410 Market-Garden Soils and Crops 



The Cliftou-Sheft'oid branch is the main stream wliich flows con- 

 tinuously over greensand country from above Fiitwick to Shefford. 

 The sludge from this stream consists to a large extent of fine sand and 

 coarse silt particles. It is comparatively low in calcium carbonate, 

 potash, organic matter and all mineral salts. The Hiz tributary which 

 at one time must have been very much larger flows over gault and chalk 

 formations. The sludge from this stream is extraordinarily rich in 

 calcium carbonate, organic matter, potash and phosphates. It contains 

 a large percentage of the finer fractions such as clay and fine silt. 

 Evidently it was the mixture of the material of these two streams 

 which has produced the fine te.xtured and fertile soils of the new 

 dark .soil formation. This soil formation is entirely devoted to market- 

 gardening and probably this is the soil which was so famous for onions 

 early in the nineteenth century. The soil in the neighbourhood of 

 Biggleswade and Sandy has been devoted to market-gardening for 

 centuries^ 



The soil on this formation is a fairly cool light loam with suflicient 

 of the finer particles to prevent it from drying out in hot seasons. It is, 

 however, underlain by gravel, at some depth below the surface and 

 consequently the soil is well drained. Brussels sprouts, early and late 

 potatoes, onions, carrots, parsnips, spring cabbages, parsley, peas and 

 runner beans are all grown on this soil formation. It is the custom 

 on this soil to grow three crops in two years. Early potatoes are 

 frequently grown as a half crop with brusscls sprouts or runner beans. 

 Early peas are sometimes followed by brussels sprouts, but more 

 frequently by spring cabbages. A main crop will usually follow on 

 the laud during the next year. Parsley is always associated with 

 onions or carrots and is never grown as a separate crop. 



The new dark soil formation is the most productive of all the soils 

 used for market-garden crops. The land is extremely well manured with 

 London dung and soot, but at present the quantity of artificial manure 

 used is very small, with the exception of a top dressing of 1 cwt. nitrate 

 of soda and 1 cwt. of common salt for forcing crops. 



The crops on this soil formation are invariably much better in 

 appearance and yield than those on the old brown soil formation. 

 The following would be the average yields of the chief crops in fairly 

 good seasons: Parsnijjs lG-20 tons, onions 10-14 tons, potatoes 8-10 

 tons, early potatoes (half crop) 3^-5 tons. 



■ Batchrlor, loc. cit. 



