A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



to evidence of a more general character, there are three full accounts 

 of the agricultural conditions of Middlesex at this time. These are 

 reports on the subject, addressed to the Board of Agriculture, and 

 issued within a few years of each other. That by Thomas Baird 

 appeared in 1793, Peter Foot's in 1794, and John Middleton's in 1797, 

 with a second edition ten years later. They contain much the same 

 information, though in different form. Foot describes fully the extent 

 of cultivation, and the methods used. In his map it will be seen that 

 crops occupy considerably less than half the area of the county. They 

 lie in the west and south-west ; also in the north-east with scattered 

 districts elsewhere. The rest of the county, with the exception of a few 

 woods and parks, consists of meadows, pasture, and nursery-gardens. 

 The latter are situated on the left bank of the Thames, in a continuous 

 line from Teddington to London, while some extend immediately 

 north-east of London to Islington. The total area of Middlesex is 

 estimated at 240 square miles, or 217,600 acres. 



After describing the nature and variations of the soil Foot gives an 

 account of the ' garden ground.' 10 He considers it well cultivated, and 

 in describing how the lands are dressed he adds : ' To this manure, 

 and care of sowing seeds, the kitchen-gardeners who supply the markets 

 at Spitalfields, who cultivate in general on a light black soil owe their 

 celebrity in the article of lettuces.' u Near Chelsea, the work of farmer 

 and kitchen-gardener was often combined ; thus peas, turnips, and 

 coleworts were grown in succession on the same ground. Fruit was 

 successful, and much care was given to grafting. Certain nurseries (e.g. 

 those of Mile End, Hammersmith, Hackney, and Dalston) were famous 

 for their adoption of foreign plants ; Isleworth was noted for straw- 

 berries. Foot himself thought that the vine could be cultivated with 

 advantage. He was also sanguine about the proposed cultivation of 

 plants for dyes, as a substitute for madder : a certain species of common 

 bed-straw was chosen for this purpose, and at the time much was 

 hoped from the result of the experiment. 



The next subject treated by this author is the system of husbandry 

 then pursued by the farmers of Middlesex. He points out that all 

 success must depend upon that rotation of crops which will get as much 

 as possible out of the land, but which yet will not injure its productive- 

 ness. The following account shows the general system and how it varied 

 in different districts : 



I. South Mimms : 



(a) On the clay. 



(1) summer fallow ; (3) beans, pease, or oats ; 



(2) wheat ; (4) summer fallow. 



(b) On the better soil. 



(1) turnips on summer fallows ; (3) clover fed or mown ; 



(2) barley with broad clover; (4) wheat on clover lay, with one ploughing. 



" Peter Foot, Gen. View ofAgric. ofMidd. 1 1. " Ibid. 12. 



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