A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



according to information supplied to Mr. J. W. Hurst of Uckfield, and 

 issued by the Board of Agriculture in the present year (1906), 'the output 

 has now increased by some 360 tons per annum, and the fatteners of East 

 Sussex are fattening over 200,000 chickens more per annum than twelve 

 years ago.' The same writer mentions that ' as an indication of the 

 increased imports from Ireland of lean chickens, it may be mentioned that 

 during 1893 { here arrived at Heathfield station 1,014 'tops' or crates full; 

 but that in the one month of March, 1904, no less than 863 'tops' were 

 received. 



The Heathfield chicken trade has been in existence many years. Before 

 the days of railways the Messrs. Bean, whose family still carry on the business 

 of higglers, made the journey to London of some fifty miles by wagon. 



These fowls have been known in London for many years as Surrey fowls, 

 and as such have made good prices. In the last few years, however, the 

 Sussex poultry breeders have brought them out as a breed of their own, ' the 

 Sussex Fowl,' and these can be seen at the Royal and other shows, divided 

 into three classes red, white, and speckled. Mr. E. J. Wadman, now of 

 Upper Deeding, has kept the red variety for many years, Mr. G. J. Lenny, of 

 Buxted, the speckled, and the Messrs. E. and H. Russell, of Chiddingly, the 

 white, and these have been amongst the successful breeders. 



Leaving the Weald and its marshes and coming to the South Downs, 

 known locally as ' the Hill,' a range of hills running from the borders of 

 Hampshire to Beachy Head, we find probably some of the best farming in 

 the county. The farms run generally to a considerable area, from perhaps 

 300 to 1,200 acres in extent, with good farmhouses, substantial buildings, and 

 good cottages, built in the main of flint picked or dug from the adjoining 

 land. The houses are occupied by some of the most able practical farmers of 

 the county. Sheep-farming is, as a rule, carried on on these holdings, 

 although near the large towns dairying has here, as elsewhere, made itself felt, 

 to the exclusion to a certain extent of sheep ; still, in the main, farming for 

 sheep is the principal industry. These farms have a proportion of down land, 

 the short turf of which with its fine grass and herbs gives to Southdown 

 mutton its excellent flavour. The proportion of down land varies in the case 

 of different farms, probably from the fact that in the days of high prices for 

 corn, any land that was at all worth the cultivating was broken up ; still, 

 every hill farm has a sheep run of this kind. The remainder is under the 

 plough, with the exception of a few fields near the homestead inclosed with 

 flint walls ; in the case of West Sussex probably some brook land is attached 

 to the holding, and in the case of East Sussex a certain acreage in Pevensey 

 Marsh, or brook land where the farm runs off the hill on to the adjacent 

 lowlands. 



The arable land is farmed for wheat and oats, and of the latter heavy 

 crops are grown, but very little barley is sown ; apart from these cereals 

 a large provision is made for the mainstay of the farm, the Southdown sheep ; 

 crops for these important animals follow one another in succession, the aim 

 being to ensure a plentiful supply of food in addition to that which the sheep 

 pick up on the down. Thus, as soon as the harvest is carried trifolium is 

 sown, rye, winter barley, and tares are put in for feed for the ewes and their 

 lambs. During the year a large acreage is sown with rape or cole-seed (and 



280 



