280 Mr. E. Straker on changes in the Aspect 



have done much in this way. The first inhabitants of our 

 district of whom we have any historical record are the Belgae, 

 who no doubt had dispossessed their kinsmen the Keltse, the 

 successors of an unknown number of agricultural races. At the 

 invasion of Caesar, Britain was the granary of Gaul. With the 

 rude tools and imperfect husbandry of those times this must have 

 argued that a considerable area of land was under cultivation, 

 and this woiild have necessitated a very long period of clearances. 

 The nearest parallel at the present day to the condition of 

 England at that time is the state of things in Central Africa, 

 that is, isolated villages in the primaeval forest, each surrounded 

 by a belt of cultivation, and communicating with the neigh- 

 bouring villages by narrow footpaths through the forest. 



The Eoman invasion had little influence outside the large 

 towns, and probably affected our district to a very small extent. 

 They introduced, or have the credit of introducing, the elm and 

 the pheasant, both of which are now conspicuous members of 

 our flora and fauna. In agriculture their influence seems to 

 have been nil, much as in India the native retains his ancient 

 customs under the British Eaj. 



The coming of the various Teutonic races known as the Saxons 

 was of great importance. This race entirely replaced the Keltic 

 inhabitants, and no doubt made great alterations in the system 

 of cultivation. Although it is very probable that the Kelts had 

 some communal system of agriculture, the system which has had 

 the greatest influence on our landscape, namely, the Three-field 

 System, was practised by the Saxons in their continental homes, 

 and applied here, so to speak, ready made. The Saxons also 

 introduced the domestic ox of long-horn type, descended from 

 the urus of Germany, a very distinct animal from the Keltic 

 shorthorn. Bos longifrons. It is to this animal that we owe the 

 present condition of our arable land, as, until comparatively 

 recent times, the horse was not used for ploughing to any great 

 extent, and even at the end of the last century an agricultural 

 writer of Croydon advocates the use of oxen as more profitable. 

 The three-field communal system was worked thus : — The houses 

 of each village, with their gardens, orchards, &c., were grouped 

 together, and the ring of arable land around them was divided 

 into three great fields without hedges. Each of these fields was 

 again divided into many long strips. The plough was a massive 

 affair, constructed mainly of wood, and required no less than 

 eight oxen to draw it. The long strips were divided from each 

 other by " balks" of turf left unploughed. It does not appear 

 very certain how many of these strips were ploughed in each 

 year by one plough, but at any rate the strips were changed each 

 year, so that all should have an equal share of good and bad 

 land. It was usual for the normal team of eight oxen to be made 



