Book. I. 



AGRICULTURE OF BEDFORDSHIRE. 



1133 



square form it would have cost 75."V- It is built of brick, 

 slated, and was designed by Mr. K. Salmon, a well known 

 mechanist, resident at Wobum. The same accommodations 

 on a square plan forms a bouse more convenient for placing 

 furniture (./;,if. 9ISS-) Wattle and dab, that is, clay plastered 

 on hedge-work of splinters, or on wood frame-work, and also 

 the Pise' manner of clay -working, in u^e in some places, both 

 for farm-houses and cottages* Pise' walls found warmer and 

 cheaper than any other, and when whitewashed said to make 

 good cottage walls. 



4. Occupation. 



Many farms of from 200 to 500 acres; average 150 acres; 

 Duke o'f Bedford's farms generally of the average size. Farm- 

 ers much improved by the example of W'obum and the an- 

 nual meetings. The experiments made by 

 Francis Duke of Bedford were to ascertain 

 the quantities of hay consumed by working 

 oxen; comparison between large and small 

 rattle as to food; comparative value of 

 different foods, &c. Tithes mostly in lay 

 hands; farms held generally from year to 

 year, some on leases of fourteen or twenty- 

 one years. 



5. Implements, 



Plough of the swing kind, with a wooden 

 board and a wedge nailed on as a mould 

 board, one fixed handle, and a loose one 

 called a plough staff; the whole singularly 

 rude, though in general use throughout the 

 countv. Improved forms of all machines 

 introduced by the Duke of Bedford's North- 

 umbrian manager, .Mr. Wilson, and other 

 enlightened men. A good straw cutter 

 winnowing machine, a nay tedder, and also 

 an excellent weighing machine, invented 

 by the late Mr. Salmon, an engineer of ge- 

 nus resident on the Duke's estate, and em- 

 ployed by him as an agent. 



6. Enclosing. 



Formerly three fouiths of the county unenclosed, now chiefly 

 enclosed. 



7. Amble Land wretchedly ploughed. 



Fallows, which occur on the clays generally once in three 

 vears, badlv worked. Usual crops are fallow, wheat, beans, 

 or fallow, barley, beans ; turnips common on the sands and 

 chalks, sown broad-cast, and hand-hoed. Chiccory was tried 

 by the Duke of Btdford, who found it yield ample produce; 

 had twelve acres which, in 1797, ktpt six sheep per acre from 

 the second week in April till Michaelmas; four and a half kept 

 ten sheep an acre from the second week in April till 22d July, 

 and then seven per acre to end of October. Sheep thrive well 

 and free from diseases. 



8. Grass 1 and. 



Of wry limited extent, and in many places covered with 

 %edge (Carex), and ant-hills. 

 9 Gardens and Orchards. 

 Gtvdens of Sandy and Girtford long celebrated for the ex- 



cellence and abundance of their culinary vegetables. Soil a 

 deep sand, of a yellowish brown colour ; products pe.i>, beans, 

 cucumbers, potatoes, parsneps, and carrots, radishes, cabbage 

 plants, and turnips, sent to market in all directions to the 

 distance of sixty miles. Cucunilter chiefly to London, and 

 sold at ten and twenty shillings a bushel for pickling. Orch- 

 ards small. Potatoes, gooseberries, and other small fruits 

 grown in cottage gardens. 



10. Woods and Plantations. 



About 7000 acres, situated on the slopes of hills on old 

 marly clays. Various new plantations formed by tbe principal 

 proprietors, especially the Duke of Bedford. Furze grown on 

 some of the sandy hills, for burning lime. Some tine trees of 

 the silver fir, and others of the genus Pines at Wobum, 



planted under the direction of the ce'ebra'ed Miller; a fine 

 leech, figured by Pontey m his Purest Printer. 



11. Hastes. 



Four thousand acres of chalky down at Dunstablp, not much 

 any where else- 



12. Improvements. 



A good deal drained, especially bogs. Elking-on's modesaid 

 to have been tried with very partial success. Bush and straw- 

 draining attempted on the cla.ey soi s, and the mole plough a 

 good deal used in the furrows. Irrigation introduced by the 

 Duke of Bedford, and various examples are to be found in 

 different parishes on his Grace's estates. Peat is used as fuel, 

 and also burned for the ashes as a manure; ample experi- 

 ments made on manures, by Dr. Cartwright, at W'obum ; but 

 no agri ubural experiments on a small scale can be de]>end d 

 on. The dairy at U'oburn ( fig. 9S9.1 is a fanciful struc- 

 ture in the Chinese style; but the plan and arrangement 

 is not well calculated for keeping milk and butter cool and 

 sweet. 



9HJ 



13. Live Stock. 



Cattle a mixed breed of long and short horned Alderney, &c. 

 Some dairying conducted as in Buckinghamshire- borne 

 sheep, but ofno par: icular breed; folding generally practised 

 and approved of ; horses a heavy bn.ed from Huntin$idon>hire; 

 rabbit warrens destroyed as much as poss.ble ; geese kept by 

 many from an idea that thev preserve the health ot the Par- 

 ing animals where they feed. Tui keys and pigeons kept before 

 the enclosure in -various places, but now much on the decline. 

 Bees kept by a few cottagers and small farmers. 



14. Rural Economy. 



Husbandry business generally performed by day labourers ; 

 though on most large farms a horsekteper, cowkeeper, shep- 

 herd, and kitchen maid hired by the year. 



15. Political Economy. 



Almost all the cross roads, and many of the main roads, very 

 bad. Grand Junction Canal passes through a part of the 



countv, and is very useful ; fairs and markets various ; manu- 

 factures chiefly plaiting of straw and lace; children of tenor 

 twelve years of age acquire the art of plaiting, while their 

 mothers sort and bleach the straw. Lace-making a more 

 sedentary employment, and the women and children generally 

 appear sickly. There are school -mistresses for teaching both 

 straw plaiting and lace-making Begin to learn to make lace at 

 six or seven vears of age ; do little good for two years, at ten j cars 

 earn two shillings a week, at sixteen as much a* can be made 

 by the business, or nearly >ix shillings a week ; work in sum- 

 mer from six o'clock in the morning till sunset, and in winter 

 from nine till eleven at night ; maid servants scarce in conse- 

 quence, but poor rates kept down. Some rush mats made near 

 the Ouse to the west of Bedford. 



Bedford Ho se of Industry.— ** The poor in the house are 

 empoved in the following manner : A manufacture of coarse 

 baize "furnishes employment for all the boys five yea i of i.f, 

 and some of the men; the remaining part of the men cultivate 



