The Husbandry of the Period. 259 



north wind. Every market gardener was, as a rule, a specialist ; 

 one devoting his attention to the sowing of vegetable seeds 

 destined to produce nurslings for his fellows ; another propa- 

 gating only beans, peas, and spinach ; a third confining his 

 attention to seakale ; a fourth to the cultivation of young 

 shrubs ; a fifth to fruit trees ; a sixth to flowers for the London 

 pleasure gardens, and so on.^ 



In fact, the transition stage between the farming of the past 

 and that of the future is most accentuated at this period in 

 the home counties ; for, interspersed amidst all this advanced 

 husbandry, Kalm frequently came across the economy of the 

 common field. There were large open tracts around Ivinghoe, 

 for example, without fence or barrier, where he found neither 

 turnip, pea, nor artificial grass crop ; and, on inquiring the 

 reason, was told, by some, that hedges would not grow quickly 

 in such a soil ; by others, that since all the holdings were 

 intermixed, the unanimous consent of the community to en- 

 close was necessary ; that while some wished to go forward, 

 others wanted to go back ; and that a special Act of Parlia- 

 ment was necessary before any improvement could be made. 

 In such spots he found the farmers, in the absence of artificial 

 fodder crops, unable to fatten livestock, and compelled to spend 

 extra money in keeping their produce free from cattle trespass. 

 In fact, wherever the horn of the communal herdsman was 

 heard in the early morning calling the beasts to their pastur- 

 age in the outfield, he found the farming no further advanced 

 than it had been in feudal days.^ 



' Id, Ihid., passim. ^ Id. Ibid., pp, 265, 281. 



