JOURNAL 



OF THE 



ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 

 OF ENGLAND. 



\. — The Farming of Bedfordshire. By William Benistett, of 

 Cambridge. 



Prize Essay. 



Having resided in Bedfordshire, my native county, upwards of 

 half a century, and been engaged for many years in the practical 

 operations of farming, even to the handling of the plough and 

 the sickle, I trust that the fact of my being so intimately ac- 

 quainted and identified with the agriculture of this county, will 

 justify this attempt to write on the subject, and countervail any 

 defects of style. 



Although Bedfordshire must be classed as a second or even 

 third-rate county in territorial extent, population, and the natural 

 fertility of much of its soil, yet in the progress of its agricul- 

 ture, in the improvement of its stock, and, it may be added, 

 in the social ordci", public spirit, and intelligence of its yeomen, 

 it occupies an honourable and prominent position among the 

 counties of England. 



That the farming of Bedfordshire was in a deplorable state at 

 the latter end of the last century may be proved by a reference 

 to the Report to the Board of Agriculture, made by Mr. Stone 

 of Gray's Inn, in 1794. Much of the arable land of the county 

 was then (60 years ago) in the open or common field state, and 

 subjected, without reference to the different kinds of soil, to very 

 much the same management, though perhaps mismanagement 

 would be an apter word. Mr. Stone observes — " Land of a 

 clayey nature, whether found in a state of arable or pasture, has 

 been evidently ridged up for a series of years upon a false prin- 

 ciple of drainage, "^ till the tops of the ridges, for six or eight feet 

 across, are the only profitable parts of the soil ; the furrows 

 and the land adjacent form so many pools, ditches, and reservoirs 

 of water." 



Underdraining seems at that time to have been out of the 

 question, for the writer goes on to say: — " It is the common 



* See Note, p. 5, 

 VOL. xvin. E 



