234 



MIDDLESEX. 



.Ai;i-i( 



HJle, 



&c. 



Wheat, &c. 



MI<MIMX. greater part of the county is in meadow, pasture, or 

 *""V ' garden and nursery-grounds. Corn is an article that 

 can easily be conveyed from any distance, whereas 

 hay, and particularly milk, must be procured for a 

 large town from its immediate vicinity. From the 

 operation of these causes, as well as from the soil in 

 the greater part of Middlesex being better adapted for 

 pasture than corn, it cannot be regarded as an arable 

 county. The land in tillage being calculated only at 

 about one-fifth of the whole, and what is under the 

 plough is not well managed ; indeed it cannot be other- 

 wise in a district where the common-field system is so 

 extensive the common fields containing even yet near- 

 ly 20,000 acres ; and the commons being much more 

 numerous and extensive than might have been sup- 

 posed so near the metropolis. The smallness of the 

 enclosures too, (when the arable land is enclosed,) and 

 the great number of trees in the hedge-rows, are much 

 against good and profitable tillage husbandry : but 

 perhaps the chief cause of the inferiority of Middlesex 

 in this respect, must be sought after in the greater 

 profit derived from dairy land, and garden and nursery 

 grounds. 



So long ago as the reign of Elizabeth, the soil in the 

 north of the county, especially between Heston and Har- 

 row, was famous for the fine quality of its wheat ; but at 

 present the wheat of Middlesex is by no means equal to 

 that of Essex, Herts, or Kent ; and, according to Mr. 

 Middleton, there are not above7000 acres cultivated with 

 this grain. It is sown after beans, pease, tares, clover, or 

 potatoes in October, November, or December, and is 

 reaped early in August, with a large toothless hook, in 

 the manner called bagging, by which means the straw, 

 which brings a very high price in London, is cut very 

 close to the ground. The average produce of the coun- 

 ty does not reach three quarters the acre. Rye is sel- 

 dom cultivated, except for the purpose of being cut as 

 green food in the spring. There is not much barley 

 grown in Middlesex ; indeed the soil in many parts is 

 too strong for this species of corn : the number of acres 

 is calculated at about 4000 : it is usually sown after 

 wheat or turnips ; in the former case, as might be ex- 

 pected, the produce and quality are indifferent ; in the 

 latter case, on the sandy loams, they are both good. 

 There are also few oats grown, though on the strong 

 loams their cultivation might be introduced with ad- 

 vantage and profit. The Tartarian oat is usually sown ; 

 both oats and barley are mown, except where they are 

 very short, when they are cut with a sickle. Beans are 

 grown on the strong soils in the north and north-west 

 of the county, to the extent perhaps of 3000 acres ; in 

 many parts they are dibbled ; in others sown broad- 

 cast ; in the former case, they are kept very clear by 

 hand-hoeing, and the produce is good, as well as the 

 land left in excellent condition ; in the latter case, the 

 produce is light, and the land left foul. They are sel- 

 dom ripe till the beginning of September, when they 

 are bagged like the wheat. Pease are grown extensive- 

 ly, especially on the rich light loams, in the low part of 

 the county ; white pease are sown for podding, while 



Cn, for Covent Garden market. They are always 

 ed, and being kept clean, are a very profitable crop. 

 These pease are often sold by the acre, and in all cases, 

 about 40 women and children are employed to pod 10 

 cres, who are paid either by the day or by the acre, 

 or the quantity gathered : they are gathered into a sack 

 of four heaped bushels. They are delivered to the sales- 

 men in the market from three to five in the morning. The 

 ground is usually picked twice over. The grey pease are 

 suffered to stand till ripe, when they are cut with hooks 

 and rolled into wads. Nearly all the kinds of grain are 



White 

 Pce, Ac. 



thrashed with the flail, there being very few thrashing. Mlddleiex. 

 mills in the county. There are not many potatoes S "~'Y'""'' 

 grown in Middlesex ; in the nbrth of the county the 

 soil is too strong, and in other parts the crops raised, 

 for Covent Garden market are more profitable than po- 

 tatoes would be. Besides, from the quantity of manure 

 put on the ground, and the slovenly and imperfect 

 manner in which they are cultivated, the quality of 

 the potatoes grown near London is very indifferent. 

 The culture of tares is extending fast, principally as 

 green food, and as a preparation on stony land, for a 

 crop of wheat. Much of the soil of the county is not 

 fitted for turnips, and even where it is, they are not 

 cultivated so extensively, nor in such perfection as they 

 ought to be. Many are grown for Covent Garden mar- 

 ket, and not a few are sold to the cow-keepers. In 

 1817, owing to the scarcity of turnips, there were in- 

 stances of cow-keepers giving fifteen guineas an acre 

 for turnips, at the distance of sixteen miles, and be- 

 ing at the expence of pulling them and sending for 

 them. Nothing strikes a stranger more than the im- 

 mense waggon loads of turnips drawn by six stout 

 horses going to Covent Garden market. 



The meadow and pasture husbandry of Middlesex, Meadow* 

 though better than its arable, is yet very imperfect, and I 1 **- 

 Some of the meadows are very rich, especially those on tures - 

 the banks of the Lea ; cattle are put upon them from 

 August to April, after which they are shut up for hay. 

 The fertility of these meadows arises partly from the 

 natural fertility of the soil, and partly from their being 

 flooded in winter, and artificially watered in summer. 

 There are also excellent meadows on the banks of the 

 Thames, especially between Chelsea and Fulham, and 

 on the banks of the Coin, from Staines to Harefield. 

 The whole extent of all these meadows is about 2500 

 acres. The richest grass, however, in the county, is in 

 the marsh land of the Isle of Dogs : in it there are about 

 1000 acres, which lie so low that they would be over- 

 flowed by every tide, were it not for embankments. 

 The ground is divided by ditches, by means of which 

 the water is carried off at low tide into the Thames, 

 and thus the pasture is kept dry. It is calculated that 

 there are nearly 1 8,000 acres of upland meadows and 

 pastures in Middlesex, great part of which bears the 

 marks of having been formerly arable. The soil va- 

 ries from a poor loam, lying near the gravel, to a rich 

 loam of considerable depth. Great quantities of ma- 

 nure are annually put on these grounds, especially in 

 the immediate vicinity of London, and yet the produce 

 in respect to quantity, is very inconsiderable ; they are 

 pastured till November, or later, if the weather is open 

 and dry, and afterwards shut up for hay. All the mea- 

 dow land near Islington, Paddington, &c. is in the oc- 

 cupation of the cow-keepers, who mow it frequently 

 two or three times a-year, as their object is to have hay 

 of very fine quality. There is very little land entirely 

 used as pasture. Middlesex has long been famous for Hay-malc- 

 its mode of making hay, and certainly the hay is got ing. 

 in with more of its sap in it, and with less labour, than 

 in any other part of England. It is all mown by the 

 acre ; each man mowing from 1^ to 2 acres a-day : five 

 hay-makers, men and women, are provided for each 

 mower ; every part of the operation is carried on with 

 forks, except clearing the ground, which is done with 

 rakes. The whole time employed seldom exceeds four 

 days : the first day it is spread, turned twice, and raked 

 into rows, and put into small cocks ; the second day it 

 is again spread, and shaken into plats of five or six 

 yards diameter, which are turned, and then formed in- 

 to larger cocks than the first day. On the third day, 

 the hay is put into a state to be carried, and sometimes, 





