AGRICULTURE.

THE soil of this district is various, but principally composed of vegetable matter, and in some parts of a clayey texture, being mixed with the alluvia of the upland waters.

All the division of low lands under the denomination of Marsh used to be applied to grazing. The pasture land is exceedingly rich, carrying great quantities of feeding stock. The best lands lie mostly near to the towns the soil of these has very much the appearance of the rich loams of the inland districts, or such as is found about the sites of monastic ruins, or old manor houses. The superior fertility of the rich grazing lands over the poor does not probably altogether arise from the circumstance of their being higher, or from any original strength of soil, but rather from the great facility of obtaining manure from the neighbouring towns, and from their long and early state of cultivation. Grazing is the most natural application of these lands, and as live cattle and wool can be procured in greater abundance, and consequently cheaper, than in other parts of the kingdom, the cultivators of them were naturally led to employ them in feeding the stock bred in less fertile districts. The land of this description most probably continued in this state for centuries, and so was brought

down to our times in the close of the last century; but of late years, the "greedy plough" has "preyed on its "carpet." The growing inadequacy of the old arable lands to supply our manufacturing population with bread, as well as to furnish the increasing number of horses with oats, occasioned great advances in the price of corn, which, with the very high price of mustard seed * during the revolutionary war, operated as a great temptation to break up fresh land of any description, wherever it could be found. Although the stronger and better kind of fen and marsh lands, subjected to the plough, has not been so considerably injured as to render them incapable of producing good wheat, yet under the steady and ordinary course of rural affairs, when the prices of grain bear a fair proportion to those of cattle, sheep, and wool, these lands would always be most profitable, used for grazing, could they be restored to grass of their original quality. Notwithstanding a great deal too much of the second-rate lands of the level has been sacrificed to the plough, yet large quantities of the best remain untouched, and it is still, for extent and richness, one of the first grazing districts in the kingdom. In the months of May and June, the rich pastures are so beautifully verdant, and the sheep so thickly studded over the best grazing parts of the level, that they produce a very pleasing sight, and to strangers, new and

There is an instance of a person in this neighbourhood purchasing three or four acres of ground, which he sowed with mustard seed, and in the first year cleared the fee simple of the land from the produce thereof. £80. per acre has been frequently given for land, which has been broken up for such purpose. This seed is of a very hot nature, and contains a quantity of oil, so that it will lie buried and be uncorrupted for many years, and if cast into the ditches, it will, when re-exposed by their being cleaned out, grow again and flourish well.

interesting. The good marsh land is particularly famous for the production of long wool, and has the effect of increasing the fleece, both in weight and length of staple, in sheep brought from other quarters.

Quicks, where planted, thrive exceedingly well, but in fen farms, the fences consist of ditches, which, to be kept in a good state, ought to be cleaned out at least once in every five or six years.

The Sheep both bred and grazed are of pure long wool, or Lincoln; but the new Leicester, or a cross between the two breeds, are now much encouraged, which cross is found to give a finer wool and a greater inclination in the animal to fatten. Three-years-old wethers of this description average when fattened, from twenty to twenty-eight lbs. per quarter; the fleece eight to ten lbs. The pure Leicester are not at this time in so great request, being of a more delicate constitution. The general proportions allowed for the highland pastures during the summer months are six head of sheep per acre, and during winter, two per acre.

Horses are used for the purpose of husbandry, and are of the large black cart breed, and not so heavy as formerly. The breed of the famous short-legged trotting hackney, formerly held in such high repute, and than which no part of the kingdom produced superior, has been much neglected of late years, and is superseded by the introduction of a cross with the thorough-bred horse, which is now coming into general use.

Neat Stock. It is with pleasure we observe that the improved short-horn, as well as the Hereford, are very generally to be seen in the neighbourhood.

Pigs.-Great emulation has been shewn in the breed of swine; the cross between the Chinese and Suffolk, with the occasional mixture of the Neapolitan, is reckoned the best.

Trees.-Altogether an inconsiderable quantity of wood is grown in this district, but the ash and elm thrive well, and we need not add that useful tree around a farm, the willow, which, according to the old saying, "will buy a "horse before an oak will buy a saddle." Willow trees grow to a very large size; one measuring in length upwards of sixty feet, and containing two hundred feet of solid timber, was cut down in Burwash, in Sussex, in 1819, which had been planted fifteen years. From the quantity of willows about Ely, the inhabitants reap considerable profit by making baskets, &c.

Manure is made principally from the straw yards, by the straw stubble and hay in the yards and hovels. The hay and straw produce being generally consumed on the farms where grown, very little attention is paid to the making of dunghills, compared with what is observed in high countries, where the land, being of a poorer quality, requires every assistance of this kind to recruit its exhausted strength. The use of lime as a manure is unknown here; very little artificial manure is wanted, but occasionally, soot and bone dust are used, and a mill is erected in Wisbech for grinding bones, to be disposed of for that purpose.

The salt marshes are remarkably favourable for the growth of corn, but require artificial manure; nor is there at this time any apprehension of the luxuriant produce being destroyed by floods.