Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF ESSEX. 



1129 



rated in the eastern part of the county, now given up; first 

 cultivated on a large scale near Feversham. 



8. Grass. 



Hay chiefly produced in the marshes and the weald ; pas- 

 tures for dairying on every farm ; but no dairy farms of any 

 extent in tlie county; lands in Kent seldom changed from 

 i^rass to arable, or the contrary. Hay- making badly conducted 

 in most parts of the county, owing to the scarcity of hands. 

 InThanet and East Kent lean sheep and cattle brought in and 

 put on the marshes and meadows till fit for the butcher. 



9. Gardens and Orchards. 



Near all the great towns a considerable jwrtion of land de- 

 voted to the cultivation of vegetables ; at Deptford and Graves- 

 end are whole fields of asparagus, onions, cauliflowers, &c. ; 

 at Maidstone, many fields of from one to ten acres of fruit 

 trees; apples, cheiries, and filberis, raised among hops, the 

 culture or which causes the former to grow with great luxu- 

 riance ; common practice to plant 800 hop hills, '.iOO filberts, 

 and forty apple and cherry trees jier acre ; the hops stand twelve 

 years, filberts thirty, and the apples and cherries an unknown 

 length of time. Sometimes apples and cherries in alternate 

 rows with two rows of filberts between ; filberts also raised 

 among hops without any other trees ; trees planted in holes two 

 feet square, and two sjiits deep ; pieces of rock taken out ; trees 

 stalked and their stems brushed over with lime and night soil, 

 which is said to make them grow exceedintdy. 'J'he golden 

 rennet apple and black heart cherries, when a few years planted, 

 found to gum and die ; yet many old trees in full vigour : cher- 

 ries do best with land laid down to grass ; filberts answer on 

 few soils ; best cider maker Stone of Maidstone, mixes all sorts 

 of apples ; golden pippin makes good cider alone ; no occasion 

 to watch the fermentation of cider in order to rack it off at 

 any particular time, as alleged in Herefordshire ; eating apples 

 sent to London by the hovs, and to the north of Kngland by 

 the coal vessels. Fruit orchards, considered the most valuable 

 estates. Tithe on fruit 2. per pound on sales. Cherries require 

 a deep soil, and bear well for thirty years ; filberts a stony, 

 shattery, sandy loam, rather inferior; they will not bear in 

 rich soil ; principal hop grounds about Canterbury and Maid- 

 stone, on deep rich loam with a subsoil of loamy brick earth ; 

 produce two to fourteen or fifteen cwt. per acre ; average 

 seven cwt. 



10. Woods and Plantations. 

 Principal produce hop poles, fuel /husbandry wood, and some 



little for the dock yards ; few artificial plantations. 



11. Improvements. , 



Open drains made between flat ridges by deepening the fur- 

 rows ; turf and brushwood drains in use ; chalk will answer 

 when below the reach of frost; sea beach and refuse bricks also 



7781. ESSEX, 942,720 square acres, the greater part marshy grass lands near the Thames, and the rest 

 arable lands of a mixed culture, chiefly of corn and herbage. It is an old cultivated county ; contains 

 many small gardens and seed-farms near the towns, and is one of the few districts in the south-east of 

 England where the j)lough is drawn by only two horses. {Young's Survey, 1810. Marshal's Review, 1818. 

 Smith's Geological Map, 1820. Edin. Gax. 1827.) 



used. Several windmills which drive pumps to drain the water 

 from marsh lands. Some bogs drained under the direction of 

 Elkington, and now good meadows. Sea-weed used as manure ; 

 several thousand loads are sometimes thrown ashore by one 

 tide, and washed away by the next ; generally mixed with some 

 yard dung, which it helps to rot; sand spread on stilt" soils 

 without being of any use ; powdered ke'p sown at the rate of 

 twenty cwt. per acre on pasture, saintfoin, and clover, without 

 any perceptible benefit ; weeding a general practice ; county 

 long noted for its clean crops of corn. Thistles in grass lands 

 mown while in bloom never come up again. Some land in 

 Thanet recently embanked from the sea ; bank thirty-six feet 

 at base, nine fe-Jt high, and three fcet wide at top; base of 

 outside angle twenty-two, of inner eleven feet. Borders of the 

 Medwaj below Rochester offer great scope for embanking, and 

 perhaps warping. 



It'. Live Stock. 



Neither a dairying nor grazing connty r little attention paid 

 to ths breed of cattle. Romney Marsh "breed of sheep remark, 

 able for fatting early. Fine teams of heavy horses kept at a 

 great expense. A few rabbit wanrens ; the rabbits within these 

 few years affected with the rot. Formerly many pigeons, now 

 few ; few poultry but for home consumption ; few bees. 



l.'>. Rural Economy. 



Labour generally done by job ; servants, scarce, dear, and 

 saucy. 



14. Political E con ffmy. 



Roads generally good, formed of chalk and flints; or lime- 

 stone and gravel ; roads in the wea'd very bad for want of ma- 

 terials. As clay is there abundant, if duty taken off bricks they 

 might be burned on the spot and the roads paved ; 340,000 

 will pave a road one mile long and nine feet wide. No canals, 

 but one near Gravesend ; fairs and weekly markets very nu- 

 merous. Agricultural commerce of county consists chiefly in 

 exporting corn to London markets. Manufactures trifling. 

 At Down and Maidstone paper mil'.s ; at the Isle of Grain salt 

 works ; in the Weald iron works ; and at W'hitstable and Dept- 

 ford copper works. Gunpowder made at Deptford and Fever- 

 sham ; calicoes printed, and linens whitened, at Crayford. 

 Poor well taken care of; earn from forty to sixty pounds per 

 annum, by hop picking and other rural employments for their 

 wives and children. 



15. Miscellaneous Observations. 



Kent Agricultural Society, established at Canterbury in 

 1793, by Sir E. KnatchbuU "and F. Honeyman, Esq. Some 

 potatoes dried on an oat kiln were found to retain iheir pro- 

 perties during long voyages, as attested by letters from the vic- 

 tualling office. 



1. Geographical State and Circumstances. 



Climate mild; north and east the prevailing winds, which 

 bring blights to |>Iants, and cold and hoarseness to animals; 

 ague general both in the high and low lands. 



Soil almost every where a lo.im, and more generally heavy 

 than light. Generally well adapted for grass or corn. 



Surface beautiful about Havering (Have a ring) from Rom- 

 ford to Lord St. Vincent's and Loni Petre's, both fine seats on 

 the Stour; also very fine from Sharbury to Harwich. 



Water abundant, in rivers, creeks, and springs. 



,2. State of Property. 



Estates vary much in size from t>l. to 20,000/. a year : in no 



980 



county a greater population of small and moderate-sized farms 



occupied by their owners. Managers of large estates sometimes 



_ attorneys, cav'ital far- 



sorts ; land held by far- 

 mers on short leases, 

 often at will,sometimes 

 on eight, ten, or twen- 

 ty-one years' leases. 

 Some of the seed or 

 garden farms neatly 

 laid out (.//>. 980.). 



3. Buildings. 



Wanstead one of the 

 largest houses in the 

 kingdom ; in 1825 

 pulled down. Audly- 

 endwell known. Misty 

 Hall a most striking 

 place. Gosstield and 

 Thomdon, the latter 

 finely wooded bv the 

 scientific Lord tetre. 

 Manyothers: butsome 

 districts of the county 

 with very few seats. 

 Farm houses good,out- 

 buildings numerous 

 and convenient ; ex- 

 l>ensiverick covers and 

 bams. Cottages not 



very good ; some built on a better plan f./?g. 981.) by the 

 Duke of Buckingham, with a garden of one fourth of an 

 acre to each. Joseph French, at East Horndon, finding labour 

 dear, and servants difficult to be got, took the plan of fixing 

 them by building them cottages and attaching gardens. 

 4. Occupation. 



Some of the largest farms in the kingdom ; so early as 17G7 

 Arthur Young found some at 1500/. and 200/. a year. I-ord 

 Braybrook farms 1100 acres. Lord Pttre 14G8. Many f rmers 

 men of information, ingenuity, and exertion. Tithes average 

 4 J. 9J. to fii. ptr acre when compounded for. Many farms 

 held on running leases, terminable or renewable every seven 

 years. The renisal of leases increasing. 

 .'). Implements. 



Essex plough, a large unwieldy implement, with two wheels. 

 A great variety of swing ploughs, all bad compared with the 

 Rotheram kind or Northumijerland plough. An iron road- 

 cleaning plough by Western; a concave roller and scraper 

 attach^, delineated in the report, but no reason given for the 

 shape. Many cultivators, scufllers 

 (fig. 982.), &c. delineated, and a 

 donkey hoe. Some of Pasmore of 

 Doncaster's threshing-mills, and 

 winnowing machines, in use. The 

 Scotch cart, plough, and other 

 improved implements introduced 

 by Western. Flemish scythe 

 tried, but found not to answer ; 

 did not understand its use. Pal- 

 tison of Maldon has made an inge- 

 nious improvement of the common 

 sowing basket ; he has made the bottom a wire sieve for sifting 

 out the seeds of weeds in the motion of sowing, and attached 

 a cloth bag beneath for catching them. An ant-hill machine. 

 Good specimens thereof amateur improvements on implements. 



6. Enclosing. 



Essex for ages an enclosed county ; still some waste to en- 

 close. Hedges broad and mixed plants, and with pollard trees. 



7. Arable Lands. 



Cultivated l>etter than nine in ten of the other counties : 

 plough with two horses or three horses abre.ist without a dri- 

 ver ; fallows universal ; rotations good ; potatoes cultivated to a 

 great extent for the London market. Cairots in various places 

 planted for seed three feet apart ; produce five or six cwt. per 

 acre, sometimes ten or twelve; rye-grass disliked generally ; 

 wire-worm comes after it, and is sure to destroy wheat. Rape, 

 ribwort for seed; hops in a few parishes. Saintfoin suc- 



ceeds well 



poor 



calcareous soils ; some lucerne. Wire- 



orm often injurious to young wheat, after clover leys ; rolling 

 and treading lessens its effects; on stroty; soils slugs very 

 troublesome. Famed for the excellence of its wheat, which 

 always obtains a high price in the London market. 



8. Grass Lands. 



Extensive marshes and salt-ings (or salt-islets). 



9. Gardens and Orchards. 



Some cherry orchards at Bumham ; many cottages without 

 garden?. 



