44 EEV. J. C. CLTTTTERBTJCK PEODFCTS OF HERTFORDSHIRE. 



Hertfordshire, "It is the Garden of England for delight, men 

 commonly say that ' such as buy a house in Hertfordshire ])ay two 

 years purchase for the aire thereof.' " The most fertile district is 

 that of which Hitchin may be deemed the centre. It was from 

 this neighbourhood, known of old as the Vale of llingtalc, that the 

 wheat yielding the flour known as the Hertfordshire White was 

 grown ; indeed, it will be found that the district of land under the 

 undulating escarpment of the chalk hills, extending along the 

 southern part of the Vales of Aylesbury and White Horse, produces 

 in quantity and quality some of the best English-grown wheats. 

 The late Mr. Hainworth, of Hitchin, carried out with great success 

 the cultivation of varieties of wheat, some of which at least bear 

 his name. This is a branch of agriculture requiring great care and 

 attention, and is of acknowledged value. There is a wheat ex- 

 tensively grown in Berkshire, known as the Hertfordshire White, 

 which I have reason to believe may be traced to the labours of the 

 late Mr. Hainworth, as first produced by his care in selection, and 

 raised by his intelligence and persevering skill. 



Not only is the Vale of Ringtale famed for its wheat-producing 

 quality, but the straw grown in the district is specially adapted for 

 the manufacture of straw-plait, and was probably the primary and 

 chief cause of the establishment of that industry of which Luton, 

 in Bedfordshire, is the acknowledged centre, that place, as shown 

 on the map of either county, being on a tongue of land in the 

 south of Bedfordshire, surrounded on three sides by the county of 

 Hertford. Those who grow the wheat straw to be used for plaiting 

 take great pains to harvest it in such a manner as will insure its 

 coming straight and uninjured from the barn or stack. Straw 

 drawing is a neat find skilful operation, requiring care and practice. 

 Though the chalk district of Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, 

 and Hertfordshire furnish considerable quantities of the raw 

 mateiial, it is sought in the Vale of the White Horse, in Berkshire, 

 and Oxfordshire, where the finer sorts of wheat, especially the 

 Chiddam and kindred qualities, are grown. Sometimes, when the 

 plaiting trade and the quality and harvesting is good, the value of 

 the straw will be equal to that of the corn ; as the ears are cut off, 

 and the chaff, caving, and flag left behind, there is little waste. 

 The moral effect of this manufacture has often been called in 

 question, and the adjustment of educational requirements with the 

 early ago at which children are taught and employed in straw 

 plaiting seems not without its difficulties. Be that as it may, it is 

 clear that straw plait is one of the productions of the county of 

 Heitford, as well as the straw from which it is manufactured. 



The neighbourhood of Hitchin is not less remarkable for its 

 wheat than its barley. Of Queen Elizabeth it is said that she 

 gave to the barley the name of "her Hitchin grape." It is said 

 that the wheat she consumed was not the Hertfordshire White, but 

 that grown on the deep loam of Heston, in Middlesex, a soil now 

 well nigh exhausted, having furnished brick earth for the buildings 

 in London — a fate which the soil of Hitchin has escaped. This 



