Townshend, Charles, Viscount Townshend

Townshend, Charles, Viscount Townshend (1674-173 8), statesman, farmer, b. Raynham Hall, Norfolk, England.

Lord Townshend had a successful career as a statesman but he retired at the age of fifty-five and turned to farming.

He improved his land at Raynham by mixing lime and clay with the sandy soil. This is known as marling.

He began to grow turnips as winter food for cattle, which otherwise had to be killed off each year, and was nicknamed 'Turnip' Townshend.

He did not use the three-field cropping system of the Middle Ages. In this, wheat and barley were grown in succeeding years and in the third year the field was left fallow. This system had been found to produce good crops but, instead of it, Townshend used a four-field system growing in turn wheat, clover, barley and turnips. This four-field system of farming was soon copied by other farmers because it avoided wastage and still produced good crops, and is still in use today one way or another.