158 J. T. ELSDE>- AGEICULTITRAL 



cultural use both in irrigating and in driving corn-mills ; but 

 many of the water-meadows, which line the rivers, are little more 

 than swamps, and require draining before they can be made pro- 

 ductive. The general slope of the surface gives to many of the 

 streams sufficient velocity to make them of considerable use as 

 water-power, the fall of the Gade having been estimated as 14 feet 

 per mile. The following is an estimate of the discharge of the 

 four chief rivers which meet near Hertford : * — 



Lea at Horn's Mill 2185 cubic feet per minute. 



Eeane at Molewood 1483 ,, ,, 



Eib at Ware Park 959 ,, „ 



Mimram at Panshauger 1532 „ ,, 



Total 6159 



>> 



It must not be forgotten, however, that the same cause which 

 gives to the county this abundance of surface-water, diminishes to 

 a certain extent the percolation into the chalk below, and tends 

 to retard the replenishment of the deep-seated springs and wells. 



"With respect to drainage, although many of the heavy soils of 

 this area require thorough draining, the porous nature of the chalk- 

 stratum below is often of great assistance. In the eastern boulder- 

 clay district, the presence of chalk-boulders renders the subsoil 

 sufficiently open to diminish considerably the outlay necessary for 

 draining the land. The same benefit is derived from the presence 

 of the permeable Mid-glacial sands and gravels. 



The Gmdt District. — Although this formation covers but a small 

 portion of Hertfordshire, its situation immediately beneath the 

 chalk escarpment is extremely favourable for a most fertile ad- 

 mixture of soils. The alluvial drift from the chalk hills covers 

 nearly the whole of this area, and so far improves the quality of 

 the soil that it has long been famous as a corn-growing district. 

 The Vale of Ringtale, which lies partly in this district, has been 

 thus described by Sir Heniy Chauncy, in the ' Historical 

 Antiquities of Hertfordshire.' He says: "The Yale of Kingtale, 

 or Wringtale, which lies north of the great ledge of hills crossing 

 the northern part of this county (extending from Barkway to 

 Offley), where the soil is mixed with white marl, yields the 

 choicest wheat and barley, such as makes the best mault that 

 serves the King's Court or the City of London, which caused 

 Queen Elizabeth often to boast of her Hitchin grape." But Mr. 

 Clutterbuck remarks of this same area:f "Although the Vale of 

 Eingtale, in the north of the county, gained a name of old for the 

 Hertfordshire white flour, the land generally is better adapted to 

 the coarser red wheats, and high farming cannot in this respect 

 overrule the inherent quality of the soil." 



The stiff impermeable subsoil of this district necessitates greater 



* ' Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng.,' vol. xiv, p. 42. 



+ "Agricultural Notes on Hertfordshire," ' Journ. Roy. Agric. Soc.,' vol. 

 XXV, p. 315, 



