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In 1811, there were 37,227 inhabited houses, occupied by 47,634 families; houses building, 155; uninhabited houses, 624.

This county may be considered, as naturally consisting of three different sorts of land, viz. the Sandland, the Woodland, and the Fielding. The Sandland part, reaches from the river Orwell, by the seacoast to Yarmouth, and is pretty nearly separated from the Woodlands, by the great road leading from Ipswich, through Sax

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mundham and Beccles, to Yarmouth ; that it contains the hundred of Colneis, and part of the hundreds of Carlford, Loes, Wilford, Plomesgate, Blything, Mutford, and Lothingland. This part may also be subdivided into marsh, arable, and heathlands. The marshland is naturally fruitful, feeding great numbers of sheep and oxen'; and sometimes, when ploughed, affords greater crops of corn than any other land in this county. That part which is arable, is in many places good for tillage, and produces abundant crops of all sorts of corn and grain; and where it seems in a manner barren, it is fit for improvement by chalk, clay, and crag; which last is found by experience to be preferable to the other two, and may be had cheaper. The heathy part, commonly used for sheepwalks, might contain about one third of the sandlands, before the discovery of crag ; but many hundred acres of them are now converted into good arable land, by that excellent manure.

The Woodland part, extends from the northeast corner of the hundred of Blything, to the south-west corner of the county at Haverhill; and includes part of the hundreds of Carlford, Willford, Loes, Plomesgate, Blything,Blackbourn, Thedwastre, and Thingoe; and all the hundreds of Risbridge, Baberg, Cosford, Samford, Stow, Bosmere and Claydon, Hartismere,

Hoxne, Thredling, and Wangford. This part is generally dirty, but very rich and fruitful, Here the Suffolk butter is made, justly esteemed the pleasantest and best in England; but they who make good butter, must, of course, make bad cheese; and therefore the generality of Suffolk-cheese is well known to be as remarkably bad, as the butter is good but those few in these parts who make little or no butter, make as good cheese, as any in Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, or any other part of the kingdom; insomuch, that it sells for tenpence and twelvepence, a pound, or more; being little, if at all inferior to that of Stilton.

The Fielding part, contains all the hundred of Lackford, and the remaining parts of the hundreds of Blackbourn, Thedwastre, and Thingoe; and affords good corn in many places.

AGRICULTURE. It is no small praise for the farmers of this county to assert, that they are not at all behind their northern neighbours in the improved cultivation of their lands; and indeed several beneficial practices are to be observed among the former to which the latter are strangers. To point out these peculiarities, will be one of the principal objects of this article.

Though the dairy district of Suffolk is extensive, and the number of sheep great, yet the arable part of the county is by far the most

considerable. One of the greatest improvements in the management of arable lands, particularly if they be of a strong wet nature, was, for a length of time, confined to this county. It consists in avoiding all, or nearly all spring plowings. Enlightened cultivators have extended this system to autumnal sowings they scarify and scuffle, rake, clear, and burn, till the surface is fine enough for the drill to work, and then leave it till rain comes for drilling. This practice not only obviates many difficulties to which the farmer was exposed by the method formerly pursued, but by leaving a firm bottom for the roots of wheat, it has precluded the common malady of root-fallen crops. "This general rejection of tillage by the plough, whenever circumstances permit, I consider," says Mr. Young, "as one of the greatest, if not the greatest improvement in modern husbandry. It has changed the face of the greatest part of this county, and will change the face of others as fast as it is introduced with skill and intelligence. In consequence of the adoption of this system, drilling has become very general, especially upon clay land; and appears likely to spread to every part of the county. Dibbling is also very common.

The management of the arable land, and the courses of crops, differ essentially, in the four distinct soils of which Suffolk consists. In the

strong soils, the more general course includes summer fallow as the common preparation for the rotation of corn products, on the principle that when once given, the farmer will be enabled to omit it at the second return, and even at the third also, by means of clover, tares, peas, &c. This principle governs many variations, but where sufficient manure can be procured, the best course is as follows: 1. Fallow. 2. Wheat. 3 Beans. 4 Barley. 5. Clover. 6. Wheat.

On the rich loam and sand, the rotation called the Norfolk husbandry is very generally introduced. It is thus: 1. Turnips. 2. Barley. 3 Clover. 4 Wheat.

On the sand districts, the management differs according to the badness of the soil, but it is uniform in one feature, that turnips are every where the preparation for both

corn

and grass. Growing wheat after turnips,

has frequently succeeded, and was first practised by a farmer near Ipswich. After them barley is generally sown, and grass seeds succeed, but with variations. In Samford hundred, where the farmers are excellent managers, their course is: 1. Turnips. 2. Barley. 3. Trefoil and ray-grass. 4. Peas dibbled.

5. Barley.

In the fenny part of the county, the method generally pursued, is to sow cole-seed on one

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