was no new thing; and
when it was adopted he reckoned its use spread at the rate of a mile a
year. Yet eventually he had his reward; his estate came to command the
pick of English tenant farmers, who never left it except through old
age, and would never live under any other landlord. Even the Radical
Cobbett, to whom, as to most of his party, landlords were, and are,
the objects of inveterate hatred, said that every one who knew him
spoke of him with affection. Coke was the first to distinguish between
the adaptability of the different kinds of grass seeds to different
soils, and thereby made the hitherto barren lands of his estate better
pasture land than that of many rich counties. Carelessness about the
quality of grasses sown was universal for a long time. The farmer took
his seeds from his own foul hayrick, or sent to his neighbour for a
supply of rubbish; even Bakewell derived his stock from his hayloft.
It was not until the Society for the Encouragement of Arts offered
prizes for clean hay seeds that some improvement was noticeable. In
Norfolk, as in other parts of England, there was at this time a strong
prejudice against potatoes; the villagers of Holkham refused to have
anything to do with them, but Coke's invincible persistency overcame
this unreasoning dislike and soon they refused to do without them.

Coke was a great advocate for sowing wheat early and very thick in the
rows, and for cutting it when ear and stem were green and the grain
soft, declaring that by so doing he got 2s. a quarter more for it; he
also believed in the early cutting of oats and peas. It was his custom
to drill 4 bushels of wheat per acre, which he said prevented
tillering and mildew. He was the first to grow swedes on a large
scale.[503] The famous Holkham Sheep-shearings, known locally as
'Coke's Clippings', which began in 1778 and lasted till 1821, arose
from his practice of gathering farmers together for consultation on
matters agricultural, and developed into world-famous meetings
attended by all nationalities and all ranks, men journeying from
America especially to attend them, and Lafayette expressed it as one
of his great regrets that he had never attended one. At these
gatherings all were equal, the suggestion of the smallest tenant
farmer was listened to with respect, and the same courtesy and
hospitality were shown to all whether prince or farmer. At the last
meeting in 1821 no less than 7,000 people were present. His skil