The History of Lynn, Vol. 1 [of 2]Richards, William
History
The History of Lynn, Vol. 1 [of 2]
Richards, William
Fens, The (England); King's Lynn (England)
waggon: in little farms, it is an object of no small utility, and in
large ones a great help in a busy season. {140b}
The fat cattle of these parts, except those sold at home to the butchers,
are commonly sent up to London, and sold in Smithfield Market, by the
authorized and sworn salesmen of that place, who regularly remit the
money afterwards to the respective owners, to their entire satisfaction;
for no murmurs against these salesmen, or reflections unfavourable to
their integrity are ever heard. One man, commonly called _a drover_,
generally takes charge of the disposable cattle of a whole district, and
among them sometimes very fierce beasts, that would prove unmanageable to
most other people, but which he contrives to drive along with tolerable
ease, assisted only by a trusty and well-trained _dog_, his sagacious and
constant companion.
The country eastward of Lynn, towards Westacre and Swaffham, soon becomes
more and more elevated and hilly: the soil also, in many places, is of a
very inferior sort—and so light, loose, and sandy, as to be easily, in
its ploughed state, drifted by the wind; for which the _marl_, that
abounds about those parts, is the very best manure, and almost the only
effectual remedy; and it is generally nigh at hand; often but a few feet
beneath the surface, and under the very soil that wants it. It is
usually laid on very thick, and seldom disappoints the farmer’s wish or
expectation, unless the soil be so incurably sterile as not to admit the
marl’s incorporating with it. Wonderful effects have often been produced
by this marling, upon lands that many would have deemed of invincible
sterility.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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