[A Walk from London to John O’Groat’s by Elihu Burritt]@TWC D-Link bookA Walk from London to John O’Groat’s CHAPTER VII 15/47
A few facts may serve as an outline of his progress in both to the American reader who is familiar with the general result of his efforts. Jonas Webb was born at Great Thurlow, Suffolk, on the 10th of November, 1796.
His father, who died at the age of ninety-three, was a veteran in agriculture, and had attained to honorable distinction by his efforts to improve the old Norfolk breed of sheep, and by his experiments with other races.
The results obtained from these operations convinced his son that more mutton and better wool could be made per acre from the Southdown than from any other breed, upon nine-tenths of the arable land of England, where the sheep are regularly folded, especially where the land is poor.
In 1822, he commenced that agricultural career which won for him such a world-wide celebrity, by taking the Babraham Farm, occupying about 1,000 acres, some twelve miles south of Cambridge. In a very interesting letter, addressed to the Farmers' Magazine, about twenty years since, he gives a valuable resume of his experience up to that time.
In this he states several facts that may be especially useful to American agriculturists.
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