206 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



straw, hay, and potatoes. For his hay and straw the 

 vicinity of Brighton insures a market, owing to the num- 

 ber of horses which are there during the bathing season. 

 Of his twenty-eight farm-horses, seven are almost con- 

 stantly employed carrying produce to market and bring- 

 ing back manure. 



Mr Bigden's example has hitherto had few imitators ; 

 everybody, indeed, has not 12,000 to invest in a farm, 

 especially in a district like Sussex, where agriculture has 

 suffered for a length of time. Nevertheless a beginning 

 has been made, and it may be confidently asserted that 

 in the course of a few years the transformation will be 

 in full play. Two railways one from Dover to Brighton, 

 and the other from Tunbridge to Hastings cross the 

 Weald, while other two lines skirt it, the Dover and 

 London, and Dover and Chichester. Its situation brings 

 it close to the two great markets of London and Brighton, 

 and under such circumstances it is scarcely possible for 

 it to escape the influence of the revolution now going on 

 in agriculture. 



Next the Weald, the county of Sussex presents one 

 of the most primitive and prosperous districts of Great 

 Britain what are called the Southdowns. The soil of 

 these hills is poor and arid, and resists all attempts at 

 cultivation. This very sterility has proved their fortune. 

 From time immemorial they have been covered with 

 flocks of sheep, that feed upon the short but sapid 

 grass, which is manured by their excretions. We have 

 already noticed that the sheep are the stock of the breed 

 called Southdowns, now the most esteemed. The chief 

 amusement of the wealthier classes of the English who 

 flock to Brighton in the season, is riding over these 

 immense downs, where there is nothing to interfere with 

 them no trees, and very little heath or shrubs, but one 



