THE AGRICULTURE OF NORFOLK 73 
described at other places in this publication. ‘The course of geological 
events, however, has not unduly favoured the agriculture of the county of 
Norfolk, except in the extreme east and west ; otherwise with the exception 
of a few isolated acres in Mid- and South Norfolk the soil is light, some- 
times too light to farm, and much of it is derelict, especially in the south- 
west. ‘There will be found vast expanses of desert-like land, broken by 
belts of conifers, and left to the rabbit to colonise. In better times much 
of it was farmed, but when agricultural conditions are bad it cannot be 
profitably cultivated. At all times it is hovering on the border of 
dereliction. Much of this Breckland area, however, appears never to 
have been cultivated. 
The county is almost entirely covered by glacial drift, with chalk at 
varying depths below the surface. The following rough divisions of the 
county are very familiar to Norfolk residents and will serve as a useful 
basis of descriptions in this article. The divisions are: East Norfolk ; 
South Norfolk ; Mid-Norfolk ; North Norfolk ; and the Marshlands 
and Fens. 
Generally the best soils are the medium loams of the extreme east and 
west of the county, the lighter soils are in the south-west and north-west ; 
those of Mid-Norfolk are rather inclined to be heavy, while those in the 
south are clays of the boulder clay formation. 
East NORFOLK. 
It is difficult exactly to define the limits of the areas under description, 
but East Norfolk may be taken as the area enclosed by the sea and lines 
drawn through Cromer, Aylsham, Norwich to Beccles on the Norfolk and 
Suffolk borders. East Norfolk is a typical winter bullock fattening area, 
where magnificent crops of mangolds and swedes are still grown, although 
the area of stock-feeding roots has been considerably reduced since the 
introduction of the sugar-beet crop, for East Norfolk grows sugar-beet 
better than any other part of Norfolk, except the Marshlands. ‘The soil 
is an easy-working medium loam of considerable depth, which permits 
the deepest cultivation. It is in the area of the most recent geological 
formations in England, and the agricultural possibilities of the soil are 
wide and varied, although it is not extremely rich chemically. Its great 
agricultural value is largely determined by the excellent physical condition 
of the soil, for East Norfolk can withstand drought, yet drains freely 
enough to withstand the ill-effects of excessive rainfall. Chemically the 
soils are often deficient in lime, and sometimes also in phosphates ; in 
fact, striking results have been obtained from phosphatic manuring on 
the beet crop at some East Norfolk centres in the county agricultural 
demonstrations. 
Few sheep are kept in this area, the land being rather too sticky to carry 
them with ease during the winter. Thus the produce of the root shift 
is entirely consumed by yard-fed fattening cattle, and it is not uncommon 
practice for as many as three bullocks per acre of roots to be fattened during 
the winter-feeding season, and, incidentally, there has been no diminution 
in that number since the beet crop has been so largely grown. 
Norfolk generally breeds few cattle, and there are probably less bred in 
