A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



The grapes are packed in handle baskets, varying from 5 Ibs. to 8 Ibs. per basket, or 

 what are called ' shallows ' or baby baskets carrying about 1 2 Ibs. The bunches are tied to 

 the basket to prevent damage in transit, and the shallows when filled are placed in hampers. 

 Cucumbers are sent in hampers containing three dozen each. 



Stable manure is sent principally from London. A good deal of artificial manure, 

 however, is used. 



Farm tenancies in the county run almost entirely from Michaelmas, 

 either old or new, Lady Day takes being comparatively rare ; and it is at 

 the end of September that one meets with perhaps a procession of carts and 

 farm implements and live stock of various kinds on which are very con- 

 spicuous numbers, showing to anyone who knows anything of farming that 

 the voice of the auctioneer has been heard in the land. It is at this time 

 that the ' Tenant Right Valuations ' take place. In East Sussex the outgoing 

 tenant is paid as a rule for hay at feeding price, for the threshing, dressing, and 

 carriage of corn to market (the incoming tenant receives in return the straw, 

 &c., free of charge for the payment for threshing, &c.), for the manure left on 

 the farm, and for the labour and carriage of the manure where carted, for 

 the whole of the work done for the benefit of the incoming tenant in the 

 cultivation of fallows and crops, such as mangolds, swedes, cabbage, or rape, 

 including seed and artificial manure on root crops, and allowance for rent and 

 rates on fallows or root crops. The incoming tenant also pays for clover 

 and other young seeds sown for his benefit ; in the Weald for underwood, 

 and on the Downs for the folding of the sheep. In many cases tenants' fixtures 

 are taken, such as blinds and coppers ; formerly, in some cases, all the grates in 

 the farmhouse and cottages passed from tenant to tenant, but this is now rarely 

 the case. Where hops are still grown the hop-poles are paid for and add a 

 considerable item to the valuation, and on hop farms the 'hair ' in the oast house, 

 hop press, and other things used in hop-growing, pass under the valuation. 



In West Sussex the valuation is on pretty much the same lines, except 

 that straw is paid for at feeding value instead of the arrangement as to 

 threshing, &c., and folding is not as a rule charged. Very little advantage is 

 taken of the Agricultural Holdings Acts, 1883 and 1900, and very few claims 

 are made under these Acts. On many farms outgoing tenants are paid for 

 a proportion of the cake and corn consumed, and are content to claim only 

 under their agreement or custom. 



Twenty-five or thirty years ago leases were fairly common, but yearly 

 agreements are now almost universal, with a twelve-months' notice expiring 

 at Michaelmas. Of late years a good many farmers have come into the 

 county from Somerset, Devon, and other counties, and these tenants often 

 ask for leases, but the Sussex man prefers the yearly agreement, and in many 

 cases tenants have held farms for generations with only a yearly agreement, 

 or perhaps no written agreement at all. This speaks well for the good 

 feeling between landlord and tenant. 



Rents have had a heavy fall since 1878. The largest reductions have 

 taken place on the Hill farms, and probably the rents here are fifty per cent. less. 

 On the larger farms in the Weald there has been a heavy fall in rents, but in 

 the case of the smaller farms the reduction has not been so great owing to the 

 greater demand for these farms ; on the other hand, as has been before 

 mentioned, the outlay there is heavier for houses, buildings, &c. The fall of 

 rents has been increased by the passing of the Tithe Act in 1891. Before 



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