continued growing until De- cember j and a freih fhoot was, in fome places, obfervable in the middle of January. Daifies began to appear about Chriftmas ; honey-fuckles, in general, foliated the firft week in January ; and the hazel catkin, hav- ing received no check, began to blow about the feventh of January : and, what is extraor- dinary, continued to blow, in intervals of fine weather, until the beginning of April ; until which time the grpfles, and wheats, were entirely at a ftand, by a fucceffion of cold, ftormy, wet weather ; but without much froft or fnow. The uncertainty of feafons in this country- will appear, by the following regifter of the ad- vancement; of the laft and the three preceding fprings. The ! 7 82. NORFOLK. 337 1779. 1780. 1781. J 7 82 - I2C. Surrey. Surrey. Norfolk. Norfolk. Feb. 7 Mar. 9 Mar. 1 5 Apr. 10 SFASONJ, Feb. ic Mar. 10 Feb. jo Mar. 31 Feb. 20 Mar. 2^ Mar. 20 Apr. i Feb. 20 Mnr. 30 Mar. 20 Apr. 10 Mar. i Mar. 21 Mar. 28 Apr, 23 Mar. 4 Mar. 20 Apr. 10 Apr. 1 8 Mar. 28 Apr. 15 Apr. 14 May 10 Mar. 21; Apr. 28 Apr. 17 May 12 Mar. 28 Apr. 24 Apr. i-j May 4 Apr. i Apr. 39 Apr. 2 1 May 22 Apr. i Apr. 7 Apr. 30 May i Apr. 22 Apr. 23 iune 12 Apr. 1 6 Apr. , 2 Apr. 23 May 4 Apr. 1 8 May i Apr. 20 May 26 Apr. 20 Vay 4 - . May 8 Apr. 20 Apr. 23 May 20 Apr. 1 8 Slay 17 Apr. 21 June 4 Apr. 25 way i May 22 May 25 May 29 Tune 10 May 27 June 15 une i une 2.1 [une 15 July 2. uly 28 - i Aug. 29 Mar. 25 May 12 The primrofe blowed - The hazel blowed The goofeberry foliated - The fallow bloVccf - - The elder foliated - - The wild rofe foliated - The hawthorn foliated - The floe biowed The nightingale beg. to fin The hazel foliated - - The birch foliated - . The elm foliated The cuckow began to call The maple foliated - - The cpwflip blcnved The fwallow- returned - The oak foliated - - The afh foliated The haw blowed Wheat (hot into ear Wheat harveftin geri. beg. Turneps in full blow - In May, we had loud claps of thunder, with lightning, and a fucceffion of rain and tem- peft, throughout the month ! The farmers were diftreffed, even upon the light lands of Nor- folk, to get in their barley : many acres, pro- bably many hundred acres, were fown in the month of June ! In the wet land countries, it is faid, a confiderable lhare of the grounds in- tended for fpring-corn could not be fown j and much of that which was got in rotted in the ground. The fummer continued wet (excepting two ihort intervals) until the twenty-firft of Auguft, Vot, If. 2 when M I N U T E S SEPT. '25- SEASONS. TIME OF SOWING. \vhen the weather took up ; and the laft ten days or a fortnight have been extremely fine and fummer-like : foggy mornings and hot parching days: a finer wheat-harveft never happened. But the barlies are ftill backward, fome of them quite green, fcarcely a fwath cut in the neighbourhood. Neverthelefs, the crops look well ; efpecially the late-fown ones ! a ftriking proof, this, that the farmer, in his time of fow- ing, ought to confuk thefeafon rather than the /*. * Ofiolcr 10. A piece of barley which fell more par- ticularly under my notice (fee M. 1 14.) was fovvn the fourth and fifth of June ; and was cut the twenty fixth and twenty-fevcnth of September : the crop not quite thick enough upon the ground ; but remarkable ** top-corn !* twenty-eight to thirty or thirty two grains on a fpike. And what makes this incident a ftill ftronger evidence in. favour of attending to the feafons for the proper time of fou ing this piece of barley, though fown later by feye- ral days than any other piece upon the farm, was (whers it had not been chilled by the ftanding water) the Jloutrjl, belt barley upon it. Had this piece of barley been fown on the fame- days, in an early fpring, it is more than pro- bable that, iaftcad of being the belt, it would have been the worft, upon the farm. The ftoutnefs of the draw, the length of the ears, and the plumpnefs of the grain (a fyecimen of which I have preferred), are j rools that it was fown in feafon, the fourth and fifth of June. For general remarks on this fubjer, fee Experiments and dfervations on Agriculture and the Weather ^ p. 171. 126. tfa: NORFOLK. 126. 126. SEPTEMBER 7. L'aft yc.ir, I. put a fwann of BLES. bees into a wooden hive, of a particular con- ftrudtion. They took it remarkably well, and in the Courfc of the fummer laid up an ample ftore. But the mildriefs of the autumn, and the length of the fpring, were fatal to a principal part of the bees in the country ; and to thefe among the reft. Neverthelefs, through in- attention, I let the hive ftan'd irt its place, with the empty comb in it. Paflrng by it on the twenty-fourth of July, (the height of fwarming-time this year!) I faw feveral bees about the mouth of the hive : but in the evening they difappeared. Next morning they returned ; and; at noon, were fol- lowed by a very large fwarm ; which took pof- fcffion of the hive ; and, in a few ho'Urs, be- gan throwing out the dead,- and clearing their rfew habitation .' a work which employed them tint and the enfuing day. Perhaps, this was a ftray flight, which had fet- tled upon fome neighbouring tree ; and the firft were out-fcouts, fearching for a hollbw tree, or a fiiTure in a rock. Or, perhaps, they cam'e immediately from fcme hive in the neighbourhood. I have beerf Z 2 fince 3 4 o MINUTES SEPT, 126. fince told that this circuatftance frequently BEES. happens ; and that it is reckoned unneigh- bourly, if not unlawful, to let a " dead ftock" remain upon the Hand. A labourer, it feems, followed one, this year, immediately from his own to a farmer's garden in the neighbour- hood. Thefc are circumflances in the hiftory of this petty but pleafmg object of rural eco- nomy, which, though they feem to be well un- derftood in this part of the kingdom, are not, I believe, generally known. 127. MANURING SEPTEMBER 7. Lafl year I made two accu- GRASSLAND. rate experiments on the time of manuring grafs- land. One of them was made the thirtieth of July, prefently after the hay had been carried off: the other in Oftober. The firft was very decifive : the benefit was evident -, though the whole crop was extremely good ; at leaft two load an acre : but, where the dunghad been let, the grafs was lodged, and the fwath obvioufly larger than it was on the unma- nured parts. But the benefit ariling from that fet on irt October was by no means obvious ; indeed, on' a clofe 1782. NORFOLK. 341 aclofe infpe&ion, I could not fee any fhade of 127, difference ; although the crop was in this cafe MANURING GRASSLAND very moderate ; not a load an acre. 128. SEPTEMBER 7. (See M. 62.) Another exceed- woon- LANDS, tngly fine a(h, which Hood in the neighbourhood of that before mentioned, and which had alfo been difbarked, entirely round, by the deer, was blown down by the high winds of laft fpring. The roots were entirely rotten, and the bot- tom of the ftem appeared, as it lay with its butt on, to be decayed; but the topwood and the bark of the ftem had a healthy and found appearance. Neverthelefs, on cutting it up, the ftem proves rotten at the heart, for twelve or fifteen feet up ; and is, at the bottom, a mere fhell. Therefore, notwithftanding the afh may ap- pear healthy and flo.urifhing after it has been, barked ; it is, neverthelefs, decaying in the moft eflential part ; and ought not, in point of profit, to be fuffercd to ftand *. * The rottennefs of this tree could not be owing to a natural decay ; as it had every appearance of a healthy, growing tree ; and ftood in a grove, which probably is not more than fifty or fixty years old ; and whofe trees, in general, are now in full vigour. Z 3 SEPTEM- M I N U T E S 129. 129. ^^OF^ 00 SEPTEMBER 7. The young caterpillars are -HETURXEP partial to the leaf they are bred in. Obferv- ing one juft excluded from a leaf which is be- come old, withered, and yellow, with only here and there a green fpeck, 1 cut off the part on which it was feeding (thinking that a younger leaf would be more acceptable) and laid it upon a frefli young plant, in fuch a man- ner that the animal lay at its eafe between the two leaves : neverthelefs, it fall kept feeding on the old leaf, for many hours ; and, when it left it, did not begin upon the top of the ten- der leaf, but went down to the leaf- {talk. But on reflection, this is in confonance with nature : the animal had been nourilhed, while in the nidus, with the juices of the old leaf; and after its enlargement, the fame juices, and thole of a fimilar nature, were moft fuitable to its acquired habit. Inftinct, therefore, led it to feed upon its fofter plant; and to prefer the rigid to the tender part of the young leaf. SEPTEMBER 9. The eggs depofited on Saturday the thirty-full of Auguft, are beginning to come forth to-day ; which is only the ninth day from the time of their being de- pofited : the leaves young, healthy, and fuc- culent; 2782. N O R F O L K. 34,3 culent : there is, however, only one a$ yet 129. excluded (fix o'clock in the evening) and another TENTHREDO which feems ready to burft forth : the nidus, THETURXEP on the undcr-iide of the leaf, being fvvelled to the ftretch ; and fomewhat on one fide is a large black fpeckj over which the leaf has a ihining glofly appearance. Cut off the margin of the leaf, and fhut it up in a box. SEPTEMBER 10. This morning 1 it is come forth, and has eaten a pit in the leaf large enough to bury itfelf. Examining the leaves in the garden-pot, I find them fwarming with young caterpillars, which have been excluded laft night ; fo that ten days may be taken as a mean continuance in the egg-ftate. Examining thefe leaves {till further, I per- ceived one of the animals in the ad having got its fore legs without the ori- fice, crept out with eafe. I afterwards obferved two more perform the fame operation, in the fame manner, and mi- nuted 1.782. NORFOLK. nuted them both : one of them was fifteen and the other twenty minutes, from the firft vifibleact to the final exclufion, namely, about ten minutes in making the perforation, and the reft of the time in refting, and in the la* bour of extricating themfelves. I am clearly of opinion, neverthelefs, that the moiflure, abovementipned, affifts them, materially in the operation, by refolving the coat of the nidus into a jelly-like matter, foft and inviting to the infant tooth ; for ont which, on being placed in a hot fun, began to make the perforation before the coat had fuffi- ciently received its femi-diflblution ; that is, before the livid patch was large enough; could not extricate itfelf, but {tuck with its fore- head out ; while its tentacula, and fore legs, were bound in by a part of the coat, dill green and rigid ; and it died in this ftate, 130. SEPT. IT. The Midfummer Jhoot of the oak, this year, has been more obvious than I recolledl to havefcen it. It has, however, lap^, prehend, been made much later than ufual : it was not obvioufiy general until the beginning of Auguft. Many oaks have Ihot upwards of a foot in length. The 129. LANDS, MINUTES SEPT. The Midfummer moot and the Midfum- mer barking- time have always .daggered my opinion relative to a uniform motion of the fap, on Dr. Hales' principles ; nor have they, I believe, ever been fairly accounted for ; but remain an unanfwered argument in favour of a circulation of the fap *. Being flruck with this year's ample (hoot, I was led into a train of reflection upon this interfiling fubjecl:. The fpr'mg run of the bark and the fpring moot are the acknowledged confcquences of the rife of the fap ; but how fimilar 6ffec~ts Ihould take place about Midfummer, when an extraordinary rife of fap cannot eaiily be proved, may fecm difficult to explain. If, however, we conceive a regularly afcend- ing ftream to commence on the approach of fpring, and to continue rifing, uniformly, un- til the wane of Autumn; and trace, with clofe attention, the effects which muft neceffa- rily be produced upon the tree by fuch a uni- form rife of fap ; we ihall find them to be exactly thofe which annually occur in nature : namely, a fpring run of the bark, fucceeded by a fpring ihoot, with leaves, &c. a Mid- iummer run, with a fucceedmg fhoct, &rc. * The arterial f..p, if it. may be fo termed, which flows trum tuu root, is here to be underflood. and, #82. NORFOLK. 347 ajid, perhaps, what every year occurs in a 130, greater or fmaller degree, a Michaelmas run of the bark, with a Michaelmas Ihoot. This procefs of nature might be illuftratcd in, the following manner. Suppofe four elailic vcffcls to be connected in regular ferks, with narrow communications between them j each channel of communication being furnifhed with an claitic valve, requiring a degree of force to open it ; but, being over- come by fuperipr preflure, its clafticity weak- ening, until entirely fpent. Suppofe this feries of elaftic veflels ftretched flat upon a table (rcprefcnting the trcej, and covered with a board (rcprefcnting its bark;. This would refemblethe winter flate of the tree, when the bark and the wood are in their nearefl degree of contact. Suppofe further, a regular ftream of water to be injected into the firft vellel. As the water continued to flow, the veflel would fwell ; the board be lifted by flow degrees from the table ; and in this ftate reprefent, fufficiently, the fpring run of the bark. The veflel being filled to the flretch, the firft valve would begin to yield ; the buds of the tree would burft, the leaves expand, and the firing Jhoot be protruded. But MINUTES SEPT. 130, But the fpring fhoot being compleatcd ; every twig and every leaf having received its limited fize ; and the ftream ftill continuing to flow; a fecond furcharge naturally takes place ; and the bark becomes, a fecond time, feparated from the tree. The flream ftill flowing, the fecond valve is opened ; and a fecond, called the Midfummtr Jbcot, rreceiTarily follows. The autumn proving fine, and the current of fap ftill continuing to rife, the fecond fhoot arrives at maturity, and a tbird ovtrfloiv of fap takes place ; the third valve is burfl open, and a third or Michaelmas fhoot is the confequence. But winter fetting in, the fupply of fap is ftopt ; and that which has already been raifed, being fpent on the younger moots, carried off by perfpiration, or having fallen back again to the root, the bark clofes upon the wood, and the tree returns again to its winter ftate, SEPTEMBER 21. Hog-cifterns> in this coun- try, are principally built with bricks and terrace. But tills is expenfive : yet a hog-ciftern is among the firft conveniences of a farm-houfe. Wooden vcffels are incommodious, and leaden ones dangerous. This i;82.' NORFOLK. 349 This fummer a receptacle for water in a brick- 1 3 1 . yard being wanted, 1 had one built of bricks, CISTERN'S. Jaid in clay, and furrounded with a coat of the fame material : it holds water perfectly. Afterwards, I built a hog-ciftern in the fame manner. This morning, on enquiry, I find that not only the tenant, but his wife and her maids, are fully fatisfied with it. It was built in this manner A pit five feet and a half long, by four feet wide, and five feet deep, was funk in the place moft convenient to the dairy, kitchen, and hog-yard jointly. The bottom of the pit was bedded with fomc extraordinarily fine clay, fetched from the fea- coaft for this purpofe ; moiftetted and rammed down ; and its furface fmoothed over with a trowel. On this flooring were laid three courfes of bricks, in clay-mortar (the beft of the clay being taken for this purpofe), and in fuch a manner^ that the joints of one courfe fell in the middle of the bricks of the courfe beldw ; the whole being laid long-ways j not croffed, in the ufual manner. The fides were carried up half a brick thick (thatis^abrick in width) with morrar of fine clay; and, in a vacancy left between the brick-work and the fides of the pit, moift clay was firmly rum- 35 MINUTES SEPT. 131. rammed ; fo as to unite as much a? poffiblc the CISTERNS. bricks, the clay, and the fides of the pit into one folid mafs ; carrying the brick and clay work up together; and beating back fuch bricks, in- to the clay, as were forced forward by ram- ming., The ciilern when brought up level with the furface of the ground meafured three feet long, two iind a half feet wide, and three and a half feet deep; confequcntly the furrounding feam of clay is not more than four inches thick ; and the ftratum at the bottom is about the fame thicknefs. Above-ground, a nine-inch wall was raifed O on each fide, two feet high, with a gable car- ried up at one end ; and, on thefe, a fpan or pitched roof was fet, and covered with tyles ; the other end being left entirely open as a door- way. This is an admirable covering for a ciflern; A flat (whether it lie horizontally or Hoping) being continually expofed to the weather, lets in rain-water ; fcon rots ; and, from the manner in which it hangs, is liable every day to be fplit, arid its hinges forced offy by the heedlefsJ nefs of fervants : whereas a door, having only a gentle fall, and being always under cover, laft a number of years; 132. i 7 82, NORFOLK. 351 132. 132. SEPTEMBER 21. Yeflerday evening, be- TENTHREDO tween five and fix o'clock, faw a young cater- THETURNEF pillar flip its flough. What flruck me molt, was its head being of a filvery white ; except its eyes (very fmall), which are black, as was the body. Watched the head to fee it change its colour. In about half an hour, it began obvioufly to change to a lead-colour : at eight o'clock (two hours and a half) it was become quite dark : this morning it is entirely black. SEPTEMBER 22. One of the caterpil- lars (full feven-tenths of an inch long) ex- cluded the firft of September (the only one living) took ground to-day : exactly three weeks from the firft exclufion (two hours and & half in burrowing). It ftied its coat about the feventh, and an- other time, laft Friday, the twentieth ; and probably another intermediate time, about the thirteenth : for thefe excluded the ninth fhcd theirs about the fifteenth, and are now fhcd- ding them a fecond time : four flipped yef. terday ; three to-day : one of them I faw Qip its Hough : the head white as above- mentioned. 352 MINUTES SEPT. 132. . SEPEMBER 28. Thofe excluded the ninth TENTHREDO began to ftied their laft coat laft night (five OF THE TURNER ftiedj, which is only nineteen days from their exclufion. But they have been Ihut up in a warm box, and regularly fed. Thefe, I am pofitive, have med their coats three times, at about fix days diftance. Put them upon a pot of mould : they would not take it, nor would they eat ; but feemed defirous of being releafed from their confinement. I therefore gave them their liberty. They were remarkably active ; crawl- ing much fafter now than at any preceding pe- riod of the caterpillar-ftate. . Hitherto their bufiriefs of life has been eating-, now, they are in a buftle to provide themfelves conve- hient lodging-places. OCTOBER 16. To try whether rain, or other water, coming in contact with the chry- faline coat, injures the animal or, whether the coat is water-proof; I fuffered a caterpillar to burrow in a garden-pot, and let it re- main about thirty. fix hours undiflurbed. I then watered the furface plentifully, alrnoft" covering it with a meet of water, and put a quantity into the faucer oa which it Hood. This I have 1782. N O R F O L K. I have feveral times repeated; fo that if the coat be not water-proof, it muft in this time be in- jured, and the animal drowned. Searched for it this morning (Mr. Parkin fon prefent) ; found it intire, and the coat as firm and as tough as parchment, notwithftandingthc mould round it was in a flate of mortar." Put it into a glafs of water to warn off the loofe mould : the chryfaline coat now Ihewed itfdf of a delicate filky texture, and of a cylindri- cal form ; rounded at both ends, which were perfectly clofed and exactly alike. With Come difficulty (occafioned by its toughnefs and tightnefs) I made a breach at one end ; and found the animal perfectly alive, perfectly dry, and of a healthy appearance. The feafon being now far fpent, I defpair of feeing any of the chryfalifes come to the fly- flate this autumn ; their prefent flate is this : That laid up in the fold of a turnep-leaf the fourth of Auguft, ftill retains its plumpnefs and curvature; and ftill, I apprehend, 'retains its chryfalis life. Of the fix laid up the fifteenth of Auguft among mo'uld, four now remain fixed to the bottom of the box. On feparating one of them, I find the coat very tender and fomewhat VOL. II, A a broken, J5'4 M I N U T E S OCT. 132. broken, with only the fkin of the animal TENTHREDO remaining , not entire, but divided longitudi- THETURNEP ii ally ; one of the divifions, or fides, being very entire, the other broken. Query Has the fly efcaped from this unnoticed (for during the firfl two or three weeks the box was fre- quently left open to receive the rays of the fun ); or has fome other animal entered the coat, and devoured the entrails of the caterpillar? Loofening another, I find it very perfect, containing a plump, fleek, healthy-looking chryfalis. Separating a third, it proves a fine large coat, curioufly lined on the infide, with a fmooth filvery lamina ; but without any re- mains whatever of the animal, which has ob- vioufly efcaped through a perforation at one end of the coat. Query Did it cfcape in the caterpillar or the fly Hate ? I am of opinion it made itsefcape prefently after it had formed its coat, and was that which I found under the turnep-leaf (fee backj; for there were only fix caterpillars put into the box, and there have been fix coats formed : it is, therefore, pro- bable, that each formed its refpe&ive coat, and that two of them made their efcape. The other coat, feemingly perfect, and, I appre- hend, containing a chyyfalis, ftili remains fixed to the bottom. That jyga. NORFOLK. 355 That formed the twenty-fifth of Auguft, 132. with mould upon a flip of paper, Hill remains TENTHREDO a perfect coat, adhering clofely to the paper. THE TURNEP Thofe which burrowed in the garden-pot : while warm weather continued, the pot was placed in the fun : it has fince flood near the fire; fo as to receive a confiderable degree of warmth ; but nothing, I believe, has yet come forth. Two or three of them being marked, I have fearched for them, by digging up the earth carefully, and breaking the lumps between the fingers : this I have found a nic and difficult bufinefs, and the firft I unfortu- nately crufhed between my fingers. On feparating and adjufling the parts, how- ever, I can clearly perceive the head with its antennce folded back; its palpi, and legs, perfectly formed ; its fcutuli (or black fhields upon the fhoulders) of their full fize and proper colour j as is the head ; but the antennas and legs and palpi are ftill white, and appear limber, and not yet hardened. I can- not, however, find any traces of wings : there are fome fragments of a hardifh fubftance; green within, and brown without ; which may be the wings ftuck to the Hough of the cater- pillar i but I am not certain. A a 2 Being 3 M I N U T E S OCT. jo 2 . Being willing to facrificc another to my curiofity, I have fearched for and found an- other coat; but only one-half of the floughof the caterpillar remains; divided longitudinally as before. The garden-pot now contains one bur- rowed on Sunday twenty-fifth of Auguft ; one on Monday twenty-fixth of Auguft ; and three or four which have burrowed fmcc that time, not minuted. I now put the pot by, with the glafs over it to prevent efcapes *. From thefe circumftances, from the frefh flight of flies which appear to fpring up in the middle of fummer, as well as from the afiertions of more than one farmer, who fay, that having ihut the caterpillars up in boxes they came to flies (the particulars I have not learned); it appears to me more than probable, that the early broods pafs through the feveral changes, and arrive at the fly-ftate, in the courfe of the fummer : while, from the ftate in which feveral of the chryfalifes above- noticed flill remain, as well as from the fcat- tered flights of flies which every year are ob- ferved to make their appearance in the fpring, * Leaving the country, a flvort time afterwards, I had not an opportunity of noticing the event. it 1782. NORFOLK. it appears to me equally probable that the 132, latter broods lie in the chryfalis flate through the winter ; and that fuch as efcape deftruc- tion from birds, infects, and the uncertainty of feafons in this climate, rife in the fly-flate the enfuing fpring. Further, it feems probable, that in the more northern climates, where the fummer is fhort, the entire brood lie in the chryfalis-ftate through winter; which being rigid, and the fpring ufually fetting in ab- ruptly, the chryfalifes are locked up free from injury, and the flies at once rife upon the wing ; forming thofe cloud-like flights, which, when the wind happens to blow a fuffi- cient length of time invariably from the north- eafl, have been feen to arrive, or which may with every degree of probability be brought, upon the eaftern coaft of this ifland. It is, I believe, known that Tenthredos in general are gregarious ; hanging together in flights : from repeated obfervations I know that the fpecies under confideration will live from five to ten days without food. The diftancc from the fouthern cape of Norway to the coaft of Norfolk is not five hundred miles. It has been calculated that a balloon has been carried, by the wind alone , at the rate A a 3 of I MINUTES OCT. 132. of fifty miles an hour : confequently, a flight of infects, even fuppofing them to make no ufe of their wings to impel them forward, might be brought from Norway to this coaft in ten hours. In one week they might, pro- vided their wings could bear them, be brought to us from the moft eaftern confines of the Ruffian empire. If no exotic flights arrive, the few which furvive the winter, here, efcape in a manner unnoticed, and the plants receive no percep* tible injury : but, when to thefe the foreign fwarms are added, their progeny become too powerful for the plants ; and the devaftation becomes confpicuous and alarming ; produ- cing that dreadful calamity to this country, *' A CANKER YEAR *." * Were an apology for the length of this and the fore- going Minutes on this fubject to be required, I (hould make the following : Finding, on the perufal of thefe Mi- nutes, that I was poficfTed of a minutial detail of fafls, relative to the hiftory of an infect, which has been in> perfectly attended to by naturalifts ; but which is of the greateft importance to the agriculture of this country ; more efpecially of the Diftric~l whofe praclice I wifli to defcribe with accuracy and minutenefs ; I did not heiitate jn my determination to publiib. them entire. I determined with greater readinefs as I have found, fince thofe obferva- tions were made, that the deftru&ion caufed by this alarm- ing infeft, has, in fome well cultivated districts, thrown a damp 1782. N O R F O t K. '3.3- .33- OCTOBER 16. (SeeMiN. 13.) To endea- WHEAT. vour to afcertain the truth of this opinion, J had a fmall bufli of the lerbery 'plant fer, in February or March laft, in the middle of a large piece of wheat. I neglected to make any obfervations upon it until a little before harveft ; when a neigh- bour (Mr. John Baker, of South-RepsJ came to tell me of the effedt it had produced. The wheat was then changing, and the reft -of the piece (about twenty acres) had acquired a considerable degree of whitenefs (white wheat) ; while about the berbery bufh there appeared a long, but fomewhat oval-fliaped, flripe, of a dark livid colour, obvious to a perfon riding on the road at a confiderable diflance. The part afFeacd refembled the tail of a comet, the bufh itfelf reprefenting the nu- damp upon the cultivation of a valuable object of rural economy, which will not readily be removed. And I flatter myfelf that the expedients, here regiftercd, for checking or removing jthe evil, will not be lei's ufeful to the agricultor, than 9 fedulous adduction of ftufts, re- lative to the migration and propagation of infects, will be intercfting to the admiicrs of the economy of nature. A a 4 - cleus; 360 MINUTES OCT. 133. cleus ; on one fide of which the fenfible effedt PLAxr RY reached about twelve yards ; but on the other, not more than two yards ; the tail pointing towards the fouth-wefl : fo that probably the effecl: took place during a north-eaft wind. At havveft, the ears near the bufh flood eret, handling foft and chaffy ; the grains {lender, fhrivelled and light. As the diftance from the bulb increafed, the effect was lefs difcernible, until it vanifhed imperceptibly. The reft of the piece was a tolerable crop ; and the draw clean, except on a part which was lodged ; where the ftraw nearly refembled that round the berbery ; but the grain on that part, though lodged, was much heavier than it was on this, where the crop flood erect. The grain of the crop, in general, was thin-bodied ; neverthclefs, ten grains, chofen impartially out of the ordinary corn of the piece, took twenty-four of the berberied grains, chofen equally impartially, to balance , it ! fo that, fuppofing the crop in general to be worth five pounds an acre, the part in- jured by the berbery would barely be worth forty Shillings , the quality, as well as the quantity, being much inferior. To try whether the vegetating faculty of thefe grains was dcftroyecl or not by the damage NORFOLK. 361 damage the farinaceous part of them had re- 133. ccived; I fowed, Wednefday fourth of Septem- BERBERY Pi* A N T ber, three grains of the heavy, and as many of the light, in a garden-pot. Thurfday nine- teenth of September, one of the light grains came up ; but none of the other until Thurf- day the twenty-fixth, when one of the heavy ones made its apperance: and on Tuefday fe- cond of October, another of the heavy grains broke ground. To-day, turned the mould out of the pot: found the other heavy grain, and one of the light ones ; both of them fprouted. It is, therefore, proved that, notwithftand-r ing the injury done to the farinaceous part of thefe grains, their vegetative virtue is not wholly deftroyed. 134- OCTOBER 26. Bullock-fair of St. Faittts. MARKET*. Bullocks, this year, have been dearer than they were even laft year (fee MIN. 27.;. The firft day of this fair (the iyth inftant), ten to twelve pounds a head was afked for bul- locks ; but good ones have fince been bought for feven to nine pounds. Bullocks which will fat to fifty ftone, may now be bought for feven pounds. This 362 MINUTES OCT. FAIR. OF ST. FAITH'S. 133, This morning, I faw ten two-year-old lile- of-Sky Scots, drawn out of a lot of two hun- dred, at two guineas and a half a head. Very fmall : not larger than the ordinary yearling- Calves of the larger breeds of cattle. 135- *ENCES. OCTOBER 28. This morning, I obferved fome workmen fencing a rick-yard with furze- faggots, alone : a fpecies of fence I have not met with before. In a trench, about eighteen inches wide, and fix inches deep, they fet the faggots, as clofe as poffible, upon their ends ; fpreading the bot- toms ; and covering the fkirts with the loofe mould dug out of the trench ; alfo with that of a narrow trench, (a fpade's width) dug for the purpofe, on each fide ; treading the mould firm to the roots of the faggots ; which being fufficiently loaded, the trenchlets were ihoveled and the banks fmoothed. One of the labourers fays, he has fet a furze- fence in this manner acrofs Gremam-field (an cxpofed fituation) which has flood one or two winters. Calculate the expence thus : One hundred and twenty faggots fet about eight rods ; ex- pence NORFOLK. 363 pence of cutting two millings and fixpence, 135. or about fourpence a rod. Expence of fet- FURZE ~ F ^ ting about threepence a rod more : together feven pence a rod. The value of the furze, after having flood a year, will be about fix millings a hundred ; or ninepence a rod. Furze-faggots, thus placed, are a fence againfl every kind of flock ; even hogs and hares j and, in a country over-flocked with the latter, might frequently be ufed, as a temporary fence, with great advantage. 136. OCTOBER 31. Yefterday, procured the fol- MARLINS. lowing particulars of the expences upon Nor- wich marl, brought round by Yarmouth, and landed at the flaiths, at Wood-Baflwick. Coft of a chaldron (weighing a chaldron of coalsj at Thorp, and putting it on board the lighters eightpence ; lighterage to Wood-Baft- wick, round by Yarmouth, fifty miles, fix- teen-pence ; together, two millings a chaldron. Two chaldrons make a middling cart-load ; fA'o chaldrons and a half a good load : feven or eight large loads are efleemed fufficient for an acre: the expence upon which ftands thus : : The 3*4 M I N U T E S OCT. 136. JfARLING. WATER- MARK! AC I. The marl, (fuppofe eighteen chal- . s. d. drons) at two Ihil lings - - - i 16 o Filling it at the ftaith ; carting to a medium diftance, and fpreading about, fifteen-pence a load, - 126 Expence per acre, 18 6 With the marl ought to be, and frequently is, laid on a quantity of Yarmouth muck, equal, in expence, to the marl. After this dreffing, for about ten years, the foil (a fandy loam, but ftronger and deeper than the Norfolk foil in general) throws out very great crops ; and, with the ufual teathe and ordinary dungings, will feel the effect of the marl for ten years longer. Before the ufe of marl (which has not been brought by water, I apprehend, above ten or fifteen years) the farmers could grow no tur- neps ; the land letting for ten or twelve Shil- lings an acre : now, the turneps upon it are remarkably fine; and the land lets at full twenty {hillings an acre : a rent the occupiers could not pay, were it not for marl. The .diftance between Wood-Bafhvick and the marl-pits at Thorp next Norwich, is not, by 1782. NORFOLK. 36$ by land, more than fix or feven miles ; yet, 136. the farmers find it cheaper to fetch their marl WATER- C A R R. 1 Av fifty miles by water, and then carry it, per- haps, half a mile from the ftaith to the ground, than fetch it thefe fix or fevcn miles by land. What an advantage, in feme cafes, is water-carriage to a farmer; and, confe- quently, to an etfate. OCTOBER 31. I have lately obtained the INCLOSURES following particulars refpecting the recent inclofure at Felbrigg. Some feven or eight years ago, Mr. Wynd- 1 ham, who is Lord of the Manor, was alfo (in effecX) the fole proprietor of this parilh ; ex- cepting one fmall farm, of feventy pounds a year, belonging to a young man, a yeoman, juft come of age. An extenfive heathy wade, and fome com- mon-field lands, were defirable objects of inclo- fures : confcquently, the poflcfilon of this young man's eftate became an object of im- portance to Mr. Wyndham. Steps were accordingly taken * towards ob- taining the defirecl pofiefllon : not, however, by * Through the mediation of Mr. Kent ; whofe ability, as an eftatc-agcnt, is Jefervcdly applauded in this Diftrict. threats MINUTES OCT. threats and fubtcrfuges, too commonly but very impoliticly made ufe of upon fuch occafkms; but by open and liberal propofals to the young man, the joint proprietor; who was made fully acquainted with the intention ; and frankly told, that nothing could be done with- out his eftate. He was, therefore, offered, at once, a fpecific and confiderable fum, over and above its full value to any other perfon: and, to enfure the object in view, he had, at the fame time, an offer made him of a confi- derable farm, on advantageous terms. The young man, being enterprifing, and his little eftate being, I believe, fomewhat en- cumbered, accepted the offer, fold his eftate, and agreed for a farm ; conlifting partly of old inclofure ; in part of common-field land ; and, in a ftill greater proportion, of the heath to be inclofed. Mr. Wyndham (whofe virtues and abilities are publicly known) having thus (in effeft as to this inclofure) got the entire parilh into his pof- feffion, and having fet out the leaft fertile part of the heath, as a common, for the poor to colled fireing from, he parcelled out the re- mainder to different tenants, laid out roads and driftways, and divided the whole, whether heath 1782. NORFOLK. heath or common-field, into inclofures of eight to twelve acres each ; or agreeably to the defire, or conveniency, of the intended occupiers. A principal part of the heath-land was laid to the farm of Mr. Prieft, the young man above-mentioned ; and was let to him on the following terms. Landlord agreed to raife fences, hang gates, build a new barn upon a large fcalc, make other alterations, and put the whole of the buildings into thorough repair. The tenant agreed to marl twenty acres every year, until the whole mould be marled, at the rate of twenty cart-loads an acre. The rent agreed upon was this. Nothing until it has been marled three years. The fourth year, after marling, the rent to commence at three millings an acre : at which to continue four years ; and then (namely, the eighth year after being marled) to rife to feven fliil lings and fixpence an acre : and at this rent to remain until the expiration of the term of twenty-one years. It was alfo further agreed that the tenant Ihould be paid for the carriage of the materials of the new barn ; but fhould do that for the repairs and alterations, gratis; as-alfo for the fubfequent 63 MINUTES Oct. 137. fubfequent repairs during the term. Alfo that JNctosuRES tenant fliould pay half the expence of work- men's wages for the fubfequent repairs; pro- vided that fuch tnoiety do not exceed five pounds in any one year. This was a liberal agreement on the part of the landlord, and, on a curfory view, may feem to give extravagant encouragement to the tenant. The following calculation, however, will Ihew that, in the end, the plan will turn out highly advantageous to the landlord. SuppolCj for the fake of calculation,- the quantity of heath-land, let to this tenant, to be exactly three hundred acres : and that thefe three hundred acres are divided into thirty in- clofures of ten acres each ; with a public road, or a driftway, between each line of inclofures. This is fufficiently near, if not exactly, the fact upon Felbrigg-Heath. In this cafe, every inclofure required to be fenced on three fides. Ten acres contain one thoufand fix hun- dred ftatute rods. The fqunre root of one thou- fand fix hundred is forty ; consequently each inclofure, fuppofing them to be exactly fquare, required one hundred and twenty ftatute rods of fencing. The 178*. NORFOLK. 369 The price given for ditching, planting the 1 37. quick, and hedging, was eighteen pence each INCLOSURES long rod, of feven yards. An hundred and twenty ftatute rods contain about 95 long rods, which, at iSd. is - 726 4,500 quickfets, at 3*. 6d. 15*. yd. furze-feed, 4^. $d. - i o o .3*6 For fencing 30 inclofures, at 8/. 2S. 6d. each, reckon 250 o o . 50 gates, with polls, irons and hanging - - 50 o o ^- the barn (very fpacious) fuppofe - 200 o o additions, alterations and repairs 100 o o . 600 o o - compound intereft on this fum, in 21 yearly payments, at 4 per cent. 700 o o . 1300 o o -The rents to be received, during the trm, fuppofmg twenty acres to be marled yearly, would be thefe : VOL. II. B b i year 370 MINUTES. OCTJ i year o Forward 153 2 /-\ o o 12 T o year - 49 r *7 JO .} 4 u - 3 o 1 3 14 57 64 IO o - - 6 o 15 . 72 6 9 c 16 . 79 IO 7 ' - 12 o 17 . 87 3 - 1 9 10 18 . 94 IO 9 - 27 o o J 9 99 o 10 - 34 IO 20 103 10 o n - 42 o o 2.1 108 153 o o 967 10 o As the compound intereft of the above receipts fet down - - 232 10 o . 1200 O O Thus it appears, from this calculation, that, on the fuppofition of the articles of agree- rnent being ftridly adhered to, the landlord xvill be paying at the expiration of the term one hundred pounds as the purchafc-money of three hundred acres of improved land, worth from ten to fifteen fhillings an acre ; the prin- cipal part of this allotment being a good loam, lying on the dcfirable fubfoil, an abforbent brick earth. But 1782. NORFOLK. 371 But the fact is, and was probably forefecn, that the tenant, inftead of marling twenty acres annually, according to' the letter of the agree- ment, marled, I think he told me, upwards of one hundred the firft year, and has now nearly finiftied the whole. Therefore, fuppofing the original fix hun- dred pounds, and the firft feven years intercftj to have been taken up, the landlord would, at the end of the term, have cleared off the incumbrance, and have found fome hundred pounds in his pocket; befide the fee-fimple of one hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds a year, from this allotment only ; befide the advantages arifing from the remain- der of the heath, an'd the inclofure of the Common field ; and befides having done away a nuifance, and planted induftry and plenty upon an almoft ufelefs wafte : and this, too, \vithoutrenderinghimfelfodicrus, or his tenants mifcrable. IMPROVEMENTS like this are real^ and bring a permanent increafe to' the rent-roll of an eftate. END OF THE MINUTES. B b 2 PRO PROVINCIALISMS PERTAINING TO THE RURAL ECONOMY OF NORFOLK. THE languages of Europe are not more various, or fcarcely more different from each other, than are the dialecls of hufbandmen in different Diflridts of this Ifland. The practice of a given Diftrift, therefore, can only be ftudicd in the dialed: of that Dif- trift. No converfation can be carried ^on without its affiftance. And although a man o obfervation may, by obfervation alone, make himfelf mailer of the outline and principal features of practice ; yet for the minutiae, he will find it convenient, and frequently necef- fary, to have recourle to ccnverfation. But a mere practitioner will not communi- cate with a man who does not fpeak his lan- B b 3 guage 374- PROVINCIALISMS. guage in its provincial purity : taking for granted, that he is as ignorant of the fubject in general, as he happens to be of his merely provincial terms. One word awry is capable of putting an end to the moft interefting con- verfation ; and of giving the practitioner fuch an opinion of the obferver, as. toconfider him in future, either beneath his notice, or above his comprehenfion. The firft ftep, therefore, to be taken by a man who is defirous of ftudying the practice of a District is to gain a knowledge of its pro- vincial language : for until this be obtained, in fome certain degree, he cannot join profit- ably in converfation with thofe who are befl able to clear up his doubts, and lead him on to freih difcoveries. To acquire with greater readinefs, and re- fain with greater eafe and certainty, this necef- fary knowledge ; and to indulge, at the fame time, an inclination to an enquiry into the ori- gin and progrefs of the Englilh language ; I regiftered the provincialifms of the Diftrict with the fame afiiduity I did its practice ; and find m'yfelf poffeffed of near a thoufand deviations from the eftablifhed language. But NORFOLK. 375 But the major part of thofe provincialifms do not relate cfpeeially to rural affairs; but belong to the ordinary dialect of the country ; and cannot, with propriety, be introduced here. I have therefore feledted fuch, only, as pertain to the fubject of thefe volumes. I have, however, made the feleclion as ample as this line of conduct would admit of for fcveral reafons. Such a felection will, in the inftant, ferve to throw additional light upon the prefent vo- lumes ; and may, hereafter, be found ufeful to thofe who may have occafion to ftudy on the fpot, the rural economy of the Diftricl. Other more material benefits may arife from a collection of GloflTaries of the provincial terms of different and diftant Diilri&s : fuch GlofTaries may ferve to elucidate pafiages in the EARLY WRITERS, on rural fubjects, which, without their afTiftance, might remain inexpli- cable. And, above all, they may be fervice- able in afcertaining the particular Diftricts in which they feverally wrote : a circumftance, at prefent, little known ; though moft eflentially neceffary in fixing the degree of credit which is due to their rcfpedtive works. Bb 4 376 PROVINCIALISMS, A. A -LADY. Lady-day (in common ufe). ANBURY. A difeafe incident to turneps. See vol. ii. p. 33. B. BARNED. Houfed in the barn (a firnple properterm). BATTONS. Strong broad fencing rails. See vol. i.p. 85, BARN-YARD. Straw-yard ; fold-yard (a good term). BECK. A rivulet (invariable). BEGGARY. Land let down, through a want of proper manure and tillage, is faid to be "run to beggary." To BESTOW. To flow away. BINS. Applied, provincially, to the receptacles of ftraw in a farm-yard j cow-cribs. BLUNK OF WEATHER. A fit of fquaily tern- pefluous weather. BOKE LOAD. A large top-heavy, bulky load. BRAND. Smut (in common ufe). BRANDY. Smutty (alfo common). BRANK. Buck (ufed only in the fouthern hundreds), BRECK. A large new-made inclofure (a Break). BROADS. Frefh-water lakes (that is, broad waters ; in diftin&ion to narrow watery or rivers). BUCK. Polygonumfagopyrum. See vol. i. p. 126. BUCKSTALLING. ^Cutting hedge-thorns fence-, height. See vol. i. p. 101. BUDDLE. Chryjanibeinumfegetu'mi corn-marigold. BUDS. Yearling cattle. STJLLOCKS. See vo i. i. P . 337. BULLS, NORFOLK. 377 BULLS. The ftems of hedge-thorns. BURGOT, or BEERGOOD. Yeaft. BUSH-DRAINING. Underdrawing (being done withbufhes). c. CANKERS. Caterpillars. CANKERWEED. Senecio jacobaa; common rag* wort. CANSEY. Caufeway. CANSH. A fmall mow. CAST. Yield ; applied to corn-crops. CAULK. Hard chalk ; or, perhaps, chalk in general. CHEARY. Careful; fparingj choice. CHICKED. Sprouted ; began to vegetate, as feed in the ground, or corn in fwath or " fhuck." CHINGLE. Gravel, free from dirt. CHOAKED. Blown up, or fufflated, with a turnep in the throat. CLOTE. Tuffilago fa rfata j coltsfoot. COBS. Sea-gulls. COCKEY. The grate over a common fewer. Hence, probably, Cockey-lane, in Norwich. COCKSHEADS. Plantago lanceolata\ plantain-rib- wort; rib-grafs. COLDER. See STOVER. COOMB. Four bufhels; half a quarter. COSH. The huik or chaff of wheat and oats. COTTS. Lambs brought up by hand -, cades. COVEY. A cover of furze, &c. for game. COW- 378 PROVINCIALISMS. COW-PAR. Straw-yard ; fold-yard. A CRINGLE. A with, or rope, for fattening a gate, To CRINGLE UP. To fatten with a cringle. CROFT, or CRAFT. A fmall common field. See vol. i. p. 8. CRONES. Old ewes. Sec vol. ii. p. 28. CROOM, or CROME. Any thing hooked; as muck-croom, turnep-crome. To CROWD. To wheel in a wheel-barrow. CROWDING-BARROW. A wheel-barrow. D. DABBING. Dibbling. DANNOCKS. Hedging-gloves. DAUBING. Plaiftering with clay. DAUBY. Clammy, fticky : fpoken of land when wet. DAVY1NG. See vol. ii. p. 257. DICK. The mound, or bank of a ditch. DICK-HOLL. The excavation, or ditch itfelf. DINDLES. Sonckus oleraceus ^ arvtnfa ; common and corn fow-thiftles : alfo, the taller hawkweeds. DITCHING. A general term for fencing with hedge and ditch. DODMAN. Afnail. DOGGEDLY. Badly ; fhamefully dpne. DOLE, or SEVERAL. A piece of land upon a heath or common, off which only one particular perfon hath a right to cut fuel. DOLE-STONE. A landmark, or boundary-irone. Te NORFOLK. 379 To DOSS. To ftrike with the horn, or gore (lightly, as cattle frequently do each other. DOW, or DOO. A dove, or pigeon (common). DOWLER. A dumplin (common). DRAINS. Brewers' grains. DRUG. A four-wheeled timber carriage. DRY. Drought : " the crop was caught in the dry." DYDLE. A kind of mud-drag. F. FALL-GATE. A gate acroft a public road. FAT,HEN. See MUCKWEED. To FEY, or FAY. To cleanfe, whether a well, a pit, or corn. FICKELTOW. The fore-tackle, or carriage, which fupports the plowbeam. FLAG. The furrow turned. FLAGS. Turves, or fods. FLIGHT, of BEES, the proper term for zfwarm of bees. To FLITCH. To move from place to place; as from farm to farm. FLUE. The coping of a gable or end-wall of ahoufe. FOLLOWERS. Lean ftore-cattle or (heep, which follow the fatting-bullocks. See vol. i. p. 290, FORCING. Fattening. FOREIGNER. A ftranger j one of another county ; not of the neighbourhood. To FORGIVE. To thaw. FOUR- 3So PROVINCIALISMS. FOURINGS. An afternoon-meal in harveft. FULL-PITCH. Plowing the full depth of the foil is called " taking it up a full-pitch." FURLONG. The line of direftion of plowed lands. See vol. i. p. 131. FURS. Furzes. G. GAIN. Handy ; convenient ; docile. Ungaln^ the reverfe (much in ufe). GARGUT, or GARGET. A difeafe incident to calves. See vol. ii. p. 125. GARGUT-ROOT. The root of Hellcborus futidu*\ bear's-foot. GATHERING. Rolling corn-fwath into cocks or bundles. GAY. Gaudy ; as fpeckled, light-coloured cattle* GEER. Stuff; thing (a general term). GILL. A pair of timber-wheels. GLADDON, or GLADDEN. Typha latifolla &f angiiftifolia ; large and fmall cats-tail. GOOSE-TANSEY. Potentitta anfcr'ina ; filverweed. GOTCH. A jug or pitcher (in common ufe). To GRAZE. To fat. GRAZIERS. Fatters of cattle; whether their food be grafs, turneps, or oil-cake. GREASY. Foul ; grafly : fpoken of fallows or other plowed grounds. The GRISSONS. The flairs, or flair-cafe. GROWERS. Farmers. Great growers, capital far- mers . GRUB- NORFOLK. 381 GRUB-FELLING. The common method of taking down timber-trees. See vol. i. p. 123. GULPH. A mow, or bay-full, in a barn. GULPH - STEAD, GOAFSTEAD, or GO- STEAD. A bay, or divifion of a barn. H. To HAIN. To raife, or heighten ; as, " tohain the rent, the rick, or the ditch." HAKES. The copfe or draught-irons of a plow. Alfo pot-hooks. HARDS, or KURDS. Tow. HARVEST-BEEF. A general term for butchers meat eaten in harveft, whether it be beef or mutton. HAUGHTY WEATHER. Windy weather. A HAY. A dipt hedge (common). HEAD. Bullocks are faid to go at heady when they have the firft bite ; in diftin&ion to thofe which follow. HEAD-KEEP. The firft bite : the beft the farm witt afford. HECK. A half door. HECKFOR. Heifer. HELVE. Applied to handles in general. HIGHLANDERS. Scotch cattle of the Highland breed. HILD. Lees or fediment of beer. HILDER. Elder. HOBBIDY. A man-boy (ufed in .common). HOBBY. A hack (in common ufe). HOG WEED. Polygonum aviwlare j knotgrafs. HOLL, 382 PROVINCIALISM S. HOLL, or HOL. The hollow of the ditch, in diftinc- tion to the " dick" or bank of the ditch. HOMEBREDS. Cattle of the^orfolk breed. To HORN. To gore, or wound with the horus, HORSE-BRAMiiLES. Briars ; wild rofe. HORSE-TREE. Whippin ; or fwingletrec. HULVER. Holly. A HURRY. A fmall load of hay or corn. I. &J. A JAM. A vein or bed of marl or clay. To JAM. To render firm by treading; as cattle do land they are foddered on. JIMMERS. Door-hinges (common). INWARDS. Intrails; inteftines. To JOLL. To job with the beak j as rooks jell fo? worms j or for com recently fown. JOURNEY. Half a day's work at plow or hai ro w< K. KEEPING-ROOM. A fitting-room* KERNELS. Grains of wheat, &c. KIDS, or KID. Faggots j bavins. KILLER. A fmall (hallow tub ; a fmall cooler. KNACKER* Ufcd in common for collar-maker. L. LAID. Juft frozen. When water is {lightly frozen over, it is faid to be laid. tANNIARD. The thong of a whip. LASH, NORFOLK. 387 LASH, or LASHY. Very wet j as cold laiby we*- ther." LAYER. Plants of hedgevvood ; quick. To LATCH. To catch as water, &c. To LJECK-ON. To add more liquor ; as in brewing. LEGGET. A tool ufed by reed-thatchers. LIFT-GATE. A gate without hinges, being lifted into notches in the pofts. LIFTING. (Corninfwath.) See vol. i. p. 242. LOBSTER. A ftote. LOKE. A clofe narrow lane (common J. LOWER. A lever. LUMPS. Barn-floor bricks. M. MANNER. Rich mould of any kind coined for the purpofe of mixing with clung. MARRAM, or MAREM. Arundt arena rla ; fea- reed-grafs. jvlAPvSHES. Fens and fWamps come unuer that deno*- mination in Norfolk. See vol. i. p. 320. MARSHLANDERS. Cattle of the marfhland or fhort-horned breed. MAVISH, or MAVIS. The thrufh. MAUL. A mallet. MAUTHER. A little girl (in common ufe). MEADOWS. Low, boggy, rotten grafsland. MEATY. Flemy, but not " right fat." MERGIN. The mortar or cement of old wails. See vol. i. p. 30. To 3*4 PROVINCIALISMS. To MOYS. To thrive : fpoken of crops and ftocki alfo in a general fcnfe \ as, " he muddles on but does not moys." MUCK. The provincial and proper name of what is more commonly, but lefs properly, called dung. MUCK-WEED, or FAT-HEN. Cbenopodium al- bum ; common goofe-foot- MUDCROOM. A tool ufed by water- workers. Sec vol. ii. p. 79. MURRAIN. See GARGUT. N. NEEDLE WEED. Scandix peflen Vtncrls j (hepherd's needle. A NIP. A near, fplit-farthing houfe-wife. A NOCKLE, or KNOCKLE. A mallet or beetle. NOGG. Strong beer (common). NONSUCH, black. Trefoil-feed. . white. Rye-grafs-feed. See vol. ii. p. 17$. NOONINGS. Workmen's dinner-time. O. OAMY. Light, porous, floury j fpoken of plowed land. OLLAND. Lay-ground (old land). OPEN. Not fpayed j fpoken of a heifer, or a fow. OVER- YEAR. Bullocks vfhich are not fmifhed at three years old, if homebreds or the firft winter after buying NORFOLK. 385 buying, if purchafed but are kept through the cnfu- ing Cummer, to be fatted the next winter, are faiu to be kept overbear ; and arc termed over-year bullocks. OUTHOLLING. Shovelling out a ditch for the mn- r.ure it contains. See vol. i. p. 76, and 161. and vol. ii. p. 76. OWLSCROWN. Gnaphalium fyhaticum; wood Cudweed. P. PACK- WAY. A bridle road (common). PADS. Sec PEDS. PAN. The flooring on which the cultivated foil Iks. See vol. i. p. ii . PAR-YARD. Straw-yard; fold-yard. PAVEMENTS. Square paving -bricks; fiooring*bricksj paving-tiles. PEDS, or PADS. Panniers. PETMAN. The laft of the fare. PETTY SESSIONS. See vol. i. p. 40.. PICKPURSE, or SANDWEED. Sprgula ar- vcnjts ; common fpurrcy. PIGHTLE, or PYKLE. A fmall inclofure ; a croft. PLANSHER, or PLANCHER. The chamber-floor. PLAT. The mould-board of a plow. PLOWJOGGER. A plowman. PLOWS. Plowed ground; whether clofes, or pieces in open fields. POLLARDS. Trees headed down to the ftem, and cropped or polled, from time to time, for fire-wocd. A term general to the fouthern and eaftern counties. VOL, 11. C c POLLEJL, 3$6 PROVINCIALISMS. POLLER y or POLLEN, or HEN POLLEN. The hcn-rooft. PULK. A puddle. PUTT. A mole-hill (in common- ufe). To PUT. To Humble, as a horic. Q QUARTERS. The inn a farmer ufcs at market,. &c. i* called his Barters : and be is Hud to quarter at fuck, an inn. QUICKS. T) -'iticum reptns ; couch-grafs. R. RANNY. The little neld-moufe. RAFTY. Damp and mufty j as corn .or hay in a wet feafon. RED WEED*. Papavtr rbeaj ; rouiid-fmooth-headsd poppy. To REAVE. To unroof or diftur-b the roof. Rb!.D-ROW. When the grains of ripening barley are ftreaked with red, the crop is faid to be in the red- row. REED-RONDS. Plots, or beds of reed: or, tha fwamps which reed grows in. RICEBALKING.. A particular method of plowing... See vol. i. p. 142. A RIDE* A common name for a (addle-horfe^ RIGG. Ridge. R1N. Brine. RINGES. Rows, of hay, quicks,, &c. ROAD ING. Running races with teams, upoa tke. road. Sec vol. u p. 44. ROKE. NORFOLK. 387 RQKE. Mift, or fog. ROOFING. The ridge-cap of thatched roofs. To ROPE. To tedder ; as a horfe. ROW EN. After-grafs ; latter-math, S. SANDWEED. See PICKPURSE, SCAITHFUL. Given to breaking pafture. Alio, liable to be over-run by (lock ; as open fields, &c. SCALDS. Patches of land which arc more liable to be fcorcbec!) burned, or fcaldcd in a hot feafon, than the remainder of the piece they are fituated in. To SCALE-IN. To plow in with a {hallow furrow. SCORING ; or, SCOWR1NG. See vol. i. p. 139. SCOTCHES. Scores, or notches. SCOTS. Scotch cattle. SEEL, or SEAL. Time or feafon ; as, cc hay-feel," hay-time ; " barley-feel," barley feed-time ; wheat- feel," wheat feed-time : " bark-feel," the barking feafon. Alfo, ufed fomctimes in common converfa- tion ; a?, " what feel of day is it?" SEVERAL. See DOLE. SHACK. Stock turned into the (rubbles after harveft are faid to be at fiack. Grounds lying open to common fields are faid to " lie quite (hack." SHACKING. A fliabby rambling fellow (living at fhack). To SHEAR. To reap ; as wheat. Cc 2 SHELLED. 3 88 PROVINCIALISMS. SHELLED. Pied; party-coloured. SHIFTS. Parts of a farm allotted for the reception of flock or crops. See vol. i. p. 131. SHOTS. Young ttore-fvvine, SKUD. Shed. To SHUG. To (hake ; as hny, &c. SHUGGINGS. That which is (bed or fcattered, as corn at harveft. SHY. Harebrained; high-mettled; hsad-ftrong ; as wild colts, &c. SINGULAR. Lone or fmgle ; as a finguhr hcufe, or farm. SK.EP. A coarfe round farm-bafkct ; alfo a bee-hive. SLADE. Sledge. To SLADE DOWN. To draw back part of the mould into the interfurrow, with the plow dragging, or Jl acting upon its fide. SLAKE. Leifure : " to be at flake," to be at leifure. SLOBBERERS. Slovenly farmers. SLOB-FURROWING. A particular method of plowing. See vol. i. p. 142. SLUSS. Mud; mire. SMARTWEED. Polygon-am tydropiper ct Pcnnfyha- nicum; biting and pale-flowered perficarias j aifmart. SNAIL-HORNED. Having ihort down-hanging horns, with blunt point?, and fomewhat bent, in the ufual form of the fnail ; fpokcn of cattle. To SOL. To pull by the ear, r.s a dog pulls a fow. SPARKLING. Claying between the fpars to cover the thatch of cottages (fpar-claying). SPIRKET, NORFOLK. 389 SPIRKET. A hook to hang things on. -SPOULT. Brittle, fnoken of wood, &c. SPURWAY. Bridle -road. SQUALLY. A crop of turneps, or of corn, which is broken by vacant unproductive patches, is faid to be fqually. To SQUINDER. To burn inwardly ; as charcoal and the afhes of fern, &c. are burnt. STANDS. Young timber-trees under fix inches tim- ber girt, or twenty-four inches in circumference. STARK, or STUCK. Tight, or ftiff. STATESMEN. Yeomen ; imall owners. STOCK. Species of a crop. See article TURNIPS, ore. STONDLE. A bearing tub. .STOPS. Small well-buckets. STOVER. A general term for the different fpecies of fodder arifing from thrafhed corn, whether it be ftraw, chaff, or " colder ;" a provincial term for the fhort ftraws, ears, and rough chaff, which are feparated from the corn-in-chaff, by the rake and the riddle, after the ftraw is (hook off the floor j and which, in every country, has a provincial term affigned it; but totally different in different Diftricls. To STOW. To confine ; as cattle in a yard or pound. STUBWOOD. All wood which grows in hedgerows and dees not come under the denomination of " tim- bers," " pollards," or "thorns," is called " ftubwood." STULP. A poft of any kind. C c 3 SUCKLING. 390 F R O V I N C I A L I S M S. SUCKLING. Trifolium rcfcns-, white clover. SUMMERLY. A turncp fallow. A backward fum- merfy ; an autumnal wheat-fallow : a right-out jam- merly ; a whole year's fallow. SWALE. Shade. SWAYS. Rods, orfwitches. SWINGLE. A crank. T. TACK. Soibftance, folidity, proof; fpoken of the fooi of cattle and other {lock. TAR-ROPE. Rope-yarn ; the thread of old cables, &c. TASKER. A thrafher. TEAMER. A team of five horfcs. TEAMERMAN. A waggoner, carter, or driver of a teamer. TEATHE. The diin^&c. of cattle. See vol. i. p. 33. THAPES. Goofebcrries. THIGHT. Applied to turneps or other crops, clofe, thickfet: applied to roofs or vcfTels, impervious op- pofed to leaky. THACK. Thatch : thackjlcr, thatcher. THONE, or THONEY. Damp, limber, as under- dried hay. To TOP-UP. To finifti highly; as fatting bullocks. TRIP. Of Iheep ; a fmall flock. TURF. Peat. TWO-FURROWING. Double plowing ; trench- plowing j fod-burying. VALLEY. H O R F O L K. 391 V. VALLEY. Any finall hollow or channel j as a gutter in a roof. VANCE-ROOF. The garret. V ARDLE. A common eye or thimble of a gate, with a fpike only. U. UNCALLOW. The earth which covers a jam of marl. UNDER-CORN. Short, weak, underling corn, over- hung by the crop. W. WALLACE. The withers of a horfe. WARBEETLES. The large maggots which are bred in the backs of cattle. WARPS. Flat wide beds of plowed land. WATER-WORKERS. Makers of meadow-drains and wet ditches. WELL. A chimney or vent-hole in a rick or mow. WINTER-DAY. The winter fcafon. WINTER- WEED. Kronica hcderifolia ; ivy-leaved fpcedwell. WISP. A rowel, or fcton. WOODBOUND. Land which is encumbered with tall woody hedgerows, fo as to hinder a free admiffion of fun and air, and thereby prevent it from exerting its natural ftrcngth and fertility, is faid to be wood- bound. WOOD-LAYER. Young plants of oak, or other tim- ber, laid into hedges among " white-thorn-layer." WRECK. 392 P R-O V I N C I A L I S M S. WRECK. Dead undigefted roots and ftems of grafles and weeds in plowland. WRETWEED. (That is, wart-weed;. Euphorlla. beliofcopia ; fun-fpurge. WRONGS. Crooked arms, or large bough?, of trees, when the faggot-wood is cut off. INDEX. / J5" GENERAL I i\ D E X TO THE T W O VOLUMES. ', M. 38. 51. refer to MINUTES 38 and 51. i. to VOL. I. PAGE 121. 121, A. A I.DFRS, M. 3 8. 51 " Anbury of the turnep, M. 20- i :. Ant-hille, M. 6. 50 Alh, i- 12 T. M. jtf' 61.95- 128 Aflics, i- 3 i Aylefliam f.iir, M. 94 B. Karris. S?e Buildings Barn-management, i. 189 Barley, i. 223. M. IT. 29. 57 U.-Utons, i. 05 IVafts of l.ui;>tir. See Horfes Ikes, i. 383. M. 126 , M. 13. 133 i; I.. \vlirU1 Hundred, M. 118 ; - tunups, M. 84 . i. 86 ttiick earth of the coaft, M. j i i Buck, i. ic 3. Buds, i. 336 Building?, i. 81. M. 15. 25. 3 1 - 33- 35- 4 8 - 60. 64. 91' $z- 116- 118. 131 Building -lea fir, M. 106 Bni!ding-m,tterials, i. 86 Bullock?, i. 337 Bullock-fhccls, i. 83. M. :i3 Buttrcfles, M. 6. C. Calves, i. 332 Carts, i. ci Cnlting corn, i. 190 Caterpillar of the turnep, M. i :. i Z2 Cattle, i. 313 , breed o& i. 323. M. 40. 69- 69. 72. no- 119- , general mat;.. M. 39- 53- 66. 70. 74 , rearing, j. 33;. M. 46. 53. 69. 70 , buying, i. 344. M. 39. no. 113. \34 , mctliod of fitting, i. 348. M. 39. 40- 56. 57. 69. 72. 84. 93- 97. IC2- ICO >to> in* 113- 1 18 Cattle, I X. Cattle, difpofal of, i. 350. M. 105. 107. ii i. iiz. 113. 117 Chalks, i. 24 Check- beam, M. 35 Cheele, i. 330 Ciftern, M. 131 Clays, i. 6. M. 106- in Claying, i. 150- M. 106 Cleaning plowland, i. 14.6 Clover. See Cultivated grades Clover- feed market at Nor- wich, M. ict Compoft, i. 34 Covenant-, i. 69 Cows, i. 318. M. 8. 83. 108. 409 Cultivated prafits, i. 30. M. 14. ioi. 106 D. Piiry. See Cows Decoys, i. 377 Dibbling, i. 167. M- 23. 26. zS Dibbling-roller, i. 123 Dlftricl, i. i. M. 106. 112. ill Ditches againft bill-fides, M. 4< warned down, M. 103 Dratr.l.-g, i. i4- M- * 44- *J Drilling, i. 167. M. 19 Drinki;>g-pits, i. 85 Dung, i. 32 Dunging, i. 157 Dwelling houie. See Build- ings Tliftern ccaft, M- MI Eftates, i. 6 Exchange of lands, M, 4 F. Faggot -fence, M. 135 Fair ot Aylefliam, M. 94 Fair of Holt, M. 39 fair of Inghair, M. 112 Fair of North \Valfham, M. 105 Fair of St. Faith's, M- 27- 134 Fair of Woritead, M. 107 Fairs of Norfolk, general ob- fervations, M. 112 Farms, i. 8. Farmers, i. 37. M. 58. io6 "4 Farmeries, i. 81- M. 106. Farm-yards. See Buildings Farm -yard man, i. 1X9. M. 73 Felbrig inclofure, 137 Fences, dead, i- 94 Fence- walls, M. ir$ Fens, i. 319. M. 54 Firewood, i. 9-. M. 4. 90 Flcg Hundred, M. ic6 Flooring-materials, i. 90 Fold- yards, i. 84 Foliation of the oak a guide to lowing barley, i. ;^s Furze -faggot fence, M. 13$ Furze-food, M. jo Furze-guard, i. 109 Furze-hedge, M. btf Furze-feed, to low, M- 104 Gables, M. 15 ' Game, i. 172. M. 41 Game laws, i. ib'z Gargut, M. 70 Gates, i. 94 M. 9. 115. 135 General management of tftatcs, j. 66. M. 4. 47. 58. 79. 106. 137 General management of farm?, i- 125. M. 49. 51. 75. 98. 106. 112. 114. 118 General management of tim- ber, i. 121. M. Si. 90 Gleaners, i. 2*9 Giazing-grounds, 1-310 Grubbing borders, i- 1 1 1 H. Hand-weeding, i. 170 Hares, i. 171 Harrowing, i. 143 Harvtft-procels, r 184 Hny -chamber floor, M. 15 Heads of a leaie, i. 70 Hedges, i. 96. M. 4- 5- 34- 4t- 45- O R F O L X. 45 63. 85. 87. 88. 9-0. 103. 104. 106- 130 Hedge-row timber, i. 98 Hedge-woods, i. m liog-ciftern, M. 131 Hoerng turnips, i. i6fc Holt fair, M- 39 Homebred^, i- 339 Hops, M. 1 18 Horics, i. 41. M. 94 I. Ingham fair, M. irr IrrplrmentJ, i. 50. M. r9 Ir.clofures, i. ri6- M. 137 luland navigation, i. 3. M. rj6 Ivtcd ditch-banks, M. 63 L. Labourers. See \Vorkmea Land-tax, i. 64 Laying-out farms, i. 130 Laying-up plowland, i. 1-47 Leafe, heads of, i. 70 Lime, i. 30. 91. M. 19 Liming, i. 161- If. Malt-coombs, i. 35 Malt-duft, to fow, i. 166 Manures, i. 15- M. i. 6. lo, ii. 18. 29. 31. 106. in. 118. 120 Manure-procefi, i. 150. M. 55- 106. 1-27. 13-6 Manuring. See Manure-pro- cefs Maphrodite, i. ;r> Markets, i. 195. M. 27.39- ^- 94.. lot. 105. TO;, m. rir. 123. 134 Marl, i. 6. M. nr Marling, i- 150. M- 5^5. 13* Marram, M. 106. n ; i. Marftics, i. 319. M. n8 mills, M. M8 Meadows, i. 31*. M. 44. 50. 51. 65. 96 Mnifummcr-lhoot, M. 130. Mould, i. 2- Muck. ice JDung N. Natural grafit-s, i. 3 10. M. C. $. 8. 10. 31. 39. 44. 50. 51. 54 . ^65. 96. n8. 127 North- vVallham corn-markeU M. bo North-WsKham fair, M. 10; Norwich clover- IccU markti, M. 10 1 O. Oaks, i,M. 36.37. 59. 95 Oak Timbers in hcdge-rowf, i. 113. iai Oats, i. 245 Old Hedges, i. too P. P-n, i. M Pantiles, to lay, M. 35 Far yards, i. 84 Peas, i- 148 Phcalants, i. i-z. M. 41 Planting, . 119* M* 36. 37^ 38- 8, .95 Planting oaks in hedges, i. nj Plows, i. 5; Plowing, i. 158 Pollards, i. 98. M. 90- Puor's rate, i. Gj Poultry, i. 3.75 Progrcis of fprmp, M. ic^ Pruning of timbers, M. j R. Rabbit*, i. 3,70. M. 79 Raifing new hedges, i. ica Rape cake, i. 35 Rape-cake, to iuw,i- 165 Rearing cattle, i. 332 Receiving rents, r. 70. M. 47 Reed, i. 88. M. 32- 89. 91 Rent^ i. 63. M. jS Rep-urs. 5>ee Buildings Replanting hedges, i. Mt Rclidcnce of workmen, M- 9*- RidgiN, to cut, M. 99 Rolling, i- 145 Roller, i. 58 Rooks, frightening, '. l-i Robbing-ports, M. 66 Rje N X. Rye-grafs. See Cultivated Thatching, t. 88. Mi 32 Graffes Thinning timbers, M.S^ S. Tiles, to lay, M. 33. 4 s St. Faith's fair, M. 27. 134 Timber, i. 112- M. 4. he. 90 Salefman's account, i.jnj Timbers and pollards u* Scalds, i. 14 hedges* M- 90 Scotch cattle, i 3. 40 Timber-carriages, i. 60 Seafqns, i. 238, M. 125 Time of towing, i. 238. M. 125 Sea-ftones, i. &; Tithe, i. 64 Sea-done walls, M. 116 Training hedge-timber, i. 93 beed-prcceis, i. 167. M- 19, Tranfplanting large oaks, M. 125 3? Servants. See Workmen Tretbil. See Cultivated Oraffei Sheep, i. 362. M. i. 8- n. 17. Turneps, i. 2^6. M. v 12. 20. 18. 21. 75, 76. 7 8. 32. 86. 21. 22-29. S 6. 57- 61. 6S. 71. 99. 106. 123 74. 83. 84. 106- 112 Sheepfold, i. 34. M. i. 10- Turnep-caterpiilar, M. 12- 121 ii. 18, Tenthredo, M. 12*. Shsep-fhow of Cawfton, M. 124. 119. 132 1*1 Two-year-olds, i. 336 Smithfield market. See Bul- V. Iccks. AlfoM. ii i. j 13. 117 Vegetable economy, M. f>z Soils, i. ii. M. 59. 77. 106. Vegetating-ptoctiV, i. 170 jto6- 118. 121 Soll-proccfs, i. 137. M. 2-57. Vetches, i. 152 u. 98.114. Underdraining, i. 148- M. 2. Snow-fledge, U 59 114 Soot, i. 35 W. Soot, to i~o\v, i. 164 Waggons, i. 50 Sparrows, 1-172 \Vatei *_-3rr:age, M. i-. fctonf-picking, i. 171 Weeding, i. 170 Store-cattle, "M. 74 Weld, M. 16 Straw-yatd management, L Wheat, i. 201. M. 13. 14. 18. 26 19. 23- 26. 28. 41. 43. 67. Stables. See Buildings 106.133 Succeflion, i. 132 Winnowing, i. 190 Swine, i. 3-72. M. 52 Woodlands, i. 120 ' T. Workmec, i. 40. M. 98. ioo Taxes, i. 64 106 Tapping oaklings, M. 36 Worftead fair, M. 107 Teathe, i. 33. M. 31 Y. Tenancy, i. 67 Yarmouth marfhes, M. n> Tenthredo of the turnep, M. ride to, M. 106 122. 124. 129. 132 Yearlings, i. 336 Term, i. 67 University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 Box 951388 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. SEP13 S f ROM t ATE RECEIVED i , y Lo 630 University Re 30X951575 os Angeles, C APR i 1 2004 OCT 1 2005 tt zooi Jearch Library A 000018277 4