A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



well as winnowing machines and weighing engines, in all three of which the inventive talent of 

 Mr. Salmon of Woburn had been called into exercise, 



A few general remarks will give an idea of the condition and character of agriculture in 

 Bedfordshire during the early part of the nineteenth century. Inclosures had, before the end of the 

 first decade of the nineteenth century, been made in about two-thirds of the total number of 

 parishes ; and improved methods of culture had thereby been made possible over a large part 

 of the county. The ' burning question ' of the time was the substitution of drilling for broad- 

 casting. What was called ' the row culture ' comprehended * the operations of drilling, dibbling, 

 horse-hoeing, and hand-weeding.' Farmers in different parts of the county had experimented in 

 drilling with varying results ; but very few had yet adopted ' the row culture ' in its entirety. 

 The new system, however, was encouraged by premiums offered by the Duke of Bedford ; 

 and its advocates contended that the use of the drill and horse-hoe would render barren fallows 

 unnecessary. 



The local varieties in the rotation of cropping are said to have been as many as were to be 

 found in any district in the kingdom. The practice varied partly with the character of the soil, and 

 partly according to local custom. At Sharnbrook there was the following course, which was said 

 to be founded on the durability of the effect of dung : — (i) fallow ; (2) wheat (folded) ; (3) peas 

 and beans ; (4) fallow ; (5) barley (dunged) ; (6) beans. At two farms at Stotfold, where each farm 

 was divided into only two fields, there was the singular course of alternate crop and fallow. At 

 Lidlington, on light soils, this course was approved : (i) fallow and turnips j (2) barley or oats, with 

 grass-seeds sown at the same time as the corn ; (3) grass-seeds, fed on light soils, but mown once on 

 clays ; (4) grass-seeds, fed on light soils ; if on clays, plough deep, and sow with wheat or beans ; 

 (5 and 6) wheat or peas, the one succeeding the other. Mr. J. Foster of Bedford recommended for 

 brown clays : '(i) summer fallow ; (2) wheat ; (3) clover, eat off; (4) wheat or beans ; or as an 

 alternative course : (i) turnip fallow ; (2) barley ; (3) clover, eat off; (4) wheat ; (5) beans.' On the 

 better kinds of heavy soils some of the commonest rotations were : (i) fallow ; (2) wheat or barley ; 

 (3) red clover ; (4) wheat or beans. On the gravels at Cardington and the neighbouring district, the 

 following courses were to be found : (i) turnips ; (2) barley ; (3) red clover and other weeds alter- 

 nately ; (4) wheat ; (5) peas or oats. Some farmers on the gravels of Southill sowed clover with 

 peas, as : (i) turnips ; (2) barley ; (3) peas ; (4) red clover ; (5) wheat. An unusual course was to be 

 found at Dunstable, where a great quantity of London and other manure was used : (i) turnips; 

 (2) barley ; (3) barley ; (4) red clover ; (5) wheat ; (6) oats. In the sands of Woburn, Lidlington, 

 &c., the usual rotations were : (i) turnips ; (2) barley ; (3) red clover and rye-grass mown ; (4) red 

 clover, sheep fed ; (5) wheat ; (6) peas. 



A general idea of the relative areas of pasture and arable, as well as of the relative areas under 

 the several arable crops, may be gathered from some figures published by Arthur Young in volume 

 xxxvii of his Annals. In 1 800, upon fifty-eight of the Duke of Bedford's farms, containing a total 

 area of 8,341 acres, the number of acres under the several crops, grass, &c., was as follows : — 

 Wheat 882, barley 610, oats 494, peas 91, beans 155, rye loi, potatoes (exclusive of 

 gardens) 13, beans and peas mixed 130, vetches or tares 95, cole 55, turnips 478, fallow 

 (without a green crop) 593, clover, sainfoin, and rye-grass (grazed) 495, ditto (mowed) 523, old 

 pasture (grazed) 1,928, ditto (mowed) 1,244, spinneys, small plantations, or land (generally waste 

 and unfit for cultivation) intended to be planted, sheep-walks, &c., 382 ; homesteads, yards, gardens, 

 &c., 61. A comparison of these figures for 1800 with corresponding figures for 1795 will show in 

 what directions change was mainly taking place in Bedfordshire agriculture. A very considerable 

 increase had taken place in the area of wheat, barley, potatoes (trebled), vetches (more than quad- 

 rupled), cole (doubled), turnips, clover, &c., ditto mowed (more than trebled). A decrease had 

 taken place in oats, peas, beans (155 acres in 1800 against 381 in 1795), rye, beans and peas mixed, 

 bare fallow (593 acres in 1800 against 973 in 1795), and in the item spinneys, &c. (382 acres in 

 1800 against 6i8 in 1795). The increased cultivation of wheat (882 acres in 1800 against 591 in 

 1795) would be due mainly to the economic demands of the time, while the diminution of bare 

 fallows indicates the introduction of new methods of culture. 



The wheat principally in use was the Red Lammas, but white wheat was sown in many 

 places. Very little rivets was used, except in small inclosures. Bearded spring wheat had been 

 used in various parts of the county, but though it yielded well it was held to be inferior in quality. 

 The practice of steeping wheat in order to prevent smut had become general, but there was great 

 difference of opinion as to what was the best steep. Experiments were made at Leighton Buzzard 

 in 1802 with twelve samples of good wheat and twelve samples of very smutty wheat. The 

 solutions used — the enumeration of which here will show how farmers were beginning to call in the 

 aid of chemistry — were potash, chloride (then called muriate) of potash, nitrate of potash, soda 

 common salt, sulphate of soda, chloride of ammonia, soot, lime water, nitric acid, hydrochloric acid 

 and sulphuric acid. The nitric acid entirely destroyed the power of vegetation, the sulphuric acid 



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