Dairies are said to be here rather neglected, and the farmers’ attention chiefly directed to tillage and the growing of corn. The _cheese_ is for the most part very ordinary and poor, and the _butter_ not excellent.—No part of England exceeds Norfolk, or even equals it, in the culture of _turnips_, for which its loose, light, and sandy soil is thought to be very favourable. Much dependence is here placed on the turnip crop, for subsisting the sheep and cattle during the winter season; and if it fail, or is materially injured by early frosts, or other means, the complaints become loud, and the consequences often prove serious and distressing. The turnip was only cultivated in gardens, as a culinary plant in this country till the reign of George I. when Lord Townshend, an ancestor of the present marquis, who had attended the king to Hanover, as secretary of state, observing the profit and utility of the field cultivation of turnips in that electorate, on his return brought with him the seed and recommended it to his tenants who occupied land of a similar quality to that of Hanover. The experiment succeeded adequate to expectation: the practice gradually spread over the county, and made its way into other parts of the kingdom. This important root, the great source of abundance to the county, has been gradually rising to its present state, for upwards of seventy years—A good acre of turnips in Norfolk will produce between thirty and forty cart-loads, as heavy as three horses can draw; and an acre will fat a Scotch bullock from forty to fifty stone, or eight sheep. But the advantage of this crop does not end here, for it generally leaves the land so clean and in such fine condition, that it almost insures a good crop of barley, and a kind plant of clover; and the clover is a most excellent preparative for wheat, so that in the subsequent advantages the value of the turnip can hardly be estimated. It has however been observed, that the cultivation of this root has reached its acme; and that at present, from some latent causes, it is on the decline: for recently more seed is become necessary, and the crop is said to be more precarious. Some have attributed it to the want of deeper ploughing, and instances have been adduced of the extraordinary depth to which turnips, and even _wheat_ will radicate. This however has been thought insufficient to affix the cause of failure to shallow ploughing. {137}