THE AGRICULTURE OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 85 



only in increasing fertility but also in producing better working soils when 

 these are under the plough. Much of this land has been laid down to 

 grass in recent years, though it is typical of good ' wheat and bean ' land. 

 The Keuper soils are specially good for fruit trees,, which probably ex- 

 plains the development of fruit-growing in the Tuxford, Wheatley, South- 

 well and Woodborough districts. It is an interesting feature of the water 

 supplies in the Keuper Marl areas that it is often impregnated with 

 gypsum and iron. 



3. Alluvial Soils 



These soils total about 170 square miles or 13 per cent of the area of 

 the county, and the valley of the Trent is responsible for the greater part 

 of this. Agriculturally, these soils are fertile, identified with arable and 

 mixed farming, while on the right bank of the river there is much good 

 grazing land. It is a feature of the Trent Valley that the ' alluvium ' 

 rests on a bed of coarse gravel of from 15 to 25 feet deep. Towards 

 CoUingham a very sandy soil is experienced, which is associated with the 

 growing of good quality carrots. 



In the north of the county there is an area of land known as the ' Carr ' 

 where the soil consists of decayed vegetable matter — the product of old 

 marsh land before it was drained by the Romans in the first instance and 

 later by Dutch engineers. Warping has also been practised, and the 

 general result is an arable soil that proves excellent for potatoes, sugar 

 beet, wheat and various market garden crops, including celery. 



Agricultural Holdings and Land Tenure 



The position in Nottinghamshire is very similar to that in other counties, 

 in that by far the greater majority of farms cani be classified as small 

 holdings. The smaller farms are usually found on the better classes of 

 soil. This is a natural tendency since the ease with which land yields a 

 return has a considerable bearing on the competition for land. It has to 

 be recognised also that even on the poorer soils, such as those on the 

 Bunter, there are many agricultural holdings established by virtue of 

 mining populations close at hand. Coal has been a great asset to the 

 landowners in these parts, since the income from this has made possible 

 the development of agricultural estates, which but for coal, might other- 

 wise have been heathland and deer forest to-day. The total number of 

 agricultural holdings is about 6,000 of which 20 per cent are between 

 1 to 5 acres, 27 per cent between 5 to 20 acres, 17 per cent between 20 to 

 50 acres, 14 per cent between 50 to 100 acres, 8 per cent between 100 to 

 150, 11 per cent between 150 to 300, and with only 3 per cent over this 

 acreage. There are approximately 2,000 fewer separate holdings than 

 in 1885. 



The agricultural features of these holdings is that over 60 per cent of 

 them are devoted to the practice of mixed farming, just over 20 per cent 

 are arable farms, and just under 20 per cent are mainly devoted to grass- 

 land. This again is quite in keeping with the prevaihng tendency through- 

 out the country to safeguard farming capital by mixed systems. 



There is one outstanding village in the county where the ancient open 

 field system of farming still survives. This is Laxton and" here the 



