Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF SUSSEX. 



1C7 



elegance of its country sea's. ( Encye. of Gimlet, Surrey.) Pos- 

 sesses a great advantage over the north and east or" Middle- 

 sex and Es ex, in this respect, as the prevalence of the S.W. 

 winds drives awav the smoke of London. Proprietors 

 generally res.de on'their estates, and eagerly introduce im- 

 provements. , , 



Farm fancies anil offices. Ruinous and mean in the weald, or 

 clayev district bordering on Su-sex; better in other places. 

 Oldest of brick covered with slate, stone, or lirick noggmg and 

 tiles ; situations seldom central or convenient to the farm, in 

 villages. Stables not divided into stalls. Cow-house, mar 

 London, good. Cottages often large, convenient, and pictur- 

 esque; with a porch, a flower-plat, and vine in front. 



Drinking j'onds. Great attention paid to these on the Surrey 

 hills ; generally a lirst pond, where the water deposits its gross- 

 est dirt and mud betore it enters the second. 

 4. Occupation. 



Farm, of all sizes, but mostlv small, forty and fifty acres to 

 three hundred. Laigest farm between Guildford and Famham 

 is Wanborough; it contains l.o'OO acres; formerly occupied 

 by -Morris Birkheck, and now by his son. Average size one 

 hundred and seventy acres. Tendency to large farms, by which 

 the public is unquestionably benefited, certainly by the saving 

 of labour, and, in all probability, by the superior cultivation 

 and increased produce. The driven out farmer may generally 

 support or enrich himself equally well though in a different 

 line of life. " But in every country, in all situations and cir- 

 cumstances, and in our own country, particularly in the situ- 

 ation in which it is now placed, it is of the highest importance 

 to consider, whether a mere increase of wealth may not be 

 purchased too dearly; whether it be prudent or wise to dimi- 

 nish the number of those whose souls are knit to their native 

 land, by stronger ties than are known to the mere manut c- 

 turer. 'To the patriot, it can be little satisfaction to see his 

 country the richest in ihe word, if the measures and causes 

 which'makeit rich diminish in the most trilling degree, its 

 independence ; either by raising any passion above the love of 

 our country, or b, diminishing the number of those who must 

 be its mo.tnatural and powerful defenders. To the moralist it 

 can aftbrd little pleasure to lie told, that by the saving of agri- 

 cultural labour, the manufactures of his country will be ex- 

 tended or increased, if he perceive that by the change of 

 employment the health and virtue of part of the community 

 are sacrificed.' (Stevenson) 



Fanners. Old class about the clayey wealds, equal enemies 

 to improvements in agriculture, and relaxations in morals : 

 have no idea of educating their sons, and so little of the spirit 

 of commerce, that they prefer selling their grain to an old 

 customer at a lower price than taking a higher from a new- 

 one. Go to market in round frocks, the dress of their fore- 

 fathers, and shv and jealous to strangers. Nearer town the 

 fanners are more on a level with the age; but tifher unable 

 or unwilling to communicate information ; some exceptions 

 of liberal, enlightened, and communicative men. Many trades- 

 men have turned Farmers, and occupy lands near town. 



Rent low. Tithe rigidly exacted, poor's rates and other out- 

 goings high. 



Leases general, for fourteen or twenty-one years, or on three 

 lives. 



;>. Implements. 



Great variety of ploughs, swing ploughs, the Scotch swing 

 plough used only in i\»0 places ; bad effect of so many different 

 sorts of ploughs "on the servants. The cultivator used by Birk- 

 beck, and highly approved of: — with six horses, goes over i ight 

 acres in a day. " Lester's friction threshing-machine introduced 

 in a few places, and found to succeed : but it threshes very 

 slowlv, and has no advantages over Meikle's, but that of not 

 breaking the straw of wheat. This advantage is too trifling 

 ever to render it general. Very few winnowing machines. 

 Sowing troughs in use, the advantage of which is, that the 

 sower fills it himself instead of having a v. oinan, toiling through 

 rough ground. Smut machines also in Use, in one or two in- 

 stances. (2796.) 

 6. Arable Land. 



Proportion considerable, tillage bad. Drilling, though intro- 

 duced by Duket of Esher, and strongly recommended, is con- 

 fined to a few adjoining parishes, where the soil is light. 

 Fallowing on clays general, but most imperfectly executed. 

 Kotations generally good. 



Tunrips, supposed to have been grown in Surrey as long or 

 longer than in any counts in England. Sir R. Weston, of 

 Sutton, having described the Flanders culture in 104 J, and 

 as he addressed his book to his s. .ns, it is thought they would 

 attempt culture. Yerv badly cultivated at present, and seldom 

 in raised drills. The Siberian tumip has been tried; it is a 

 variety between the cabbage and turnip, but with a root in- 

 ferior 'in point of size and flavour to the latler, and a branchy 

 loose top : it doe-, not seem adapted for field culture, though as 

 a novelty it deserves trial and attention, Carrots answer well 

 on the sand\ soiis. Potato tops sometimes given to cows, cut 

 when in f Ion er ; a bad plan w ith a view to the tuliers. Uover 

 introduced li. Sir R. Weston at the same time as turnips. 

 Saintfoin succeeds well on calcareous soils, producing good 



crops for eight \e.irs. In forming a new road though a field of 

 saintfoin , between Croydon and Gndstone, the roots were found 

 to have penetrated several yards below the surface. Thecubuie 

 of hops, brought from Suffolk to Famham about A.D. IfiOO, 



K refer a calcareous sub-soil : occupy 800,906 acres. Famham 

 ops esteemed more than others, because picked earlier, ami 

 hence more delicate, and belter sorted. Peppermint, lavender, 

 wjrmwood, chamomile, liquorice, and poppy, grown near 

 Mitcham; and more extensively than in any other county, 

 (die hundred acres of peppermint. Elecampane, rhubard, 

 soapwort, coltsfjot, vervain, angelica, rosemary, the damask 

 and red roses, hvssop, horehound, marsh mallow, pennyroyal, 

 and several acres' of daisies, wall-flowers, swect-wiii .ms, prim- 

 roses, violets, pinks, batchelors-buttons, and the like, are also 

 grown for Covent Garden market, where they are carried, 

 either as entire plants in flower with balls for planting in town, 

 flower-pots or ill pots, or the flowers are gathered and sold for 

 nosegays. Weld is grown in a few places. 



7. Grass Land. . 



But in small proportion to the rest ; most pasture in the 

 wolds. Paring and tunning considered by Birkbeck as the best 

 first step of breaking up old grass lands. 



8. Gardens and Orchards. 



Asparagus grown in great quantities at Mortlake, East 

 Sheen, and Battersea. Kadish and other seeds also grown 

 extensively at Battersea. Onions for seed at Mortlake and 

 Barnes : though chiellv at Deptford. Three thousand five 

 hundred acres of Surrey employed in raising vegetables for the 

 London market. Orchards attached to many of the farms, 

 sufficient to supplv from four to twelve hogsheads of cider. 

 Generally in a very bad state of cultivation; trees covered with 

 moss; many walnuts grown at Norbury, and at some other 

 places; produce 20 to 00 bushels per tiee. 



9. Hoods and Plantations. 



The wold formerly a wood : some copsethere still : shoots for 

 hoops grow n ; charcoals for cunpow der made fi om hazel, dog- 

 wood, eve. ; common charcoal, hop-poles and faggots. Box Hill, 

 formerly called Whitehill, bv tradition or ginally cultivated, till 

 the Eail of Arundel, in the reign of Charles 1-, brought box 

 trees from Kent, and planted there. .Many with good reason 

 think it not planted, but aboriginal. Soil of the hill, pa e loam 

 or chalk ; timber now all cut; brought only five pounds per 

 ton. .Mane lir trees on chalk hill : at Crowhurst, one fifty feet 

 high and thirty six in circumference. Brooms made from 

 the ware or spr'av of birch to a greit extent. Fine limes at 

 Beckworth. Osier holts or grounds about Chertsey and By fleet, 

 broucht the same rent one hundred and fifty years ago which 

 they do now. Furze grown for the burning of bricks; sown 

 both broadcast, and in drills ; cut every three years, and bound 

 like com, then stacked. 



1(1. Heaths, Commons, and Common Fields. 

 Extensive heaths on south-west; surface flat, soil back sand, 

 and gra.el. A number of commons, and great extent of com- 

 mon-field lands. 



il. Improvements. 



Draining, paring, and burning. Manuring with London 

 manure of a gre.it variety of kinds. 



12. Live Stock. 



Yerv inconsiderable; only six hundred and nineteen cows, 

 kept for supplying London with milk. 



Duket of E-hef used to rear calves to a great extent ; many 

 cattle fed bv the distillers and starch manuf cturers. Adam 

 of Mount Noil, one of the archi ects of that name, has con- 

 structed extensive build. ngs for cattle, and stall-feeds six 

 hundred at a time. Sheep kept in considerable numbers on 

 the chalk hills and wealds. Birbeck has been very successful 

 in crass-breeding with merinos, that is, with the Ryeland 

 merino of Dr. Party, and the South Down. Immense number 

 of pigs fed at the distilleries, and of geese kept on the wealds. 

 Dorking hens are well known. (7443.) A hare warren near 

 Banstead Downs, already described. (73G5.) 



13. Rural Economy. 



Hands scarce ; servants unsettled ; prejudiced, like many 

 of their masters, against all new practices. 



H. Political Economy. 



Bad roads, though flints and other good materials abound 

 in many places. An iron railway between Wandsworth and 

 Weslham for general use; the first in the kingdom of that 

 kind, tie rest being confined to the carriage of goods belong. 

 ing to individuals ; this open to all who choose to employ the 

 waggons ; as a canal is open to all who choose to employ the 

 boat. Though on a leve', and admitting of carnage both i ways, 

 yet not found to pay. The first canal locks in England were 

 erected on the W ev. Sir R. Weston, of Sutton, brought the 

 contrivance frrni Holland ; and, under his direction, the » ey 

 was rendered navigable from Guildford to \A eybridge, about 

 1090. Numerous fairs; several flour, pa]ier,ar.d oil mills. An 

 extensive iron work at Garratlane, near i> andle; a mill for 

 staves at Stoke; a delft manufactory at Mortlake. A hori- 

 zontal air-mill of a new construction at Battersea bridge; 

 several distillers, brewers, and starch manufacturers, Foor, 

 numerous and degraded. Poor's rates enotmous. 



777D SUSSFX A maritime county of upwards of 900,000 acres ; distinguished by chalk hills and ex. 

 t,.n','ve. wealds' a rich™", b t little excellence or variety of agriculture: excels in South Down sheep. 

 IH. kLSSm^IwS UarslWvs Review, 1818. Smith's Geological Map, 1819. Edm. Gax., 182,.) 



1. Geographical State and Circumstances. 

 Climate. Warm in western parts.bleak on South Down hills ; 

 westerly gales violent, unroof stacks, hedges injured by the 



SP Soii. (balk nearly the universal soil of the South Down 

 hills; clav of the wealds, which constitutes more than halt 

 the surface of the county. Rich land about Chichester, and 

 sand and gravel in a few places. 



Surface hilly, most so where the soil is chalk. I\o high 



' Minerals. Sussex or Fetworth marble used by the statuaries, 

 but not generally. Limestone, ironstone, sandstone, chalk, 

 marl, and fuller's earth. 

 S. State of Property. . ,. , , 



Largest estate 75')0/. a vear. Most proprietors hold lantl 

 in their own occupation, and pay great attention to its cul- 



4 



ture, as E. of Egremont, D. of Richmond, E. of Chichester, 

 Lord Sheffield. 



3. Buildings. . , .,,. 



Noblemen's feats splendid, of stone; farm-hui dmgs gene- 

 rally of stone; or. the South Downs bo.It of £ "its: ho set. 

 verv generally faced with tiles, winch keeps the walk dry. 

 Corn generally stacked on circular «-*££«*'»»'*■ £T!£3 

 vermin. Sheep-yards, or permanent folds waled round and 

 furnished with 'sheds and hayracks, have been bu.lt by Lllman 

 and some other eminent sheep farmers on ^V"? "" f fitf? 

 wooden bams. Cottages of stone, and on Uie tDmr*. of flint, 

 and more comfortable than in manj parts of K"S' a "d. ..ia^ 

 nificent semicircular piggery, erected by h. of Egremont, at 

 Petworth. 



4 Mode of Occupation. 



The most extensive farms on dry soils. Average o» the 



C 4 



