214 Wisdom and Folly of Ancient Book-Farmers. [June, 



Fitzherbert, who notices its cost. — it is. he says " exceeding 

 chargeable." — regrets that it was becoming obsolete, and Ger- 

 vase Markham, writing at the close of the 16th century, infers 

 from the age of the timber growing in marl pits that they had 

 been abandoned for 260 or 300 years. 



Barnaby Googe recommends the use of chalk in moderation; 

 but lie adds the popular saying that " grounde enriched with 

 chalke makes a riche father end a beggarly sonne." Its use 

 on the heavy lands of Hertfordshire has been already noticed. 

 " Mixing earths," such as chalk on heavy clay and " red clay " 

 on sandy soils, is one of the practices to which Ellis attributes 

 the agricultural success of the county. Large quantities of chalk 

 were also imported into Essex from Kent, whence it was brought . 

 up the estuaries and distributed to the farms. Gypsum was 

 another of the substances used, especially in Kent and Sussex. 

 Towards the end of the eighteenth century, its value was more 

 extensively recognised. When Cornish civ Devonshire farmers 

 brought sea sand from the coast on their pack-saddles, they 

 probably did not know the exeat nature cf its value, or that it 

 mainly lies in the carbonate of lime contained in the broken 

 shells of which it largely consists. But they anticipated the 

 modern market gardeners of Penzance in the use of the sub- 

 stance ; they had experienced, in some way or other, the utility 

 of its agency. 



Other substances more directly contribute to plant food. That 

 the value of soot was soon discovered is natural enough. Thrown 

 on some waste place, its useful properties would be observed. 

 Whether its effect in raising the temperature of the soil', or 

 lightening its texture, or deterring slugs and snails, or its direct 

 fertilising qualities, cemmended its use to the first observer, is 

 uncertain. It was employed, for one or other of these reasons, 

 in "the Middle Ages. 



More difficult to explain is the discovery of the nitrogenous 

 value of such substances as " cony-clippings," hair, shavings 

 of horn, or woollen rags. Their effect is so slow that it might 

 be imagined that it would escape detection. Yet they appear in 

 the 17th century lists of manures, and, as has been noticed, 

 were bought by rlertfordshire farmers from London salesmen 

 in the first half of the eighteenth century.' 



Seaweed was extensively used in counties where it was acces- 

 sible, and in South Wales the practice is especially noticed. 

 Another nitrogenous manure available in maritime counties was 

 fish-waste, such as the " putrified pilchards " suggested by Sir 



