14 Farming of Bedfordshire. 



chalky division, and which, by-the-by, is some of the best land 

 of the county. 



The Third Division of Soils are those )nainly of a loose and 

 chalky character, lying' upon the oolite or chalk formation. 



This land, situate on the southern extremity of the county, is 

 Ijounded by Hertfordshire, and runs along to Chiltern Hills. At 

 the foot of these hills the chalk formation continues for some dis- 

 tance, although, along the valley, the hard rocky chalk is gene- 

 rally covered to a greater or less depth with some drifted chalk, 

 or gravel with an admixture of chalk. This gravel, though so 

 used, makes very inferior road materials, being, from the chalky 

 admixture, always adhesive after frost and rain. This also accounts 

 for the highways in this district not being so good as in other 

 parts of the county. 



In the middle of the county we have shown that the roads are 

 excellent ; and in the northern division, having no gravel, or next 

 to none, they purchase it from a distance, and of course purchase 

 the best, whilst in this chalky district, having gravel, although 

 of inferior quality, they are induced to use it, rather than pur- 

 chase and fetch it from a distance. The roads in this chalky 

 district are improved, however, by gathered flints from the stiffer 

 soils. 



On nearly the whole of these lands, from the south-east to the 

 south-west Ijoundaries, turnips are cultivated more or less, though 

 on the higher parts of these hills there is often to be found a bed 

 of flinty clay, between the surface soil and the chalk, which, of 

 necessity, renders it ineligible for turnips. Still, there are only 

 partial spots of this division of the county that require draining. 

 In the absence of this clay, where the rocky rubble approaches 

 within 3 or 4 inches of the surface, as it does in many places, 

 the land is naturally extremely poor and unkind far all green 

 crops. It is most productive, however, of charlock and other 

 noxious weeds. One of these is the common pig-nut {Bunium 

 Jiexuosum). It is rarely found excepting upon this description 

 of land. The bulb is very peculiar, both in its formation 

 and mode of propagation. The seed, which drops from the 

 stalk, and gets covered in the soil, becomes a small bulb, which, 

 as it produces its seed from year to year, increases in dimen- 

 sions until it attains the size of a moderate potato. It assumes 

 a brownish colour and an irregular shape, but is remarkably 

 tenacious of life ; for, when harrowed out of the land, and 

 exposed to a scorching sun for days, unless eaten up by pigs or 

 sheep, when covered in the soil it again vegetates. A few j^ears 

 back much of this land was not considered worth cultivation ; it 

 lay in a sort of sheep-walk of the most ordinary kind. Indeed, 

 a part of the Dunstable and Totternhoe Downs still remains. At 



