INTRODUCTION. XXVll 



The removal of brick earth in the manufacture of bricks in the 

 neighbourhood of Heston and elsewhere is constantly changing the 

 condition of the surface. The brickmaker pays a royalty^ varying 

 from Is. to 2s. 6d., for every thousand of bricks, and also agrees to 

 replace the tilth and level the surface. In this district it is often 

 difficult to find an outfall for land drainage, especially when the 

 brick earth is removed in brick-making. The brick-maker has, how- 

 ever, to provide for the under drainage, though sometimes osiers are 

 planted where water is found on reaching the gravel {Clutterhuck, 

 pp. 25-28). 



The market gardens and orchards which formerly occupied the 

 suburban districts to the west and north-east of London along the 

 Lea, are giving way to the advancing wave of buildings more rapidly 

 than they are replaced. Middleton speaks of them as lining the road 

 for seven miles between Kensington and Twickenham ; and the fruit 

 trees in the gardens of houses along this road show, by still standing 

 in line, that they originally belonged to market gardens. Market- 

 garden cultivation is, however, gradually occupying the arable farms. 

 The land is sometimes planted as an orchard with trees at wide 

 intervals, or is deep ploughed with a heavy dressing of manure, planted 

 with potatoes, cabbages, or other coarser vegetables; all kinds of 

 garden produce are gradually introduced, and the arable farm becomes 

 a market-garden. Manure is brought from London by the carts 

 which take the produce to market, and the application of this, com- 

 bined with deep trenching, so as to bring to the surface, after the 

 removal of a crop, the soil which a few months before had been 

 turned down with a large quantity of dung, is the great secret of 

 maintaining the continued fertility of the ground. Garden cultivation 

 will more and more deprive the south-western part of Middlesex of 

 its agricultural character as far as arable culture is concerned {Clutter- 

 buck, p. 18). 



9. Woods. — A considerable extent of Middlesex was originally 

 covered with wood, especially in the centre and north-west of the 

 county, where the subsoil is clay, with sometimes a thin coating 

 of upper level gravel. Watling Street was probably the first inroad 

 made into it. In 1170-1182 it was an immense forest, full of wild 

 animals (FitzStephen's Surveij). It was not disafforested till the 

 reign of Henry IIL (1218). 



The woods have since been constantly decreasing in extent, and 

 there are but few pieces of original wood land remaining. The chief 

 are Highgate Wood, Bishop's and Turner's Woods on the north slope 



