36 THE SUSSEX CORN BELT 



evolved a scheme of cropping which exceeded any- 

 thing we had yet seen in the amount of saleable 

 produce obtained from the land. Of course, it was 

 essentially a corn-growing soil ; no other area in the 

 south of England produces so large a proportion of 

 wheat, and on this farm four corn crops were grown in 

 a six years' rotation as follows : wheat, oats, roots, 

 oats, wheat, seeds. Catch-crops were taken whenever 

 possible ; as a rule the oat stubble was quickly broken 

 up and sown with trifolium, vetches, rye, and winter 

 barley, to be eaten off with sheep, and followed by 

 rape or late-sown turnips. Our host was, indeed, one 

 of those farmers who believe in keeping the land 

 occupied, and in one of his big fields where the sheep 

 were just finishing off a crop of vetches we saw a 

 round dozen of horses at work breaking up the land 

 and getting in turnips in a single day's work. A 

 double-furrow plough was working close up to the fold ; 

 this was followed by a heavy harrow, a man sowing 

 superphosphate, a roller, and a light harrow. Behind 

 came a man sowing turnip-seed broadcast from a seed 

 barrow, whereupon another light harrow and a second 

 roller completed the day's work. It was a good 

 example of the driving cultivation possible on this soil, 

 in extraordinary contrast to the long and arduous 

 preparation which other farmers find to be necessary for 

 their turnip crop. For the season the land was very 

 clean ; weeds, indeed, were smothered out of existence 

 by the succession of heavy crops. 



The rotation, as we have seen, gives four corn crops 

 to sell in six years, and as a good deal of straw is sold 

 also, and even hay when the price is tempting, the 

 fertility of the land has to be maintained by artificial 

 manures in addition to the manure contributed by the 

 feeding-stuffs given to the sheep when folding. The 



