AGRICULTURE 



THE agriculture of Middlesex has always been of special interest, 

 though the county is small. The fact that it included London 

 as a market for its produce was a stimulus to agriculture as an 

 industry ; while the physical features of the district lent them- 

 selves to good husbandry. 



The climate is equable, the July isotherm being 64 degrees, and 

 that of January 40 degrees, while the mean of the whole year is 

 50 degrees on the higher ground north of London, and 51 degrees in 

 the Thames Valley. Rainfall varies much more considerably than 

 is usually recognized ; thus in 1905, 27^83 in. fell at Hadley in the 

 north of the county, while only 19*50 fell at Hampton in the south- 

 west. 1 The explanation of this is twofold : parts of the county are 

 much better wooded than others, and the whole north is much more 

 hilly than the south. 



The area of Middlesex returned in the census of 1901 was 178,606 

 acres; in 1906 the area under 'all crops, including woods, fruit and 

 gardens,' was 94,067 acres. In 1806 the area under agriculture was 

 reckoned at 136,000 acres, and there were 2,591 acres of commons. It 

 has been remarked that 



these cannot very well be exact returns of area because roads and steeps at cross ways 

 are not returned in any uniform manner, and water areas are also left very much to 

 fancy, some street conveyancers adhering to the old definition of ponds as ' land covered 

 by water,' and including them in the land acreage, while house agents, despite their 

 natural interest in magnifying the property, more usually return the area exclusive of 

 water. Wayside ponds are reckoned by some surveyors as part of the road ; by others 

 they are not so reckoned. 



This caveat seems worth entering, though it will not account for any very 

 material proportion of the difference of 84,539 acres between the total 

 and the agricultural area. ' Bricks and mortar,' together with private 

 gardens, account for much, perhaps most, of it. 



The county is well watered by the rivers Lea, Thames, Brent, and 

 Colne. The soil is fertile ; it varies from clay and strong loam to sand 

 and gravel. The following estimate, taken from ' Foot's View of the 

 Agriculture of Middlesex,' reported to the Board of Agriculture in 1794, 



1 Symotis'j Meteorological Magazine, vol. xli ; H. R. Mill, The Rainfall of 1905. 



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