AGRICULTURE 



^ ■ ^HE total area of Bedfordshire is 302,948 acres, of which 1,113 



I almost exclusively of the Ouse and its tributaries. In 1905 there were in the county 



I 3)757 agricultural holdings, averaging 68'4 acres in size, and thus classified : — 1,072 of 



M more than i and less than 5 acres ; 1,557 **f more than 5 and less than 50 ; 907 of 



more than 50 and less than 300 ; and 221 of more than 300 acres. Of the total 

 acreage of 256,863 under crops and grass, 36,945 acres were occupied by owners, and 219,918 

 by tenants. The total of 85,704 acres under corn crops was made up of 38,124 under wheat; 

 14,954 under barley ; 19,916 imder oats ; 280 under rye ; 9,626 under beans; and 2,804 under 

 peas. The total of 31,100 acres under green crops was thus made up: — potatoes 8,234 acres ; 

 turnips and swedes 5,888 ; mangold 4,044; cabbage 2,135 ; kohl-rabi 948; rape 629; lucerne 

 1,229 J vetches or tares 1,743 ; other crops (general market-gardening stuff) 7,479. Of clover, 

 sainfoin, and grass, under rotation, there were 15,906 acres for hay, besides 5,227 acres not for hay. 

 Of permanent pasture, or grass not broken up in rotation (exclusive of 1,347 acres of heath-land 

 chiefly at and near Dunstable), there were 30,859 acres for hay, and 76,691 acres not for hay, 

 making a total of permanent grass of 107,550. There were also 10,951 acres of bare fallow, 424 

 acres of small fruit, and I acre of flax. The acreage of orchards was 1,099, ^"* ^^^^ '^ included in 

 the returns of arable and grass-land. There were 13,313 acres of woodland, including 3,562 acres 

 of coppice and 492 acres of plantation (or land planted within the last ten years). 



Of the total of 13,090 horses used for agricultural purposes (including mares kept for breeding) 

 there were 2,312 unbroken of one year and above, and 1,037 under one year. Of the total of 

 34,087 cattle, there were 12,285 cows and heifers in milk or in calf; 7,629 animals were two 

 years and above, 7,713 above one year and under two, and 6,460 under one year. Of the 88,978 

 sheep, 34,192 were ewes kept for breeding, 17,019 were other sheep over one year, and 37,767 

 under one year. Of the 26,182 pigs, 3,693 were sows kept for breeding. 



From an agricultural point of view, Bedfordshire has few if any features that distinguish it frbm 

 the adjoining counties. Its small oblong area has an irregular outline in no part determined by 

 natural characteristics, but originating apparently from the accidents of feudal or perhaps still earlier 

 ownership. Its situation, together with its lack of important mineral wealth, makes it rather a 

 thoroughfare from one part of the kingdom to another than a centre of special local culture ; hence 

 its general agriculture naturally resembles that of the districts that surround it. It will, however, be 

 seen that, in one or two respects, the situation, together with peculiar facilities of intercourse with 

 north and south, east and west, has led to some exceptional development in agricultural production, 

 a development which it also shares with some of the neighbouring counties. 



The geology of Bedfordshire has been described elsewhere. It is necessary here only to recall 

 so much of the geological character as naturally determines its agriculture. The southern part of 

 the county lies on the Chalk, north of which there is a considerable outcrop of the Gault. North 

 of that the Lower Greensand forms a conspicuous range of hills, running diagonally across the county 

 from the south-west to the north-east. In a large part of the north-western area is the Oxford 

 Clay, with local beds of Kellaway Rock and a band of Cornbrash. In the north-west corner, as 

 well as here and there in the neighbourhood of Bedford, the white limestone of the Oolitic Series 

 crops out, but is more fully exposed in the adjoining county of Northampton. 



The strata above mentioned are covered in many parts, particularly in the north and centre of 

 the coimty, by Drift or Boulder Clay, The winding courses of the River Ouse and its tributaries 

 are bordered by considerable river deposits, in some cases several miles wide ; and in many parts 

 this alluvium affords the best pasturage to be found in the county, which is not remarkable for ^ 



its grass. 



Thus Bedfordshire, small as it is, possesses an agricultural surface of great variety ; and though 

 there are large tracts — as the Chalk-downs of Dunstable and Barton, and the Lower Greensand hills 

 of Woburn Sands, Ridgmont, Ampthill, Haynes, and Sandy — which have a general character of 

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