1921.] 



A Modern Hertfordshire Farm. 



927 



come back to the farm year after year. Wages for lifters have 

 risen considerably, the current rate being Is. per hour. Twenty 

 to 25 pickers are required for one digger, and each digger clears 

 3 to 3 J acres a day. 



The farm owes much of its success to the fact that the exist- 

 ence of an important and ready market has been recognised, and 

 the crops selected to meet the demands of the market. Every 

 effort is made to effect economies in working, and as far as 

 possible the fields are arranged so that there is a minimum 

 amount of time devoted to the changing of operations and im-* 

 plements between shift and shift. Birchfield, however, possesses 

 two types of soil, and where, as in this case, two types of soil 

 are present, any one crop must be so iog distributed to reduce 

 the risk of loss in any one season to a minimum, since conditions 

 which m_ay be detrimental on one class of soil may be quite the 

 reverse on another class. 



