96 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF YORK AND DISTRICT 



earlies, there is some danger of damage from late spring frosts. For 

 marketing, the tubers are classified according to variety and the class of 

 soil on which they are grown — limestone, sand, warp. In certain fields, 

 in recent years, potato eelworm [Hederodera Schachtii) has become a 

 scourge. 



Peas for pulling green in pod are grown on a large scale, and upwards 

 of three hundred bags, forty pounds in weight, have been pulled per 

 acre, but the crop is a great gamble, both as regards yield and price. 

 There is a small acreage of peas for canning, which has been slightly 

 increased in recent years owing to the opening of a small canning factory 

 at Hambleton. 



Carrots is an important crop, particularly in the Pocklington and 

 Market Weighton areas, and, grown in rows 14 in. apart, as many as 

 twenty-eight tons of roots per acre have been weighed oif the land. 



Through the erection at York and Selby of two sugar-beet factories, 

 sugar-beet now occupies an extensive acreage, but owing to climatic 

 factors there appears to be only a limited scope for remunerative increased 

 yields in response to the parental attention offered in its cultivation. 

 Sugar-beet has been introduced largely at the expense of swedes and 

 mangels, which for feeding purposes have been replaced by sugar-beet 



Flax growing has been subject to many vicissitudes and is at a standstill 

 once again. Good-bodied soils suit this plant best, and, manured without 

 the inclusion of quick-acting nitrogenous manures (which are said to 

 reduce the quality of the fibre) two tons per acre of flax straw may be 

 regarded as a moderate yield. Mustard is grown for seed fairly extensively 

 on the warp areas near Howden and Goole, where good quality is obtained. 

 The seed is used largely for making the well-known condiment. 



Of the cereals, wheat is confined principally to the heavier soils and warps, 

 but not entirely, for ' Little Joss ' is to be found on the sandy areas where rye 

 predominates. Winter oats, both black and white, take a fair share of the 

 cereal area, but only a small amount of barley is grown. Autumn-sown 

 cereals are becoming increasingly popular as they tend to check certain 

 weeds that are troublesome and they can be harvested earlier than spring 

 corn. Greater opportunity is thus given for autumn cultivation. 



No fixed rotation is followed. A one-year ' seeds ' mixture is intro- 

 duced very often primarily with the object of benefiting the potato crop 

 that is generally taken after it. Odd acres of lucerne are found, but usually 

 the small yields obtained restrict its popularity. 



The smaller villages near the Ouse, such as Nab urn, Cawood, Hemin- 

 brough and Howden, are noted for their market-garden crops, particularly 

 celery, broccoli and beetroot. In the bend of the Ouse in its western 

 bank just north of Selby is some of the richest land in Yorkshire, known 

 as Wistow Lordship. Here are to be found bulb-fields of daffodils, 

 narcissi and tulips. At Crocky Hill, near York, hard and soft fruits are 

 extensively grown, and some good fruit is also produced in Church Fenton 

 and district. At Osgoby, near Selby, is situated the county Demonstration 

 Fruit Centre. Howden is the best locality for glass-house plants, 

 tomatoes being a speciality. 



