FENLAND CORN 75 



mustard, etc., and a few bullocks were winter fed, but 

 the only breeding stock were the horses. Throughout 

 the district mustard is a good deal grown for seed, 

 and not infrequently we saw another crop which 

 hardly occurs elsewhere in England i.e. buckwheat 

 though it is generally considered to be a sign of poor 

 farming, and is only taken by the small men. Other 

 unusual crops of which we saw numerous small areas 

 were celery, carrots, and asparagus, but the only 

 cruciferous root growing was kohl-rabi, which is used 

 to fill up gaps in the mangold grounds. 



Throughout the Fens the corn crops betray the 

 excess of nitrogen in the soil, and are such as would 

 cause dismay to the ordinary farmer: they are rank 

 and full of growth, with an enormous yield of straw, 

 and in that year, as in most seasons, were laid and 

 twisted in every direction. Moreover, all the corn, 

 and especially the wheat, had a grey, dirty look which 

 would make the upland farmer think it was blighted ; 

 never did we see the clear yellow or golden colour 

 we are accustomed to associate with land ripe unto 

 harvest. The heavy twisted crops call for a great 

 expenditure of hand labour in harvest, and this is 

 one of the districts to which the Irish labourer, who 

 used to be such a feature of hay time and harvest 

 over most of England, still finds it worth while to 

 come ; indeed, the crops could hardly be got in without 

 some such extraneous assistance, for the modern reaper 

 and binder often fails to deal with them. The barley 

 is mostly of the wide-eared type ; even the old " sprat " 

 barley is grown and answers well. Naturally the 

 quality of the grain is poor and below what is usually 

 desired for malting. In fact in all the produce of 

 the Fens quantity has to make up for lack of quality. 

 The potatoes from the black soils command the 

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