ESSEX OPPOSITE GRAVESEND. 365 



out on to the fields, but that this is much more costly. 

 We saw here and there on the ploughed fields which 

 lay on the low-lying plain near the Thames, that they 

 had been manured with chalk. 



Rag. Rye. 



We noticed in the course of the day several large rye- 

 fields in Essex, which were now standing very luxuriant. 

 I asked the people if they were in the habit of baking 

 bread of this crop, or why they sow it ? They answered 

 that no others but poor people use it for bread ; but the 

 principal reason why they sow it is that they carry it to 

 London where they sell it to merchants, who ship great 

 quantities of it abroad, to be there sold. 



The soil here in Essex, which on this edge of the 

 county is very dry, sandy enough, and full of ' Pebblestone,' 

 seems almost to be more suitable for rye than for wheat. 

 On the sandy fields the rye stalks were 4 feet long ; the 

 length of most ears 4 to 5 inches. 



The beautiful and luxuriant rye was all sown in 20 

 feet wide Broadland. 



Trappor. The steps which we availed ourselves of, 

 to mount our horses, and which have been described 

 before (T. I. p. 297 orig.) were here at almost all the 

 farms. [T. II. p. 27.] They had also similar ones in Kent 

 almost everywhere. The women had in them the greatest 

 convenience for mounting their horses. 



Godsel-stackar. Manure-heaps. 

 In the same way as has been before mentioned (T. I. 

 pp. 251, 252 orig.) about manure, that it is laid in heaps to 

 rot, we also saw to-day near every farmer's house, as well 

 as often out by the fields, that the manure which is col- 

 lected in the farmyard, was cast together in great four- 

 cornered heaps to ferment, or rot through into a compact 

 mass. 



