Ao;riculture 151 



(3) The Bhck Peat Soils. The farms here tend to be rather smaller in 

 acreage than those on the neighbouring uplands, but the organisation of 

 production is much more intensive. Capitalisation, employment, and 

 output per 100 acres are high. A survey' made in 1936 showed that an 

 ingoing tenant requires some £2$ working capital per acre of farmed land 

 (arable plus pasture), that employment is at the rate of about five workers 

 per 100 acres, and that gross sales amount to ;^20 per acre per annum. 

 Rents, including the tenant's share of drainage rates, average 505. per acre, 

 wliile the labour bill approximates 905. per acre. These various measures 

 are roughly double the comparable data for upland farms in the south of 

 the County. Road facihties are in many cases poor, surfaces being un- 

 metalled and virtually impassable in winter, but the numerous waterways 

 provide an alternative means of transport. 



The usual rotation is (i) wheat, (2) potatoes, (3) sugar beet. A few 

 acres of oats for horse feed are grown, while other crops commonly found 

 are celery, carrots, and mustard seed. There is very litde temporary grass, 

 and permanent pasture consists mainly of off-lying "wash" grazings, 

 frequendy flooded during winter. The outstanding cropping character- 

 istics are the large proportion of the farmed area which is cultivated, the 

 large proportion of the cultivated area which is devoted to cash crops, and 

 the concentration on crops giving a high money output per acre, e.g. 

 potatoes (see Fig. 34), sugar beet (see Fig. 35), and celery. Crop yields 

 per acre are high, probably averaging one-third above that on upland 

 farms; yields of 15 tons of sugar beet, 12 tons of potatoes, and 50 bushels 

 of wheat, per acre are not uncommon. These good crop yields are no 

 doubt mainly due to the inherent fertility of the soil, but Hberal applications 

 of artificial fertilisers and good management contribute to the result. Most 

 of the dung and fertilisers is applied to the sugar beet, potatoes, and 

 celery. Potatoes, for example, are commonly dressed with 15-20 loads 

 per acre of farmyard manure, plus 6-10 cwt. of fertilisers, while sugar beet 

 may get 4-6 cwt. of fertihsers. 



Of the gross sales from the black peat farms surveyed in 1936, crops 

 accounted for three-quarters and live stock for one-quarter. Both the 

 absolute and relative importance of crops on the peats is thus very much 

 greater than on the chalks and clays in the south of the County. Sugar 

 beet and potatoes are die two major items of revenue, and together they 

 amount to more than half the total receipts, with wheat coming tliird in 

 importance. In cash values, pigs are the most important livestock enter- 

 prise, with cattle second. 



' R. McG. Carslaw, "Farm Organisation on the Black Fens of the Isle of Ely", 

 Jour. Roy. Agric. Soc. xcviii, 35 (i937)- 



