KENT. 



439 



Kent. the small and light plough, used in Scotland, York- 

 " '' shire, Norfolk, and Suffolk, it must appear a most pon- 

 derous and unwieldy instrument. It consists of a beam 

 of oak 10 feet long, behind which is a foot 3$ feet long. 

 The share is of hammered iron, and weighs about 32 

 pounds. The chep. to which the share is fitted, is five 

 feet long. The upper end of the wheel rests on a car- 

 riage with two wheels, 3 feet 2 inches high. The great 

 advantage of this singular plough is, that it goes well 

 among flints and roclts. Indeed, when drawn, as it of- 

 ten is, by 5 or 6 horses, it will force its way through 

 the most flinty and obdurate clay, even when baked, as 

 it well may be termed, by a hot summer : it also, as 

 being a turn- wrest, ploughs the land without water fur- 

 rows. In l'a>t Kent, lour horses are generally yoked 

 in them, ami they plough an acre and a half in a day. 

 In the western part of the county, six horses cannot 

 plough more than an acre in a day, owing to the stub- 

 bornness of the toil. No other implement used in the 

 agriculture of Kent deserves particular notice. 

 IOM. From what has been already stated, it appears that 



the crops most commonly grown in Kent, are wheat, 

 barley, beans, oat', and pease ; also hops, canary seed, 

 radish seed, turnip-, ind coIi-wort. Kent is wellknown 

 for the excellent quality of it* wheat. Inferior to that 

 of come parts of Essex, it is not surpa-ed, and scarce- 

 ly equalled by any other English wheat brought to 

 Mark-lane. Many sort* are sown. That which pro- 

 duce* the finest sample, and brings the highest price, 

 i grown on the rich sandy loams, and is called the 

 White or Egg-hell Wheat. On the wet and cold lands, 

 wheat is sown in October ; but the general time for 

 the ouitry i- in November. While growing, it is care- 

 fully weeded. The harvest is frora the first to the third 

 week in A ugust On the richest soil, under good ma- 

 nagement, five Quarter* are no uncommon crop ; but 

 ty-two buihels are supposed to be the average of 

 the countv. The ule ot Thanet is celebrated for its 

 barley, and indeed gives name to one specie* of Kt-nt 

 grjin. Barley is sown from Candlemas to the middle 

 cr<li il whin growing, and raped on 

 the dry soils about the third week in July ; on the late 

 oil*, not till the beginning of September. Seven quar- 

 ter* per acre have not unfrequently been grown, but 

 the average is about 25 bushels A great variety, both 

 I 1 .-- -. of the horse and garden bean, are grown in Kent. All 

 of them are either drill* d. or dn-|ip<d l>\- hand in fur- 

 row* in February or March, and most carefully hand 

 and hone-hoed; they are reaped in August or Sep- 

 tember ; from two to six quarter* per acre are pro* 

 du. 



In the Kentith cultivation of oat*, nothing particular 

 occur*. Of peaxe there are several varieties, both for 

 hogn, &c. ami for culinary purposes : they 

 are all drilled in February or March , hand and hone- 

 hoed, and reaped froni July to the middle of Septem- 

 ber ; the produce i- from I J to 5 quarter* per acre. 

 Canary eed is drilled, and, when growing, hand and 

 horsehoed repeatedly : it i* later in ripening than 

 corn, and in ordrr to dt-tarh the seed from the husk, 

 ssMrjr * often suffered to lie inwards, till December, without 

 ted, tit. nfering any injury. The produce is from three to 

 five quarters. Itadiihes, for seed, are *own in furrows, 

 ' irch ; frequently and carefully hoed ; reaped in Oc- 

 tober ; and frequently remains out in the field till 

 tma. The produce is from eight to twenty-four 

 boabel* per acre : the London seed -men buy it. Spi- 

 nach for seed U town early in March, hoed and weed- 

 mi ; and, when the crop is in full bloom, the greater 



part of the male plants are drawn out. The produce K nt - 

 is from two to five quarters per acre. Kidney beans "" ""Y""~ 

 are much cultivated near Sandwich, and in the isle of 

 Thanet, for the London seedsmen ; cresses and white 

 mustard are also sometimes grown for the same pur- 

 pose. Potatoes are grown in almost every part of 

 Kent, but principally for home consumption. The 

 cultivation of turnips, though extending, is not so good 

 as that of many other crops : On the poor lands in 

 the earlier part of the county, colesend is much grown. 

 Clover, red and white, are also in pretty regular rota- 

 tion, especially on the lighter soils. On the chalk 

 land of the east part, there is much sainfoin. On the 

 poor stiff soils, in the western parts, near Surry, woad 

 is found to be a profitable crop. There is little mad- 

 der grown now. As hops are grown extensively and 

 regularly only in the hop district, it is unnecessary 

 here to notice the cultivation of this pl:>nt. 



In East Kent there is a very small proportion of Meadow, 

 natural meadow ; but, in the Weald, a vast quantity 

 of excellent hay is produced : In general, however, 

 the hay rtleadows of Kent are much inferior to those 

 of many oilier counties. There are. no dairy farms of 

 :my great extent. The chalky hills of East Kent af- 

 ford excellent downland, and sheep walks. Uoiiles the 

 marsh lands of Ilomney, which extend to 44,000 aero, 

 there are, on the borders of the Stuur. about 27,000; 

 and on the borders of the Thtmes, Medway, and 

 Swale, about 1 1.500 acres ; the whole of which is em- 

 ployed in breeding sheep, or in fattening their cat- 

 tle. 



The most extensive garden grounds are near Lon- Garden*. 

 don, about Deptford, and Gravesend ; almost all kinds 

 of vegetables are grown in them. The orchards near 

 Mxidttone have been already noticed, as will as the 

 woodlands of East Kent, and the Weald. 



With respect to the modes of improving land, paring Modes of 

 and burning has been long practised : the usual ma- improving 

 nures are jmlicioutly and liberally applied: weeding'* 1 "'* 

 growing crop* is performed in a careful manner, espe- 

 cially in East Kent, and about Maidstonc; but irriga- 

 tion is little practised. 



The cattle of Kent are of various breeds, there be- Cattle, 

 ing no breed peculiar to the county. Those fattened 

 in the marshes are from North and South Wales ; and 

 the dairy cows are selected from the droves brought 

 from thence, except in West Kent, where the cows are 

 of the Staffordshire and Sussex breed, as well as the 

 Welsh, and in the Weald of Kent, where the Sussex 

 kind are used both for the plough and the dairy. The 

 Homney breed of sheep is one of the most valuable in Sheep. 

 the kingdom, and has long been deservedly famous. 

 They become very fat at very early age, and pro- 

 duce a very large fleece of very fine wool ; in this 

 latter respect they are superior to the new Leicester, 

 and little, if at all, inferior to them in the former re- 

 rpect : at two years old the fat wethers generally 

 weigh from 22 to 28 Ibs. per quarter ; and their fleeces 

 about 8 or 9 Ibs. each. Homney Marsh is calculated to 

 produce 20 Ib*. of wool to the acre, and as the land at 

 shearing time carries more than four sheep per acre, 

 the annual growth of wool, in the marsh, will exceed 

 4OOO packs. On the upland, and in most other parts 

 of Kent, the Dorset, Wilts, and South Down sheep are 

 ki |>t ; in East Kent, the ttoinney, also in Shepey, but 

 here they are of an inferior sort. The horses mostly 

 employed, are a cross between the old Kentish cart 

 mares and >tulli< us from the midland counties : those 

 that have been bred in the iale of Shepey, from time 



