A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



its eyes, and it was of great length. The sows were good mothers, and had 

 good litters, possibly some twelve or thirteen pigs. The pigs, however, were 

 slow in coming to maturity, and Berkshires have largely been introduced. 

 The pigs from a Sussex sow, mated with a Berkshire, were most profitable, 

 but now, owing to crossing, a pure Sussex is practically a thing of the past. 

 Berkshire pigs are largely kept, some so-called Sussex, and the large black 

 breed. Black seems to be the prevailing colour ; white and Tamworth are 

 but seldom met with. 



Sussex as a county cannot pride herself on the excellence of her horses, 

 though a very marked improvement has taken place in the last thirty years. 

 During this time several excellent Shire stallions have been brought into the 

 county, and have been allowed to serve at comparatively low fees, with the 

 result that a better-class horse is to be found on most of the farms than 

 formerly. 



Clydesdales and Suffblks have been used but very little, and the best of 

 the cart horses generally are of the Shire type. The breeding of light horses 

 is not often done on the farm. There are, however, a certain number of 

 hunters bred, notably by Sir Merrik R. Burrell, bart., who has established 

 a very fine stud at Knepp Castle. The hackney has not found any favour 

 with the farmer. 



Underwood used formerly to form a considerable item on the Weald 

 farm. In addition to the shaws before referred to, many of the farmers had 

 a certain amount of woodland attached to their farms, and the cutting of 

 wood not only provided work for the labourers in winter but also the 

 material was used on the farm in many ways. 



The grubbing of a very large acreage of hops, and the use of creosote 

 for preserving poles, together with the use of wire, has led to hop-poles 

 being now a drug in the market. Cooper's work has declined, as has also 

 the sale of toy wood, i.e. backs of brushes, &c., as these are now largely 

 imported from Germany. The disuse of the farmhouse and cottage ovens, 

 the use of coal in the cottages, the use of foreign firewood for fire lighting, 

 has made the faggots almost unsaleable, with the result that underwood and 

 its products have fallen in price ; this has made what was once a source of 

 profit to be almost a source of annoyance on the farm. The result has 

 further been that labourers of the present day have largely lost the art of 

 wood-cutting, and on large woodland estates it is difficult not only to sell the 

 underwood but even to get the wood cut at all. Formerly cut at from ten 

 to fifteen years, one may see in the woods underwood of twenty or more 

 years' growth running to waste. 



Coming from the Weald to the sea, we find large tracts of very fertile 

 pasture land, notably the well-known Pevensey Marsh, lying between East- 

 bourne and Bexhill. This is almost entirely grazed by cattle or sheep, many 

 of the agreements having restrictive covenants as to mowing. Land in the 

 marsh is held, as a rule, together with farms on the Downs or in the Weald. 

 Cattle are sent down from these farms as soon as the season will permit, in 

 April or May, fattened off, and sold in Pevensey or Hailsham markets. The 

 better farmers generally send down bullocks forward in flesh, which are sold 

 off when fat, and are followed by a second lot, the best of which go off 

 before the bad weather sets in at the end of October ; those that are not 



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